Recent string of Emails to Smedley in regards to PS1 F2P Status

[Death2All]

A few days ago I emailed Smedley in regards to PS1 going F2P. The email I got back isn't exactly encouraging but I figured I'd share it with the community just to give you guys an update on PS1's F2P status.


Me:A few months ago you made the tweet saying that PS1 would go F2P by June. Is there a possibility that PS1 could officially go F2P by May 20th (PS's 10th's anniversary). Thank you for taking the time to read this email.

Smed:We haven't worked on it at all. No one is playing the game. It's not because its not f2p though.


Me:I hope I'm not misinterpreting this, but is PS1 still going to go F2P by June? Or does the fact that you haven't begun working on it translate to "it's not going to happen?"

Smed:it's going to happen. not sure if it will be by June.

seriously. no one is playing it. It's not high on our list.

In response to this I emailed Smed back a rather long winded message about the PS1 community and his doubts surrounding it, but unfortunately it got no response.

Me:Incoming wall of text:

TL;DR: Many people are willing to play the game, the subscription fee is the strongest barrier.


Many people have stated that the main barrier that keeps them from playing the game is the fact that the game has a $15 subscription fee. Most people can't justify paying $15/mo for a game with little to no dev support.

There's plenty of talks on PSU of people who expressed interest in coming back to the game if it were to go F2P (http://www.planetside-universe.com/showthread.php?t=51638). There was even a petition started to make PS1 go F2P/lowered sub cost that got over 300 signatures (http://www.change.org/petitions/sony-online-entertainment-planetside-1-free-to-play-or-return-reserves-w-5-monthly-charge-2#share).

People definitely want to play the game. To say that "No one is playing the game, not because it's not F2P" is an ignorant statement. Many people have deep sentiment and respect for the game. The only reason people aren't playing the game as of right now, as I said before, is because there's the $15 subscription fee. People aren't going to pay $15/mo for a game that gets absolutely no support.

I hope this post didn't come off as overly aggressive. It's just that PS1 is very near and dear to mine, and many other people's hearts. Many of us have been playing the game since is first launched in '03 til present. To be deprived of it now is very disappointing and frustrating for much of the PS1 community. If PS1 were to go F2P/lowered sub fee I'm certain that many players would return and continue to play the game for years to come.

Please don't dismiss, undermine, or underestimate the PS1 community. Although it may be small in comparisson to other games, it's a very tight group of people who are very committed to the game.


It's really a kick in the balls to hear that work hasn't even begun on PS1's transition to F2P and that it's more than likely not going to meet the (rather loose) deadline Smed gave us to hope on a few months ago. I'm hoping that posting this here will maybe stir up a reaction within the PS1 community that will let SOE know that there are people who are wanting to play this game. Smedley seems pretty bent on the idea that "no one plays PS, and not because it's not F2P". I'm hoping that maybe we can get enough of reaction that perhaps it might sway Smedley's (or someone higher up that can do something with PS) opinion on PS1.

I know this in more than likely in vain and probably hopeless, but thanks for reading regardless.


EDIT: Link to the "Official forums" thread.

[p0intman]

I'll believe it when I see it. Smed and timelines don't go well together. When he said June, I was looking for the 2036 after it.

[Figment]

Have they even checked why people aren't playing it now? :/

[vieric]

Unfortunately the current problem is so clear and obvious to anyone who takes so much as a passing glance at PS1 that I feel its all but impossible to make it any more clear to SOE, To reason with them at this stage will likely be more difficult then reasoning with a brick wall...be that as it may, that is not a reason to stop trying, but a reason to try harder.

The fact that they fail to realize no one is playing due to the completely ridiculous sub strikes of complete ignorance, arrogance and carelessness, And it shows that they clearly don't feel like looking at the community for even two minutes to verify the obvious.

I still don't understand why they wont use the reserves program to test their little theory out...If we could make a case for them to bring that back on a temporary basis to gauge interest, it would give us as a community the chance to prove them wrong and show them that there is still demand for this. I feel this would be easier then getting them to go full F2P right off the bat. Even so, getting them to throw us even that bone will be tricky as they are so adamant they are right.

I don't actually know how to contact them over this or I'd do this myself. Twitter does not suffice for such long winded ideas as these.

[Crator]

Seriously, we don't need F2P. They don't need to do anything but offer trials (The Reserves) and lower the sub cost to around $5.99 a month or so. And give PS2 subs full access to PS1. What's so hard about doing that? If after doing that there's no players then I would take the statement that "No one is playing PS1 so we aren't worried about making it F2P" as valid.

EDIT: I would be happy to pay a full sub (even if it was still $15) if there were people to play with.

[kubacheski]

<rant>

Figures as much. The very idea that they need to analyze why people don't play PS1 is insane. Its quite obvious to everyone. Which do you choose:

1) Free PS2 with some of the old familiar features and amazing graphics, new technology and full SOE support and development teams assigned to it.
or
2) $15 sub for an almost decade old game with no support at all.

The argument needs to be changed if anyone wants to see F2P for PS1. Switch up sub models on the 2 games and ask the same question - Which would you choose:

1) Free decade old game that many of us absolutely love
or
2) $15 sub for the brand new, shiny, precious PS2

Heck make it an apples to apples comparison. Switch on the reserves again so people can make new accounts and then give all accounts a free 45 days or something so there's no level cap. Put the word out and let the players decide. I'd be willing to bet SOE doesn't want to see how much competition that brings to PS2.

In the end, its a money game. There's no easy way to squeak out any revenue from PS1. There's simply not. The cost to implement a F2P isn't going to bring in the cash that PS2 currently is. So it's an easy decision where you're going to invest development resources - the one making money. Duh.

The fact of the matter is that someone is going to have to buy the rights/license to host PS1 from SOE and then take on the full burden of that cost. Is anyone willing to do that?

I love PS1 over PS2. Its an easy choice as they're completely different games. I have not played PS2 in months because I simply don't care to play that style of game. It's not a warfare game, its just a lot of skirmishes that don't really mean anything. It's an exercize in the zerg. Granted, occasionally that was extremely fun in PS1, but it's been a long time since there was the pop to maintain a properly directed zerg-fest with Orbital Strikes not fouling up the endless stream of bullets (beams for you dirty Vanu) and bodies.

Do you see how fast the map changes hands between factions now? When I last played, it only took a couple hours for one or 2 weakly managed (e.g. "all in max, go here, all in tanks, go here, all in HA, go here") outfits to change the surface to another color. Maybe it's different now. I don't know and don't care. I'd rather be remembering the fun we had in PS1 than playing PS2.

SOE and Smed can suck a big one for all I care. Too much hype and too many broken promises. I understand its business and they have to make a buck and i also understand their reasoning for the decisions they made to implement PS2 the way they did and not putting any effort into PS1 F2P, but dang, don't tease the population with a carrot that PS2 will be like PS1 and not deliver in any way shape or form. PS2 is a great game for what it is, it's just not what was presented by Higby and Hackney over a year ago when they were just talking about the in house testing, and noone outside SOE had played it.

Now we're talking about the next statement from Smed about F2P...and yet again it's a letdown to hear they haven't done anything towards it. June isn't far away and everyone knows how deadlines and promises about time are with Smed, just look at how long Planetside Next was on the table (would have been a better use of time than PS2) and how long it took PS2 to come out.

None of it matters, they're just words to SOE. PS1 is gone and will be severely missed when PS2 is a constant reminder of how Planetside went quietly into a dark cavern to die a slow death, killed by the cash available from twitchy kids and a few big non-instanced "battlefield" maps.

</rant>

Well enough complaining for one day. Have fun and smile for the memories PS1 gave ya.

Loyalty 'til death

[ChipMHazard]

If only SOE would just come out and state if they are ever going to actually make PS1 more attractive to new customers; by giving an actual window. (Whatever financial restructioning that might require)
To me, this still just looks like stalling in hopes of people forgetting/not caring about it at some point.

