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Pipe-dream Payment model for Starcraft

Blogs > nunez
Post a Reply
nunez
Profile Blog Joined February 2011
Norway4003 Posts
September 03 2013 22:21 GMT
#1
      
Pipe-dream Payment model for Starcraft



Preface

The word on the street is that Starcraft is getting run over by free-to-play moba games. Mini transaction does not suit starcraft. It's a game based around overpowering your opponent with superior speed and intelligence, not dressing up your e-dolls for others to see. This short blog will try to outline an alternative payment model for Starcraft that
    a) is not an insult to your intelligence
    b) enables free-to-play

To the point

I suggest a periodic (f.ex per-season) subscription model is provided along with some framework (a well moderated forum) that facilitates a Starcraft democracy where you will be able to vote on and decide stuff that the community cares about. Maybe even allowing to tailor the subscription to your own liking. Examples:
    * Play on ranked ladder and in seasonly tournaments
    * Submit and vote on balance and map changes for season
    * Submit and vote on moderation related to forum (response to reports)
    * Blizzard event related stuff (f.ex casters, region lock)
    * Delegate your votes to various people in different categories (f. ex map makers for maps, pro-players for balance, the righteous for moderation)
    * Get access to extensive stats (f.ex balance stats on each map, search-able database on players)
    * Clan management system and ability to manage your own ladder / league / tournament, set up clan wars etc.
    * Play on ranked ladder and seasonly tournaments

Gist

Involve community, give us a democratic framework to mold Starcraft to the paying majority's liking, paying being the bonus word for daddy browder.

**
conspired against by a confederacy of dunces.
farvacola
Profile Blog Joined January 2011
United States18856 Posts
September 03 2013 22:30 GMT
#2
Can the sequel to this be called "The E-Dollhouse" by Henrik "Nunez" Ibsen?
"when the Dead Kennedys found out they had skinhead fans, they literally wrote a song titled 'Nazi Punks Fuck Off'"
nunez
Profile Blog Joined February 2011
Norway4003 Posts
September 03 2013 22:35 GMT
#3
You better believe it.
conspired against by a confederacy of dunces.
farvacola
Profile Blog Joined January 2011
United States18856 Posts
September 03 2013 22:42 GMT
#4
Awesome.

More to the point, it doesn't look to be a bad plan, only I'm really unsure as to how to change monetization post-release without incurring more trouble than the switch over is worth.
"when the Dead Kennedys found out they had skinhead fans, they literally wrote a song titled 'Nazi Punks Fuck Off'"
Shock710
Profile Blog Joined December 2009
Australia6097 Posts
September 03 2013 22:48 GMT
#5
So u have to pay per season to play on the ranked ladder?
dAPhREAk gives Shock a * | [23:55] <Shock710> that was out of context -_- [16:26] <@motbob> Good question, Shock!
GaNgStaRR.ElV
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
Canada535 Posts
September 03 2013 23:32 GMT
#6
Sounds kind of dumb, I would rather pay 40£ per expansion for what we have now, then have a recurring subscription.

I can't always guarantee I will have 5-10£ to spend per month on gaming, I can guarantee to leave myself 40£ for an expansion, to own it for life.

I would just have Pay-To- functionality for stuff you mentioned, such as custom ladders and leagues.
Raven_zero300
Profile Joined March 2012
United States33 Posts
September 04 2013 03:00 GMT
#7
You say your goal is to not insult my intelligence, yet you do.

Instead of owning StarCraft 2 for the rest of my life (or until blizzard goes out of business/shuts down their servers), you want me to pay to use it per season?

In the long run, that will cost more money. You lose me right there. You also take away my ownership of it.

Add into that, you suggest that the players are smarter than the game developers. Hint: They are not. Look at what the popular voice did to WoW. It took it from the greatest game known to World of Wrathbabies and My Other Panda. Imagine if those people got hold of SC2. There would be three different names for the same race, or one race would be so wtf OP that no one would play anything else, until another race became wtf OP, and the cycle would continue until the end of time.
US Plat Random Player.
a176
Profile Blog Joined August 2009
Canada6688 Posts
September 04 2013 03:16 GMT
#8
But you don't want chat channels.
starleague forever
Scarecrow
Profile Blog Joined July 2009
Korea (South)9172 Posts
Last Edited: 2013-09-04 09:12:14
September 04 2013 09:10 GMT
#9
It`s hard enough getting people to ladder without making them pay for a month to do so. Just to get this straight your answer to f2p games is a monthly subscription? Are you high?
Yhamm is the god of predictions
Tobberoth
Profile Joined August 2010
Sweden6375 Posts
September 04 2013 09:36 GMT
#10
On September 04 2013 18:10 Scarecrow wrote:
It`s hard enough getting people to ladder without making them pay for a month to do so. Just to get this straight your answer to f2p games is a monthly subscription? Are you high?

That's not what he's saying. He's saying that the answer to f2p games is f2p games. SC2 is not a f2p game, so it loses a huge market share. However, you can't just simply make SC2 free, Blizzard needs money. So you need a different option. He's saying the way most f2p games are monetized wouldn't work for SC2, thus his suggestions.
avvie
Profile Joined September 2013
Netherlands7 Posts
September 04 2013 09:46 GMT
#11
be able to bet on matches, from random ladder matches :S hehehe

Anyway if there was a subscription i would go back to broodwar faster than i can uninstall sc2
"Nothing can possibly go wrong!"
Erik.TheRed
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
United States1655 Posts
Last Edited: 2013-09-04 09:57:36
September 04 2013 09:49 GMT
#12
I don't think its a good idea to leave wcs administrative issues up to a vote. Voting for Map pools, skins, having statistics (like a ggtracker type thing in the client) are more reasonable things for a subscription. Maybe even a separate ladder that shows true MMR (and the free one can be unranked)

Also I find it rather curious that the community is so concerned with Blizzard's business models, as if Blizzard never considered this stuff before or noticed how their competitors make money. It's just a bit naive imo
"See you space cowboy"
Burrfoot
Profile Blog Joined July 2012
United States1176 Posts
September 04 2013 09:52 GMT
#13
Or... there could to be a FANTASY SC2 league where people put together their teams using a draft system with some weird match results > stats conversion to determine fantasy results. Generate revenue for both Blizz and the participants, and make fans care about every match!

/probablywontwork
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/Davlok-1847/career
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