33 replies to this topic

[Soy]

Lil anecdote, it goes somethin like this:

Nobody ever buys Call of Duty and immediately attempts to justify it by saying stuff like, "well I felt like I need to support Activision."

When people generally act like their support of a video game is somehow a direct tangible transaction that somehow keeps a lightswitch on in some obscured room somewhere, there's a problem with that.

You might be thinking, well, that sort of immediate justification seems like a pretty positive, constructive way to look at it. And that is true. But underneath it, the reason they felt compelled to 'support with money' is because they think the game is doomed if they don't shell out money. If that's not truly pessimistic, I dunno wtf is.

I get emotionally invested as much as the next [normal] guy, but good grief. Can we be a little bit realistic with how we talk about this game and the health of it. Things live. Things die. Online games have a bell curve of maturation development and popularity. I like to think this game has a lot left in the tank, but it will take a community with a more positive attitude than "I shelled out fifty bucks to save MWO from itself" to get other people excited to play it when Steam comes around.

Just some thoughts, take from em what you will.

[Monkey Lover]

Free market at its finest only good games will survive.

I have always spent money on this game because I have fun, the game is getting better and I wanted something now. It was never because of some game developer welfare

[Eider]

Interesting thought but ultimately it is other peoples money. I could walk down the street tossing it every wich direction its still my choice no matter the reasoning.

[Soy]

Eider, on 30 May 2015 - 10:31 AM, said:

Interesting thought but ultimately it is other peoples money. I could walk down the street tossing it every wich direction its still my choice no matter the reasoning.

well yeah ofc

[Joseph Mallan]

Eider, on 30 May 2015 - 10:31 AM, said:

Interesting thought but ultimately it is other peoples money. I could walk down the street tossing it every wich direction its still my choice no matter the reasoning.

But do you toss it every which way then complain cause the homeless guy buys some hooch?

[BigJim]

Great restaraunts that cook wonderful food can easily fail, due to market trends, poor location, or just not enough affluent people in the area.

Village post offices that provide an essential service for the area, close all the time because there's just not enough money in the game to "justify" the costs of a relatively expensive site.

What I'm saying is, it's not just about the product.
MWO could be AMAZING. It could be everything we all want it to be - The perfect BT game, and it could still fail, financially, due to not enough BT fans to support the potential costs, or the project being too optimistic with how much revenue will come in, just plan old, other games being more popular and taking the money that might otherwise be spent on MWO - or for many other reasons too long & convoluted to go into, even on a forum like this.

I take your point, and it's a sensible debating point for sure, but imo it's not just about how good a product and/or service you provide, lots, and lots of other factors can & will contribute to the success or failure of a given enterprise.

And this is from someone who bought a founders pack, the cheapest clan-pack (the Kitfox) & two hero mechs since I've been here (3x if you count the sarah unicorn-jenner), but nothing else so far.

Of the people that have spent *any* money on this game, I'm likely near the very bottom of the list.

Edited by BigJim, 30 May 2015 - 10:39 AM.

[Stelar 7]

I think if shows a desire for ownership. I've seen it in every online miltiplayer I have participated in. Some folks want me than a service. Alternately it could be a smaller company thing. I see folks say it about Fantasy Flight and xwing to. And that is agame with no health issues. Heck I played EVE for 6 years and every day someone told us that EVE was dying, constant increase in subs be danged.

This game is fun and keeps getting better. It will be fine.

[STEF_]

I don't know who spent money to support PGI.
TBH, who spend money in a game, it's because he is enjoying it.
I started to spend with wave 1, and I'm very happy to have done it. The game is much more interesting from a year.

I didn't buy resistance 2, because there's no mech I'm interested in.
But still I'm taking mechbays, and stuff....because I like them, and I like to play, not for supporting or doing charity

[Joseph Mallan]

BigJim, on 30 May 2015 - 10:35 AM, said:

Great restaraunts that cook wonderful food can easily fail, due to market trends, poor location, or just not enough affluent people in the area.

Village post offices that provide an essential service for the area, close all the time because there's just not enough money in the game to "justify" the costs of a relatively expensive site.

What I'm saying is, it's not just about the product.
MWO could be AMAZING. It could be everything we all want it to be - The perfect BT game, and it could still fail, financially, due to not enough BT fans to support the potential costs, or the project being too optimistic with how much revenue will come in, just plan old, other games being more popular and taking the money that might otherwise be spent on MWO - or for many other reasons too long & convoluted to go into, even on a forum like this.

I take your point, and it's a sensible debating point for sure, but imo it's not just about how good a product and/or service you provide, lots, and lots of other factors can & will contribute to the success or failure of a given enterprise.

