KSP 2 Would Have Microtransactions

[Rocket In My Pocket]

7 minutes ago, Hay said:

Just look at what happened when T2 tried to ban GTAV mods.

That's a common misconception; T2 never actually tried to ban GTAV mods.

They removed one mod which was being used to hack the game while playing online.

I don't play GTAV anymore or really keep up on the news that well, but as far as I know that one particular mod in question has since been restored with some small alterations to keep people from using it to cheat.

[Hay]

1 minute ago, Rocket In My Pocket said:

That's a common misconception; T2 never actually tried to ban GTAV mods.

They removed one mod which was being used to hack the game while playing online.

I don't play GTAV anymore or really keep up on the news that well, but as far as I know that one particular mod in question has since been restored with some small alterations to keep people from using it to cheat.

Fair enough, but they still recieved a lot of criticism for it.

[KSK]

1 minute ago, Hay said:

Fair enough, but they still recieved a lot of criticism for it.

Game companies being criticised by gamers. In other news, water found to be wet.

[Rocket In My Pocket]

3 minutes ago, Hay said:

Fair enough, but they still recieved a lot of criticism for it.

Very true, and perhaps that played a part in the mod being eventually restored.

I think T2 was totally reasonable and within their rights to take down the mod in order to protect honest online players who paid good money until it could be reworked to prevent exploiting.

I also think the players who protested the take down of the mod were totally reasonable and within their rights as it sets a dangerous precedent to quietly allow companies to remove mods that may or may not be competing with their own content. Luckily, all's well that ends well.

Edited November 8, 2017 by Rocket In My Pocket

[ARS]

Well, if they really make a microtransaction in KSP...

Time to make a backup copy of my game folder....

[klgraham1013]

12 minutes ago, Hay said:

Fair enough, but they still recieved a lot of criticism for it.

Critisim like "Take Two killing all mods!"

Unfounded criticism isn't the kind to take seriously.

[regex]

2 hours ago, ARS said:

Well, if they really make a microtransaction in KSP...

How exactly would this be implemented? Where and when is the DRM being added to KSP? How are their current assets protected? How would new content from microtransactions be protected? How is code currently protected?

I know it sounds HELLA SCARY to imagine microtransactions infecting your favorite game but take a moment to actually think about how that would realistically happen in a singleplayer game with precisely zero DRM and a fairly open codebase with a years-long history of literally catering to a modding community.

[harrisjosh2711]

I can tell you this- I got a taste of the new micro transaction system in shadow of war middle of earth. I played the game for one week and its the worst thing I have ever seen enter the video game industry. Not only have I lost all the internal reward from finding some, say rare artifact. But also lost all will to play the game at all. Worst $60 I ever spent. Their microtransaction system never got a single penny from my wallet nor will I ever play another game from Warner Brothers again.

KSP is a type of game only certain people play. Micro transactions work great for say a game like- angry bird. When you start taking the reward away from games like say- Skyrim. People are not going to play your games as that is what they find fun about them. You can hack in slash in almost any game. Games that truly build a mass following aim to give players something unique. 

Edited November 9, 2017 by harrisjosh2711

[DAL59]

There is no evidence at all that this is actually going to happen.  And even if it did, you could just play the old version.    

[ARS]

2 hours ago, regex said:

How exactly would this be implemented? Where and when is the DRM being added to KSP? How are their current assets protected? How would new content from microtransactions be protected? How is code currently protected?

Well, I know there's no way they can add DRM to the whole user. Realistically, KSP is already DRM free anyway, and it can be played without online connection since it's singleplayer (Unless DMP is installed). The closest thing that they can do to make us spend money for KSP is probably selling merchandise, which I do have a support for it. I'm just saying that IF, they make a DLC, it would probably useless anyway, since any DLC content would be inside gamedata folder and people would just copy paste it or make an identical mod anyway. Mods already covering pretty much anything the community ask, from physics rebalancing, more parts, more planets, more utilities, more resources, weapons, to graphic mods. Quite often I have several KSP copy in my drive to handle all the mods installed (My computer isn't quite powerful, so some KSP folder is designated for different task such as KSP1 for weapons, KSP2 for life support, KSP3 for parts pack, etc.). So if they want to install any DRM or making any attempt to protect their content or microtransaction stuff, it's seems very unlikely

[Kerbart]

2 hours ago, DAL59 said:

There is no evidence at all that this is actually going to happen.  And even if it did, you could just play the old version.    

