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#1
Stevphfeniey

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As we all know Airline Empires is designed, built and maintained by one person: Yuxi. Now by his good graces Yuxi (and the website staff) had set up AE to operate off donations and ad revenue allowing it to be completely free to use assuming you have an internet connection.

 

That needs to change. Pronto.

 

The last major update to the game was the addition of seat configs to airline pages for all to see, and that was years ago. AE4, which I'm convinced is actually a myth at this point, has been in development for years now with no completion date in sight. Now none of this is the fault of one man developing a game in his spare time pro bono, and I'm surprised he's doing it in the first place.

 

The solution: more manpower to push AE development along, and that means we need to start paying. 

 

So my proposal is this: A fee to use the forums. A fee to play the game. Super simple stuff. I pay an amount, it could be monthly it could be a one time thing, and I have the ability to use the forums. The precedent is the setup airlines.net used for years. Plus it'd cut down on all the stupid s*** people post all the goddamn time. On a community as large as AE, a stipend to anybody who wants to help develop AE could be paid out and as we all know money is the ultimate incentive. 

 

I'd ask for your thoughts but I can already hear the bitching and moaning. 

 

 


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#2
zipp

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Sounds good

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#3
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I have no problem paying, whether it'd be a monthly subscription or a one-time payment. The deal breaker for me would come down to how much that fee would be in total.

 

See, this is challenging because I'm on the fence about this. I'm totally for a paid service for many reasons, some that Steve pointed out on the discord. For one, you'd be helping out the development team with a paid subscription or one-time payment, it would get rid of a lot of unnecessary users (not to be taken out of context) and would leave only the true and dedicated players that would still be willing to utilize Airline Empires, even if it had become a paid service. And there's many other reasons and good points to be made as well.

 

BUT...

 

At the same time, what makes me lean away from this is the fact that Airline Empires is one of the only of it's kind that is totally free. It's one of the primary reasons as to why I came to AE to begin with, because it was one of the only websites to allow users to run an online airline simulation at no expense whatsoever. Obviously, since AE is currently free, it isn't helping the development team, and allows for virtually anyone to come and play. But at the same time, it's the reason why Airline Empires is very popular. 

 

There's going to be a trade-off no matter which way things go from here, paid or unpaid.



#4
LockheedTristar

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I'd have problems paying for this, and it'd cut the community in half. I love AE, I enjoy making airlines, but I just dont have money for things like this. I'd be happy with more advertisements being shown on the websites, and on the airline page, unless you make a monthly 4.99 contribution for a premium ad-free site. Then both the non-payers are contributing and people who are able to pay and wish to support the game are happy too.



#5
Stevphfeniey

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The fact you want to keep it free is stifling development. Ultimately making AE non-competitive in the future due to sheer outdatedness. 


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#6
LockheedTristar

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The fact you want to keep it free is stifling development. Ultimately making AE non-competitive in the future due to sheer outdatedness. 

 

Having 3/4 of the active players leave because they can't pay for it would also stifle development



#7
Ryan_D96

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I would be more than willing to pay for AE as it stands just now but I think others would require further incentives. I also think that in order to mainintain AE's popularity and to grow its audience there needs to be free worlds too. Just to be clear, I would object in the strongest possible terms to a 'pay to win' scenario.

I've seen the idea of premium worlds being tossed around in the forums which I think would be a good idea. Another incentive could perhaps be that premium memebers get to beta test/have early access new features that the AE team develops.

#8
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I would be more than willing to pay for AE as it stands just now but I think others would require further incentives. I also think that in order to mainintain AE's popularity and to grow its audience there needs to be free worlds too. Just to be clear, I would object in the strongest possible terms to a 'pay to win' scenario.
I've seen the idea of premium worlds being tossed around in the forums which I think would be a good idea. Another incentive could perhaps be that premium memebers get to beta test/have early access new features that the AE team develops.


