Ways for Frontier to make money

[Ruskodisco]

no need to mod it in, the adds wont be permanent so an ip block of the known ad servers at the firewall level would do the job.

(this response is for anyone who posts saying FD would prevent modding the game files)

like do you not like this game??
how could possibly changing a picture, that wont hinder the gameplay, and make more money for frontier so they could make the game better....how could you possibly not support that?
if it doesnt affect you, why so scared of it? i'm really trying to understand here
like every update they do for fixing bugs they would put in a picture on those banners and where ever....it wouldn't bother you....movies do it......i'm really trying to figure this out bro......
please tell me why???

 

[withnail]

I'm hoping they let us pimp up our cockpits.

I'm thinking hanging baskets, a David Braben bobblehead and a mirror ball. I would also like to change the cockpit voice to Yoda, or BA Baracus.

For the chair, I think faux tiger or leopard skin would do it. I'll need a horn like on the car in smokey and the bandit too. Hell, my avatar needs a ten gallon hat! Or a John Travolta white suit complete with dagger collars.

The best thing about this idea is that no one else will know, so I need not worry about breaking their immersion!!!!!!!

There is mileage with this idea

 

[Ruskodisco]

I'm hoping they let us pimp up our cockpits.

I'm thinking hanging baskets, a David Braben bobblehead and a mirror ball. I would also like to change the cockpit voice to Yoda, or BA Baracus.

For the chair, I think faux tiger or leopard skin would do it. I'll need a horn like on the car in smokey and the bandit too. Hell, my avatar needs a ten gallon hat! Or a John Travolta white suit complete with dagger collars.

The best thing about this idea is that no one else will know, so I need not worry about breaking their immersion!!!!!!!

There is mileage with this idea

i would love to pay for all that!!!
i mean seriously, i still have my reservations for the price of the paint jobs but i have no problem shelling out like 100$ for just ships and customization options

 

[mojonaut]

Just an idea for putting ads in game, maybe they could get a sponsor, say coca cola, and "futurize" it to fit into the atmosphere of the game. Like, it'll obviously be a coke ad, but in the style of elite so as not to break immersion and be annoying. Maybe the can could be in the shape of the coriolis station, or something of the like.

This may seem silly, but even make coca cola a tradeable commodity, a cheap good akin to the energy drinks in the game right now . Just a couple ideas, anyhow.

Nooooo just NO!

Is it an American thing to feel the need for Adverts in every part of your life ?

 

[Ruskodisco]

Nooooo just NO!

Is it an American thing to feel the need for Adverts in every part of your life ?

is it a (place country here) thing to not like money?

 

[Cmdr Andy B]

yeah, i did. but i changed it cause i thought i was overreacting sorry about that. i just don't get you.
you have no good reason for hating on ads in games if they don't hinder the gameplay or loading or cause bugs..... youre just i dont know.

i just think you don't want frontier or ED to make money.
idk.

ok, i'll educate you a bit on why adverts for present day companies would kill the immersion in a game set 1286 years in the future.

take a look at the page: http://www.coca-cola.co.uk/125/history-of-coca-cola-logo.html

it shows the history of the coka cola label, its changed quite a lot in the last 130 ish years but for it to be an advert it would need to match whatever the current logo is. you couldn't use the 125 year label for example as the date would be out by some 1400 years, the same goes for the rest of them, its not credible that in that amount of time in the future they would just happen to be using the exact same label as today.

adverts however they are served take up bandwidth, this bandwidth could be used for other things like adding more players. that's the ad server version, now lets look at your suggestion for placing them in via a patch.

bug fixes are as and when required, if FD was to start including adverts with its bug fixes they would need to be regular as clockwork to keep the advertisers happy as they pay for x amount of time for it to be displayed.

if FD started withholding bug fixes just to fit in with what the ad men want it would rub a lot of people up the wrong way, if they started forcing people to update their game just to include the latest adverts this would drive some people crazy, especially those who have limited or capped bandwidth to play with, a couple of advert updates a month could potentially cost someone several hours game time as they hit their download cap and get throttled to the point of not being able to play.

hindering gameplay:

without loading the game first name 3 adverts you see at the station entrance, if you cant ask yourself what would need to be done to make them more memorable. the obvious answer is to make them BIGGER so they are more noticeable. large adverts outside stations WOULD hinder gameplay as it would be easy for people to run into them, potentially costing them their ship in the process.

loading we've already dealt with as its a bandwidth issue.

frontier making money? come on look where you are, if i was against it i wouldn't have backed to the beta level, or backed any of the 6 books via kickstarter that each gave FD 4.5k for the book licences and i wouldn't be a member of the private writers forum on here, something that on its own cost me £80.