Bazinga! Stupidly enough I never, ever thought this argument through.

Think about it. Go ahead. Take a minute. Maybe two. Maybe five.

And then you'll see why I just switched over to the “Yeah, micropayments in KSP, BRING IT, T2, BRING IT!” camp. (Hint: once you see it, it's stunningly obvious)

[Superfluous J]

5 hours ago, ARS said:

Well, if they really make a microtransaction in KSP...

Time to make a backup copy of my game folder....

No, that time was X years ago, where X is the number of years you've been playing the game.

[cfds]

9 hours ago, regex said:

How exactly would this be implemented? Where and when is the DRM being added to KSP? How are their current assets protected? How would new content from microtransactions be protected? How is code currently protected?

I know it sounds HELLA SCARY to imagine microtransactions infecting your favorite game but take a moment to actually think about how that would realistically happen in a singleplayer game with precisely zero DRM and a fairly open codebase with a years-long history of literally catering to a modding community.

Well, for people who bought the steam version and did not make a backup it just requires them connecting to steam... So "making a  backup" is exactly the correct step.

People who bought from the KSP store (or gog) are fine, though.

[Kerbart]

7 hours ago, cfds said:

Well, for people who bought the steam version and did not make a backup it just requires them connecting to steam... So "making a  backup" is exactly the correct step.

The question is not how the game would be distributed. The question is how micropayments would be implemented. What would stop players from editing save files (which are plain text)? Would would stop them from using mods that provide the same functionality as what the micropayments offer?

Yes, the game can be modified. Save files can be encrypted. Maybe you can prevent mods from providing such functionality without killing mods in general (although that will be tricky without a proper API).

Consider the cost involved with realizing such changes. Consider the reduction of the userbase (95%of the players will likely just stick to the last MP-free version). Consider the revenue stream from the reduced user-base.

I’m pretty certain that that is what @regex meant.

now, with that in mind, consider “plan B” for a “recurring revenue stream:” selling DLC. How viable is that? Oh wait, they’re already working on it.

So what’s the more likely option for recurring revenue with KSP: DLC or micropayments?

[regex]

49 minutes ago, Kerbart said:

I’m pretty certain that that is what @regex meant.

It's exactly what I meant. Implementing a micro-transaction model for the current game would require a massive effort, and anyway we'd know in advance because Squad is the kind of company that loves hype.

[wumpus]

The CEO of KSP publisher Take Two, Strauss Zelnick insists that all Take Two games will include hooks for gamers to keep paying more money.

https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/309190/TakeTwo_plans_to_only_release_games_with_recurrent_consumer_spending_hooks.php

At least for 1.3.1 and earlier, you can backup KSP and it will keeping working as is.  So no reason to panic over current KSP, but this seems to limit its future.

[cfds]

I also do not believe that some stuff like micro-transactions or disabling of mods will happen, but the steam's "shove every update down the user's throat" approach would make it trivial to implement it without the user's consent (unless he has a backup).

The modding community is far too useful as a tool to protect the "KSP brand to get rid off it": It is free and it raises the entry cost for any possible competitor as he would not only have to surpass vanilla but also modded KSP as a game.

[Slam_Jones]

Quote

"We've said that we aim to have recurrent consumer spending opportunities for every title that we put out at this company. It may not always be an online model, it probably won't always be a virtual currency model, but there will be some ability to engage in an ongoing basis with our titles after release across the board," Zelnick continued. 

