Obviously overall this is awesome. F2P MMOs that are actually good games growing up and becoming sub games is a thing that should happen. I’ve said over and over that I’d pay $30 a month or more to play a sub-based version of Atlantica Online, for instance. So yea, great news.
But Allods? The $7,000 gem armor or whatever game? That is the first title to start the march back to sanity? What’s next, WAR adding a third faction? SW:TOR becoming successful? Someone playing GW2 longer than a month?
Cold.
So cold.
Hardcore Casual 
Or Darkfall launching and not being total crap ;)
LuL, nice kick Pitrelli.
Maybe Allods will un-knowingly start a virus in the game industry. Creating content and crap for the players, not the $$ players bring. Which if they had great content and story-line, players would sub and or spend money on their title.
Who know’s, I’m old fashion, what do I know about anything.
I’m curious what profession you work in, and how we may all be able to benefit should your boss, not be interested in the money he can bring in too…
Any not-for-profit or nonprofit organization? Say, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, or Red Cross, or Howard Hughes Medical Institute, or Amnesty International, or Carnegie Organization of New York? Or plenty of others?
In what other industry is ‘make a product people actually want’ not a good starting point? I don’t have to be uninterested in making money to design a game people will enjoy rather than design a game to such the most money out of the cash cow players.
Designing a game for the cash cows does not always ensure you make cash. See: Zynga.
Granted, designing a solid game is also not a surefire way to make money (ICO), but its a pretty good place to start.
Raelyf, his is a more realistic counter-stance to take regarding drivel games. The one Kaldeem takes however, IMO, is crap, and distracts from meaningful discussion when our only card we play is the whole “they’re just money grubbers” one.
Yes, an out of touch publisher or marketing department, can truly blow the monetization of a game (its usually not up to the developers/designers at all, and thats where the problem is IMO)… But to suggest their motivations are disparately different than any other business on the planet is straight up bull shit.
So when will Smedley be declaring free to play dead and leading SOE headlong into this exciting new monthly subscription model?
What was that management consulting joke? If your company has just one product line, you need to diversify, but if you have multiple product lines, then you need to focus?
I wish someone would make an mmo where it’s not a rush to cap…and even if someone were to, as people do, it would take months. I remember a friend playing vanilla WoW and it taking him a long, long time to get to cap. FFXI classic anyone? That’s what would keep me subbed. Yes, many features of some of these games were frustrating, but also very damn rewarding once accomplished. Heart pounding even. Currently, Rift has my attention and it has it well. I applaud their dev team. I’ll stay subbed, endure a bad patch here or there, and laugh at the people who think f2p models are here to stay-poor content is poor content.
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