Recurring Fantasy Side Post Theater Proudly Presents...
Free-to-Play: Worth Your Time? or Not Worth a Dime!
Now, before I get too far, let's just briefly define "Free-to-Play". The basic idea is that the game is free for you to download and play without requiring any money from you. Up until more recently, the only way this seemed like a plan was for pirating games, playing flash games, or if someone was just an awesome person. However, with the evolution of micro-transactions and the slow but sure death of monthly pay-to-plays, the gaming industry is certainly looking at a change of pace.
Before I go too far into this, keep in mind that I haven't played a huge assortment of "Free-to-Play" titles, and the main ones I'll be talking about and referring to are MMOs. Of course, that's the main audience of the Free-to-Play games since there is a twist to it... But let's not jump right that quite yet.
Now, in general and up until recently, I wasn't a huge fan of the Free-to-Play model. Why? I'm not entirely sure why I hated it, but I guess I felt like it undermined gaming in general. The idea that the game publishers were getting away with micro transactions is what really got to me. Having dozens, if not hundreds, of different little nothings that you could pay out the butt for, or allow you to pay-to-win. I guess it's one thing to offer different outfits or designs, but it's another to let people just pay their way through things. What happened to earning and unlocking things the old fashioned way?
However, that's where most of my hatred for the Free-to-Play model was basically founded. I simply felt cheated when I should have been exploring more and realizing... There are some great free games out there. Now, I'm far off from playing EVERYTHING out there, but I've played and seen quite a few games that follow that basic model. I'll link some examples when I wrap up this post (namely ones I play/played/enjoyed), but for now, I'm going to group the idea in general.
So... How do you know when something Free-to-Play is worth your time? I feel that the first and foremost thing in gaming is that a game is fun. When you apply Mr. Free-to-Play, the game should feel the same way WITHOUT forcing you to shell out money to get anywhere. If you can unlock everything without paying for it, then you are probably off to a good start. You should be able to get from Point A to Point Z without having to pay money because the game is borderline forcing you to. I'd say the biggest thing to watch for is a separation between the game's money and real money. If you can just BUY game money, you should probably look around for something better. I mean the bottom line is "You enjoy this game", but you shouldn't let the game almost bully you into microtransaction-ing your wallet away.
There are a few things that sit the line between acceptable and unacceptable though. Things like Boosts (XP, in-game money, or otherwise) are the main ones on my mind at this moment. On one hand, someone is paying to get ahead, but if you think about it, all they are really doing is paying to cut down the overhead time of playing the game. For instance, let's say a general RPG or MMORPG requires a couple hours to gain one level. (Bear with me here.) Much like myself, not everybody has the time to put in a couple hours every day or even every other day to gain levels and continue through a game. The XP Boost could simply be a way to cut off all the farming time so you can get out of the lower ranks and head out into where everybody else is.
In essence, it only FEELS like cheating to those who are unwilling to spend a bit of money to gain extra levels faster. Thus what it really means is that... You're a cheapskate who's angry because other people have money. DON'T GET MAD AT ME! I AM A CHEAPSKATE TOO IN THIS CAPACITY! I don't want to throw out money unless I have to, but I'm also willing to admit that I've wasted money on worse things. Things I don't need mostly, but that's not the point here. Point is that don't feel cheated because someone else is using Boosts or other game items because chances are the item only costs like $1. If you get mad over a dollar, you may need to rethink your life or your budget.
Now we come to a better question, how do you know when Free-to-Play isn't worth a dime? First off, the most obvious point should be when EVERYTHING costs money. I don't mean in-game doubloons or gold, but I'm talking of if everything seems to cost you some real world dollars. It's one thing to have a double price point on things (in-game and real world), but if everything simply costs one denomination, and that denomination is purchasable with real world money. I can already tell ask... What's the point in playing? Just buy everything and then don't play it because you've already accomplished it all.
On top of that, a game should feel fairly even regardless of boosts and yet have a worthwhile reason to actually purchase things for it. It's kinda a mixed area here. You should have an advantage paying for certain items and benefits, but it shouldn't be such a massive advantage that people who DON'T pay for things are completely out of the running. It's gotta have a decent balance while being fair to all sides.
