Can a Free Online Game Make Money? 23
Zenithal asks: "I've been slowly and silently developing an online game for quite some time now, and I'd like very much for it to be free. The problem is that the game will require several servers and lots of bandwidth if it is at all successful. For now my workplace is willing to sponser my needs, but if things ever picked up it would start costing serious money to run. What I'm wondering is, how can I make any money to maintain the game universe and possibly maybe even get cash for a few beer? I know the potential is there to sell box versions and manuals, but that just doesn't seem realistic. Any ideas Slashdot?" If you aren't willing to sell the game, then maybe you can sell things about the game to fund its further development. Of course, it goes without saying that the game will have to be good, so one of the first things one should do is get a good core group out there to test it. Also, if any game like this is to succeed, it should not ignore whatever community that happens to develop around it. I know something like this is unlikely, but if it were to happen, what would you do to get it started?
Indirect Sales (Score:1)
I have no idea why you have to be so apologetic about engaging in commerce. If the game is the draw, sell the game. Selling bric-a-brac instead of what you 'really' are selling is not a good idea.
In fact, the idea that you can fund an online game through incidentals died in the real world 2-3 years ago. You just cannot accurately predict the ratio of players to those who will buy trinkets and match that to your per-player overhead requirements.
Think hard before you get involved in this. Costs are tied to the number of players on several levels. You cannot get around that.
Re:Use the "service" model. (Score:2)
A few more ideas:
Offering a free/low cost trial period to get them hooked may be a good idea. You must be sure that the scheme will not be vulnerable to abuse, though.
You may wish to consider different pricing systems. In particular, a non-flat model (that turns flat at a break-even point) may convince those non-hardcore gamers to play.
If you do charge a monthly flat fee, give automatic, pro-rated refunds when the server goes down. We all hate the phone/DSL/cable companies because they basically say "fuck you" when the service is unvailable and they do nothing to fix it or you have to wait on hold for 2 hours in order to bitch to get a refund for lack of service. Whereas switch phone/cable/dsl providers is a pain in the ass, dropping a game is very easy.
The free (as in beer) software and then charge for service is exactly opposite of the model followed by games like quake and tribes2.
Do not wield the heavy hand of god. One of the reasons for the popularity of games like quake is that they are open enough so that people that are extermely creative can make your world better than you could possibly had hoped. Think of the possibilities if, in addition to creating players, people could actually modify the world they inhabit. I don't know if games like Everquest allow this but the ability to make different maps in quake is one reason for it's longevity. You may even develop the ability to compensate those individuals that create popular parts of your world.
Granted, freeing (as in libre') the client will allow you to improve it but, depending on how much you trust the players, players may develop their own clients that actually work better than your client, thereby increasing the popularity of the game. Most people would develop cheating clients so you should be very careful about this. A game with cheaters is no fun and players (i.e., payers) will drop like flies.
As an aside.... (Score:2)
Run _your_ site to keep a list of who is running servers. Add code to the server to connect back to a central location to report that it is running version X.Y.Z. Netrek runs the same way, though they may actually run one of their own servers, too..
This space for rent. Call 1-800-STEAK4U
Use the "service" model. (Score:4)
There are a few gotchas with this:
You're asking people to fork over a monthly subscription fee for the privilege of playing in your shard/continent/what-have-you. Your world had better be a lot more fun than the free alternatives that others will set up. You can do this; you just have to be willing to support several *good* full-time artists and game designers to build, maintain, and continually improve the universe that your players will be logging into.
Collaborative efforts could in theory compete with this, but in practice *good* artists and game designers who can work full-time (read: have maintaining the world as their paid day-job) can almost certainly provide a richer environment than a patchwork of volunteers could (this is art, not software).
If you're trying to get Joe Teenager to install and use your software, you're going to need a nice, packaged box with a good manual, and a fully-staffed tech support pool. What the user pays for when they buy the box is the ability to call you and have you hand-hold them through installing the software and connecting to your servers. You're *going* to have to sink a large amount of money and manpower into the division that handles this - if you have crappy support, most of your users will give up, and spread the word that your boxed software was impossible to use. Your servers will sit idle, and you'll lose a lot of money.
Subscription to your service should be optional, not mandadory. Ideally, you'd have about three versions of the box on the shelves, with different price tags - one that's just the client (with support for using the client), one that's a client bundled with a subscription to your service (with support for both), and one that's the client and _server_ with support for maintaining the server (charge them through the nose for this, because they're going to be *using* this tech support).
You don't have to be in control of the project itself, but you do have to have a paid team working on the software. This lets you address bugs customers find promptly (which you'll need early-on if you want to *keep* the customers), and continue to tweak the install and server selection routines (which you'll need to keep making more idiot-proof, and adapt to new server/client versions), and add features to the software that would help you make a more interesting game world.
All of this will cost a *vast* amount of money to set up, but will have a sustainable revenue stream coming back in. You'd have to do most of this regardless of whether the game was open or closed. Opening it means you save a bit on maintaining the software (because others' improvements and bug fixes are folded in for you), but forces you to work harder making your game world attractive (because anyone can set up their own world to compete with you).
Technical edges don't last past release anyways, so as far as I can tell you'd lose nothing by making the software itself Open or Free. Your IP is in the artwork and world design.
Re:Game Servers (Score:1)
Cheating happens. As it is, cheaters still exist in worlds where the server controls everything... and game companies have to deal with this. Turning over some of the server functions to a peer-to-peer or distributed fleet of clients is just asking for bigger and more widespread cheats.
