If Unreal Warfare was pay-per-play, would you still p(l)ay it?

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If Unreal Warfare was pay-per-play, would you still p(l)ay it?

  • Yes, a really good game is worth a monthly fee.

    Votes: 9 22.0%
  • I would like to, but I can't afford it.

    Votes: 4 9.8%
  • No, there are lots of other, free games out there, so why pay?

    Votes: 28 68.3%

  • Total voters
    41
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Tetris L

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Feb 15, 2000
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Little is known about Unreal Warfare by now, except the title. It is rumoured to be focused on multiplayer gaming; a sequel to UT, but more complex and on a much larger scale (by mapsize and playernumber). Even though Infogrames have stated semi-official that they are not planning to go into the massive multiplayer online game market in the near time, some people expect UW to be MMO. And if it's MMO, then it's probably pay-per-play, i.e. require a monthy fee.

For your answer, assume that the monthly fee will be something between 5 to 10 $. Also assume that Infogrames will provide stable servers with a good connection and with admins present on the servers to take care of lamers and cheaters and to receive feed-back from the community. Last but not least, assume that the game will be virtually bug-free at initial release and Infogrames provide good tech support.

Disclaimer: These assumptions, as well as the assumption that UW might be MMO/PPP are pure speculation.
 

WiLD2

W4NG
From early reports of people I trust, the game will not be pay-per-play (monthly or otherwise) like any other MMOG is. From my source who has been known to be relatively close (and therefor I trust him for now) to the people behind the game (we know who they are) I trust him when he says that it's going to be a one-time fee (buying the game). That's because->
EPIC loves the fans and community.
It's way too early to tell now if it will be pay per play, just as it was too early to tell months ago when I got this information. I just hope it's a one shot pay-deal.
 

grimstar

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May 27, 2001
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I really cant see Unreal Warfare being a MMO-Game/PPP. Dont forget our bet, -Tetris.

But if it is, Ill pay to play. ~Aslong as Infogrames do the severs right.
 

WiLD2

W4NG
All information and talk about the game has stated that it's Epic's way of getting into the MMOG market. Unreal 2 is their SinglePlayer/MultiPlayer side project whilst Unreal Warfare is their first Massive Multiplayer Online First Person Shooter ~Game.

I'm thinking it'll be like Neocron but in the Unreal Universe.
 

Tetris L

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Feb 15, 2000
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Grimmy,
I certainly don't forget our bet. (I also don't forget my bet with GrimlocK, hehehe ... :D) I know we interpreted Cliffy's statement about PlanetSide in the XGR interview differently. Time will show. The interesting things is: Now that it has been announced that PS probably won't be out until 2003, PS and UW will be direct competitors.
 

Swedix

Retired from UT2004
Apr 19, 2000
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Originally posted by -The-Tetris-L-
Also assume that Infogrames will provide stable servers with a good connection and with admins present on the servers to take care of lamers and cheaters and to receive feed-back from the community. Last but not least, assume that the game will be virtually bug-free at initial release and Infogrames provide good tech support.

Do you mean by that, that no one can host a server himself as in UT?
How many servers can Infogrames host? All over the world?

Or, do you mean, if you want to play on Infogrames servers with stable connection and alert admins, you have to pay else play where you want.
 

Tetris L

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Swedix:
Yes, I was talking about servers hosted by Infogrames. I was assuming that Infogrames/Epic would use the same structure as all MMO games launched by various companies by now: All servers that you can play the game on are under control of the game company. This is pretty much necessary if you talk about a persistent world with persistent characters that you develop. If you allow 3rd party servers in such a system, this would include the risk that those servers totally screw up the system. That's what makes MMO games so expensive and that's one of the reasons why such games require a monthly fee: The game company has to host a lot of servers with a lot of bandwidth, which cost money.

One might think of a system that allows 3rd party servers in an MMO game. I tried to come up with a system in this thread on INA back in July. What do you think?
 

Swedix

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Tetris, your idea seems good. If it's practicable, well that's another question but I guess it should be in some way.

I'm no supporter to pay-per-play. I like the idea of independent servers where admins can run what maps and/or mods they want.
Also, I like the ability to have private servers for clans and/or friends.
 

WiLD2

W4NG
Originally posted by Swedix|BuF
Tetris, your idea seems good. If it's practicable, well that's another question but I guess it should be in some way.

I'm no supporter to pay-per-play. I like the idea of independent servers where admins can run what maps and/or mods they want.
Also, I like the ability to have private servers for clans and/or friends.
So you and your clan can hop on the translocator to the outer rim where you've reserved the outlands. You've invited another clan over, they live at the neighboring planet. The outlands is the area you've chosen to stage your clan match. You see everyone has shown up, decide to get on with it, then fight. One life to live, otherwise you are sent back to the area you've designated as your spawn zone.

