MMO Weekly: LOTRO and The (Un)Free To Play Plan

08 Jun 2010 at 00:00:00 by Jeff Hollis

Hello, my fellow virtual space dweller, and welcome to this week's edition of MMO Weekly. In this week's edition, we'll explore the biggest news to hit MMOs in quite some time. That news, of course, is that the successful MMO Lord of the Rings Online (LOTRO) is breaking away from its subscription model, and is now becoming a “free to play” (FTP) game. Everyone is in a tizzy trying to wrap their brains around this, and gamers are all excited. The kicker, of course, that LOTRO actually isn't really going free to play. Well, it is, but it isn't. Sort of. Oh, never mind, read on, my fellow geekling!

Allow me to explain: LOTRO is considered a 'grade A' MMO. It's done very well, it has regular updates, and it's made by a western (as opposed to Asian) MMO developer. According to varying estimates, LOTRO has between 300,000 to a million subscribers. (Personally, that higher figure seems a bit exaggerated to me, but opinions vary.) If you've ever played LOTRO, you know that the game is truly excellent. In fact, if you've ever played LOTRO, you're probably still playing it.

LOTRO used the traditional subscription model, as is common in western MMOs. For $15 a month, you get full access to the game, period. Turbine, the developer of LOTRO, did one unusual thing when the game launched, in that it offered lifetime subscriptions for $200. Anyone that picked up a lifetime subscription could play forever, and never be charged a subscription fee again. According to one recent analysis I read, there is speculation that a significant number of LOTRO players grabbed the lifetime subscriptions when they were available, so LOTRO currently makes no money at all from a portion of its player base.

Turbine has now decided that the old subscription model is going the way of the dinosaurs, and they are soon going to be making LOTRO free to play. Anyone can download a copy of LOTRO for free, and play the game forever for free. The features these players receive are pretty good, in that they get access to much of everything the game has to offer. For the price on the box (which is zero), they can play as much as they want.

The Three Tiers of Playability

As you might have already guessed, it's really not that simple.

Turbine offers three tiers of playability to the game. The first, the Free Player, is what I just described above. The moment a Free Player opts to buy some “Turbine Points”, he immediately becomes a Premium Player for 30 days. What's the difference? Well, a Premium Player gets more character slots, a higher money cap, some “community features”, a higher priority login, and full access to customer service. Obviously, those Turbine Points are used to buy in-game items.

If players choose to pay the traditional monthly subscription fee, they become VIP Players. VIP Players get 500 Turbine Points per month, more bags, more character slots, an unlimited money cap, “rest XP”, more skirmishes, monster play, enhanced chat, full access to customer service, the highest priority login...and I could go on and on. VIP players get the best, easiest to play version of the game, and they get a nice monthly allowance of Turbine Points to spend on upgrades and nick-knacks as well.

Obviously, the key to this whole FTP model is Turbine Points. Players can earn them through gameplay, and thus purchase some items. Guaranteed, earning these points is going to be a long, slow process. There is no question that Turbine is going to offer some very cool, very desirable items that can be purchased with Turbine Points. The idea, of course, is to tempt players to spend a few dollars to pick up the latest, newest, shiniest item in the store. There will be an endless parade of these items, so as to keep the temptation nice and fresh.

Notice that the whole Turbine Points system ensures that Free Players want to buy some, Premium Players want to buy more (and maybe even become VIP players), and VIP Players, even though they get a monthly allowance, will still want to buy more and more points. Why? Because of the tantalizing items available for purchase, that's why.

Well, what about all those people that purchased lifetime subscriptions to the game? Those folks automatically become VIP players at no extra cost. The key, from Turbine's point of view, is that even these players will be tempted by the items available for sale. For the first time ever, Turbine will be making money from its lifetime subscription customers.

Oh, and did I mention that only the original game is free? The two expansions, The Mines of Moria and The Siege of Mirkwood, aren't free. These expansions add new zones, equipment, and features to the game, and they raise the level cap from 50 to 65. Any players that have stuck with the game will inevitably want to buy those expansions at some point.

As you can see, the new FTP system isn't exactly free. You can play for free, sure. But you probably won't want to, at least not for long. Turbine has carefully structured the game so as to tempt every single player in the game with the game enhancements available via Turbine Points. In a nutshell, this new system is a way for Turbine to get a little money, via these microtransactions, out of everyone.

Of course, the other way they tempt players is via the expansions (Moria and Mirkwood) they have for sale. Nobody can stay at level 50 for very long in a game where the coolest stuff is happening at level 65.

The other advantage, from Turbine's point of view, is that this will probably significantly increase their player base. If they have 300,000 now, they'll have twice that number when the FTP system launches. With a game like LOTRO, there is even a substantial chance that a younger demographic (teens and pre-teens) will try the game. This is not, mind you, LOTRO's traditional customer. But a kid can be very persuasive in getting mom and dad to spend a measly five dollars so he can get a new pony. Of course, two weeks from now junior will need $7.50 for a faster one.

Sure, Turbine loses out on some steady subscription money. (They also keep some subscription money via the VIP Player system.) But they gain a bigger player base, and every one of those players is constantly tempted to spend a few dollars here, and a few more there. Eventually, these players are tempted to buy each of the expansions.

Are you seeing the big picture now? While they are breaking new ground, Turbine is going about it in a very calculated way. In this hybrid “free to play but not really” system, there is money to be made at every turn.

I'm not saying that this kind of hybrid FTP model is evil; actually, I quite like it. You can play for free, to see if you like a game, before you ever invest in it. I consider it to be extremely innovative, and my guess is that this is the wave of the future. In fact, I'd go so far as to predict that in the MMOs you'll be playing years from now, a similar system will probably be utilized. Of course, opinions vary, and I'd like to hear some of yours in the comments below. :)

That is all we have for this week but, as always, come and visit us over at Cool-O-Rama, where we not only proudly play MMOs of every conceivable kind, we revel in our debased geekishness full time. For now, ciao!

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