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MMORPG: Free-to-Play versus Pay-to-Play

MMOSITE, the leading MMORPG and Online Gaming portal, is currently having a poll asking their readers to vote on which MMORPG business model they prefer. There are basically two options: Free-to-Play and Pay-to-Play (Subscription). This is a discussion that I’d like to bring in here in the blog. In the past few months, F2P games have exploded into the local gaming scene here in the Philippines. It was actually started by Mobius’ Gunbound, followed by netGames’ Fly for Fun, and eventually e-Games came in with Ran Online and O2Jam. Both business models have their own pros and cons. It all boils down to what’s your personal preference.

There are gamers who insist that the business model can actually dictate the quality of the community. This debate raged on in RF Online, which actually just went Free-to-Play a few weeks ago. It’s becoming evident that some of the elitist gamers in Novus are taking this to heart. I’ve been talking with the RF Brand Manager lately and he told me that a lot of the veterans have been ganging up on newbie areas, killing the newly acquired players brought about by the shift to F2P. I really can’t blame some of them though. RF was literally “The Premium Title” in the Philippines for the longest time. It was the most expensive locally published MMORPG with a month subscription rate of 500 PHP. The change was really drastic.

I’ve had experience handling F2P games. Prior to Ragnarok and Ragnarok 2, I was actually the Brand Manager of Fly for Fun in netGames. Together with Community Manager Atma and Game Supervisor Izot, we worked our asses off in making Fly for Fun one of the biggest titles in the market. I’ve met a lot of Fly for Fun players and I can honestly say that they’re really a fun community. Maybe it’s in the nature of the game.

Ragnarok Online, on the other hand, has evolved through the years. I was there from the very start, being one of the first 50 players to actually log in at Chaos during the beta testing phase. I’ve seen and met so many people already that I can’t remember anymore all of them. The diversity and depth of the community of Ragnarok still remains to be the most fascinating. You can actually divide them like you were dividing a country - there’s an economic scale and there are even your favorite chinese mafia groups, hehe.

Anyway, at the end of the day the question of the better MMORPG business model really depends on the objective. If it’s a question of profit, it really isn’t just about the business model. It’s about the content, customer service, and more. The point of decision for playing a certain game is not limited to how you pay for it. You have to consider the community as well. Will you play a game if you don’t know anyone in the community? I’m sure that you’ll get hooked faster if you knew that your former guildmates switched from your old game to a new one. It’s the entire product plus the packaging that matters - not how cheap or expensive it is.

Join the Waukster Ragnarok Top 3 Moments Blog Contest and get a chance to win RARE RAGNAROK MERCHANDISE! Here are some of the people who have already joined. Click their names to view their respective entries:

Waukster
John Mamaril
Desquallie
Mhuu~
Crystal
Sniper Angel
ChesterBanting
Aethan Rafael

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 6th, 2007 at 8:10 pm and is filed under Other Games, Ragnarok Online, Ragnarok Online 2. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. 1,328 Views

40 Responses to “MMORPG: Free-to-Play versus Pay-to-Play”


  1. aw gwaing lng F2P ang ragnarok katapusan n ng ragnarok pero dadami nmn ang tao kaso bot lng


  2. sana F2P ang RO2.wooot!!wooot!!


  3. suggestion lng::::

    pur lng kc ako pero i love RO,, isa lng ang harang sa RO at ako,, yng load,, pero pag ginawang F2P parang nakakatamad na,,

    kaya babaan na lng yng price ng load,,,, o kaya taasan yng value yng mga cards hindi mga price ha yng game time,,,,,

  		4.
    Balki a.k.a. Frithiof
    September 6th, 2007 at 9:14 pm

    The shifting of RF Online from P2P to F2P was kinda drastic… (Upon hearing it, my younger brother can’t stop pestering me about playing RF…


  5. WAG F2P!!!!!!

    NAKAKA TAMAD NA RO NUN PAG GANUN AT SAKA KUNG LA PAPASOK NA PERA PARA SA RO. PAG NANGYARI UN MAHIHIRAPAN SILA NA MAG SUELDO SA MGA TAOHAN NILA,, MAGTATANGGAL SILA TAUHAN,, PANO NA UN??? PAG MAY MGA PROBLEMS SA GAME KAKAUNTI YNG MGA MAG AAYOS,, BAKA LINGGO NA AABUTIN BAGO MAAYOS,,,

    AT SA MGA EVENTS NILA TULAD NG SA WORLD TRADE CENTER,, SAN NILA KUKUNIN PANG PAY DUN
    D NAMAN PWEDE SA NETOPIA NA LNG SA SM AT BAKA MAG KAROON NG “SM STAMPEDE”,, HEHEHE

  		6.
    Balki a.k.a. Frithiof
    September 6th, 2007 at 9:24 pm

    Ba’t cut ung first comment ko? o__O


  7. Tama wag F2P pRO … pangit na nga CS nila lalo pa papangit… tama si RagE_2K7 taassan na lng ung value o game time nung mga cards …


  8. ok lang F2P basta ban lahat ng accounts na mahuling nakabot hahahaha


  9. sa tingin nyo kung tanggalin nila bots ilan nalang ang makikita mong online jan? lol. you people really make me laugh! di kayo nagiisip e. its not that botter ako kaya ko sinasabi eto. Level up narin mismo tanunging ninyo. If they answer truthfully sasabihin nilang more than half of the accounts online at any given time for a particular server bots yan. Try natin if you want. Apply ninyo padded packets sa commercial servers. Yung normal population niya tignan nyo bago mag maintenance. Then afterwards check nyo ilang online. Wag comment ng comment kung walang sense yung comment.


