[MUD-Dev] ghost mode (was Re: SW:G)

[Rayzam]

From: "Acius" <acius at hedwig.simud.org>
> Rayzam wrote:

>> Here's a crazy idea: Scale the monthy subscription by advancement
>> in the game!

>>   Starting character: $2/month
>>   Medium character: $10/month
>>   High character: $15/month

>> This way, you scale the monthly fee to the amount of content the
>> character can access. Of course, modify this if the game allows
>> multiple accounts, i.e. just take the highest level to determine
>> the fee.

> I think this is a *crazy* idea, and am surprised that all the
> other followups so far have agreed with it. This is essentially a
> loyalty tax -- you hung onto our game for a long time, so bang,
> we're going to penalize you for it! If the jump from $2 to $10 is
> at level 30, how many players are going to try and stay on level
> 29 as long as possible? You've just created a strong disincentive
> for them to level up that last little bit. At the very least, your
> RP players (who may not need to be as strong) are going to try and
> make sure they don't cross that nasty real-life-money
> threshold. "I can afford to play until I hit 30, then I have to
> start over..."

> And beware the new style of griefer: The XP griefer! Haha, I just
> raised your monthly fee! I'm not sure how you can force a player
> to gain XP, but I suspect they'll find a way. If nothing else, put
> them in a dangerous enough situation that they have to fight or
> die -- so they die, or they gain XP, a lose-lose situation.

> You can avoid this sharp threshold by having a smoothly sliding
> scale -- so there is no gateway of financial doom, but rather you
> lose a few more cents a month every time you gain another
> experience point. Either way, though, it's still a loyalty tax.

Surprisingly, that's what's currently in place anyways. That is, the
'loyalty tax' as stated. It's called expansions. You want to access
more content, got to buy an expansion pack. Don't have that pack,
can't access that content/those areas/etc. So the longer you play,
the more access you already get to content, and you do pay more for
it. It's a great revenue source for the company: you know the size
of the demographic you're selling to plus you'll entice some new
players to join too [can give the new guys all the old stuff
anyways]. Therefore, if you've paid for every Everquest expansion,
you've paid a loyalty tax versus someone who comes in much later,
and gets a bunch of them for 1 price. Empirically, I don't see it
causing players to leave in droves.

You are right about not step-laddering it. And possibly, the way to
do it is to make it more content related. So instead of it being by
character level, have it be which areas you can access. Higher level
content costs more to access. At each tier, new, harder, higher
areas are available with better equipment, and whatnot. Of course,
the corrolary now is that the higher level players won't want to pay
for access to the useless-to-them-now lower level areas. But that's
just a matter of playing with the numbers:

    Low level areas: $2/mo
    Mid level areas: $4/mo
    High level areas: $8/mo

    If you want low + mid = $6/mo
    Mid + high = $12/mo

    Etc.

Anyways, it was just a crazy idea: base the fee on the amount of
content available, instead of a flat fee.

    rayzam
    www.travellingbard.com
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