[Koadster]

Wasn't Smed gonna add PS1 onto PS2 subs. That would be a 10min job and might entice more ppl to sub, I sub to this game and get its original free? Sweet! It would let SOE atleast see interest without losing money from using the reserves system because they already are getting the sub.

At the very least on PS1s birthday have it free for a day or so, see how many people log on.

I think, as already been said.. they just wanna keep pushing it away hoping it dies.

[Effective]

Simply put, Smedly is dishonest.

[ChipMHazard]

So far he hasn't been dishonest about anything relating to PS1 going F2P, or some other change to the subscription model. So let's NOT call him something without first having a valid reason to do so.

[Death2All]

Unfortunately the current problem is so clear and obvious to anyone who takes so much as a passing glance at PS1 that I feel its all but impossible to make it any more clear to SOE, To reason with them at this stage will likely be more difficult then reasoning with a brick wall...be that as it may, that is not a reason to stop trying, but a reason to try harder.

The fact that they fail to realize no one is playing due to the completely ridiculous sub strikes of complete ignorance, arrogance and carelessness, And it shows that they clearly don't feel like looking at the community for even two minutes to verify the obvious.

I still don't understand why they wont use the reserves program to test their little theory out...If we could make a case for them to bring that back on a temporary basis to gauge interest, it would give us as a community the chance to prove them wrong and show them that there is still demand for this. I feel this would be easier then getting them to go full F2P right off the bat. Even so, getting them to throw us even that bone will be tricky as they are so adamant they are right.

I don't actually know how to contact them over this or I'd do this myself. Twitter does not suffice for such long winded ideas as these.

Smedley's email is [email protected]. I hope I don't get in trouble for posting his email (mods already removed the link to the petition because petitions are against the rules for crying out loud). Smedley does freely announce his email on his twitter account quite often.

I'd like to encourage you guys to email Smedley. Like I said before, maybe if we can get enough of a reaction we can sway their opinion.

[vieric]

My thanks...and you are right, no matter how slim the odds are, we as a community owe it to PS1 to fight tooth and nail for any chance it might be able to get. SOE seems to want to think we don't exist, we need to show them otherwise.

[Effective]

So far he hasn't been dishonest about anything relating to PS1 going F2P, or some other change to the subscription model. So let's NOT call him something without first having a valid reason to do so.


We do though, he can not be stupid enough to honestly believe that a 15$ sub for a 10 year old game with 0 support is a major reason people wouldn't play it. Look at EVERY post/tweet/email he's made regarding PS1. He's said it wasn't the subs quite a bit, but he's never told us WHY he thinks it not the subs.

He' s never asked the players if they want PS1 f2p, he either assumes we don't in which case he's an idiot, or he's lying, in which he's dishonest.

[Furber]

I really hope they plan on doing SOMETHING for the decade anniversary of their game. I kept telling myself, surely it will become f2p on the 10 year anniversary, what a perfect time to make that change. But with this new information, it's doubtful they have any strong intention of making PS1 F2P at all. Most of it seems to come down to Smedley's inability to realize that there are, in fact, tons of people who want to play this game. The lack of current subscribers is due to the perpetuating problem of 'no one playing the game because no one is playing the game'. I would gladly pay $15/month if there were other people playing, but the lack of current players creates the problem of no one subbing. It's painfully obvious that the sub fee is by far what is keeping this game in this sort of empty stasis. The PS2 devs said it all the time, "The players create the content", they understood at least that much about how Planetside works. The game is essentially deprived of its content by this sub fee barrier. It seems as though Smedley does not care for PS1's content, it's just some old outdated game that no one should like because modern fpses are the best. But many vets still long for PS1's content, and Smedly is now basically the only person who can provide it.

I think it would be a good idea if for the anniversary they did one of those "Free month for all past subscribers", that way maybe Smed would see just how many people want to play it. They've done this sort of thing several times in the past, it should be a no-brainer. Maybe once Smedley realizes he's wrong about no one liking the game, he'll muster the strength to make the switch to f2p.

Either way though, I have a feeling we, the Planetside 1 community, are the only ones who can convince smedley that the game is worth making F2P. If we just sit around and wait, I honestly don't think it will ever go F2P. Fewer and fewer people will remain subbed to the game, and he may eventually just pull the plug.

[vieric]

Well, I sent an Email to him....I suppose all I can do now is hope he actually reads the thing.

Greetings, first off I would like to thank you for taking the time to read this.

As you are well aware, PlanetSide 1 as it is now is quite barren, I feel the problem is twofold. I understand that you feel the low population is not due to an issue with the subscription model, with all due respect I disagree. I will, however state that the subscription is but one side of the issue at hand, and will readily admit it would not be as bad if not for the other part of the problem. (though 15$ is quite high for a sub these days in general, let alone for a decade old game)

The other part, is in fact the population number in and of itself. Simply put, no one wants to sub because the game is empty, yet at the same time the game is empty because no one subs (again, this is because the game is empty). You may note a cycle here, and indeed I feel the problem is self sustaining.

Allow me to put it this way, would you pay 15$ monthly to play on an empty server? Frankly I don't know of many people who would, its a tall order for even the most dedicated of players in any game, not just PS1.


I feel that this cycle can be broken, getting people to subscribe while at the same time providing somewhat of a test on just how popular a F2P PS1 could be, though It will likely still require some work on SOE's part, I feel it would be very much worthwhile, and take far less resources than other options.

In my opinion, the answer is to bring back the reserves system for a temporary period. I feel this would get people into the game, and break the aforementioned cycle, getting people to subscribe again, while at the same time serving as a useful tool to SOE for gauging how popular a "true" F2P conversion could be.

The demand for a F2P PS1 is there, the community just needs a chance to prove it. This can be that chance, while at the same time providing a much needed breath of life to the game as it is now.

P.S. If you still feel that the subscription model is not the issue, could you perhaps give me your reasoning as to why? the PS1 community at large has actually been quite curious about this, and would greatly appreciate insight.

Again, thank you for your time, and my apologies for the long Email.


I would encourage others to send him their input as well, It serves as proof of our existence if nothing else.

[Huntsab]

Who can mod a game like UT or Source? Remake an interlink and a few towers. You get my drift. We could get the game play PS2 should have had. Wishes eh?

[RedPower]

He is dishonest but not a idiot .The reason he didn't make PS1 F2P is NOT no one want to play this game ,actually the reason is too many people want to play this game again ! So you know,PS2 die if PS1 revive!

[RedPower]

You should email him that i won't play the bigmap Battlefield even PS1 not going F2P

[Baneblade]

What I don't get is why he thinks PS1 won't come back to life when it goes F2P. He is so convinced that its dead because it is PS1 and not PS2...

Which mystifies the fuck out of me to be absolutely honest. I know I'd go back in a heart beat if I knew it wouldn't be empty.

[RedPower]

What I don't get is why he thinks PS1 won't come back to life when it goes F2P. He is so convinced that its dead because it is PS1 and not PS2...
Which mystifies the fuck out of me to be absolutely honest. I know I'd go back in a heart beat if I knew it wouldn't be empty.
Because he don't want PS1 come back to life .He need PS2 and money . Not a good business man.He is doomed to fail when he give up PlanetsideNext!

[Furber]

What I don't get is why he thinks PS1 won't come back to life when it goes F2P. He is so convinced that its dead because it is PS1 and not PS2...

Which mystifies the fuck out of me to be absolutely honest. I know I'd go back in a heart beat if I knew it wouldn't be empty.

Yeah, Smedley stubbornly believes the game is empty because it's bad or something (old = bad, amiright?). Just because he is not fond of the game doesn't really justify his negligence to Planetside 1 and the community. That's why I really hope they can at least do a free month for the 10 year anniversary, just to show how many people want to play it.

[vieric]

In all honesty, I totally understand how you feel, I can't help but think fear over PS2 has a lot to do with it myself, but getting mad isn't the way to go here.

In my opinion the best thing we can do as a community is step back, calm down, and try to reason with them. Likely to work or no...it's the best option we have.