my one concern is that FD dont add things in a way that will alienate the player-base and get people to leave the game, no players, no expansions and no elite dangerous once the money stops coming in. if there is no longer enough money coming in to make it worth working on extra content like the expansion packs then fairly soon afterwards the servers will be shut down or go to a subscription model to keep them running, neither are things that either of us want to see (wow something we can agree on!)

selling ship for mega bucks may fit well with star citizen with all the hype surrounding it but even then those ships will be available for in game credits as well, not cash exclusive as you plan. (or so i've been informed)

so i DO want FD to make money from the game, lots of it in fact - just not at the expense of the games longevity or its playerbase, i dont want to see this game turn into another cash cow that the company just milks for every penny for a couple of years then walks away from, it deserves better and so do the backers.

and if you want to know the general opinion of micro transactions in the gaming community have a look at this thread: Losing potential customers already?

there are people who already have the impression that ED will be full of micro transactions beyond the cosmetic and are avoiding the game for it, implement some of your suggestions and the tiny minority of players alienated will become a deluge of dissatisfaction that will see a lot of people looking for another game to play.

get it now?

 

[Robert Maynard]

is it a (place country here) thing to not like money?

Not really.

It would change the character of the game significantly if there were to be ship purchase options for RL currency.

We have cosmetic purchase options that gain the purchaser no in-game advantage.

Ship purchases gain the player an advantage - therefore pay-to-win (or at least progress).

 

[Patrick_68000]

There is often threads which suggest helping Frontier to earn money. But I think that Frontier knows how to earn money. Otherwise he would not be Frontier since 1994

 

[Cmdr Andy B]

Not really.

It would change the character of the game significantly if there were to be ship purchase options for RL currency.

We have cosmetic purchase options that gain the purchaser no in-game advantage.

it could be argued that the cosmetic ship skin purchases could do the opposite and be a disadvantage as to some it would be like painting a target on your ship.

especially the flags, patriotic? yes but still a target as there is always someone whose xenophobic attitudes would see them attack anyone who isn't from their neck of the woods. also the money Vs time perception plays a part - if you have the time chances are you don't have the money and if you have the money you don't have the time to practice so 'May' be an easy kill.

obviously such generalisations are baseless but it wont stop people acting on their preconceived ideas.

 

[Fromhell]

the only Space Sim i know that will be a "GTA in space" this is truly a dream come true to many sci fi fans.

this GTA in space thing is getting old, I´ve seen half a dozen space games advertised as GTA in space in the last 5 years, where have you been?
Last one was X Rebirth.

Besides it was all a joke, none of these do even remotely feel like playing GTA

 

[Patrick_68000]

this GTA in space thing is getting old, I´ve seen half a dozen space games advertised as GTA in space in the last 5 years, where have you been?
Last one was X Rebirth.

Besides it was all a joke, none of these do even remotely feel like playing GTA

Perhaps when there will be the planetary landing, and walking around the spaceship ?

 

[withnail]

There is often threads which suggest helping Frontier to earn money. But I think that Frontier knows how to earn money. Otherwise he would not be Frontier since 1994

Can't rep you again, so have a virtual pat on the back instead!

 

[hunvagy]

this GTA in space thing is getting old, I´ve seen half a dozen space games advertised as GTA in space in the last 5 years, where have you been?
Last one was X Rebirth.

Besides it was all a joke, none of these do even remotely feel like playing GTA

Not to mention how silly GTA in space would look like. Imagine someone floating over to your Cobra in an EVA suit, breaking the projectile proof canopy with their elbow, dragging you out then "driving" away.

 

[Schlack]

Lets not forget that Mr Braben, whatever else he is, is a very smart businesman. (way back in the 80s he and Mr Bell secured the syndication rights for elite, netting more than the original sales I believe.)

FD is a company and needs money to create the game, and earn a profit into the future both for support and profit reasons. (More money does not readily equate to better game as some have suggested). No-one is denying this and many if not all of us have supported them via pre-ordering and kickstarter backing and would continue by paying for cosmetic additions

What people, I believe, are animated about is the potential for excessive monetisation that would

a) break immersion,
b) create any kind of pay to win mechanic and
c) treat us customers as cattle for milking.

We as customer vote with our wallets (done already!). We can also however make our feelings well known to the developers. The 3 points above, to me, represent lines drawn in the sand.

