[April Fool's] How much would you be willing to pay...

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How much would you be willing to pay for premium Wesnoth service?

$19.99/year USD
33
32%
$9.99/year USD
5
5%
$3.99/month USD
3
3%
I'm not paying for Wesnoth
63
61%
 
Total votes: 104

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Zarel
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Re: How much would you be willing to pay for premium Wesnoth?

Post by Zarel »

Hulavuta wrote:Even if we we began getting charged to play, we'd all get it for free anyway, off ThePirateBay or something.
You can't pirate servers, unfortunately, and the charge applies only to using the server for random numbers. That's right, truly random numbers are expensive, and they're pirate-resistant, too! I told you the developer RNG conspiracy was that insidious! Not only is it invisible to statistical analysis, but you can't even take it out by editing the source code or pirating it!
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King_Elendil
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Re: How much would you be willing to pay for premium Wesnoth?

Post by King_Elendil »

That's one of the problems I have with it: the premium version will get upgaded, until eventually the free version is practically a demo.
I'm finally admitting that this will be a very long (if not permanent) Wesbreak. Thank y'all for the great times, and may Wesnoth rise to become one of the most popular games on the planet.
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KylePoole
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Re: How much would you be willing to pay for premium Wesnoth?

Post by KylePoole »

I'm sorry guys, this is partly my fault. I had a long discussion with Dave over this, and we agreed that it was time to monetize Wesnoth. To date, the iPhone version has generated over $300,000 for the Wesnoth project, which will be used to purchase new servers for the random number generators and persistent storage in v1.9. But more revenue can be made by offering premium Wesnoth to players, to support our planned expansion (hint... think MMO).

Really, this is no different then RedHat selling support for Linux... right?
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jb
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Re: How much would you be willing to pay for premium Wesnoth?

Post by jb »

Everyone, relax. Basic Wesnoth will always be free.

If you only play SP, this won't even effect you.
My MP campaigns
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Re: How much would you be willing to pay for premium Wesnoth?

Post by Pp2 »

Zarel wrote:
Hulavuta wrote:Even if we we began getting charged to play, we'd all get it for free anyway, off ThePirateBay or something.
You can't pirate servers, unfortunately, and the charge applies only to using the server for random numbers. That's right, truly random numbers are expensive, and they're pirate-resistant, too! I told you the developer RNG conspiracy was that insidious! Not only is it invisible to statistical analysis, but you can't even take it out by editing the source code or pirating it!
That depend of how the server will test the client.
1) if it is "talking" to the game, then you can hack the game to trick the server.
2) if it is via ip address, you can use an ip changer or an anonimizer
3) in the case it use a file on the system, just do a dual or even a triple boot and install wesnoth on all os.

Anyway, if there is a cost to use the official server, we will just see a big plop of third-party server and no money at all for the dev.
King_Elendil wrote:That's one of the problems I have with it: the premium version will get upgaded, until eventually the free version is practically a demo.
There is really a lot more single player content then there is mp content.
KylePoole wrote:I'm sorry guys, this is partly my fault. I had a long discussion with Dave over this, and we agreed that it was time to monetize Wesnoth. To date, the iPhone version has generated over $300,000 for the Wesnoth project, which will be used to purchase new servers for the random number generators and persistent storage in v1.9. But more revenue can be made by offering premium Wesnoth to players, to support our planned expansion (hint... think MMO).

Really, this is no different then RedHat selling support for Linux... right?
Well, what kind of technical support for wesnoth: the only one I can figure out is how to install Gentoo Linux instead of Ubuntu so you can get bugfixe each day instead of each year for the boost lib and other...

See, there is 90% chances it is an April Fool: there is nearly no way to make money from wesnoth except with the Iphone port as compilation could be harder. In fact, if the dev really wanted to make money , they would do wesnoth for nintendo ds or psp, etc...
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Re: How much would you be willing to pay for premium Wesnoth?

Post by TheGreatRings »

KylePoole wrote:I'm sorry guys, this is partly my fault. I had a long discussion with Dave over this, and we agreed that it was time to monetize Wesnoth. To date, the iPhone version has generated over $300,000 for the Wesnoth project, which will be used to purchase new servers for the random number generators and persistent storage in v1.9. But more revenue can be made by offering premium Wesnoth to players, to support our planned expansion (hint... think MMO).

Really, this is no different then RedHat selling support for Linux... right?
Well, it looks like this might actually be real. I'm not sure weather to feel more sad, concerned, or angry. I hope for the best, but frankly, I expect the result will be the alienation of a large part of the fan base, the loss of a lot of creative talent.

One of the beauties of Wesnoth is the wealth of user-made content. But I have little doubt that under the changes being proposed, the contributions provided by paid artists will be given preference over those made by unpaid members of the community. What I fear this is going to do is drive away much of the Wesnoth community and disincentivize a lot of user-contributed content, resulting in a loss of creativity and a deterioration of the Wesnoth community. It also strikes me as somewhat unfair to all those who have made uncompensated contributions to the game in the past who will now see others profit off their work (myself included).