  10. Hmm, magandang idea na babaan na lamang ang rate. Yung 100 card dapat one month na yun. Magdagdag din ng mga items sa hypermart para dun kumita RO.

    OT lang. Wauks, Thor Server after the emergency maintennce kaninang 4:30- 6:00PM is in shambles!

    Laging DC ang lahat every now and then. Time gap daw! Emblems, guild invite, weapons, equips, pots nawawala! Even the Fkeys and kafra are missing. The player has to relog everytime para maayos ang game.

    During the siege, ang tindi ng kalaban ng lahat, DC and lag! Ten kaming defender, bigla dc ang pito! Pag atak naman,pagpasok sa portal,DC or di makagalaw!

    Help naman! These multiple bugs happenned since 6Pm. Wala pa ring ginagawa ang LU. :(


  11. ok lang kung F2P o P2P basta maganda ang community service ^_^ ako tinamad na ako mag pRO kasi bot infested na un at dahil sa bot nagiging Imbalance ang game at pumapangit ang economy… pano pa kaya pag naging F2P xD Anyway against ako sa P2P… unlike F2P para sa akin mas malaki ang gastos… halimbawa pag kukumpara ko ang larong RO1 sa Perfect World Perfect World RO1 100P=1week Perfect World 100P=2kGold sa palagay mo ilang araw itatagal nung 2k gold mong nyan? probably mga 2~5days lagas na yan.. kasi sa pricing palang ng Amulet/hiero talo na eh… kahit ginawa pang 400 gold isa eh talo parinl… madali lang maubus ung hiero nayan lalo na sa mga high lvls kasi halos ng monster dun sa PW malalakas ang attack.. mag grind ka na naka hiero in one day lagas kagad yan ^_^ at hindi lang hiero ang ginagastos mo ah… meron ding ETC. like crafting items na kumukunti lang ang na ccraft at tumataas ang price at by chance lang maka 3star ah…eh kung pano kung wala kang matsambahan syempre bibili ka ulit ng materials para mag craft kasi nakagawian na ng mga pinoy OL gamers na gusto lagi malakas gamit… Ang ayaw ko lang sa PW eh ung craft talaga… kasi ang mga Rich Boy lang yumayaman at lumalakas… ang laking disadvantage sa mga avarage student to eh.. kasi ang average student lang eh nakaka afford ng 100php in a week kaya ang laking lugi narin un para sa kanila XD


  12. Well thats my opinion in F2P XD Well ang wish ko lang sana mag P2P ang Ragnarok 2 : Gate of The World… ^_^


  13. In my opinion… NEVER F2P!! sayang lng pagkaganda ng game.. im very happy with how GE’s load system for the mean time.. Game time + Premium items Pts and cheap monthly rate (Php 300/month).

    Pro P2P ako! basta makeep up d quality and mafilter rin un mga ignorant gamers out there..


  14. Magiging imablanced pag nag F2P ang RO, haha. Agree ako maraming bot. Botter rin ako eh. Saka imagine kung walang load yan, yung me mga unli net connection sa bahay bubuhos ng sangkatutak na bot. Sira na ang economy, baka magoverload pa ang server.

    Siguro pede ano.. bawasan yung price ng game time. Kuripot kasi ako e. Saka magmamahal na daw ang kuryente.


  15. Hay naku ayusin nyo FIP sayng load namin


  16. maganda ung palakihin ung gametime ng cards like 100. kahit 2wks lang. ahihihihi. bsta no to F2P. maging 10000 ulit population ng ragna, kaso 9500 bot. haha!


  17. babaan n lng presyo ng mga top up cards.. or dagdagan ung game time ng mga top up cards.. :D miski ako d n ko laro RO pag gnun.. hehe


  18. Babaan nalang sana yung price para can afford


  19. I’ll suggest to F2P RO2 then premium items nalang ang babayaran.


  20. Musta na fafi wauks, I do suggest F2P, And create some premium items which we be bought using Top-up cards

    -Glory to the never ending circle


  21. Yuck to F2P, RO going F2P will favor botters too much. I’ll admit that giving players more game time when topping up is quite a suggestion, but take in mind na meron pa rin talagang mayayaman dyan na afford magload sa sangkatutak na accounts. Imbalanace pa rin kung nagkaganun. Personally, ako ok na sa current game time rates. Ayusin na lng sana CS and other services.


  22. F2P ragnarok (no BOT-tanggalin) dami babalik
    P2P ragnarok2 ok ba?


  23. P2P is fine but the pricing is pretty demanding.. i think 50 a week would be much better..


  24. IMO

    If the present hybrid model of PRO (combining P2P with Hypermart –an F2p feature) is working well, Why change to F2p?

