Properly monetizing Free-to-Play games

The concepts around online gaming have changed a lot over the years. While most games with online components only required the user to pay for the game (assuming no online digital rights management) some of those that have thousands of players logged simultaneously on any given of their multiple official servers have opted for a subscription model to earn revenue to maintain said servers and constantly deliver new content. The Massively Multiplayer Online or MMO game as it is commonly called. While this method of monetization was common before, it has become in recent years less so. Recent times have seen the emergence of the Free-to-Play or F2P model for MMO games. I referred to it in the past as the “Chinese MMO” model because I noticed a lot of Chinese games using this model first.

For those unfamiliar with the concept of F2P, allow me to illustrate. A person who plays a F2P game pays nothing for the software or the right to use it. They download and use software completely free of charge. To earn revenue, the developer includes an optional monetization system in the game where the player if they so choose can purchase items for the game using a micropayment system. This model of paying as you go has become an enticing route for developers and players alike, but implementing it properly has been … difficult to say the least.

First of all, there have been a lot of games that adopted the F2P model to replace their old system. Results for this have been mixed because it is incredibly difficult implement a F2P model into a game that was never designed around it in the first place. Games like Dungeons & Dragons Online, Lord of the Rings Online, Champions Online, Everquest, Everquest II and even Team Fortress 2 have all gone this route and used their own method of monetization for each. Usually a formerly paid now F2P game will restrict certain features to free players, making them require payments to unlock.

This paid unlock system can have a bit of a backfire for veterans. For example, I used play City of Heroes. I had a robot mastermind character that I enjoyed playing but I stopped playing the game after awhile. You can imagine I was thrilled when I heard that after all those years the game was adopting a F2P model. I downloaded the client, logged into my old account, and lo and behold my characters were locked. Needless to say I didn’t feel like playing and uninstalled the client. Sure I had the option to get a paid account but to me that felt like it was missing the point of the F2P model and it felt like I as a veteran player was being punished for having characters of class that was now locked.

Everquest, one of the oldest and still running MMOs is another example of the F2P model adopted horribly. The game has 16 playable races and 16 playable classes. How many races and classes are available to a new player without having to pay? 4. You can’t play an Iskar Shadowknight unless you drop some money in game or get a subscription. World of Warcraft has also not completely adopted the F2P model. I guess they figure as long as people are willing to pay subscriptions they don’t need a F2P model. They do however have the starter account system which is essentially an endless demo. Starter accounts get full access to all races and classes (minus Death Knight and Monk) although with a level cap of 20.

Ideally a monetized F2P experience should be designed in a way that the player doesn’t NEED to pay but WANTS to pay. The best way I have seen this done is through a dual currency system. Say your game has two currencies, a default currency and a premium currency. For the sake of brevity, we will call them DC and PC for short. DC would be earned progressively over the course of the game through completing missions/quests/sessions or as loot or selling items. PC would be a special currency the player could buy using actual money through the in-game shop. The player would be able to choose how much PC they want to buy. As an incentive to buy more PC, the developer could make it so that larger purchases of PC give the player a better rate or give bonus PC.

As for the game itself, DC and PC could be used interchangeable to buy some things, but careful notice should be paid to what items in the game are exclusive to each currency. For example, items in the game that are required for progression should be exclusive to DC. Items that are optional but still effect gameplay should have the option to use DC or PC. Items that give the player a leg up without being actually required to progress as well as cosmetic items should be reserved to PC. A good example of this is League of Legends by Riot Game. The player earns Influence Points (IP) over the course of games while Riot Pionts (RP) can also be bought. IP is used for buying runes, rune pages and unlocking champions. RP can also be used for unlocking champions and rune pages (but not runes) and is also used for buying skins (a cosmetic feature) and optional boosts. In LoL, buying RP is not something required to play. It’s a purely optional feature.

Now in some cases you might have a F2P game where PC is required to progress in the game. If this is the case, then there should be a way to earn it in game with payment being optional. There are a number of ways to do this. One is to have it so that PC can be earned for doing specific tasks. King’s Road for example allows the player to earn PC (gems in said game) by completing a level. Up to five gems can be earned in each level, but it’s not required to progress in the game. Spiral Knights (the game where my own moniker comes from) features a market exchange where players trade crowns (DC) and crystal energy (PC) back and forth from each other. Since crystal energy is required to craft any item of 3 star quality or higher, having a method to allow player to acquire PC without needed to pay allows players to reach end game without dropping a cent into the game. This is how F2P is done correctly.

These are my own thoughts on the subject of F2P. As more and more games adopt the model (and new games developed around it) we can only hope that companies will learn to do it correctly. Supporting the developer should be because players like the game and want to, not because the publishers want to nickel and dime us until we’ve dropped more money in the game than it is actually worth. See ya.

A Critical Analysis of Nintendo's Wiiware Service

When the Wii was announced, one of the main selling points of it apart from the name and the motion controls was the downloadable content service in two forms: Virtual Console and Wiiware. Virtual Console allows players to play games from classic Nintendo consoles in addition to games from other consoles like Sega Genesis, NEC TurboGrafx-16 and SNK NeoGeo. Wiiware on the other hand is for new original low-budget software ranging from $5 to $15. Many developers big and small have released titles on Wiiware from Konami, Square Enix and Telltale Games to smaller independent companies like Gaijin Games. Both Microsoft and Sony have similar services under the names of XBox Live Arcade and Playstation Store respectively. Both the Wii's Virtual Console and Wiiware service add a lot of playability to the system, but the Wiiware service is not without a number significant faults.

