Possibility of a members free trial in the coming months

[The_Avatar]

With the recent Troll Invasion update we've seen the introduction of a good many features that could possibly point to a members free trial. Most prominently is the new tutorial that seems to be aimed primarily at players that are brand new to the game. The tutorial goes over content such as fishing, and cooking, skills that a new member would likely already be familiar with. Players are also given an overview of the task system which most free-to-play players should already be entirely familiar with.

 

Another noticeable addition is the added colors to item names, to further differentiate between members, and non-members items. Possibly to make these new players realize just how much content they'll be missing out on if they don't subscribe at the end of their trial. Imagine going through your bank to find that the majority of your items have the pale orange text indicating that they won't be accessible at the end of your trial period, only more incentive to become a full member. For the time being, the colors differentiating free-to-play items from pay-to-play items have almost no use whatsoever, as someone who has gone as far as to subscribe to the game should be well aware of what items are and aren't available to free players. Whereas someone who has never played the game before and is being thrown into their free trial of the full game has no way of knowing which items are and aren't available to them if they don't subscribe.

 

With games like World of Warcraft seeing relative success from their "first 20 levels are free" feature, how likely do you think it is that we'll see a members free trial for new players? How do you feel it would affect the current free to play community?

[RoswellCrash]

I've been hoping they'd focus more of creating a better free player-base rather than this mass members promoting that's been going on for months.

 

Free worlds are empty, quite often there are more members online than free players, they need to do something to get new blood into this game & from there we will gain paying members. They should have made Burthorp & Tav available to the free world & allowed them to train members skills to level 5 or 10 within the tutors area. Hopefully they might still do this.

[lordkafei]

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Free worlds are empty, quite often there are more members online than free players, they need to do something to get new blood into this game & from there we will gain paying members.

 

...

 

I really think they are past that point. The changes now are more about keeping the people who are still playing rather than attracting any new players.

[RoswellCrash]

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Free worlds are empty, quite often there are more members online than free players, they need to do something to get new blood into this game & from there we will gain paying members.

 

...

 

I really think they are past that point. The changes now are more about keeping the people who are still playing rather than attracting any new players.

 

No, I'm not under the opinion they are giving up at all, they should tap into Facebook, get that user-base they ran an applet & still do on miniclip.com they should do the same with Facebook advertise it as a free game I think if they took the time to do this they'd get millions of players.

[Makoto_the_Phoenix]

I recall a few summers back that they actually did run a promotion like this - the so-called Midsummer Special. I'm not confident that it brought in members at a rate that Jagex approved, or we'd have seen another incarnation of this.

 

To be blunt, a promotion like this would not go over well. Jagex does a pretty good job with forcing Members down your throat at every waking moment you're online promoting membership without having to use another limited trial. I'm actually of the same wavelength as RoswellCrash now; I too feel that Jagex may have missed an opportunity with Burthrope/Taverley to potentially woo new players to their game.

[999134]

is there not already a 7 day free trial option available?

[Baffler]

is there not already a 7 day free trial option available?

 

Nope, that was the midsummer special mentioned earlier which was for a limited time only too.

 

I agree that something is up, given the FAQ in the recent updates forum that said it was important to distinguish between f2p and p2p items. Hardly important in my opinion, but if something like this was done then it would be important for those who are f2p.

[Fresi]

I think its a great ide for them to have new players given a free taste of members, allowing them to see that there is more than f2p, and the burathorp tutorial has some nice stuff in it, and yes sure, we already get alot of stuff in f2p telling us that p2p has much more, but honestly, when i first became p2p, i had no idea of how the members skills worked and if it really was worth it.

this is a good idea for bringing new players, and for getting new members, been expecting this for a long time.

[Sy_Accursed]

There already is a free trial, it's called free to play.

[Fresi]

There already is a free trial, it's called free to play.

 

there is currently no trial for the full game. f2p dose not do a good job at really showing you the potential of p2p

[Sy_Accursed]

There already is a free trial, it's called free to play.

 

there is currently no trial for the full game. f2p dose not do a good job at really showing you the potential of p2p

 

It is however a free trial or demo of the full game, limited in features the same way any demo or trial is.

