Again on 30$ a month

[sparviero]

Sorry to come back on this issue, but I was thinking about again and again. I'm the sort of user, I think, who really loves a very well done Sim like AH seems to become. On the other side I'm not the kind of user who spends the major part of his free time flying around in the net (that's maybe the major reason why I'm a sort of an on-line-drone...:-) To be clear, in WB I spend some 12 to 20 $/month. In peak times, during winter a.s.o. I may spend over 30$ as well, but what in August, when it's Holiday? maybe I'd spend three hours in the whole month...Therefore my 2Cents.

30$/months are roughly 1$/day,

therefore:

option 1)bill at a daily cost of 1$;-)
option 2)establish a socket, let's say 10$ for a certain amount of hour above which you bill at 1 or 2 $/hour up to the flat rate of 30$, meaning in no case above 30$/month, the month being the billing cycle...


I understand that for some people 30$ are peanuts, but, oh dear, only for some! If I had a billing system as above i would rather come closer to 30$/month most of the times exept in summer, maybe, but the psychologival impact would be far lower. Can you imagine the frustration of being on a boring businnes trip knowing that your AH-money is running without any possibility for you to enjoy what you are paying? :-)

I'd like some comments on this subject, thank you

Luigi "falco" Pacetti
WB's 4°Stormo Caccia

[Minotaur]

It is just a guess on my part, but they got to charge enough to make it worth while.

Some percentage of your $30.00 per month might be actually be needed as income for a HTC employee.

If the Government would just lower taxes everyone would be more happy.  

Mino

[funked]

My $2.00E-02:

There are a lot of guys (I'm guessing 100 or so) who play Warbirds to the tune of $150 or $300 a month.  A lot of these guys are influential squad leaders, BBS loudmouths, etc.

If the product is anywhere close to Warbirds in quality, these guys are going to switch because they will be able to feed the addiction for much less cash.

So with the $30/month plan, HTC has basically guaranteed themselves a nucleus of 100 or so hardcore players.

I don't know if that's what they are shooting for or not, but I'm pretty sure it will happen if the product improves sufficiently before it goes pay.

Also I'm sure the $30/month will be subject to modification if the revenues are different than HTC's projections.

But starting at $30/month will give them a free shot at the WB addicts.

[This message has been edited by funked (edited 10-21-1999).]

[Kats]

Funked, don't forget about the other 1000 hardcores that would spend 150 to 300/month if they could afford it   They'll be in here too.

[funked]

Good point Kats

[Flacke]

HTC will not be a success if they only get the addicts as customers, there just are not enough of them. They would do well to have a few thousand casual cutomers who contribute huge revenues per month as a group. Students , and people from other countries such as Canada, Australia etc. where 30 U.S. dollars translates into a lot more [approx. 50 Canadian] could be loyal HTC customers if their fees reflected their actual use, and they could control their monthly spending  by controlling their on-line time. Also, busines s travellers like myself would not have to feel foolish by paying a fee even though they  are away from home for extended periods and unable to fly. We can then fly our buns off when we get back, and HTC would get the revenue, and everyone is happy!! Just my personal thoughts for your consideration.

[Sorrow[S=A]]

I have thought about this topic alot over the time I have played here. I am from Canada myself, I am totally addicted here (I learned to fly a plane on this sim ok) but I have to agree on this point. $30 dollars US is a whole whack of cash for an online game for me.

Now I am not at all claiming this is too much for you Americans. If I lived in the USA it would seem more reasonable to me. But here I think WB and AH have a major divirgence. Whereas WB seems to be a majority of Americans playing it, in AH at least 30 to 50 percent are not from the US. Most are from Canada, Germany, Italy, England and Russia as well as places like Brazil and Japan and Taiwan. For the rest of us not in the US your conversion puts AH's rather low monthly fee in a different perspective.

As previously mentioned with exchange playing AH would be something like $50 cdn for me, thats the price of a new game right from the store. Only it's every month. I imagine others look at this similarly. This would require deep pockets for playing any period of time. Plus it would practically kill anyone from trying to learn the game as I have over a period of weeks.

I have to mention that I detest the idea of scaled pricing, per day, per hour etc. I don't think that is a solution to the problem. Neither is dropping the price to a point where HiTech can't make money doing this.

This is my solution: When HiTech decides to close the Beta and start charging they could consider setting up seperate billing for different countries. This is easier than it sounds. Most people will be paying Online, all that would be required is that there be an account for their credit card in a bank within their country. Hence no exchange, prices can be scaled to approximatly what $30US is to you americans in the USA.

On the upside HiTech would keep most of their far flung members and in high numbers. Since the bank can tell where the card is originating it can be setup to avoid people charging outside their country for a cheaper exchange.

On the downside, HiTech has to actually do the paperwork and handle the complications involved with arranging their billing through several seperate financial institutions. Also they will of course gain less money after exchange and charges, from the people outside the US who play the game.

In the end I am sure HiTech will find a solution that keeps as many of us as possible here. They are committed so far to building a new community, not wooing away those people paying hundreds a month to play WB. With their current trend I feel it very likely they will do something to make it easier for the non-US pilots to play.

[phaetn]

This has been discussed before.

Please, no one take offense, but US$30 is $US30 is US$30 no matter where you are from.  So is US$2.00/hour or whatever WB plan one is one.

I too am Canadian.  Until last month or so I was regularly paying US$50 - US$60 a month for WB.  Aces High therefore seems like a good deal in my case.

