Tag: Sales

This month sees the launch of DC Universe Online, with the launch dates of Rift and Xsyon confirmed for very early March, and Earthrise coming in February. Over on the MMORPG.com RIFT forums, I’ve noticed a number of posts from people who reported purchasing not only the collector’s edition of the game, but six or more months of membership in advance. As an afterthought, I decided to look through the post history of a few of these people, and found similar stories: Not much hope in the game, considering they are putting down so much money.

Granted, this phenomena isn’t new. This seems to happen every time a new MMO launches, where a small group of players who don’t have much faith in the game purchase the most expensive version, and are often the first to throw the words “fraud” or “scam” around when the game doesn’t turn out exactly as they hoped it would be, when they hoped it would be so. Take Final Fantasy XIV as a recent example. I’ve seen people post that they had purchased not only the collector’s edition of Final Fantasy XIV, but also added about a year’s subscription worth of Crysta to their account. Some of them admitted that they played the game during open beta, and didn’t like it, yet proceeded to not only purchase the most expensive version of the game, but invest a ton of cash right from the start. Why? Because they “had misguided faith.”

The example I gave above is actually mild compared to the more extreme section of players. Back when Mortal Online launched, I had quite a few people asking me why, despite a few of my articles here on MMO Fallout, I was so aggressive towards players gloating about their chargebacks from Star Vault. One player I got into a heated argument with was because he not only purchased the game one time, and reversed the charges because of the lag and how much he hated the developers, but he then proceeded to buy the game a second time, perform a chargeback, and then boast about it on third party forums. I came across a number of players who played the open beta, didn’t like certain core features (open PvP, sandbox title, stat-based) and still proceeded to purchase the full game, only to perform a chargeback because they believed they were lied to.

Obviously my writing this article isn’t going to magically change the way life works, but I just wish people would make more informed decisions about throwing their money around, or perhaps make an intelligent choice about purchasing a game you played and hate. Hell, that’s the major reason I started reporting on sales in the first place, to not only get people into the games, but to get them in at the best possible price. PC games were never able to be returned, no matter how high your buyer’s remorse, and the fact that you can call you bank and start crying like a child because you got ganked and quit doesn’t change the fact that the whole ordeal would have never happened if you thought with your mind rather than your wallet.

Unless I’m in the minority here…