Setting ourselves up as the reasonable party in this argument and deflecting any BS they throw at us using sound logic will serve to make our arguments much stronger, while making theirs seem more and more flimsy. SOE itself may not much care about that, but I would hope that if it goes on long enough more people will notice the BS and do something about it.

Personally, though, I prefer to not make assumptions, even if they are pretty obvious. I do this because we honestly don't need to use them, not when there are so many other fine arguments to throw at them. And it serves nicely to avoid the whole "we never said that" card they would inevitably pull.

It is absolutely imperative we all keep cool heads in this endeavor, We might not particularly have kind feelings towards SOE right now, but the fact of the matter is they hold the keys to the castle, and if we tick them off we can kiss it all goodbye.

I do not speak out of optimism nor pessimism, I say this simply because I see no better options. It is a long shot, but as I said before, we as a community owe it to PS1 to fight tooth and nail for any chance it can get, no matter how slim the odds.

[Death2All]

In all honesty, I totally understand how you feel, I can't help but think fear over PS2 has a lot to do with it myself, but getting mad isn't the way to go here.

In my opinion the best thing we can do as a community is step back, calm down, and try to reason with them. Likely to work or no...it's the best option we have.

Setting ourselves up as the reasonable party in this argument and deflecting any BS they throw at us using sound logic will serve to make our arguments much stronger, while making theirs seem more and more flimsy. SOE itself may not much care about that, but I would hope that if it goes on long enough more people will notice the BS and do something about it.

Personally, though, I prefer to not make assumptions, even if they are pretty obvious. I do this because we honestly don't need to use them, not when there are so many other fine arguments to throw at them. And it serves nicely to avoid the whole "we never said that" card they would inevitably pull.

It is absolutely imperative we all keep cool heads in this endeavor, We might not particularly have kind feelings towards SOE right now, but the fact of the matter is they hold the keys to the castle, and if we tick them off we can kiss it all goodbye.

I do not speak out of optimism nor pessimism, I say this simply because I see no better options. It is a long shot, but as I said before, we as a community owe it to PS1 to fight tooth and nail for any chance it can get, no matter how slim the odds.

Agreed and well said.

Ad-hominem and senseless bashing is no way to win an argument. I don't think we're going to get through to SOE if the PS1 community comes off as a bunch as a bitter, jaded, angry mob of people angry at SOE.

[Hamma]

I'm going to drop in here and agree with Smed. Nobody is playing the game.. nobody is going to play it if it's free.. I know I won't. I will never be able to go back to what the game once was to me. Instead of going on and on about PS1, how about we give suggestions to help make PlanetSide 2 better and realize that PlanetSide 1 is the past. It was a great game at the time and it was well before it's time. But it was extremely niche and died.

Let's not repeat the same mistakes.

[Figment]

What mistakes are there to repeat by having a more appropriate marketing plan? >.>

The servers are up, but nobody is playing because it's too expensive. THAT is a mistake. Think of all the people that can't play PS2 because of the high end specs required. Maybe you can retain even a few hundred them by having them play PS1 in the meantime...

[Effective]

nobody is going to play it if it's free

http://www.change.org/petitions/sony-online-entertainment-planetside-1-free-to-play-or-return-reserves-w-5-monthly-charge-2

[Hamma]

Yes because it will be awesome with 318 people. I'm not looking back at PlanetSide 1 through rose colored glasses. I'm looking at it logically, I was a PlanetSide 1 proponent you all know that. But it is the past.

Think of all the people that can't play PS2 because of the high end specs required. Maybe you can retain even a few hundred them by having them play PS1 in the meantime...

PC Gaming requires a certain investment, if you want to be a serious PC gamer you upgrade your PC. I don't have a whole lot of sympathy for those who think they can run new games on old hardware.

What mistakes are there to repeat by having a more appropriate marketing plan? >.>

We are already seeing them in things like the lattice.. we are going down the niche PlanetSide 1 path. I like the lattice don't get me wrong but I hope the development team doesn't keep catering to absolutely everything PlanetSide 1 players want.

[Figment]

~320 potential players > 1 + those not aware of petition -> ~500-1.000 players should be possible. They ran the server on 11 PII computers back then, running a single server can't be expensive.

What is there to lose Hamma? If it doesn't work... So what? It doesn't cost them anything, they can't lose players over it, they can even just make a little bit of money by lowering sub costs.

[Effective]

Yes because it will be awesome with 318 people. I'm not looking back at PlanetSide 1 through rose colored glasses. I'm looking at it logically, I was a PlanetSide 1 proponent you all know that. But it is the past.

PC Gaming requires a certain investment, if you want to be a serious PC gamer you upgrade your PC. I don't have a whole lot of sympathy for those who think they can run new games on old hardware.

We are already seeing them in things like the lattice.. we are going down the niche PlanetSide 1 path. I like the lattice don't get me wrong but I hope the development team doesn't keep catering to absolutely everything PlanetSide 1 players want.


The past is sometimes better then the future, PS2 is taking steps in the right direction, but it's still flawed, even more then PS1 was. And neither game was perfect by any means, but PS1 certainly held my attention a lot more then PS2 did when you compare releases, and still does. There are somethings PS2 did right, but most of what it does wrong is the devs lack of innovation and basically making it Planetfield2534, instead of reintroducing PS1 mechanics or creating new ones altogether. Reintroducing lattice, continent locking, and sanctuaries is a def. a step in the right direction.

[vieric]

I suppose my major problem is people assuming the game is dead and incapable of recovering without giving it the chance to do so first.

A lot of people don't see what PS1 is about right away, nor do they look, because all they see is a ten year old game with crappy graphics (by today's standards) with an insane 15$ subscription fee and are driven off before learning anything past the games name. Were it F2P I feel people would be a lot more welcoming of it. Graphics cant be helped, but they do affect the games presentation to new and potential players, it really helps to drive away potential players with the current sub model, were the game F2P I don't think it would be much of an issue.

I should add that it has been shown repeatedly in the industry that most, nearly all games (even modern fancy ones with all the bells and whistles) can not get away with a sub that high in this day and age.

Is PS1 the holy grail of gaming? no. Does it have its share of problems? heck yes. But that doesn't mean its not still a good game, and it sure doesn't mean it doesn't deserve at least one chance to prove itself. Assuming that no one will play it without trying first is completely unfair.

[Zulthus]

Pretty much this ^. Everyone needs to stop assuming that nobody will ever play the game again once its F2P. It's a stupid and ridiculous assumption and acting like you could possibly know that is irritating.

Tons of people still play EverQuest 1, probably because it's F2P. There's absolutely no reason why Planetside 1 and Planetside 2 can't coexist together. By the logic I'm seeing from some people, they should just shut down EQ1 because it's 'the past' and put all of their effort into EQ2/3.

So, if you don't care about PS1 anymore and "you'll never go back to it" (which I guarantee you will once it's F2P) then you have no reason to post in this thread.

[Furber]

PS1 and PS2 are so vastly different, it shouldn't be hard to understand that some people just like 1 more than the other.
Different strokes for different folks; it's not fair to say yours is the best so the other shouldn't exist.

[Atheosim]

PS1 and PS2 are so vastly different, it shouldn't be hard to understand that some people just like 1 more than the other.
Different strokes for different folks; it's not fair to say yours is the best so the other shouldn't exist.

Agreed.

They're two entirely different games. I prefer one over the other. Why is that incredible?

[Baneblade]

I think SOE is afraid PS1 will hurt PS2... or something. I do have fun playing PS2, but it has never engaged me for hours on end like PS1.

The only reason I don't play PS1 right now... is I don't want to be forced to pay for the right to stand around an empty world wondering when SOE will open the floodgates.

[Crator]

Pretty much this ^. Everyone needs to stop assuming that nobody will ever play the game again once its F2P. It's a stupid and ridiculous assumption and acting like you could possibly know that is irritating.

