My Free to Play Problem

Fear not, this won't be a rant about how F2P is destroying online gaming or saving it. I have no facts regarding that issue. The best I can offer is hearsay, Apparently Turbine is doing very well from F2P...I heard it from a guy.


First World Problems 

It's time for me to explore my problem with the free to play model. The problem seems to be that it is in fact free. I don't have to pay. I can try anything I want without risk, and my taskbar proves it. Currently there are eight MMO shortcuts pinned to it and innumerable others in a little folder off to the side. I've always been a sucker for a buffet.

It is an embarrassment of riches. Tons of great top flight western MMOs that offer the most substantive part of the game at no cost, other than my broadband bill.

First world problem you say? Yes. Totally. Chances are, if you are now or have ever been an MMO subscriber, you reside on the corner of First and World also.

I have become a jack of all games and a master of none. There simply is not the IRL time to devote myself to more than one game in any significant way.



Once upon a time,

There was Ultima Online, Everquest, and a couple of johnny come lately upstarts on the radar. The very idea of paying a subscription was an abhorrent one to me.

One day, fanboy that I am, I relented and dropped the cash on Star Wars Galaxies. I was instantly converted, spent two years building Zebbidiah MacGirthy into a Master Swordsman and ground Rancors and Dathomiri Witches for fun and credits with laser sharp focus.

There was no other game in my world. Nothing could break my iron clad intent to master all of it's facets. Until there was another game. Once again, With renewed focus I vigorously ground out a max level toon in that one, then also in the next one and the one after that.

I know that the F2P model has been around for years. Popular mostly among our Eastern brothers, China, Korea, Japan etc. Sadly, those worlds never really appealed to me. So I paid monthly for the 'merican style blockbusters that suited my first world tastes.


You got Chocolate in my Peanut Butter!

As a longtime pen and paper player, Dungeons and Dragons Online was a game that held more than a passing interest for me. Sadly, when contrasted with my chosen subscription at the time, Pirates of the Burning Sea, I just couldn't justify the extra cost.

My neat little MMO applecart was turned over in August 2009. Turbine relaunched DDO using the free to play model. It's immediate success threw open the gates to an army of developers and publishers who happily followed it to the land of milk and honey.

This is where my problem began. I tried it and liked it. Just as I began to get a head of steam, the next wave of F2P conversions began. Global Agenda, then EQ2, LotRO, Champions Online, Pirates of the Burning Sea, Age of Conan, never mind beta invites, five day reactivation emails, server downtime credits, buddy keys from guildmates, the list goes on and on and on now. I have reactivated EVE so often I should be getting veteran rewards.

Most of these new business models generate revenue using micro transactions. In game vanity items or services which generally cost under $10, usually $1-$6. To complicate matters further, of all these free games I now play and have access to, my micro transaction dollars are spent in the one and only game to which I still pay a subscription of $14.99/mo, Star Trek Online. Someone please explain that to me.

At first the sheer volume of options was thrilling. But now, longing for that sense of focus and accomplishment received in years past, I find myself wanting to go back, It seems like it should be simple, try them all, and pick the one which fits best. But thats my hangup. I try one, find it lacking, and move on to the next.

I feel like a tourist. Stumbling around someone else's hometown, in entirely the wrong shirt, looking for the coolest painted seashell. Staring out a bus window, learning nothing of substance about the world I'm in. Developing no social bonds and making no real progress. In short, developing no roots and no anchor. Nothing to keep me coming back.



Rub Some Dirt on it...

Robert Hunter said it best, "Once in a while you get shown the light, in the strangest of places if you look at it right." 

As a direct result of SOE's recent troubles, they chose to offer a "welcome back," package to entice leery players, such as myself to return. Among other things, this package included about 45 days of free game time on any SOE game you own and have ever subscribed to. To me, this was a golden opportunity to revisit my old stomping grounds on SWG's Bria server.

It was there, on my Sorosub Luxury Yacht, sorting through all the detritus and broken armor sets of my former life that I stumbled upon my solution.

Pursuing anything with passion requires commitment. Be it sport, craft, art or game.

This might not be news to you, but it is something I had clearly lost touch with as it relates to gaming.

If you want your softball team to take home the trophy, you have to have reliable players. You have to be a reliable player and show up for practices. You can't be on O'Malley's softball team, The Lion's Gate Pub's football team, as well as the inter-mural soccer league at the community center and expect to excel. And I do want to excel.

In the worlds I have inhabited I've built cities and downed fearsome creatures, crafted epic artifacts and made millions. I desire achievement and the thrill that comes with surviving against all odds with a tightly knit group of friends and comrades. I just haven't done it lately.

Now it's time to pick one and play like I know what I'm doing. Any suggestions?