MMO-RPG’s – An F2P Renting Model Idea

MMO-RPG’s – An F2P Model Idea

Currently, MMORPG’s are becoming very outdated.  The amount of time, effort, and social requirements are too much for a lot of gamers to justify spending the subscription fees, especially for multiple games in the genre.  Right now, World of Warcraft is the only MMORPG able to keep a solid subscription base, the rest of its competitors falling into the free to play market just to keep a player base.  I won’t attempt to delve into redefining the genre itself, the scope of that is immense and may not be fully possible (though creative solutions could be designed) with the rise of fast-paced competitive gaming.  What I will talk about, is a micro transaction model of play using the MMORPG genre’s primary form of sustainability.

Primary Sustainability

            The primary form of sustainability of the MMORPG genre is its endgame content.  The continual generation of new raids, new dungeons, and new items is what drives players to keep playing.  Without this continual generation of new content, the game would end and players would stop playing once they beat it.  Currently, subscription fees are what cover the design and creation cost of new content, but with more and more players unwilling to play them, perhaps a change in the way the endgame content is funded is in order.

Renting/Selling Endgame Content

            Rather than having a monthly subscription fee, I would propose using micro transactions to “rent” new content.  Players could unlock raids or dungeons for various periods of time for small fees rather than everything for a monthly fee.  This would allow anyone to play the game up to the final content, increasing player base and then allowing them to pick and choose what they wanted to do and when.  Of course, monthly options would still be available.  For an example, I will use World of Warcraft (as that’s what I’m most familiar with) and more specifically, the Cataclysm expansion when Firelands was first released.  As a note, the numbers and prices I used are purely arbitrary, just used for an example.

            Raids                                      24/hrs              Week              Month

            Bastion of Twilight –               .50                   1.00                 2.50

            Blackwing Descent –               .50                   1.00                 2.50

            Baradin Hold –                        .25                   .50                   1.25

            Throne of the Four Winds –    .25                   .50                   1.25

            Firelands –                              1.00                 2.00                 5.00

           

Dungeons                               24/hrs              Week              Month

            Release Dungeons - In my opinion the release dungeons of any MMORPG or its expansion should always be free.  It gives players things to do when max level without having to pay.

            Zul’Aman/Zul’Gurub -            .25                   .50                   1.25

            Using a model like this, players would be able to choose what content they wanted to participate in and which they didn’t need.  Previous raid tiers would be cheaper than the current tier (anything other than the top two tiers being free), and the price would also be based on the raid size; Baradin Hold and Throne of the Four Winds being cheaper for example because they are not “full” raids.  Only the newest dungeons would require “renting” with anything prior to them being unlocked for free.
            This model would be beneficial to many types of players.  Those who play once per week would find this model saving them money, paying only for what they are able/want to get to that day.  Both high end and low end raiders would benefit from this model, being able to “rent” only one tier rather than all of them.  The game itself would benefit from having a larger player base to facilitate the use of their endgame content, increasing the amount of sales, even though they are at a cheaper rate.  Hopefully, this model would also drive designers to create content that players would want to play.
            Of course, monthly packages to unlock all current “rentable” content would still be available, at a price cheaper than individually unlocking everything, allowing players who do enjoy the pay for it and forget it current subscription model.  More expensive monthly packages could also be purchased that would come with bonus “credit” for use on boosts or other purchases.  At the highest level, players could purchase new endgame content permanently for a onetime fee (say, cheaper than 3 months but more than 2).

Boosts – Exp/Items/Gold

            Aside from “renting” content, there are a few other ways to use micro transactions to generate revenue for MMORPG’s.  One of the simplest ways is to sell boosts for gold income, exp gains, and item drops.  They are things that can help a players quality of life if they want to spend the money on it, after all, sometimes leveling that third or fourth alt can become extremely tedious.  In no way, however, should purchasing these boosts feel necessary, that would only lead to driving players away, more so, they should feel like they are causing you to skip portions of the game that a player has already seen or does not want to deal with.
            My favorite idea of this nature is for items.  Players could potentially buy an item drop boost for a specific raid or dungeon.  If say in X raid or dungeon the boost is purchased, all bosses killed in that raid or dungeon while the boost is active would drop 1 extra piece of loot.  I think a lot of players/guilds would take advantage of this option if it was reasonably priced, and 1 more piece of loot would speed up progression too much, especially as the loot is random.

