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Novaquark Monetization  


Captain_Hilts

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16 hours ago, Lethys said:

playing video games is no human right; if they only get 300€ a month then they should work on improving their situation, not waste time in some VR

 

Hiding in your proud self confidence (which you most probably did not much to earn, just have been born in better environment) you don't even try to read what is written. I did not write about human rights and did not say, that someone should play game, which is commercial product without paying. All I wrote was that sometimes these few dollars or euros, which you (and me) are trowing out without care, are being earned way harder by others and they don't want to pay full price if they don't have time to play the game a lot because they are " improving their situation, not wasting time in some VR". If you are so confident in yourself, try to buy a ticket to some Eastern Europe country and see by yourself what these people do for 300 euros - I bet you have never ever worked in you life that well and that hard. And when you'll be there, see that, try to teach them how to "improve" ;). And there are whole areas where these 300 per month are the top of "improving" as most of their neighbors don't have job at all. But if they would have an option to pay a decent fee for the time they have to spend in game, they might consider that option and that would bring additional funds to game developer - otherwise these funds won't reach him at all.

 

I know it because my father, retired man, lives in one of such small towns and knows locals, knows how hard they try to "improve", but often my father, ends up helping them though he's retired and gets only retirement pension. And this is not the worst country regarding level of the life. There are places even worse than that.

 

And once again - this is not about "have a pity on these poor people and give them game for free" - they don't want your pity - they just count their money bit more than me and you do... and they want to pay the price according to the time spent in game. 

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@Kirtis

 

When everything else fails, attack the person, not their arguement, right? That is what the ancient greeks called an "idioticos antilogos", today, the concept means "an idiot makes selfish arguements". 

I live in Greece, where people do get 500  (300 in part time jobs in many a case) Euro a month.. and these people can afford a WoW subscription - given they do play WoW that is . Also, I don't know what the media feeds you day in and day out, the actual situation is not Mad Max over this side of the fence. The same crime that exists wherever you live, exists here as well. It's just here that the media FOCUSES on it to create a narrative.

 

What's next? "NVidia, give us free GTX1080, or we won't be able to play DU !!" ??? 

 

"Intel!!!! GIVE ME FREE i7 7700K!"

"AMD, why no free Threadripper?!!?!?!?! How iz I play DU wit no 20-core PC?!"

Now, improve your arguement on the bullshit subscription model mentioned in the OP's topic or rest your case and move on. It's not Lethys' problem people have serious financial issues - or NQ's for that matter - nor you know if he worekd to earn his share or was born to wealth.
 

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thing is, I wouldn't play games (nor drink, nor smoke, nor throwing money out of the window) if I only earn 300€ / month. As twerk said, this "argument" of "make it cheaper!" doesn't start or stop with the monthly fee but goes on to hardware.

 

NQ charges 10-15€ per month of gametime. period. That's their choice and they thought very well about that, just look at very basic and simplified numbers.

 

If you want to play - pay.

If you want to play but can't afford it - improve your life first and do something about it, instead of whining about "make it cheaper!". You can always improve your situation if you work hard and be smart about certain aspects. NQ can't change your financial situation - YOU can

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Wow this is a heated thread! Guess I'll throw my two cents in !

 

So regarding OP:

 

1.  I like the ideas of advertising eventually showing up in the game.  However I believe it should be only in game advertisement.  Like an organization pays a player to host a sign, things like that.  No advertisements from the real world.

 

I understand that the idea is to get novaquark more money but the in game advertising helps to regulate a healthy economy which is a benefit.  As soon as you introduce real money being used to influence the action of players, it turns into a very nasty real estate grab for companies to get prime advertisement spots.  Also,  I don't think many companies would be that interested in advertising in the game.  The amount of people that would be exposed to the advertisements would be minimal Which would make their return on investment small enough to not care.  

 

2.  I support the idea of being able to personalize things in-game.  However the concept of paying money for personalized things in a game which is already using a subscription model is ludicrous.  I would rather see players develop custom textures or logos and be able to use those.  It could even lean into brands where you may pay a premium for a ship because it has a certain logo so you know it was made by a certain player/organization.  But,  I don't think this would be technically possible.  I praise NQ for a lot of technical things but I really don't see how they could manage allowing custom images and still keep end user performance high.  But hey, I'm all for it if they can do it.

 

3.  No,  I'd rather see the staff of NQ spending their time improving the core game which would help everyone.

 

4.  The subscription based model is fine.  I prefer MMO's where the model is subscription based.  This will honestly be the first game I play that is monthly subscription based.  However,  I believe the content provided is of high enough quality to warrant it.  

