EVE General Discussion

I played some games that were subscription based and introduced micro transactions. Some things about those were really great and others nearly killed the games.

(+) A lot of people won’t ever pay monthly subs for various reasons. Because they are not allowed to (Parents, Wives, Caregivers), because they don’t want to (Reservation/ Preconceptions) or because of the cultural and economic background. Micro Transactions are a way to offer those people a way to “only pay what/when you play”. “Hide” it on their mobile bill in small sporadic amounts to make everyone happy. Illogical? Maybe. New group of potential customers? For sure. Morally questionable? I won’t judge as I was hiding a game on my phones bill myself.

(+) In a lot of countries gaming happenes a lot in cyber cafes. When the potential customers have to pay for the PC and Internet per hour it is only logical to have more payment options for games than just per month. And in some countries everything is usually sold in small units and hardly anyone buys anything ahead, no matter the possible bargain. I like playing with people form counties in South America, Africa, India and Oceania. I would be glad if CCP used the Micro-PLEX to offer “gaming zone” compatible payment options for those players without an own PC and an internet flat rate.

(+) A smoother transition from trial to full sub. The old system was a bit off-putting: Two/three weeks for testing and then a “pay up or walk away” decision. If I understood that right the first time a customer pays money for a product is a critical step. Because people want to keep using what they paid for, even if they spend only a small amount. As you can test EVE forever now, the barrier to spend the first real money on the game should be as low as possible.

(+) You can easily sell services that some players would like to have but most don’t care about much and definitely don’t want to pay for with their sub. Like digital collectors cards with original artwork. As long as you sell nice looking fluff items the buyers are happy and the non-buyers don’t care.

(-) Biggest risk is that you drive off your subbed player base. I saw this happen more than once. The key is not to sell ANYTHING needed for regular game play that is not also included in the sub or drops ingame at an exactable rate. Or to create artifical paywalls and make all playes pay extra to pass those. I played a former sub only game where certain endgame feats where only trainable when you had the right semi-rare ingame items. At some point those items didn’t drop at all anymore and where only assessable by the game shop, even for fully subbed players. Some players duped them, some players rage-quitted and only a few kept playing. One mistake - being too greedy once- and you may start a mass exodus. I hope CCP wouldn’t make such a big mistake, like -let's say- jump fatige removal tokens.

(-) There are a lot of trashy pure Micro-Transaction games that were built to rip customers off from day one. Very outdated graphics, stolen game design, artificial paywalls everywhere. Those games gave Micro Transactions a bad reputation and any game using this payment option is now suspicions by default. MT are a hit to the reputation and should be handled with care.

What advantages or risks did other players experience with micro transactions in subscription only games?

In terms of Gold ammo, I wouldn't mind if CCP allowed the new Micro-Plexes to be loaded into festival launchers as firework ammo.

That would be like a EVE player says "I love you"? Showering the loved one in sparkling golden Micro-Plexes?
Let me show you my golden ammo....

CCP needs to earn enough to live on.
Existing microtransasctions are acceptable so far.
I hope they can get enough and remember to upgrade EVE to EVE2 instead of Dust514, Valkyrie or whatever else.

We already have gold ammo: Skill injectors.

In the end, it doesnt really matter if you buy a skill that gives +10% damage or ammo that gives +10% damage. The result is the same.

When we compare one newbie to another you are 100% right. The injectors can be a huge boost. For veteran players not so much, they can use T2 weapons anyway and weapon specialization V is only 2% more base damage over IV. I think that was quite clever by CCP.

The "monocle" was strange BS for sure. Wrong time, wrong place, wrong price, wrong item, wrong target group, wrong everything. The DeLorean of micro transactions.

Sure, no one disputes this. However the traditional method is by increasing your customer base rather than milking the few customers you have for every last drop of disposable income. But it's pretty obvious that after 14 or so years, CCP is either unable or unwilling to effectively market their game. Or their game is so bad that they lose their customers (apart from a few hard core fanatics).

There is no such thing as a "right" to profit. CCP has the right to TRY to make money. If they can't, then the outcome is known by failed businesses everywhere.

Very naive approach....

CCP opend the MT door to just sell more woman skirts in the market?

Wake up....

they will also sell ingame advantages and the few players that ragequit after that will not bother them because "the subscrition system is outdated and will be obsolet soon".....

Just money counts not tradition......

Welcome to 2017....

You keep posting that everywhere but I still don`t get what is your point. I agree that CCP "opened the MT door" but they did it a loooong time ago. I don’t see why the split PLEX should enable them to do anything they couldn`t have done before. Without arguing whether skill extractors were good for EVE they were without doubt and in contrary to the monocles an item with an impact on the game play. If there was a time to boycott the store again that would have been the time, the PLEX change is only about payment options yet. If I understand it right the players rage wasn`t fueled by the store itself but the ridicules prices. Why not wait if they do monocles part due and unload your resentments then? Waiting for actual plans to be communicated by CCP rather than making wild guesses what may or may not come isn’t naïve but just composure.

And I don’t think the player base today is so much different than it was back when the store was introduced. Stores were a new thing to MMOs and new things always create a certain momentum. Things are sorted out now, the EVE store like we have it today is nothing to worry too much about IMHO. And the dynamics on the internet are quite random. A thing happens, everyone hops on, much media coverage, lots of posting. Similar thing happens again and hardly anyone even notices. Novelty bonus away, bad timing, new game more important, not in the mood right now … oh look kittens. In every game I ever played people keep complaining about a quality-decay in the player base or gaming in general. Just like my pop remembers those golden years when the word was a perfect place.