04-01-2011, 03:46 PM
Excellent post. I had started drafting something like this before I lost my window, but you said it much better.
I've said this before - look at Farmville and Mafia Wars, each of which have earned far more money in one year than all PBM games combined. You can play both for free. You have in-game incentives to recruit friends. You can pay for premium content, or to accelerate your position. You can buy gifts for your friends. Or you can just coast for free, floated by the advertising. They had some kind of system where you could take part in sponsor-driven promotions, but that quickly filled up with some fairly shady spam practices, so I believe they are phasing that out.
Let's look at how this could work for a fairly simple computer-moderated game like Far Horizons. Set it up to take inputs from all channels (web, email, facebook, iPhone, etc). Allow players to buy enhancements (new ships or multiple setups in a game). Allow them to charter private games, with customizable rules. Reward them for recruiting friends. Let them accelerate tech research with money. And slap ads on every screen.
Most people will stay on the free side, but a sizable minority will pay for enhanced content or accelerated development. And you will have a FAR bigger player base than if you charged the standard $3-$5/turn that the traditional PBM model demands.
Consider this - as a PBM publisher, you have invested a huge amount into code and hardware. But this investment sits idle 99% of the time! Which would you rather have, 100 dedicated players who pay $5/turn, or 10,000 players who generate an average of .05/turn? Both scenarios generate the same amount of money, but which one has greater promise? Which is going to be more sustainable? Which one more efficiently leverages the investments you have put in?
I am a PBM player from the old days, and was willing to throw money at these games back then. I am just now getting back on the horse. I am very happy to play Far Horizons for free. But I am very tentative about picking which position to play in Hyborian Wars -- $5, $7, or $9 a turn. Yikes! It would be worth it if this game is all its cracked up to be, but as a newbie I don't know that, do I?
I've said this before - look at Farmville and Mafia Wars, each of which have earned far more money in one year than all PBM games combined. You can play both for free. You have in-game incentives to recruit friends. You can pay for premium content, or to accelerate your position. You can buy gifts for your friends. Or you can just coast for free, floated by the advertising. They had some kind of system where you could take part in sponsor-driven promotions, but that quickly filled up with some fairly shady spam practices, so I believe they are phasing that out.
Let's look at how this could work for a fairly simple computer-moderated game like Far Horizons. Set it up to take inputs from all channels (web, email, facebook, iPhone, etc). Allow players to buy enhancements (new ships or multiple setups in a game). Allow them to charter private games, with customizable rules. Reward them for recruiting friends. Let them accelerate tech research with money. And slap ads on every screen.
Most people will stay on the free side, but a sizable minority will pay for enhanced content or accelerated development. And you will have a FAR bigger player base than if you charged the standard $3-$5/turn that the traditional PBM model demands.
Consider this - as a PBM publisher, you have invested a huge amount into code and hardware. But this investment sits idle 99% of the time! Which would you rather have, 100 dedicated players who pay $5/turn, or 10,000 players who generate an average of .05/turn? Both scenarios generate the same amount of money, but which one has greater promise? Which is going to be more sustainable? Which one more efficiently leverages the investments you have put in?
I am a PBM player from the old days, and was willing to throw money at these games back then. I am just now getting back on the horse. I am very happy to play Far Horizons for free. But I am very tentative about picking which position to play in Hyborian Wars -- $5, $7, or $9 a turn. Yikes! It would be worth it if this game is all its cracked up to be, but as a newbie I don't know that, do I?