    I agree that its how the product is packaged that determines success…

    I play F2p games too…and honestly their product features really sucked!Get hooked in a month…quit later…Never done that in PRO.


  25. yeah! I agree na babaan nlang ang price ng load or dagdagan nlang ung gametime para lahat masaya! ok lang sana mag bot pra sa mga may day job tulad namin, kc wala n kming time para mag plvl pa, PVP & siege lang masaya n aku!^_~


  26. uu..dapat p2p n lng..hahabaan n lng yung game tym…kunyari 50.oo gawin n lng 1 wik unlimited..para ok db..kasi nakakatamad tlga kapag f2p..parang walang kachalenge chalenge divah!!un lng hehehe =D


  27. yeah! I agree na babaan nlang ang price ng load or dagdagan nlang ung gametime para lahat masaya! ok lang sana mag bot pra sa mga may day job tulad namin, kc wala n kming time para mag plvl pa, PVP & siege lang masaya n aku!^_~.


  28. I am rather worried that these posts you have been posting towards F2P thingimajigs are a primer of a possible F2P Ragnarok.

    If this is the case, if ever it pushes through… I suggest all the players who have spent THOUSANDS on loads be compensated in anyway for top up payment from the start of getting billed.

    If that can’t be done… i guess that really puts ROnline to the grave.


  29. ang mas mgnda dyn taasn ung value ng time ng load 100 = 2 wiks ok n un..o kung f2p alisn ung bot pwede nmn gwin un e hehehe sure ako ung tyr magiging 1k n lng tao dun wahahaha…ung mga SUPER BIG N guild asa s mga bot haha


  30. OK lang free to play ang pRO pero dapat may bayad na yung pag register nang account, let say 500php para hindi ma abuso nang mga bot. Pwede din maglagay sila nang anti-bot. Or kung hindi talaga pwede taasan nalang nila duration nang top-up cards. 100php 2 weeks 350 1.5 months 500 2 months diba ok din yun?


  31. SANA MAGING FREE TO PLAY NLNG RAGNAROK WEEEEEEEEEEE DADAMI MAG LALARO NUN KAPAG FREE TO PLAY NA RO. PWAMIS DADAMI MAGLALARO. KAC KAYA HINDI NA NAGLALARO ANG IBA NG RO KAC NGA MAY LOAD, PERO KAPAG WALA NG LOAD ANG RO DADAMI NA MAGLALARO NYAN. ^^


  32. F2P na lang RO. Ung nangyari sa RF madami reasons kaya yan naging F2P. I wont say any baka ma ban. About the price for the game isa lang un sa mga dahilan.


  33. guys its easy to say that we must have F2P the RO.. But this is a very bad idea guys to implement. Your lucky if you will play in thor but if you will play in Baldur and etc this will lead to game imbalance. Even though newbies will arise but still they can do bot after a couple of months. And those players that were really Botter before the F2P will just take this opportunity to have lots of bot character. That if its ok if you don’t care about it. ^_^


  34. The best thing to do here wuaks is to lower the prices of the top-up cards at yung hypermart items. Currently, a lot of players are frustrated with how customer support is handling things. P2P pa yan a… What kind of service will we get kung gagawin F2P yan? Anjan na naman yung usual excuses ng Customer Support dagdag na yung for sure ie-emphasize nilang kulang kami sa tao kasi F2P na at kulang sa budget. Kelangan mag downsize dahil minimal nalang kita ng game. F2P = WORSE SERVICE. Ngayon pa lang na P2P daming sira-sira at di maayos. Tapos gagawin nyo pa F2P. Para ninyong inumpog ulo nyo sa pader ng paulit ulit nyan.


  35. Stay nalang sa P2P.. mga mukhang pera naman kayo diba? =)

  		36.
    Mj. Ingram Plissken
    September 7th, 2007 at 8:29 pm

    Sir WAUKS gawa na lang ng Voting poll para magka alaman na kung F2P or P2P levelupgames!!.


  37. Kung mag F2P dadami tao of COURSE! Kaso nga lang dami nyan TOB… Pero the population would go 50% on each server kasi nga dami pa rin humahanga sa RO and besides kung mag F2P ang RO LU will lose income…

    Kung ako ang tatanungin lower nyo na lang Top-Up cards or hindi kaya taasan nyo ung game time para hindi masayang… (e.g. 100 = 2weeks… etc)… Diba?…


  38. NO TO F2P SA RAGNAROK.. MALAKING PAG KAKAMALI WUAKS!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO


  39. dagdagan nyo nlng events like RPC and BTA mas maraming babalik


  40. Yung mga PRO-F2P magPrivate Server nalang kayo F2P gus2 nyo diba?! kapag ginawang F2P dadami lalo BOT
    dagdag LAG. Taasan nalang game time ng load. Sabi nga ng mga intsik (liit kita dami suki kaya dami tubo)!!! Tsaka lagyan nyo load pagregister kahit 10php mapupuno na database nyo dahil sa mga relogger account!!!

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