Gemstone/Simutronics Pricing

[whoamiagain]

I have been informed by a current Game Master, whose name I will not disclose, that any inquiry as to "why" pricing for Gemstone IV is so high, is answered with a simple "That is not up for discussion." And that any post that would be made to the official forums wishing to discuss the matter would likely be removed even if it were placed in the correct category.

The source tells me that the question comes up at every all hands meeting they hold, and that this simple and apparently effective answer deters the discussion every time. I have been playing Gemstone (on and off) since Gemstone III (in 1999), it's never been free for me like it may have been for some of you. (Yet, in my honest opinion you can't call something free if it was hosted directly on AOL and you are paying for AOL's monthly subscription.)

I see lots of complaints about the slow advancement of game mechanics, general noobs (not to mention blatant disrespect for other people regardless of the fact that you are all playing the same game for a good and valid reason), GMs 'nerfing' 'this profession' and 'that combat mechanic'... and almost no one complains that the pricing for Simutronics' simple text games are outrageously priced. Is this because you really think they have a valid reason for jacking the price of a basic subscription to 14.99 (for one character laid out in text)? Or is it because you've all just resigned to the fact that there's nothing you can do about it?

I want Simutronics to justify their pricing, but this will never happen if no one is willing to send the message their way. They will continue to lose more and more of their players if they do not reassess the value of the game. Most of their help works on a volunteer basis. It's not quite fair to even suggest that the money they suck from us goes to development, because I assure you, it's not more than extra pocket change, what those Development GMs scrape up.

Drop the prices, gain more active accounts. OR Allow more character slots for the basic subscription. At least THAT would be a step in the right direction.

How much does it REALLY cost to run Gemstone?

-Just another player.

[BriarFox]

Pricing can be determined by production cost, but that's only a starting point. The simple fact of the matter is that people are willing to pay what Simu asks, and so they ask that price.

[Jayvn]

I pay it happily... if it were too low a bunch of crackheads and interweb tards with nothing to do would come and fill the landing with Coinners and the like..

[Kuyuk]

if it dropped to 9.95 a month flat I would re-subscribe

Edit: I'm one of the crackheads that would make the game less fun ;)

[Jayvn]

and why does this person write like V as well... how many alts does this guy have on pc anyway

[diethx]

OMG WHO'S UR SOURCE?!?!?!?!?!? OMG!!!111

[ZeP]

and almost no one complains that the pricing for Simutronics' simple text games are outrageously priced.

People complain about this all the time. Not so much that they don't want to pay it themselves but its almost impossible to convince someone else to play.

Also, the game was never free except for people creating fake accounts on AOL, P*, etc. You always had to pay for an online service at least and a lot of people used to incur hourly surcharges. I think maybe that MSN Gaming Zone was free but that probably accounted for the smallest amount of players of any of the available portals to the game.

[Androidpk]

They still have the free 30 day trials.

[ZeP]

Not sure that really counts Android... but since you brought it up maybe we could get more people if their free time was extended longer.

[whoamiagain]

I think maybe that MSN Gaming Zone was free but that probably accounted for the smallest amount of players of any of the available portals to the game.

MSN Zone was free to the point that you could create multiple 30 trials with out the use of a credit card. Good times there.

[whoamiagain]

I pay it happily... if it were too low a bunch of crackheads and interweb tards with nothing to do would come and fill the landing with Coinners and the like..

I think you pay it happily because you don't know any better. (No offense, sorry.) And I also believe that for every moron that enters the game there's at LEAST one decent person that also comes, and morons never stick to this crowd. It's too rough for them :)

Truth be told.. Simutronics' "not open for discussion" line on prices, is only choking their business.

PS - This is my first EVER post on the gsplayers forums. And I don't read or even pay much attention to it in any remote frequencey... but as I was informed any official post on the subject would likely be removed, I brought it here. So... I don't know who "V" is... Sry. K thx

[Jayvn]

I think you pay it happily because you don't know any better. (No offense, sorry.) And I also believe that for every moron that enters the game there's at LEAST one decent person that also comes, and morons never stick to this crowd. It's too rough for them :)

Truth be told.. Simutronics' "not open for discussion" line on prices, is only choking their business.

