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Dark Space as a free to play MMO(premium membership based) |
Chewy Squirrel
Chief Marshal
Joined: January 27, 2003
Posts: 304
From: NYC
|  Posted: 2009-09-29 20:31
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On 2009-09-29 05:45, Sardaukar wrote:
Of course, the other problem we face is exposure. This last free trial was a bit of an eye-opener, as it's the first one I can think that didn't draw a significant number of freebie people. Drafell was always keen to keep the game promoted on places like mmorpg.com, but we'll probably need more than that to really draw people in. Another run as a "featured download" on Fileplanet's probably way out of our league by now, so... any ideas?
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Yes, this will probably be the biggest problem, however there are solutions that do not cost lots of capital (if at all). When/if the game goes free to play, we (the players) can send in tips to various gaming blogs announcing the change to free to play. Blogs such as kotaku,destructoid,joystiq, etc. Hopefully one or more of them will pick up the story, and publish it. These sites receive many views, and publish stories like this, especially if we tout DarkSpace as a fast paced alternative to EVE that is now free to play!
Then of course there are always sites such as Digg, and Shoutwire that we can attempt to get a front page story on, once again spinning it as a free fast paced alternative to EVE.
One other thing I can think of is doing a promotion with MMORPG.com where you give out gift keys to say a beginner pack of enhancements. The pack can contain a handful of limited enhancements, and one blue/purple enhancement.(of course it would be limited to 1 key per account and if possible the blue/purple enhancement would be un-droppable) Many MMO's do this to gain exposure for their game, and the free stuff is a great incentive to get players to try the game.
Then there’s also the posting on various gaming forums announcing the change.
Hell if there is enough money left in the coffers there’s also the option of banner ads proclaiming DarkSpace as a free action packed space MMORPG. People love that kind of thing.
Anyway, there's many free ways to get exposure to the game once it’s free, and if we as the community take a proactive approach I am sure we can get some nice high profile spots.
[ This Message was edited by: Chewy Squirrel {Yum!} on 2009-09-29 20:32 ]
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Iwancoppa
Fleet Admiral
Joined: November 15, 2008
Posts: 709
| Posted: 2009-09-30 18:48
I am in full support for this idea.
also, if we could get Darksapce in PC powerplay mag, that would attract alot of players; its a very popular magazine. also, we could get some cheap advertising.
all i know is, if this was put foward, i am sure alot of the now free players would go on the cheaper basic plans, just like me. i can afford $2 a month easily.
Now me just need the dev's to step up to the podium and do it.
infact, i would consider playing this ALOT more if this was implemented.(hell, i can advertise)
[ This Message was edited by: Fatal Iwancoppa on 2009-09-30 18:54 ]
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weeman392
1st Rear Admiral
Joined: May 26, 2007
Posts: 12
From: ONT,Canada
| Posted: 2009-09-30 20:06
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On 2009-09-27 12:45, Chewy Squirrel {Yum!} wrote:
Looking at the current market of MMO’s you can see three types: The monthly fee plan, which DarkSpace currently falls under, The micro transaction plan, and the standard/premium membership type. DarkSpace isn’t very well suited to the microtransaction plan, as there is really isn’t anything to sell that wouldn’t give players an unfair advantage, except for maybe bling for their ships. The only way I can see a microtransaction plan being “fair” is if the only thing sold is different paint jobs for ships, decals, and other shiny things that don’t affect stats. Now people aren’t very likely to buy these things so that plan wouldn’t work.
However the standard membership/premium membership plan might work very well. For those unfamiliar with this kind of membership plan, the game is for the most part, free to play. A standard member can get most of what the game has to offer, but not the most powerful things. This kind of plan is fairly popular, most notable used by Runescape(I know Runescape sucks but look at how many players play and how much money they make). Other examples I can think of off the top of my head include Shattered Galaxy, Faldon, and Dungeon runners. The advantages of such a plan over a monthly fee plan are obvious. People love free things, and are more willing to try something that is free. This will over time increase the player base. While the majority of these new players will start off as non-paying, over time they will grow to love the game like the rest of us do, and pay for a premium membership. All these new players will also help solve the problem of dread space, which has plagued the game for a long time now.