The only way to be fair about this and avoid the above problems would seem to be to pay everyone who contributes to Wesnoth in any way, so unless you think you'll make enough money for that, this strikes me as a very, very bad idea. Frankly, its utterly needless. One of the triumphs of this game is that it is already of professional quality while remaining completely free. There is no need to hire professionals that I can see, certainly not a need that outweighs the risk of being perceived as backstabbing a loyal fan base.

If this is all an elaborate prank, all well and good, but since there seems to be considerable doubt, I might as well lay the arguments against this proposal out there as clearly as possible. If it is all just a prank, no harm done. :)



As a final note, the OP refers to paying artists and musicians, but makes no mention of paying writers. As a writer, and as someone who considers dialog the single most obvious weakness of Wesnoth and the area where the game would probably benefit most from hired professionals, I am somewhat concerned by this apparent bias.
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Re: How much would you be willing to pay for premium Wesnoth?

Post by TheGreatRings »

jb wrote:Everyone, relax. Basic Wesnoth will always be free.

If you only play SP, this won't even effect you.
ParadiseCity wrote:In respects to the idea, I think it would be horrid, for these reasons:

1)The gradual loss of a free game. Basically setting a trend, and gradually updating the free wesnoth less and less, until it becomes obsolete and boring compared to the new version.(Runescape's history comes to mind).
I await your rebuttal. Obviously there's no need if this thread is just a prank, but if not, I would like some assurances that the Devs. are taking these concerns seriously and have thought the issue through.

Sorry for the double post.
Last edited by TheGreatRings on April 2nd, 2010, 2:43 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Captain_Wrathbow
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Re: How much would you be willing to pay for premium Wesnoth?

Post by Captain_Wrathbow »

Funny that this change just coincidentally was announced on April Fool's day... :wink:
I can't believe you guys are all falling for it. The devs are going to be laughing their heads off for months about this. Of course it's all fake. You all just wait 'till tomorrow.
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Re: How much would you be willing to pay for premium Wesnoth?

Post by FamBam »

well in that case id host the servers myself free of charge
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Re: How much would you be willing to pay for premium Wesnoth?

Post by Pp2 »

Captain_Wrathbow wrote:Funny that this change just coincidentally was announced on April Fool's day... :wink:
I can't believe you guys are all falling for it. The devs are going to be laughing their heads off for months about this. Of course it's all fake. You all just wait 'till tomorrow.
Yeah, expecially when we think how it doesn't make any sence. I just can't believe this topic is four page long. :lol2:
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Re: How much would you be willing to pay for premium Wesnoth?

Post by Captain_Wrathbow »

I can't wait to laugh at the people who fell for it tomorrow. :D
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Re: How much would you be willing to pay for premium Wesnoth?

Post by TheGreatRings »

Some of those replying with criticisms (myself included) are fully aware that it might be, perhaps even probably is a prank, but find the "news" sufficiently alarming to reply anyway.

Its actually quite logical. As someone already pointed out, if you're pessimistic you won't be unpleasantly surprised. Just hedging my bets. No offense intended. :D

Finally, seeing an overwhelmingly negative response now might cause the Devs. to reconsider if they ever decide to do this for real. :D
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Zarel
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Re: How much would you be willing to pay for premium Wesnoth?

Post by Zarel »

Okay, Great Rings, here's your rebuttal:
ParadiseCity wrote:1)The gradual loss of a free game. Basically setting a trend, and gradually updating the free wesnoth less and less, until it becomes obsolete and boring compared to the new version.(Runescape's history comes to mind).
This is a great idea! Thanks for suggesting it!
ParadiseCity wrote:2)The loss of new players, due to the stigma of a "paying" game
Don't worry, paid games are more popular than free games. Just take a look at the stats! The most popular game in the world is FarmVille, and it has the same "free, but pay for optional extras" business model!
ParadiseCity wrote:3)The loss of new players, due to the added bureaucracy needed to start playing.
I've heard from a reliable source that they'll be offering a demo version with lots of DRM, so you don't have to deal with much bureaucracy.
ParadiseCity wrote:4)More competition and tension that is brought on by the hiring of professional artists and musicians.
Competition is a good thing, right? Capitalism is based on competition, and capitalism is good! You're not an evil commie, are you?
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Re: How much would you be willing to pay for premium Wesnoth?

Post by TheGreatRings »

The thing is, Wesnoth is pretty freaking good as is. I would not consider it an exaggeration to say that, in my subjective opinion, this is a serious contender for the finest game I've ever played. I can't even say I'd blame the Devs. for wanting to make a little cash from it, because they've worked hard and done a fine job. But there's simply no need to hire professionals. Yes, there are problems with the writing, and yes, their have been some silly rules that need to be discarded (no religion in Wesnoth and no real world names in Wesnoth come to mind). But the music, the balance, the maps, the setting, and even largely the art and stories are excellent, better in my opinion than a lot of so-called "professional" material.
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Re: How much would you be willing to pay for premium Wesnoth?

Post by Captain_Wrathbow »

Wesnoth is my favorite game. Although it will probably lose that place if this is not a joke. :?
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