First there is the online community of the Wii itself. Yes, there are games on the Wii with online play such as GoldenEye 007 and Call of Duty: Black Ops which feature online matchmaking. But as far as actual communication goes, sending messages to other Wii users requires friend codes, playing a game with someone requires that game's friend code. Real-time communication in-game can only be done with the Wii Speak accessory and very few games support it. Online gaming on the Wii is comparable to being blindfolded, gagged, given a stick and told where the piñata is after being spun a few times. There essentially is no online community for the Wii itself appart from silly channels like Everybody Votes and Check Mii Out. Compare this to services like Steam which feature friend lists, player made communities, dedicated servers, in-game chatting, and the ability to easily join in many online games that friends are playing.

Another major problem is the actual games and quality thereof. As far as actual downloadable game libraries goes, Steam trumps XBox Live Arcade, Playstation Store and Wiiware put together. This is due to the fact that Steam contains big budget games (like Mass Effect and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim) in addition to smaller budget titles like indie games, casual games and older computer/console games. But disregarding the big budget titles, Wiiware still suffers when compared to Steam's low budget titles. It's true that the Wiiware has some really good original titles like Lit, Cave Story, the Bit.Trip series and anything by Shin'en Multimedia, but for every good Wiiware game there's a mediocre and really bad Wiiware game like Fireplacing and 5 Arcade Gems. La-Mulana seems like one of the most promising titles for Wiiware, but it has yet to be released despite being already finished. Notable games on Wiiware like Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People, World of Goo and Sonic 4 are easily available elsewhere. Many of the games that started as Wiiware exclusives like Bit.Trip, the Cave Story remake and Toki Tori have since then become available on Steam. One would also think that the low-budget nature of the Wiiware service would make it prime grounds for indie games and popular casual games. Popcap's library would be excellent for the system, but as it turns out, the only Popcap game on Wiiware is Bejeweled 2. Not Blitz or Twist or 3, but 2. You will find no Peggle, no Zuma, or Plants Vs. Zombies on Wiiware which is a shame. Wiiware also has a severe lack of Indie games compared to Steam and Desura, but part of this could be because the development kit for Wiiware costs around 2000 USD.

Which brings me to another point about Wiiware, the restrictions of the service itself. To be on Wiiware, a game needs to be under a certain file size, roughly under 43 megabytes. If a game is over that amount, it needs to be compressed which is not an easy task when your game is pretty large. This is incredibly restrictive for many games and is the primary reason why Super Meat Boy, a game that would have been perfect for Wiiware and despite being released on XBox Live Arcade, ultimately canceled its planned release for Wiiware. The game was simply too large to compress to the desired amount. Some developers do manage to handle compression fine as was the case with MDK2, but this is the exception, not the rule. Buying Wiiware titles carries with it another restriction. You can't just simply buy titles with money as you wish. Acquiring titles first requires buying points in increments of 1000 (2000 if you're buying a card). Point are roughly a dollar for every 100 points. On Wiiware no title is under 500 Wii points (the equivalent of $5) which seems to indicate a minimum price. This a real sticking point with Wiiware since on Desura you can find games of higher quality than the 500 point titles for under $5. Point prices of Wiiware items are also fixed. Compare this to prices of items on Steam. On Steam no price is ever fixed. A $60 game will eventually drop in price with enough time and there are always daily deals, bundles and periodical sales of items especially around holidays. Fallout New Vegas for only $5? It can happen on Steam. Sales never happen on Wiiware. Pokémon Rumble will always be 1500 Wii points even if the game is bland and repetitive. Some games on Steam and Desura are even released for free such as Spiral Knights, Alien Swarm and Team Fortress 2. How many free games can you name on Wiiware?

Nintendo is a sort of 500 pound gorilla. They were first to bring the industry out of the great videogame crash of 1983 but have since then been slow on the curve in many facets. They were the last to abandon the use of cartridges, the last to go online, have yet to include a hard disk on any of their consoles, and their graphics are a step below the competition. But for all their stubbornness, Nintendo was successful in opening the doors to motion control, 3D without glasses, and mass acceptance of video games to non-gamers. Also, Nintendo has a lot of successful franchises noted for their quality like Mario, Zelda, Kirby, Metroid, Donkey Kong, and Starfox among others. Nintendo can justify its decissions because it knows that there will always be a fanbase for their first-party products. Ultimately though Nintendo's third party and downloadable service suffers because of the severe limitations of the platform and the service itself. Don't get me wrong, I love some of the titles on Wiiware, but the fact remains that Wiiware pales in comparison to the competition. We will never see quality downloadable games like Dungeon Defenders, Spiral Knights, Cthulhu Saves the World, Bionic Commando Rearmed, or Super Meat Boy on the Wiiware and ultimately this is what most upsets me with Nintendo's backwards downloadable content service.

First post.

Hello, I am The Gran Faust and this is my blog. I will use this to speak about things on my mind but for the moment, have a quote from CS Lewis.

 "Critics who treat adult as a term of approval, instead of as a merely descriptive term, cannot be adult themselves. To be concerned about being grown up, to admire the grown up because it is grown up, to blush at the suspicion of being childish; these things are the marks of childhood and adolescence. And in childhood and adolescence they are, in moderation, healthy symptoms. Young things ought to want to grow. But to carry on into middle life or even into early manhood this concern about being adult is a mark of really arrested development. When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up."