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The Daily Grind: How much would you pay to keep an MMO alive?
So here's something that bothers me about this whole SOE MMO armageddon thing. When CEO John Smedley took to Twitter to sympathize with upset Vanguard fans yesterday, he implied that the firm has done all it could to keep the long-running fantasy MMO afloat. "I realize the Vanguard players are upset," he tweeted. "We waited a long time to do this and ran it well past economic viability." The phrase "past economic viability" is odd since SOE has literally been giving Vanguard away for nearly two years now. The other part of the equation that doesn't add up is why SOE -- or any other firm that insists on closing down a license-free MMO -- doesn't first reach out to the affected playerbase and offer them a chance to save the day. It might go something like this. "Dear Vanguard player, we thank you for your support and we regret to inform you that the game is not doing well financially. In order to avoid shutting it down, we require you and every other current player to pay a $50 monthly subscription fee." Sure, 50 bucks is an arbitrary number that I just made up and a large number for an MMO sub. But can anyone credibly state that loyal players wouldn't gladly pay $50 or more if it meant saving their game? How would we know since no MMO company can be bothered to try it? Which leads in to today's Daily Grind question. How much would you pay to keep your favorite MMO alive? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
