Comments on: All Access Pass

By: Kill Ten Rats » Blog Archive » Tell Me How Very Wrong I Am

Kill Ten Rats » Blog Archive » Tell Me How Very Wrong I Am — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 05:05:30 +0000

[...] One reason I write is to learn. We toss ideas out and see how far they go. The blog has ideas, opinions, anecdotes, questions, speculation, snark, rants, reviews, half-formed ideas, and well-considered proposals. My specialty seems to be extended ruminations that explore several aspects of an idea without necessarily going anywhere. We have many notions that could be improved by further discussion and critique. [...]

By: Collin

Collin — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 05:01:40 +0000

An all access pass isn’t what has me wondering. I think that’s a good model for Sony, but we all know that they’re pulling money in from stranger services (i.e. Station Exchange being profitable… wtf?!?!)

What I wonder about is the idea of paying a flat fee for a lifetime subscription. I mean, what if everyone went for this plan? The company would have a huge influx of money, but would they have the budget to develop expansions in the long run?

By: Rand 'al Thor

Rand 'al Thor — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 05:07:33 +0000

I’ve always been of a mindset that MMO’s should either be free for the client and then pay a monthly fee, or Pay for the box and no monthly fee (ala Guild Wars).

As for “pass” type deals, there has yet ot be a game company that has enough titles that interest me enough to justify buying a “pass”.

Example nothing on Sony’s pass interests me outside of Planetside. Even that game I only play on a free account now (they need ot lower the price on the monthly fee, aside from the scale of the battles just about everything done in PS is now done by Battlefield games and it’s ilk)

I will say though that Turbine if they had it might convince me. Currently giving DDO a try, and I’m really hoping LOTR is going ot be good.

By: Bildo

Bildo — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 03:30:38 +0000

I’d actually love this… I’m one of the very few fans of Auto Assault, and I dig CoX on an on/off basis. Plus very much looking forward to Aion and Tabula Rasa. Even at 24.99, I’d be sold. I can’t stand to pay for Auto Assault, even being a fan of it, on a consistent basis, but a plan like that would make it worth wild.

By: covert.c

covert.c — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 02:48:59 +0000

“What would be really nice if a service was formed which would allow independent MMOs to join and then could charge players a single all-access pass fee.”

Another great idea.

Here’s an unrealistic and contentious follow-on to that. Allow the players of these indie games to move between worlds *in-game*.

By: TheeNickster

TheeNickster — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 02:09:22 +0000

Jeff Freeman said: “Why in the hell are they charging MORE for that?”

—————————————————————————

Cause they are greedy! Also we let them do it…

By: Lachek

Lachek — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 01:28:54 +0000

“The last thing this market needs is a segregated community. Are you part of X Pass or Y Pass?”

Are you US Alliance or Team Advantage?

(spot the obscure reference, win a prize!)

By: Heartless_

Heartless_ — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 01:01:29 +0000

I don’t think it is as great as you all make it out to be. How can you justify charging me $15 for access to a single game when someone can pay $25 and get access to all three? Outside of the initial investment into buying the game there isn’t much upside as a player. Chances are most players will have it as a novelty instead of something they use to it’s full potential. The proverbial “spreading yourself too thin”.

The last thing this market needs is a segregated community. Are you part of X Pass or Y Pass?

By: Zubon

Zubon — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 23:15:22 +0000

A downside could be bookkeeping and accounting messes. If you have multiple studios or developers, you need a way to allocate those dollars across games. That can be difficult, can encourage hardship between studios (and general drama), and can even affect game development.

Example: you pay each company a percentage based on what percent of players’ time is spent in that game. Developers now have an incentive to give you an incentive to stay logged in, like CoH’s badges that can only be sanely achieved by overnight AFK farming. However you get paid, you have an incentive to encourage players to do that.

By: Relmstein

Relmstein — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 20:32:53 +0000

I think Turbine and EA Mythic could both offer a All-Access pass eventually when their new titles come out.

Turbine:
Asheron’s Call
Dungeons and Dragons
Lord of the Rings (coming soon)

EA Mythic:
Ultima Online
Dark Age of Camelot
Warhammer (coming soon)

What would be really nice if a service was formed which would allow independent MMOs to join and then could charge players a single all-access pass fee. There are a lot of independent MMOs like Runescape, Puzzle Pirates, Eve Online, and Shadowbane which would benefit from a platform so they could share subscribers.