PS - This is my first EVER post on the gsplayers forums. And I don't read or even pay much attention to it in any remote frequencey... but as I was informed any official post on the subject would likely be removed, I brought it here. So... I don't know who "V" is... Sry. K thx

I LOLd at choking their business... the fact that they carry a steady 200 accounts at 15 a month minimum not counting special events..and the fact they barely pay GMs... to run a 'text based server'... how is this choking their business?... Profit > Cost to run = win in business
No they are not blizzard... they're more like a jacked up lemonaid stand... but they are definately not failing at business

[Jayvn]

and uh... there was no offense taken because I do know better..i've played some free shitty muds, I've played gemstone since it was 'free' on aol for hourly charges... which equates to a shit ton more than 15 bucks a month...

[Celephais]

I LOLd at choking their business... the fact that they carry a steady 200 accounts at 15 a month minimum not counting special events..and the fact they barely pay GMs... to run a 'text based server'... how is this choking their business?... Profit > Cost to run = win in business
No they are not blizzard... they're more like a jacked up lemonaid stand... but they are definately not failing at business
Way more than 200 accounts...
http://www.deadlylight.com/images/WhoGraph.png

~500 active players, I'd guess more than 2,000 paying accounts.

[Suppa Hobbit Mage]

And going down all the time.

[Anne Boleyn]

It's more like 1000-1500 people on at a time. They do overlap a lot especially when off hours people come on to sell their stuff or do events during the peak hours.

If Simu went completely free I can see GS population going over 3 K players on at a single time and accounts going up to 6 or 7 thousand. They can go micropayment mode like all the other free games are doing (very very successfully I might add). In this case, Simu can deny freebiers access to skills, areas, and levels. (forging, nelemar temple, and beyond great lord). They can dole out this stuff piece meal, charging a couple bucks here for this a couple bucks there for that. They can also supplement with exclusive events with access to special services at a discount and EXP potion bonuses (the exp gift every month in potion form for use anytime) and other small items. I seriously believe they can make far more money doing this then they are with this 15 bucks a month program.

[crb]

I see lots of complaints about the slow advancement of game mechanics, general noobs (not to mention blatant disrespect for other people regardless of the fact that you are all playing the same game for a good and valid reason), GMs 'nerfing' 'this profession' and 'that combat mechanic'... and almost no one complains that the pricing for Simutronics' simple text games are outrageously priced. Is this because you really think they have a valid reason for jacking the price of a basic subscription to 14.99 (for one character laid out in text)? Or is it because you've all just resigned to the fact that there's nothing you can do about it?

Oh, we've been complaining for awhile, I think their pricing is a horrible business decision.

http://www.virilneus.com/blog/2008/08/07/an-open-letter-to-simutronics/

[crb]

and why does this person write like V as well... how many alts does this guy have on pc anyway

not me

[grenthor]

I have been informed by a current Game Master, whose name I will not disclose, that any inquiry as to "why" pricing for Gemstone IV is so high, is answered with a simple "That is not up for discussion." And that any post that would be made to the official forums wishing to discuss the matter would likely be removed even if it were placed in the correct category.

I want Simutronics to justify their pricing, but this will never happen if no one is willing to send the message their way. They will continue to lose more and more of their players if they do not reassess the value of the game. Most of their help works on a volunteer basis. It's not quite fair to even suggest that the money they suck from us goes to development, because I assure you, it's not more than extra pocket change, what those Development GMs scrape up.

-Just another player.

it always makes me lol when people start making demands about simu justifying pricing or policies or anything else they do.

simple fact is this: they do not have to justify a damn thing to you or anyone else. it is their business and they can do whatever the fuck they want to with it.

we can sit here and say we do not like it if we want but the bottom line is - it is not your company so it is none of your god damn business why the price is so high or why they may or may not allow discussions of pricing on their own forum.

ultimately if enough people do not like it then they will see revenue go down to the point where they either change or go under. from what little we know that does not look to be happening any time soon.

[AnticorRifling]

I still don't think 15 dollars a month is a bad spend for my entertainment dollars. Currently I don't play because I believe in one electronic crack at a time (and right now it's still WoW). But looking at the hours I spend playing either GS or WoW compared to the cost it's pretty damn cheap.

[whoamiagain]

I still don't think 15 dollars a month is a bad spend for my entertainment dollars. Currently I don't play because I believe in one electronic crack at a time (and right now it's still WoW). But looking at the hours I spend playing either GS or WoW compared to the cost it's pretty damn cheap.