Tons of people still play EverQuest 1, probably because it's F2P. There's absolutely no reason why Planetside 1 and Planetside 2 can't coexist together. By the logic I'm seeing from some people, they should just shut down EQ1 because it's 'the past' and put all of their effort into EQ2/3.

So, if you don't care about PS1 anymore and "you'll never go back to it" (which I guarantee you will once it's F2P) then you have no reason to post in this thread.

^ This, exactly this. Thanks Zulthus. I think one of the driving forces why PS1 wasn't more popular was due to the sub price. It would be cool to see just how many players PS2 actually would have acquired/retained with a sub price. I'd imagine it would be close to what PS1 had throughout it's years.

[Figment]

I would add that players that cannot afford to invest in new rigs shouldn't be scoffed at. Certainly not in economic dire times.


I don't get why they don't just include it in the PS2 premium tomorrow. That is simply a database thing. I know a lot of people on my steam that would go for it.

From a lot of different outfits. Those people currently aren't playing PS2 for many reasons.

It has been asked during beta and recently to new players of the series if they would like to play the old one. A lot would.

See. If I get a new game in a series marked No.2, 3, 4, etc. and I like that, I often look up other games in the same series. When I found Dune2000, a game based on the 1994 C&C engine, I just had to have it. Even if I didn't know the Dune books, movie or series. With Ceasar III, I went and got Caesar I and II. I then got Pharao and that Greek spin-off too. Total War series: first got Rome Total War, consequently bought the entire series, including Shogun, which I once heard from years before but never got to play.

When I came across Commandos collector pack, I just had to get them and play all missions. Sadly not every game was properly compatible with my new rig. :( Sure, in some cases it is nostalgia and if it doesn't offer self-creating and creative content (which ps1 does!), it may be short lived. However, ps1 is a game that would last for a few more years, because of the gameplay being as well thoughtout as C&C's original: very decent, sometimes crude, sometimes buggy or exploitable, but still good.

But just because there is C&C 3, RA3, etc all with better graphs, doesn't mean that the original games and engine are so crap nobody would play it again. Not sure if you ever gone back, but I know at least I do. Surely there are others like me?


Hell, I still play chess and minesweeper and I don't give a damn about the graphics. In fact, if I found a compatible version of DOS Battlechess... Anyway. Played Monkey Island™ once at a friend in the days of floppy disks and at some point found Monkey Island™ 3 and then had to get mi1™ and mi2™ on a DOS emulator once more. In fact I recently bought the graphics overhaul of both and love the intant switching to old school style.

Got Indiana Jones Fate of Atlantis™ due to Monkey Island™.

Then had to get the other Lucas Arts Indiana Jones games...



So why the bloody hell wouldn't I and others want to go and play a game we played for a decade? And who says there is no fresh blood to get? During beta we found new PS2 players joining the outfit and going into ps1 with us, absolutely falling in love with our thundy groups during the last decent Gemini fights.

The free month got loads of people in with multiple cont fights. Then the sub kicked in again and people left all over.

[vieric]

I myself am not a PS1 vet, Seeing its gameplay I fell in love with it, but due to financial constraints have not and indeed likely will not be able to afford a sub, empty as it is now I admit I'd probably hesitate even if I could afford it.

I am far from the only person in this situation, there are hundreds of people like me out there, and far more than that who outright haven't checked the game out yet but would love it if they did. As I said in the previous post, the crazy sub fees are stopping people not just from playing, but from checking the game out to begin with.

[MasterChief096]

Why doesn't SOE prove us wrong by giving us a free month in May to celebrate the anniversary.

Oh, and they have to actually announce it, not try to shove it under the rug so it fails on purpose.

SOE would see that there are probably at least 1000+ people willing to go back.

[kubacheski]

I gotta disagree that noone will play. Look at all of the games that have gone from sub to F2P. They end up having larger playerbase and make more money than the subscription model. The way this is done, as you all know, is by slicing up the content (into microtransactions) and allowing players to choose where they want to invest their cash. As the player gets more choice in what the investment is going for, they feel more comfortable paying to get what they want. Playerbase goes up as there's no fee for the casual player (or hardcore who doesn't mind grinding for the perks you can pay for).

The difference with those games, as compared to PS1, is that they had a development team assigned to them for content and maintenance as they were new and had years of life left in them. It's a much simpler matter of having the people who wrote and maintain the code modify and prepare for transition to F2P, than to have an after the fact (i.e. take resources from somewhere else) to completely change the structure. It's going to be a significant investment to slice up PS1 into microtransations as:

1) No dev team. When was the last update? Who's left that coded the original? Heck PSNext was only a graphics update which would include minimal code changes. F2P is a major change.

2) It was written a long time ago. Think of it like this: subscriptions were virtually untried when PS1 was released! Think of that. All games were buy it once and play it before this. Very, very few made money with a "pay as you go" subscription. Now even subs are going away.

3) What content are you going to pay for? Players already have invested time to get everything. Exp'd to BR40 CR5. It's not like starting over and saying you've got options to pay for faster exp or different guns. The game has been online too long or it simply isn't setup that way. Certs are different between PS1 and PS2 so there's no direct correlations.

So what do you do? Just make it free? Charge a few bucks a month to keep the electricity to the server(s)? Invest a lot of capital in changing the game to allow microtransactions?

The answer that I like best is PS Next. Continue with the graphics update and lower the monthly cost. I mean seriously, $15 gets you premium in PS2. The same price is being charged for PS1. Really?

Or another route to go is to continue developing PS2 with a parallel server setup. ForgeLight running an instance with a more PS1 "feel" with lattice, cont lock, sanctuary, restructured certifications (no more class implementation), inventory (man i miss that), implants, combat engineers, jacking, longer TTK, command console base capture, etc. I use these as examples because in Alpha the devs said said these options were the direction they were going. So a lot of this was implemented at one time.

The parallel server will get no attention as it's probably just as much work as inserting microtransactions into PS1. Imagine having to rebalance for those changes. Imagine if they implement combat engineers or group certifications similar to PS1. Would anyone implement more content on a "nitch server"? Heck you could make the sub an extra $5 or something for the extra cost to support the nitch server. Separate from, or rather an add-on to, the regular PS2 subscription. Say a sub to the "PS1 on ForgeLight" server without the perks of extra exp and resources, no Station Cash. Change the value add to the player from the extras the PS2 sub gives to simple development and support for the "PS1 on ForgeLight" servers and applications.

The thing I dislike most is that I truly agree with Smed in that noone is looking at it. I dislike it because it's true - SOE is going to spend more resources on the things that are going to give them the most return on that investment. Does anyone think that PS1 is ever going to make as much $$ as PS2? I sure dont. In the end it's a business decision, and the incentive is simply not there to do much more with PS1.

[Hamma]

The past is sometimes better then the future

Oh I agree, but by it's very definition it's the past.. it's time to let go.

[Effective]

Oh I agree, but by it's very definition it's the past.. it's time to let go.

I'll consider it once PS2 is more then just a larger sci-fi version of Battlefield.

[vieric]

Oh I agree, but by it's very definition it's the past.. it's time to let go.

but why? should I chuck my copy of Deus Ex in the bin just because human revolution is around too? Forgive me, but perhaps I am failing to see your train of thought...what I'm taking away from it is that old things no longer have the right to exist once something new comes out.

And believe me there ARE people out there who want to play this, old and new...the only thing most of us want at this point is the chance to prove it...anything else we want can (and indeed, should) come after that.

[Figment]

Oh I agree, but by it's very definition it's the past.. it's time to let go.

That makes no sense in the context of Effective's comment. :P

[Baneblade]

When SOE kills EverQuest for being old, I'll walk away from PS1.

[Hamma]

That makes no sense in the context of Effective's comment. :P

If you say so.

[Death2All]

I sent another follow up email to Smedley, no response just yet but I figured I'd let you guys know.



Dear Mr. Smedley,

By now you have undoubtedly received a number of emails in regards to Planetside 1. As I'm writing this right now, Planetside's 10th anniversary is less than one month away. I'm writing this to you to ask on behalf on the PS1 community, how keen you would be on the idea of giving away of one free month of Planetside subscription to all previous subscribers to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the game.

