MMO BinA Geek's Look at Massively Multiplayer Online Games

At any given time, I have subscriptions to four or more games; a combination of work related and personal. Right now my game schedule happens to be EverQuest, EverQuest II, Vanguard, Lord of the Rings Online, Eve, and I’m testing out the free seven day trial of Age of Conan. Interspersed in there are some free to play like Chronicles of Spellborn, Hero Online, Silkroad Online, and Runes of Magic. By now, I certainly know what I like to play and what I don’t like to play. I know what aspects of games draw me in and keep me there, and what will eventually drive me crazy.

On that note one thing that bothers me as I try out so many different games is the method of paying for these games.

There are a few methods available, I’ll admit that. A few triple A titles allow you to purchase a game card from your local store – which is alright but not exactly convenient if you’re looking to play right away. The majority of games with monthly subscriptions take credit cards as their ‘main’ (and only) method of payment. This is fine – but what if you don’t have a credit card, or don’t want to put games on the credit card.

Numerous ‘free to play’ games allow you to purchase their items (be it coins to use in game or another method of RMT) via paypal – or some other secure site, along with credit cards. Given that younger gamers may not have a credit card and parents may not want to give one out – I love this method. The more options you give to your player base, the bigger your player base will be in the end.

Now, there are also sites that offer game cards, both delivered and online with various forms of paying for them but having never used one myself, I’m not sure how secure and safe these are. Anyone have any experience with them? Feel free to leave a comment below!

I’d love to see more triple A titles break away from the credit card standard of being the only method of payment. Even if it means you have to pay every single month (ie: non-reoccurring).

Along those same lines – why not offer better pricing packages. Lord of the Rings Online offers a lifetime subscription plan, as well as a lowered rate for those players who got in on the ground floor (or for those who pre-ordered Mines of Moria) or even those who were recruited by a friend who already has the lowered price. These are great incentives to get people to play. $14.99/m US seems to be the common theme (in the past at least) as far as a pricing guide goes. LotRO offers $9.99/m US. Sony does offer a Station Access plan that players can purchase for $29.99/m US that grants access to most (if not all) of the SOE games but if you’re not already playing more then one game, it doesn’t really seem worth it. 

The bottom line is people love choices (well, a lot of them do). If I could subscribe life-time to EQ2 I certainly would. If I could get some sort of family bundle price (which you can get in Wizard 101) for owning multiple accounts I’d love that too. Of course there are already a lot of people who two box so if you’re offering a lower rate you may actually lose money depending on how many players may open up a second account based on lower fees, but there may be enough to counteract the loss of people simply owning two accounts. Hopefully that made sense.

Who knows, maybe in the future we’ll see a few more games break from the pack and offer players greater options as far as payments and pricing plans go. It’s certainly something I personally look forward to.