If Hafen doesn't make it, I really hope something will..

[OneMore]

I've been playing a bit and I am still on the border on whether I will pay to play.

I've actually hoped that Jorb and Loftar would put some sort of payment system in place for a few years now and thought the "eternal alpha" thing was too non-committal to create any sort of quality product. I'm in development myself and when I accept money, I work hard to deliver a quality end product. I wanted Jorb and Loftar to feel the same thing. As I get older, and have less time to waste, I want to waste the time I have on something I know is going to be great, or at least has a chance to be. It's not really about money, it's about my time.

Right now, beyond the Hafen community being incredibly volatile and possibly not something I want to be part of, I'm not sure Jorb and Loftar are really into the business side of Hafen. Frankly, I don't think this is that uncommon when it comes to developers. Often times developers just want to create cool shit. I believe Jorb even admitted that the Shop was sort of last minute and not completely thought out. It really should have been. I think without a business component, Hafen is doomed to fail because the developers won't be able to spend any time on it because they aren't making any money. Maybe it will continue to exist in some form or another, but it will never reach its full potential.

I think a good example of a game done right, at least from a business perspective, is Pathfinder Online. They raised about $1million via kick starter and then engaged with their community every step of the way about every aspect of what they were doing. It took some work, but I think they will be successful.

If Hafen doesn't make it, I really hope this doesn't dissuade other developers from trying a similar idea, which is sort of what I fear. I really think it could be a niche that is both lucrative and successful. It sort of always reminded me of how harsh UO used to be right in the early days. Of course, Hafen is much harsher...and I have to say, I like it.

[borka]

sorry for somewhat necroing, but:

Business Perspective ?!?
https://goblinworks.com/blog/lisas-community-address/

Some delays in getting the game to market coupled with some anticipated funding falling through ...on August 28, we had to lay off the majority of the Goblinworks staff

http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game ... -Back.html

german:
http://www.buffed.de/Pathfinder-Online- ... s-1170116/

Guess Seatribe business perspective looks more realistic ... and for sure they won't sack themselves ...

[Jackwolf]

Yyyyeeah the moment you said Pathfinder I started reaching for the links, then saw Borka's post.

Granted it took me a moment after to notice this was a necro. Yeah, the Paizo gang really screwed up - especially after giving a lot of their table top players a good bit of hype. I remember meeting one guy at a convention who boasted about paying something obscene (like $1,000 or something higher?) to own a bar in-game. Sucks to be him I suppose.