I apologize for the EuroGamer link not working, I missed one character in the URL. Anyway, it’s now working and it’s VERY important you visit the page before voting, because it gives you the information you need to decide.
Those readers with good memories may recall that I have already asked this question in October 2007. I have chosen to ask it again because I recently found a website that is doing just that; renting single player games. (In fact they are doing more than that and unless I have totally misunderstood what’s on offer it’s a great deal.) The response back in October was a very clear NO! but I would like you to visit the website, which is run by EuroGamer, a respected game site and vote again.
So, this week’s Poll Question is:
Would you consider paying a monthly fee to play single player games?
Here is some information from the site:
Essential Collection: £6.95 /month, a catalogue of 170 games to play all you want – worth more than £500 when bought separately!
Ultimate Collection: £12.95 /month, a catalogue of 237 games to play all you want – worth more than £1,000 when bought separately!
At least 3 New games added added to each collection every month.
Cancel at any time, for any reason, with no obligation, online in just a few clicks of the mouse.
What’s the difference between the Collections?
– New games are first added to the Ultimate Collection.
– After a few months they
No. I find the idea repulsive.
It’s bad enough that I can’t legally copy, modify, and redistribute the games I do own 100% to my self, let alone having to constantly pay to play them.
Once again, I find the idea repulsive.
I agree with #1, most of the places around here like Blockbuster Movie rental only have console type games, and I don’t waste my time with those! PC or Mac for me and I like to keep the ones I have! As far as replay, I still use ’em or trade ’em for something else! I do like to try a demo first before I buy!
I MIGHT do this. The only problem is sometimes I’m in a game-playing mood, and other times I am not. It’s not really like I can decide each month whether or not I want to play games that month. However, I think that as far as value, it is a pretty damn good value.
No way. I am still playing really old games such as Half Life I and various maps and mods. By the way 6.95 in pounds isn’t the same as 6.95 in dollars. But, you knew that. Keep up the outstanding work.
Er… your link to Eurogamer is actually just a link back to this same webpage. So you haven’t linked to the Eurogamer poll.
I can somewhat see the appeal. I do kind of like the idea. But I’m someone that DOES like to replay games – I’ve played the various Half-Life games and expansions numerous times. And with other games, even if I haven’t replayed them, at the very least I’ll have tried some singleplayer mods that people have made. So this service would only interest me for games that I don’t see myself replaying and which do not have a mod scene. And I don’t fancy paying monthly for those games.
If it was 6.95 or 12.95 a YEAR (lol) then sure, brilliant idea. I’d happily pay that every year to keep on playing my games and get new ones. I would never bother buying another game ever if I could pay a small fee to download and play any game I fancied. Even if the fee was 30 dollars it would be worth it. But they’d be crazy to provide such a service at so cheap a price.
By the way, what did you think of Timeshift? It had a really “oldskool” feel but that was OK, oldskool gameplay with added fancy time abilities and good modern graphics. Much of the combat and level design felt like Half-Life, but made bigger… it was like a very ambitious and well done total conversion mod for original Half-Life. And as a fan of Half-Life mods, that was right up my street.
I’m not sure where the poll is, but maybe this is the Eurogamer site.
I just noticed the quote system is working again!
It might easily take me more than a month to finish a game, and I don’t have the time for more than one simultaneously, so there’s no point in the multiple-games-at-a-time options for me.
And if I’ve put enough effort into a game to finish it, then I probably like it a lot. This means I want to keep it. And I can’t, unless I buy it for myself, which is fine but the game is now £10 more expensive because I paid to rent it for a month.
And sure, you could argue both sides of this, there are benefits for some people in some situations here. But not me.
95% of the time, I’ll buy a game after I’ve previously played it at a friends house. Given my consumption rate of games on average – this is the best way for me.
So, no, I wouldn’t be interested in this scheme at all.
What exactly do you mean by that?
This is for PC.
AS I said in the update, fixed now. SOrry about that. BTW, it’s not a poll but a rental service.
I really enjoyed the demo but haven’t bought the game yet. I want it to be really cheap first.
I actually preferred the second demo rather than the third one.
It’s strange because for some people who quote it works and others not.
The swap game idea is interesting and I have been considering making something like this available via the forum but it’s probably mnore hassle than it’s worth.
Yes, I feel exactly the same.
Short answer, no.
I can see how this system would suit some people, but I’m just not the kind of person who buys a game, finishes it once or twice, gets bored and moves on to play the next game.
I have a very strong sense of possession once I buy a game, and a “pay to play” system, while it may be better value in some cases, offends that sense of permanence. I feel secure in the knowledge that once I’ve bought a game, it’s irrevocably *mine* to be played whenever I wish, and you can be almost certain that if I like a game, I will play it over and over again.
I’m the type of gamer who will constantly finish one game and move onto the next new game as soon as I’ve beaten the current one, never looking back. HOWEVER I do go back and play games over again as soon as I hit a dry spell where I either can’t afford new games or there just isn’t anything catching my interest. I can always count on getting a craving to play a game that I liked over again, but I can never be sure WHICH game I’ll get that craving for. As a result, I never get rid of a game unless I seriously disliked it.
The ultimate problem with subscription services is that it makes you have to conform to the schedule of your hobby to make it cost effective. If you don’t play a minimum number of hours a day, or go through a minimum number of games each month, it stops being cost effective. I already have enough problems putting a good game down as it is, I don’t need a financial investment in the hobby to compound that problem.