That doesn't necessarily mean microtransactions.  It would well just be DLC for titles that it makes sense for.

I don't see how they can insert microtransactions into KSP... charging for official mods or DLC makes more sense to me.

(Wasn't there already a thread for this?)

Edited November 9, 2017 by Slam_Jones

[Johnny Wishbone]

Sadly, this seems to be the direction that just about every major publisher is headed. Both EA and Ubisoft have made similar statements as to the future directions of their games.

 

In another 20 years or so, we'll watch videos on whatever passes for YouTube then about the great video game crash of the late 2010's/early 2020s just like we can currently watch stuff about what happened with video games in the early 80s. That's the direction we're headed. People are quickly going to get tired of being constantly nickel and dimed for games and its going to kill the industry. And it may be a permanent death this time.

1 minute ago, Slam_Jones said:

I don't see how they can insert microtransactions into KSP...

(Wasn't there already a thread for this?)

Want a different EVA suit for your Kerbal? Pony up a buck. How about flags, decals, or stickers for the crafts you build? Buy a 5 pack for 5 bucks or a 10 pack for 9 bucks (and get a discount!).

There's lots of ways to insert microtransactions into KSP. Heck, Valve has made millions selling hats to TF2 players for their in game characters. Hats!

[Gaarst]

Microtransactions are not possible in KSP, end of story. Also there's already a thread for these rumours and fearmongering:

 

[AngrybobH]

5 minutes ago, Johnny Wishbone said:

Sadly, this seems to be the direction that just about every major publisher is headed. Both EA and Ubisoft have made similar statements as to the future directions of their games.

 

In another 20 years or so, we'll watch videos on whatever passes for YouTube then about the great video game crash of the late 2010's/early 2020s just like we can currently watch stuff about what happened with video games in the early 80s. That's the direction we're headed. People are quickly going to get tired of being constantly nickel and dimed for games and its going to kill the industry. And it may be a permanent death this time.

This is the direction of the industry but, it does not have to be a bad experience. Unfortunately, we have far more examples of "recurrent consumer spending" gone wrong (EA) than we do gone right. Done right, a company produces a great game that is fun and then produces things for that game that the average player is willing to spend money on. When wrong, we get broken, stripped down games that require paid DLC to even complete.

I don't think that means much for KSP other than possibly more DLC. I have over 1200 hours in this game and I am more than willing to give up a couple of dollars for something interesting. If this is the model than I am fine with "recurrent consumer spending".

[MR L A]

This should probably be moved seeing as it isn't KSP specific... No where in the article does it say that CURRENT games will be retrofitted with micro-transaction content. The article only suggests that all new games T2 will have micro-transactions... nothing else 

[KSK]

24 minutes ago, Johnny Wishbone said:

There's lots of ways to insert microtransactions into KSP. Heck, Valve has made millions selling hats to TF2 players for their in game characters. Hats!

And therein lies the root of the issue. If players are willing to fork out that much on cosmetic, non game-play altering (as far as I know) trivialities then any company *not* selling hats is being stupid to leave that much money on the table.

Selling stuff that could impact gameplay via micro transactions - how much I'm prepared to get bent out of shape by that depends very much on the game genre. But cosmetic junk like hats - meh. 

[DarkOwl57]

34 minutes ago, Johnny Wishbone said:

Want a different EVA suit for your Kerbal? Pony up a buck.

Mods

35 minutes ago, Johnny Wishbone said:

How about flags, decals, or stickers for the crafts you build? Buy a 5 pack for 5 bucks or a 10 pack for 9 bucks (and get a discount!).

Mods

 

Let's face the facts here guys! KSP with transactions would never work for 2 reasons. 1) I bet it would be the biggest pain in the butt known to programming/coding history, but the almighty #2 is this: The community would hate it. They'd stop buying/playing! And where would that leave the company? No money, no employees, no profit, no nothin'. Mini rant kinda over.

[Vanamonde]

Overlapping threads have been merged.