Ryzom

I think a "donations" button would definitely be better than a lifetime subscription.

I am curious how you came to the three year number. I would think most game avatars for a subscription game rarely last much longer then 6 months. I doubt many players ever figure they are going to play the same game, full time, for longer then a year and certainly only the smallest of percentages figure they are going to be in the same game after three years.

LOTR offered a lifetime membership at launch and I think it was about 1/3 less then the price you have come up with. I would think a mainstream title asking for a year of dues for a lifetime membership would be about right. I think your looking for three years of fees and trying to pass it off as a good deal is ridiculous and shows a poor marketing background or something worse. I can not imagine how anyone outside of this community would even consider this an option.

There was a thread awhile back that used cars as analogy. You are offering a lifetime lease on a used car, with no warranty, no maintenance, no users manual and no trade in value all for the low, low cost of what most people pay for a top of the line new car.

I think you need to cut the asking price by 3/4. Right now asking for anything more then 6 months of fees is unreasonable. If there is a need for some quick capital, it may just be best to ask for donations, as has so often been recommended.

I have to correct you: lotro lifetime sub was much more expensive than 199€

I chose "It's fair" option. However, like others suggested why not donation? Is it pride?

Why not an Atysian Shares?

Anyway I have a better suggestion. Why not an Atysian Shares? i.e a private shares system where each share costs about $50 and it goes up with the numbers of player and activity. Every six months or so you will offer to buy back all the shares at steal depending on subscriptions value. Otherwise the private share holders can buy and sell shares depending on values.

It will circulate funds in WG, share buyers may actually end up with a profit if the development kicks off.

Why not?

I'd like to see Ryzom thrive, and I will definitely sub to help out. I don't think that a lifetime sub is the way to go though.

a Lifetime sub would interest me .... but only when i know ryzom is online for some years .... after 4 years of playing ryzom and seeing ryzom failed twice.my hope arent very high .. but there still are some hopes left .... but first u need to talk to us players which are the heart of a game....tell us what the future is from ryzom etc .... that we get more and more hopes back ....then .. and maybe then .. i would think about it

I have been playing this game on and off since beta. I've been through both bankruptcies with you. Remember the Hallowe'en moon and skeletal yubos that went on for months? I have faith in this game. I said that I would be prepared to pay the eternal subscription if that would keep Ryzom going. I made a promise to myself to keep an active subscription (or two) on Ryzom for the duration of its run long before you came up with this option.

I agree that the mysterious foreign investors have to get a lot less mysterious. Winch Gate, from the paltry interweb investigations I have been able to make on my own, is a shelf company registered in Cyprus for the tax breaks through a law firm, one of whose principal lawyers shows as the only director for the company. I have created companies like this for less than $500 US. There is no-one visible at the helm. This is disturbing because it says that Winch Gate could be gone at any time without warning and there is no-one left to carry on. If you intend to raise capital, why aren't you listing this company on a stock exchange and putting out a share offering? Are you afraid of public scrutiny?

The game might have been purchased on spec. The owner might be the Sultan of Brunei for all I know, but regardless of how big or small the budget is, the game doesn't fly without players and without marketing, there are no players. As the players have been bleeding away from this game (hemorrhaging, really), it has got progressively harder and less rewarding to play. You can't afford to carry on the same way any longer.

The players vary in their experience with MMOs and some of them have a lot. I've been playing various mmos for 11 years, casual and raiding. I am no expert in the running of them, but I could probably tell you little things like Prime Roots pvp and kitin patrols are not good for harvesters or this game needs a universal /ooc AND a separate QnA channel and has needed it for the past five years, because if the players can't chat amongst themselves, the whole sense of community is lost.

We need you to step forward and introduce yourselves and your plan for our future. I'll give you my money if you can show me that it isn't going into a carpetbag that'll be gone on the next train.

Emilie
Order of the Nameless

If they say they'll be up for 3 years, that's better than offering us a 3 year subscription WITHOUT saying they'll be up for 3 years. (although... have they?)

That said, I don't think I'd be willing to pay that.
The exchange rate fluctuates,
and I've never been into a game for so long that I'd want a 3 year subscription for every single month.

Also, there's the matter of restraint.
I CURRENTLY play a lot because I can. Which is exactly why I won't commit to giving myself the ability to play all day every day for the next 3 years. As it is, I'm content to subscribe for a month or two when billing goes up (and I'm out of debt).

Maybe in a world where I could do it with micropayments, and pay for a huge lump sum of hours or something.
(in the future, we'll be able to pay for internet and intellectual property access by many different subscription options, by the hour or by the month (unlimited hours in a month, or various number of hour plans). Everything will be custom tailored. We'll be able to suspend for a day within a monthly subscription. Or maybe just have the lowest price calculated based on usage, without having to plan anything in advance. Then you'd have a sort of internet Neilson box of usage.)

To echo some of the other posts here, and to add my own two dappers worth...

I have been struggling with the decision as to whether or not to even sub up when billing goes live lately... Most of the doubt lies in the future, and the hands that hold the future of this lovely game, Ryzom. It has been stated time and time again by many people, personaly I would like to know more about Winchgate before commiting to any sub of any sort. Yeah, I know, sounding like a broken record here, but my concern as well as others certainly does hold some merit.

To be honest, for all any of us know that Winchgate is being run out of a shed in a back yard in northern Wisconsin by a racoon who desires to be a Yubo and a pissed off possum.

Point blank... until there is some tangible information from the new owners and who/what they are I think the discussion of a "lifetime sub for a bunch o cash" is quite premature.

Don't get me wrong, whoever has been working on things has done a great job. A few long standing bugs have been squished, more patches and updated, which is impressive considering Nevrax and GF haven't touched some of them from release of the game. So, yes, great job on the fixes... but... knowing who fixed things would be nice. Knowing who will be working on things, once again, nice to know.

Most importantly, knowing that if I decide to drop some coin on the game, that the current owners aren't going to vaporize and take my cash after subs go live.

I answered first "No" but in fact something of last "No" is actual too. I'm going to take 3 month for the start and I really hope for bright future of Ryzom but also our feelings understandable too, we badly need signs that game being seriously developed to decide something so big as lifetime sub.
Though, donation button definitely good idea.