And this is from someone who bought a founders pack, the cheapest clan-pack (the Kitfox) & two hero mechs since I've been here (3x if you count the sarah unicorn-jenner), but nothing else so far.

Of the people that have spent *any* money on this game, I'm likely near the very bottom of the list.

Dennis Miller joked once that this one sonic toothbrush worked so good the dental industry demanded it be removed from the shelves. I had that brush, it really worked.

We have a lot of players who think like the dental industry.

[DaZur]

Glass half empty or half full...

You believe the inference that if someone believes their investment keeps the lights on = / = fear of it going belly up.

I'm more inclined to believe my money is a seed to future development, not necessarily the next dollar to keep the servers up.

[EgoSlayer]

MWO is an online service. Without revenue it goes away. I buy things to continue playing the game I enjoy, not out of some obligation or dedication to PGI, or some sunk cost fallacy.

It's because I enjoy the game and want to keep playing it that I continue to buy things from time to time which is how the free to play model works. Until it doesn't. Once the player base that supports the game stops supporting it the game folds. These are just simple economics.

[Xetelian]

People want to feel like they're making a difference. It doesn't always mean people are sitting around waiting for the game to die and throwing money out of the fear of that happening.

CoD is a AAA game not a F2P so no one is going to suggest we support CoD here. Hell I wont touch CoD and haven't since Modern Warfare 2 but that is a different topic.

F2P will disappear, it isn't like Guildwars where the running costs are minimal and they can keep the servers up a few years longer than anyone anticipated.

F2P is a fickle, devious beast that eats $1000s of my dollars and then disappears into the abyss with all the things I bought.

MWO will die some day, not tomorrow, but someday and if any of the $100s I've spent here let you and I play the game just a little longer, then I am happy.

Edited by Xetelian, 30 May 2015 - 10:51 AM.

[Soy]

DaZur, on 30 May 2015 - 10:45 AM, said:

Glass half empty or half full...

You believe the inference that if someone believes their investment keeps the lights on = / = fear of it going belly up.

I'm more inclined to believe my money is a seed to future development, not necessarily the next dollar to keep the servers up.

These same cynics, when ultimately burnt, would bait retort to your last line about how that leads to Transverse etc.

Not disagreeing with you, btw.

Edited by Soy, 30 May 2015 - 10:50 AM.

[Fleeb the Mad]

MWO is at least in part a crowdfunded game.

That puts it on a different level than things like Call of Duty, because without the players throwing money into it, it may never have happened.

With the publisher now out of the picture, you're left with a small and relatively fragile company holding the reigns. They actually do need the money more than a big outfit like Activision does. They don't have anything else to shuffle their risks onto.

[Eider]

COD because ending a war with a nuke then complaining someone shoots you for nuking the us is a good storyline? Screw that. Only game where i was actually rooting for the end BOSS.

[Soy]

I respect that Fleeb but the amount of money to develop CoD isn't the same as MWO, nevertheless, solid counterpoint.

[MechaBattler]

Everyone makes their own choices. How they choose to spend their precious money is up to them. And the reasons are their own. If they wish to claim they're doing it to support the game. Then good for them. And people shouldn't grouse them for wanting that.

My purchases have been for my own sake. The game keeping on going is a byproduct. I would also like to see the game keep going, but I'm not going to spend a lot of money that I can't afford to do so.

I just hope that the money they make off of us. Is indeed being used for the game.

[Vandul]

If a consumer wants to feel better about supporting the developer by spending money on their product, I dont have an issue with that. Ive been a long time supporter (financial) of this franchise.

Where it gets ugly is when those supporters believe that they should be given special consideration, advantages, direct pipelines to the devs, etc... just because they back the company. It happens with every title and it happens here.

Its your money, spend it how you feel fit. If that makes you feel like you are keeping the hope alive, good for you.

[C E Dwyer]

Joseph Mallan, on 30 May 2015 - 10:34 AM, said:

But do you toss it every which way then complain cause the homeless guy buys some hooch?

Yes he was supposed to buy a sammich !

now back on topic, its not so much the money spent its the drama around it.

But as an answer to Soy, yes sure there are some histironics, but then CoD is just another soldier game with a rifle poking out in front, and activision is hardly a small company.

Also if CoD was to disapear yet another war clone would arrive to take its place.

There is only one Mech warrior and its unlikely to happen again should this fail.

While I don't throw money at it regardless, I am mindful that if it goes I almost certainly won't see another in my life time, for all its faults, I want it to stay

[Alistair Winter]

I'm supporting this thread by posting. Without my funny antics, this thread would probably die.

PS: I actually did like your anecdote, even though it wasn't an anecdote.