August 15, 2010 - Risky MMO Business

Please keep in mind this is my opinion based on this specific situation. This is not how I feel all MMOs are or how everyone else should feel.

So,

I wanted to share the rough side of one of my gaming experiences that have likely hurt the chances of me ever doing another MMO. I have enjoyed WoW and City of Villains on and off but when Champions Online was announced I was pumped. The customizing, the hero story and what seemed like amazing support throughout the beta kept me very intrigued. I fell into the trap of excitement and trying to get my hands on the most material and so I signed up for a lifetime subscription. Wow what a mistake. Now, I had a few friends planning to play and we did enjoy it for a bit.

The release was terrible. Tons of download issues and it took three days just to be allowed to download access into the release game. The gameplay was alright while my computer was running the game in the beta, but once the full game went live... my system was slowing down considerably. Finally, after only 3 months with the game. I gave up. I could have spent about 90 on the game but the excitement and thrill of the beta and concept led me to spend about 300 (game, lifetime subscription, in-game dlc and strategy guide).  Never again.

But here was the underlying problem. The lifetime subscription gave the developer a lot of money up front to work with which was good, but the gamer didn't feel the obsessive need to return when they were shelling out the monthly subscription fee. It would be like paying for a lifetime membership to a gym. You'll go for a while but the monthly fee coming out of your account is added influence to return. That is why, among other things, I just don't see the need to go back. Also, I own all the consoles and just don't commit that much time to PC games.

Anyone else get sucked into shelling out big cash and dealing with regret rather than love?