Again on 30$ a month

[Brig.Gen.STING-94TH]

this is an honest fact, and not 1 any will like to hear, this sim wont make enough money to stay afloat......none of them do, warbirds has been in financial trouble for quite awhile, so has sim giuld...........what AH needs to do is get some real comercial backing, and then get the price down to where ppl can afford it with out thinking, man im on a bissness trip and my moneys going down the toilet.......$10 a month is that price...if they had comercial backing and good advertising they could accomplish this..and reach thousands.......unless this happens i think every company trying to make money off peoples playtime are all p*ss*ng in the wind......sorry for sounding so dismal but what I say is the sad truth and I wish it wasn't........

------------------
Brig.Gen.STING-94TH
"Cover your 6 or you might get stung"

[This message has been edited by Brig.Gen.STING-94TH (edited 10-22-1999).]

[phaetn]

Wow - glad you have an inside handle on Profit/Loss statements that HTC requires and have seen their business plan.

Thanks for sharing.

[Ozymandias_KoK]

Allow oz to make an observation here:

 

this sim wont make enough money to stay afloat......none of them do

and

 

$10 a month is that price

Ozbelieves both AW and FA can in fact be had for the aforementioned $10 a month.  They're hemorraging money hand over fist, so yer saying that HTC should emulate them?  Ozmust question yer logic...

To some extent, it comes down to one thing: people unwilling to put quality money down for a quality product.  (This is somewhat different for non-USA folk who have exchange rate, cost of living, and telco issues to deal with.)  Lots of folks think $10 a month is reasonable.  But the question then becomes, what will that pay for?  Not so much.  Here in the US, oz don't see how someone who was willing to pay for a quality product couldn't find an extra $20 a month for something that was a better product.  It's all a matter of priority.  It's personal choice as to whether it's worth it or not, but it is to an oz.  Luckily for a KoK, he is in a position where it is not any big deal at all.  But even when oz was poor, ozknew that is based on what you find important.  Let's use the starving college student model: one less night spent out at the bar, or 4 or so more hours spent at that crappy job.  Quit smoking, or smoke less.  (Amoritize the health care savings.  ) Skip a credit card payment -- or better yet, cancel them and pay em off, they'll sink you financially.  Mow lawns.  Tutor some stoopid folk.  Go out with cheap sluts instead of good girls.  Dine and dash once more each month.  Kidnap small animals from the neghborhood to get a reward for "finding" them.  Take $20 from a friend when they get too drunk to remember.  Hell, knock over a liquor store, that'll keep you going for at least a year!

One of the curses of this world is the syndrome where we want the greatest thing in the world for the price of the 10th place mediocre product.   You can't have that extra nifty new SUV for the price of the used compact car.  It simply doesn't work that way.  Sorry.  

------------------
TKoKFKA-OZDS-

[Gonzo]]

I most likely won't be paying for Aces High for the simple reason 30.00 bucks a month is darn close to 50.00Can. But I would probably sign up for a pay as you fly type pay plan if it is available.
Why should AH have this type of pay plan? So they can snag players like me who have been paying companies like imol for the last 3 1/2 years at 2.00/hr. I'm not saying don't have the 30.00/mon plan but offer a 2.00/hr plan for guys/gals that might want it.


Gonzo

[Teapot]

Ozymandias said : "One of the curses of this world is the syndrome where we want the greatest thing in the world for the price of
the 10th place mediocre product. You can't have that extra nifty new SUV for the price of the used compact car.
It simply doesn't work that way. Sorry. "

Teapot agrees  
My other option is to travel once a month to Brisbane and play Flanker 2 on a LAN. It's a blast, but in AH I can play EVERY NIGHT (as long as I can get away from my brood for a while). It's no contest for me. I'm happy with $29.95 ... I've made my choice  

Cheers
Teapot.

------------------
Phoenix Squadron

[smash]

$30 does not even cover my cable bill.  $30 is worth about 20 minutes of a programmers time - without overhead.

In other words... it aint squat.

I am sorry that it translates to a heavy burden on non-US customers.  I enjoy non-US pilots.

It's developed in the US. The economic realities are US... read above regarding what it translates into for an employees time.

Bummer... but that's life.  Again, $30 here is not anything... not even a cheap trip to the grocery store, not my cable bill, not my phone bill and not one weeks worth of good old "petrol".

$30 is cheap. So cheap... I don't think they can survive.

[chester]

Teapot,its called consumerism.Why should'nt we as consumers want the most for our money?

Demanding value for cost is something that should always be considered before buying anything.To accept less than full value in any product is short changing yourself,and helps flood market with shoody products.

Its VALUE,not cost that should be considered.

[funked]

Brethon what the hell is a Euro?

[Downtown]

Chester,

Right now you are getting Excellent Value.

The AH BETA IS FREE.

Now that is VALUE.

Until HTC Starts Charging, you can't make a Value Argument.

Then you have to compare it to the other sims.

FA, WB, AW, Etc..

As long at AH is BETA and FREE There is no Cost/Value Comparrison.

When HTC Starts Charging, it will be up to the folks that fly the other sims to make their own determination based on Hopefully Comparative Analisys.

