The past few weeks I’ve been playing a lot of Requiem: Bloodymare in my free time. (as evident by the posting about it, and there’s more to come!) The other portion of my gaming time is with Eve. So, I’m balancing between RMT and subscription. Whenever I surf around gaming sites and find a discussion between the two business models it always seems the majority [strongly] dislike RMT. Why is that? What are the differences?
The hate, it seems, comes from the idea that people can pay to make the game ‘easier’ or get an advantage — whether it be through buffs or special items. In some cases I find this argument appropriate; if the only way to get the best gear in the game, that gives a decidely unfair advantage in certain aspects of the game, is to spend money — it’s wrong. Simply making the game ‘easier’ or getting some convience items/buffs is perfectly fine to me. They make the game more enjoyable to the person that wants them and is willing to pay for them. I’ve never been an achiever type, I could care less if I had the best gear and ruled the [virtual] world. Perhaps that is why RMT doesn’t bother me.
Even the buying/selling of characters doesn’t bother me, and it can already be done in Everquest II and Eve Online — soon Vanguard: Saga of Heroes will also allow it. These are games we play, with no real meaning other than entertainment — if you really want to be the best, then be the best. If you have the [real] skills, it shouldn’t matter whether the other people bought their characters or not — or had an easier time playing.
The differences between RMT and subscription are pretty obvious. Subscriptions charge a certain amount for a certain period of time — sort of like a contract. (or exactly like a contract) Typically, you buy the game (roughly $50.00) then begin paying a $15.00 subscription after your first ‘free’ month is up. RMT typically charges nothing for the client or to play. But RMT does have a ‘cash shop’ where you convert real money to cash shop ‘currency’ or ‘tokens’ and spend those tokens on things to use in-game. RMT is typically completely optional. (that’s generally the rub for most die hard subscription fans, ‘typically’) The only RMT game I’ve spent any money in was Runes of Magic to get a permanent mount and some extra bag space. Even in Requiem I havn’t bought anything yet. (Requiem does have optional basic and premium subscription services though, with some goodies for that — apart from their cash shop services) Either way supports the developers/producers. The only true difference is you must pay to play with subscriptions, while you can play for free with RMT.
Playing a game for free is nice — every gamer would love to get free games. But, as a somewhat recent article on Gamasutra pointed out, having free games means having a lot of choice in what to play. Just like flipping between channels, many gamers would likey flip between games and not get truly invested in one of them — a real killing blow to the RMT model. Does this mean RMT can’t work? Obviously not, it is working. It simply means competition will become more and more fierce and only the best will survive and profit. Natural selection works in the MMO world, even with subscription based games. If you look at Asheron’s Call 2, Tabula Rasa, and Auto Assault — all deemed poor quality games by many — they died off. (I will say, I loved Asheron’s Call 2 and wish it didn’t close down)
Subscription model games should have a better chance at survival due to a more stable income — as long as they know their subscriber base, they know how much money they have to work with. The only problem for subscriptions is maintaining that subscriber base over a long period.
Player base problems with RMT typically involve size instead — they need a large base in order to get a decent amount of income since the majority of players do not pay for the game.
Overcoming both problems requires the same solution — producing decent content on a regular basis. Just like television shows, people will stop tuning in if they don’t like what they see or are just getting re-runs.
