The Progression of Wyvern and its Future.

[Salkand]

I propose that Rhialto charge five dollars per account to play wyvern. Now hear me out, my friends and fellow wyverneers. You all complain about lag, you all have to deal with those "Certain individuals" such as last night. In a few years that fellow will be back; I know, my friends that he will be back because he was here once before.

Listen to me, my friends, If Rhialto charged five dollars an account, which is only one dollar per player. You could as opposed to buying an entire account, buy a single player for $1! He could buy a new server and with only 1,000 new active accounts. That is $5,000 my friends! 5k for him to maintain wyvern, to buy new graphics, a better server!
We have all encountered a person in our time on wyvern, a person who is mean, rude, and deserves to be banished. Sometimes a wizard is not on to solve the problem, and the people of wyvern must live with these people until such a time as a wizard does come on. Charging such a minimal fee for wyvern shall be a determinate for those who would cause problems. And with less trouble-makers playing wyvern, the wizards can stop focusing on punishments, and begin making more content for the game.
You all know me, and you all know that I am your friend. I would never suggest an idea that I did not find to be in the interest of the people of wyvern. Hear me, my companions in arms, hear me when I say that we must do what we can for the lands of wyvern.



Now allow me to address several issues.

1. The wizards will have to show a little more respect for the players of wyvern. Now I respect the wizards, but even I have noticed that they sometimes say or do unsavory things. Now that we are paying for the game, it should be expected of all administration to act in a purely professional manner.
2. A terms and agreement needs to be set up; a contract which explains all the rules as they apply to wyvern. This is a legal contract, meaning the breaking of one of the rules will still result in banishment. But it will be covered by the game, as long as it was in the rules.
3. A fair rating must also be added to the game. There are certain monsters in the game that can be considered offensive. Hence a rating and an agreement of parent consent for persons under a certain age.
4. Although I agree 100% with the healing Fix, it is apparent that a lot of people have a problem with it, and have left wyvern. Actions like this must be taken into deeper consideration. Maybe give the people of wyvern a couple of weeks advance notice. That way we can fix our skill sets and adjust accordingly.
5. Some players chose not to play an alternate character, and these players should not be forced to pay an extra $4. So in conjunction with this idea, you can also buy individual characters for $1 per character.
6. Also, since the people of wyvern are paying to play the game. Certain things such as state wipes, item wipes, and any other type of wipe should never happen under any circumstance.
7. Now it must be understood that Wyvern is still in beta. Now that we are paying, I believe it only fair that Rhialto have a backup system. This way if a bug happens that causes you to lose all your items/gold/XP, you can then get all these things back. In other words, an insurance policy for fairness.
8. The idle boot time should be set to 5 minutes or more as opposed to the 3 minutes we use now.
9. It should be considered to have an 8 hour reboot, because we are paying for the game we should be allowed to continue slightly longer before the game reboots.
10. The last thing, and maybe the most important; the game should offer a free trial period where you can learn how to play. You will play the game like every other new player except that you will not be allowed to shout or send tells to anyone above level 3. When you get to level 4 and can officially leave New Verdan then you have to either pay or leave.

Naturally some things pertaining to this idea will need to be looked over a second time. Some things may need to be changed, but I feel that in the long run this idea would support wyvern.


Those players who are in support of this idea and who helped in its evolution are:

Salkand
Arcticwind
Krazymankat
Brolm

[Anchel]

First things first, I'm not here to bash the idea, nor to utterly reject it. What I say is to point out flaws (in my honest opinion), that this idea hold.

First off, payment. I know that $1 per character or even $5 per account isn't much, but think about those without access to credit cards. How are they going to pay for it then? Mail a dollar over from the opposite end of the earth? I think not. The postage would cost alot more than that dollar you are proposing. Not everyone has their own credit cards, nor would those WITH credit cards be willing to use them online. It is also pretty unfair to the existing players who have had been promised a free game, to suddenly have to pay a dollar to continue playing.

[From the FAQ]
Q: Is this game free?

A: Yes, you can play all you want for free.