 

Honestly, players who don't want to spend money on time they don't have to play, e.g pay for a month when they only have 5 hours or less per month, probably should not play DU.  The game will require quite a bit of playing and or grinding.  These players' time would probably be better spent on a different game that's not subscription based.

 

I understand that incomes are different for different parts of the world. And,  for some people the current price model is too expensive even with an ok income.  For people in those parts of the world I would totally be for them paying less.  However, I also understand the impossibility of this.  Since there would be some jerks out there who would try to take advantage of this and exploit a cheaper price when they have plenty of money and live in a relatively wealthy country.

 

5.  This just seems kind of silly honestly.  I mean I understand where your coming from, but it's just silly.  There will no doubt be countless of videos or streams to watch on DU.  I would imagine people would watch these, or play on a friend's account to see if they are interested in the game.    

 

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7 minutes ago, Meumera said:

In-game Ad made by players.
Is a so good idea, its will make the game more immersive.

Ye sure, but the OP meant something along the lines of a space billboard advertising : 

"McDonald's DU Happy Meal Special - order now!".

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I think NQ had it right ... you either have time or money, either way you can play in a P2P game.
If you're saying you don't have time or money, then you shouldn't be making DU a priority in life, you should work on resolving that issue first so you fall in to either the "has lots of time" or "has lots of money" category.

I don't think it's unfair for NQ to expect a small fee to help them run the insane amounts of infrastructure DU is going to require.

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The subscription model stabilizes income for a service provider. Without it, NQ wouldn't be able to shell out millions every month for their ongoing infrastructure costs. Imagine the "pay as you go" model from a service provider perspective. They put together a massive server farm in advance, and hope you decide to play at least 60 hours a month. One week someone plays 12 hours, the next 2. The next week not at all. NQ can't rely on that income to operate. With a subscription, NQ knows how much money they have from month to month and can provide services accordingly. It's just an agreement.

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54 minutes ago, Captain Jack said:

The subscription model stabilizes income for a service provider. Without it, NQ wouldn't be able to shell out millions every month for their ongoing infrastructure costs. Imagine the "pay as you go" model from a service provider perspective. They put together a massive server farm in advance, and hope you decide to play at least 60 hours a month. One week someone plays 12 hours, the next 2. The next week not at all. NQ can't rely on that income to operate. With a subscription, NQ knows how much money they have from month to month and can provide services accordingly. It's just an agreement.

I think this is probably the best/only viable argument for subscription. Sure there are many other methods for companies to get money from a game, but this method works well for long term games like DU is aiming to be.

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I am also in favor of subs if it provides financial stability for devs while securing our virtual future. Given the scope they aim for,  it seems like a fair deal or price to me. 

 

And if you are in a tight situation, there are DAC. Good compromise or enticer in general. 

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Next up, Student body expects big discount on DU subscription to allow their 'poor members' to also be able to play the game.

 

Bottom line here is simple, you either pay the sub or put in the effort to be able to generate in game wealth to the point where you do not need to. And make no mistake about it, buying play time with in-game currency will always be more expensive (when translated to $$) once the in game market starts doing it's job.

 

You simply can not claim a right to play a game because the economics in your region would make doing so much more expensive than elsewhere. NQ will budget cost and pay salaries based on where they are to get the people and services they need, not say 'we only pay you half average as we need to be able to have people living in X buy the sub as well'

 

You do not walk into a bakery expecting to be able to pay for three slices of bread at a time as you only eat that much per day. You buy the loaf and it will maybe sometimes go stale..

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3 minutes ago, blazemonger said:

You do not walk into a bakery expecting to be able to pay for three slices of bread at a time as you only eat that much per day. You buy the loaf and it will maybe sometimes go stale..

That was the worst analogy ever. :ph34r:

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Just now, blazemonger said:

The argument was made to allow only paying for time spent.. Not paying the full monthly sub as you may/would not fully use it. I'd say pretty much sums it up..

I know what you meant. I was just yanking your chain. Probably a forum violation of some sort. :unsure:

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I tried to write as simple as possible, but it seems that people just see what they want to see, not what's written...

On 9/17/2017 at 3:53 PM, blazemonger said:

 

Next up, Student body expects big discount on DU subscription to allow their 'poor members' to also be able to play the game.

 

Bottom line here is simple, you either pay the sub or put in the effort to be able to generate in game wealth to the point where you do not need to. And make no mistake about it, buying play time with in-game currency will always be more expensive (when translated to $$) once the in game market starts doing it's job.

 

You simply can not claim a right to play a game because the economics in your region would make doing so much more expensive than elsewhere. NQ will budget cost and pay salaries based on where they are to get the people and services they need, not say 'we only pay you half average as we need to be able to have people living in X buy the sub as well'

 

You do not walk into a bakery expecting to be able to pay for three slices of bread at a time as you only eat that much per day. You buy the loaf and it will maybe sometimes go stale..

