Re: Digest Number 493

Contemporary messages sorted: [ by date ] [ by thread ] [ by subject ] [ by author ]
Other mail archives: !!!!!!> Visit the Search Engine of Lhankor Mhy <!!!!!!

From: Chris Lemens <chrislemens_at_...>
Date: Mon, 8 Sep 2003 06:54:07 -0700 (PDT)

Alexander G. M. Smith replied to me, replying to David Short:
> > > Particularly for software, a better model
> > > would be for developers to provide enough
> > > support and content that it is worth the time
> > > and effort of customers to purchase the product.
> >
> > I've never actually seen this work well,
> > though I'm not familiar with the example
> > you cite.
>
> How about Everquest and other games? They
> have large teams adding new artwork (treasure
> items, plot lines, etc) to the game. It's
> a subscriber model, not a single item sale,
> and it seems to work.

I think the difference is that Everquest is run on a hosted model, where the company in question also has to bear the (cost of buying computing capacity (even if it is through an outsourcer, they require either up-front fees or creditworthiness and a commitment to miunimum purchases). That is a difficult model to break into. Also it only seems to work well where players can interact with each other. I admit that, when the stars are right, it can be very successful. Note, though that Everquest markets through retail shops. (What is in the box, by the way?)

Chris Lemens