Chapter LXXIV: Cash Shop

The time has come to talk about this…because, differently of what some people say, I believe that obtaining the maximum amount of subscription possible is not the most important aspect of a MMO. While having a revenue do is important, the game experience is the most important factor. It’s much better to have a small playerbase that is satisfied than a large playerbase that is just bored. Look at SW:TOR…it’s a good example of this. It has a playerbase like 3-4x bigger than FFXI one…but the game lacked game experience so the playerbase size is extremely unstable. Meanwhile, FFXI offers a massive game experience so it can captivate the players who played it, keeping them.

However, sometimes the subscription isn’t enough to keep the game…like LEGO Universe, who had over 2 million players but nearly no one actually subscribed. This is where the cash shop enters. The cash shop is a business model where a few players spend way more than a flat subscription would generate in exchange for a better game experience. Usually this model is so efficient that it is enough to keep the game free –to-play.

But cash shops have an Achilles’ heel, that is the thin line separating better game experience from ingame edge over those who don’t use it. Being able to discern these two situations is critical, but still most MMOs that use it just prefer to cross this line, making a game where only those spending decent amount of money actually can have a full game experience, leaving all others lost in a depreciated, cash item-dependent gameplay.

So the best would be keeping both mechanics together. I particularly agree with FFXIV original subscription model, thinking that it covered the most impacting aspects of the game properly.

a) Basic subscription. This is nice to have. I particularly would add automatically to this amount 1 character and 2 retainers (which is enough to fully experience the game.)

b) Additional character. Good to have too. FFXIV, just like FFXI, is meant to have players fully experiencing it with a single character so no need to having “bundles” with 4, 8, 16 and so on character slots. If the player wants extra characters he should just play individually for them.

c) Additional Retainers. Very clever idea. It’s pretty much the storage mules we have in most games. I believe that being able to pay for additional retainers was a great idea.

This was the original flat subscription model of FFXIV. Having this and a cash shop model would grant the cash shop the option of keeping a decent distance from the “risk line” said above…after all the cash shop would be just for extra revenue.

Here some stuff I’d add to cash shop:

- Hairstyles. Additional hairstyles to character creation.

-Body Types. Additional body types, like slim, fat and gorgeous types.

-Additional characteristics. More scars, burns, tattoos, bitten ears, maimed tail, etc.

-Additional Races. Like said about races, some would be just accessible thru key gen…here we could sell the access to them instead for those not willing to try and obtain them ingame. This is possible since races are even overall so it would have no ingame impact.

-Vanity gear. Fashion gear, cosplay gear, weapon skins, etc.

-Mount models. They would work like skins, not offering ingame impact, just like vanity items.

-Transportation parts. Aesthetic parts for airships, vehicles, etc that would affect them visually only.

-LS/company/faction crest. Additional 3 and 4 colors crest templates and even the crest upload option. This would be bought once and affect all LSs, companies and factions owned by that player.

-LS/company/faction items. Vanity items using the LS, company or faction as theme, going from crests to even uploaded stamps!

-PvP action sets. Some might say this is crossing the line…but it’s not. FFXIV is essentially PvE so these actions would have no impact in the main game since they wouldn’t be usable outside PvP.

-PvP arena builder. Some people just like this…it’s like FFXI’s moblin maze mongers. Again, wouldn’t affect the main game.

-PvP gear sets. PvP, no impact ingame, yadda yadda. By being only equipable outside PvP at vanity slot, it’s not an issue at all.

-PvP arena theme bundles. Additional options to be used at arena builder.

And many other aspects could be added this way, like having ingame a trading card game and adding limited edition event booster packs (all regular packs would be obtained ingame), having other minigames, pastime games, etc. Mainly involving PvP multiplayer content. This would have no impact to the game, only offering an extra game experience o those who actually like PvP.