If AH is even close to WB I will Switch.  I simply can't afford $2.00 or $1.50 an hour, and I can't fly as much as I like.

So for a comparative iEN Platinum account I can fly all I want in AH, and not be afraid of the Clock.

I haven't canceled my iEN Account.  Right Now Warbirds is Still more fun (IMHO.)

I have until AH is out of Beta to Decide.

I can understand individual who find $29.95 too high.  I would think that HTC could set something up for like $1.50 U.S. Per Hour, but not to exceed $29.95.  That way people who don't want to, or can't fly as mush don't take the $29.95 kick in the pants, unless its their own fault.

Perhaps even a minimum amount, say $10 a month.  So from every customer HTC Gets $10 whether they fly that month or not, and no customer takes more than a $29.95 a month pounding.

I can understand everyones opinion, but the one that matters is HTC.

Those folks that want the Sim to Prosper and Improve will shell out the funds.

By setting the one and only flat rate, HTC has pretty much;

1. Puts its head on the Block and Given the Axe to the customers.

2. Ensured that only individuals who have the financial wherewithal to fly this sim can fly it.

3. forced everyone to examine whether or not they are willing to pay $29.95 a month to fly a sim.

We won't know until HTC goes under the answer.
------------------
"I could feel the 20MM Cannon impacting behind me so I made myself small behind the pilot armor" Charlie Bond AVG


[This message has been edited by Downtown (edited 10-23-1999).]

[Ozymandias_KoK]

Sheesh Funkmeister, wot rock you been hiding under?  

It's that newfangled Euro-(catchy, huh?  )-pean common currency.  With European Union (IORC the name) they are strying to standardize a lot of things and get everybody on the same sheet of music.

------------------
TKoKFKA-OZDS-


[This message has been edited by Ozymandias_KoK (edited 10-23-1999).]

[scout]

cc on Gonzo's statement.

30$/month, probably not.

3 years ago I'd jumped on the 30$/ month offer.

Now I'm a much more casual flier, but I can't see myself quitting yet for a long while.

If AH had same plan as WB, 10$ + 2$/hour I might sign up for both.

[Toad]

I never, ever had an AW bill anywhere near $30; it was ALWAYS almost three times that much as a minimum. And that was back in the early '90's.

When the squad was active, I usually flew WB in the 30-50 HOURS per month range...but we got bored with WB this year and we all dropped way down.

Even in Beta, I tend to view AH as a promising sim. There's going to have to be more strat and stuff to differentiate it from the  "forever furball" in WB, but I'm guessing that I'll be down to about 50 cents an hour once it goes "live".

What else can you do for 50 cents an hour that is this entertaining? <G>

Oh, yeah...my kids are already playing on this account too...so it'll be even cheaper!


[This message has been edited by Toad (edited 10-24-1999).]

[ft]

My suggestion: $30/month OR $2/day, depending on "subscription".

I think most people here will be able to interpret that themselves so I won't discuss it in great length.

I must add that I for one think that HTC will stick with $30/month initially when it goes out of beta, no matter what we say now, then evaluate the pricing after seeing how that goes. They seem pretty firm on that point.

Oh yeah, and where am I coming from? I'm a student with an economy where $30 would really be noticed. I could find them, but I would have to drop other things I enjoy - and there are already plenty of things I'd like to do if I had the money. I'm probably not one who will be around at that rate.

What is the biggest problem to me though is the fact that while I could probably get value for my money at times, most of the time I just don't have enough spare hours for flying - and I usually don't know how much spare time I will have in advance! Paying $30  each month and then not finding time to fly much two months out of three doesn't sound too tempting to me. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for flat rates. But an alternative like the one suggested above might pull in enough people like me to add to the net income for HTC.

Now we can argue about how much trouble it would be programming different timezones into the system so that it cuts the days at the appropriat times.  

Cheers,
   /ft

[SC-Sp00k]

My 0.02cAUS

Someone brought it up earlier and the point was missed I feel.

The US market (economics taken on board) is still a limited customer Base).  I've no arguement with the flat rate.  Its always the best option.

Others have argued if the price was lower in international terms then customer numbers 10 fold would increase into the sim given the current competition.

Whats forgotten is that if we were to argue the same numbers $30 US customer base against an International paying customer base. The US only arguement would hold.

However we arent in reality as the International Customer base is far more numerical and at a price affordable to them and by allowing them in the door, any inadequacies raised in financial gain would be superceded byt the fact that the superior numbers now present from a variety of customers overseas in the sim would balance any US costs and I believe offer far better financial return once the total sum is transfered into US dollars.

I can think of 36 pilots right now who would sign the dotted line at a Flat rate, Foriegner friendly price.


SC-Sp00k
Skeleton Crew
Australian

[funked]

SC-Sp00k:

Obviously HTC should look at local price levels where there customers live.  Each country is a different market and things cost different amounts even after you account for the exchange rate.

The problem is that if Western Slobovia got a special rate of 4 Shekels per month, which turned out to be $25 US per month when you convert it, love muffines like me would lie about being from Slobovia, go convert some $ US to Slobovian Shekels, and play cheaper.