Poll Question 074 - Would you consider paying a monthly fee to play single player games?
UPDATE
I apologize for the EuroGamer link not working I missed one character in the URL. Anyway, it’s now working and it’s VERY important you visit the page before voting, because it gives you the information you need to decide.
Those readers with good memories may recall that I have already asked this question in October 2007. I have chosen to ask it again because I recently found a website that is doing just that; renting single player games. (In fact they are doing more than that and unless I have totally misunderstood what’s on offer it’s a great deal.) The response back in October was a very clear NO! but I would like you to visit the website, which is run by EuroGamer, a respected game site and vote again.
So, this week’s Poll Question is:
Would you consider paying a monthly fee to play single player games?
What’s The Deal?
Here is some information from the site:
Essential Collection: £6.95 /month, a catalogue of 170 games to play all you want - worth more than £500 when bought separately!
Ultimate Collection: £12.95 /month, a catalogue of 237 games to play all you want - worth more than £1,000 when bought separately!
At least 3 New games added added to each collection every month.
Cancel at any time, for any reason, with no obligation, online in just a few clicks of the mouse.
What’s the difference between the Collections?
- New games are first added to the Ultimate Collection.
- After a few months they’re added to the Essential Collection.
Not the same as the last question
In reality what the website offers is not the same as I was suggesting in the October poll but it’s similar enough to be confused. Here they are simply giving you access to lots of games that you can pick and choose at will.
You could simply pay your fee and play one game until the end and that’s that.
In fact $6.95 for one game doesn’t sound too bad when compared with the price of a video rental or movie ticket.
Let’s think about it for a moment
I never replay games, even Half-Life games. I tried but just couldn’t, although this summer I will try really hard to replay HL2, Ep1 and Ep2.
What if you are like me and don’t want a game after you have played it? What could you do? Sell it on Ebay or a similar site? Perhaps, but that might be too much trouble for you. Also if a game doesn’t allow for maps and mods to be made for it why keep it?
Agreed, not everybody is like me but I bet there are quite a few players that rarely replay games.
Let’s take Timeshift as a example. It’s currently available at Play.com for £24.99 but I am sure you can get it cheaper. (It’s actually available for £14.99 second hand on Play.) Now, as with all new items the moment you open it its value drops to nearly half. Once you have played the game it is sitting there gathering dust.
Perhaps you buy one game a month like this. What if you hated the game? You’ve wasted you money immediately! (Some people actually buy games without playing the demo, which seems pretty crazy to me, but some people are crazy!)
Now, I know I might sound like an advertisement for the site and service but I’m not. I should perhaps say I have no connection with the site in any way whatsoever.
It’s beginning to sound like good value, assuming you have a fast enough connection that is.
So, why don’t I do it? I’m not sure. At least if I buy a game I can keep it if I want. I have the choice. I suppose that even if I cancel my subscription I could rejoin at a later date and get access to the same games. It probably comes down to this:
If you want one or two games and don’t mind not having the actual game then $6.95 is pretty good value. Or if you definitely know you are going to buy lots of games that you will rarely play then it’s still a good deal. Anything in the middle and you may feel weird about.
Perhaps it’s simply a mindset change that is needed. Who thinks twice about renting movies? Only collectors who want the special editions etc.
Now there is a good idea. Developers make two versions of the game. Normal version which can be rented on a service like this and sold and the special edition which has extra content and can only be bought.
I probably need to read the details of the offer carefully but to be honest I don’t plan to buy many games in the future. Now that I have focused on HL on PP I want to play all the mods and even start making some maps myself. With so little time I’ll just try the demos of new SP FPS games and stick to that.
I plan to buy and play RtCW2 because I really enjoyed that game and am hoping the mod scene will flourish when it is released.
So, what do you think of the Eurogamer service? Would you consider it? If not, why not?
The Poll
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