Week in Review: The age of hybrid free-to-play

"This week, Funcom stunned gamers by announcing that Age of Conan will be headed to free-to-play land this summer... kinda."

Um... "Stunned" isn't the word I'd use, personally. A lot of us have seen this coming for a while now.

Personally, I avoid "free to play but pay to get out of the noob bleachers" games the same as "pay per month" ones. Are there any "buy a copy of the game and play it but we wont charge you more" MMOs?

Its more stunning when a game doesn't going f2p anymore...

A concession to the entitlement generation? Wtf?

The idea of converting to FTP is to get more money, not to cede anything to anyone.

@Tempes Magus Well said, sir. Well said. I actually nodded in agreement as I read it.

@Tempes Magus - I'll go you one step further: I don't even believe the modern entitlement generation is a real thing. History has shown that, given the chance, every generation is an entitlement generation, rendering the term almost meaningless. But Jef's article discusses F2P as a concession to the entitlement crowd, hence my reference and link to it. It WAS the big news of the week, and his article certainly was contentious and worth talking about! :)

-Bree

@Brianna Royce OMG!!

HIIII BRIANNA!!!

@Tempes Magus
I think you are misrepresenting (assuming my understanding of the idea is correct) what is meant by "Entitlement Generation". By the definition I found:

"The group born between 1979 and 1994 who believe they are owed certain rights and benefits without further justification. Example: The entitlement generation expects higher salaries, flexible work hours, and ample time off." (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/entitlement+generation)

Entitlement, if in fact you are entitled, isn't a bad thing. Expecting to be entitled to things that you are not is a bad thing.

I think the folks asking (getting close to demanding) games go free to play *is* saying "we want more free stuff". I've not seen any evidence to suggest otherwise. The catch with FTP is now the developers need to make up the money somewhere, and I end up playing a game that feel like an advert for their item shop (I've tried a few games, they've all ended up feeling the same). :/

I suspect the phrase "you get what you pay for" remains true even today. The folks not paying any money wont have any real commitment to the game or the community nor is there much reason for the developers to be held accountable to me as a player or the community as a whole.

@Tempes Magus

No I think I understood you. But by the definition that I found "Entitlement Generation" does imply a generation with a false sense of entitlement. At least that is how I would interpret the title and it's implementation. Otherwise as was said before, every generation would be the "Entitlement Generation". So I still believe you are probably misrepresenting the concept of "Entitlement Generation", assuming my interpretation is accurate.

I do agree that as customers we should get value for our money from services we purchase. The idea of what exacly you are entitled to varies depending on who you ask. Based on the definition and the use in the article I would assume the "entitlement generation" would expect more from the service then is justified.

Companies that take advantage of their customers tend to run into problems pretty quickly.

Customers do have the power, take a look at FFXIV and it's abismal start. Their customers have forced the company to go back and redevelop the game.

@Tempes Magus
Labels don't necessarily follow the meaning of the words they use. e.g. airports referring to two planes almost colliding as a "near miss", in reality two planes that nearly miss would be a collision.

"Entitlement Generation" probably should be "False Sense of Entitlement Generation" it's just easier to say. It's a label to a particular generation born between two dates, with a particular definition. It's not a misuse of the word, it's simply a label and you are misrepresenting that label by applying it to something else based on the meaning of the words you choose.

I wasn't really arguing about what you are entitled to or not, I said previously that entitlement isn't a bad thing if you are actually entitled, however that's not what (as I understand it) the concept of "Entitlement Generation" is about.

I think people have been standing up for their rights all along, it's not something new. Games that weren't particularly good have always suffered compared to games that were good. Like it or hate it, WoW for instance is actually a good game. You may not like it, or aspsects of it but it does a lot of things right at the moment. Games like AoC and FFXIV (both of which have gotten better but had very bad starts) have had more problems.