Pay-2-Play

[[-NIM-]Orangelily]

I remember we had a discussion about this when the idea was first mooted, and there was a pretty angry response. Since then matters seemed to have cooled down a little - is there a better time to heat them up again? :E

Basic points then.

Are people still opposed to paying for online gaming?

Would people be prepared to pay?

Do Wireplay/Blueyonder have a right to try and make profit out of their gaming operations?

Angry and ill-considered responses are very much encouraged.

[TK421]

I think it boils down to numbers and the majority. Most wont pay for a service that inst unique and lacks unique content, cos frankly thats the only way you can make money in this industry. If a service isnt significantly different from any other then why should people pay, (and I mean different in many ways; pings, leagues, content, community etc).

Im not quite sure what you mean when you ask if they have the right to make a profit, as it takes time and effort to create something as significant as a gsp these days, along with its leagues, communities etc and people should be rewarded. Making a profit, or at least to have a target of profitability is double edged sword. It's a good incentive to keep things working properly as it drives people to use the service and keeps them here, on the other hand you can be profitable by spending as little money as possible, thus keeping the service barely usable but sufficiently active so people dont leave in large numbers. it's all about balance I suppose (which most GSPs never seem to attain - Take BW, WP before they were reinvented)

I would've answered differently 6 months ago, but the net changes, and the people who use it are fickle ...

[NWA]

Well i think i am quite willing to pay2play, especially once i get a debit/credit card when im 18, but I'm not willing to pay more than really £5-£8 a month.

On the same topic but veering off slightly, i have heard that in 1.4 Valve are planning on making u register ur CS copy for $$$. Are we willing to pay this? Especially if it doesnt live up to expectations (anti-cheat, hitoxes etc.)

[[-NIM-]Orangelily]

Yeah Tk, I recall people expressing moral outrage in the past about WP's attempts to finance its gaming operation. People seemed to think that the internet should be free, and that it should be provided to them free of charge.

I was wondering if people still believed that to be the case.

Incidently, I think the rumours about paying for CS are overdone, but I think the technology they're testing in CS will allow them to charge in the future, either on a Pay-per-play or fixed-fee basis.

That's another point, would people object to paying regularly for an online FPS in the same way that people pay for UO or Everquest?

[Conquistador]

Yeah 6 months ago I would have said no way! but now I would be willing to pay for a reliable service that provides more than just servers to play. I gave to think about those services they would have to provide but I let you know.

Also i think a monthly subscription is the way to go. Keeps ppl only playing in that GSP.

[MARINE [USMC]]

I aint paying for cs

That'll be the end of it for me

But I will pay for wireplay

[Lungboy]

I've got no problems at all paying for WP, as i used to pay for it years ago, before it went free. I remember it being much better then, although time does tend to add rose tinted glasses to most memories.

Paying for CS is a different matter. The reason i didn't object (too strongly) to paying my UO subscription was because it was a constantly running world (almost), and therefore they had to store all the gigs upon gigs of player information, plus pay wages of people to maintain the servers, police the servers as GM's etc. CS is played on servers that are nothing to do with Valve, so i don't see how they can justify charging us to play it. If they do then surely everyone can downgrade to the last beta and tell Valve to get stuffed?

[[KK]BigAl]

Tbh I reckon it will have to happen because maybe it's just me, but the performance of all the other free servers since the demise of Wireplay has been shocking at times, especially BlueYonder. This was probably caused by Wireplay's previous incarnation sinking to a watery gaming grave. Mind you I don't know why we're moaning, we all used to have to pay for it in the initial stages when it was owned by BT. £10 a month or £99.99 if ou paid via credit card for a whole year, PLUS the cost of the phone call when using Wireplay Direct because truth be told, it owned :) Ahhhh happy memories.

[Lungboy]

When i used to play QW, i used to ping around the mid 80's, on my glorious Pace 56k internal modem and WPDirect. I don't even get that on ISDN on the BY servers :/

[IronFire]

If you had asked me the same question 6 months ago I would have said no, but with the state of most online games I play atm compared to how they used to be and when WP was a closed GSP I would now happily pay to get such a service back. All i want is lower 200 pings on my modems, a 12 person CS server with no lamers and id be happy.

[Shockwave]

WP aint introducing Pay to play so dont worry:)

[[-NIM-]Orangelily]

Will you be charging subs?

Not initially. We will be offering subscription and paid-for options at a point in the future. We'll keep you informed as the time approaches. We are committed to ALWAYS have some non-subscription services, however.


Its gonna be kinda P2P - pretty similar to BY's big plan by the looks of things.