[Assume Nothing]

It's two very different uses of the same term. A trial period of the full version isn't the same as a long-term trial of a limited version.

 

My main concern on the whole notion would be the fact that it could be abused if poorly executed, giving free access to bots to money-make and rwt. The bots are slowly making a return to the game, even if they're very simplistic ones.

[Zerker_Jane]

There already is a free trial, it's called free to play.

 

there is currently no trial for the full game. f2p dose not do a good job at really showing you the potential of p2p

 

It is however a free trial or demo of the full game, limited in features the same way any demo or trial is.

 

How many trials allow you to get the maximum level you can get in skills? Can you name a single one that doesn't have a level cap?

[Sy_Accursed]

There already is a free trial, it's called free to play.

 

there is currently no trial for the full game. f2p dose not do a good job at really showing you the potential of p2p

 

It is however a free trial or demo of the full game, limited in features the same way any demo or trial is.

 

How many trials allow you to get the maximum level you can get in skills? Can you name a single one that doesn't have a level cap?

 

Runescape.

[Jonanananas]

Oh god please stop the "Is F2P a demo or not" discussion. There's no fitting answer to it because it depends on your exact definition. Fact is, F2P has unlimited time but limited content. It seems like Jagex is pushing towards a limited time, unlimited content trial. Can't say I'm too happy with this, I still think the other way works better, but meh....

[Fresi]

i don't think they will remove f2p, its simply a trial of p2p, so no harm done to the old system.

And there is several ways they can stop you from abusing this as a bot, limiting xp gain/lvling/trading amount of flax allowed to pick etz.

 

i see F2p not as trial, but as a game, where p2p is basically its very large expansion, and this would be a trial of that expansion.

[The Runar]

There already is a free trial, it's called free to play.

 

there is currently no trial for the full game. f2p dose not do a good job at really showing you the potential of p2p

 

It is however a free trial or demo of the full game, limited in features the same way any demo or trial is.

 

How many trials allow you to get the maximum level you can get in skills? Can you name a single one that doesn't have a level cap?

 

I don't know about games, but many Android apps seem to work like this. You have a totally free "Lite" version, which has limited features but you can use it for as long as you want, a trial of the full version, which has full features but limited time, and then the full version.

[Omali]

I recall a few summers back that they actually did run a promotion like this - the so-called Midsummer Special. I'm not confident that it brought in members at a rate that Jagex approved, or we'd have seen another incarnation of this.

 

To be blunt, a promotion like this would not go over well. Jagex does a pretty good job with forcing Members down your throat at every waking moment you're online promoting membership without having to use another limited trial. I'm actually of the same wavelength as RoswellCrash now; I too feel that Jagex may have missed an opportunity with Burthrope/Taverley to potentially woo new players to their game.

 

That's because the midsummer special was crap. You needed a credit card and the subscription cost was charged as a deposit and the player was signed up for a membership that they had to cancel. That didn't fly with a lot of people.

[RU_Insane]

Oh god please stop the "Is F2P a demo or not" discussion. There's no fitting answer to it because it depends on your exact definition. Fact is, F2P has unlimited time but limited content. It seems like Jagex is pushing towards a limited time, unlimited content trial. Can't say I'm too happy with this, I still think the other way works better, but meh....

 

In fact, there is a business model that F2P fits into. I couldn't find the post to link back to, but it was from Omali, and he basically ended the discussion:

 

ITT: College kids try to act like their business associates degree (college equivalent of a GED) makes them more qualified than a CEO.

 

There are several forms of MMO business models but we won't go into that right now. There is no such thing as a "demo" in the MMO world, there are only "trials" and there are fundamental differences between the two.

 

1. A demo applies to the non-MMO genre.

2. A demo is never updated, at all, unless the developer wishes to fix several bugs.

3. An MMO "trial" is subject to the same patches as the full game.

4. A demo is almost always segregated from the full game, should multiplayer elements even be included.

 

Free To Play: Many free to play games are dubbed "Free to play, pay to compete" as they more often than not have a cash shop, and usually one that gives perks in player vs player combat. It is not often you will find a free to play game that does not have some form of cash shop (Shadowbane is one of the few MMOs to opt for in-game advertisements). It is important to note that a free to play game does not carry any option for "membership", although some may offer subscriptions in the form of a certain amount of cash shop currency being delivered each month.