It is of our belief, the Planetside 1 community, that a free month given to past subscribers, would bolster populations back to high levels and potentially keep people subscribed to the game once more.


Here are just two threads, one with over 1000 views and the second nearing 1000 as we speak.

http://www.planetside-universe.com/showthread.php?p=914332#post914332

http://forums.station.sony.com/soe/index.php?threads/recent-string-of-emails-to-smedley-in-regards-to-ps1-f2p-status.11500061917/page-2

In these threads you can clearly see that the want from PS1 players to once again play Planetside is clearly there. Once again, the only thing keeping us from playing, is the subscription fee.

In the previous emails we exchanged, you said that "no one is playing Planetside. It's not because it's not F2P though". As evident from the two threads I linked you, and the emails you've probably received, there are a lot of people willing to play the game.

I understand that you must be very busy being the CEO of SOE and it probably takes a lot more work than we might think it does to do all of things we so desperately want, so it's not right of us to judge you for any decision you might make. Thank you for taking the time to read this and making an awesome game that been apart of mine and many others lives for the past 10 years!


Also, I have to agree with what Zulthus said. He hit the nail right on the head.

Pretty much this ^. Everyone needs to stop assuming that nobody will ever play the game again once its F2P. It's a stupid and ridiculous assumption and acting like you could possibly know that is irritating.

Tons of people still play EverQuest 1, probably because it's F2P. There's absolutely no reason why Planetside 1 and Planetside 2 can't coexist together. By the logic I'm seeing from some people, they should just shut down EQ1 because it's 'the past' and put all of their effort into EQ2/3.

So, if you don't care about PS1 anymore and "you'll never go back to it" (which I guarantee you will once it's F2P) then you have no reason to post in this thread.


If you have no interest in playing PS once it goes F2P, simply don't post in the thread. There's no reason for it. It's not like PS1 going F2P could possibly affect PS2 in away. If you think that some how PS1 going F2P is going to interfere with PS2 then you are an idiot.


Also, updated the OP with links to the official forums thread which seems to be getting more traffic.

[vieric]

Personally, I would hope they open it up to everyone, past player or no. Putting up a barrier of entry, while still boosting the population significantly I don't doubt, will still keep any potential newbies to PS1 out in the cold....and frankly that's one of the most important things that need proven. They need to know if PS1 can still attract new players, not just bring back existing ones.

[Death2All]

Personally, I would hope they open it up to everyone, past player or no. Putting up a barrier of entry, while still boosting the population significantly I don't doubt, will still keep any potential newbies to PS1 out in the cold....and frankly that's one of the most important things that need proven. They need to know if PS1 can still attract new players, not just bring back existing ones.

I'm only opposed to that because I'm concenred for the ammount of hackers that might potentially plague the game during that period. PS had a nasty hacker problem when the game allowed you to make trials, they finally removed them and most of the hackers went away.

It's another reason why I don't want the game to go fully F2P. I'm more in favor of a lowered subscription fee, for a few reasons. One, it would deter most, if not all hackers. Any hackers that were playing the game would have to be subscribed and then would have to resub an entirely new account to hack the game again.

Two, it creates a way to monetinize the game that would do a better job than any other attempt they might try to implement with the F2P transition. Cash shop, buying CR5s or BR 40s? Who knows.

I feel like $5 a month would be worth it if it keeps hackers at bay.

[vieric]

Not honestly sure how to respond to that one...while you are totally right with regard to the hackers, Even more so since hacking seems to be a big problem for SOE in general. I cant help but feel the game would not attract many new players and will eventually stagnate as a result. Preferable to the game dying completely by a large margin, however.

I don't by any means like the outlook I detailed above, in fact it rather angers me but I feel anyone not already versed with the game would not really be willing to invest in it without trying it first, looking as it does. graphics are irrelevant to gameplay yes, but they can absolutely make or break a first impression.

I suppose what should really be done is to get a consensus on what the community wants done...honestly every single one of us seems to have a different take on what SOE should do right now, and I feel its kind of hurting our arguments.




Personally, I feel they should convert it to a F2P premium type model of some sort, that way anyone who subs simply becomes a premium player and doesn't lose out on anything, I feel microtransations should be largely avoided, save perhaps for cosmetic items only (No guns, no insta-unlock items, nothing like that).

The exact nature of the differences would require some thought yes, but ideally should be fairly minor and balanced (no OP weapons, for starters). Still, things as that would be at SOE's discretion, not my own. It all really boils down to whether or not they can be trusted to not make it P2W.

[Tialian]

Personally if PS1 went f2p its the only game I would play. When I first tried it back in 2003 I thought that FPS gaming couldn't get any better. Its unfortunate that I turned out to be correct.

Ever since PS1 it seems that every new FPS looks better and better while at the same time becoming further dumbed down and shallow.

Just look at BF2 for a good example. Commander mode was pretty awesome, it would have been nice to have some sort of version of that that would work in PS1. Now look at BF3, the graphics look great and the destructible environments are awesome but there are no teamwork elements what-so-ever...not even voice chat.

PS2 in my opinion doesn't even outclass BF3, for those who put gunplay above everything else BF3 has way better gunplay than PS2. BF4 will be here shortly and all the teenagers the devs catered to with their shallow PS2 gameplay will be jumping ship for the next new shiny toy. I've said it before and I'll say it here, SOE really missed an opportunity with PS2 to really create a deep immersive game ahead of its time, just like PS1 was.

Heroes live forever, but legends never die.

[Sturmhardt]

First time I see Smed being right: nobody is playing ps1 and it will remain dead, no matter what. It's a niche for old ps1 lovers (I am one myself but not as delusional) and noone else.

They better focus on ps2 because that is nowhere near where I hoped it would be a year ago.

.sent via phone.

[vieric]

I still don't understand why everyone just assumes it will never recover without even trying first, what am I missing here?

[Effective]

First time I see Smed being right: nobody is playing ps1 and it will remain dead, no matter what. It's a niche for old ps1 lovers (I am one myself but not as delusional) and noone else.

They better focus on ps2 because that is nowhere near where I hoped it would be a year ago.

.sent via phone.

So Smed is right that the reason no one is playing PS1 is specfically related to something that's not a 15$ month sub to a game that has 0 support, next to no one playing, and 0 new content?

You do realize how incredibly dumb that sounds right?

[Wahooo]

Its funny to me how the response from players unsubbing to PS1 and SWTOR were almost exactly the same but the reaction by the parent is 100% different.

In the case of SWTOR The game was lacking in so many ways and performance and PVP... it was a fun 1st time through story. Worth the purchase price as a standalone not really worth the sub money. Bioware read "They LOVE the game just can't afford it."

With PS1... Game a lot of us still love but to be honest $15 a month even if you are someone who wouldn't miss that money, it is the price of a PREMIUM game's subscription. For $15 dollars a month we expect support, development... Hell acknowledgement the game exists. Weapons and vehicles that have been in game what 6 years now were never added to the PS website. I don't know how to justify paying a premium price for an unsupported, red headed stepchild of a game, no matter how much I love it. Smed's response? "Game's Dead, no one will play it because it is old and doesn't look pretty."

I'm torn about the F2P stuff. I would love to get back on, but you need people to attract people to that game and a couple 100 world wide won't do. On top of that the hackers. If they are given free reign it will be very short lived indeed.

[Sturmhardt]

So Smed is right that the reason no one is playing PS1 is specfically related to something that's not a 15$ month sub to a game that has 0 support, next to no one playing, and 0 new content?

You do realize how incredibly dumb that sounds right?

I don't know, you wrote that, you tell me.

The thing is they can't make money with it. It's not worth the effort for them. It would only be played by a few oldschoolers who could not get the pop high enough to live up to the game's potential. It would just be a sad story. SOE doesn't want to waste money and I get that.

.sent via phone.

[Crator]

I don't know, you wrote that, you tell me.

