Should realm move away from being f2p?


#1

Hear me out, I love the concept of free to play games, in fact, one of the main reasons I ended up being able to spend so much time on this pixelated flash game was because I didn’t have to pay money to get my first few chars. But is this really the optimal way for the longevity of realm?

Realm is PLAGUED with bots, bots here, bots there, swatsikas in nexus, trackers, notifiers. This would all change if we simply added a 4.99 fee to making a new acc. No one in their right mind would drop 1k just to have a msg advertised.

Another game that’s has recently moved away from the f2p model is Town of Salem. Their issues with bots decreased dramatically as their developers were able to ban them without fear of them returning, as the content became locked under a paywall. You can check out their post here : http://www.blankmediagames.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=92848

One such argument against p2p is that it deters new users, but think about it. Loading into nexus for the first time and your are flooded with “COME PURCHASES DUPED ITEMS FROM REALMSTOCK, ONLY $12.99!!!” I don’t think many new players enjoy that experience, nor do higher tier players, they constantly have a tracker on them, entire discord’s have stopped runs for days on end because of mass crashing and trolling. We even had to add a teleportation delay to prevent people from notifying and sniping other people’s realm quests.

With the introduction of a p2p model, we can bump up the chars on a new account, vaults and allow new players to play more than 1 character at a time, I remember getting my 2nd char slot and being able to play multiple chars was a very exciting time.

My proposal :

  • each new realm account costs (x) amount

  • old players still retain their accounts

  • accounts that haven’t been named are deleted

In conclusion, to provide a better experience for newcomers to realm, increase longevity for realm, and remove bots, realm should move away from a f2p model.

EDIT - when trying to post this on reddit, my post got removed, not sure why that would be but it seems I need to find other ways if I want to bring attention to this.


#2

I mean, I start by saying no, but like, the ToS community (not just the bot problem) has just greatly improved and now I’ll actually play outside of coven and not constantly get infuririated, so I’m actually thinking this wouldn’t be too bad an idea.


#3

But then mules would no longer exist smh. I’m f2p and I won’t have any more space xd


#4

Future mules will no longer exist, yes, but in return for that we remove all bots from the game. I think that’s a sacrifice that should be made.


#5

I mean if they make it P2P they could (and probably would) just make vault chests easier to get without money


#6

Honestly I don’t think its a bad idea, but it also deters the ability of like inviting friends to play or something, unless they already have an account. And also, a lot of people won’t pay for a pixilated flash game until they’ve at least already experienced a decent amount, so attracting new audience in general would be pretty tough. It definitely benefits users who already have accounts, but it does introduce some other problems. But getting rid of bots would be very nice lol, especially if the annoying tp cooldown gets removed


#7

I agree with your point when you talk about new players seeing all these bots in nexus and wanting to buy stuff online. I know this because that was me at one point. I still remember seeing these bots when I just started and was like wow, free gear, giveaways, easy loot! I actually tried to buy gear from a RWT site because I didn’t know any better (thankfully I didn’t manage to buy the stuff).

DECA definitely needs to add a stronger notice against real world trading. I mean seriously, how many new players really take their time to read through the ToS. And even then, its still ambiguous at best. These bots are really enticing for many since its an easy ticket in and duping allows for cheap items.


#8

I definitely support this. It vastly improved ToS, there is hope for realm yet. Maybe DECA could even make it ridiculously low, like 50c or $1 or something like that. Good for individuals, bad for swaths of bots who have to pay hundreds of dollars to write something out in nexus.


#9

I’m not for making it p2p. It would drastically decrease the influx of new players.

However, I am not against other arbitrary restrictions that would nuke accounts if not met.
For example, one viable strategy could be, “unlock 10/14 classes within 2 weeks.”

It ensures that players are actually invested as opposed to charging them to play a game that they may never touch again.

My above concerns would be mitigated (regarding P2P) if:
-New accounts start with 2 or 3 character slots
-New accounts start with 2-3 vaults instead of just 1
-A common pet egg is given to every new player
-Vault chests become easier to purchase
-Existing mules are not banned

pt1: I would not play a hobbled game experience for $5. Having 2 or 3 character slots allows for more fluid and efficient gameplay. Same with vaults.
pt2: The common pet egg would give the new player hands-on experience with a pet and how a pet would work.
pt 3: Banning mules is kinda bs when you’re scrunching the amount of storage.
pt4: Since no new mules can be created, I don’t think it’s fair if people are constantly having to decide which UT to drop. Make Chest unlockers drop at a similar rate to the ST weapons or something like that


#10

tbh deca already makes enough money with these events.


#11

but what kind of person looking at this kind of graphics would actually pay to play this game?


#12

RotMG is slowly dying, Deca NEEDS these bots and can’t ban them yet until the game is in full swing again. Same reason they can’t ban hacker. People will rage quit, and the community will shrink dramatically.


#13

Most bots subtract total gross profit from Deca’s income. And banning hackers does not shrink the playerbase substantially.


#14

Graphics have very little to do with p2p… Most indie games are pixel or voxel based, and have had great sales and support from it’s community.


#15

Um
No
Why would deca “need” rwt bots


#16

When people get cheap, duped items that they have never used before, they experience new gameplay, and would theoretically want to play the game more with these items. I’m not implying that these sites are good, but I have known some cases where they prevent people quitting from RotMG.


#17

But that has no relation to deca needing them. Those people are spending money on RWT instead of in-game, where profits go to deca. They could buy keys and sell them for life and then tops, or other options. The only people that need the bots are the RWT sites.


#18

I know this, but Deca needs to keep their players.


#19

Ftfy


#20

:sweat_smile: I would wait until the game becomes big before removing bots. But that’s just me.