Buying Gold

            Simple enough, players could spend money to purchase gold.  Primarily for use in nabbing an item you want off the auction house or potentially in gold DKP raids.  Gold costs in game should not change to reflect this new option, but should still be based entirely on non-payment methods of obtainment.

Selling Cosmetic Content

            Most free to play games already do this.  It is a huge way to generate income and for players to support a game while getting something in return.  MMORPG’s should start offering purchasable gear/character modifications; a simple enough idea that could generate a very large amount of income.

Selling User Generated Cosmetic Content

            Done in a few games, Dota 2 for example, this is a very easy way for companies to make money off of a game.  Design a simple editor for cosmetic, maybe even audio, effects and allow your player base to do the rest.  Second Life, IMVU, and various games have proven that this works.  User’s will generate content and sell it to other players with the company/game taking a small cut.  The added benefit is that the user’s are pleased, both at buying something appealing to them and at getting paid for their work.  Companies/games profit with no money spent on design fees for these items.

Real Money Auction House

            I’m not sure on the logistics of how much these cost to operate, but I feel that any game that already has an auction house could benefit from having a real money version as well.  It’s another option that can be used or ignored by players and the value of is primarily in their hands.  It provides revenue to both players and the game, in an almost win/win situation.  Aside from operation costs and upkeep, there’s not much of a downside to implementing a real money auction house, especially in a game that already uses micro transactions.

What Not to Sell

            When it comes to MMORPG’s there are a few things that, in my opinion, should never be sold, otherwise the quality of the game is brought down.  Topping that list is of course, items.  I feel that any game selling items to players, especially those of superior quality, cannot last and will only drive players away.  When wallet warriors take over, the majority of a game’s population gets very upset.  In the same way, buffs to your character’s abilities in anyway, permanent or temporary, should not be sold; just as selling superior items puts the advantage in the hands of those with dollars, so too does buffs.
            The one other main thing that I believe should not be sold is travel time reduction.  The amount of time it takes to travel through the game world should not be affected by real world money.  All methods of transportation should only be available through normal means.  By not doing this, you can easily create derision between those who have it and those who don’t.  It separates players from each other, especially if the difference in the ability to travel is vast.
            To note again, a player should never feel obligated to spend their money to progress in the game.  Exp/Gold boosts should not feel required to have a pleasant experience in the game, nor should buffs be offered to players and be needed for progression.

In Closing

            I feel that a free to play model of this type could be vastly beneficial to the MMORPG genre, especially for those trying to break into the market, or trying to survive the current one as more and more players are opting out of games due to subscription fees.  By “renting” endgame content (and removing f2p level caps), a game’s player base would improve.  Though the income would no longer be predictable, by creating solid, enjoyable, and challenging endgame content, players would want to “rent” or even own new published content.  Though overall, the game would be making less money per player (most likely), they would be making more sales from the increased player base.  A model like this would allow games in the genre to keep and grow their player base while having a method of sustainability.  On top of that, once having a micro transaction system already in place, other options for income generation become available.

League of Legends: Arena - A Formal Proposal

League of Legends: Arena - A Formal Proposal


I. Summary

    This article proposes a potential next step for Riot Games, branching out from the MOBA genre and into the Fighting genre, another popular genre among the e-sports community.  While still growing the League of Legends brand, it would allow Riot to expand its horizons while facilitating e-sports growth as a leader in their industry.


