Support Free Ware Mode?

By Author: KingJ
Total Articles: 40
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So far most games are free. Of course, the games are not totally free. It needs players to buy gears in order to experience game better. Gears cost players much money. This kind of phenomenon is serious in MMORPG. As the cost increases, players’ interest may decrease. It influences players directly. Game should be designed for entertainment. But now developing game becomes a means for making money. Desire for money of game developers has a negative effect on players’ experience. This August, blizzard admitted that the number of wowers has been decreased to 11,100,000 from 12,000,000. The CEO of blizzard, Micheal Morhaime, says the speed of players going out of the game is really quick. This has never happened since the issue of wow. Problems in wow aren’t solved. Besides, they have many competitors in game industry.
The fourth xpan of wow is announced at Blizzcon 2011. It is Mists of Pandaria. They agree to consider the problem of free playing. When blizzard registered the trademark for Mists of Pandaria, players have guessed that this may be the next xpan. But blizzard denied it in interview. They say pandaria ...
... will only appear in cartoon and novels. After two months, players’ guess becomes true. This time xpan is based on oriental culture. Maybe players are to attract more Chinese players. Though the number of players is decreasing, the global plans for spreading the game will make their situations better. Great business opportunity is in Chinese market for there is great number of game players. This number accounts for a large portion of worldwide players.
Now most games are free to play. Though many MMORPG is designed to gain profit, they utilize freeware mode to attract players. Charge according to players’ playing time is really a little too expensive and it must have negative influence. Take the game RIFT: Planes of Telara for example. From an overseas survey, the users of this game have been reduced by 22%. What’s worse, the number is still under reduction. Non-free MMORPG is not competitive than free MMORPG. Players like to play free and high-paced games. With the fast pace of life, people don’t have much time on entertainment. They have to work overtime sometimes. If they are free, they would like to choose high-paced games so that they can enjoy themselves and gain a sense of achievement at the same time. Cost is another element that players have to consider. Some games are expensive. Players have to buy pets, gears or other items to continue the game. This charging system is double-edged sword. It may get the players addicted to the game, thus they are willing to cost more on the game. On the other hand, it may upset the players and they soon give up the game. Time is not allowed for players to addict themselves to games. Time is limited. Usually players are not willing to spend much time on games.
Blizzard says freeware mode is really an interesting mode. They will have to adopt freeware mode if subscription number decreases or the game loses support of users. Players are god. What developers do is satisfy players’ interest. We have to say wow is imitated by many games, but it has never been surpassed. It has epic influence. But everything will fade. Wow will also fade. How to bring wow to a success? With free ware mode? Or with padarens?
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