Online Games - P2P vs. F2P

I have played all sorts online games throughout my gaming "career".  I started with Free to Play (F2P) games as a young kid then changed to Pay to Play (P2P) and now have returned to F2P as my time, moods and tastes have changed.

The first one that my friends and I really got in to was the original Runescape.  It was a browser based, 2D game and had all sorts of stuff to do like exploring, questing, fighting and crafting.  Most MMOs nowadays include all of these things plus some...but this was the first that we played because we were young and it was F2P and didn't require any special computer requirements.  My friends and I would go down to the public library on weekends and all of us would play together on the library's computers.  It was a great time that started a lot of friendships.

Once we grew up a little and all of us had our own computers, we took those "public" LAN parties, and made them private.  We would get together fairly regularly and spend hours playing games together in someone's basement.  During this time the games switched to games you had to buy, but you could play for free online, like Age of Empires, Warcraft III, Counter Strike and Call of Duty (the original WWII versions).  A lot of our time ended up being spent on one custom map in Warcraft III called Defense of the Ancients, or DOTA (more on this later).

During/After that stage, I started playing World of Warcraft (WoW).  It was my first monthly P2P game.  Some of my friends played Dark Age of Camelot or Everquest, but WoW was the one I spent my time on.  I wasn't able to play much at that time because I had school and sports, but it was fun.  I quit after a couple months due to lack of time, but during college I got back in to it with my roommates and played pretty hard for awhile. 

Then college came.  I tried a number of other MMOs that came out during that time: Warhammer Online, Rift, Aion, Tera, Lord of the Rings Online, Star Wars (TOR), Guild Wars 2, Dungeons & Dragons, and one of the like 15 superhero MMOs that came out during this time.  All of which introduced cool new concepts, but none of which could keep me interested long enough to get through to the end game content.  Also with homework and debts piling up, it is really difficult to pay $15 per month on a game that you maybe play a couple hours a week.  So I stopped playing most MMOs and switched to free games I could jump in and out of without feeling like I was being left behind.

League of Legends (LoL) was the next game I got in to, and I have been playing it off and on since it came out.  It is based on the same game type of the Warcraft III map, DOTA, where there are 2 opposing teams, each with 5 players, trying to destroy the other's base.  There have been a number of games created off of the style of DOTA - Demigods, Heroes of Newerth, DOTA 2, etc, but I couldn't get in to them.  LoL has a style that I love and characters that are fun.  I miss some aspects and characters from DOTA, but overall I wouldn't go back.

A lot of the online games that I play now have changed to F2P with micro transactions, meaning you pay for additional content such as more character slots, increased inventory space or cosmetic items, and I love this idea.  I get in moods where I feel like playing something, but I know that after about 2 hours, I will have satiated that hunger for that game, and it will be months before I want to play it again.  Here is where the dilemma is...while I may have a craving for some WoW, I don't want to pay $15 for a month of game time, when I will use 2-4 hours.  This is why I love the new F2P "genre".  I can jump in to a game for a couple of hours and be done without spending any money if I don't want to.

I actually had this dilemma recently.  You know what I did?  Instead of buying a month of WoW, I went and downloaded Rift.  It is F2P now, and guess what...I have been playing for 3 weeks fairly regularly, and I don't have to worry about when I get bored and quit because I'm not paying monthly for it.  I spent money on getting more character slots, getting some cool pets, but these were things I spent money on because I enjoyed the game and wanted to tell the game developers how much I enjoyed their game, not because they were making me pay money to play the game. 

I understand companies need to make money and that is why P2P has been around for so long, but I welcome the new ways.   I would much rather spend money on a free game than spend money on a game before I know if I will like it or not.  LoL is one of those free games.  I have spent more money buying cosmetic skins for champions (that do absolutely nothing in game except change the way they look!) then I would have spent paying for a monthly subscription. 

Sorry, this was somewhat long winded, but I guess my point is, when I like something I will spend money on it, and I would suggest if you are able, you should, too.  It doesn't have to be a lot, but spend money buying some "Super" potions or a new Cat Suit for your character because if everyone decides that they don't want to spend any money on that free game...then that free game might not be around for much longer.

- Zach

Welcome!

Hello!  I thought I would start off with a little bit about myself because I'm guessing most of you don't know who I am.

My name is Zach and I'm a proud resident of the state of Iowa!  And yes, I said proud resident.  Iowa is a great little state and I have lived here all my life.  Granted, I have traveled a bit around the country, so don't worry, my opinion isn't completely biased.

I am a self professed geek/nerd/whatever you call a gamer who plays video games, board games, and likes the fantasy and sci-fi genres.  I started playing games when I was young.  The original Nintendo was the first system I owned.  I used to travel to my cousins house almost every weekend just so I could play duck hunt.  I have since advanced to higher quality games on my PC, Xbox and PlayStation.  My current favorites are League of Legends and Rift on my computer, and Assassin's Creed: Black Flag on my new PS4.

I have played all types of games over the years.  I stick mostly to video games, but I also play board games, card games, and table top games.  These aren't your standard, old school board games and card games like Candy Land, Life or Go Fish.  They are games like Ticket to Ride, Carcassonne, and Settlers of Catan.  Card games like Sentinels of the Multiverse, Smash Up, and table top games like Warhammer and Warmachine/Hordes.  I like to think of them as "Adult Board Games" for the most part.  They usually require more thinking/strategy, but that isn't always the case.

Anyway, ever since I first started playing video games, I have aspired to create them.  I think that is a common goal with people like me.  I went to Iowa State University in order to pursue my goals.  I started as a computer science major hoping to learn the programming required in order to jump into the field.  Lets just say, at the time, programming was not for me.  I then switched to a design program where I could focus on the art portion for video games.  I had a great time, and learned a lot, but didn't end up with a whole lot to show for my time in college except for a few choice images, such as the below Armored Whale:

When I graduated with my degree, I didn't really have anywhere to go, so I took a temporary job back at the family insurance agency...and that is where I have been for, wow, almost 3 years now.  I like my job and it pays the bills so I can do other things on the side, if I choose to.

I haven't given up my aspirations of making games they have just been on the back burner for awhile, but I am in the process of motivating myself to start some of my projects.  I have been collecting ideas for years now, and soon I will start the process of bringing some of them to fruition.

I'm not really sure where all of this blog will go, but I hope to share my experiences, ideas, progress, and anything else that comes up along the way to my goals.

- Zach