Mojang Testing a Minecraft ''Realms'' Subscription Service

[exfileme]

If the service grows popular, Mojang may turn it into a MMOG.

Mojang Testing a Minecraft ''Realms'' Subscription Service : Read more

 

[457undead]

Man I'm surprised that my mom can turn on her computer, I have a feeling kids will be setting this up while adults play and the kids are the admins.

 

[echondo]

You can easily setup a private Minecraft server for free. I don't really see the point in this...I honestly see no point in this, just setup a private server using Bukkit and do whatever mods you want.

Really no point.

 

[mouse24]

We already have hosting sites like this. All I know is that if this is official, mojang really should put SOME of the profits towards the mod makers (if they are including the modpacks as they said). They have been blatantly stealing mod makers ideas for a good while now. This isn't a bad thing per say because they usually put there own spin on it but blatantly copy and pasting mods to host on there own servers to sort of attract attention to this "easy to set up, plus mods" idea is just wrong. Atleast ask first, then give maybe 5% of profits to each mod dev (depend on how many mods are in the pack) (profits don't include the servers cost so it will be very small, but still probably more than they would be getting from ad.fly, like they are)

 

[JJ1217]

I just feel like this is another Indie company becoming corrupt and selling basically nothing for money. Feels like EA. Of course they aren't the only indie company to have done this.. but still. Its Mojang. Just doesn't seem like them to do something like this.

 

[thbrett]

$15 or even $10 a month is way too much for this "service" that should be part of the game to begin with, how can they feel its right to charge half what the game costs for this service?

 

[eklipz330]

[citation][nom]JJ1217[/nom]I just feel like this is another Indie company becoming corrupt and selling basically nothing for money. Feels like EA. Of course they aren't the only indie company to have done this.. but still. Its Mojang. Just doesn't seem like them to do something like this.[/citation]
they are NOTHING like EA. you are just another whining fanboy that complains about every little thing. it's not a big deal. if you don't like it, guess what? c'mon, use that head of yours, you know the answer...


DON'T PAY.

 

[csH82]

"Just think about it: If 10 million gamers paid a one-time fee of $25 for a copy of Minecraft PC, how much money will Mojang rake in if they're paying $15 per month. Tons."

Yeaaaaaaaa....about that

No way in hell am I upping the cost from $40+ (my kids have PC and Xbox versions) to almost $200/yr. and sure as hell not for something that looks like an SNES game.

 

[jkflipflop98]

They'll do whatever they can to keep this little fad going.

 

[warmon6]

[citation][nom]echondo[/nom]You can easily setup a private Minecraft server for free. I don't really see the point in this...I honestly see no point in this, just setup a private server using Bukkit and do whatever mods you want.Really no point.[/citation]

While I have setup a private server for my family, I can see a point in this.

The service (from what i'm seeing) is for the lazy that dont want to set one up, those that don't have the computing power (although most people should be just fine on computer power if there only running vanilla), or is technologically challenged on configuring such a setup (come on, we've all found those few gamers that can hardly setup anything without some help from a friend and make you question how there a gamer to being with).



[citation][nom]thbrett[/nom]$15 or even $10 a month is way too much for this "service" that should be part of the game to begin with, how can they feel its right to charge half what the game costs for this service?[/citation]

I would disagree on "should be part of the game to begin with" and I can see on how they charge at least $10 ($15 is a bit much IMO).


1. compared to other online games that charge a subscription, that is fairly in line with others (if not cheaper)


2. If there hosting that world, then they have to pay for Hardware, security, Internet, electricity, and the staff to keep all going.

They really cant go much lower as I dont see this being the most popular feature.

Mainly because most people are either single player types or multi-player types that know and have the proper stuff to setup a server if they want to be private.

basically, as one of my points to the other person, this service mainly for those that dont want to setup a server for themselves.

It's kinda like looking at a pre-built desktop and a custom built desktop (that you assemble your self) that have the exact same quality hardware.

Chances are, that desktop you built yourself will be cheaper than the prebuilt because you payed to have someone else set it up for you.

Same concept here. You don't want to foot in your own hardware nor you want to setup some software that's provided to you for free, then expect to pay.