I actually somewhat like that idea a lot. Make it free to join and use the forums, but make it a pay service to actually use the simulation. (I.e. For scenario sake: the player pays a $1.00 or $2.00 fee to start an airline in any of the worlds. And users would be able to start/and close airlines as many times as they wish, or as permissible, for the entire duration that the world is up and running). As soon as a world ends and restarts, the user would once again pay the small fee to access the simulation yet again.

It's just a scenario but it seems like something that could actually work. Or it's just something that seemed better in mind than in reality.

#9
Med.

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I like the idea. But for me, certain conditions have to be met. The game has to be really good. Better than any airline simulation game out there and even better than what we envision AE4 to be. There has to be more graphics in the game where you can monitor your fleet's movements and activity on the airports. I am more than willing to contribute on the graphics side of things.

 

Also, a new algorithm must be developed on how demand is calculated. We shouldn't be stuck with 3-classes and the price and load-factors will vary depending on the comfort level of the seats and service you provide. Cargo is a must too. We can also add real world events that affect demand like fuel prices and political conditions during a certain time and place.

 

The game worlds I think should run slower too, so you can extract more juice out of the game by designing your cabins by choosing from a wide range of seat types, building lounges at airports, dealing codeshares/alliances and generally more micromanaging like playing SimCity.

 

I think it would be a good idea if the starting capital in game would depend on how much you pay to start your airline. Maybe $1 gives you a starting capital of $1M. If you want to start an airline with jumbos right away, you would have to shell out more money. This way you get to value your airline more and have that feel of what an airline tycoon really feels.

 

I love AE very much. I have the highest respect for Yuxi and the other developers of the game. But my only thought if we were to make the game payware is that the game itself should have radical changes. The current setup of the game right now is not fit for payware. It's too simplistic and childish. Right now, we're just little kids playing with little kids toys. This new, payware AE should be upgraded to a more big kid game to make it worth it.

 

I understand if this move was taken, I expect 75% of our members will leave. I estimate that most players now are people below 16 years old. Very few mommies out there would hand over their credit cards to let their kids play this game. So this should be a game that attracts older players. Bottom line I think this is a good idea and I think the community will benefit since the people this will attract are people who are more mature and have a deeper understanding of the ins and outs of aviation and the airline business. And the 25% of those who stayed will learn from the older people and develop better.


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#10
Ryan_D96

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I think it would be a good idea if the starting capital in game would depend on how much you pay to start your airline. Maybe $1 gives you a starting capital of $1M. If you want to start an airline with jumbos right away, you would have to shell out more money. 

 

 

 

I see this as a very slippery slope. Pay to win games are just awful, they suck 99% of the fun out of games.  If you can pay real money for in game money what's to say that you can't pay real money to speed up in game deliveries of aircraft etc.

 

The best way to approach this, in my opinion, would be that everyone pays the same (e.g. a flat monthly fee/world entry fee/one time payment for an account) and everyone starts off on a level playing field. That way it's about skill and strategy as opposed to deepest pockets. 



#11
highland

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oh I like that..... "conditions have to be met"....

 

know mind you, youtube plays a pivotal role in my conditions being met. so

with that being said......

 

the day I see a 100 pound poo ball pumpkin chucked at "CONCEPT" and " LOGIC". two

different people...

then sure. i'll pay-pal a dollar.......



#12
Spyrosv

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I agree with Ryan on that. As Med said, a lot of the members,including me, are at or below 16 so those members are most likely to leave. Generally I don't really agree with this concept but if it happens I will most likely stay. I love AE and the community here and I don't want to lose those people who have the same interests with me. A suggestion of improving all this idea is to include paysafe cards as a payment method, something that the younger members will like and will be attracted from.

#13
Airboss777

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If you are not the Dev, & do not speak with the authority of the Dev, do not propose how the Dev should run his game. Ask Yuxi first if he wants to charge users & see his dream of a free game killed, & let Yuxi decide that for himself, & let Yuxi seek opinions from players for himself. None of our thoughts matter on the subject, & as much as it's kind for some players to be willing to pay for the game, it's none of your fricking business. Literally.

