Tabletop and Freeform RPG Writer, Robert Rankin, takes a stab at one of the most profitable "Cash Grabs" in the Electronic Gaming Market and it's slow decline
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If you are an electronic gamer of any kind at some point you have "Paid to Play". There is a myriad of games that range between Massive Multiplayer Sidescroller Platformers like Maple Story to 2.5D Third Person Combat weird named games like Tale of Zolonia. Listing them would be fluff so I will cut to the chase. Sometime between 1998 and now people began to see the flaw in "Pay to Play" games. After dumping money on buying the game you are made to pay for "Support and Community" and of course the "Franchise theme". As a "Business Model" you will come out on top as long as you are selling a specific number of core units then an amount of Subscribers from those initial purchases while keeping your support and community paid for and money to developing more content for people to indulge (buy) in. The problem is something we call "Market Over-saturation" where too much of a similar product make choices limited to "Franchise Standing/Gameplay/Community" for "User Opinion and rating with sales" which thins the market by means of diversification. Customers like a LOT of things and unless your game has its own niche it will be seen as "Another clone" and unlike Tabletop and card games you have a business model set on fishing a specific dollar amount from every user every month which can be stressing when you have to sustain the programmers, customer support, artist, and marketing.
Once initial sales wear off and you depend on subscriptions (Trust me, I ran a subscription based website so I know ALL about having to deal with customer retention) so your content must stay fresh and offer a unique experience. The issue is the "Grindfest" which all these MMOs have become. Eventually, you will need to be ready to spend hours and hours doing the same thing to "Build up a character". You're sure to find yourself caught up in a "Instance" or "raid" or "world boss" until it gets repetitive. Therein lies the crux!
Once initial sales wear off and you depend on subscriptions (Trust me, I ran a subscription based website so I know ALL about having to deal with customer retention) so your content must stay fresh and offer a unique experience. The issue is the "Grindfest" which all these MMOs have become. Eventually, you will need to be ready to spend hours and hours doing the same thing to "Build up a character". You're sure to find yourself caught up in a "Instance" or "raid" or "world boss" until it gets repetitive. Therein lies the crux!
Modern day "Cash Haul" games are falling into the First Person Shooters category with massive battles and combat realism. MMOs popularity dwindle while million dollar projects fade into obscurity. Without adapting to the market many companies are seeing no light at the end of the proverbial tunnel and it's a sad state when you watch a trend begin to die.
