[MUD-Dev] Commercialization of virtual spaces

[Justin Stocks]

From: "Russ Whiteman" <russw99 at swbell.net>
> From: "Justin Stocks" <juztyn at massassi.net>

>> It would be interesting the speculate, if such commercialization
>> become popular, what effect it would have on monthly fees for the
>> larger online games.
 
> I don't see any reason to think that in-game advertising would
> affect the monthly fees in any significant way...  Just because I
> find a new revenue stream, why would I voluntarily shut down or
> reduce a different (and currently quite profitable) revenue
> stream?  I'll admit that it's a possible entry point for a new
> company (you can play -our- game for free), but I just don't see
> it making a bit of difference to any existing game.

I suppose it's kind of like a PBS vs ABC. PBS shows no commercials,
and relies on it's viewer base for donations. ABC, on the other
hand, asks nothing from it's viewers other then they watch, and rely
on advertisements during breaks in their programming for income. ABC
tends to have the better (more popular) programming...

Amusing that it's the other way around for online games... What
exactly am I trying to say? I think that if someone were to open up
an advertisement funded online game, and they could find enough
support from the commercial world, that it might just catch on, ala
ABC. But of course, you'd need A (advertisements) before you could
have B (players), and you'd need B (players) before anyone would buy
an A (advertisement space) from you. Oh well.

Anyway, I don't assume to be a big time developer. I'm just a
hobbyist who plays with the big time developer's kitchen scraps. :-)

- Justin


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