Pay for this, pay for that? ...

[Kanegrundar]

I play WoW now and have played MMORPG's since Ultima Online. I have never had a problem with paying to play the game for the same reason as a lot of people: it takes a lot of money, a lot more than can be generated from the initial sale alone.

On the other side, I DM primarily. I have never charged anyone for me to run a game. I guess I charge them a little bit by asking the players to bring some food for the session, but never monetary compensation. I would never do so. DM'ing is not a business for me like running a MMORPG is a business for those that keep them going.

On that token, I would never pay someone to run a game. Gaming is all about being with friends for me. If I have to pay a friend to play with me, then he's not really a friend. I don't usually game with people I don't know, I do upon occasion, but I doubt I would pay to play even then. I'd much just go play WoW then. After all, I'm already paying for that.

Kane

 

[apesamongus]

But I'm looking at the question as, "if the only way you could play was to pay, would you?" And my answer is, hell yes--assuming it was a good GM and a fun campaign.

If the only way you could have sex was to pay, would you?

 

[solkan_uk]

I put Y/Y, but it depends on the DM - I know when I DM I provide snacks, space, I create the adventures, and its me that owns 90% of the rulebooks in the group.

If I came to a group like that I would offer to pay a small contribution - but I'm a generous soul (and have more money than any of my friends), so demand nothing.

 

[Zoatebix]

I'm put n/n, but I'm considering picking up the lovely no subscription Guild Wars by NC soft. It's about as much as a big, big game book as a one-time fee.

 

[Odhanan]

The only thing I paid for is Fantasy Grounds, which is a software (not a GM) that I couldn't have built by myself, to play with my friends from around the world.

I never paid for a MMORPG, nor do I intend to, and I never paid for a DM.

 

[Darth K'Trava]

My DMs require no payment for their providing us with a game. The fact that we enjoy it is reward enough for them!

I'd never pay for online games as I don't have that kind of spare cash to waste.

 

[Man in the Funny Hat]

I don't pay for either. But I think you have a proble, on line games are not massively efficient DMs. It is a different breed all together, on line games serve their purpose and people obviously find them fun. But DMs in a table top game have so much more responsibility and purpoose they just are not comparible.

While the label "roleplaying game" may have come to be attached to online (or even offline) games like Everquest, World of Warcraft or Diablo these are NOT roleplaying games in the same sense that D&D is a roleplaying game. Those computer games are "roleplaying" in the sense that you assume the role of an individual character - but it is a character and a world that is ultimately incredibly limited in the amount and type of INTERACTION that is possible between the player character, the NPC's and the environment of the game world itself. D&D has no such limitations.

A computer RPG server is NOT like an incredibly efficient DM because you cannot interact with that server except in VERY limited and carefully defined ways. A real live DM on the other hand can take the role of ANY character, ANY creature and can rule on your characters interaction with ANY aspect of the game world environment. Your character can EXCEED the predetermined limitations of the game world because the DM is there to expand it in every way desired AT THAT VERY MOMENT. There is no comparison between a computer and a DM except at the most basic level of game-control functions.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I play with friends. If I were friends with the guys who run Blizzard, I wouldn't pay to play World of Warcraft either.

Friendship with game designers typically only gets you into alpha and beta, actually.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

You know what I'm finding interesting? A lot of people are saying, "pay for a GM? No way! That's a hobby and the guy who's GMing should do it for the love of the game!" Yet in a lot of cases, these same posters are also saying, "but I'd certainly pay for an online game! Consider the servers, the connection, the program, the 'when I want it' convenience, etc."

I don't see a "lot" of people saying that. I see people saying "I'd pay for a DM who was at my total beck and call 24/7, but they don't exist."

In North America, it's free to operate a TV - in most places you can even pick up free TV stations using antennae. In the UK however people pay a TV broadcasting tax to receive those stations & they have vans that drive around neighbourhoods detecting whether or not you're receiving broadcasts in your home without paying the tax... In the UK no one thinks it's strange to pay a broadcast tax. Just try and introduce that now to the Americans or Canadians though!!

We call that "the cable bill." The number of Americans who do without it now is relatively low.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

If the only way you could have sex was to pay, would you?

/cough marriage