PRICEY ????

[tweedy]

  huff......19.....puff.....20 !!

 

Originally posted by Gadfly:
You are all Worthless and Weak, Now Drop and Give ME TWENTY!

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[CptTrips]

>However, what % of the community is
>fanatical/rich, like 10% ??

Prolly the same percentage that can be counted on long term as steady committed customers.  

I think the "average" player is more along the lines of what I call "Free Beta Locust".
They decend in a cloud upon a free beta, consume as much as they can, and then when pay comes around, lift off to move on to the next free beta.  

In the end,  the fanatics are the only ones you can count on. LoL!

Regards,
Wab

[tweedy]

I've heard people mention maintenance costs per player.  Suppose I would subscribe for two months that I know I will have time to play and then unsubscribe for three months, re-subscribe for 1 month then repeat.  How would/does HT manage that? (or another other game site for that matter)  I'm sure there are people doing this.  


  Mind you, I would NOT do this !  This is why I have no problem paying $10 a month to Kesmai.  If I miss a month, NO BIGGIE.  

Thanks for airing out with us.
 

Originally posted by Pyro:
It doesn't quite work that way.  Each user represents an incremental cost to us through servers, bandwidth, and support.  If halving the price only allowed us to double the number of users, we'd come out losing heavily.

This doesn't include the fixed costs, but to take your example, what if your incremental costs per person were $16?  5000 people paying $30 nets you $70000 but 10000 people paying $15 nets you a loss of $10000.  

[spinny]

Damn, all this stuff about it costing too much, and I've been worrying that $29.99/month is not enough for them to stay in business.....

------------------
Spinny, VF-17, The Jolly Rogers 8X

[Granger]

This sim targets the hard core sim pilots out there, period. There is no relaxed realism arena, no outside views in fighters, you stall, gforces cause your plane to self destruct if you overstress..ect..ect..

That being said..
 It will only have a small percentage of the flight sim crowd interested in it for 5 bucks a month..or 100 bucks a month. Price does not dictate..for me at least.. if I enjoy something or not..or if im willing to shell out the bucks for it. If the game is good enough, if I LIKE it enough..I WILL play it. 30 bucks, 10 bucks..2 bucks an hour..whatever the cost I will find a way to get the damn thing If I like it. Couple hours overtime, no movie that month, whatever it takes. I dont see how price can even be an issue here. 30 bucks is nothing..if it was 100 I'd feel the same way.
The bottom line...
If its providing its worth in entertainment, and you ENJOY doing it..then you will do it.
If you feel its not worthy, or you dont like it that much, you wont.

My biggest fear is I'll log on after it goes pay and there wont be anyone to shoot at!!

HTC is shooting for a market niche that doesnt have thousands upon thousands of people dying to try their sim. They are searching for that low percantage of hardcore, dedicated players. Log onto any other online sim and check the numbers..how many are in realaxed realism? well over 90% in most cases..well..this aint for them..its for the other 10%. The hardcore sim community.

Kind of off topic here..but something I have noticed..

Were amazinhunks..thats right..amazinhunks.
Ive seen this more times than i can count.
Newbie: "hi guys..im new..any tips?"
dead silence...
Newbie:"how do I start my plane?"
more silence
Newbie:"can anyone help me?"
Un-named AH vet :"go back to fighter ace ya dweeb!"
Un-named AH vet#2: "read the manual Newbie!"
Newbie :"I just need help getting started"
Un-named AH vet#3 :"This is a SIMULATION, not quake..takes years to learn"
Newbie :"logging off!!"

Cmon folks..this has GOT to change..I realize, myself included most of us are serious multi year vets from brand x,y simulations, and have little tolerance for some punk that jumps in and expects to get going without so much as reading the key commands, but if the community is to grow, we gotta do somethin about the abuse that the poor 1st time simmers are taking in here.
Even though this is a beta..could we maybe designate some people to help the new guys..at least get em on the right track..so they dont tell everyone they meet what amazinhunks those AH players are.
One of my best friends had just such an experience couple days ago..and believe me..all 30 of us at work heard about it..and many are gamers..gamers that will never set foot in AH, just because that one New guy was treated this way. I tried to explain that AH guys are not aholes..but serious simmers that expect you to learn the game mechanics offline, so not to spam drivel while we are trying to survive..dont think it went over very well.

I work at 3dfx btw..in case anyone was wondering..
sorry off topic so long..had to get it off my chest..

Granger


[This message has been edited by Granger (edited 01-19-2000).]

