Age of Conan, the latest in the parade of Massively-Multiplayer Online Gaming scams, released yesterday. Almost immediately a number of my friends happily boarded the train where you not only have to buy a ticket to get on, but also must continue slipping bills to the conductor to prevent him from throwing you off somewhere between here and Timbuktu.
I have never understood why gamers have gathered in disorganized hordes about a business model that sells you a “product” that requires a monthly fee to remain operative. Unlike subscription services like Xbox Live, which charges a monthly fee to play all of your games online (games that all have exciting single-player components), MMO developers charge you $50 for a game that has zero value until you buy into their $15/month subscription plan.
With such a steady stream of income, you’d think they would allow potential users to get the game for free – after all it’s worthless until you start paying. On the other side, they could create a single-player aspect so you would actually get something for the $50 if you didn’t want to pay an additional $180 per year. Instead, these companies are making bank on this because apparently millions of people find the gameplay fun enough that they will knowingly allow themselves to be ripped off.
As for me, I don’t care how awesome the game is – I refuse to pay $120 for a “game” that will become completely useless in six months unless I work their “fee” into my monthly budget. You can find me on Team Fortress 2, where a one-time charge of $20 gets me unlimited multiplayer gameplay, indefinitely.
- Life is an MMO | mistypedURL (May 16, 2008 at 4:29 pm)
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