I'm being hyper critical here, but with what limited time I have, I feel like I should be more judgmental about what I pay for and play. In my days, I've bought a lot of games. A LOT OF GAMES! I've bought many winners because of input from various sources, but I've also invested in quite a few bad ones. It happens, so there's not much you can do to recover from them. Free-to-Play though? It's great for a lot of different reasons.
First off, it's free. The worst case scenario is that you wasted the time it took to download, install, and try it out. Therefore, you've lost very little. Whereas a full game would cost you the price of the game, and then you'd have very few options for getting rid of it if you didn't like it. Basically none of those options involves a full refund. Therefore? Free game is free and nothing truly lost.
Next, you aren't limited to just a select group. When something's free, it brings in a pretty big crowd of people to play. This is especially so if a game jumps from a monthly fee to Free-to-Play. Now I realize more people doesn't necessarily mean a better game, but it's nice to have in a new group of people to make the game bigger and all that.
And... that's all I got really. So I figure it's about time to wrap things up here.
Free-to-Play games are the next generation of MMOs, but they're more than what they seem. Sure, you might have to spend a little money here and there, but in most cases, the full game is available to you regardless. Thus, any money you spent simply improves your experience and goes to improving your game time. I wouldn't say to just go out and throw all your money towards one though. Always be sure to look around and beware of the crap that gets through here and there. In the beginning, I hated the idea of Free-to-Play because of micro transactions, but in general the Free-to-Play model does work. It lets the company create a great game, release it to everybody for free, and keep it running on very little. Even if only a small group pays for it, it generally keeps the entire game running.
However, in the end, whether you think Free-to-Play is worth your time and money is up to you. To help you along though, I'm going to post a couple different games up here, so be sure to look them over and check them out! Keep in mind, I'm trying to keep to ones I've directly heard about and/or played.
Before I go too far into this, keep in mind that I haven't played a huge assortment of "Free-to-Play" titles, and the main ones I'll be talking about and referring to are MMOs. Of course, that's the main audience of the Free-to-Play games since there is a twist to it... But let's not jump right that quite yet.
Now, in general and up until recently, I wasn't a huge fan of the Free-to-Play model. Why? I'm not entirely sure why I hated it, but I guess I felt like it undermined gaming in general. The idea that the game publishers were getting away with micro transactions is what really got to me. Having dozens, if not hundreds, of different little nothings that you could pay out the butt for, or allow you to pay-to-win. I guess it's one thing to offer different outfits or designs, but it's another to let people just pay their way through things. What happened to earning and unlocking things the old fashioned way?
However, that's where most of my hatred for the Free-to-Play model was basically founded. I simply felt cheated when I should have been exploring more and realizing... There are some great free games out there. Now, I'm far off from playing EVERYTHING out there, but I've played and seen quite a few games that follow that basic model. I'll link some examples when I wrap up this post (namely ones I play/played/enjoyed), but for now, I'm going to group the idea in general.
So... How do you know when something Free-to-Play is worth your time? I feel that the first and foremost thing in gaming is that a game is fun. When you apply Mr. Free-to-Play, the game should feel the same way WITHOUT forcing you to shell out money to get anywhere. If you can unlock everything without paying for it, then you are probably off to a good start. You should be able to get from Point A to Point Z without having to pay money because the game is borderline forcing you to. I'd say the biggest thing to watch for is a separation between the game's money and real money. If you can just BUY game money, you should probably look around for something better. I mean the bottom line is "You enjoy this game", but you shouldn't let the game almost bully you into microtransaction-ing your wallet away.
There are a few things that sit the line between acceptable and unacceptable though. Things like Boosts (XP, in-game money, or otherwise) are the main ones on my mind at this moment. On one hand, someone is paying to get ahead, but if you think about it, all they are really doing is paying to cut down the overhead time of playing the game. For instance, let's say a general RPG or MMORPG requires a couple hours to gain one level. (Bear with me here.) Much like myself, not everybody has the time to put in a couple hours every day or even every other day to gain levels and continue through a game. The XP Boost could simply be a way to cut off all the farming time so you can get out of the lower ranks and head out into where everybody else is.
In essence, it only FEELS like cheating to those who are unwilling to spend a bit of money to gain extra levels faster. Thus what it really means is that... You're a cheapskate who's angry because other people have money. DON'T GET MAD AT ME! I AM A CHEAPSKATE TOO IN THIS CAPACITY! I don't want to throw out money unless I have to, but I'm also willing to admit that I've wasted money on worse things. Things I don't need mostly, but that's not the point here. Point is that don't feel cheated because someone else is using Boosts or other game items because chances are the item only costs like $1. If you get mad over a dollar, you may need to rethink your life or your budget.
