"Pay to play"

[kraxus187]

I made a post that touched on this topic after reading..I think it was in the Battlefield 3 thread..about EA taking an interest in switching their operations to more of a "games as a service", which I interperate as "pay to play".

I see Maydax posting along this theme in the MW3 thread as well so I was wondering about how others feel about this.

 

If the major game publishers do switch to this kind of mode of operation, should we..as the admins/clans (in such series as Battlefield and Call of Duty) who pay for the vast majority of the servers on which their customer base plays, have to pay for those same servers ?

 

If we are already having to pay on different levels already (for the game and any additional hardware so we CAN play the game)should the publishers be responsible for providing the servers if they want us to pay some kind of subscription/ monthly fee ?

 

Personally I think an emphatic "yes they should"

 

If I'm having to pay to play the game I fail to see why I should continue to pay for servers which create their marketplace.

In effect, I would be paying for a server on which they would be making from...people playing on my server while paying the publisher to pay the game.

I know at least one person who may read this is thinking..."and this is different from now how ?? Don't you already do that ??".

True..a fair point....but....

 

But at least now I have some kind of control about the type of players I want on my servers.

We have the ability to use services such as PBBans which help keep undesirable elements...if publishers become server providers, just how much control will we have to enable us to do this ?

We already saw how restrictive EA/EvenBalance wanted to be with access to server files...and the struggle the staff here had to go through to enable the use of PBBans with BC2.

 

At least now, clans/groups can get their servers to the maps types/game modes that they prefer...thus creating the atmosphere they want.

Given the myriad of possibilities or server types its highly unlikly that publisherrs will be able to...or even want to..match this and we get stuck with a series of servers that are mirror images of one another playing the same map cycles all the time in the same modes.

 

I don't really pay attention to the Modern Warfare:Call of Duty franchise, except to see whats new every once in a while.

But EA already has the pay-for-content feature in place...see Battlefield:Heroses and Battlefield2Play4Free...and you already have to login to play the Battlefield games, so adding some kind of mechanism that only allows access after payment probably won;t be to difficult for them. After all, it works on Eve-Online !!

 

I don't know how many servers there are worldwide, just for these 2 franchises, but in order ro EA and Activision to provide the required servers would be a serious financiasl undertaking....oh and getting Punkbuster fixed would be nice.

 

But they'll be making enough money from the monthly income they'll figure out a way to turn a profit as usual.

.

[No_Nickname]

The day that publishers make me pay to play is the day that in my opinion a lot of people will be fed up and the publishers will feel the pain. I own an xbox 360 as well as a computer that I play with friends or on a really hot day and I want to be in the cooler part of my house (basement). You pay for the every game & you pay for the subscription for online services plus money to purchase the other content like movies, game add ons, and other stuff. I really don't feel like having to dish out more money to EA just so they can line there pockets.

[buttscratcher]

It would be a deal breaker for me. Take away the current server/player control and I'd be done.

 

We all know the drag of pubbing w/ foul mouth pubbers, hackers, campers, ect... When the day comes that online gaming goes to subscription, where we don't rent/control our servers - all this will be over for many of us.

 

Paying $60 a pop for buggy unfinished games is insulting enough. Putting the squeeze on us to play said game online, would eventually cook the golden goose.

 

 

butt