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Idea: $20 per month "Competitive" Servers
Goalid
Member, Alpha One, Adventurer
The cost of a subscription to play Ashes of Creation for one month's worth of time is planned to be $15 a month. Steven has said that he wants to put in all kinds of security measures to prevent RMTing and bots from polluting the competitive integrity of our MMOs. But, anyone who has had any actual contact with the competitive scene in MMORPGs knows just how prevalent RMT is, and the extent to which players will go to bypass security measures.
I'm a competitive person. When I participate in any kind of competitive sport it's expected that the organizer of an event will not only try to prevent cheating, but will more or less be successful in doing so. That is the standard on the competitive e-sports scene as well. But unfortunately, that's not the expectation for MMOs.
I'm glad that Steven is using a portion of our subscription fee to pay in-game GMs, honeypot schemes, etc. But I'm extremely doubtful that the kinds of people who participate in competitive MMORPGs won't find a way around it. I don't trust the integrity of the competitive scene in any MMO, and if you do boy do I have a bridge to sell you.
I value that competitive integrity. It is worth a price to me. It's not Intrepid's fault that cheaters exist. Because of all that, I am more than willing to pay a higher cost per month for additional security measures to try and keep the integrity of my server's competitive scene. I would be willing to pay an extra $10 per month to pay for additional in-game GMs, but what if they just made it an extra $5?
At $5 per month extra per player on a "competitive server", with 15,000 players starting out on the server, Intrepid would gain $75,000 extra per month, or $900,000 per year. That means they could afford to have 18 additional GMs on that server with a $50,000 salary that's work from home. 18 extra in-game GMs for a single server would provide additional security that I'm sure most competitive people will be satisfied with. The goal isn't to ensure there's no cheating possible, but to severely curb cheating. Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good and all that.
You could have numerous competitive servers based off demand. And my suspicion is this kind of added security is very much in demand. But anyway, that's my pitch. Let me know your thoughts about the idea.
I'm a competitive person. When I participate in any kind of competitive sport it's expected that the organizer of an event will not only try to prevent cheating, but will more or less be successful in doing so. That is the standard on the competitive e-sports scene as well. But unfortunately, that's not the expectation for MMOs.
I'm glad that Steven is using a portion of our subscription fee to pay in-game GMs, honeypot schemes, etc. But I'm extremely doubtful that the kinds of people who participate in competitive MMORPGs won't find a way around it. I don't trust the integrity of the competitive scene in any MMO, and if you do boy do I have a bridge to sell you.
I value that competitive integrity. It is worth a price to me. It's not Intrepid's fault that cheaters exist. Because of all that, I am more than willing to pay a higher cost per month for additional security measures to try and keep the integrity of my server's competitive scene. I would be willing to pay an extra $10 per month to pay for additional in-game GMs, but what if they just made it an extra $5?
At $5 per month extra per player on a "competitive server", with 15,000 players starting out on the server, Intrepid would gain $75,000 extra per month, or $900,000 per year. That means they could afford to have 18 additional GMs on that server with a $50,000 salary that's work from home. 18 extra in-game GMs for a single server would provide additional security that I'm sure most competitive people will be satisfied with. The goal isn't to ensure there's no cheating possible, but to severely curb cheating. Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good and all that.
You could have numerous competitive servers based off demand. And my suspicion is this kind of added security is very much in demand. But anyway, that's my pitch. Let me know your thoughts about the idea.
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Comments
It'd be kind of silly of Intrepid to charge extra for higher standards on one server, implying that other servers will have substandard support. A very odd suggestion tbh.
Yep my b
Then why aren't people willing to pay for the extra security costs required to maintain that integrity? And it's not like there won't be security measures on other servers, just not as air-tight security.
Sure, let's keep exploting people around the world. Actually if Intrepid hires all employees in Asia they can have 10 for the price of one, that's a gang!
thats not exploitation, people voluntarily apply to the jobs.. in my country, only 10% of the workforce makes 1000+ usd a month, meaning 90% of the population makes less tan 1000 usd a month.
to put it in perspective, i can eat for an entire month for a 100 usd, whereas an american would spend that weekly in food. i pay less than 20 for electricity and i never turn my pc off. rent in a high income area is 300 and its in the thosands in usa depending on where you live. etc etc.
and you know who pays those salaries of 1000 usd? call centers, and call centers are run by american or foreign countries and they pay more than local companies and thats where the people from verizon work and talk to you every time you call and yell at them. xDD. thats also where gms work.
plus all the jobs they create and the only thing you need is to speak a language you can learn for free in a year.
2k a month here and you live like a prince whereas you are close to peasant status in usa. so nope, not exploitation.
2. Every server will already have active GMs looking to ban people for things like exploits and gold buying. How successful they'll be at it is something only time will tell
just a random thought.
ive worked as a gm before and part of what i did was bot hunting. and trust me, you dont wanna work as a gm for free. its not as fun as it seems. the first week its quite fun though but thats it.
i was only meaning a few hours a week or something.. but enough of us doing it would add up to be helpful.. i really really have high hopes for this game.. and i d be willing to help out a bit. (because gold sellers and cheaters suck balls).
It's also worth noting that the monthly subscription fee won't be the only source of revenue for the game. There will be an in-game cosmetic store
I suspect many MMORPGs might make more revenue from cosmetic stores than monthly subs ^_^
IRS has entered the chat
$900k additional revenue.
California state + Federal Corporate Tax (28%) = $252k
https://taxfoundation.org/combined-federal-state-corporate-tax-rates-2022/
$648k remaining.
Assuming your $50k salary, it's a general rule of thumb that the "true cost" per employee is about double. This includes things like payroll tax, benefits, training, and other misc. costs employers incur per employee (software licenses, HR management, Accounting, equipment, etc.). So for a $50k salary, that means Intrepid Studios' cost is about $100k.
That means you get -- 6 extra in-game GMs...not 18
the actual cost is of gm is 12k a year.
also arent you supposed to pay your employees first and then pay tax of the remaining after your expenses? or is it tax first then expenses?
I'd do a few hours of it for free, if they needed. I'm sure there are plenty others who would do it, too.
I've thought about it but I'd rather play the mmo. I've heard Steven's lament at not being able to game and chill since starting ashes.
We're not expecting perfection. But we will know if the game systems and competitive integrity are completely compromised by p2w RMT.
If Intrepid makes a sincere effort at stopping RMT, I will buy many cosmetics, even some I don't necessarily want. Just to show support and to provide funding for them to keep it up.
If not, I'm not buying cosmetics for a slowly sinking ship.