A few months back, when MOP’s Chris was playing a specific MMO for his Choose My Adventure column, a player (who shall remain nameless because I like him and don’t want a pile-on) got very grumpy at us because Chris subscribed to the game. That sub came at a point when the studio (which has a history of shenanigans) had clearly designed specific paywalled content to be super desirable, specifically to get people to sub. Chris wanted to see that content for the column and (presumably) have some fun.
But I was honestly baffled by the reaction; the implication was that succumbing to an MMO subscription is weakness and that asking for a subscription is money-grubbing greed. Granted, I’m from a time when a subscription was the norm, so to me, I am usually looking for a way to pay for a sub to circumvent other more objectionable monetization. And I would rather know my sub allows access to specific content that I want instead of stuff I’ll never use or see anyway. In other words, I want the studio to make me want the sub. That doesn’t seem like a dark pattern to me.
But I know that other people have come to see ongoing subs very differently, and your relationship with different games will probably influence that. Do you think MMO subscriptions are greedy?
Every morning, the Massively Overpowered writers team up with mascot Mo to ask MMORPG players pointed questions about the massively multiplayer online roleplaying genre. Grab a mug of your preferred beverage and take a stab at answering the question posed in today’s Daily Grind!
