Re: Free Trial Open to the Public
Posted: Sat Oct 30, 2004 3:16 am
I made a post on this subject at mmorpg.com. I can't be bothered to type it all again, so here's a copy/paste...
Personally, I think the free trial is a good idea. I think all MMOGs should have free trials as early as possible. Let me explain why...
In many cases, you're expected to buy the box and you usually get the first month included. This is OK, but I (and apparently many others) don't want to shell out for a game we might not like. As a result of this, many people are discouraged from trying a lot of MMOGs. I for one wouldn't consider buying a MMOG unless I could try it first - every MMOG I've played has either been the result of participating in the beta (which many view as a free trial anyway) or downloading a free trial. I wouldn't mind having a go at WoW or EQ2, but they just don't interest me enough to entice me to pay for the box. Having said that, I might have a go at a trial of one or the other and absolutely love it and decide to subscribe, but as it stands now neither will get my money or time until there's a trial. I played AC2 for 6 months off the back of the free trial, and only stopped when Ryzom was released (I can only afford one MMOG at a time).
I've seen many games I think I might be interested in, but I don't have the money to buy the box on the offchance I'll like it enough to pay a subscription for it. A free trial is the ideal way for me to try a game out, and if I like it I can subscribe, if not, I can leave it and not lose anything other than some time.
Demos are something that many companies provide for single player games for this very reason. There are *very* few SP games I'd consider buying without trying it first (HL2 is one), why should MMOGs be any different?