Free MMORPG Forums

mmobigshot · 09-26-2008, 08:01 AM

The free MMORPG market is growing at an incredible pace and now there are hundreds free MMORPGS for players to choose from. As the competition becomes unprecedentedly intensive, developers have to keep improving their games in order to survive in the industry. The once wide quality gap between the free MMO and the P2P MMO is fading away. More and more players are used to “the free lunch”. They stop their subscription of P2P MMOs and shift to different free new games constantly. So, will the free MMO completely dominate the market in a near future?

As the P2P MMOs tend to have superior graphics and elaborate quest system, they are for the hardcore gamers who are willing to pay a monthly fee and spend several hours on the game every day. However, for those causal players who play game less intensively, the subscription is not good value for money. Therefore, the free MMO is an alternative choice for gamers who just play games occasionally and want to save money. Also, when there is no new content to hooking players into the old game, players will probably just leave to a new game. The massive amount of free to play MMOs are placing great pressure on P2P games.

Critics always complain about free MMOs’ lack of storyline and cheesy graphics. However, as I said before, MMOs are all about social interaction. Most “casual gamers” don’t give a damn about splendorous graphics, deep and intensive libraries of lore or epic length quests. They just want a virtual community where they can meet people, customize their characters, make friends, and go PVP. Conquer Online for example, as a free MMORPG which was published 5 years ago, has poor graphics and storyline. However, with the decent community design and vivid Chinese culture, Conquer Online still is one of the most popular F2P MMORPGs. The number of registered is still growing even under today’s intensive competition.

In conclusion, I don’t think free model will replace the subscription model completely as major developers will still control the hardcore gamer’s market. But F2P is becoming the mainstream business model of the industry and it indeed lets more players enjoy the fun of MMOs.

My 1st thread here. Please share your opinion

daroth · 09-26-2008, 08:06 AM

Hey! Conquer Online does not have poor graphics!

mmobigshot · 09-26-2008, 08:25 AM

Yep, some one can say Conquer's graphics delicate. But 2.5D graphics engine is a bit outdated

SirLexon · 09-26-2008, 10:03 AM

First of all welcome to the Onrpg forums.

Second I'm a huge p2p/b2b player.

As you stated, free mmo's will not be taking complete control any time soon, but they are definetly making their move. I recently started playing atlantica and was fairly impressed. Even with the fear of the stamina system, i can find myself playing a couple hours straight without worrying about it. Overall the game system is great, nothing too bad except for the cinamatic sequnces during battle, which you can turn off.

The future looks bright for the free mmo market as we see aeria games picking up imagine online. When producers finally pay more attention to the gamers wants over copying what works for a quick buck, we will all win in the end.

Genome · 09-26-2008, 10:16 AM

Well, many casual players actually prefer free MMOs because they're.... free. Many people aren't hardcore enought to actually pay money for MMOs, and get their kicks from a lot of these games, even if they are bad quality.

hamidinator · 09-26-2008, 11:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mmobigshot

As the P2P MMOs tend to have superior graphics and elaborate quest system, they are for the hardcore gamers who are willing to pay a monthly fee and spend several hours on the game every day. However, for those causal players who play game less intensively, the subscription is not good value for money. Therefore, the free MMO is an alternative choice for gamers who just play games occasionally and want to save money.

That's not true, I'd say it's the other way around with hardcore gamers playing free mmos and other people playing the P2P ones casually, there's just too much grind in the free ones for a casual gamer and people end up spending much more time playing these free MMOs.

endrien · 09-26-2008, 11:18 AM

Well truth be told most all f2p games suck so theres not much "taking over" Just us getting molested by crappy games.

Urahara · 09-26-2008, 11:36 AM

Sometimes, it's not about the outdated graphic. Some game have better gameplay and community than the others.

abeastofprey · 09-26-2008, 04:51 PM

F2P have more player 'cause you can play everytime you want without spending money.

But P2P are more cheap than F2P. Let's take Cabal Online: without Premium you will get bored soon, too much grindin' for skilling.

F2P force you to spend extra money for some shit you need to survive at higher levels.

In P2P no one get advantages, this mean in WoW does not win the one with most money.

By the way YES, F2P are takin' over the market. (sigh)

sKin · 09-26-2008, 05:01 PM

If WoW goes F2P I will cry.