Of course we need some nice incentives for being a paying member. The main thing would probably be the ability to gain over a certain rank. Vice admiral seems to be a good rank to allow free members to rank up to, as you just begin to get the taste of dreds at that rank. Other possible benefits of being a paying member could be:
Possible member only benefits(i.e. things free members can’t do)
--Rank over vice admiral
--More garage space
--More SY warehouse space
--20% more prestige gain
--Ability to use blue/purple enhancements
--Ability to use assault load outs
--Ability to use second level engineers/supplies/transports
--Ability to swap out parts(Just to the degree currently allowed, not complete customization)
--Ability to stack resources in piles of 2000
--Ability to lock planets
Existing players might complain that this will severely cripple them if they don’t pay the premium membership fee. Well they pay a subscription fee currently, and this wouldn’t be any different than that, except they would actually have other players to play with. The premium membership fee could also be something lower than the current monthly rate, that is something that would need to be “felt out” over time.
I love this game, and would handily subscribe if there were more players playing regularly, and I am sure many people share this same sentiment. Making the game “free*” would drastically increase the player base over time, make the game more fun, and make people more willing to pay for a premium membership.
Thank you for reading, I know this ran a little bit long. Let me know what you think
-Chewy
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I love this idea but there could be more like putting out ads around websites showing the game even we the players and talk around saying they should try the game try get more people in it  , right now we only have close to 3000 people, runescape (I know i know runescape sucks but look how many ppl they have) they use adds all of the time before they hit the one million mark we could do more adds and talk to MMOsite and put things up, upgrade the website looking more cooler then right now.. its an idea.
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weeman392
1st Rear Admiral
Joined: May 26, 2007
Posts: 12
From: ONT,Canada
| Posted: 2009-09-30 20:15
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One other thing I can think of is doing a promotion with MMORPG.com where you give out gift keys to say a beginner pack of enhancements. The pack can contain a handful of limited enhancements, and one blue/purple enhancement.(of course it would be limited to 1 key per account and if possible the blue/purple enhancement would be un-droppable) Many MMO's do this to gain exposure for their game, and the free stuff is a great incentive to get players to try the game.
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Thats a really good idea i love it it will draw people in alot something like this is really good for games thats starting out new or trying get new people in.. the other idea i did like is that we should be able to show off our rank and get clusters for bemo accounts, there should be more free in the game and alot of people love free games the other one is item payment show off ships, items, maybe shiled/HP pots or something like that it will give in alot off money for the game and bring in alot more players.
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codenemesis
Admiral
Joined: June 10, 2007
Posts: 185
| Posted: 2009-09-30 22:04
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On 2009-09-29 18:19, Enterprise wrote:
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On 2009-09-29 16:20, Codenemesis the Dread Pirate wrote:
Would probably need to buff dreads and stations, make it so they don't get owned by groups of 10 cruisers or so.
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Not that strong. They already are by far the best ships to use in the game.
-Ent
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Eh, I don't think I really got what I meant across due to my poor english skills.
In short they aren't getting killed as quickly by a group of 5-10 cruisers, they have the oppurtunity to align and get out as well as maybe popping one of the cruisers. I think that if there were packs of 5-10 cruisers now a dread would get blown apart in no time, which in a way I think is kind of unfair and, if we implemented this premium memership system, then a dread getting torn apart that quickly wouldn't be right at all. Not a real big buff, just a small one keeping it alive a bit longer...
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Enterprise
Chief Marshal
Joined: May 19, 2002
Posts: 2576
From: Hawthorne, Nevada
| Posted: 2009-10-01 01:15
Or they could just try not to take on 5-10 cruisers on their own.
-Ent
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Julian Delphiki
Admiral
Joined: June 19, 2002
Posts: 171
| Posted: 2009-10-01 01:56
You have to remember that when there are more enemies that come as part of the free play, you also get more allies. It may still not be balanced, but the more players there are, the less 1-5 players makes a huge difference..
Glad to actually see the amount of people that are for this idea, it has gone much further than I had expected..
Also, as mentioned previously, the factions do need a bit more balancing. Not saying one is uber over the other as they all have their advantages when played correctly, but there are slight issues that have been brought up that could be hammered out a little. Though honestly, with a larger userbase this small imbalance will become nearly nonexistant.
I know many already do, but those that don't should put a link or banner to darkspace in as many forum sigs as possible. Also any little websites people have that generates a decent amount of traffic, including their facebook/myspace pages could get a small amount until we have a definite and viable option for getting a mass amount of new players.
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Jim Starluck
Marshal
Templar Knights
Joined: October 22, 2001
Posts: 2232
From: Cincinnati, OH
| Posted: 2009-10-01 04:58
One thing that's occured to me to get the game more "out there"... get it up on Steam. That'd help a lot, I'd think.
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Sliverine
1st Rear Admiral
Joined: November 23, 2006
Posts: 29
From: Singapore
| Posted: 2009-10-01 08:36
kudos to ftp darkspace! (if it will ever get implemented that is...)
