Absurd idea for revenue

[Bryggan]

Since we all know that once the Donkey Crew makes their billions of dollars selling this game they'll all just disappear to live a life of debauchery, we need a way to keep revenue coming in so they'll keep working on the  game.  We don't want it to stagnate and rot like Strat.  The usual way is a monthly subscription or selling 'skins' or other bonuses.  But I have a clever idea... I think.

Since the dawn of MMORPGs there has been a black market in virtual goods, and some companies decided that rather than fight it, they'd get a piece of the action.  And that inspired me.

I suggest people can buy wine with cash.  It will have a set cash value in a limited supply, enough to cover operating costs.  So if it costs $100.00 a month to run Epic, 20 casks of wine will be put on the market at $10.00 each.  Each of these casks will hold 10 bottles of wine, which you sell for silver at whatever the market will bear.  Each time a player drinks a bottle of wine, their account is credited $.50 (while chadz pockets the other $.50).

This could lead to alcoholism in some cash hungry players, which isn't too bad a thing.  Taxes will be collected off the sales, so the local gentry get silver, plus tavern keepers get their cut, and the wine merchants have a lot of silver to go for the greater good of the faction.

Each area of the map will have a wine region to prevent from some rich greedy guts from monopolizing, and their will be limits on how many casks you can buy at one time, and there will be a queue to buy it.

And wine should have an effect.  If you drink too much in too short of time, your controls go wonky (like you're lagging), your screen gets blurry, and you have 'auto punch' whenever you get near someone.  Plus there will be a recovery time we'll call a hangover where your stats, including work stats, goes down.  An alcoholic will be less competitive than a sober one, just so the game doesn't get overrun by 3rd world players.  Still, this would fill up the less desirable jobs that might be required.

There are other benefits besides getting chadz filthy rich.  Wine can be given to soldiers as a morale booster, or to individuals as a reward.  Wine will be the #1 stolen or attempted stolen item, much like real life so there's a little more drama for ya.  And most importantly, it will keep silver in circulation.  Inflation and deflation are a problem in most video games when players make money then quit, leaving it just sitting there.  Now they will be inspired to spend it all before going back to playing CS:GO 24/7.

This is a case of guys with more money subsidizing those without.  Buying wine casks will make you money, but only if the money is there.  People will still be able to make lots of money without having to pay cash.  Drunkenness will be obvious, so if you see your King is spending all his tax revenue on booze maybe you better depose him- basically anyone with political power better be sober.  And you will only be able to drink so much in a certain amount of time without passing so people won't be able to quickly convert millions of silver into cash overnight.  Plus silver prices are determined by supply and demand, and supply can run out.

So this was my clever little idea; now tell me how awesome you think it is.

[Vovka]

go sleep and take golem with u

[Golem]

Nope nope nope, no fucking microtransactions unless it's just visual.

[khelbyz]

well, until now you had my respect

[Bryggan]

I did say it was absurd... and it shouldn't be game changing or make it pay to win.  The main benefit is the economy.  If there are too many gold or silver mines inflation is a pain, but if there isn't enough and people don't spend their silver deflation happens.  This idea of mine is to keep the silver moving.  If you want to queue up to spend $10.00 you'll be able to make some extra silver- which would probably be spent on the faction for armour and weapons and clothing and soldiers' wages, and the armourers and the blacksmiths and the tailors and the soldiers will buy food and clothing and hookers with that money, and the farmers and the sheep herders and the prostitutes will buy wine.

This will also provide a solid base for the currency as it is tied to real world value...  so basically what I'm saying is that if you right away say this is stupid, then you know nothing about simple economics.  I think every new player should get a big chunk of money to start off with- enough to start a business and rent a house or buy horses and a tent and some basic gear.  But after that no new money should be put in... well, not much.  A few silver mines to add currency as production develops and more expensive items need to be bought, and to deal with people who quit the game with a big fat bank account.

Seriously... with limits on how much you can buy and when you can buy it, plus on how much you can consume, it really shouldn't be game breaking.

[Micah]

I sux at economics - but drinking wine or mead sounds... err, really immersive ...
Also it opens alcohole industry alot of shiny advertizing options which they will be very grateful for and possibly support narcotics offer extentions to "herbs" and "powders" of any sort ... maybe donkeys will create their own OKAM tincture, ready to be delivered directly home to the kids who are playing the game . That would ensure them donkeys a healthy pension and income ... and everlasting "loyality" of the community!
Sounds like a perfect plan to me 

[Daunt_Flockula]

No microtransactions... Of any sort at all... Please... This idea is frankly beyond absurd. Those little financial boner pokes at the player are what essentially kill a game's soul.