09-26-2008, 08:01 AM	#1 (permalink)
mmobigshot Orc's Breathmint Join Date: Sep 2008 Posts: 117 Reputation: 18	Are Free MMOs Taking over The Market? The free MMORPG market is growing at an incredible pace and now there are hundreds free MMORPGS for players to choose from. As the competition becomes unprecedentedly intensive, developers have to keep improving their games in order to survive in the industry. The once wide quality gap between the free MMO and the P2P MMO is fading away. More and more players are used to “the free lunch”. They stop their subscription of P2P MMOs and shift to different free new games constantly. So, will the free MMO completely dominate the market in a near future? As the P2P MMOs tend to have superior graphics and elaborate quest system, they are for the hardcore gamers who are willing to pay a monthly fee and spend several hours on the game every day. However, for those causal players who play game less intensively, the subscription is not good value for money. Therefore, the free MMO is an alternative choice for gamers who just play games occasionally and want to save money. Also, when there is no new content to hooking players into the old game, players will probably just leave to a new game. The massive amount of free to play MMOs are placing great pressure on P2P games. Critics always complain about free MMOs’ lack of storyline and cheesy graphics. However, as I said before, MMOs are all about social interaction. Most “casual gamers” don’t give a damn about splendorous graphics, deep and intensive libraries of lore or epic length quests. They just want a virtual community where they can meet people, customize their characters, make friends, and go PVP. Conquer Online for example, as a free MMORPG which was published 5 years ago, has poor graphics and storyline. However, with the decent community design and vivid Chinese culture, Conquer Online still is one of the most popular F2P MMORPGs. The number of registered is still growing even under today’s intensive competition. In conclusion, I don’t think free model will replace the subscription model completely as major developers will still control the hardcore gamer’s market. But F2P is becoming the mainstream business model of the industry and it indeed lets more players enjoy the fun of MMOs. My 1st thread here. Please share your opinion

09-26-2008, 10:03 AM	#4 (permalink)
SirLexon Holy Hand Grenade Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 750 Reputation: 8	First of all welcome to the Onrpg forums. Second I'm a huge p2p/b2b player. As you stated, free mmo's will not be taking complete control any time soon, but they are definetly making their move. I recently started playing atlantica and was fairly impressed. Even with the fear of the stamina system, i can find myself playing a couple hours straight without worrying about it. Overall the game system is great, nothing too bad except for the cinamatic sequnces during battle, which you can turn off. The future looks bright for the free mmo market as we see aeria games picking up imagine online. When producers finally pay more attention to the gamers wants over copying what works for a quick buck, we will all win in the end. __________________ Maplestory - Broa True0f0sh0 - 120 priest sirlex0n - 118 white knight Steam Trueonefosho

09-26-2008, 11:18 AM	#7 (permalink)
endrien Raiyne's Rock Band Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Canada Eh? Posts: 2,198 Reputation: 93	Well truth be told most all f2p games suck so theres not much "taking over" Just us getting molested by crappy games. __________________ My website: ShamanSoftware

09-26-2008, 11:36 AM	#8 (permalink)
Urahara Power_Gamer_6's Pick Join Date: May 2006 Location: Banned Posts: 2,367 Reputation: 26	Sometimes, it's not about the outdated graphic. Some game have better gameplay and community than the others. __________________ Pata Pata Pata Pon~ Pon Pon Pata Pon~ Chaka Chaka Pata Pon~

09-26-2008, 05:01 PM	#10 (permalink)
sKin Wand of !!!!!!11!!! Power Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Long Beach, CA Posts: 725 Reputation: 22	If WoW goes F2P I will cry. __________________

09-26-2008, 08:06 AM	#2 (permalink)
daroth Cloud13's Clown Join Date: May 2006 Location: Tennessee Posts: 2,811 Reputation: 36	Hey! Conquer Online does not have poor graphics!

09-26-2008, 08:25 AM	#3 (permalink)
mmobigshot Orc's Breathmint Join Date: Sep 2008 Posts: 117 Reputation: 18	Yep, some one can say Conquer's graphics delicate. But 2.5D graphics engine is a bit outdated

09-26-2008, 10:16 AM	#5 (permalink)
Genome Cloud's Hair Spray Join Date: Sep 2008 Posts: 67 Reputation: 10	Well, many casual players actually prefer free MMOs because they're.... free. Many people aren't hardcore enought to actually pay money for MMOs, and get their kicks from a lot of these games, even if they are bad quality.

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