The thing is they can't make money with it. It's not worth the effort for them. It would only be played by a few oldschoolers who could not get the pop high enough to live up to the game's potential. It would just be a sad story. SOE doesn't want to waste money and I get that.

.sent via phone.

Doesn't really have to cost them anything. As others have already stated they could give PS2 subbed accounts access to the game as well as old vets. And perhaps allow the reserves (trial accounts) again, although I have my reservations on that one due to hackers. The rest of what you said is mere speculation on your part. You wouldn't really know if only a few people would play it or not until they actually do these things.

[MasterChief096]

I don't know, you wrote that, you tell me.

The thing is they can't make money with it. It's not worth the effort for them. It would only be played by a few oldschoolers who could not get the pop high enough to live up to the game's potential. It would just be a sad story. SOE doesn't want to waste money and I get that.

.sent via phone.

Everquest is doing fine with its old-school player-base and I doubt SOE's primary source of income is that game.

PlanetSide 1 has ONE server. ONE server needs about 1000 active players. There are probably more than that that would come back. Most people who want PlanetSide 1 don't even check PS2 forums anymore.

[MasterChief096]

Going to be uploading two videos soon for advertising PlanetSide's 10 Year Anniversary on May 20th. I would have liked to make them better but college hasn't given me enough time so I have to stick with the renditions that I have.

If you guys could share them among as many PlanetSide players and communities as possible that would be awesome!

Either this will earn us a free month for the anniversary, proving to SOE that enough players are still interested, or we'll all have to sub to celebrate, also proving that there is interest.

Hopefully SOE supports the event and flags all accounts with a month's worth of time.

- CCM "MasterChief096" - Emerald, The Fighting 27th

[basti]

I still don't understand why everyone just assumes it will never recover without even trying first, what am I missing here?



You are missing the facts.


I told you guys several times already that its not as simple as just making it cost no money.


First of all, the engine would need an overhaul. The 9 year thing showed pretty clearly whats going on: Lots of people crashed or had terrible FPS, even tho the game is 9 years old and we all should have 358073258725 FPS with our rigs these days.
Not to mention all the folks who couldnt even get the game to launch.

Then, the obvious problem that PS1 had all the time: Cheaters. We all should remember the Barcode folks, but those are just the obvious ones. There were Tons of ROF/COF hackers around. The game would need not just a pretty heavy change in how it handles stuff on the client, but also a few dedicated GMs to monitor and ban cheaters.

And that stuff costs money. So the game cant just go F2P without ever wanting any cash from anyone. SOE is still a business, if the game doesnt earn them a dime but costs quite a bunch of cash, then theres a problem.
Means they have to come up with a way to make cash out of a F2P PS1. Now think hard: What exactly could they sell for cash that requires no constant dedicated staff? Exactly: Nothing. PS1 has nothing that it could sell. So you would need to put stuff in, like camos, vehicle cosmetics and what not. But heres the next problem: The game doesnt support that stuff. Means even more changes to the very core of the game and the engine need to be made in order for F2P to work.


All that work on a 9+ year old engine with apparently extremly terrible documentation, and lacking tools.





And about the whole "try it first" thing: We already did. It was the 9 year annvisary. In light of PS2s annoucment and upcoming beta, PS1 got players again. Thanks to Noble from AT and a whole bunch of Outfits and players, the game lid up quite a bit. Thanks to SOE giving us a free month, the game went crazy for the weekend. But what happend then? It went quiet again rather quickly, with pops dropping from 6 full poplocks for each faction to just one, even tho the free month was still going!




PS1 is gone folks, its over. Put down your rose tinted glasses and realize that the glory days of us doing Galdrops on Dagda, Andvari or whatever other base, hour long genholds and crazy tower fights are just gone. They are gone for several years now, and only PS2s announcment and the 9 year annvisary gave us a quick blast of the past. And thats the only thing we will ever get: A yearly blast of the past.

[basti]

Going to be uploading two videos soon for advertising PlanetSide's 10 Year Anniversary on May 20th. I would have liked to make them better but college hasn't given me enough time so I have to stick with the renditions that I have.

If you guys could share them among as many PlanetSide players and communities as possible that would be awesome!

Either this will earn us a free month for the anniversary, proving to SOE that enough players are still interested, or we'll all have to sub to celebrate, also proving that there is interest.

Hopefully SOE supports the event and flags all accounts with a month's worth of time.

- CCM "MasterChief096" - Emerald, The Fighting 27th


Hold your pants, its not that simple. The 9 year event was a whole lot of preperation, and a good chunk of luck. I suggest you talk with Noble, he may already plan something.

I do hope it takes off again. Las year was fun, and it would be a good chance to remember some stuff. :)

[MasterChief096]

Here y'all go:

PlanetSide - 10 Year Anniversary Trailer - Bring it Back! - YouTube

PlanetSide - 10 Year Anniversary Trailer #2 - For Your Empire! - YouTube

[Wahooo]

The game would need not just a pretty heavy change in how it handles stuff on the client, but also a few dedicated GMs to monitor and ban cheaters.

And that stuff costs money. So the game cant just go F2P without ever wanting any cash from anyone..

Considering they did little to nothing about this when there were quite a few people and multiple servers paying money I really doubt in game GMs gets even a glimmer of interest if PS1 goes F2P.

The more I think about that aspect the more disenchanted I become.

[Crator]

Basti made some good points on his last posts. Dream killer! ;) Still, what would it hurt to have a reduced monthly cost along with giving PS2 subs access to play?

[CrazEpharmacist]

Considering they did little to nothing about this when there were quite a few people and multiple servers paying money I really doubt in game GMs gets even a glimmer of interest if PS1 goes F2P.

The more I think about that aspect the more disenchanted I become.

A few GMs logged on PS1 for a few hours within the last month of so. So they already have that little glimmer of interest I guess you could say. I'm sure if the game becomes more popular and starts making more money they can assign more hours. We don't need a 24/7 GM. Just one to log on for a few hours or so every week and respond to hacking reports and whatnot.

[MasterChief096]

Once again, Everquest is free-to-play. What does Everquest have that PS doesn't?

[Effective]

I don't know, you wrote that, you tell me.

The thing is they can't make money with it. It's not worth the effort for them. It would only be played by a few oldschoolers who could not get the pop high enough to live up to the game's potential. It would just be a sad story. SOE doesn't want to waste money and I get that.

.sent via phone.

You did say it, by saying Smed was right. Smed said, the no one is playing it and the reason no one is playing has nothing to do it with it not being F2P.

And all they have to do to prove this. Is make it free to play, or at the very least give out a free 30-45 days like they've done in the past. I seriously doubt that would take more then 10 minutes to do.

[Figment]

Once again, Everquest is free-to-play. What does Everquest have that PS doesn't?

PvE.

[CrazEpharmacist]

PvE.

That's very true. PS1 requires large numbers for content. Everquest can get by with lesser population because of pve.

Also, few updates from Smedly's twitter today:

https://twitter.com/j_smedley/status/326838338382340096

https://twitter.com/j_smedley/status/326733433806131201

[vieric]

Hmm, it kinda looks like they plan to merge subs from this...not the best idea in my opinion but its still infinitely better then nothing. Besides, not enough concrete info at this point, so I suppose I would be wise not to get myself tied in a knot over it just yet.

At the very least they seem to get that people do indeed still want to play it now.

[MasterChief096]

PvE.

That may be true, but think about it. PlanetSide basically needs approximately 180 people online per empire at any one time to sustain a pop-lock (three-way) and a smaller secondary fight. That's 540 people that should be active throughout the day, so maybe like a total of 1500-2000 active players that play at different times of the week.

Night fights would probably be smaller, but that also has its advantages (provides pace change, etc).

That's not a lot, especially if the game were free-to-play. I think that easily 2000+ people would play PS1 if it were free.

[Furber]

Thanks for the updates, CrazEpharmacist. I'm glad to know they're at least thinking about it. I'd be interested to find out what they have in mind.