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Ham&Swiss
Grand Admiral
Joined: October 12, 2004
Posts: 418
From: 10$ to whoever finds me
| Posted: 2009-10-01 10:44
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On 2009-10-01 08:36, fatalerror wrote:
kudos to ftp darkspace! (if it will ever get implemented that is...)
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I don't know about the rest of you, but i'd prefer to stay away from steam as much as possible, even though i'd be a great advertizing place. It would be alot of hassle, and DS will be fine without it.
As a side note - Me thinks this is the first time i've seen Faustus say he likes one of our ideas...or at least the first one in a long while...
H&S
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Supertrooper
Marshal
Pitch Black
Joined: March 18, 2004
Posts: 1895
From: Maryland, U.S.A
| Posted: 2009-10-01 12:07
Bleh, topics like this make me kind of sad. Because it's a decent idea, but Darkspace is still a crappy game the way it is right now. Don't believe me? Look at the start of 1.5. Alot of old players and new players ended up coming around because of the free trial, and alot of us said that 1.5 was the best version in a long while. But none of us wanted to pay for it, there was no need, because as fun as it could be, it was still a dissapointing game to play.
The idea of having varrying subscription types is a good one to me, it sounds like a great way to limit the number of dreads and stations people will use, well, if they used them now enforce anyways. I honestly don't think anyone is going to want to pay ten dollars a month just so they can fly dreads in the game, when they'll be able to fly most cruisers and lower ships anyways, which is all you need to be able to farm AI. I can go in there and farm AI in a destroyer, I'm sure any random new player would be able to do it in a group too. No one is going to pay an ammount of money so they can have a bigger ship to do the samething they can do in one they don't have to pay to get.
And well, to be honest, I don't think most of you have actually sat down and looked at the free trial, either. You guys are seeing it as "Oh awesome, I don't have to pay to play Darkspace anymore!" I don't know if you've noticed, but I haven't seen over 25 players in the MV past the first two days of the free trial. While some of you might think that 25 players is a great turnout, it isn't. Past free trials, even .483's ones, would pull in close to 100 individual players that would play at varrying times of the day.
Not to be a buzzkill, but someone has to look at it this way so hopefully one of you can come up with a good solution. Darkspace isn't the great game we all loved anymore. It is the beaten down and hulled out shell of what it was, and not many want to play it even when it's free. Yeah, there are what, ten or fifteen of you that jump for joy when this kind of topic is brought up every few weeks, and well.. Ten or fifteen people that want to play a free game isn't going to save that game or make it any better.
[ This Message was edited by: Captain Crim on 2009-10-01 12:09 ]
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Drafell
Grand Admiral
Mythica
Joined: May 30, 2003
Posts: 2449
From: United Kingdom
| Posted: 2009-10-01 13:24
One current and major issue is my lack of "free" time. I used to spend over 40 hours a week playing with DarkSpace. Not necessarily doing a lot, but enough to keep the game on the radar for gaming sites, and to keep some sort of consistent development progress.
Unfortunately for DarkSpace, my time is no longer so free. The usual emails and promotional material that I would have sent out and posted with regards to the Trial have not been disseminated, so there has been little to no outside interest in the game.
To give an example, when I am actively posting on a site such as MMORPG.com, without directly referencing DarkSpace, my signature will generate between 20-30 hits per day. If I do post promotional material, my signature will generate around 80 additional hits or more. Depending on where it is posted and what it references.
It may not seem a lot, but it does have an impact.
P.S. I have a few comments that I wish to post with regards to the promotion options, but they will have to wait until I have some more time.
[ This Message was edited by: Drafell on 2009-10-01 13:25 ]
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Iwancoppa
Fleet Admiral
Joined: November 15, 2008
Posts: 709
| Posted: 2009-10-02 15:29
i think this is allready half working, 24 people on MV today!
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Pakhos[+R]
Chief Marshal
Pitch Black
Joined: May 31, 2002
Posts: 1352
From: Clean room lab
| Posted: 2009-10-02 15:57
Idea is not bad at all. But in this kind of system , you should know we will have more unsubbed players than subed players,luckly 5 to 1 or 5 to 2 odds.
Now, the question, what would happen if unsubbed players would come together and over come 20 dreads fleet? Wouldnt we be crying to devs how come unsubbed destroyed a fleet of 20 dreads with cruisers?
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Chewy Squirrel
Chief Marshal
Joined: January 27, 2003
Posts: 304
From: NYC
| Posted: 2009-10-02 22:04
I just saw this in the dev log for 1.521
- Free play now enabled - All players can rank up to 1st rear admiral. In order to gain higher ranks, players will need to subscribe.
Looks like they are giving the idea a shot!!
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