An odd side-effect of EVE’s current business model is that many well-established players play for free.
Trials (now Alpha Clones) are also free, but the goal is to get people to the start paying a subscription. Until, of course, the player starts generating enough in-game income that they can use ISK to buy enough PLEX to play free. This seems to have worked well for a while, but it looks like it no longer generates enough income for CCP.
I wonder what would happen if CCP implemented a process that guaranteed every person playing one or more Omega Clones had to pay one subscription in RL money.
I’d expect it to generate significant additional revenue. And IMO this “automagically” selects the best possible source of additional EVE income for CCP.
It would reduce player base and revenue. Each 500 PLEX make CCP more money than one months subscription, and there are countries and groups were people have more time than money.
Forcing a subscription on players would severely harm the revenue stream.
Poaching current player base is not solution imo.
In order for game to grow its population game it self needs to grow.it doesn’t do that nearly as needed.
Imo citadels were nothing less that final layer of reinforced concrete over stagnated game.
Squandering resources away on other projects they neglected all but one type of player base for too long.
Results are in self served grab popcorns chill take screenshots.
Who knows maybe expansion hits out of blue 1st one after apocrypha nearly decade ago.
It would affect the game of course, but the people who were asked to pay aren’t currently spending anything at all with CCP.
Losing all of them wouldn’t directly affect the revenue stream.
It would reduce the number of players of course, and a quieter EVE might lose paying customers too.
It’s bot certain though - and I think it would be hard to figure out what the overall effect would be. CCP might have some useful statistics, but I certainly don’t
We need to distinguish between income and the number of players.
Getting rid of freeloaders might reduce the participation of paying customers too, but the relationship isn’t likely to be a simple one.
For example, among the many things new players consider is the amount if time it takes to reach “parity” with existing players. Fewer high-end players makes that less of a concern.
On the other hand, there must be people whose play has been improved by high-end players, and who could provide some counter examples.
I chose that example because it’s a consideration for every MMO, not just EVE., so it’s not surprising it’s been an issue for a long time.
I could have gone with what people say if you tell them you’ve played EVE, but, like using a loaded term like “noob”, it would risk distracting readers.
I would appreciate someone adding an example of ways in which high-end players positively affect the game though. There must be something, but (apart from EVE Uni and the guy that provides free ships while you’re in the Rookie Help channel) it’s outside my personal experience…
It doesn’t take long for a brand new alpha to skill into a scanning and relic site running frigate. My plan is to start there and subsidize Omega with Plex. Love the flexibility and the challenge I’ve set for myself. Almost to a good spot skillwise. Long term plan I don’t know yet but they did a good thing oenong the game up for free. I’ve had this enormous backlog of games for a while so I feel less guilt when I’m not on the hook for fifteen a month and that’s whether I’ve got the time or not.
This entire idea is based off a common misunderstanding of how plex works.
People who pay with plex may not be paying ccp directly, but they are still generating revenue and more revenue per month than people who have a subscription in fact.
This is because regardless of who initially purchased the Plex, ccp cannot consider that revenue “earned” until that plex is actually redeemed for something. (This is regulated by international accounting standards)
So while the person who initially bought the Plex may be the one paying for it. It’s the person who uses that plex who actually generates the revenue for the company.
Think of it kinda like a gift card. It doesn’t matter who initially bought the gift card, it’s the person who uses it that the company makes money on. (Because until it is used, that card represents money or goods that the company owes to the card holder)
And since 500 plex costs more than a 1 month subscription. People who plex their accounts generate more revenue for ccp than those who subscribe.
So this is a “fix” for a problem that doesn’t exist. Since regardless of if they pay with a sub or with Plex, ccp is still generating revenue from every omega account.
Any change to try and force people to switch to a subscription would only end up loosing ccp money in the long run.
Bjorn
Players who buy PLEX with ISK aren’t driving purchases with CCP that wouldn’t happen anyway.
Of course there’s a relationship - clearly freeloaders influence the demand for PLEX.
But the other side of that equation is other players’ wish to own in-game objects. These two are balanced by the exchange rate between RL money and PLEX.
The real driver is demand-side - players want “EVE stuff” in exchange for RL cash, and that cash will continue to be available even if CCP charges one subscription per freeloader.
Of course the ISK/PLEX exchange rate would change, but the “RL cash for EVE stuff” demand would be the same, and that’s driven by production efficiency.
Surely if ccp wasn’t generating enough income plex would go through the roof in isk price.
Also forcing 1 account to pay with rl money plain stupid. I payed since 2006 supported this game. I consider if I get the month free here and their from spare isk is a well earned reward.
I think the system is fine. I would like to see more skins and other store items pop up in our game play content, other then that the game is always going to have a limited player base.
Eve is not for everyone, thankfully… Most MMOs or heavy pvp based games that are popular seem simple in comparison. Simple seems to interest a wider spectrum of people, as anyone can jump in and play. Eve takes dedication, even with some of the pay to play options. Very big learning curve that turns some away rather quickly. It has put Eve in a unique place, and that has given it some very dedicated fans/ players.
If CCP increased the RL price of PLEX it would have an effect of course, but this would work itself out in the ISK/PLEX exchange rate. The underlying, driving factor, is what players are prepared to pay in RL cash to get their hands on in-game items. Freeloaders (who have plenty of ISK) aren’t a big factor here.
A reminder: the suggestion is for Omega player to pay one subscription, not each account that person uses.
As for the amount of time you’ve played: it doesn’t mean much if you don’t pay to play. Loyalty is worth something of course - perhaps a modest discount - but a customer who doesn’t pay, and isn’t excpected to pay, has no direct commercial value
How you work that out if you pay by buying plex your still paying ccp. As someone said in here ccp only really earns the money from plex when its used.
I’ve tried to make it clear when I’m referring to real money vs when I’m referring to in-game items. If I got it wrong somewhere I apologize, but I probably didn’t, and I’m not going back to check.
Sorry if you’re posting in good faith, but since I can’t distinguish between what you’ve said and a “forum PvP” timewaster attack, it’s on you to provide references to the other posts, and specific quotes.
Every PLEX in the game was purchased for real money from CCP
Those PLEX are purchased for real money from CCP because there is a demand ingame for them.
CCP actually gets more real money (indirectly…one step only) from the player buying PLEX for gametime from whoever bought them for real money from CCP than from a subscription.
I’m afraid this causes quite a problem for your idea for subscriptions only.
I’ve already addressed this earlier. Freeloaders paying for a subscription will have no direct effect on the demand of non-freeloaders to obtain in-game items for real money.
The ISK/PLEX exchange rate would change, but the money CCP gets due to that demand would not.
The argument you’re making is force people to stop paying $20/mth on all their accounts and make them pay $15/mth on at least once. Also your method would drive away many people. So CCP would actually be losing money.
The only people who benefit, are those who want to buy PLEX as its demand would go down. Of course, people would then stop buying as much PLEX because they know a huge hit has been made to those who pay with subscriptions.
So in the end, this looks more like trying to make PLEX go down, only to fail at that goal, while losing CCP money and shrinking the playerbase.
No, you did not. You merely revealed your misunderstanding of the basics of PLEX and CCP’s revenue from them. Simply your use of the term “freeloaders” for players using PLEX for gametime reveals that.