Looking into it, it sounds like they'll probably do the PS2 sub = PS1 sub. A nice gesture, but I doubt that's going to do a whole lot for PS1's population. Unless there is a strong kickstart for PS1's population, it's unlikely whatever small amount of ps2 subscribers coming to PS1 would be enough to get the game going well again. They would probably just see a near empty game and leave it. We've already established the problem of "no one playing because there's no one to play with", and I don't see this fixing the problem. All in all of course I'm for this double subscription thing, but not as a final solution.

As for the second tweet, (I'm being optimistic here) it looks like they are in fact considering a F2P option. He says "we are looking at a simple way to do it", which I can assume relates to @JohnGunuko asking for him to make it f2p. JohnGunuko didn't mention anything about the 'ps2 sub = ps1 sub', so unless smedley is just poor with his wording (which he often times is) then hopefully he is in fact referring to making it f2p, not just reiterating the first tweet.

Still hoping they decide on a free month for 10 year anniversary, or maybe longer because a decade is pretty big deal. Hopefully by the end of that time, should it end up happening, Smedley will have his solution.

Edit: Nevermind. Looking back at it, the second tweet does mention the PS2 sub for PS1 sub. That may have been what smedley was responding to, and not about the f2p.

[Figment]

Hmm, it kinda looks like they plan to merge subs from this...not the best idea in my opinion but its still infinitely better then nothing. Besides, not enough concrete info at this point, so I suppose I would be wise not to get myself tied in a knot over it just yet.

At the very least they seem to get that people do indeed still want to play it now.

Think about it, if even a fraction of the people who play PS2 try PS1 now and then, you have a large populace on the PS1 server.

[vieric]

well, most people into PS1 aren't that keen on PS2....same goes for PS2 users not being too keen on PS1, by no means am I saying people who like both don't exist, they do...its just there aren't too many of them.

Even then PS2 is bleeding out pretty bad right now, which further compounds the issue.
So yes, I am slightly worried about this course of action, but as I said, infinitely better then nothing.

[basti]

well, most people into PS1 aren't that keen on PS2....same goes for PS2 users not being too keen on PS1, by no means am I saying people who like both don't exist, they do...its just there aren't too many of them.

Even then PS2 is bleeding out pretty bad right now, which further compounds the issue.
So yes, I am slightly worried about this course of action, but as I said, infinitely better then nothing.

Yea, no.

Most people who are keen of PS1 do like PS2. Most PS2 users have never played PS1, so they dont even know how terrible some aspects really were (ADADADADAD...), while others were so much better than in PS2 (I miss genholds :/ )

Ps2 isnt bleeding out. It clearly lost a lot of players since release, but thats normal for every MMO. First is the hype, then people play a lot less and a lot also stop completly for the next game. This applies especially strong for F2P games.

It will, however, pick up again, and eventually even beat the player numbers of the initial release hype, at some point. If you check the player statistics, you will see that it stabilized a while ago, and is now slowly growing. Stuff like MGL will propably boost the growth quite a bit.



Figment: if a fraction of PS2 players would play PS1 every now and then, then we would indeed get at least a poplock during prime time for EU and US. But the number in question is not players, but subscribers. Obviously there are less players than subscribers, but no idea how much less.


In any way, PS2 subbers getting PS1 for free as an extra is the best possible thing that could happen for PS1. F2P was never an option. Remember: Before PS2 announcmen, we actually pressed SOE to remove the free trial. Yes, that happend. The reason was the cheater problem that plagued us. Reality simply is: No matter what SOE does, if the game is full of flying scatmaxes that cannot be killed but can instagib the entire continent, then nobody of us will even think about installing PS1.

[vieric]

I disagree on most people liking both, simply put the two games as they are now cater to very different audiences, and there is not a lot of overlap in between them. PS1 was a bit slower paced but rewarded tactics more, while PS2 tends to have people fighting head on (clever players can and do deviate from this, but at present there's not a reason to). Now PS2 is slowly changing (if it keeps moving in its current direction, for the better), but thats how things are for now. put simply unless you happen to like BOTH games enough to play them on a regular basis, the fees merging will have no real impact one way or the other.

As for the PS2 population, I am wondering what your source was precisely? (not that I don't believe you, I'm simply curious and would like a look myself.)

Given the hacking issue, I feel that simply lowering the sub without merging it with anything would be a far better course of action, that way there's a barrier of entry to potential hackers.

They could even go with a B2P type model of sorts in which you have a product key tied to your account, If you manage to get yourself banned you would need a new key to make a new account, which means you get to buy the game again.

[Baneblade]

F2P was never an option.

Except, no.

F2P PS1 was the plan until they decided to just do PS2... probably for all the same reasons they are balking at making PS1 F2P after the fact.

[DOUBLEXBAUGH]

That may be true, but think about it. PlanetSide basically needs approximately 180 people online per empire at any one time to sustain a pop-lock (three-way) and a smaller secondary fight. That's 540 people that should be active throughout the day, so maybe like a total of 1500-2000 active players that play at different times of the week.

Night fights would probably be smaller, but that also has its advantages (provides pace change, etc).

That's not a lot, especially if the game were free-to-play. I think that easily 2000+ people would play PS1 if it were free.

you need 2 pop locks per faction minimum. If every faction has 1 lock and some change there will only always be 1 big 3-way which was PS at its worst, and it will not retain players. In order to play the global game and have a good changing world you need each faction to have multiple locks, better promoting 2-way fights.

I'm all for getting PS1 down to a $5 sub (or F2P, but sub would be beter), but you will need 5000+ people playing actively for it last beyond a month.

[Figment]

Yea, no.

Most people who are keen of PS1 do like PS2.

If that's true, explain why most PS1-to-PS2 outfits lost 90% of their PS1 members?

[QuiCKaNdDeaDLy]

I just want to say "thank you" to all the PS1 Vets who still stand up against all those ****** on This Forum. I have stopped arguing with them long time ago.

I wish "someone" would bring the Private Server up so this Drama can have a Happy End.

I guess "they" still waiting for SOEs next Move...

[MasterChief096]

you need 2 pop locks per faction minimum. If every faction has 1 lock and some change there will only always be 1 big 3-way which was PS at its worst, and it will not retain players. In order to play the global game and have a good changing world you need each faction to have multiple locks, better promoting 2-way fights.

I'm all for getting PS1 down to a $5 sub (or F2P, but sub would be beter), but you will need 5000+ people playing actively for it last beyond a month.

Even that is a comparably small number to other MMOs.

[sylphaen]

I still find myself visiting PSU once in a while too. There's something mesmerizing about feeling you've already debated this or that issue so many times that you feel circle has come round. Now I let the wheel turn. And I still enjoy when it rolls over some fingers with Figment around to point it out.

It's simple: PS1 is dead and its spirit has scattered in our memories where each one of us keeps a fragment of history.

What will you remember most from the game ? The people and time shared.

I think PS2 players are not the same people who played PS1 hence Hamma is correct when he said PS1 is dead. Most of its players/population/demographics/community or however you want to call people who shared an experience, an idea, a meaning, are gone and have been replaced.

Those who are still around and lived the past can tell the difference. To the new inhabitants of the land, may they enjoy their brave new world.

[Wahooo]

If every faction has 1 lock and some change there will only always be 1 big 3-way which was PS at its worst, and it will not retain players.

Like the way PS2 was designed to be?

[kubacheski]

Except, no.

F2P PS1 was the plan until they decided to just do PS2... probably for all the same reasons they are balking at making PS1 F2P after the fact.

I never heard that the plan was for F2P. The plan was to give it a graphics overhaul and still run on the old engine. The problem became quickly obvious, as Basti stated, that there's a lot more work in bringing the old engine and client into full compatibility with 9 years of hardware advancement.

