Yahoo Article: Is the MMO dying?

[Ennaor]

http://games.yahoo.com/blogs/plugged-in/mmo-dying-223042438.html

Kinda interesting but long article about MMOs... mostly Star Wars The Old Republic and WoW.  Do you guys think FF11 or FFIV would ever be free?  That would be a dream come true   

[Areya]

Seems like a lot of people just jump MMOs every few months and have no loyalty anyways!

I wouldn't hold my breath for free FFXI anywhere in the foreseeable future!  Reduced price, maybe.

[Majestica]

When games go F2P they always add some kind of hook to get you to buy stuff with real money in game. (I played some where you could buy a certain kind of mount, but they only lasted so many days...so in order to have a mount all the time you'd have to pay periodically anyways.)  I'd rather keep out all the wannabes and pay my $12 a month.... lol

[Zenyagi]

...

I read (ok, skimmed ^^;) that article when I saw it. SW:ToR seemed like it had the F2P possibility planned ahead of time, with EA (the evil empire) at the helm it was only a matter of time until they tried another avenue to rake in more cash.

Would be very leary of seeing XI go F2P, would be good if they went the Maple Story route, where the pay options are purely asthetic (or at least were, back when I played that years ago). A free-to-play, but pay-to-win style FFXI would make me sad.

...

[LoneKenT]

F2P is a trap, sounds good on paper, but in practice it's highly likely u'll fork out more $ buying in-game items from the in-game shop. Hi-elixir that stacks up to 12? 3$. Sanus ensis? 5$. Haylene Hat? 15$. 8 af3+1 seals? 3$
Want to grow hair on that bald male hume? 1$
Before u know it, u'll pay more than normal monthly fee.
I doubt FF11 will be f2p. FF14 maybe, though i doubt it.
People will get bored overtime, they'll move to other game hence the drop in subscription.
Don't think MMO is dying, there are just too many to choose now hence it's hard for a new MMO to be big like WoW

MMORPG subscription graph is roughly like the graph in this link:
http://mightyvikinghamster.wordpress.com/2012/05/28/of-dodos-and-mmos/

When a new expansion are released, the population will go up and dwindle down overtime, repeating the form of that graph.

[Areya]

Yeah, Lone is probably right.  MMO players tend to be impulsive too and shell out money for stuff, and I imagine it adds up in a hurry.

Guild Wars is a decent example.  Sure it's F2P, but then there's costume items, extra storage space, extra character slots, skill unlock packs, name change packs, makeover packs, mercenary hero slots...   Granted in GW that stuff is overall less "necessary" and you can't actually buy in-game items there.

I hate the idea that someone with a pocketbook can just buy good items instead of putting in time and effort to obtain them.  One reason I always hated RMT!