Board Thread:Online Discussion/@comment-7153552-20130403223900/@comment-7153552-20130529204752

The proper way to make a game in todays market is to go with one of the three free to play business models:

1] Buy to Play:  Purchase the game on the front side (40-60 dollars) with no subscription fees and unlimited gameplay. These games will often have mild limitations such as number of character slots. Microtransactions will be common in these games, but will not be "game-changing" (items like a differently skinned horse, a special non-combat robe, holiday-themed pets/companions, etc.).

2] Free to Play:  A game that only requires your email address at registration so you can download and play the game. It is completely free. There will be microtransactions all over, but they are not truly game-changing. These will often be great items or in-game currency that will get you end-game items. All of the purchasable things will be attainable in-game through work and time and effort, but the easier route is to just pay for them. There are normally plenty of asthetic items as well, these will normally not be attainable without their purchasable currency. Many Free to Play (F2P) games are now including a way to exchange certain in-game resources for the purchasable currency (e.g. all Cyrptic Studios/Perfect World games).

3]  Pay to Win:  This final non-subscritpion model will allow you to download the game for free much like the F2P base model. However, there will be hard restrictions and limitations set up in this model type. Things like limited character slots, limited class/race combinations, not being allowed in certain zones. Sometimes paying for items/purchasable currency will lift time restraints or level restrictions as well (thigns you would normally have to wait to do or access).

These three non-subscription business models are usually the most appealing for both gamers and developers for different reasons. It appears to be cheaper for the gamer, and it is so long as they have restraint and self-control. For the developer these microtransactions tend to make more money in the long run than a subscritpion would. The numbers (scewed by foreign markets and businesses) say that a free to play gamer will spend $2000-4000, but I would imagine the more appropriate number would be an average 500-1000. When you factor in that more people will play a "free" game than will a sub-based Pay to Play game. So more people spending money they don't have to, but are willing to justify away, means more money for the devs. A buy to Play business model means they get the initial cost of the game, plus the extras that people buy for fun. Heck, I bought every pet that was out for WoW from the store until the time I quit playing, lol.