Topic: FTP or Trial

I just want to share my idea for something that can bring more players.

Our days the free to play is the good path to get profit and many players playing the game. But is very important to be careful to no kill the game.

Onething everyone agree is, the game need more players, best, active players. But the players can't invite friends or have a big problem to get the friends playing with them, because they can't try the game.

As far as I remember, the game already had a trial where the players had few days to try the game. We can think again about bring back the trial with limited time but...

There are already new feature in the game that can be used to create some kind a trial and a free to play. I'm thinking about, everyone can create a free account, play it while he/she likes, it have access to everything except:
- get only 50% of earning EP and money
- no EP along the time

So if it pay for the game, the 10€, it have no restrictions, I call it full game.

If it pay for premium and don't have "full game" there are two options:
1- get everything the premium have (200% EP)
2- get double EP of trial account (100% EP)

So this are my thoughts shared with you.
Have a good play.

Re: FTP or Trial

The question is would more people play the trial and then buy the game than currently buy the game just to try.

Given our player retention...

Proverbs 23:20-21 warns us, “Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat, for drunkards and gluttons become poor, and drowsiness clothes them in rags."

Re: FTP or Trial

That's a good question. Let me show you my view.

Perpetuum with high population, even if more than half are "trial", and I expect that for some time, means more motivation to play because there are more activity.

There are one thing can give more money for developers, the ICE, the FtP/trial players want to buy those things to improve the char grow, and there are others want easy NIC.

So, unless the dev have anything hide to show, this would be the best way to improve the perpetuum population.

Re: FTP or Trial

I get what you are saying but I think you overestimate the pull of the games trial. The game is already free for I think 12000 players and they don't play it. Even if the game went fully free to play I don't think they would get over a hundred active players at first - there just isn't the marketing firstly and it's a very niche market most of which have already tried (and discarded) it

Proverbs 23:20-21 warns us, “Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat, for drunkards and gluttons become poor, and drowsiness clothes them in rags."

Re: FTP or Trial

speaking of which what does gen chat look like? i uninstalled the game

Re: FTP or Trial

Rovoc wrote:

speaking of which what does gen chat look like? i uninstalled the game

you suck!

320 in GC today.  wait, I got the decimal point off one place.  32:lol:

Re: FTP or Trial

Eng Daniel wrote:

I just want to share my idea for something that can bring more players.

Our days the free to play is the good path to get profit and many players playing the game. But is very important to be careful to no kill the game.

Onething everyone agree is, the game need more players, best, active players. But the players can't invite friends or have a big problem to get the friends playing with them, because they can't try the game.

As far as I remember, the game already had a trial where the players had few days to try the game. We can think again about bring back the trial with limited time but...

There are already new feature in the game that can be used to create some kind a trial and a free to play. I'm thinking about, everyone can create a free account, play it while he/she likes, it have access to everything except:
- get only 50% of earning EP and money
- no EP along the time

So if it pay for the game, the 10€, it have no restrictions, I call it full game.

If it pay for premium and don't have "full game" there are two options:
1- get everything the premium have (200% EP)
2- get double EP of trial account (100% EP)

So this are my thoughts shared with you.
Have a good play.

Tip: You buy the game on Steam. Try the game. Then you write a letter with threats that the game is ***, graphics is ***, there are many bugs and everywhere Russians (it is now fashionable. All have been accused us, and this can be a decisive argument for returning your moneys). Zoom return the money to you. The trial version is not required. lol

Re: FTP or Trial

tl;dr -- Why not try something like the game is free for the month of October?

Seems like it's something of a chicken-egg problem.  Games like this need a critical-mass to work. People stop playing because nobody else is around, which then means nobody is around and more drop, etc.

I just started playing the other day. I had played some in beta, but stopped when it went to sub cuz I was already running 3 subs in Eve and couldn't afford to do both (time and money). Dropped from Eve a while back and started to get the itch for this type of game again, so I checked it out. I saw there was no longer a monthly sub, which made me dig further. I saw that there had been recent updates and there was some forum activity, but I didn't actually read much (oops!).  So I didn't realize how low the population was. What I saw (the revised EP system, etc), combined with what I remembered from my beta time, made me sign up for 2 accounts. Once in game I noticed that nobody was around. After reading the forum and watching GC I had the same thoughts as the OP.  If there were some mechanism to let people have something like 21-30 days free time as a big event, it might be enough to boost population up for a couple weeks and get new players to actually pay and get invested. Implementing a free trial for people as they trickle in probably won't work. You have to do something to get a spike.

I wouldn't even put any restrictions on the gameplay. Treat everyone during the event as if they were full paying customers. That way they see what it is really like. Could it be exploited? Maybe. Would it be "FAIR" to current players? Not completely.  But what is better for current players - a dead game or new active blood?

When the active population hovers around 75-ish it is going to be tough to have much fun. I am so far having fun just doing the solo starter PVE stuff, re-learning the skill system, fittings, etc. But I ultimately would want to get into pvp. That was my thing in Eve (the cloaky w-space kind, lol).  I'm not seeing much potential for that right now.