 

[StayFrosty]

ugh never mind you're not getting it. and if they kept making expansion packs and selling other merchandise which david does plan on doing btw they will continue updating it. he even said himself he would like to update it as long as players want it updated. again you're saying that they get these ships right away they don't i'm saying after you earn enough credits you can buy those ships you bought with real money.
and also they will only have the guns that are sold in the store the only difference is they have a different ship than you that you won't have because you're too cheap. any questions?
because i know plenty of games that sell cars and guns and people buy them up like gta and you know what they are making millions. and if they didn't sell they wouldn't be in the store.

I perfectly get it.

Still this game isn't GTA. It aims to be more of a MMO, similar to EVE Online on many aspects (and that's not only because they're both space-related), while GTAV is quite disjointed, and in which there is no real continuity nor persistency. You can't compare the two, it's not because you can buy weapons in GTAV that it makes sense in ED, whether you get them right away or earn the right to get them.

ED needs to actually strike a balance, and this is more easily done with expansions than by having players buy ships individually. Don't think this hasn't been done before.

Still, they won't update it forever.

Look at Bohemia Interactive, they were still updating Arma 2 while Arma 3 was released. Frontier can work on other games at the same time and continue support for Elite Dangerous.

That's not yet "forever". And those games are also very different beasts, seeing as armies all around the world have been using modified versions of ArmA games for simulation and training purposes, known as "Virtual Battlespace".

That's why they keep updating them, it's not so much for players as it is for what is actually their biggest clients.

 

[Wavey]

Coca cola ect wouldnt touch it with a very long pole ,we have Narcotics Slaves ect ect. The game would have to be sanitised big time

 

[Hooplah]

ED will have probably 40+ ships in the game. It will just be a matter of getting the credits to purchase one. I'm not into going online and buying a ship with real money. Do this and you are missing the experience of playing Elite Dangerous.

 

[Ruskodisco]

I perfectly get it.

Still this game isn't GTA. It aims to be more of a MMO, similar to EVE Online on many aspects (and that's not only because they're both space-related), while GTAV is quite disjointed, and in which there is no real continuity nor persistency. You can't compare the two, it's not because you can buy weapons in GTAV that it makes sense in ED, whether you get them right away or earn the right to get them.

ED needs to actually strike a balance, and this is more easily done with expansions than by having players buy ships individually. Don't think this hasn't been done before.

Still, they won't update it forever.

That's not yet "forever". And those games are also very different beasts, seeing as armies all around the world have been using modified versions of ArmA games for simulation and training purposes, known as "Virtual Battlespace".

That's why they keep updating them, it's not so much for players as it is for what is actually their biggest clients.

i think you have a bitter taste for gaming companies lol. did you play world of warcraft? cause i notice people who don't trust companies like this usually come from there.
i agree that pay2win is a horrible idea, that includes paying for a vehicle that is better than any standard vehicles, all i'm saying is they pay for a ship that is aesthetically different, the only thing different is how it looks. i'm not saying just paint job or anything i mean a totally different ship. it won't be better or faster or stronger it will just look different.
and people who want to buy it will.
i'm saying this because i want to buy more ships.
i know i do because once all the expansions come out and all the different ships come with them i still won't be happy.

Coca cola ect wouldnt touch it with a very long pole ,we have Narcotics Slaves ect ect. The game would have to be sanitised big time

lol, do you really believe that? we had companies in films about massacres bro. this is nothing.

ED will have probably 40+ ships in the game. It will just be a matter of getting the credits to purchase one. I'm not into going online and buying a ship with real money. Do this and you are missing the experience of playing Elite Dangerous.

ok bro, that's you. there are plenty of people who after getting every single ship. would'nt mind buying more. as long as the price is right.
please tell me how buying a ship that you still have to earn credits to actually use it is missing the experience of elite? i understand the whole point is to build up money. but what about those people that want more than 40+ or 60+ or whatever number they choose....what if they want more?

 

[Ruskodisco]

Not to mention how silly GTA in space would look like. Imagine someone floating over to your Cobra in an EVA suit, breaking the projectile proof canopy with their elbow, dragging you out then "driving" away.

so let me get this straight......you don't want a space sim that you can land on planets and land somewhere in a city. and actually explore said enviroments simply because it would be "silly?" my god this is a argument that i'm not even going to touch.....this whole comment is "silly"

Can't rep you again, so have a virtual pat on the back instead!

the whole point of this is not for them to actually get ideas off of this but to know if people would actually want to do this

Perhaps when there will be the planetary landing, and walking around the spaceship ?

lmao, right? hahah someone did'nt get the memo

 

[Patrick_68000]

Can't rep you again, so have a virtual pat on the back instead!

Thank you, always appreciate coming from you