Subscription Fees - When did they all start?

"Z 1 Y 0 N 3 X" <Ziyonex.TakeThisOut@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1146411812.395624.58930@e56g2000cwe.googlegroups.com...
> I'm a little new to MMORPG's and I'm just curious to find out:
> When did companies put monthly subscription fees on their games? Anyone
> know the first game that did it?
>
> It just sounds so god damn stupid to me, if I wanna play a game I just
> wanna play it. I dont wanna pay $14.99 a month just to play. I was
> going to play WoW when it released.
>
> I understand there are benefits of paying every month... like constant
> updates, new content ingame... blah blah...
>
> What are your opinions on monthly fees? I know some of you pay them, so
> obviously you dont mind it that much.
>
> Opinions?
>

I think $50 for a game should cover more than just a month of "free" online
play. I don't get to play regularly, so by paying $15/month, a lot of times
it's just wasted money. For one, I think they should offer more like three
or four months with your game purchase. Beyond that, I think they should
only charge you per month if you have played that month, and maybe even
prorate it somewhat. As an example, if you played less than 10 hours that
month they charge you $10, but more than 10 hours, you get charged the full
$15/month fee, and if you didn't play at all that month, then you wouldn't
get charged at all. That would be ideal.

I've steered away from MMORPG's for this very reason. Not only that, they
also get you in the fact that you can't sell your game. I got burned with
Star Wars Galaxies. I am a pretty avid Star Wars fan, and was anxiously
awaiting that title, so I bit, and bought it for $50. Well, I just couldn't
get into it at all, then I find out that I couldn't sell it!!! I recently
got burned with Auto Assault too. Looks like a great concept but I'm not
satisfied. Now I get stuck with a $50 game that I can't even give to someone
else.

I tried Guild Wars just for the fact that there's no monthly payment.
 >> Stay informed about: Subscription Fees - When did they all start? 

>Strictly speaking it's against most EULAs on most mmorpgs, so if you get
>caught... You'd have to change your email address to the new person's as
>well & not to mention they're gonna ask why your name is suddenly Mary Jones
>instead of John Smith...not even sure most mmorpgs allow you to change your
>name on the CC billing details.

I just looked at my account management page for WoW and I can use any
CC I want, it doesn't have to be mine, and I recall seeing the same
option on the other MMOGs I have played. I'm sure there are also lots
of kids playing on their parents CC. Frankly, unless you feel a deep
need to get email from the game there is no reason to change anything
other than the CC info if you want to pass the account along to a
friend.
 >> Stay informed about: Subscription Fees - When did they all start? 

Z 1 Y 0 N 3 X wrote:

> I'm a little new to MMORPG's and I'm just curious to find out:
> When did companies put monthly subscription fees on their games?


Welcome to (at least) 20 years ago. Although, prices are MUCH more reasonable
now than they were back then.
 >> Stay informed about: Subscription Fees - When did they all start? 

"Z 1 Y 0 N 3 X" <Ziyonex.TakeThisOut@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1146411812.395624.58930@e56g2000cwe.googlegroups.com...
> I'm a little new to MMORPG's and I'm just curious to find out:
> When did companies put monthly subscription fees on their games? Anyone
> know the first game that did it?
<snip>

Back before there was an internet per se, there were things like Genie which
charged by the hour. While it was a BBS, it also had a variety of online
games: flight sims, mech sims, and RPGs.

AOL had some as well - the original Neverwinter Nights was a AD&D online
game for it using the Gold Box engine
 >> Stay informed about: Subscription Fees - When did they all start? 

Nostromo wrote:

> Thus spake "Alex Mars" <Soulclaw RemoveThis @gmail.com>, 30 Apr 2006 11:41:36 -0700,
> Anno Domini:
>
> >The first subscription games were airwar-sims that charged by the hour
> >back in the 20th century. The first real MMOG, UO, was released in
> >late '97 and was originally 9.95 a month.
>
> Didn't Meridian 59 predate UO by 6-12 mths? I'm sure it did.

And Island of Kesmai on Compuserve began in the
mid 80's. UO deserves credit for adding the second
M, the Massively, to the equation, but IOK was surely the
first commercial MORPG.

