Funding/revenue models for games
And old F2P grinder I played once upon a time called Two Moons had a feature where you could tick a box to display onscreen ads when you go AFK for a minute or longer in exchange for a XP boost. As far as I’m aware it was never properly implemented and always just showed the name of the game itself, but in theory I was fine with it since it was just a static image that only showed if I stopped playing for awhile.
I’m saying this because even if Anet did something as unobtrusive and optional as that, I can’t begin to imagine the explosion of outrage we’d see on the forums. Being advertised to isn’t something most people are too keen on. I’m normally not someone who gives much credence to comments about things “breaking immersion,” but that would absolutely be a big one.
The most reliable and least controversial way to monetize the game is to create compelling content players want to pay for. Assuming HoT goes well, I hope we see a new expansion come out sooner than 3 more years from now.
Runescape was a totally free game when it was first released. They managed to run it from ads on the browser window. After about a year or so they added memberships and I can say the removal of those ads and soon after being able to play in full screen mode was heaven sent. Ads here would suck big time.
We have it pretty sweet here. But please give them NO ideas. The gemstore works fine and with expansions being a paid thing it gives them an incentive to keep rolling future expansions out which of course keeps us playing longer so it’s win win.
Edit:
As for doing surveys or giving out personal info, never really a good thing. It’s bad enough that there are app games that run these models. Sharing too much info about yourself is not a good thing……
Ok, before anyone else posts please keep in mind Advertising has come a long way since the 90’s…. Do you know how many movies you have probably seen which had hidden product placements? This is what I am referring to, not a slap in the face advertising slogan. Obviously everyone thinks of the worse case scenario eg (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bs5bbWSrzBQ Worst movie placement EVER!).
Just keep this in mind.
I just had a vision of us all wandering around the capital, McDonald’s Arch, with Nike capes, Budweiser swords and Pepsi consumables.
They should do that for April 1st….
Having played several games that tried advertising support (shadowbane, anarchy online, battlefield 2142) I can say that it’s extremely intrusive and annoying, and if faced with the option of paying a subscription (not my favorite model) or being subjected to ads, I’d choose the sub every day.
Seeing ads for outside products or services in a game rings of desperation as in every single instance (except mobile games for some reason, but that world is… strange) the developers have implemented it as a last resort effort when the game is basically on life support and they’re not prepared to invest extra effort in to updates or new things to retain players.
The microtransaction/buy to play models are far superior methods from a consumer standpoint as long as they’re done in an inobtrusive way.
GW2 does a pretty good job with this. You only see BLTC ads in the launcher, or when you open the trade post (so you’re “shopping” in way way or another already) and the expansion model is a great move as it de-emphasizes the cash shop so that they’re not pressured to keep pushing it quite as hard due to the fact it’s not their sole ongoing means of income.
Sure, the living story with themed gem store tie-ins was nice, but it also sort of sucked that that model basically forced them in to moving pretty much all cosmetic rewards to microtransactions to keep turning a profit.
For the record I think a balance between LS and the gem store could have continued to work, but hey, people wanted to wait and get big chunks of infrequent content in stead of small chunks of frequent content, so Anet gave the people what they wanted.
Writer/Director – Quaggan Quest
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ky2TGPmMPeQ