01-11-2004, 08:32 PM
For the folks worried about using credit cards for paying, I expect that by the time WoW is released the Game Cards will be pretty standard for buying time for inline games. Right now, you can walk in to a Wal-Mart and buy a game card for Disney's Toontown Online.
Blizzard might get greedy with the payment model, and charge for the initial game kit. We'll see. Using Toontown as an example again, Disney charges nothing for the initial game. They give three days free, hopefully to get you hooked. That seems like a pretty good marketing model to me.
Will I buy in to WoW? Not a chance. I've seen enough crappy customer service from Blizzard with D2 to know that I won't get involved with another online game from them. Whenever the enjoyment of the game depends heavily on customer relations, you NEED to have things set up where your customers are treated as honored guests. Disney knows that, probably because of their background with parks and hotels. Blizzard is too used to dealing with snot-nosed cheaters and hackers to have the right attitude to deal with monthly subscribers.
-rcv-
Blizzard might get greedy with the payment model, and charge for the initial game kit. We'll see. Using Toontown as an example again, Disney charges nothing for the initial game. They give three days free, hopefully to get you hooked. That seems like a pretty good marketing model to me.
Will I buy in to WoW? Not a chance. I've seen enough crappy customer service from Blizzard with D2 to know that I won't get involved with another online game from them. Whenever the enjoyment of the game depends heavily on customer relations, you NEED to have things set up where your customers are treated as honored guests. Disney knows that, probably because of their background with parks and hotels. Blizzard is too used to dealing with snot-nosed cheaters and hackers to have the right attitude to deal with monthly subscribers.
-rcv-