Suggestion: Increasing Playerbase

[Sir Cunnington III]

It is just a thought that I felt like sharing. I have no idea how hard it would be to implement but I think the game is a solid choice for a free to play game. This game is incredible and I'm amazed that it doesn't have a few 1000 people playing it at a time to be honest. I realize it is a difficult game to pick up for a lot of people, and they fade away as another copy of Icarus goes unused, but that is what makes this game great to me. I like that it is hard because when I get better... I'm going to have some boss airship battles and nerdgasm all over the place.

If the game were to become free to play there are so many things that could be put for sale. A lot of character cosmetic items are already available but what about tool and ship skins? Putting new ships for sale for dollars and some kind of in game point system so people can avoid paying by playing more. I think that although the game is great it would really benefit from making store items purchasable by playing, if winning 20 games gets me enough points to buy a new hat or something i'm probably going to squeeze in a few extra games and I know i'm not the only one. I often toss on $10-20 on free to play games I'm really enjoying and more then once is not uncommon by any means. I don't recall how much I paid for GoI but it was on steam and probably on some crazy sale for a couple dollars as that is really the only way I buy games. Whatever the average paid price is i'm sure it wouldn't compare to free to play revenue if the game being free encouraged people to play it.

Free things are easy to share.

Players that own the game already get some kind of thanks you were awesome freebie and all ships unlocked forever .

I'm going to leave it there and see if that sparks a conversation. Once again great game that needs more people online and a way to encourage people to play more. 

[Newbluud]

A free to play model that affects gameplay is a really bad call for a PvP game. If this were to happen, then the cosmetics should be where the money comes from. This would require a huge increase in the variety and type of cosmetics, which cannot all be pulled from the workshop as there are simply not enough people making things for this game. I don't think Muse would be able to put the resources into the costly process of concept art, modelling and implementing aesthetic things at present, on a scale that would make a real difference to the amount of cosmetics available.

It's hard to prove why a game has a low population, but I feel it has something to do with the way people approach this game (in how it is advertised and so forth.) People see it as a sort of party game to blow a couple hours on with some friends, not realising that the skill floor is quite high. Players tend not to want to stick around because it's either a one-time, fun experience or they get crushed so hard by mechanics they are not prepared to put in the time to understand.

The issue with having gameplay elements available via a pay-to-win/drop system is that, unlike in games like tf2, there is no "stock" that fills the niche of a particular ship/class/team composition. Pretty much every weapon and ship has unique strengths and weaknesses, that aren't just a slight deviation from a good all rounder (see unlocks compared to stock weapons in tf2). This would mean you'd be at a much more notable disadvantage when you first boot up this game than you would with other free-to-play games where pay-to-win isn't much of a thing.

TL;DR
 - Yes, if money is only exchanged for cosmetics and enough cosmetics are added to make a worthwhile market.
 - No, if money is ever going to unlock or provide gameplay options or direct advantage.

At the end of the day, Muse make their own financial decisions and probably have more of an idea how to forecast this kind of thing than myself. I'm just spitballing.

[Schwalbe]

Sir, you've no clue of what you are talking about.

Sincerely:
Schwalbe, asshole second in command on GOIO forums.

[Hoja Lateralus]

I've got a response to this issue directly* from Devs. It says

NOPE

*devs didn't actually say that, but from the beginning of their existence they were opposed to the f2p model, legend says that "no f2p!" were first words that Eric has spoken

Some even say that on the same day clouds on the sky formed into letters "opisafagit".

[DJ Logicalia]

It's been floated before, I think it's a bad idea. I can't think of one free to play game with a quality community, and one of the biggest draws of GoI is how great the community is. The players like it, and the devs do too.  Going F2P would destroy what good the game has, and add little of serious importance

[Atruejedi]

Bad idea. Bad. I've covered how I believe player-base should be increased and retained in other threads, so I'll skip that here. But basically:

Don't make GOI free-to-play. Free-to-play killed Team Fortress 2 for me and nearly all my friends. "Back in the day," before TF2 was the cash-cow it now is for Valve, I used to hang out on the same servers with the same people all the time. I traveled to visit new gaming friends. We all went to Boston for PAX East. We had costumes. We spent hundreds of hours together screwing around online and in person. It was... glorious. But now, those servers are long-dead because of the influx of F2P newbs and the rise of Valve-controlled servers, and my former TF2 friends from "real life" and online never play anymore. I miss the old days of TF2. A golden era for gaming. RIP TF2 2007-2011.