My thought is -- what do they have to lose? It's hard to recommend that my online gamer friends plunk down even $10 to play an MMO with 75 people.  When I dropped out of Eve I went the opposite direction and checked out LOTRO, largely because it was free to start. Once I played for a few weeks I ended up dropping money on the expansions and subscription. I've spent about $250 over the 18 months. That would not have happened if I had to start by paying money.

Re: FTP or Trial

I think there is a lack of retention-constructive interactions between established players and newbies. Players know that in order to be felt signficant there needs to be people around but a lot of game actions is about driving people away (from your immidiate vicinity). Other people are a security threat, drive up prices what you are buying and drive low prices on what you are selling. Even if they are your ally they pose stress in their cabality to cross you and keeping the social bonds firm needs work input that doesn't immidetly pay off as any kind of fun.

A lot of times it has been suggested that top players need things to strive for to keep the economy structure good. I have become increasingly sceptical about it as it is a form of trickle down economics. Even when I on purpose overpay for items that I have it doesn't seem to create that much stirring in the market.

I would say a fix could be something in the game mechanics that cares about active players. Say something good happens to people on proportion of total ep earned (on that island). I was first thinking about lowering bot construction costs but it could simply be free tokens. Then I thought against it because if someone is on the fecne about being an active player and then the player count lowers it could trigger and avalance of passiviers. BUt it owuld have these two good properties 1) players could/would feel accomplishment when new players play 2) Action that mess epople for the community but benefit the individual would be more explictly so instead of being percieved as "free lunches" for the individual.

A lot of the apeal like these is about long term social play. A month could not really give a glimpse for that. But instead of being an inefficient sampling it could be thought of an unbypassable value protection. Start paying or your fresh alliance is going to crumble.

Re: FTP or Trial

With the reintroduction of the Alpha 1 triangle and some intelligent rebalancing of resources and content I think that FTP Alpha 1 could work nicely.

Re: FTP or Trial

Eve is going FTP! https://community.eveonline.com/news/de … ve-online/

Probably a good time to think about changing your marketing strategy.

RIP PERPETUUM

Re: FTP or Trial

This is huge. Its also so easy to do in perp, limit skills to 5, no mk2 or heavy mechs, no ep for in game actions, no detectors or maskers. Boom, job done.

Get some adsence up around eve online and pick up the bored eve ftp people.

Proverbs 23:20-21 warns us, “Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat, for drunkards and gluttons become poor, and drowsiness clothes them in rags."

Re: FTP or Trial

Perpetuum has pay-up-front components which would make a similar system behave somewhat differently. In the new eve model you could go from omega to alpha if you don't keep up the subscription or plexing. In perpetuum once you are in you are in, there is no going out. What we have similar here is that ICE runs out on time. What migth be tempting to do is put more of the features of a "full member" with that subscription so it could lapse.

For example while sit transit gloria mundis I have at this time a gamma base up. I don't think that any kind of "restricted" account would really have MPC in their palette. But I would like that in any such transition what I can do (as a user that bought the game once) does not diminish. I want to still enter my terminal, set its access relations, have colixium mining and the various MPC versions of industry. I don't want to "lose" my gamma just because I did not start to ICE for it.

That is with perp it would be a one time transition from Subroutine to Agent or from Tourist Agent to Native Agent. The ep boosts from ICE would stay separate. So it would be a pay-up-front analogue of free-but-restricted access. Or maybe there could be room for micro-micro transactions, selling ICE to users that are not full agents?

14 (edited by Chemist 2016-09-01 00:57:47)

Re: FTP or Trial

Celebro wrote:

Eve is going FTP! https://community.eveonline.com/news/de … ve-online/

Probably a good time to think about changing your marketing strategy.

i like it (GT):

"money it brings no less because of the hardcore and old school. and because of the idiotic updates

sovereignty, with the capital, with bonuses, with unfinished strongholds. with idiotic rebalance that change radically the rules every two months.

it infuriates true followers of project - developers break everything of value that was in the game.
and add an experimental turbidity - attracting one-day players.

It can not be so simply pick up and add something new without breaking the old?"

Another (Someone remembered about our game)))):

"And yes ... How's Perpetuum or how it ... Eva on the mechs."

Re: FTP or Trial

Celebro wrote:

Eve is going FTP! https://community.eveonline.com/news/de … ve-online/

Probably a good time to think about changing your marketing strategy.

F2P is inaccurate to what they are actually doing here tbh. Permanent trial all things considered would be an accurate term as it is literally the trial with no expiration date.

Reading this signature fills you with determination.

Re: FTP or Trial

You know what will save this game?




Nothing!

I am Perpetuum.

Re: FTP or Trial

Perpetuum wrote:

You know what will save this game?




Nothing!

A few months ago i've seen 0 in gen chat with the exception of me.
Then a new dev blog about new stuff came out about, and the world was saved.

Re: FTP or Trial

Gekko wrote:
Perpetuum wrote:

You know what will save this game?




Nothing!

A few months ago i've seen 0 in gen chat with the exception of me.
Then a new dev blog about new stuff came out about, and the world was saved.

If we get new stuff/updates/bugfixes/etc every 1-2 week, online would be 2-3 times higher and more stable...

Re: FTP or Trial

Yea, what is the percent increase going from 0 to 1 again?

That would make for great clickbait.

I am Perpetuum.