Top Mud Sites Forum - View Single Post - commercial profitmaking muds, what do they sell?

Malifax · 04-13-2006, 10:05 AM

I used to run a role-play intensive pay-per-play game. We charged an all encompassing $10/month that paid for three character slots, access to six scheduled weekly events, auctions, gladitorial games, costume parties, craft fairs, weddings, custom player homes/shops, and many other things. Unfortunately, we never could field a staff large enough to support everything we wanted to do, so those of us who did the work burned out badly. It was full-time for two of us and we didn't get rich. Far from.

We had both played multiple pay games over the years and were determined to be different. We didn't want to be Simutronics and dredge money out of every game experience. It was our belief that one price should cover everything, that if we offered a quality product with fun in-game opportunities and charged one, reasonable price that people would appreciate it and flock our way. It never happened, for various reasons.

But I do have a point, and my point is, I can see both sides. Designing and running events and maintaining customer service takes a ton of time and hard work. Building areas/mechanics for quests or dozens of items for auctions, running merchant events, doing everything it takes to pull off a nice wedding or taking the time to organize/prepare gladitorial games takes ability and effort. And I have absolutely no problem someone charging for those kinds of "services."

The way I see it, you get a lot of entertainment value out of the $12.95 you pay Simutronics every month. The game is there for you, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Compare that to a night at the movies, some popcorn and a drink, by yourself. You're over $10 right there. A ticket to a college sports event is going to set you back $15, BARE MINIMUM. Three DVD rentals at Blockbuster puts you over twelve bucks. I guess the value of an entertainment dollar is in the eye of the beholder, and to me, a professionally run text RPG is a pretty good deal.

Where I differ with companies like Simutronics is that I disagree that these games should be cash cows, and when you charge players piecemeal for all the coolest stuff that happens in the game, that's what it says to me that you believe. A game publisher deserves reimbursement for his work, but not hundreds of thousands of dollars. In my mind, that ambition contradicts everything that the game is supposed to be about.

There's something to be said about the laws of economics, though. Simutronics and IRE seem to be doing very well with their business models, so who's to say? As long as there are people willing to pay the price, how can it be wrong?

04-13-2006, 10:05 AM	#8
Malifax Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 108	I used to run a role-play intensive pay-per-play game. We charged an all encompassing $10/month that paid for three character slots, access to six scheduled weekly events, auctions, gladitorial games, costume parties, craft fairs, weddings, custom player homes/shops, and many other things. Unfortunately, we never could field a staff large enough to support everything we wanted to do, so those of us who did the work burned out badly. It was full-time for two of us and we didn't get rich. Far from. We had both played multiple pay games over the years and were determined to be different. We didn't want to be Simutronics and dredge money out of every game experience. It was our belief that one price should cover everything, that if we offered a quality product with fun in-game opportunities and charged one, reasonable price that people would appreciate it and flock our way. It never happened, for various reasons. But I do have a point, and my point is, I can see both sides. Designing and running events and maintaining customer service takes a ton of time and hard work. Building areas/mechanics for quests or dozens of items for auctions, running merchant events, doing everything it takes to pull off a nice wedding or taking the time to organize/prepare gladitorial games takes ability and effort. And I have absolutely no problem someone charging for those kinds of "services." The way I see it, you get a lot of entertainment value out of the $12.95 you pay Simutronics every month. The game is there for you, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Compare that to a night at the movies, some popcorn and a drink, by yourself. You're over $10 right there. A ticket to a college sports event is going to set you back $15, BARE MINIMUM. Three DVD rentals at Blockbuster puts you over twelve bucks. I guess the value of an entertainment dollar is in the eye of the beholder, and to me, a professionally run text RPG is a pretty good deal. Where I differ with companies like Simutronics is that I disagree that these games should be cash cows, and when you charge players piecemeal for all the coolest stuff that happens in the game, that's what it says to me that you believe. A game publisher deserves reimbursement for his work, but not hundreds of thousands of dollars. In my mind, that ambition contradicts everything that the game is supposed to be about. There's something to be said about the laws of economics, though. Simutronics and IRE seem to be doing very well with their business models, so who's to say? As long as there are people willing to pay the price, how can it be wrong?