The reason there are a lot of non-Americans playing currently is likely the fact that it is free.  As soon as people have to start to pay for it a lot of people will disappear, American or otherwise.  Then it becomes a personal issue: is it worth the money for an individual?

For WB'ers that play more than 18 hours a month, guaranteed that it is.  For those that play less, it may be if they are willing to pay for the flight model and other new features.  For some AW3 players, they may be willing to join for the extra features of AH and knowing they can support their unending habit for a fixed price without looking at the clock.

Exchange rates only[/i] become an issue when you have the ability to pay for two different games in two different currencies.  Since we are paying for WB, AW3, MS FA, in $US and will be for AH, the only point of comparison is the dollar figure and the sims themselves.

If German and UK WB servers are paid for in DM or Pounds (don't know myself), then there is a valid point for those consumers about exchange rates.  It doesn't affect anyone else though.  Plus, don't hold your breath that HTC can control world economics and the fluctuation of interest and currency rates.    If they start charging different rates for consumers in different countries then they fall victim to changing rates and profitability has less to do with how many players they have and more how the markets are doing.  That's one of the major reasons for the development of the Euro-dollar -- since Europe is competing as a group against America, Asia, etc., why lose money on exchange rates internally?

Finally, I would rather have HTC working on some amazing new Typhoon model than on billing code.  

Cheerio,

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phaetnAT
Aces High Alpha Tester

[sparviero]

I agree with phaetn(have I written the right way?) 30US$ are 30US$ everywhere, you would have the exchange rate factor influencing your payments also if HTC would set up the prices for each country in theyr currency at a given time and holding them for a while. If in this time the exchange rate between US$ and your currency would fluctuate you could lose or win as well, from your point of wew.
I think the issue is an other: 30US$ for us who don't play for 150 to 300US$ a month in WB is a lot of money (and I do hope we are the majority, just so, for better "lobbyng", you know... ;-))

I think that the best way is a monthly rate "up-to" a certain level. We could imagine two different payment methods at our disposal for choice:
1) 30$ fix-flat rate for those who are now bleeding themselves dry playng WB at hourly rate (300$ are 150 hours! Don't u have a girl, or are you doing it while flying?? HE! No! I was just joking! No Please don't... AAAAAARRRGHHHHH!).

2)a hourly charge up to a certain limit, say something between 30 to 40 or something like that for the other peoples.

This way you'll "pay" the comfort of paying for flying (and not to pay if you don't fly) with an higer top rate if you do fly a lot. It seems to me a good compromize, isn't it?

Ciao!

Luigi "falco" Pacetti,
who is Italian but could be told to be Scot... :-) without offence to Scotsmen...

[Fester']

Regarding this payment issue...

I come from the Air Warrior community.  I figgure theyre probably the bottom of the barrel as far as both product and billing go.  Meager FM, and only 10 bux a month.

You get what you pay for, and I applaud HTC for setting a flat rate.

Anyway, its pretty obvious if HTC is setting a flat rate, while maintaining the high quality deserving of an Hourly rate, they would lose a ton of money if they allowed the casual user to pay hourly up to that 30$ limit.  They arent recouping earnings from the hard core 150-300$ a month crowd.

Again, Im very happy for the flat rate.  Hourly prevented me from playing WB's (Im Poor  

[jmccaul]

I think that flat rate is a good way to go. If you spend less than $30 dollars a month in warbirds because it is all you can afford you will feel pressured to get as much out of it as you can due to the relativly few hours you can play. With flat rate this pressure is taken off and more people will be prepared to take an ungunned c-47 up where as if you can feel the money pouring out your pocket the story might be different.

Also $30 dollars is always $30 dollars (more or less) but if you live in a country like russia it is much more likely to be a larger proportion of your salary (due to smaller cost of living). Unfortunatly there is nothing HTC can do about this (apart from move to russia) but people in the same economic bracket as those in the U.S.  will find AH will take a larger percenatage of thier salary.

   Spare a thought though for many of us europeans who endure telco charges.    

[luzr]

At $30/mo flate rate you'd have to count me out.  

I can't put in enough hours to get up to my $10 on WB these days, and it's my all time flat out favorite form of entertainment (well, save one).  There's no way I could justify $30 for a few hours a month.  There are too many real life time constraints.  

I'd like an option of some small number of hours with a higher rate for going over the max.  Someone putting in 150 hrs a month would never take it, but it would work well for Dads and Working Stiffs.  

That said, I haven't flown AH yet due to my wimpy computer - I can't wait to try it out though.  Who knows - I might sell the farm for it.  I sure fell for HT's previous product    (BTW - Thanks, and my wife hates you)


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luzr of the VF-101 Grim Reapers

[tracer]

Actually I think  $19.95 would be the magic number to draw a large crowd.  

[koala]

$30 unlimited is the best way to go, IMHO.

It's not worth it to HTC to setup a complex billing system for folks who don't want to spend that much per month.  Sorry, this game isn't for you.  If you've been paying less than $30 / month with WB, then stick with WB.  I have a feeling a heck of a lot more WB'ers are gonna want to pay $30 / month unlimited than $2 / hour.  It's almost a no-brainer, again IMHO.

The "casual simmer" who wants to put in a lot of hours has AW.  The serious simmer who has limited time has WB.

The rest of us have AH.

I empathize about the exchange rate stuff.  Not much HTC can do about that though.  They have to make money in order to keep the quality of the product where we want it.

ko

[Brethon]

I have the simplest solution, and I can't figure why I'm the first to think of it.  Have everyone in the world use the Euro, no more exchange or anything, just 30E a month, simple, no?

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"Do unto others....and get your head blown off." -Brethon