You stand victorious over the fallen before you; you loot their bodies of items you can sell (sans weapons) and some cash as your own profit as you may afford to buy better weapons when you get back to civilization, or more ammo/armor. You'r clan is now *that much* more famous, maybe you are ready to fight in the tournament now?
 
Y

Yellow5

Guest
I'd pay if it were a persistent universe like Planetside claims to be.

I've had a fewlong conversations with Tim Sweeney in the past (during the Unreal era) about this sort of thing, and he's always been keen on a similar idea. The main turnoff at the time was the lack of widespread broadband access required to pull it off.

I'm willing to pay for moderated servers, persistent universe or game arena, and some sort of char development.

If it is set up like a first person "war" where there are sides, different tech for each side that can be lost or gained via raids/battles, etc. then I'd probably wet myself. ;) WWII Online tried, and failed with this but I think a company like Epic has enough money and manpower to pull it off.
 

hal

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Nov 24, 1998
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I'd definitely pay for an EPIC product that was

1) Unreal based
2) MMO
3) Well run
4) Involves lots of killin' :)

Having said that, I'm not sure they could pull it off just yet. It'd be a whole lot different trying to offer stable servers for a HUGE first-person shooter, than it would be a RPG where you waddle along and fight the occasional rat. :D
 

Tetris L

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Feb 15, 2000
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hal,
screw 1-3, ... 4 is the important part, isn't it? :D ;)

I really really wonder how PlanetSide will pull it off. Especially now that it will come out not much earlier than UW and be a direct competitor. Verant say that they will do 4-6 month of open beta testing (!), so by the time PS goes officially gold the game will hopefully be patched a few times and play very smooth and bug-free. That's the attitude we need. Too many other companies have rushed their MMO games and failed badly.
 

UnrealGrrl

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Jun 16, 2000
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i think the thing that made unreal games attractive to me was the diverse range of servers and ppl playing on them, the varying styles admins used to make good servers their own by running different mods, skins, voices and of course custom maps!
thats what has kept UT alive for me (and alotta of other ppl) :)
if the game becomes a homogenized static universe, it wont be any fun for me (and alotta ppl) :)

so if thats the way it goes, no ya wouldnt find me paying for it...

if they insisted on trying the pay for play, what would be cool is if theres a pay for play universe AND the capability for individual admins to run thier own worlds... seperate from the $ one...
you are really cutting out the mod community if you dont have private servers and who does epic think will be the 1st ppl to buy uwarfare? thats right, the ppl who are still playing now, 2 years later on priavte (mostly custom) servers... and who are the ppl who will support and pimp it? yea same ppl again ;)
will they pay for it if you remove the community flavor from the game? i doubt it...
 

WiLD2

W4NG
EPIC would have alread pushed out three community projects for mod makers by the time Unreal Warfare is around. Unreal 1, UT and Unreal 2 would have all had great revenues and a community to back it all up.

If anything, a Massive Multiplayer Online Game strengthens the community because the game IS a community. You're looking at the wrong aspect of the game, you're not supposed to be able to make mods for the game, you're supposed to go by the flow of the stories they've created.

And especially if it's pay-per-play they wouldn't be worried about a few thousand more people (NYGrrl and others) not buying UW because the game would appeal to a whole new genre of fans. The ones that don't like it should be replaced 10-fold by people who crave an MMOG. Unreal 2 should only be over a year old by then, and if EPIC wanted to make more money, they could do what id has recently done and package the three previous games together. Unreal 1, Unreal Tournament GOTY and Unreal 2 all of the latest versions together in one bundle.
 

Tetris L

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Feb 15, 2000
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Originally posted by WiLD2
... if EPIC wanted to make more money, they could do what id has recently done and package the three previous games together. Unreal 1, Unreal Tournament GOTY and Unreal 2 all of the latest versions together in one bundle.
They've already done it, kinda, a month ago or so. The pack is called "Totally Unreal". It only had "exclusive" wallpapers of U2. Plus it had RtNP.

Edited while Wild2 posted his reply.
 

Tetris L

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Feb 15, 2000
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You're right that an MMO game requires a totally different type of server architecture. AFAIK an MMO server is usually a whole group of servers linked together. Otherwise it wouldn't be possible to handle several thousand players. Certainly such a server architecture requires a very special type of engine. But what makes you so sure that Epic aren't working on such an extension of their engine behind closed doors? I don't know who you are and if you got any insider knowledge, but Epic may have more up their sleeves than they have shown by now.
 
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