Lensor

First of all, this is not a rant against people who pay a sub. People do whatever the want with their money. It is a rant against those people who pay a sub AND zealously defend the sub as the only business model that can give quality gaming.

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How come defenders of pay to play seem to assume the only reason anyone would have a problem with subs it is that they are cheap? Or poor? Or both? I mean, is it really that hard to grasp that people can afford a sub just fine, just not agree with the concept?

And how come defenders of pay to play always seem to fall back on a combination of arguments that do just not make sense? I know it is hard to admit that you have been had on a monthly basis for the last few years (choice-supportive bias anyone?), but come on.

How does:
"You need to pay a sub to get content, have support and keep up the servers" (lolwut, servers are what these days, a buck fifty? ) compute with "If you dont have a sub you just get evil MT that'll cost you even more".

I mean, both cannot be true now can they?

Or maybe neither are true. Or rather, the entire premise is wrong since there is no proof that subs actually go back into the game in the first place.

Quite the opposite.

Blizzard do not need to double dip to keep WoW running (or rather triple dip, since they have box cost + sub + MT), they just do it because they can. I saw recent numbers that WoW in total has cost in the vicinity of $200 milllion, whereas subs during that same time has been about $3 BILLION. So basically $2.8 BILLION has been pure profit. Now, I do not begrudge Blizzard their money, they have worked hard for it. And if they can get people to pay the sub, all the more power to them. But I do question the intelligence of gamers who can look at those numbers and with a straight face claim that subs are needed to support the game. It is self-delusion on such a scale that it is practically a religion. And a really bad one at that.

And what is up with the "subs keep douche bags away" line? Like, seriously, have these people ever played any subbed MMO. Ever?? The ability and willingness to pay a sub is not dependent on being a nice person. Nor on age. Honestly, it is not rocket science. However, if you are the kind of person who would brag about paying $15 a month just to keep those not able or willing to pay out of your tree house, does that not put you squarely into the category of people you wanted to exclude? Which goes back to how sub-based games are anything but douche bag free. Catch 22 at work.

Anyways. Even if all sub money did go back into the game (Maybe there are some MMO out there that do this, like EVE who dont charge for expansions afaik. Cudos for not double dipping!), I would still think subs suck. And it has nothing to do with whether or not I can afford $15 a month. Which I for the record can. It is because subs promote degenerate game design (as do F2P business model imo, but that is not the subject today) .

A developer that gets more money the longer you to stay in the game have the incentive to make sure you stay in the game for as long as possible (duh). This means inclusion of time sinks whose only purpose is to, well, sink your time. Travel time. Exponential leveling curve. Gear stat grind, even for PvP. Add in some random number generators for phat loot and you are golden. (Fun fact; A rat that gets a treat at random will keep pushing the treat dispenser lever long after it is fed up with treats, just piling them up. Whereas a rat with a guaranteed treat drop will only push the lever when it is actually hungry. Gambling addiction is a *****.)

In contrast, a developer who gets more money the more fun you have in the game (so that you will want to buy expansions and add-ons) have the incentive to make sure that you do in deed have fun in the game. This means minimizing time sinks, letting you concentrate on actual honest-to-God FUN. Instant travel. Flat leveling curve. No gear stat grind. And predictable rewards.

Any bells ringing yet?

I for one know what message I want my money to send.