 

Freemium: This is the category Runescape falls into. Technically a subdivision of the free to play brand, freemium allows players a full game for free, but with the added option of getting premium options by paying a fee, hence the name freemium (free-premium). Although this varies per business, freemium models in the MMO genre are not time-limited. The fundamental difference between freemium and an unlimited trial, in this respect, is that the free portion of a freemium title can be considered a full game in and of itself. Although a soft-wall exists in freemium titles, where players may be limited in world-space, an unlimited trial is freely admitted as a small taste of a full game.

 

To better make the comparison, a free vanilla ice cream cone, with napkins and access to a bathroom, would constitute the free portion of a freemium title, with sprinkles, syrup, a drink, cherries, and other amenities being the "premium" service.

 

Unlimited trial: The unlimited trial only began catching steam in the past year or two, with titles including Champions Online, Warhammer Online, and Global Agenda being among the MMOs that are switching to this business model. In the unlimited trial, a player has free reign to take in the game at their own pace, owing to internal research showing that the fifteen day trial was overall not long enough to give players a satisfying look at the game. Unlimited trials offer no time limit, but always impose some form of limit on levels. In Warhammer Online, for instance, players are limited to tier 1 (up to level 10), while Champions Online restricts players to the first fifteen levels, and the Qulaar Invasion area (to be changed at an unknown date).

 

To continue the ice cream analogy, an unlimited trial would be the option to sample (if you've seen those thimble sized cups and fingernail sized spoons, you'll know what I'm talking about) a couple flavors, but just large enough to have a taste.

 

tl;dr; RuneScape is a freemium MMO. Credit to Omali

[Sy_Accursed]

At the risk of going off-topic ^ is A definition that can be applied, however there is no dictionary or legal definition that makes those wordings any more valid than anything else someone can come up with.

[RU_Insane]

At the risk of going off-topic ^ is A definition that can be applied, however there is no dictionary or legal definition that makes those wordings any more valid than anything else someone can come up with.

 

I'm confused as to how those two are even relevant to the case. Just because 'freemium', and others aren't in a dictionary or defined by some law, makes it not valid? Clearly those terms have meaning as designated by the sectors they're confined to i.e. business sector. Seeing as how those terms aren't designed for colloquial usage and lack room for legal interpretation, what business would they have residing in a dictionary or legal text?

[Alg]

At the risk of going off-topic ^ is A definition that can be applied, however there is no dictionary or legal definition that makes those wordings any more valid than anything else someone can come up with.

There are, however, other online games and services that follow the same model. It's a valid term.

There are a large number of MMO games that use this model, as do services like Pandora, Hulu, and Spotify.

[Sy_Accursed]

Doh, I never said they can't be used or are invalid Just that as they are made-up terms that are not defined by law or by the dictionary or by any other universal defining body they are not the be all and end all definition and people are perfectly entitled to use any other terminology (within reason) they see fit and it holds just as much validity.

[Kimberly]

Doh, I never said they can't be used or are invalid Just that as they are made-up terms that are not defined by law or by the dictionary or by any other universal defining body they are not the be all and end all definition and people are perfectly entitled to use any other terminology (within reason) they see fit and it holds just as much validity.

 

If that is the name adopted by a company as a business model, and it has since been adopted by several other services, it is considered not only an acceptable definition, but a better definition than the one you used. So yes if it helps you, you are still technically correct. But those explaining it to be "freemium" are more correct and acceptable than yours. There's no reason to go off on a massive tangent just to twist it in such a way that you come out to be correct when no one is telling you you're wrong...

[Sy_Accursed]

I wasn't trying to argue anything; just contributing to the discussion/debate.

I just noted, even saying it was off-topic, that while those definitions work they are by no means they be all and end all definitions and then just clarified myself as people took what I meant wrongly.