I want to share my recent experiences with a couple of MMO's I am playing, things they are doing wrong (from a customer point of view) and what I'd like to see in Elite: Dangerous.
Micro-transactions.
Every game has them. They are nearly always a rip-off for the customer. They border the edge of Pay-To-Win. Let's just say, the reputation of micro-transactions is not good. But Elite: Dangerous should have a micro-transaction model, why? because it would be a revenue stream for Frontier, and help pay for the game, and the servers, and basically keep the game going.
There is no clear how-to when it comes to micro-transactions, but it's easy to look at other games and where they go wrong.
The first is pricing. Either it's too expensive to purchase in-game money, or the items that can be bought in-game are too expensive. Obviously, pricing things too cheaply won't make profit for Frontier, but what are talking about here? in-game items are digital goods. It costs no more to sell one than it does to sell a million. So the pricing of the items in-game does not need to be expensive. No-one is going to bother to buy something if it costs too much to buy. A mistake I heard about with Eve regarding an eye patch.
Also the cost of purchasing in-game credit should not be expensive. People won't spend real money it they get little for what they pay for. The only expense I can foresee here is the cost of processing credit card transactions, so as long as that is covered, it should not be a problem, however, I am not saying give credits away.
In fact, there should be a method to obtain in-game credit (the credit you pay real money for). Star Trek Online (STO) does this, and a F2P player can acquire nearly anything in the game without having to spend real money. Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR) on the other hand, it's so kind to it's F2P players. You can't convert in-game credits to Cartel Coins (unlike STO where you can convert Dilithium to ZEN) and nearly anything in the game needs you to be subscriber to acquire.
If Elite: Dangerous is to have a micro-transaction model, then please, have a way to allow the F2P players (assuming you have subscription based model) to convert in-game credits to pay-for credits. Don't make nearly everything only available to people who will pay (as SWTOR have done), that will ruin the game experience for so many potential paying players.
So, if you are going to sell in-game items, what should you sell? Well, as has been discussed, nothing that could give players an advantage, making the game a pay-to-win game. That won't do Elite: Dangerous' reputation any good. You could sell vanity items no problem. Things that while they won't make any difference to how easy the game is, they would add variety, and interest to the game. There is a large list of things you could sell depending on what you can do in the game. For example, at first we will have ships only. You could sell custom ship skins, decals, laser colours ... the list goes on. Then later when you have avatars ... clothing. There is an endless list right there. Pets ... another endless list. I am sure you can think up lots more.
And who will create all these wonderful items? I am sure a certain amount of staff would be needed, but once you create the templates, there is no reason you couldn't let the community design in-game items. For example, ship skins and decals. Release a template. People put that template in an image editor (Photoshop, GIMP, etc), create a custom skin or decal, and submit it. Someone checks it to make sure it's not offensive or infringing copyright somewhere, and then you pass it onto the model dept (or whatever you'd do with it) and when it's finished, it gets checked again before being added to the game. Minimal work on your part and the community feels involved.
I am hoping you guys at Frontier won't release Elite: Dangerous, release a couple of updates and then do nothing. I am hoping you will keep working on this game for years to come. Cyan gave up with Myst Online Uru Live again (MOULa), a wasted opportunity. A micro-transaction model could work quite well with Elite: Dangerous provided you learn from other's mistakes. Involve the community, and they'll help you make micro-transactions a success, profitable and interesting.
Micro-transactions.
Every game has them. They are nearly always a rip-off for the customer. They border the edge of Pay-To-Win. Let's just say, the reputation of micro-transactions is not good. But Elite: Dangerous should have a micro-transaction model, why? because it would be a revenue stream for Frontier, and help pay for the game, and the servers, and basically keep the game going.
There is no clear how-to when it comes to micro-transactions, but it's easy to look at other games and where they go wrong.
The first is pricing. Either it's too expensive to purchase in-game money, or the items that can be bought in-game are too expensive. Obviously, pricing things too cheaply won't make profit for Frontier, but what are talking about here? in-game items are digital goods. It costs no more to sell one than it does to sell a million. So the pricing of the items in-game does not need to be expensive. No-one is going to bother to buy something if it costs too much to buy. A mistake I heard about with Eve regarding an eye patch.
Also the cost of purchasing in-game credit should not be expensive. People won't spend real money it they get little for what they pay for. The only expense I can foresee here is the cost of processing credit card transactions, so as long as that is covered, it should not be a problem, however, I am not saying give credits away.
In fact, there should be a method to obtain in-game credit (the credit you pay real money for). Star Trek Online (STO) does this, and a F2P player can acquire nearly anything in the game without having to spend real money. Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR) on the other hand, it's so kind to it's F2P players. You can't convert in-game credits to Cartel Coins (unlike STO where you can convert Dilithium to ZEN) and nearly anything in the game needs you to be subscriber to acquire.
If Elite: Dangerous is to have a micro-transaction model, then please, have a way to allow the F2P players (assuming you have subscription based model) to convert in-game credits to pay-for credits. Don't make nearly everything only available to people who will pay (as SWTOR have done), that will ruin the game experience for so many potential paying players.
So, if you are going to sell in-game items, what should you sell? Well, as has been discussed, nothing that could give players an advantage, making the game a pay-to-win game. That won't do Elite: Dangerous' reputation any good. You could sell vanity items no problem. Things that while they won't make any difference to how easy the game is, they would add variety, and interest to the game. There is a large list of things you could sell depending on what you can do in the game. For example, at first we will have ships only. You could sell custom ship skins, decals, laser colours ... the list goes on. Then later when you have avatars ... clothing. There is an endless list right there. Pets ... another endless list. I am sure you can think up lots more.
And who will create all these wonderful items? I am sure a certain amount of staff would be needed, but once you create the templates, there is no reason you couldn't let the community design in-game items. For example, ship skins and decals. Release a template. People put that template in an image editor (Photoshop, GIMP, etc), create a custom skin or decal, and submit it. Someone checks it to make sure it's not offensive or infringing copyright somewhere, and then you pass it onto the model dept (or whatever you'd do with it) and when it's finished, it gets checked again before being added to the game. Minimal work on your part and the community feels involved.
I am hoping you guys at Frontier won't release Elite: Dangerous, release a couple of updates and then do nothing. I am hoping you will keep working on this game for years to come. Cyan gave up with Myst Online Uru Live again (MOULa), a wasted opportunity. A micro-transaction model could work quite well with Elite: Dangerous provided you learn from other's mistakes. Involve the community, and they'll help you make micro-transactions a success, profitable and interesting.
