Is Pay to Play Going Free to Play?

Is Pay to Play Going Free to Play? By Wilmer Rodriguez I'm a long time mmorpg gamer, with roots my far back as Ultima Online. I have seen this industry grow from it's humble beginning's. This is my passion, this is my way of life. There is nothing i love to do more than have a few drinks and go raiding with my buddies. I am very blunt i don't beat around the bush. Always striving to find the next big thing in this industry and become a part of it.

As this industry grows more and more high quality mmorpgs are going free to play. If you take a look at the games that are currently being develop, you will see that most of the highly anticipated games are going the free to play route. And is not a surprise, as free to play games gross a lot more money than some pay to play subscription games. Free to play games have a really bad reputation in the minds of most gamers. Lets be honest, a lot of the free to play games are just god awful. The Items that you find in the cash shops are just down right ridiculous. Some Items you may find in some free to play game are 100% damage increases potions, 200% exp potions, and some even sell gear that usually has double the amount of your current hit points.

Blizzard Entertainment

But not all free to play game are bad, there are a few that actually enhance the gameplay without making you a god amongst people that don't spend as much as you do. A good sign to look for in a free to play game, is to make sure that they have an auction house and that most of their cash shop items can be sold to other players for in game currency. What those it means for people that want to play that game but don't want to pay a single dime? Well you can just use your in game currency to pay for items that can be bought though the cash shop for real money. And this is why Free to play games are so successful.

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Allods

Even if you don't spend any real money on the game at all. The game is making money off of you. When you buy cash shop items with in game currency from another player, that player probably bought that item for real money or he bought that item from another player that bought it with real money. So as long as there is a demand for cash shop items, players that have the money to spend will supply that demand and make in game currency. Lets face it some hardcore gamers actually value in game currency more than real money. And to this players I tip my hat to, they make free to play actually free to play for people that don't want to pay at all.