3. for my disagreement, there was no way Mojang would of been able to do such a thing when minecraft started out. Because they were not backed by any other company such as EA, they would not of had the server power nor the money to afford everything do such.

Nor did they have the magical crystal ball that would tell them the Minecraft would be a popular game.

Imaging if minecraft didn't become popular, imaging how they would feel if they somehow bought all those servers and had no one to use them for this very thing.




At least there not forcing you to use this service if you dont want to. You still have single player, you still have your normal multiplayer, and if you are playing on single or a private lan server, You'll never need to have an always online connection DRM to play the darn game.

 

[warmon6]

[citation][nom]mouse24[/nom]All I know is that if this is official, mojang really should put SOME of the profits towards the mod makers (if they are including the modpacks as they said).[/citation]

100% agree on this.

 

[warmon6]

[citation][nom]jkflipflop98[/nom]They'll do whatever they can to keep this little fad going.[/citation]

No more than a fad any other popular game out there. BF3, COD, Halo, Mario, and the list goes on.....

 

[grokem]

I agree that a service like this would see good demand. I qualify as I have 3 kids that love playing Minecraft but I'm also an expert in computers so setting up a local server on my Linux server was pretty straight forward for me. Even though it was no problem, I don't want to admin this server as updates come out too often and it puts a big load on my server which is used to re-encode my new video files for iPhone and Android devices.

The pricing is all wrong though. $10/month is too high but just like everyone else they are in a tough spot here. The monthly transactional costs of billing are high enough that it's hard to get a subscription below $8/month and that is if you have really high volume. Going to a yearly model fixes that but the high cost to the consumer is too high. Think Netflix at $8/month Vs Amazon Prime at $70/year. The yearly is also hard to automatically renew because credit cards tend to expire or banks reject the renewal because the last transaction was too long ago. Amazon gets around this because it does a lot of traffic with your card.

The servers, electricity, etc is a rounding error in all this. Most of the cost will be the monthly credit card transactions. Providing support to people who are having trouble will also be a much bigger cost. Most of the help will be with paying or closing your account. Heck, the IT costs to simply keep the mods up to date will be more.

Finally, the cost of Minecraft should be included for your Family. I only have two copies right now because I've only had two computers but I just built a 3rd and a 4th probably won't be that far off. Especially at the $10/month rate, some number of licenses should be included or you should be able to get them at a discount.

 

[Meatymutawings]

I like how everyone is defending mojang for a blatant cash grab and milking of their player base, they're doing something as bad as every greedy major game devs, if making good money off a successful business is something to condemn in the first place.

 

[bllue]

[citation][nom]warmon6[/nom]100% agree on this.[/citation]
Mod makers are the main reason this game has become so huge. Had it stayed with the basic, non-modded way, it wouldn't have as big an impact as it has in the PC gamer community. I doubt Mojang/Notch would give some profit to the very same people who have allowed him to profit massively. Notch will just pocket the money.

 

[IndignantSkeptic]

Why the hell do subscription games always charge $15 per month?! It should be like $1 per month and it should be charged per second more like. I just don't get this stupid world sometimes.

 

[warmon6]

[citation][nom]IndignantSkeptic[/nom]Why the hell do subscription games always charge $15 per month?! It should be like $1 per month and it should be charged per second more like. I just don't get this stupid world sometimes.[/citation]

Well I'm certain other people and I have already explain that front.... It really cover most companies reasons but Mojang in particular.

Have to pay for hardware to run the service.

Have to pay the electricity to run the hardware to run the service.

Have to pay the staff so they can handle account activation/deactivation, provide troubleshooting help, maintain the servers, and update the servers...

The also have to have enough money to cover transaction fees.

And being that Mojang only has 1 fully realsed game and 1 alpha game (both you pay for a 1 time fee), they dont have the ability to adsorb that much cost.

[citation][nom]bllue[/nom]Mod makers are the main reason this game has become so huge. Had it stayed with the basic, non-modded way, it wouldn't have as big an impact as it has in the PC gamer community. I doubt Mojang/Notch would give some profit to the very same people who have allowed him to profit massively. Notch will just pocket the money.[/citation]

Sadly, that true.

