payment options

[airman]

just wondering what the payment options would be for this.
i personally would like it to be boxed and sold with unlimited hours.

[Topcat]

LOL.  I'd like to see it given away free, but that's not going to happen, either    

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Topcat
249 Squadron RAF "Gold Coast"
With Fists and Heels

[eadg]

Just a hunch, but I know HT and Pyro have always believed strongly in the premium pricing for premium product model.  To launch, and develop into the future, a sim so demanding of effort and resource, the costs will be high, and the audience rather niche, so hourly pricing is really the only model that makes sense.  I'm betting you'll see something close to the $2.00 per hour  model...

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eadg, ready to come out of retirement....

[This message has been edited by eadg (edited 07-24-1999).]

[Belgar.]

with the sucesses of games like Ultima Online and Everquest i cant see no reason why a flat rate can be applied.
Ultima Online = $10 per month unlimited play
Everquest = $10 per month unlimited play

Everquest is a 3d only game and this is how i see Aces High....if a Flat rate is applied
i beleive they will get there rewards from players coming from Warbirds to Aces High
though i dont mind paying a flat rate of something like $100 a month for unlimited play
ok Ultima has like 100,000 players before Everquest came along but think about it

100.000 x $10 per customer = $1,000,000 per month

so something like a Aces high population
maybe something like

2000 x (lets say $100 flat rate) = $200,000 per month

so even if a flat rate is applied there still making money to support themselves the company and the cost to produce a game like this
i hope Hitech sees this as an option at least

Belgar

Member of 249 RAF [Tangmere Wing]

[WeaselGX]

I agree that a flat rate plan is the better way to go. People like things "Unlimited". Most Internet Service Providers in the old days used to charge by the hour, but when they incorporated unlimited usage, they gained a whole flock of new users. If Aces High lives up to its name, you can expect people from Air Warrior as well as Warbirds to be converted; if the price is right - as in a reasonable flat rate

GXU

[glars]

Will everyone stop reminding them to think about charging?

In Two Months(tm) we should be able to moan about enough things or invent enough non-existent bugs that they chase their own tails while we fly free until at least the 21st Century  

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Glars
glarsmaps.warbirds.org

[Jafo]

ROFL glars  

You kill me... hehehehehe

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Jafo
Commanding Officer
Night Stalkers
1st Tactical Battle Group

[dogftr]

 Itmo,s freehost keeps trying to excape from its box. Peices of how to run it keep popping up here and there. It is inevitable that this info will come to light even for us non computer nerds. If you dont think this will impact this game your niave. AH would have to be wildly seperior to comepeat with free. A resonable flat rate would expand the gap enough to make this game viable.IMO.

[val]

You will never see the same number of players flying a WWII sim as you will see in a game like EQ. There are very few of us and a lot of them in the world.

Until there are 100,000 people ready to sign up for an Aviation Sim there will be no Flat Rate pricing IMHO.

val

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Scott (val) Valline
Dweebs of Death

[Vermillion]

Sorry Val, but I gotta disagree.

If Fighter Ace and Airwarrior can do flat rate pricing, Aces High (and Warbirds for that matter)could do flat rate pricing.

I can also point out Ultima Online, Everquest, and M59 as successful models of the flat rate plan. Yes these games have many more players online (and subscribed)at any one time. But the cost of running the game per subscriber, is fairly consistent past a certain breakpoint.

And please lets leave the FW and AW sucks so its not a competition arguement out of it.  The cost of running any online multiplayer sim, ie cost/player,  should be similar (cost of server and bandwidth) between all these games.

To my knowledge, Warbirds is the only game left on the internet that charges a $/hour pricing structure.  And have you noticed how the numbers of players are dropping off in WB's lately?

Its just not worth it to most people in today's market. Worth it to a few of us maybe, but just not to a significant portion of the flight sim market.

Flame away... but $/hr is a very small marketplace and it seems the WWII flight sim pie is getting cut into smaller and smaller portions.

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Vermillion **MOL**
"Shooting is NEVER too good for my enemys" --Evil Overlord

[danish]

Vermillion: people are not leaving WB because of the 2$/h.They leave (or are thinking of..) because they feel they might not get what they are paying for.
May I remind you that for a lot of the non-US costumers the real price are in the 3-5$/h range.
People will pay the price *if* the product is good.I certanly will.

danish

[This message has been edited by danish (edited 07-24-1999).]

[val]

VERMILLION:

FA has all the money of Bill Gates and MS behind it. We all know that MS can afford to lose a hell of a lot more money than any other developer.

AW is VERY outdated. It sees very little developement, unless the AW community themselves do it.

You can't even put those two sims in the same league as WBs and the future AH. WBs and AH are built upon the promise of constant development. If you want to add things to a game you need to pay artists and designers.

It takes Toyota only 15 minutes longer to assemble a Camry than a Lexus LS400. Yet in America the Lexus costs 3X as much. Why? Because of the materials and the features it has are far above those found in the Camry. If you want the best you have to be willing to pay the price of admission.

val

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Scott (val) Valline
Dweebs of Death

[Vermillion]

Oh I agree Danish, they're leaving because they are paying a very premium price (compared to other games out there), and getting a non premium product, good , but not "premium".

And I do know that non-US customers are paying in the $3-$5/hr range, quite a few of my squadmates are from outside the US. I feel for you guys.

And yes I agree that the statement People will pay the price *if* the product is good. True.

But it comes down to how many people are willing to pay such a price.

I would guess not enough, considering how much money ICI/IMOL/iEN has lost over the years.

So now you basically have the same player base as before (small group willing to pay $/hr) and now your splitting it two ways. That is assuming HT and Pyro go with $/hr.

Can both or either survive ? I hope but I wonder.

IMO, the reality of survival of either game versus the corprate giants of Microsoft (FA) and NewsCorp (AW), lies in a flat rate and a large number of Relaxed Realism pilots.

Don't get me wrong, you can still keep the high fidelity, ultra realistic game as we love it.  But the dollars to keep games of these types,  going and fuel future developement, will most likely come from the "unwashed masses" or dweebs as most of us typically call them.

And Val, yes AW is very outdated, but thats because it was already old, and WB's started from a clean slate giving it that advantage that we talk about today. But since WB's came out of beta, AW and WB's have produced a similar number of updates, new planes, and additional features.

Just my opinon, and I know its not popular with this crowd.

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Vermillion **MOL**
"Shooting is NEVER too good for my enemys" --Evil Overlord


[This message has been edited by Vermillion (edited 07-24-1999).]

[Hippie]

I left that other game recently because I thought they were no longer delivering the standard of service required for the amount they were charging. (I played since
the CK beta, stopped quite recently)

I would be quite happy to pay for a "boxed"
all in one WW2 sim that provided offline play, multiplayer and massive multiplayer.
I would be happy to pay for updated releases as long as the updates were significant and not too frequent.
I would be happy to pay for use of the massive multiplayer server.

I would be satisfied with $20 a month unlimited time.

Could AH turn a profit with this model?
I don't know.

Hippie

[Moon]

I am sure they will charge whatever they see fit. I mean there is a lot more into putting a game up then just the programming hours.
At first there will be support ( for any of the question that you all maybe exper.), then there is the art, the T1, the host.. and this list could go on forever..

Basically, you will get what you pay for..
and what do you really want? That is the question you have to ask yourself.

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"may trouble neglect you"

moon out..