Pay to Play online content

If anybody hasn't read or heard, EA Games is making all of their games pay to play for multiplayer online versions. Its also been said that almost all games are going to go in this direction in the near future, so this makes for an interesting debate. Here are some of the questions that should be asked:

1. Will you pay the extra money to play a game online?
2. Does having to pay extra change your expectations of the gaming experience?
3. Do you think it will make the games better or worse?
4. What would be a fair price to pay out for this, or what would you be willing to pay for the service?

My answers are pretty straightforward and I would expect most people to feel the same as I do, but you never know.

1. Yes, I would pay the extra money but it had better be worth it.
2. Of course it does. If I have to pay extra and still have to put up with the cheating and glitches and hackers then I will probably not waste any more money on them. Also, I would expect better DLC, like instead of just adding maps, I would like to see them add new weapons and even new game modes.
3. I would think it should make for some improvement if only because this will give the game manufactures more resources and motivation to police their games and make them worth the extra money.
4. If you believe the rumors, it will cost around $5 per game but it could also cost x number of dollars per x number of hours. I think $5 isn't so bad if it improves the gameplay, maybe even 10 would be acceptable if they made it worth the money. I could also see them selling seperate games for online and offline and double dipping. Who knows.

Wow i didnt know things were going that way. With bandwidth issues and people calling for dedicated MW2 servers, it doesn't surprise me things might end up this way.

I'm not sure how the game company can charge for multiplayer though if xbl is already costing $50/year... i mean cmon.

1. Will you pay the extra money to play a game online?
Most likely, yep.

2. Does having to pay extra change your expectations of the gaming experience?
Yep. I'm sure they realize that too otherwise people would get really pissed lol. Here pay more $$ but get nothing else in return! noooo

3. Do you think it will make the games better or worse?
Umm... interesting question. I'm going to say hopefully yes.

4. What would be a fair price to pay out for this, or what would you be willing to pay for the service? 5 cents an hour? Lol. Not sure. Maybe something like xbl does... yearly or monthly suscription. But im not sure how much they can reasonably ask people to pay who are already paying for xbl....i mean playstation you can get online for free.

If you use EA as the model, I think its 5 or 8 bucks. Like if you buy Battlefield used, or rent it from gamefly, you have to pay extra now to play it. Tiger Woods 11 is also the same way, as will be the new Madden and all EA games in the future. As of now, the only benefit to having XBL as far as COD is concerned is that they will get all DLC 6 weeks sooner than PSN. THat contract runs through 2012.

It's just a way to take market share away from the used game market AI. gamestop and force gamers to buy new. NCAA 2011 made me type in a code found in the box to log online.

I think thats maybe part of it, but in reality, the online part of these games is the real attraction. If it wasn't for the online play, i would have never even bothered getting an XBOX. Under the current model, you can play one game as a single player usually in about 10 hours for most people. After that, if you aren't playing online, the game is pretty much getting shelved and you are dropping another $60 on a new game. If you play online, the gameplay is technically different everytime you enter a lobby and play a match so people aren't running out and buying a new game. It has everything to do with money, but I don't think its to squeeze out Gamestop or anything. Its just a way to get more return on all of the money they invest to develop the online part of the games.

I agree with most of what you said, but i think alot of what it has to do is now that EA brought on a game that people think can "contend" with the cod series theyre going to boast about well if you pay this amount of money we will have better servers more protection...etc its only going to be a matter of time before we get "taxes" on our XBL memberships, i.e, instead of say $20 a month your paying $25 because of "online dedicated servers". EA is truly just pulling this stunt because theyre not making shit on the ps3 console whatsoever but at the same time all its going to take is one company to do it and then the domino effect pretty sure youll have to register the game and they will add the "tax" to your account as an add on, but thats just what i think is going to happen idk it seems totally logical considering the market for video games has skyrocketed the last 5 years and there are plenty of guys like us who will pay for it because we just love to game and there are plenty of dumb parents who buy their kids the games to shut them up for a couple of hours. I mean look at the map packs for MW2 all theyre doing is sucking more money for IW because its treyarchs turn to put a game out and think if they keep updating maps that people wont go out and buy as many treyarch games. Idk just my thoughts.

i think it would help online game play alot becasue if we pay they should make it better new guns dedicated servers i think COD should have an mlg lobby like halo

This is also true in the new UFC Undisputed 2010 game, the price is the same as any other new game and it comes with the code to play on xbox live. However if you were to buy the game used you would have to pay ( I think) 800 ms points to play online. So basically what developers are doing is getting their cut of the re-sale value of the game. This does not mean a better game or better DLC or dedicated servers, Dev's just needed to find a way to make some dough long after the game is released. Honestly I can't really blame them, they work for years to put these games together and game stores will take someones trade in and re-sell it, making all the profits. I don't believe they will charge us a monthly fee to play online. Stores like Gamestop and Play N Trade to name a few really make their money from trade in's and then re-selling. Dev's played this very smart as not to hurt these game stores and also so the Dev's don't lose money on their games once gamers are done with the game and trade it in for someone else to buy.

we already do pay to play.....Its called router, modem, internet, and xbox live.

I would definatly pay extra for dedicated servers. I already pay for the computer server.