[MUD-Dev] Casual Crowd vs.Time Rich Crowd [was: Time Debt]

[Koster, Raph]

Gedanken wrote:
> On Wed, 25 Aug 2004, Koster, Raph wrote:
>> HRose wrote:

>>> Players don't pay for a game they don't play.

>> A disturbingly large number of them do, actually.

> If players were billed when they logged in, or paid an hourly rate
> (even if a miniscule amount!), I am sure a great many more
> cancellations would occur because you are forcing a desion.  With
> a monthly bill cycle, the unit of time is so large when compared
> to the unit of time in game (probably the hour) that a decision is
> rarely ever imminent.  * This is of course magnified with 3, 6, or
> 12 month pre pays. *

Yes, this is certainly the accepted wisdom in the Western markets,
which is why those prepay plans exist.

That said, a lot of the penetration of online games in Asia appears
to be the result of the billing model, wherein players prepay for
"points" (akin to Dave & Busters points, if you like) and pay for
smaller blocks of time using points. It is apparently typical for
most users to buy blocks of time just for one evening of play. A
very large percentage of the users do not subscribe, but instead use
this method, even if it would in fact be cheaper for them to go to a
monthly all-you-can-eat plan.

-Raph
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