Watch DroidArena (Score:3)
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Well... (Score:4)
You can't.
The only realistic model is to have people pay to play.
Some thoughts (Score:1)
Consider instead a system like UT/Q3 that only supports the top level game connector. (eg master browser) then even sites like gamespy can host it for you as well. Then the 'servers' anyone can setup and then the computing power/performance would be distributed to closer sites as well (lag/ping times etc)
What I have not seen thou is a distributed 'master browser' system yet. Maybe IRc based?
Cheaters (Score:1)
Look at xpilot (Score:1)
Anyway, the point is, get a good community going, and some members of the community may have some bandwidth to spare to put up servers. All you have to spend is some of your time making the game good and telling people about it.
Check out Runescape (Score:3)
It's Java based and it's free. There is a small download but you can pretty much play it anywhere as long as you have a Java enabled browser. Currently, Runescape uses three servers and their FAQ says it costs $50,000 a year to run the game. I've been playing for two weeks and the most people I've seen on Runescape at one time is ~800 per server (2500 total). The game is less than a year old and the website says it is still in beta. The company who develops Runescape is Jagex [jagex.com]. They're probably the best ones to ask this question because Runescape is one of the most popular, free MMORPGs available today.
- rk
IPO (Score:2)
Re:Answer is simple: Incorporate advertising... (Score:3)
Often they have various real life products for sale within the game world, that people can use. They also offer people game money for opting in to get tons of spam. Visit Cartoon Network, here's a hundred units of currency. Sign up for this new auction site, here's some new attack for your little pet. Nominate someone to run the Olympic torch for Coke, and here's some new Coke machine for your NeoHome. They've managed to create quite an inventive and cool game, despite the kiddie slant given to everything, and it's still entirely free. Millions of people play it, and they've managed to employ quite a few artists and coders off the advertising revenue and sales of shirts and the like.
A few years ago, the online game [vv.com] I help administrate was looking to go to a pay-for-play system. They had to scour through the database, removing references to various copyrights. They had to work out payment systems, worry about players actually being paying customers that they had an obligation to help, and various other worries. In the end, the administration at the time decided that it wasn't worth the hassle, and the game continues to remain free yet small to this day. We advertise [netsville.com] the people who founded the game, who also provide bandwidth and the server space, but no money's moving around the game whatsoever except for a few donations from the players to the providers. Every few years, talk of it going to a pay format or being sold is kicked around, but I don't think that'll ever happen.
"Can a Free Online Game Make Money?" (Score:2)
Problem solved.
Another example (Score:1)
They started off rather small - just ran the thing on a couple of ISDN lines on a pc in one of the creators' front room. The game has become so popular that serious industrial strength hosting is now required, as well as round the clock care.
Banner adverts have always been used, with frequent reminders to get players to click them. Apparently only a small proportion (less than 10%?) regularly clicked them, so income was extremely limited. I remember them having problems with a particular banner-ad agency that was recommended to them, that saw the income drop even further. Now, they've added a voluntary donation option, where you can give between $10-$100 via a credit card, which brought in four-figure sums within a few days of being introduced, and there's also merchandise (t-shirts, mugs, etc).
Soon they'll be running a parallel "universe", a pay-to-play version where you are guaranteed a certain level of performance. Even now the game is hosted by Chello [chello.com], it can slow down during the busier times of day, so the supposedly hourly updates in resources, travelled distances and so on, can take maybe 90 mins or more.
Go have a look. They used to have some articles on how the game started up, but I can't find them at the mo.
Game Servers (Score:1)
Site that pulls it off: (Score:2)
Microshaft still OWNZ JOO! [msnbc.com]
sure.. (Score:2)
Answer is simple: Incorporate advertising... (Score:4)
I hate advertising like most people around here, but to be honest, if you are wishing to have an online game make money without charging users a fee, then advertise.
It could be possible to include ads in text RPG scenarios:
You enter the orc lair kitchen. There are various cooking implements strewn about the walls. A can of cool, refreshing Fizzy(tm) soda.
HP: 13 % drink can
Ah, that cool, refreshing Fizzy(tm) soda has restored some of your endurance and has given you courage to attract many females of your race.
HP: 14 % go north
... and so on...
Graphic based games could incorporate logos, etc... Yes, it's sick, vile, and evil, but it does sometimes pay in the real world.
Bandwidth (Score:1)
then try and charge a SMALL monthly
fee......
It seems about the only sure way to do it considering the bandwidth you would be chewing up.
(I may be able to hook you up with some serious bandwidth if you are interested.)
There is also one other possible way to support your game without fees, which may or may not work.
Email me at stockzombie@hotmail.com
Isotope23
Donatons.. (Score:2)
SRGN.net (Score:1)
Email me at justin!@webworkznetwork.com (minus the !) and we'll work something out to carry/promote your game. That will bring in some online users and I'm sure we can set some kind of payment regiment up where you could receive a part of the overall income generated from your game using banner advertising (inside the application), data mining (the legal way, of course), and premium accounts (which will include real-time voice chat inside of the game, removal of banner advertisements, etc... to make the purchase worthwhile).
Of course, this all relies on wether or not your game is worth carrying. If you have some sort of BETA set up for it, feel free to send me the URL so I can check it out and have a few friends do so, also.
I'll give you a rundown of our facility too so you can see the steps we've taken to ensure 99.9% up-time.. 100% for the past 9 months.
Well, thanks for reading and be sure to check out kahncentral.com
Re:Use the "if it makes money" model. (Score:1)