Quote:
Originally Posted by Sugetsu
The video I linked makes the most clear and concise explanation as to why the subscription method is outdated and is merely profit based. Subs were required in the late 90s when the internet was expanding and the new technology demanded companies to require sub fees in order to keep up with server costs. This is no longer the case, server costs are low, and games such as guild wars 1 and countless other online games demonstrated that they could remain profitable without asking players to fork out 15 dollars a month.
There are many ways to introduce revenue that are more ethical than sub fees, such as cosmetic changes or character slots.
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Just to be clear, there is nothing "unethical" about this choice of a business model, nor for a business to choose the route they believe will maximize their profits. I mean, that's why businesses exist: to maximize their return on investment. It's not as if the other businesses employing other business models aren't also doing it as part of strategy to maximize their profits. Your choice as a customer is basically to decide if it's worth it to you or not; plenty have decided it's not worth it for them, and that's fine.
Consider that having more customers also increases the costs for maintenance and support, and in the early launch phase of a game it may be worth limiting the server populations by implementing a monthly fee. They can always decide later on to reduce or eliminate the fees, if they want to try a different business model and can handle the support load.
As for the "sexist" argument... feel free to make another thread if you really wish, but be aware that this argument has been made many, many times before on this Forum. I would at least ask that you perform a search before creating a new thread (as we don't like new threads to be created on topics that already have threads).
Suffice it to say there are different ways to market to different genders and demographics. The way society stereotypically markets to men is more likely to seem offensive because it's more obvious (visual), but marketing is all about exploiting people's natural tendencies and weaknesses. Sexual appeal is also used to appeal to women, but it often isn't the most effective means, which is why it isn't used as often or as prominently. You can argue that exploiting men's stereotypical weakness in this area is promoting gender inequality, but I think the root cause is the
weakness, not the fact that it's being exploited. To overcome the weakness, I think men simply need to be aware that they are being marketed to/toyed with, and be able to rise above that in their behaviour. No one is a "victim" of the media, and people have the wherewithal to treat the opposite gender with respect regardless of whether this game's characters are being sold for their sexiness (or their "sexy cuteness" as the case may be).