And you too could be an online trailblazer and pay $6/hour
to play a game with an ASCII drawn map at 300 baud!

Bruce
 >> Stay informed about: Subscription Fees - When did they all start? 

DDO has two problems, low content and the fact that the game by design
excludes explorers, solo runners, crafters, and PvPers (you don't need
to deliver to all those groups, but to exclude all of them cuts down
your potential customer base quite a lot). To enjoy DDO you have to
want to group all the time in dungeons and other indoor areas.

That comic strip is stupid, however, they didn't need dragons for a
game that only goes to level 10.

>Turbine released a single player online game

That description is possibly the stupidest thing I have read today
given how groups are mandatory in DDO.
 >> Stay informed about: Subscription Fees - When did they all start? 

"Alex Mars" <Soulclaw.DeleteThis@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1146448597.933614.315200@j33g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> DDO has two problems, low content and the fact that the game by design
> excludes explorers, solo runners, crafters, and PvPers (you don't need
> to deliver to all those groups, but to exclude all of them cuts down
> your potential customer base quite a lot). To enjoy DDO you have to
> want to group all the time in dungeons and other indoor areas.
>
> That comic strip is stupid, however, they didn't need dragons for a
> game that only goes to level 10.
>
>>Turbine released a single player online game
>
> That description is possibly the stupidest thing I have read today
> given how groups are mandatory in DDO.
>

The game is joke. They are cashing in on the D&D name. It's a single player game
with a graphical(the city) multiplayer matching service. Two months after
release and still no increase in level, not like the minimal content could
handle it anyway. Turbine slapped the MMO moniker on it so they could charge a
monthly fee. Nothing about the game says MMO.
 >> Stay informed about: Subscription Fees - When did they all start? 

Zaghadka <zaghadka.TakeThisOut@hotmail.com> looked up from reading the entrails of
the porn spammer to utter "The Augury is good, the signs say:

>On 30 Apr 2006 08:43:32 -0700, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg, Z 1 Y 0 N 3 X
>wrote:
>
>>I'm a little new to MMORPG's and I'm just curious to find out:
>>When did companies put monthly subscription fees on their games? Anyone
>>know the first game that did it?
>>
>>It just sounds so god damn stupid to me, if I wanna play a game I just
>>wanna play it. I dont wanna pay $14.99 a month just to play. I was
>>going to play WoW when it released.
>>
>>I understand there are benefits of paying every month... like constant
>>updates, new content ingame... blah blah...
>>
>Don't forget having your character class nerfed when the developer figures out
>that they did inadequate playtesting. ;^)

Or have decided to change things because their "vision" of how the game
"should be" has changed.

Dev: OMG, people who play 20 hours per day, every day, are leveling up
as fast as you'd expect a 20hr/day player to level, we'd better make
changes to slow _everyone_ down or else the .1% of people who have no
life outside the game might reach max level and leave.
Quick, purge all references of "working as designed" and "no more
changes" from the forums and deny such things were ever said.
Threaten to ban anyone that says different.


Xocyll
--
I don't particularly want you to FOAD, myself. You'll be more of
a cautionary example if you'll FO And Get Chronically, Incurably,
Painfully, Progressively, Expensively, Debilitatingly Ill. So
FOAGCIPPEDI. -- Mike Andrews responding to an idiot in asr
 >> Stay informed about: Subscription Fees - When did they all start? 

Thus spake Bruce Smith <misterbe.RemoveThis@sprynet.com>, Sun, 30 Apr 2006 18:55:52
-0400, Anno Domini:

>Nostromo wrote:
>
>> Thus spake "Alex Mars" <Soulclaw.RemoveThis@gmail.com>, 30 Apr 2006 11:41:36 -0700,
>> Anno Domini:
>>
>> >The first subscription games were airwar-sims that charged by the hour
>> >back in the 20th century. The first real MMOG, UO, was released in
>> >late '97 and was originally 9.95 a month.
>>
>> Didn't Meridian 59 predate UO by 6-12 mths? I'm sure it did.
>
>And Island of Kesmai on Compuserve began in the
>mid 80's. UO deserves credit for adding the second
>M, the Massively, to the equation, but IOK was surely the
>first commercial MORPG.
>
>And you too could be an online trailblazer and pay $6/hour
>to play a game with an ASCII drawn map at 300 baud!
>
>Bruce

M59 was 'massive', as much as that could be done in those early internet
days. Just because it wasn't as popular as UO still doesn't change the fact
it was THE first mmorpg. So there. ;-p

--
Nostromo
 >> Stay informed about: Subscription Fees - When did they all start? 

