[...] also been supportive of microtransactions, but understand that this business model isn't the only solution, and that it's easy to abuse this [...]

[...] take advantage of it? It's interesting to see your own predictions come to pass. I wrote about how the subscription fee is doomed almost 3 years ago, and now we're starting to see most of the industry start to use new business [...]

[...] little over two years ago, Brian Green laid out why he believes that subscription models for MMOs are doomed. More recently, he touched on money in online games again, and this time hit the reason why I [...]

[...] the other hand, I firmly believe the subscription fee is doomed and that item sales are the wave of the future, particularly for smaller games. A game with a few [...]

[...] And, these business models aren't new, even in the North American and European territories. As I've said before, subscriptions aren't the wave of the future, and can actively hold a small-scale game back. If you [...]

[...] Why The Monthly Subscription Fee Is Doomed - Brian Green [...]

Over at Broken Toys, Scott rants about the evils of EA (http://www.brokentoys.org/2006/11/14/bashing-ea-is-fun-and-easy/) and manages to work in a clever denunciation of RMT while he's at it. You are a sly one, Mr. Jennings. At the center of his arg...

In between editing 90-page chapters (!!!), I've been reading a few blogs. Matt Mihaly has a post about business models for virtual worlds (http://forge.ironrealms.com/2006/08/15/virtual-world-business-models-part-2/). A pretty good list based on fee...

1. Fear of the unknown. With a subscription model, I know exactly how much it will cost me every month to play. With a micropayment model like this, I have no way of knowing, before I get into the game, how much it's going to cost me. During the course of the month, I can control my purchasing, but until I've actually spent (perhaps wasted) some time playing, I can't tell what kind of purchases I will need to make in order to have fun playing.

2. Nickel and dimed. I don't like to be nickel and dimed. How much content will I be cut off from if I don't pay? How much nuisance stuff will I need to endure if I don't pay? Getting hit by tiny little fees every time I try to do anything more advanced than walking around would be really annoying.

3. Hidden fees. With every cell phone plan I have used so far, it is very difficult to keep track of how much I am spending until after I get the monthly bill. They don't make it easy to see how long I'm talking or how much the call will cost, and there are lots of hidden fees that I technically agreed to in some fine print I never actually read.