Hi Dakotah, As to your point about a survey that is something I've been planning to do for Audyssey. The only issue is I'm currently tied up working on my own game projects right now and let the survey slide. However, I'll try to find a bit of time to write a survey form and post it for people to answer.
As to the point about pricing I personally think most games are fairly priced. The GMA Games, for example, run between $30 and $35 USD and I think that is a fair price for a game of their quality. Classic Troopanum from BSC ran about $25 and I don't think it was out of line either. Although, I don't see myself paying more than $25 for a Space Invader type game. The only games I think were over priced were the Bavisoft games. I couldn't see myself paying $45 for what essentially amounts to an audio text adventure. All and all most audio games are cheaper than mainstream games. A lot of mainstream games range from $30 to $50 USD and most audio games aren't that high. I know when my wife and I got Mario for the Wii I think it was $39 USD and I honestly can say I haven't seen many audio games priced quite that high. So I don't think many blind gamers have much to complain about when it comes to pricing. Speaking of great mechanics that is the discussion we are having over on the USA Games testers list this week. We are throwing around ideas on ways to improve the mechanics of Mysteries of the Ancients such as giving each weapon its own attack speed or rate so that something like a knife does less damage but is faster than say an ancient sword. Good stuff there. Cheers! On 5/6/13, Dakotah Rickard <dakotah.rick...@gmail.com> wrote: > The thing to remember is that we can afford any of the audiogames. In > my humble opinion, and I refuse point blank to point fingers or accept > the blame for others' finger pointing, some people have charged more > than I feel is reasonable for their games, especially when you > consider how much entertainment you get for the cost. > Still, in my opinion, if a person wants to play a paid game, they need > to own it, or they could obtain the information, transfer the > licenses, etc. from a person who swears they're done. Honestly, I know > that that seems like piracy, and maybe it is, especially since most > people don't like transference of a license, and I'd much prefer > people buy their own license, but it's kind of the lesser of two > evils. > > I'll put it this way. Developers want to make money, if they are > charging for their games. Whether they want a Christmas bonus or a > steady income, they want a profit, especially if they are spending > time to code and selling their product. If those developers don't make > a profit, then they have little reason to continue making games. If > even fewer games are made, and if those games ask for profit in order > to be played, then we introduce the potential for monopolies to occur, > wherein a couple of developers make all the games and charge what they > want, and we won't be in a position to complain, because we made it > happen by denying them what they ask, profit. > On the other hand, it's up to the developer to charge appropriately. > If your game offers a playthrough time of, say, two hours, and you ask > fifty dollars for it, is that fair? Yeah, maybe the playthrough is > amazing, but unless the next play is wildly different, each > playthrough is less and less fun, and the overall entertainment is > probably not going to be worth fifty dollars to anyone but a die-hard > fan of either the developer, the series, or of having every game ever. > That's why I recommended that we put up that survey site, somewhere, > to collect info about how much players are willing to pay for x number > of features and what types of features they want. > > I'll put in the same example I used before. I love online play. It > makes a game great for me, but many games don't really work well with > multiplayer in concept, and a game has to be designed from the ground > up with multiplayer, or a developer has to redesign a lot. It is a lot > harder than many people are willing to accept or admit to put in a > feature like that. If we had a site where developers were given the > statistical information on how much people are willing to pay, then > they would have, in very rough terms, an idea of how much they could > make from a game. Obviously, a game with a great story or a great > mechanic would sell better than a game that had neither, even if both > had similar features. > > I don't know how to make this work, though I wish I did. > > Signed: > Dakotah Rickard --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/gamers@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