Z 1 Y 0 N 3 X wrote:
> I'm a little new to MMORPG's and I'm just curious to find out:
> When did companies put monthly subscription fees on their games? Anyone
> know the first game that did it?
>
> It just sounds so god damn stupid to me, if I wanna play a game I just
> wanna play it. I dont wanna pay $14.99 a month just to play. I was
> going to play WoW when it released.
>
> I understand there are benefits of paying every month... like constant
> updates, new content ingame... blah blah...
>
> What are your opinions on monthly fees? I know some of you pay them, so
> obviously you dont mind it that much.
>
> Opinions?
See, I believe in the "if you don't like it, don't use it". For years
games didn't have a monthly fee, but their support for online play with
other people didn't go past the match-making room like in D2. Then
came games like UO and EQ where online is everything but they charged
$9.99/month for it, and hundreds of thousands of people accepted that.
Now subscription rates are more in the order of $15/month, and millions
of people accept that.
To tell you the truth, I am spending less money now than I did before
MMORPGs. I would play a game beginning to end in less than a month
most of the time, a few exceptions went on for a couple of months, yet
I paid some $40 for them. Now, I only play one game, for which I paid
$40 about 2 years ago, and then $13/month or so after that. I've
probably saved some $200 in the last 5 years because I haven't felt the
need of buying other games, as MMORPGs are by design made for you to
play 'for the long run'.
 >> Stay informed about: Subscription Fees - When did they all start? 

Z 1 Y 0 N 3 X wrote:
> I'm a little new to MMORPG's and I'm just curious to find out:
> When did companies put monthly subscription fees on their games? Anyone
> know the first game that did it?
>
> It just sounds so god damn stupid to me, if I wanna play a game I just
> wanna play it. I dont wanna pay $14.99 a month just to play. I was
> going to play WoW when it released.
>
> I understand there are benefits of paying every month... like constant
> updates, new content ingame... blah blah...
>
> What are your opinions on monthly fees? I know some of you pay them, so
> obviously you dont mind it that much.
>
> Opinions?

You must hail from some other planet! Online games have had
subscription fees for a decade or more. Most MMOGs, of which Ultima
Online was probably the first *successful* example, have had monthly
fees right from the beginning. Guild Wars is currently an exception
to the rule.

I have no objection to paying subscription fees for things that I
like. While I played Ultima Online, EverQuest and Dark Age of
Camelot, I concentrated solely on those games and ignored nearly
everything else, which was a marked contrast to my usual habit of
buying at least one new game every month. Result: I *saved* money
while playing MMOGs.
 >> Stay informed about: Subscription Fees - When did they all start? 

The first MUD was also subscription based. It was a dial up based
system in the UK. When networks and dial up access to the internet
become more popular in the late 80's, the free MUDs started appearing.

The big difference though between this and today's MMORPGs is that you
didn't have to buy initial software. It seems bizarre today that
you're expected to shell out $30-$50 just to start playing, and then
put $10-12 on top of that every month. If the game is good, then
maybe they can just make their money from subscription. Free software
might mean that more people would try out the game, and possibly get
addicted early on.

--
Darin Johnson
 >> Stay informed about: Subscription Fees - When did they all start? 

>The big difference though between this and today's MMORPGs is that you
>didn't have to buy initial software. It seems bizarre today that
>you're expected to shell out $30-$50 just to start playing, and then
>put $10-12 on top of that every month. If the game is good, then
>maybe they can just make their money from subscription. Free software
>might mean that more people would try out the game, and possibly get
>addicted early on.

Sorry, doesn't work that way, they need the initial boost of cash from
box sales to start to pay off investors and such. MMOGs cost too much
to produce to go that route except for small niche games produced on
the cheap.
 >> Stay informed about: Subscription Fees - When did they all start?