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crazyguy0
Village Dweller
Joined: 01 Jul 2003
Posts: 1
Location: Seymour, TN |
Hey, I just got a computer good enough to play good games, and im looking for a good mmorpg. however i dont want to pay an additional fee. Are there any without the fee that are any good? 
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Crazy kids... In my day we didnt have electricity. We had to play video games by candlelight! |
Tue Jul 01, 2003 5:51 pm |
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Hexy
High Emperor
Joined: 28 Jun 2002
Posts: 621
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No.
Then again, I suppose it's how you determine 'good'. Want nice graphics? Large world? GM's, and customer service etc. etc.?
I think there are a few MMORPG's which are very limited, but don't require a fee.
_________________
Like some bold seer in a trance;
Seeing all his own mischance |
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Tue Jul 01, 2003 6:55 pm |
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Stiler
Fearless Paladin
Joined: 23 Mar 2002
Posts: 230
Location: TN, USA |
Not really at the moment.
Keep a eye on www.roma-victor.com though.
The fee's in most games are to pay for -
Bandwidth
servers
CS
techies
patches/etc to keep the game running and add new things to it.
However imo they coulda survived with the usual 9.95, now it seems they are having a fight to see who can charge the most, with swg being 15, i don't doubt WoW and horizons will jack up their price to 15 too.
and it pisses me off, because it can add up over time, 10 bucks was ok to get by with, espically if you were a poor redneck high schooler without a job.
Also since prices for things (like bandwidth) has came DOWN not went up. |
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Tue Jul 01, 2003 10:31 pm |
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Xanaki
Ghost of Asheron
Joined: 07 May 2002
Posts: 398
Location: Helsinki, Finland |
I personally think that the words Free and MMORPG can not be combined in any way. Only the costs to run a MMORPG (it really means MASSIVELY multiplayer) servers providing the needed bandwidth alone are so big that it is impossible to run such thing for free. The money has to come from somewhere.
Also, developing a huge multiplayer game with evolving content is not cheap.
I know of MMOs that supposed to be free (for example, PlaneShift when they get released. Lets see if they really can do that.
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=Moderator of General MMORPG talk forum=
Senior Editor @ www.mmorpgdot.com |
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Wed Jul 02, 2003 1:10 pm |
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greyskull
Village Dweller
Joined: 26 Jun 2003
Posts: 17
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yea, it seems like there are tons of costs to keeping a game like this running. They not only have server costs (which are high) but the newer games like Horizons are focusing more on renewing content and customer service. They have to pay the people who continue to develop content for the games, and are there around the clock to solve any problems people have. These games are Massive indead..... much more than i had ever thought at first glance anyway |
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Wed Jul 09, 2003 11:54 pm |
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NeverDark
Village Leader
Joined: 07 Feb 2003
Posts: 91
Location: Virtual Reality aka Life |
Why are so many people afraid to pay minimal fee once per month? $10-12/mo is nothing for anyone who's got a job or parents  Besides, it's even less than what you pay for your favorite SP games. For example, I paid $50 for Baldur's Gate 2, and finished it in 2 months. Awesome game, indeed, and it cost me $25/mo to enjoy it. Now, when you purchase a MMORPG (or any other MMOG) you usually pay around $50 for the software itself, get a first month free, and then pay another $10 for the second month. All in all, you end up paying $30/mo for MMORPG as opposed to about $20-25/mo for SP RPG. After the second month is when the actual savings start, since you don't have to buy a new game, and only need to pay a monthly fee.
Now, whether or not MMORPGS are your cup of tea, is a totally different question. Personally, I don't enjoy them much. I only played AO and found it to be incredibly shallow, albeit huge in proportion, and dangerously addictive. But I can't resist from trying EQII or LineageII when they come out  |
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Thu Jul 17, 2003 7:53 pm |
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TreeTrunk
Village Dweller
Joined: 03 Apr 2002
Posts: 10
Location: Virginia, USA |
To paraphrase:"10$ a month is no problem if you have parents? (joke face)"
Good grief. I don't care if it is a joke. 10$ a month is a lot of money for many people! I'm gonna have to take you on a tour of some of the neighbourhoods near where I live. You can't install computers in some of the houses there because the roaches eat the wiring in the computers.
I worked with a 6 year old that ran errands on the street for drug dealers. He would take the money he earned to buy food because his mom was a crack whore, and the courts wouldn't give him to his uncle because he was a trasvenstite. (A nice person, btw, but where I live the state would rather he run the streets with drug money.) |
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Sun Jul 20, 2003 4:31 pm |
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NeverDark
Village Leader
Joined: 07 Feb 2003
Posts: 91
Location: Virtual Reality aka Life |
Riiight, and people in some African nations have an annual income less than $10 and never saw food other than on the pictures. In my statement, I was referring to people who can afford to purchase and maintain a computer system suitable for gaming, pay for the internet connection and for the game software. No matter how you put it, $10/mo is not a big deal for people like that.
Just because millions of people live in poverty doesn't mean that MMOG companies should release their software for free. Gaming is a luxury afteral, not a necessity.