 

[catfishtx]

Look for some parents who have more money than time, $15 a month is trivial to please the rugrats because they don't have to do the work. I have five kids, four of whom have Minecraft accounts (3 PC, 1 xBox). I googled "How to setup a Minecraft server", read a few links, read my router manual, and about two hours later had the server up and running on a leftover PC I had in the closet. It's not hard but it does take effort, and some parents don't want to put forth any more effort than sharing their credit card info.

Don't hate on Mojang. Obviously there is a market for this. Let them make a little money. Now, if they were forcing everyone to go to this pricing model, then the gloves are off.

 

[corvak]

For people who arent very tech-savvy, there are many providers offering preconfigured servers for less than $10/month now, suitable for private family use.

Alternatively, Minecraft can run LAN games on its own, and this works over a typical household wi-fi network.

 

[Jdorty]

[citation][nom]catfishtx[/nom]Look for some parents who have more money than time, $15 a month is trivial to please the rugrats because they don't have to do the work. I have five kids, four of whom have Minecraft accounts (3 PC, 1 xBox). I googled "How to setup a Minecraft server", read a few links, read my router manual, and about two hours later had the server up and running on a leftover PC I had in the closet. It's not hard but it does take effort, and some parents don't want to put forth any more effort than sharing their credit card info.Don't hate on Mojang. Obviously there is a market for this. Let them make a little money. Now, if they were forcing everyone to go to this pricing model, then the gloves are off.[/citation]

Not to mention two hours of time is easily worth $15 to pretty much any working parent. Two hours is most likely worth more a good chunk more than that. Sure, it won't be two hours a month, but you do have to keep up with updates and such.

[citation][nom]corvak[/nom]For people who arent very tech-savvy, there are many providers offering preconfigured servers for less than $10/month now, suitable for private family use.Alternatively, Minecraft can run LAN games on its own, and this works over a typical household wi-fi network.[/citation]

This simply isn't true. A quick google search shows most of these services starting at $10/month, with one I found starting at $5/month, but rising to $10/month for 1-8 players.

A lot of it depends on how many players they support on a server for $10-15 a month. If they're supporting 10+ players on a server, $15 isn't bad at all.

 

[hate machine]

Notch just wants to milk his followers as much as he can, If you guys remember when they announced their space MMO the first details were that it was going to be a subscription model and how much they were going to charge. Literally not one mention of anything first, gameplay, visuals, style... just "hai guys this is going to be a monthly fee game". So much backlash...

 

[bildo123]

[citation][nom]echondo[/nom]You can easily setup a private Minecraft server for free. I don't really see the point in this...I honestly see no point in this, just setup a private server using Bukkit and do whatever mods you want.Really no point.[/citation]


This is for the people that use hamachi because googling on how to do something as simple as port forwarding is too hard. Some parents and their kids don't even know what "bukkit" is.

 

[pliskin1]

This isn't bad at all. Most server hosts are charging $10+ a month for a basic setup, and not everyone has the proper bandwith or spare hardware to run a server of their own, let along the setup time.
Besides, with this being 100% official, there should be no waiting for server updates...one of my biggest peeves of multiplayer. The inability to play on outdated servers.

 

[IndignantSkeptic]

[citation][nom]warmon6[/nom]Well I'm certain other people and I have already explain that front.... It really cover most companies reasons but Mojang in particular.Have to pay for hardware to run the service.Have to pay the electricity to run the hardware to run the service.Have to pay the staff so they can handle account activation/deactivation, provide troubleshooting help, maintain the servers, and update the servers...The also have to have enough money to cover transaction fees. And being that Mojang only has 1 fully realsed game and 1 alpha game (both you pay for a 1 time fee), they dont have the ability to adsorb that much cost. Sadly, that true.[/citation]

Yeah I know about all those expenses but I still can't believe it's that expensive.

 

[Justin Barnie]

Wow alright...when I first saw this on http://minecraftblogs.com I thought they got the date wrong. But YES its finally coming out! Woot!