Don't make me miss the old days of GOI. Don't kill my baby.

[Kamoba]

This has been discussed on Dev fireside chat before, and the answer was no, F2P would be an absolute last resort, the current business practices employed have kept this game flying for over three years, there is no genuine need for F2P.

Also F2P would do nothing for player retention, in fact it would simply bring in an over flow of trolls and idiots worse than the ones endured during sales, the ones who play 2 rounds and rage quit when they realise they can't game.

[Captain Scrobeard]

It's been floated before, I think it's a bad idea. I can't think of one free to play game with a quality community, and one of the biggest draws of GoI is how great the community is. The players like it, and the devs do too.  Going F2P would destroy what good the game has, and add little of serious importance

agreed 100%

[Richard LeMoon]

Going to agree with the no FtP. However, I think there should be a free GOIO lite for people to try out with the option to upgrade (with strong implications of awesome people to play with as well as new ships and guns). Sort of a firewall. I guess you could call it a paywall.

[C r o w]

Something that makes that you are put only in novice matches and as soon as any class hits level 8 you have to pay for the full game.

Why level 8?
Because if you get that far to come out of novicehood you must have some interest in the game.

Does it hinder incomes by taking away the money that you get from the people that buy the game only to try it for just a couple of matches?
Unfortunately, yes, and the devs would gladly keep that and every income.

Does it function really as a paywall?
Well, I dare to say yes, as it would restrict the lite-users to only three ships and some pre-made loadouts. Also, making that the characters have only the default aspect could simply be another addition to the lite edition. You could also make so that you could claim your level-up rewards only if you buy the full game.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I personally find the f2p idea extremely abhorrent. Not only it would demolish Muse's income, but it would also hinder the quality of the GOIO community, that I love as it is.
Free to play games 98 times out of 10 attract the scum of the Internet, especially in those where skill is required, and the communication system is well functioning.
(Exempli gratia: DotA and LoL)
(P.s. Yes, mobas take skill, a noob will always suck if they don't acquire skills)
Also f2ps are the breeding nest of trolls. Yeah, people who like to go full mine launchers are quite the trolls, but they could be also extremely dangerous opponents. Trolls that act dumb on purpose, gunning as engineer while the ship critically needs repairs, damaging guns with Lochnagars without even aiming at an enemy, captaining an extremely useless ship only to purposely piss off their own crew, etc...

To sum up: F2P isn't and probably will never be healthy for the community, if you want to increase the playerbase, then find a way to publicize it.

[Hoja Lateralus]

Well, Crow, firstly...

Yeah, people who like to go full mine launchers are quite the trolls

You're a mean meanie :< Why you no like munkers :<<<

Secondly, what you say is untrue due to 2 facts:
1. We have refund policy and people can refund GOIO if they feel unhappy with their supposedly limited content
2. Novice players CAN join advanced games any time they want, even when novice lobbies are availible. Actually matchmaker will put them in advanced lobbies automatically (I think?) if they would be forced to wait for too long.
So Muse is not doing anything to get the money out of them, at least at the moment. And I bet my dollars against your peanuts that they would REALLY like mentioned player to stay and enjoy the game more.

[nhbearit]

I wager 5 peanuts!!

But seriously, I think I remember someone saying that the average player stuck around for 4-5 days in a dev chat.. I'd have to double check that but given how long goio's been around, if they'd wanted to actually do something about it they've had plenty of opportunity.

[Piemanlives]

I wager 5 peanuts!!

But seriously, I think I remember someone saying that the average player stuck around for 4-5 days in a dev chat.. I'd have to double check that but given how long goio's been around, if they'd wanted to actually do something about it they've had plenty of opportunity.

In all the time I've been around I've never heard such a statistic. And while I can't test or validate it, it certainly sounds accurate enough, which is a bad mindset to have in a professional field but hey, this is the internet.

Also I'll wager 7 peanuts.

[Schwalbe]

Why level 8?
Because if you get that far to come out of novicehood you must have some interest in the game.

With all honesty I have to say it:

[Piemanlives]

It is a lot easier to get out of novicehood than it used to.