II. Objectives

    A. Create an Enjoyable, Well-Designed Game -  Creating an enjoyable game should be the key and ultimate goal of any game design endeavor.  It is what keeps people playing and coming back.  As Riot is a facilitator of e-sports, not only should it be enjoyable to play while being competitive, but it should be enjoyable to watch as well.

    B. Facilitate E-Sports Growth -  League of Legends is already pushing the bounds of e-sports, especially in the US.  By adding another game into their line, Riot will be able to further solidify e-sports gaming as legitimate sports.  One game can cause the casual or non-gamer crowd to raise an eyebrow in interest, but several will cause them to take notice of the growing popularity.

    C. Expand Riot Games into Another Genre -  Company growth and expanding into new fields and markets is huge part of what makes today's leading companies successful.  The more areas a company branches into, the more knowledge and experience base it has to pull in for any one area.  By moving into another game genre, Riot would be able to grow their name while simultaneous increasing their resource pool for current and future endeavors.

    D. Allow for Content to be Used in Both Games -  The League of Legends heroes and universe mesh well with the fighting genre.  By using these as the lore/design base, content can be shared between them, most notably the heroes, and could be improved upon for both games.


III. Why the Fighting Genre

    The Fighting genre is already a well established platform for competitive gaming, however, a highly successful online system has yet to be created for this genre.  Most online user experiences with Fighting games involve awkward lobby designs, poor matchup systems, and high latency issues.  I believe that Riot Games is capable of pushing past these boundaries and taking the genre to the next level.
    The Fighting genre is also a very exciting genre to watch.  Games are quick, generally action packed, and very capable of victories from behind.  There is less knowledge needed to understand what is going on, even non-gamers can understand who is winning and losing with just a cursory glance.  In this way, a Fighting game that pushes the boundaries of its genre and brings it to the online field would be a big facilitator for the popularization of e-sports.
    League of Legends is a highly team-work oriented game.  Moving into the Fighting genre would allow Riot's game designers the opportunity to work on a product that is primarily designed for solo play.  It's a perspective that differs from Riot's current work and would give the designers new insight into game creation.
    As mentioned before, the League of Legends world also meshes well, providing a very large number of characters to bring to a Fighting game.


IV. Brief Lore

    As the popularity and necessity of the League of Legends grew, so did the costs.  Where once minor lords could settle their disputes through the League, they have been pushed out and have returned to settling their problems through war.  As skirmishes among the minor lords grew, The Institute of War came up with a solution: the League of Legends Arenas.  Small disputes could now be delegated to the arenas for duels and settled quickly by summoners and their champions, while the larger ones would continue to take the spotlight on the Fields of Justice.


V. Design Model

    A. Smash Brothers Melee Fighter Model
        i. Why Smash Brothers?
            While any fighting game style can potentially work, I believe that the Smash Brothers model would work best.  Though few realize it, Smash Brothers Melee pushes the boundaries of the fighting genre, taking it to new heights.  Because of its more "fun" nature and its ease of picking up, not many have looked into its value for competitive play.  Those that have though, see a level of depth that far surpasses that of traditional fighters.  Since its release, Smash Brothers Melee has had a loyal competitive following that have continually pushed the skill level of the game to new heights.  To this day, 11 years after release, playstyles are still evolving and improving.  The height of competitive play has still yet to be reached.
            Aside from its high competitive value, the Smash Brothers model is also extremely easy to pick up and fun to play.  In terms of ease, the button combinations are simple, doing away with any complex combinations to perform a skill, and the objective is easy to understand.  And, as much fun as it is to simply hit your opponent, it’s much more satisfying to watch them fly across the screen.   The Smash Brother's model has also proven itself to be enjoyable by players of all skill levels, allowing modes simply for fun to also be added to the online model.

        ii. Comparing the Smash Brother Model to the Traditional Model.
            This is a much greater endeavor than can be fit into this proposal.  If you would like to look at it in depth, please visit my analysis at http://snowspotsgamedesign.blogspot.com/2012/10/smash-brothers-melee-analysis-and.html.  In short though, the major point of difference between the two models is that of static vs. fluid play.  Traditional fighters are designed in a very static environment.  Limits are placed on just about every aspect of them. The Smash Brother's model however, is very fluid and by just looking at the movement possibilities, one can see a vast range of options available to play.

