[MUD-Dev] Star Wars Galaxies: 1 character per server

[Marc Fielding]

[Matt Mihaly]

>> A simple solution would be to only allow one character per server
>> to perform offline construction at a time. New requests for
>> offline construction would supercede previous ones.
 
> That's not really a solution insofar as it drastically increases
> the number of accounts who will be faucets. Many people will not
> spend the points to make their primary character a significant
> faucet in an SCS model.

I'm sorry. I'm not getting your point. Could you please elaborate?

>> I wouldn't categorize it as stealing if someone lets family
>> members play on his or her account. The true value in a MMOG is
>> playing with friends.  The fact that only one character from an
>> account may be active at a time is the limiting factor: if you
>> want to play with friends, you all need separate accounts.
 
> It violates the contract you agree to when you install the
> software. It's stealing. (And, incidentally, that's one reason
> Raph cited for going with the SCS model.)

Well, it's a technical violation of the contract, but with such
non-approved usage seemingly widespread, why not legitimize it? The
customer has indicated a preference for the practice. SOE stands to
gain "free" word-of-mouth advertising from it. Time to "embrace and
extend."  ;)

>> The flat fee for EQ buys a customer unlimited usage and N
>> character slots. Allowing friends and family to play on the same
>> account exceeds neither of those resource allocations. On the
>> positive side, the ability to let others playtest the game on
>> your account just might get them hooked enough to sign up for
>> their OWN accounts.

> They are theoretically alloted unlimited usage and N character
> slots. In reality however, people don't max their resource drain
> on SOE. If they expected everyone to max the resource drain, the
> price would have to go up I'd imagine.

I believe that account sharing is inherently self-limiting. It is
not in my best interest to allow a large number of players to use my
account, otherwise everyone's playtime would be limited and
scheduling/coordination becomes more complex. 24x7 utilization isn't
even likely. ("All right, who wants the 3-6am slot this week!")

Account sharing gives everyone a little taste of the action. If they
like what they see, they want more time. This results in scheduling
conflicts with the other players. Eventually the frustration grows
to the point where new accounts are purchased.

At most, average usage will be moderately elevated, not maxxed out.

-Marc







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