[chadz]

I (strongly) feel that gameplay should always be developed separately from monetisation. The moment where you combine monetisation and gameplay elements, you will inevitably have to design the gameplay with that in mind. And it will show.

Of course we need to make money to continue developing, that's an undisputable fact, but I want everyone to experience the same game, and not care about how much money he paid to get the game or paid within the game. Vanity items is something I personally would be fine with though (at a later point), depending on how much the servers costs to keep alive, and as the alternative to subscription costs (which I will also avoid like the plague)

[pogosan]

[Golem]

To be honest, I would much rather see payed expansions. Since the game is set in 10-11th century as I understand it a DLC 1-2 years from launch that adds 12th to 14th century content + some hint at samurais and ninjas, would be perfectly acceptable. Later yet, you could introduce things like firearms and canons.
Then you would basically have servers that run from 10th century to late 15th century. If you don't have the expansion you could only play to the year 1340 or something.

Or you know, just release a new game...

I'm also hoping the EA stage won't take you too long.

Microtransactions are no-no for a lot of players which will result in 99% of servers population being 12yo schoolboys spending their lunch money on in-game items. If you consider having stable income I'd suggest selling base game with all features but Epic for normal game price and monthly subscription for Epic with small fee (since base game costs like actual AAA game ~60 euros). Could be explained like "fee to the King/Lord" and maybe sold as Plex in EVE so it could boost player-player market of subscriptions with fee from transactions going to you.

Although, I'm not sure if it's you or publisher deciding on such things.

I thought about saying something like that, but then it could lead to Epic servers being unpopulated a year from launch, because people just can't be arsed to pay 12$ a year to play a game, they already bought.

[chadz]

Although, I'm not sure if it's you or publisher deciding on such things.

It's a mutual decision, but I personally dislike subscriptions. I don't want to feel like I have to decide if I want to play next month or not. PLEX, while working for EVE in a weird albeit good way, are tricky to get right, especially because of the heavy influence it has on the economy - you're kind of back to pay2win somehow.

On a side note, for me at this point it's more important to have lots of players playing the game than to make lots of bucks from it. Sure, having a shitton of money would allow us to produce more features in the future, but as long as the game is played by many people the concept is proven, and we could attract larger investments, which is kind of a win-win situation for everyone. All I want is enough money to continue developing this or further games (and pay the team a wage they deserve, everyone here is risking and sacrificing a lot at this point)

[Golem]

Now this is just my wild thinking, but what about having a 'free' trial for the game?
Say the game costs 40 Euros.
You buy the trial for 5 Euros.
The trial gives you access to the 'Battlegrounds' part - with some limitations?
You can refund it, if you didn't play more than 2 hours of it. yaddy steam yaddy refund yadda
The trial expires after 14 days of purchase, so you can't play it forever and it gives people just enough time to play more than 2 hours.
If, you buy the game after purchasing the trial, doesn't matter if it expired or not, it's only 35 Euros.

[MacX85]

I would rather see a good old b2p option without any paid content or subscription fees. But Golems's idea with the paid trial option doesn't sound so bad for me either. Idk, if anybody would buy that though.

[Vovka]

where will be alot f scammers who will sell trials keys for 20$ as a real game 

[Asheram]

I suggest people can buy wine with cash.  It will have a set cash value in a limited supply, enough to cover operating costs.  So if it costs $100.00 a month to run Epic, 20 casks of wine will be put on the market at $10.00 each.  Each of these casks will hold 10 bottles of wine, which you sell for silver at whatever the market will bear.  Each time a player drinks a bottle of wine, their account is credited $.50 (while chadz pockets the other $.50).

This could lead to alcoholism in some cash hungry players, which isn't too bad a thing.  Taxes will be collected off the sales, so the local gentry get silver, plus tavern keepers get their cut, and the wine merchants have a lot of silver to go for the greater good of the faction.

Each area of the map will have a wine region to prevent from some rich greedy guts from monopolizing, and their will be limits on how many casks you can buy at one time, and there will be a queue to buy it.

And wine should have an effect.  If you drink too much in too short of time, your controls go wonky (like you're lagging), your screen gets blurry, and you have 'auto punch' whenever you get near someone.

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