[AKDejaVu]

Sorry Granger, but that post belongs in a thread all of its own.  I understand what you are getting at, but that is the type of post that changes the topic of a thread... just start a new topic instead.

AKDejaVu

[CptTrips]

Let me see if I got this right.

Your friend loaded up on of the most sophisticated simulations of WWII arial combat, jumped in without reading a line of the help material, then expects people who have read the help material to interrupt their flying to retype the help material to him through the chat buffer.

If someone asks something like "how do switch to the belly gun position in the B-26 Mitchell?" or something like that I'll answer if I know.  But I expect people to at least have figured out how to turn their engine on before sucking up server bandwidth.  If not, then the only thing I want to know is what field are they at so I can vulch them unmercifully.  

And to answer your next question, yes, I am an amazinhunk. Guilty as charged.  

Regards,
Wab

[Ripsnort]

Someone said this before, but I'll repeat it and I'll try to be nice and politically correct mind you.

The clientele that is drawn to an online game that costs $10/month is a completely different from that of a clientele that is drawn to an online game that costs $30/month.

I prefer to pay that little bit extra for the pleasure of not playing with a foul-mouthed,current public-school system educated 'Johnny' who is a drop-out at age 14. Whoops! There I go again, I knew I couldn't be politically correct!

------------------
Brian "Ripsnort" Nelson
-Rip1- VF-101 Grim Reapers (RET)
"There is no reason anyone would
want a computer in their home."
   Ken Olson, president, chairman and
founder of Digital Equipment Corp.,1977

[tweedy]

I've seen some pretty foul language here on AH so apparently price is not a determinant. (Yeah I know it's free right now)Unfortunately Momsey and Daddy of "foul-mouthed,current public-school system educated 'Johnny' who is a drop-out at age 14" generally *give* him more money than I *earn* in a week so he will be here regardless of cost.  What *will* drive him away is the time and effort he will need to put in to enjoy the sim.  How long can anyone enjoy crash and burn.

Any how...I will agree that I DO NOT want to hear foul language here or on any gamesite.  In fact If you scroll back to several messages in this topic you'll see several instances of it.

 

Originally posted by Ripsnort:
Someone said this before, but I'll repeat it and I'll try to be nice and politically correct mind you.  

The clientele that is drawn to an online game that costs $10/month is a completely different from that of a clientele that is drawn to an online game that costs $30/month.

I prefer to pay that little bit extra for the pleasure of not playing with a foul-mouthed,current public-school system educated 'Johnny' who is a drop-out at age 14. Whoops! There I go again, I knew I couldn't be politically correct!

[Curly]

"How long can anyone enjoy crash and burn..."

 Well you have to take it from another prospective. As in watching the crash&burnee!    

 That's something I never stop getting a kick out of. I can enjoy that for a loOong time.

  Curly

[This message has been edited by Curly (edited 01-19-2000).]

[YourDead]

Off topic, but:

Bad generalization there about teens.  I've heard my share of foul language from adults.  And remember, u guys were once young too.

[Ripsnort]

My apologies YourDead, as you see, that has been my only experience with teens when WB's (Then CK) was "Free", and later, when WB's was offered by others for a free-weekend, these were the types I ran into all the time.  Who knows, I might be attracting them!!!  Again, my apologies, you, of course, present yourself online as alot older than you are!  I watched someone vulch you 10 times in a row, and you didn't retribute in any fashion...I probably would have! Kudos to you!

------------------
Brian "Ripsnort" Nelson
-Rip1- VF-101 Grim Reapers (RET)
"There is no reason anyone would
want a computer in their home."
   Ken Olson, president, chairman and
founder of Digital Equipment Corp.,1977

[Brazos]

Sorry Haha,

You'll be missed. But AH is a serious sim for serious sim pilots. Said pilots want to be the best, or at least compete against the best. They want the latest and most accurate modelling available. They spend mucho money on books and other WWII aviation information. They attend airshows, build models, and can reel off aerodynamics statistics like a pro.

If your a casual player who only plays a few hours a month, this is not the sim for you. But if your hardcore, and you know if you are, you will pay to play with the very best.

Cya up...

[Ripsnort]

Brazo, if HaHa is the reknowned LordHaha, then you're talking to a hard core flyer!

------------------
Brian "Ripsnort" Nelson
-Rip1- VF-101 Grim Reapers (RET)
"There is no reason anyone would
want a computer in their home."
   Ken Olson, president, chairman and
founder of Digital Equipment Corp.,1977

[YourDead]

No one curses at me, so I dont have to curse.  I have cursed, but to my friend on a private radio channel