R: [MUD-Dev] Rewarding Beta Testers (There's Pricing Deal)

[Ghilardi Filippo]

From: Samurai Cat! @ Catacombs

> Personally, I (and hundreds/thousands of other past/present beta
> testers, I would guess) think that's a peachy idea. And not even
> CDs - just a link to a downloadable client and a cd/account key
> would do it for 99% of folks, methinks. It's much more feasable
> than lifetime accounts, financially. Most folks I've talked to,
> who I've been in beta with, don't seem to have any real issue with
> paying the monthly fee like everyone else - but the most frequent
> "why didn't they" bit was the free client issue.

I suppose they don't do so (download links and such) because they
don't want to upset retailers and distributors from one side and
that they want all the money players can give on the other side. :)

We need to think that many of MMO games had many tens of thousand
beta testers at final stages.

Even 1 dollar each player isn't that much alone, but can be a lot
for a company that collect it from each player.

I suppose that about 30% of retail price goes to dev team company,
another 40% goes to publisher/main distributor and another 30% to
retail shop.  Probably margins are even lower for devs and shops.

For developing comapny probably is the same to sell a box or sell
online at a very low price. But that would mean a lot less sales
using usual channels.

This could be different for small companies that don't have good
deals with a publisher. In such cases they could decide to sell only
online (eventually giving a download option).

For the There game from wich this thread started....  I've discussed
pricing and beta testers bonuses with a friend hours ago.  As I've
been told that you can make (as ex-beta tester) a lifetime account
with 30$.

This means that you pay 30$ one time and won't pay anything more
(teorically). No need to pay a monthly fee. But you can buy virtual
money with real money. If you pay a monthly fee, part of it is
converted in virtual money. So, probably you'll pay more than
initial 30$.

ciaooo
Filippo
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