Pay To Play Online - Is It Worth It?
Not too long ago, I started to play World of Warcraft. From my experience with the game, I thought it was really good. It has lots of depth, good graphics, and an amazing online community. One thing though, in order to enjoy the game, it has to be played over a long period of time. But in order to play for long periods of time, we have to pay. Roughly $23 dollars a month.
Now, it’s not the only game that requires a monthly subscription fee. Phantasy Star Universe and Final Fantasy 11 also require one, roughly $20 a month. There are other games too, but I’ll keep it at that for now.
This monthly subscription to me can be summed up in one word, ridiculous. It’s expensive and unnecessary. I can understand the costs of maintaining servers, but this is something that should have been dealt with in the beginning. When the game first came out, it was about $40 and came with a one month free trial.
From there, add $20 a month over the course of two years, plus the expansion pack that was released about two years ago and sold for around $40. Together, we’re talking about $600 or so dollars. $600 dollars, spread over the course of about two years, is about one third the cost of a typical person’s gaming budget. Now, I understand that Blizzard has to pay to keep the servers up, staff to maintain the servers and various other expenses.
That being said, why is this coming out of the pockets of gamers? This is something that should have been taken care of when the game was created. If they offered something like $99.99 a year, then that would probably make things a little more reasonable. Instead, we are paying $80 dollars for six months. That’s a lot considering it’s just for the online costs.
To be honest, I believe the monster that Blizzard created, WoW, symbolizes everything that is wrong with the videogame industry. All the negative stereotypes about gamers are represented by WoW players. I have known people to quit their jobs, leave social events, and even get seriously sick due to this game.
It’s games like this that keep the industry from growing. Why you may ask? Because people become so involved with games like these that newly released games are then ignored. So, is World of Warcraft worth my $20 a month? My answer is no. I recommend keeping your money for something else. If you can, even put it towards a newly released game that you may be interested in.
My name is Andre Garcia. No use for your original Xbox? Learn How to Mod Your Xbox Like playing video games? Find out if it’s possible to get paid to play, by visiting: video game tester jobs
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Hey. You realize that your whole post is wrong. World of Warcraft NEVER cost 40 dollars to play. yeah it cost 40 dollars to buy the game itself, but what game doesnt cost roughly that or more nowadays? the monthly cost is 15 dollars, and if you sign up for 6 months at a time, its only roughly 12 dollars per month. Final Fantasy 11 only costs 11 dollars a month, but they charge an extra dollar for ever other character after the first. And don’t you dare blame Blizzard for anything but offering a great game, at an actually reasonable preice. Blame the company that made everquest and started the whole thing. Everquest is expensive as hell, and it was the first, now WoW. Sounds to me like someone got angry because they were ganked one too many times, and took it out on Blizzard and wants to rally everyone else by posting ludacrous overexaggerated bull. And actually, if you look at ratings, most people who play world of warcraft buy new release titles as well. Im one of those… im an avid Xbox 360 player. I took the time to consider your point, please take the time to consider mine.
Great Response Sean. You have some very valid points and while I am not a WoW players I can understand what you are saying. Definitely something for the author of this post to think about.
Thanks for commenting.