Now we come to a better question, how do you know when Free-to-Play isn't worth a dime? First off, the most obvious point should be when EVERYTHING costs money. I don't mean in-game doubloons or gold, but I'm talking of if everything seems to cost you some real world dollars. It's one thing to have a double price point on things (in-game and real world), but if everything simply costs one denomination, and that denomination is purchasable with real world money. I can already tell ask... What's the point in playing? Just buy everything and then don't play it because you've already accomplished it all.
On top of that, a game should feel fairly even regardless of boosts and yet have a worthwhile reason to actually purchase things for it. It's kinda a mixed area here. You should have an advantage paying for certain items and benefits, but it shouldn't be such a massive advantage that people who DON'T pay for things are completely out of the running. It's gotta have a decent balance while being fair to all sides.
I'm being hyper critical here, but with what limited time I have, I feel like I should be more judgmental about what I pay for and play. In my days, I've bought a lot of games. A LOT OF GAMES! I've bought many winners because of input from various sources, but I've also invested in quite a few bad ones. It happens, so there's not much you can do to recover from them. Free-to-Play though? It's great for a lot of different reasons.
First off, it's free. The worst case scenario is that you wasted the time it took to download, install, and try it out. Therefore, you've lost very little. Whereas a full game would cost you the price of the game, and then you'd have very few options for getting rid of it if you didn't like it. Basically none of those options involves a full refund. Therefore? Free game is free and nothing truly lost.
Next, you aren't limited to just a select group. When something's free, it brings in a pretty big crowd of people to play. This is especially so if a game jumps from a monthly fee to Free-to-Play. Now I realize more people doesn't necessarily mean a better game, but it's nice to have in a new group of people to make the game bigger and all that.
And... that's all I got really. So I figure it's about time to wrap things up here.
Free-to-Play games are the next generation of MMOs, but they're more than what they seem. Sure, you might have to spend a little money here and there, but in most cases, the full game is available to you regardless. Thus, any money you spent simply improves your experience and goes to improving your game time. I wouldn't say to just go out and throw all your money towards one though. Always be sure to look around and beware of the crap that gets through here and there. In the beginning, I hated the idea of Free-to-Play because of micro transactions, but in general the Free-to-Play model does work. It lets the company create a great game, release it to everybody for free, and keep it running on very little. Even if only a small group pays for it, it generally keeps the entire game running.
However, in the end, whether you think Free-to-Play is worth your time and money is up to you. To help you along though, I'm going to post a couple different games up here, so be sure to look them over and check them out! Keep in mind, I'm trying to keep to ones I've directly heard about and/or played.
- MMORPG
- Tera Rising (PC) - Action RPG. Anime-ish Fantasy RPG with action elements.
- Star Wars: The Old Republic (PC) - General MMO-style RPG based in the Star Wars universe. Contains story missions with choice-based paths like Mass Effect.
- Defiance (PC, PS3, Xbox 360) - Third-Person Shooter based in the Defiance universe. The game costs money, but it's fairly cheap now.
- First Person Mech Shooter
- MechWarrior Online (PC)
- HAWKEN (PC)
- MOBA (Massive Online Battle - To briefly define, it plays from above like an RTS, but instead of armies, you control a single hero character. You fight against hordes of enemies and other heroes with special moves, items, and equipment. I played a bit of the original DOTA, so I prefer DOTA 2, but the other ones are fairly popular as well.
- DOTA 2 (PC)
- League of Legends (PC)
- Heroes of Newearth (PC)
- Other
- Warframe (PC, PS4) - Online Third-Person Action Game.
- Dust 514 (PS3) - Online First Person Shooter.
- War Thunder (PC) - Massive Online Flight Simulator. Currently in the beta works but big plans for the future!
Yes, I realize my list is pretty poor here, but I wasn't going to go on forever and ever. If you see this post and have something better to suggest, I'm up for it!
And that's all I got. Free-to-Play is the (most likely) future of online gaming, and I look forward to seeing more great examples to win me over. As always, thanks for reading and look forward to more Dragon Warrior/Quest stuff soon!
~May the Crystals Guide Me~
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