According to a press release, over 220,000 people have joined the Runes of Magic beta since Monday. This number astounds me.
I have never got into any MMO's, but it got me thinking, at what point will users be willing to pay money for an online game? How much better of a play experience is World of Warcraft as compared to something like Runes of Magic? Are people willing to put up with a noticeable drop in quality as long as they can avoid monthly subscription fees?
Where do you draw the line?
I'm willing to bet that the subscribers to Runes of Magic skew younger, since kids have less disposable income than adult and even teen players. Also, younger players have more free time, so they may be more willing to put up with bugs that crash the game or server downtime.
I also wouldn't be surprised if the game experiences a similarly explosive downturn in player activity at some point. The new subscribers are most likely folks who are a little bored with WoW right now. I've talked to several people about this phenomenon, and I'm universally told that WoW has a way of sucking people back in after a momentary diversion with Age of Conan, Tabula Rasa or whatever. Sooner or later, they return from whence they came.
(via Kotaku)
Related Links:
Gold Farming: Why I'll Never Play an MMORPG
Watching Age of Conan Die
Night Elves Anonymous: MMORPG addicts seek psychotherapy