    B. Free to Play Model
        A free to play model of a fighting game would be done in much the same way as League of Legends is already run.  Aside from you character and skin unlocks; stages as well as items for fun play could be potential unlockables as well.

    C. Game Modes
        i. Tournament/Ranked Play
            1. Best of X -  Normal tournament model and easily modifiable for time variances.  For online play Best out of 3 or Best out of 5 would keep matches around the 10-15 minute mark at max.

            2. Lives -  Uniformly set across all modes (except perhaps custom games), 3 to 5 lives works well depending on how exactly the game plays out.  Allows a player to get behind, but still have time to come back from behind.

            3. Stage Bans -  Any fun stages or stages determined to be too unbalanced would automatically be removed from the selection pool.  On top of that, each player would be able to remove 1 or 2 stages from the available pool.  This would happen at the start of the match, before character selection.

            4. Character Bans -  I would choose to not include this function if possible.  Fighting games tend to direct players towards having 1 main and 1 secondary character.  Especially in tournament play, targeted bans would be too strong.  However, with the vast number of potential champions, it might be necessary for ranked play to keep restraints on potentially unbalanced champions.  Ideally though, unbalanced champions would be removed from ranked/tournament play while they are tuned and character bans would not need to be instituted.  This would also happen at the start of the match, before character selection.

            5. Flow of Game after Bans
                Round 1: Characters are chosen blindly.  Stage is chosen randomly from available pool.
                Following Rounds: Loser chooses stage.  Winner chooses character.  Loser chooses character.

        ii. Normal Play
            1. Blind Picks
            2. No Bans
            3. Stages -  Selected at random from available pool; still sticking to balanced stages only.

        iii. Fun Mode
            Generally how the Smash Brother's model is seen.  Any stage would be open for play and items would be allowed; just a fun mode of play without competitive drive, much like ARAM or Chase the Teemo in League of Legends.  Sometimes players just like to kick back and enjoy something silly.  It's a fresh change of pace that has no downside.  Some players even prefer to play these modes and will continue to be part of the game's player base just for these modes.
            1. Blind Picks
            2. Additional Ways to Play –  As well as the normal playstyles, Free-for-All and Large player numbers would be available.
            3. Stages –  Selected at random and all open.
            4. Items –  Turned on and available for play.

        iv. Team Play
            Not the main source of competitive play for the fighting genre, but in the few that do have it, it is still fairly competitive and fun.  To note, the internet meme and video fad "Wombo Combo" game from a competitive 2v2 tournament for Smash Brothers Melee.
            1. Available in all Modes
            2. Bans –  In Tournament/Ranked play, the number of bans would not increase.
            3. Character Pick -  In Tournament/Ranked play, champion selection would rotate in non-blind picks, with the first player to choose on a given team picked at random.  No character swapping.

        v. Offline Play
            The fighting genre is currently mainly played in an offline setting.  Friends get together and play while sitting next to each other.  It creates a different kind of atmosphere than online play and a lot of players like this.   As it would only require two people and one screen to play, creating a way in which offline play is possible would have several benefits to a game of this nature.
            1. Latency -  Latency is a huge deal with fighting games, more so than any other genre.  Finesse is a huge part of a fighting game's skill, sometimes wins and losses coming down to frames.  Allowing players a way to play offline would let them practice in a 0 latency environment, a huge benefit for those planning to compete in tournament play.
            2.  Community Togetherness -  An offline mode would encourage the local meetups and tournaments that players of the genre are used to.  It could be used by lan cafe's or even individuals to host and facilitate these events.  With such short matches, and being able to run on a single computer/screen; events could be put together with only a few computers/laptops.  An offline mode could even be created in such a way as to make it easy to put on such events. Forums or a tournament registration site could be used streamline this process.  Communities could be brought together anywhere, instead of just coming together during official tournaments.

