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My ideas are getting buried in the Lifetime Classic thread, so I'll start a few new ones.
Expansion Packs
Purpose: to generate a new source of revenue by, instead of just Giving away particularly large chunks of New Content (not to be confused with bugfixes), we sell it in Expansion Packs. The players buy Pack 1, that unlocks Bomys on a world that didn't used to have races, Zorbis Gnomes and Vampires on another previously raceless world, unlocks two or three new Optional dungeons per server...and the servers that participate get to share a % of the profits.
Options: Expansion packs for single servers, global expansion packs applying to later servers (if you already have expansion pack 1 and a new server opens, you're considered to have expansion pack 1 on that server too when they release it), plus we need to work out the price-to-content ratio
Expansion: Depending on which method we use, we can sell hypothetically infinite Expansion Packs for the various servers, as well as the occasional Anthology Pack of Expansion Packs (Get the first 9 side-dungeons of Classic, plus all 5 new races for one low price!)
Requires: A spot in the shop, the content from the servers, a way to lock down content to just those who've paid for it.
Really, Graal already does this: No saving for trials, no flying for nongolds, no global guilds for nonVIPs. This would just be another level and, more importantly, a permanent one - you BUY an expansion, you OWN it, it's more than a year of VIP during which something may-or-may-not be released for you. Further, since the developers get a slice, they're encouraged (as Koni pointed out) to make elite content for their best clients - you can only get a mount if you've got the expansion, you can only be a blood elf paladin in the expansion, you can only fly to the moon and fight the forces of Nod in the expansion...
The real Danger is that we don't cripple the game in process. No fair deciding the Blood Axe and Hearts 8-12 are Premium Content, that's selling people less than a full game. But deciding that the new races belong in an expansion, or the alternate quest for the blood axe...that's just a prettier version of the server, for those willing to support it.
The secondary danger is in choosing how to implement Expansions. Do you buy one for all? Are players going to drop $5 for content just on Maloria? If they pay $5 for Content Everywhere, what happens when I make my server? I don't get a cut of the initial Expansionfest...in fact, if there are already 9 expansions out, I have to make 10 packs before I get an even share of the New Release money. Is that fair? After all, they didn't buy Expansion 1 because someday that'd be my Rocket Boot expansion...but someday, My players might buy Expansion 1 for just what it gives them on my server. And is it fair that, ten years down the line, Konidias is still getting the same cut of the Expansion Pack 1 profits that I get when I start my server? My players aren't buying it for his BomyRiding patch on G2K1 anymore...should the lion's share go to the server/site from which they upgrade?
Discuss.
(Yeah, I think 3 identical polls is plenty, on reflection) |