It is already clearly stated in the FAQ that the game were to remain free unless "the server and/or bandwidth costs become prohibitively expensive". I don't see Rhialto complaining about server costs. If existing players were to pay, wouldn't that be contradicting what R himself wrote?

Secondly, paying for a game does not deter rude or bad-behaved people from playing it. How does it? Having the ability to pay for an online game does not automatically make you a "good-natured and honest" player, it just means you can play. So how does it become a determinant? It's no point stating that banishing them would solve the problem and stop then from coming back again. Doesn't that already mean they were in the game in the first place? If it were so, then the payment did nothing to stop those "bad" players from coming in in the first place.

Thirdly, paying $1 for a character in a game does not make it immune to stat-wipes. As it has been said before again and again, Wyvern is in Beta. Yuo even mentioned it yourself. That practically means a wipe would almost be a centainty. I don't think I have to talk on what wipes during a beta are for. Besides, it is unfair on R or anyone else to have to promise no wipes were to happen. What if a serious virus infection wipes all the information from R's database, backups and all? What is R going to do then, refund your $1?

Lastly, how does paying for a game cause you to have more respect from the wizards? The wizards are moderators for the game, and are not paid. Even with payment, only R is getting the money, not the other wizards. Now, I'm not saying that wizards should be unprofessional (no comments on that), but that forces the wizards into an unfair agreement (at least to them). R gives his wizards a somewhat free rein on things for a reason. I mean, if he hasn't banished some wizards for their behaviours, then they must have been doing something right.

That are all the flaws I can see with the suggestion. It won't really matter if I am labelled a troll or whatnot, but these are my observations on the idea.

[Arilou]

You want and expect people to pay for a game that is in beta? Are you out of your cotton picking mind or are you just trying to get attention at this point, troll?

[themadhobo]

I dont think asking the wizards to be more professional would fly, especially just because you paid a dollar for a character. They're into this for the same reason we are, because its fun. I think if you really want to see some more money going into wyern you should try something like posting a simple website with some pay per click ads and just forward the pennies you earn to big R.

[Salkand]

The reason paying a dollar is a determinate for certain individuals is because you are not going to continue paying a dollar per player just so you can log on and be a jerk. Of course there will always be rude players. But nothing down right serious.
As for the wizards, if Rhialto charges for the game it becomes a business. The Wizards are a legal representation of that business and become responsible for everything they say and do. Say and do the wrong thing and Rhialto could get sued. Hence why I took the time to adress that as an issue.
Payments would have to be limited to paypal or a credit card. I am it seems unfair but sending money via mail is too dangerous.
lastly, as Arilou stated the game is in beta and therefore there is no garantee that Rhialto will keep it free anyway. Although that appears to be the course he has chosen for now.

In terms of Arilou's post, I do expect people to pay. At the time this idea (assuming it is accepted) becomes functional. Wyvern would not be in beta. I don't know the year date, could be tomorrow (doubt it) and it could be ten years from now. I did take time to adress beta as if the idea would be accepted during the testing period. But the same truths apply to pre/post beta gaming.

[Ovrlndnsea]

Ugh. With those better-crafted sentences, I was expecting some sense from Salkand.

1. Those kind of limitations on the wizards, at this point, could kill the game. Whether or not the current ones stayed, I believe that that would be a significant deterrent to any new ones, and Wyvern needs new wizards.
2. Ugh. Wyvern has rules, and strictly-enforced ones already. We don't need to bring the legal monster into it.
3. "You eat succubus corpse. You feel sick." would probably be banned under a likely rating.
However, that could put pointless limits on the game. Many people wouldn't get the double meaning there.
4. Aye. If Wyvern was for pay, they'd have to do this. How would it help the game? Players are not cared about, at least when caring about them might harm the game in the slightest.
5. So, characters cost $1 each. We don't need the added complexity of "you can buy a character for $1 or a packet of five for $5."
6. That's completely against the principles of a beta game.
7. Ditto.
8. It is at 3min? I've gone for 6min without being booted.
9. R wants that already, but the server isn't stable enough. Plus, I'd expect some players to like frequent reboots: They reset all areas, including those that reset only once per boot.
10. No shouting or tells to players who know how to play?! That's pointless.
Better, restrict them to the help channel and enforce channels more.