VI. Point System and Champion Interaction

    A. Owning Champions -  Three routes are available for this.  In the first route, champions would simply be owned in both games, regardless of which you bought them in.  In route two, Champions would be completely separate and you would have to purchase them in each game. For the third option, a balance would be struck between the two.  Champions could be purchased individually, or as a double bundle for cheaper.  Owning a champion in one game would also reduce the cost of that champion in the other, but not as low as a bundle deal is.

    B. Owning Skins -  Any purchased skin would be usable in both games, as long as the player had the champion unlocked.  When deciding to purchase a skin, players would feel as if they are getting more out of their purchase than if it was for one game.  It would please players, and facilitate the purchase of skins more so than if you had to buy them individually.

    C. IP Generation -  Would be linked to your account, regardless of game.  Playing matches in either game would earn you IP that you could spend on either game.  This would give players the option to play what they wanted, when they wanted, and still feel as if they are working towards their intended goal, even if it is in the other game.

VII. Content Generation

    A. Heroes and Skins -  With a huge pool of champions and skins already within League of Legends, little new content in these areas would need to be created.  However, when a champion was being worked on for Arenas, it would allow the art and animations teams to redo or revamp the current content of League of Legends, as well as create entirely new animations. Extra time and resources could be devoted to new champion art and animation as the results would be doubly beneficial.

    B. Stages -  The main source of new purchasable content.  Just like heroes, free stages would rotate each week.  Players could then purchase a stage to add it to their available pool, with stages they are particularly fond of being used as their ranked/tournament choices.   The flow of stages would not need to be constant, and would not need to always be serious.  Stages with hazards or breakables could be created for non-competitive play.

    C. Items -  Another "fun" content creation.  The items used in League of Legends could be translated to Arena designs.  As created, they could be immediately unlocked, or available for small IP purchases.

VIII. Challenges into Opportunities

    A. Controller -  Fighting games are typically with a controller or joystick.  They are much more intuitive to the genre's style of play and allow for a precision of movement that just cannot be matched by a keyboard and mouse.  This will be the most limiting factor to the success of a PC based, online Fighting game, but not one that cannot be overcome.  One large benefit that a PC based Fighting game will have when it comes to a controller, is the large variety that will be available.  Aside from the large selection of controllers available for PC's, hardware intelligent players have been creating connectors for years to be able to use their favorite controller or joystick setups with their games.  With the rise of Bluetooth being used in most consoles today, those controllers are also readily available for use.
        i. Partnership Opportunity -  Aside from the already large pool of controllers to choose from, Arenas would allow Riot Games to partner up with a company (like Logitech or Alienware) to create a controller that is especially designed for this game.  Riot game designers and the company’s engineers could work together on the controller's design.  This would be an opportunity to create a new relationship or to improve an already existing one.

    B. Latency -  Latency will be another issue to overcome for an online fighting game.  As mentioned before, latency affects one's ability to play a fighting game more than any other genre.  It will be a challenge to create a system that reduces latency as much as possible
        i. Server Upgrade Opportunity -  With the need to keep latency as low as possible, the introduction of a new game could potentially be a good reason to upgrade existing servers or to put new ones in place.

IX. In Closing

    As Riot Games seeks to expand their horizons, I believe that a Fighting game set in the current League of Legends universe would have great success.  The Fighting genre is one that is already solidified as a competitive gaming field, yet the online market for them is largely untapped.  While the implementation of a new game/genre can be difficult, this model would facilitate growth and content creation for both games, much of which would serve a purpose in both games.  As an already accepted competitive genre, a fighting game would help to grow e-sports as a whole, putting another style of gaming to the forefront of competition and solidifying e-sports as actual sports in the mind of gamers and non gamers alike.  A fighting game would provide Riot and the League of Legends brand many opportunities now and in the future.