 

I DO NOT SUGGEST TO GIVE GAME FOR FREE OR TO GIVE IT CHEEPER TO ANYONE.

 

All I say - it would be beneficial both for the developer and for the players to have an option to buy a subscription based on time they intend to spend in game.

 

What I see now is the same if you would come to a food store for the milk and you'd be given the only option - to buy a 200 liter barrel of milk. And if you'd say, that you need only 1 liter bottle, there comes a "smartie" and says: "if I would have money only for 1 liter of milk I would not drink milk, neither go to food store until I would afford to buy a barrel". Yes, guys, your arguments are that stupid. ;) It's not about afford or not afford... expensive or cheep... There are simply people who don't need full month subscription. They can afford it, but they count their money and they don't want to buy a barrel, when actually they need half of it or even 1/200... Or lets put it another way: they agree to pay for a 200 liter barrel, but they ask: " can I pay for all these 200 liters in advance, but let me come to you and take 1 liter or even 0.5 liter at a time of fresh milk, when I need it instead of taking all the barrel at once and throwing most of it out as it will get spoiled in few days (in one month as we talk about monthly subscription). Yes, you can get stubborn and say: "either full barrel at once or no milk for you", but in that case this person won't buy from you and everyone looses - you sold nothing and he got no milk...

 

And I am sure, that most players will be fine with monthly subscription even if they won't play a lot. There has been a case in my own life that I was playing subscription based game for a while and paying by credit card and then I moved to another project, but few months later I noticed that the old project kept charging my credit card monthly, though I did not play it. I noticed it only several months later and it wasn't a big deal for me. Yea, I could start arguing, and could prove that I did not use their product, I could require refund, but I just forgot it and moved on. But this is me - other people count their money  better that I do and they would not let such thing to happen. And these players, even if they'll be just a small fraction of all the player base, can still bring in some extra income to the project if they'll get heard and offered service on the terms acceptable for them.

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Beneficial to the player? Maybe. Beneficial to the developer? Heck no. @Kirtis

 

Servers have an hourly cost, regardless of whether there's any processing being done on them or not. So you being offline and not paying loses them money.

 

We've had these "I'm living on my parents giving me pocket money, and I can't afford a subscription" threads time and time again, well, newsflash: You're not the target audience.

 

I seriously hope we get an "exhausted topic" rule here sooner than later, if just for threads aboue 'payment model' alone.

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21 minutes ago, Kirtis said:

I tried to write as simple as possible, but it seems that people just see what they want to see, not what's written...

 

I DO NOT SUGGEST TO GIVE GAME FOR FREE OR TO GIVE IT CHEEPER TO ANYONE.

But you are.. Unless you are saying those who can should pay full price, those who can't should have the option to get in cheaper.

The argument that some, while the can afford the sub, may prefer to buy only time spend is just nonsense and shows you are reaching here.

 

Simple truth of the matter is that playing (subscription based) games is a luxury some will not be able to afford.

Another simple truth is that what you suggest is economically not viable, unless you suggest NQ tells their partner who provides server time that they should only pay for actual metered use of the servers and not for the fact they are using server space they are not actively using as their users are not logged on. Actually, if that was an option it would probably becomes so much more expensive that they would need to charge so much for  'time spent' sub it would basically be more affordable to just buy a monthly sub anyway for most and the rest would probably not be worth catering to anyway.

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1 minute ago, Megaddd said:

Beneficial to the player? Maybe. Beneficial to the developer? Heck no.

 

Servers have an hourly cost, regardless of whether there's any processing being done on them or not. So you being offline and not paying loses them money.

But when people pay for the time they are online - developer gets money. Alternative in that case will be no income at all. Which is worse for developer? ;)

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Also this argument is a bit of a hair-splitting fest.

 

Willing to pay to play for a period of time, but not willing to shell out for the price for a full month... There is no way the monthly sub is so expensive that it warrants alternative/smaller options. Either the game is worth its full fee or its not, fortunately once the game is actually released, a player would only need to "waste" 1 month's fee to discover that the game isn't something they like.

 

In this case though, the monthly fee is about as much as a Magic the Gathering player spends in a *week* drafting. This is about the cost of going to the shooting range once for a short session if you add in the cost of ammunition. This is the price of 1 decent meal at a restaurant, or an OK meal if you are drinking. This is about the cost of seeing 2 movies, or 1 movie and snacks at a theater.

 

Consider that so many leisure activities cost this amount in 1 session, but this fee pays for the full month. Even if you only play 1 weekend session per-week, that's 4x the entertainment-hours-per-dollar as those activities listed above.

 

I'd say we've exhausted this topic by now.

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