Milking the cow EQ2 not niceFollow

I was sent this from a friend thought you guys might want to check it out:

Holy mooo! SOE is now offering a "premium" service to players, at TEN times the regular going price for hosting.



"Station Players is an amazing service that centralizes the resources our players have traditionally used through multiple external sites in a single, powerful umbrella," said John Smedley, president, Sony Online Entertainment. "It combines the ability to connect with your character, and in-game activities, leader boards, item databases, and a powerful set of guild tools in a single online package for our players."


Premium Services

Enhanced Character Profiles ($.99/month)
Item Lists & Information ($.99/month)
Guild Tools ($.99/month)
Character Screenshot/Image Storage ($.99/month)

Complete package bundle including all Station Players features for $2.99/month


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Zippa dee doo!

Alright so Divine has 50 members, times 3 bucks, thats 150 bucks per month. Times 12 thats $1800 per year if we all buy this wonderful service.

Fortunately i have been smart enough to host my own website, which costs me a whopping $120 per year. Plus i chose to have a full featured SQL database for another $20 per year.

So i have a full featured, high bandwith Web Database server where i can install and use scripts.

If youre not that firm on making your own databases and scripts, just use the ones that are available for FREE on sourceforge.com or any other community coding site.

Of course my server is about a gazillion times better then the "premium" service because i can host whatever feature i want on it.

So how does SOE sell a feature worth around 50 bucks a year for 1800 bucks?

Moo Moo! Marketing Milk the EQ2 crowd.

Go figure.

As Miravelle said, you are only paying your part. Now, if you can offer the same service (take the item list, content, etc.) on your website and charge each person $1 a month, then they may go with you. Also, you don't have to pay for everything. You can sign up for what you want. If you have space for your pictures and want to do them then you don't sign up for this service. Have a webiste for character information? 1 less service you need to sign up for. It does come in a package but you do not need to buy it all. From the list the only one you really can get some use out of is the Guild tools and only 1 person has to pay for that.

SOE is giving each player the option to not have to worry about doing all those things themselves. Which a lot of players do not know how to do it or simply do not want to.

Yes $1800 is a lot of money but how many people are paying that compared to you paying $120 a year?

Also, once the Item lists have been copied, I mean submitted to all other EQII websites (like this one) you will no longer need to pay for that.

also where will you be getting your data from? who do you think will be able to gather your 50 people? or the entire online community?

Also between stationplayers (something i will NOT be paying for) and ummm THIS WEBSITE! there's not much information you won't be able to find.

plus there are at least another dozen fansites already up that will be hosting this information.