Thank you for making me sound like an arrogant, well fed prick, who doesn't care, neither recognizes the presence of humanitarian crisis in modern society (at least that's how your comment made me feel) |
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Sun Jul 20, 2003 5:17 pm |
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TreeTrunk
Village Dweller
Joined: 03 Apr 2002
Posts: 10
Location: Virginia, USA |
Well, I guess we disagree at a different level then, maybe because of my tight budget. I still consider $10 a month to be a lot of money, even though I can afford a computer. I agree with you that if a game is fun and entertaining over the long term, then per investment time, $10 to $15 a month isn't bad. But if I am paying $230 dollars for anything in the course of a year, I probably would never consider it less than a significant expense. So I never buy into down-playing the cost of online games. Most strongly because I do not spend more on entertainment in any other form, so that the total cost, relative to my experience, is significant. |
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Mon Jul 21, 2003 2:09 pm |
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Ammon777
Warrior for Heaven
Joined: 20 Apr 2002
Posts: 2011
Location: United States |
pffft. no fee? for a 'massive' online game? unless the game is total crap, its not gonna happen.  |
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Tue Jul 22, 2003 1:57 am |
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armnhamr
Village Dweller
Joined: 24 Jul 2003
Posts: 3
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I've always thought these games were underpriced. I think it'll eventually settle in around $20/month. This is not a bad thing. You can get more service and fewer kids at a higher price. |
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Thu Jul 24, 2003 7:57 pm |
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Ekim
Eagle's Shadow
Joined: 27 May 2002
Posts: 2365
Location: Montreal, Canada |
quote:
Originally posted by armnhamr
I've always thought these games were underpriced. I think it'll eventually settle in around $20/month. This is not a bad thing. You can get more service and fewer kids at a higher price.
I wouldn't want the publishers to feel they can charge me more to give more service  As for having less kids in the game... it doesn't guarantee that at all. Parents are the ones to pay for those games, and if the game is popular enough then you'll see just as many kids in there as in those who charge $12.
The only way you could have less kids by charging more is if a game had two payment options for two seperate types of servers (Regular fee and premium fee servers for instance, where the premium servers would offer more GMs in game ready to assist you in a quicker time frame). Under such a plan, you would probably find the "kids" on the lower priced server because parents would want to pay the least amount possible for their children's amusement, while more adults willing to pay the premium fee would find their way on the premium servers.
I think EQ has (or had, I don't know if it's still up) such a plan, and it works to some extent. Otherwise, charging more for a game does not guarantee more service, or less kids 
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=Proud Father of a new gamer GIRL!=
=Member of The Nonflamers' Guild=
=Worshiper of the Written Word= |
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Fri Jul 25, 2003 1:15 pm |
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armnhamr
Village Dweller
Joined: 24 Jul 2003
Posts: 3
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quote:
Under such a plan, you would probably find the "kids" on the lower priced server because parents would want to pay the least amount possible for their children's amusement, while more adults willing to pay the premium fee would find their way on the premium servers.
I believe the same logic would apply to whole games, not just variant servers. Now that there are many online game options available, the kids would get steered toward the cheaper ones and many adults would gravitate to the premium ones.
Also, when I say premium service, I don't just mean faster gm response to problems, I mean more dynamic content, fewer people per server, etc. |
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Fri Jul 25, 2003 6:16 pm |
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SirDeity
Gothic's Loyal Hero
Joined: 14 Jan 2002
Posts: 602
Location: Maine, USA |
I used to play EQ. I had a couple level 60 characters: Wizard and Warrior... I played for a few years. Someone told me it costs Varent something like $300,000 dollars per day or week to keep everything running. If you want a good MMORPG, your best bet would be to try out the most expensive ones. They'll most likely be the ones who spend the most money on improving their game. I'm currently waiting for WoW and EQII. Blizzard's WoW will easily take the lead in the MMORPG gaming industry, but EQ will always be a top dog.
There are several free "MUD" MMORPG games out there you can play. A MUD is a text based game. If you don't mind reading they can be fun...
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I am the founder and former leader of a guild in EQ, retired member of The Code in EQ, original member of KOE in AOE2, past Corporal of EVO in MOHAA, respected veteran of UT 2003, a conquerer of all decent games, and an aspiring game developer.
Gothic's Loyal Hero, SirDeity |
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Mon Jul 28, 2003 12:35 am |
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Ekim
Eagle's Shadow
Joined: 27 May 2002
Posts: 2365
Location: Montreal, Canada |
quote:
Originally posted by SirDeity
If you want a good MMORPG, your best bet would be to try out the most expensive ones. They'll most likely be the ones who spend the most money on improving their game.
That logic is scary and I wouldn't want it to be true. It would be like saying that paying more for a game (multiplayer or not) automatically means that it's better, which is simply not true. More money doesn't necessarily mean more quality or more dedication... I refuse to believe that. A game has to be judged on its own merits first, not by the amount it charges.
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=Proud Father of a new gamer GIRL!=
=Member of The Nonflamers' Guild=
=Worshiper of the Written Word= |
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Mon Jul 28, 2003 2:25 pm |
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