Crowns of Power - Micro Transactions

Hey folks, with Crowns of Power being out for over three months, I figure it's about time to post an update. In this update I will discuss the implications of our decision to use a micro-transactional supported MMO over subscriptions.

So far the model has worked rather well. Although there are challenges. We have many players who have played since day one without spending a dime, while we also have those that have spent more than they would have on a subscription. These two different types of players balance out and you end up with about the same as a subscription fee.

Even the players that don't pay anything contribute to the overall success of the game. They are active members of the community and help create the solical aspect of the MMO experience. It can be hard getting players to play your indie title, and a no-credit card solution is very appealing.

Finding suitable items to sell in our point store has been a constant challenge. You have to make sure you balance the desire of the item with the impact on balance.

For example, an item that would sell very well would be something that doubles all damage you deal. While you might sell a lot of points to players who wish to buy it, the damage to the game's balance would cause non-point buying players to become frustrated with the game.

The best items to sell are ones that are purely aesthetic. These allow players to distinguish themselves in-game, without any adverse affect on the balance.

The primary item we sell is "item gemming". This allows a player to place an item on an anvil, and insert up to three gems into an item. Each gem gives a progressivly more powerful boost to the stats. The pricing of the gems scales with the level of the item. This is required to give an incentive for players to gem items that they are likely to replace in coming levels.

One very difficult decision with a micro-transaction model is whether or not to allow players to trade the points to one another. The main advantage to this, is it creates a point economy. Points can then be used to trade for good and services with other players. This also allows free-players a chance to get points. The largest disadvantage is the potential for fraud. If fraudulent points get into the economy, it can be a labor intensive task repairing the damage.

We eventually settled on allowing players to trade points. We were able to do it due to our excellent fraud protection system. There has not been a single instance of fraud. You can get more information about our fraud protection system at www.rampidpay.com/.

Point Store - Character tab

Some notable ones are the last name, and hair formula. These do not cause any imbalances, but are still desirable. The hair formula is the only way to get facial hair.

The base exp-hour allows players to level while offline.

Point Store - Talents

These are permanent upgrades to a player's character. These are very desierable especially towards the end-game.

In my next post, I will discuss creating raid content and custom AI's.