WW1 Should be Free

[guncrasher]

i see your replies are full of pros and cons

Your the Saitek of the Aces High world  

You probably won't like this answer but get a better stick, that means not a Saitek.  

Absoultely fascinating, the workings of a subscription there ladys and gentlemen, glad you cleared that one up.  

oh and here's the full quote on what you quoted me on.

everytime somebody sings happy birthday on tv or the movies they have to pay royalties.  even when you sing at a private party you're supposed to send a royalty payment.  and that song is from the what mid 1800's copyrighted in 1934, and the copyright will last until at least 2030?  and oh yeah the few bucks here and there brings in 2 million bucks a year.

you want to listen to music do what the rest of us do.  go to youtube or simply just play them on your computer.  there's probably more people who play in the ww1 arena than people who will listen to the 1940's music while flying.  and listening or not HT still has to pay to play the music.

semp

semp

[pervert]

Hooray!! I'm glad you find them useless, now can you draw a parallel here I wonder.....

[stabbyy]

t's "free" for most, but the paying customers will need to pay more to make up the difference.  and since I will still be a paying customer then it's in my best interest to not let this happen as it will increase my cost.

actually no it would not raise costs if anything it would bring them down you see in the WWI Arena how it says 0/150 or 3/100 or 10/50
that means there is server space already set aside to handle more players(just no one joins) so you "the customer" are already paying for that space this is a form of putting it to use so you have free players who join and decide"hey this game is pretty good they model these planes nicely with great attention to detail i wanna check out the rest of the planes these guys from the other arenas talk about" end result paying customer who doesn't shoot at green people

there for you get more people doing that         more payers=lower cost
                                                               lower cost=more join
                                                               more join=fuller arenas
                                                               
                                                               
but no matter how you look at it the server space is already set aside and not being used...its like opening a beer and not drinking it or making coffee and letting it burn might as well get a cup out of it? this would put the already devoted resources to use

[MK-84]

Back on topic...

The concept of the post is to take a essentially unused arena, and provide a gateway (by making if free) towards paying subscribers.

Pros:
     More players in WW1, many current subscribers would love to fly here, but there is a lack of someone to fight.  This might solve that.
     As Bruv stated, it allows interaction from a prospective AHaddict, with individuals who are passionate about the game.  This could convince them to join. (as previously discussed in the post)
     More people joining (because, hey! its free) equates to more discussion, which generates more interest, which could make AH more relevant, and prominent in the gaming world.  (in terms of relevence in advertising)  (think google search)
     Any advertising is a numbers game.  Period.  People like free.  Period.  This is a relatively low cost solution for advertisement.  As a numbers game some will choose not too join, but some will.  It would be impossible to not see lift in subscribers from sheer statics. (whether this is financially viable, or interferes with other marketing is a separate issue)

     *Rant warning*

     ...As a personal Pro:, I am so (excuse the grammer crap excited about flight, that I would go out of my way by far to promote AH as it serves as a fantastic outlet for my passion of flying.  I can't afford to pilot a fighter plane, but I'll be dammed if I can't get as close to it as I can.  (I flew in a cessna 152 once, for a half hour, and I was instantly hooked)  How would I not want to let others experience a entirely different level of gaming? (niche audience, rather than mass marketed i.e. MW3, or whatever that World of Airplan...who cares...

Cons:
     There is no way that a free subscriber to WW1 online arena will get a realistic representation of what actual gameplay is like.
     As bruv stated, and I believe in, many players will welcome new players and want to get them excited about the game!  But alot will not as well.  It's an online game...(squeekers, noobs, newbs, nubs, Ho'ers, vulchers, pickers, alt monkeys, runners, spit dweebs, runstangs, lgays. etc.)  I would be concerned in what environment a free player is getting into, which...
     ...as a result may turn off alot of people since this is not by any means a game that one can get "good" at easily.  (that's one of it's charms)  but in terms of recruitment it is likely not.
     It might just cost something to host more players for free?
     It may dissuade current subscribers and cause the issue of..."But I PAY FOR THIS, WHY DON'T THEY"!  I would like to think that wont be an issue, but I believe it will.  (Remember every country hordes, and gangs up, but your's of course does not)
     If HTC allows one online aspect for free...then other stuff should be free too!  ^(like the above post)
     

I still believe this to be a "niche game"  but there are thousands of people that want to play, but haven't heard of us.  After rethinking, I'm not certain WW1 should be free, but that the solution to more players lies on a much more local level.

[jimson]

who do you think it's going to pay for those people who play for free?