And add into it the ForgeLight engine coming up for Everquest Next at the same time, the decision to make PS2 was easy for the company. Someone asked "what's EQ got that PS1 doesn't?" How about a long history of being a major revenue generator. yea PS1 lived a long life, but I'd like to see a comparison of cashflow between the 2 titles. although PVE is probably a more obvious answer, it also is indicative of why PS2 is on ForgeLight first. There's no content other than map, vehics and weapons. Players run the content, there's no AI and it's a quicker to-market choice than EQNext. The bugs get worked out while charging twitchy teenagers until BF4 comes out, at which time most of the ForgeLight kinks are worked out and EQNext can have a decent launch and PS2 can go on autopilot while the majority of the pop moves to BF4. PS2 will have run its course and the initial launch and hype may have paid for, if not covered a significant portion, of it's cost. The real reason for PS2 is to test the ForgeLight engine for the real SOE moneymaker EQNext.

[OpolE]

It makes no sense to not support the only true Planetside that is Planetside 1. PS1 is alpha and PS2 is beta.

If the devs actually looked at what constitutes planetside and how Auraxis works with links and the whole uniqueness of the game. PS2 shouldn't even be named anything to do with Planetside.

PS2 is just a shooter, thats it. Nothing to do with Planetside in my opinion

[ShockFC]

PlanetSide 1 had it's moment. That moment has passed.

Move on.

[Baneblade]

What do you gain by being against any kind of resurrection of PS1?

[Figment]

They don't gain anything.


They've just given up on the game and don't like the idea that others haven't yet. Either because they're too nostalgic to admit they would like to play but can't anymore, or because they feel it's "not realistically" feasible and want to clubber it in.


Tbh, I find it rather sad that one would try to frustrate the hopes of others.

[bpostal]

Hopefully someday they'll open it (Planetside) back up. The more I play PS2 the more I despise it.

[Atheosim]

Hopefully they'll open it up and not fill it with trash.

[ShockFC]

They don't gain anything.


They've just given up on the game and don't like the idea that others haven't yet. Either because they're too nostalgic to admit they would like to play but can't anymore, or because they feel it's "not realistically" feasible and want to clubber it in.


Tbh, I find it rather sad that one would try to frustrate the hopes of others.

No, I don't gain anything.

However, don't tell me how I'm supposed to feel about the game. The game was great when it had a fun, competitive, and fully supported community. It was great when I had people to play with - my outfit, friends on the server, etc... The game will never have that again, because that's what PS2 has now: a developing and fun competitive community.

What annoys me about this thread is how you are all looking through rose colored glasses at a game with GLARING issues through the entirety of it's time as a game. PS1 had severe problems, problems that were only made better because of the people you played with. PS1 was simply tolerable because of that. Otherwise, it was pure frustration and annoyance. It catered to the lowest common denominator (sup PS2) and it had awful netcode and latency issues.

Would I play if it was F2P? I'd probably hop on for a few minutes, realize how shitty the game is without people to play with, and log off.

Most of the community has moved on, you all have not. Stop pulling at strings and let it go.

[Figment]

However, don't tell me how I'm supposed to feel about the game.

Okay...

PlanetSide 1 had it's moment. That moment has passed.

Move on.

Most of the community has moved on, you all have not. Stop pulling at strings and let it go.

:rolleyes:


I don't tend to listen to blatant hypocrites.


And for the record: I AM NOT THE ONE TELLING SOMEONE ELSE HOW ONE SHOULD FEEL ABOUT THE GAME. I can however, find it extremely sad you are telling other people how to feel about the game out of some misplaced egocentric motivation.

[Crator]

No, I don't gain anything.

However, don't tell me how I'm supposed to feel about the game. The game was great when it had a fun, competitive, and fully supported community. It was great when I had people to play with - my outfit, friends on the server, etc... The game will never have that again, because that's what PS2 has now: a developing and fun competitive community.

What annoys me about this thread is how you are all looking through rose colored glasses at a game with GLARING issues through the entirety of it's time as a game. PS1 had severe problems, problems that were only made better because of the people you played with. PS1 was simply tolerable because of that. Otherwise, it was pure frustration and annoyance. It catered to the lowest common denominator (sup PS2) and it had awful netcode and latency issues.

Would I play if it was F2P? I'd probably hop on for a few minutes, realize how shitty the game is without people to play with, and log off.

Most of the community has moved on, you all have not. Stop pulling at strings and let it go.

I guess that for yourself you could only enjoy it while playing with friends (comms and goofing off?).... But for me, I typically played solo (how you play solo in a game like this is subjective however) the later years the game was out. You see, I enjoyed playing support roles, so that allowed me to primarily play solo.

I got bored of it every once and a while (don't we all when playing one thing way too much) but always came back to play cause I had fun. Glaring issues meaning the netcode and exploits as well as outdated graphics? Yes, I agree there. One of the main reason why they can't easily make it F2P imo. Especially the netcode issues, cause didn't they write it in such a way that was hard to modify? So yeah, there's that. But still, I miss many aspects of what PS1 offered and would love to play it again if there was a population to play with.

[ShockFC]

I miss many aspects of what PS1 offered and would love to play it again if there was a population to play with.

This is the ENTIRE point I'm trying to make.

[ShockFC]

Okay...





:rolleyes:


I don't tend to listen to blatant hypocrites.


And for the record: I AM NOT THE ONE TELLING SOMEONE ELSE HOW ONE SHOULD FEEL ABOUT THE GAME. I can however, find it extremely sad you are telling other people how to feel about the game out of some misplaced egocentric motivation.

They've just given up on the game and don't like the idea that others haven't yet. Either because they're too nostalgic to admit they would like to play but can't anymore, or because they feel it's "not realistically" feasible and want to clubber it in.


See this? This right here is telling me how I feel about the game. You're TELLING ME how I feel.

I'm TELLING YOU to move on - this is an action, not a feeling. I'm not telling you how to feel about the game. You can still FEEL however you want about the game, but that doesn't mean you can't move on.

fuck me why do i post here.

[Atheosim]

fuck me why do i post here.

I don't know. Seems like it's to quell the hopes of others because you have none yourself.

[Figment]

See this? This right here is telling me how I feel about the game. You're TELLING ME how I feel.

Changing your phrasing I see? This is what you said earlier:

"how I'm supposed to feel about the game"

Indeed, I'm analysing how you feel about the game, that's something different from telling you how you should feel. You didn't phrase it as "how I'm supposedly feeling about the game", you were refering to an imperative form of speech we supposedly were using, according to you. Either that or your grammar needs work.

Which is something you're doing: you're telling people to stop wanting to play it. You call it "an action", but it actually is removing an emotional detachment and a want to play the game and thus CHANGING HOW YOU FEEL ABOUT THE GAME.

Ergo. You're a hypocrit.


Btw, you probably post because you like reading yourself. That's an analysis and response to your question. =p

[Tialian]

Would I play if it was F2P? I'd probably hop on for a few minutes, realize how shitty the game is without people to play with, and log off.

Most of the community has moved on, you all have not. Stop pulling at strings and let it go.

This doesn't make sense. Are you assuming if it was f2p that you would be the only one logging in?

There are lots of people that would log in if it was f2p, evidenced by this thread alone and many other sources. I mean you yourself just said we have not moved on, do you think we are going to hang around these forums if PS1 were f2p? No, we would be playing.

The beauty of PS1 is that the continent doesn't have to be locked in order for the game to be fun, it only gets more fun as more players are involved. There is a "wow" factor when you see more than one continent lock, but it doesn't necessarily make everyone log off because there isn't even one continent lock. As long is there is a fight of some sort, people are happy.

[Baneblade]

I'm TELLING YOU to move on

Which was your (and others') mistake from the start. Ignoring the rest of the shit you deposited into the Bank of China, you are basically telling other people that you know better than they do. Which is absolute bollox.

I don't care who you are or why you think PS1 shouldn't go F2P, you still don't get to tell me or anyone else to stop trying.

And if by some miracle Smedlonius pushes F2P PS1 through and it is a success, I'd happily see your name in the killspam and totally forget you were decrying it. Because I want PS1 F2P for everyone, not just for me or just for the people who support it when it is 'popular'.

So, with respect...shut the fuck up.