 

You don't see Google charging users to search anything. Free websites can still make a lot of money.



#14
TNT88

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Main reason why lots of people flocked to AE is because it's free. What I would suggest though is to increase the number of ads shown. Took 10% of the right side of the page and put more banners into it. This features should be PERMANENT for all pages in AE. That should help to generate more income. Just make sure it's not auto-ploppable.



#15
Stevphfeniey

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Having 3/4 of the active players leave because they can't pay for it would also stifle development

Exactly


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#16
Preston

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As we all know Airline Empires is designed, built and maintained by one person: Yuxi. Now by his good graces Yuxi (and the website staff) had set up AE to operate off donations and ad revenue allowing it to be completely free to use assuming you have an internet connection.

 

That needs to change. Pronto.

 

The last major update to the game was the addition of seat configs to airline pages for all to see, and that was years ago. AE4, which I'm convinced is actually a myth at this point, has been in development for years now with no completion date in sight. Now none of this is the fault of one man developing a game in his spare time pro bono, and I'm surprised he's doing it in the first place.

 

The solution: more manpower to push AE development along, and that means we need to start paying. 

 

So my proposal is this: A fee to use the forums. A fee to play the game. Super simple stuff. I pay an amount, it could be monthly it could be a one time thing, and I have the ability to use the forums. The precedent is the setup airlines.net used for years. Plus it'd cut down on all the stupid s*** people post all the goddamn time. On a community as large as AE, a stipend to anybody who wants to help develop AE could be paid out and as we all know money is the ultimate incentive. 

 

I'd ask for your thoughts but I can already hear the bitching and moaning. 

NO support just because while this game is fun one of the main reasons that me and many other people got into this game in the 1st place is because it was FREE! I know if I had to pay a fee to play me and many others would leave the game. A alternate solution would be to offer the ability to donate money to yuxi That way people like you and others could donate if you want to pay while others could keep enjoying the game. BTW you do know game worlds have ads.



#17
Preston

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I'd ask for your thoughts but I can already hear the bitching and moaning. 

 

 Maybe thats a sign that this isn't the best idea.

Also

 

Having 3/4 of the active players leave  would stifle development even more.



#18
tyriq

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No

#19
Med.

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I see this as a very slippery slope. Pay to win games are just awful, they suck 99% of the fun out of games.  If you can pay real money for in game money what's to say that you can't pay real money to speed up in game deliveries of aircraft etc.

 

The best way to approach this, in my opinion, would be that everyone pays the same (e.g. a flat monthly fee/world entry fee/one time payment for an account) and everyone starts off on a level playing field. That way it's about skill and strategy as opposed to deepest pockets. 

The thing is, some people see this as a game, others see it as a simulation.

 

If you like to keep it as a game then keep it free and deal with the fact that no development is being made.

 

If you like it more to be a simulation, then the idea is to make it as realistic as possible. And in the real world, airlines start up with differing amounts of capital. Some airlines are injected billions of dollars from their governments others are started up by dreamy guys who have somewhat rich dads. The game will have a lot of micromanaging and if you don't know how to manage an airline, then you lose, even if you start up with $1 trillion and order 100 A380s up front, especially if you're starting in a country like Djibouti. There are wild cards as well like events and fuel prices. It's not a pay to win game as you don't really "win" in a simulation.

 

Maybe the best idea for AE is to improve its ad revenue, and really advertise itself to attract a larger audience and recruit more developers that are compensated accordingly.


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#20
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A constantly changing game is not always a good game. More than often, I found myself ditching a game because the developer introduced a super cool new buff which obsoletes everything else in the game. Pretty much most of the suggestions you see in AE fall into this category, users suggest (not so) new features to brag about how much they (don't) know about real world aviation, not because such features make tha game more enjoyable.






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