Frag Logic: Free to Play Game Model, From Casual to Competitive, Guts of Gears MP Trailer (Episode #3)

This is the third episode of Frag Logic. In this episode we discuss the free to play game model.  Our Community Topic this week was “Going Casual to Competitive in Gaming”.  We also discuss Bungie’s new game Destiny and Epic’s Guts of Gears MP trailer.  We wrapped things up with a brief discussion about Major League Gaming’s approach towards player driven content and make some limited comparisons to the Machinima Network.  Our notes from the show are below:

- Free to Play

Ben Cousin’s Pay to Win 45 min Battlefield Heroes Presentation

• Is it here to stay?
  • Began with MMOs in mid-to-late 90s
    • Furcadia (1996)
    • Neopets (1999)
    • Runescape (2001)
    • Maple Story (2003)
• How are Developers making money
  • Cosmetic items seems to be the way
    • Weapon Skins
    • Character Skins
    • Displaying “cool”
  • Gating some in-game items
    • Characters
    • Weapons
    • Items
    • Boost XP rates / Currency
  • Advertising
    • Battlefield Heroes
    • Quake Live
• Best Models
  • League of Legends
    • Released September 2009
    • Heroes of Newearth initial “competition”
      • Launched on May 2010 at $29.99
      • Went F2P July 29, 2011
      • July 19th, 2012 went completely F2P
  • Smite
  • Team Fortress 2
    • Started with hats in 2009
      • Microtransactions
    • Went F2P in 2011

    • Great quote from 2012 GDC panel by Valve’s Joe Ludwig:

“The trouble is, when you’re a AAA box game, the only people who can earn you new revenue are the people who haven’t bought your game,”

“This drives you to build new content to attract new people, There’s a fundamental tension between building the game to satisfy existing players and attract new players.”

• F2P vs. P2W
• Consoles
  • Bad system with current economies (Microsoft)
  • Happy Wars
  • Dust 514 PS3
• Major F2P Games on the way

- COMMUNITY TOPIC: Transition from Casual to Competitive

• Is there a transition (?)
  • Are people naturally drawn to competition
    • Type of person
    • Incentives
• Game progression
• Developer Involvement
  • Tournaments
    • Prizes
  • Promoting events

- Destiny

• No subscription fee
• Screenshot of UI showing several hoppers
• Multi-platform, but no PC
• 10 year planv (what does this mean?)

- Guts of Gears Trailer

• Custom Character Armor (skins)
• Domination gameplay shown
• Falling animation now in the game

- Major League Gaming’s Content Approach

• Current Website Design
• Machinima vs. Major League Gaming
  • Machinima partners content creators
    • Should MLG Partner Pro Players
    • Help build fan base around players
  • YouTube communities influence by “top” players
• Machinima representing “competitive” players
  • MLG missed opportunity
• VOD system (Gameroom)
  • Archiving Previous Matches
  • Old VOD upload

Related posts

• Activision And Bungie Enter 10-Year Agreement - Will It Ruin Bungie Like IW?
• First Impressions Halo Reach Beta (Gameplay Included)
• What If Major League Gaming and Bungie Created an Exclusive Competitive Title
• A Few Halo Reach Multiplayer Details Confirmed
• Bungie Updates Halo: Reach Playlist