I guess the premium Photobucket and Fraps account holders are pissed at the rest of us who use the free version?

HTC and us by extension are already paying for it and it sees little use. I guess we are paying for all the 2 week trials and non-subscribers offline play as well.

How much different is it to let non-subscribers have this one small portion of the game. They get an extended taste of online air combat, and every time they log in they see everything else there is to offer.

I'm not qualified to say how many subscribers it will bring in, but there is some sound reasoning behind the idea.

[MK-84]

HTC and us by extension are already paying for it and it sees little use. You think our subscription rate has to go up or something if this is done?

Let players have this one small portion of the game for free. They get an extended taste of online air combat, and every time they log in they see everything else there is to offer.

I'm not qualified to say how good an idea it is, but there is some sound reasoning behind it.

With what you are posting about, "they" do NOT see everything AH has to offer.  They would see offline and online in our currently fairly unused WWI arena.
Every other experience they would receive would be anecdotal from other pilots, whom may or may not be subscribers.

[jimson]

Ah, didn't get my edit in before you quoted it.

"They" get to see the log in screen every time they play and see all the other arenas available to subscribers.

They see hundreds in the MA daily and in the SEA on Friday night and start thinking "I gotta try that."

[nrshida]

Semp, your New Year's resolution is that you have to make a positive comment about at least three wishlist posts this year. Later we'll work on the art of smiling without cracking ones face.  

Of course HTC can't & won't think of everything. What a fantastic resource the Wishlist forum is for them. This is a clever idea to make use of a resource which is currently underused in a win win way.

[MK-84]

Ah, didn't get my edit in before you quoted it.

"They" get to see the log in screen every time they play and see all the other arenas available to subscribers.

They see hundreds in the MA daily and in the SEA on Friday night and start thinking "I gotta try that."

Which does not change anything per my last post.

[jimson]

Which does not change anything per my last post.

I'll stand on it though. There is a reason a lot of companies have a basic service and a premium service.

Basic gets them in and constantly reminds them there is more available for an additional fee.

Whether it's a good idea in this particular case, I don't know, but it seems to be a proven business model.

[guncrasher]

this is a response from the other thread.

semp

While the concept of offering something free to bait the hook is not new in game marketing, the devil is in the details.

Limited plane set arenas at a different price has been tried before. The issue is that it does not integrate the new players into the same world as the paying players. Players form bonds / friends in the free arena and moving to the pay arena is not worth the loss of those friends.

Hence you almost completely cut off your influx of new players into the paying arena.


HiTech

[guncrasher]

Semp, your New Year's resolution is that you have to make a positive comment about at least three wishlist posts this year. Later we'll work on the art of smiling without cracking ones face.  

Of course HTC can't & won't think of everything. What a fantastic resource the Wishlist forum is for them. This is a clever idea to make use of a resource which is currently underused in a win win way.

ok.  btw this counts as one.


semp

[pervert]

this is a response from the other thread.

semp

That took you a whole 2 seconds to quote, it is similar but not the same, in this threads case the players do not have access to the WW2 planeset which is the mainstay of Aces High, and the problem of the largely empty arena in WW1 still remains for the paying customer.

[Tilt]

On balance I am not convinced that a free WW1 arena will do anything for AH or HTC other than produce a specialistic WW1 arena for a given clique of players some of which may or may not hold full accounts.

However given the meagre popularity of WW1 now I would agree that HTC has little to lose trying the idea out as an experiment for " an undecided period", with the caveat that the moment trends show ex account holders turning up as free players in WW1 the idea is dumped.

This could be policed out in the main by folk having to sign up for free accounts. Ex account holders of 6 months or less would not qualify.

Shades trying to bend the rules would be(when discovered) ejected permanently until they subscribe to full accounts.

[nrshida]

ok.  btw this counts as one.

 

On balance I am not convinced that a free WW1 arena will do anything for AH or HTC other than produce a specialistic WW1 arena for a given clique of players some of which may or may not hold full accounts...

This would happen of course & indeed already happens in the DA for example, but most would consider a full subscription and a percentage would take one who might not even be there otherwise.

And this idea differs from the point which HiTech mentioned in that it potentially addresses two problems in one, the second being the tumbleweed WWI arena. It is a shame that the WWI arena stagnated so quickly because it was clearly a huge amount of work and done very well. Anything to reboot that arena should be tried as clearly there won't be further development or new aircraft if it stays the way it is. Furthermore HTC is unlikely to ever consider something like a Korean war arena with this experience.