15 dollars a month for one character is bad, actually it's so bad it's unfair.

And if anyone's wondering I normally have two accounts open when I do play. One 15 dollar account and one 40 dollar account, in actuality I pay 55 dollars a month for the game... but I can't remember why.

[whoamiagain]

and uh... there was no offense taken because I do know better..i've played some free shitty muds, I've played gemstone since it was 'free' on aol for hourly charges... which equates to a shit ton more than 15 bucks a month...

That was back when internet access for a dial-up connection was expensive.

[whoamiagain]

It's more like 1000-1500 people on at a time. They do overlap a lot especially when off hours people come on to sell their stuff or do events during the peak hours.

If Simu went completely free I can see GS population going over 3 K players on at a single time and accounts going up to 6 or 7 thousand. They can go micropayment mode like all the other free games are doing (very very successfully I might add). In this case, Simu can deny freebiers access to skills, areas, and levels. (forging, nelemar temple, and beyond great lord). They can dole out this stuff piece meal, charging a couple bucks here for this a couple bucks there for that. They can also supplement with exclusive events with access to special services at a discount and EXP potion bonuses (the exp gift every month in potion form for use anytime) and other small items. I seriously believe they can make far more money doing this then they are with this 15 bucks a month program.

Is that how Runescape does it? I hear their creator is rich as fuck. >.>

But hell I wouldn't give freebie-ers past level 20 in GS. :)

[whoamiagain]

it always makes me lol when people start making demands about simu justifying pricing or policies or anything else they do.

simple fact is this: they do not have to justify a damn thing to you or anyone else. it is their business and they can do whatever the fuck they want to with it.

we can sit here and say we do not like it if we want but the bottom line is - it is not your company so it is none of your god damn business why the price is so high or why they may or may not allow discussions of pricing on their own forum.

ultimately if enough people do not like it then they will see revenue go down to the point where they either change or go under. from what little we know that does not look to be happening any time soon.

If Simutronics asks their customers what they want to see in the game next, they are interested in seeing the game grow; and it has considerably since I began playing. They care about their business, of course. In fact every GM has so many projects to work on their heads are spinning.

But to ignore players ideas on different pricing plans, seems almost the exact opposite. Why would you ignore opportunity to expand a customer base? Clearly they are not thinking far enough ahead...

[Senglent]

Why would you ignore opportunity to expand a customer base? Clearly they are not thinking far enough ahead...

Or they just do not care enough to expand and make the extra buck and are going for quality of service (yeah I know thats not the case half the time but most GM's do try)

All in all I am going to have to agree with Ant, if you think about it the price is not that bad, granted other things give you better prices. But as I am playing WoW with some friends now instead of GS I can say I had more fun playing GS then I do WoW.

Or it could be that I played GS for almost 2 decades and only been playing WoW for a few months, I might be biased. Then again so are some GM's....:shrug:

[crb]

15 dollars a month for one character is bad, actually it's so bad it's unfair.

And if anyone's wondering I normally have two accounts open when I do play. One 15 dollar account and one 40 dollar account, in actuality I pay 55 dollars a month for the game... but I can't remember why.
It isn't a matter of fairness, fairness does not enter into this.

It is a bad business decision by Simu. They would in the end make more money if they adopted a different pricing model.

[AnticorRifling]

15 dollars a month for one character is bad, actually it's so bad it's unfair.

See this is where you're wrong and until you realize you're wrong you will have very little success moving on in this matter. Fair and unfair never enter the equation. Unfair would be me paying 15 dollars a month and getting 2 GemStone characters and you only getting 1, then it would be unfair. You can opine that it's bad, that's fine. You think it's bad we get it, thread closed.

[RForrester]

Simu is going to charge whatever they can simply because there are enough people that are willing to pay the 'whatever' Simu wants.

As far as 'they can go micropayment mode' or paying RL cash for so-called extra items/benifits...? Are you fucking kidding me? Simu was one of the first to charge for in-game extras and it works.

How many of you have paid that $100++ for a special festival just to have a GM make you an altered item???

As long as people pay that kind of money for a text-based antique game and as long as they can get workers they don't have to pay or pay very little - Mentors/Hosts/GMs being pay $80 per month - Simu will make money.

You don't like their prices? Stop paying them. Simple as that.