Proposal Discussion Free Gamma for all as a marketing effort

[Myspace Kaitsu80]

Came to my mind, if ED is released at very end of the year, after Beta 2 there will not be much time for Gamma. Maybe a month?

Now imagine publicity, and people (=also bug testers) rushing to get a free "about month" try with ED? And then need to purchase released game if they wanna continue their journey...

Dont know if we get to keep credits and stuff or not after Gamma, but that could also work as motivation to upgrade into released game.

After all, I dont see how any backer, or one that already purchased final product (and so is also in Gamma) could be hurt by this in anyway, and after (short free) Gamma future new customers should not have anything to say about it either, as they would have missed Gamma anyway...

Am I missing something?

 

[lysan]

A "free" tryout could be a good idea to promote the game. I just don't know how this could be done without hurting the game.

 

[Myspace Kaitsu80]

A "free" tryout could be a good idea to promote the game. I just don't know how this could be done without hurting the game.

Could you explain how this would "hurt the game"?

I am obviously missing something here... Not allowing Thargoids to participate Gamma?

 

[Winterwalker]

A bold idea but (ninja'd) why stop at Gamma .. essentially talking about "Free to Try" for 30 days, even after release? I'm not sure if would be popular because for those 30 days, "freebooters" might exhibit somewhat "suicidal in-game tendencies".

I also wonder if it doesn't devalue the game.

Is there any indication that such a marketing push is really necessary? I guess if there were to be some kind of flop (which I don't think is really on the cards is it?) your OP makes a fall back position.

+1 because I can see that this OP means well, but I voted no.

 

[Armour]

I think such a suggestion has merits, but making it in a forum where so many people paid so much money to get in on the ground floor seems like a recipe for lots of negative responses. Plus griefers.

 

[Starocotes]

Could you explain how this would "hurt the game"?

I am obviously missing something here... Not allowing Thargoids to participate Gamma?

Have a look at the release of ANY MMO. A very good current example is ArcheAge.

Server will be to crowded. There will be queues and lags and that ALLWAYS is bad publicity.

 

[Myspace Kaitsu80]

Have a look at the release of ANY MMO. A very good current example is ArcheAge.

Server will be to crowded. There will be queues and lags and that ALLWAYS is bad publicity.

Ok possibility if connection issues are not fixed (from what they are now), but I would assume pure huge size of Milky Way (and many different instances inside most popular systems) would prevent this.

EDIT: Remember, it´s not about some one server, it´s about how many people game can handle in one instance. My point is, space is so vast you are rarely running into another human players even if millions joined.

 

[Starocotes]

Ok possibility if connection issues are not fixed (from what they are now), but I would assume pure huge size of Milky Way (and many different instances inside most popular systems) would prevent this.

EDIT: Remember, it´s not about some one server, it´s about how many people game can handle in one instance. My point is, space is so vast you are rarely running into another human players even if millions joined.

But you still have Core Servers to exchange basic Data. And there is the fact that everybody has to start somewhere and that market data has to be exchanged every time a player buys or sells something.

Every company that has release an MMO thinks they have some great solution and every company fails miserably.

Elite doesn't need it so please NO, don't try to be smarter then them all and fail even more then the rest.

 

[CommanderPablo]

Not allowing Thargoids to participate Gamma?

Bloody Thargoids, coming over here, taking our jobs

I vote yes to free gamma (I happily paid for beta release and look forward to final release copy but it seems that a free month for people who haven't decided would most likely get a lot of them to purchase this wonderful game

 

[Kernel Kwatz!]

Perhaps down the line when the game is a little more mature and Frontier have had a chance to assess their sales performance.

It would be interesting to see how other games that have run a limited trial faired in terms of sales. It would also be interesting to see if there was any appreciable impact on in-game experience.

 

[lysan]

Could you explain how this would "hurt the game"?

I am obviously missing something here... Not allowing Thargoids to participate Gamma?

Fill the game with trolls and griefers or whatever is not good to promote the game

 

[Myspace Kaitsu80]

It would also be interesting to see if there was any appreciable impact on in-game experience.

Maybe we start Gamma first, test it couple weeks, then if everything ok we let people to join for remaining month? :smilie:

 

[Myspace Kaitsu80]

Fill the game with trolls and griefers or whatever is not good to promote the game

It´s just Gamma, release is gonna have wipe propably anyway, so what it matters?

If there is not gonna be wipe, well... It´s just Gamma, all you made there is just extra, people who buy game when it´s released wont get even that...

 

[izzy]

It´s just Gamma, release is gonna have wipe propably anyway, so what it matters?

If there is not gonna be wipe, well... It´s just Gamma, all you made there is just extra, people who buy game when it´s released wont get even that...

No wipe during or after gamma phase (except for major reasons) So I think it is not a good idea, perhaps a free demo (offline missions) is a better idea

 

[Nemesis-T-Warlock]

I've said no simply because even if we did 30 day trials the learning curve is very steep, today's gamers in general are not used to hard grind to get started (yes there are plenty of exceptions), and therefore a lot of people that would put the effort in because they had already paid for the game might just give up on something for which they've invested nothing financially.

End result, fewer customers.

 

[Robert Maynard]

No wipe during or after gamma phase (except for major reasons) So I think it is not a good idea, perhaps a free demo (offline missions) is a better idea

Indeed - players who would be, by Gamma, playing rather than just "testing" the game would probably be a bit upset with players who have no long term investment in the game (i.e. have not bought it and will probably be leaving it soon) affecting their game.

 

[Cmdr Andy B]

the problem i see with a free gamma is that those people who may have bought the game then decided after a few weeks that it wasn't for them would never part with any cash.

that's a hell of a lot of revenue to lose.

 

[Myspace Kaitsu80]

No wipe during or after gamma phase (except for major reasons) So I think it is not a good idea, perhaps a free demo (offline missions) is a better idea

Hmmm... this gave me an idea (lol)

Solo Gamma free for all for a month? :S

 

[Flamepreacher]

the problem i see with a free gamma is that those people who may have bought the game then decided after a few weeks that it wasn't for them would never part with any cash.

that's a hell of a lot of revenue to lose.

Exactly, though it would attract some players you would also lose some buying customers who will buy the game as an impulse and then bounce off it (weirdoes i know but they will exist)

 

[Myspace Kaitsu80]

Exactly, though it would attract some players you would also lose some buying customers who will buy the game as an impulse and then bounce off it (weirdoes i know but they will exist)

Would be interesting to see some study or statistics on this, is free sample more likely to attract or rather push away customers in what numbers?

One thing that came to my mind is EvE Online, it has managed to stay alive years because there are always weirdo´s (like me) who get hooked into the game during first free month (would not have tried otherwise), no matter how stupid it actually might be (and feel silly afterwards to pay so so much of it later).