Price Change

General
#1

Price changes: April has come round again and so we’ve reviewed the prices for the game. Please check below for the changes, these will be implemented on Wednesday 13th April:

Gunboat games: All new GB games will get a free turn for one of your nations on turns 6/11/16 (and every 5 turns thereafter) if you are running two (or more) nations. That’s a 10% overall decrease for the majority of your turns.

UK, Europe, RoWorld £
Turn-AMEOW: £4.50
Turn-Email: £4.90
Turn-Postal: £5.20
Turn Resent: £1.00

North America US$
Turn-AMEOW: $7.90
Turn-Email: $8.50
Turn-Postal: $9.00
Turn-PhoneIn: $4.00
Turn Resent: $1.90
Low Funds Initial: $1.80
Low Funds Subsequent: $0.90
Payments under $20: $1.80

Australasia AU$
Turn-AMEOW: $10.50
Turn-Email: $11.50
Turn-Postal: $13.50
Turn-PhoneIn: $4.80
Turn Resent: $2.50
Start-up Pack: $24.00
Start-up normal game/Map/Rulebook: $12
Low Funds Initial: $2.40
Low Funds Subsequent: $1.20
Payments under $20: $2.40

Some minor admin changes to charges (check out the house rules).

Thanks
Clint

#2

Clint, does the AMEOW price also the price for submitting turns in AutoMagic?

Baruk

#3

Boooo…

ME monopoly

#4

Due to OPEC oil prices. :wink:

#5

Less than 4% increase, still a bargain in my book.

#6

Ditto on the question regarding AUTOMAGIC. How much is that?

It is the main software listed on the MEPBM website. MEOW and MAIN are listed as “related programs”.

#7

Turn Phone in? So if I call and read you my orders, its cheaper than emailing them to you via Automagic? Or am I misunderstanding?

JB

#8

Another price increase, hmmmm…

Now I agree, this is a good game and the few isssues I have had with ME Games have been dealt with quickly. But I find the price per order VERY high.
At games start, it is $ .53 an order. That only goes down to about $ .40 an order over the course of the game.

What other PBM/PBEM games that are still around cost near that much? Other games by still functioning companies - Rolling Thunder’s Victory, Flying Buffalo’s Battle Plan and Starweb come to mind - are well below that per order. Are you telling me it is that expensive to have your employees enter that data ? Even at 25 players, it cannot take more than a few hours by one person.

Truly, this game is getting to a price point that is pushing the limits for me. Of course, I am a Johnny come lately to ME scenarios. I have found in the 2 + years and about 5 games i have played, that it is a tightnit community and besides myself I have seen very few newcomers stick around and play multiple games. The die-hards will have no problem with this increase I suspect, but you are making it more and more unlikely that fresh blood will be infused into, and stay with, the game.

IMHO, 2.5 cents worth :slight_smile:

Don Palmer

#9

JB,

I was looking at that also. I expect that that is an EXTRA cost above and beyond the standard turn fee.

Scavenger

#10

So, I can pay $13.95 a month to play City of Heroes, World of Warcraft, or Everquest II OR I can pay $15.80 a month for two turns of a standard MEPBM game?

I like MEPBM, I’ve been playing off and on since 1991. The last increase in cost to $7.50 a turn made me consider stopping all together. This further increase pretty much pushes me over the edge.

I understand the difficulty of running a small business catering to a relatively small, specialized community, so I won’t rail against Clint and Co. It’s just unfortunate that circumstances have raised the continuing costs of this hobby beyond what I am willing to spend.

#11

$ seems to be cheaper than £…

Do we have a choice as to which currency to use to fund accounts???

Cheers

Michael

#12

Dollar turns are cheaper than the Europe and UK prices. If you use AM or MEOW turns then you get cheaper turns - basically non-AMEOW (it’s called for short) then you get turns cheaper.

It all depends on cost and fun. If you enjoy games like Everquest then that’s fine (Rob is an addict of it for example) but if you enjoy this game and you think it worth the price that’s great. We’re pretty close to sticking to inflation - so for the UK price is linked to that, US turns would cost $8.42 if we charge the full price for an AM turn but we realise that the US players are used to “cheaper” life style than the UK/Europeans. For 40c an order I think that’s great fun. (Note I have paid £15 a turn for some PBMs that I was in so know what it’s like to be a player of the game).

If you compare the price of a turn to something like a pizza or pint of beer it’s great value for money - it’s all upto how much you enjoy it, how much you think it’s worth and how much you enjoy the company of the players and the world you play in. That’s very much a taste thing. I can spend hours planning my turn, chatting to allies etc and that’s great fun and IMO well worth the price.

We’ve had lots of players stick to the game - with Bofa it’s been very good on take-up. Generally anyone who buys a set-up has a 50/50 chance of getting back to us. Then they have a 50/50 chance of putting in their first turn - after that it’s upto how much the game suits them we’ve found.

Phone in turns are in addition… :slight_smile: They’re every rare.

We do understand that price increases are never popular and appreciate both your support and feedback. It’s all about enjoyment vs cost as with anything. We realise that the initial “hit” of a price rise is never popular (how could it be!) but that we do it to keep the game competitive and earning enough to keep us running the game.

If you ever wonder how much money we earn, I finally bought a car this year - £900 10 year old car and finding it hard to up-keep. I hope that helps put things in perspective. (Not looking for sympathy, I mostly very much enjoy running the game and have met some excellent people out there, but just to put it in perspective of what we actually earn here!).

Clint

#13

I think these very reasonable price increases.

#14

Do we have a choice as to which currency to use to fund accounts???

No sorry it’s based on the country you live in.

Clint

#15

I guess I can see it both ways. Although I’ve only played in a few games, those have been stretched out over a long period of time. I think I first heard of MEPBM back in the early 90s, probably through an ad in Dragon Magazine, or maybe from a sample issue of Flagship. As an unemployed high school and then college student, I dropped relatively early in the three games I played with GSI, mainly due to the $6.50/turn fee. It was high then for a PBM game and the setup/rules fees were astronomical for the genre. However, the game was of the highest quality and a leader in the field.

Of course, that $6.50 included manual entry of all turns with no helper programs, envelopes, postage for 12+ pages of turn reports and order sheets, and the other costs related to running a paper game, such as printer ink. One would assume that for most players much of those administrative costs no longer exist due to email.

If anything, MEPBM probably should have gotten cheaper. It’s not cutting-edge, it’s not as expensive to run, and it hasn’t been significantly improved. (I’m talking about the core engine here.) While compared to the price of one beer almost everything is a “good deal”, MEPBM doesn’t hold up as well when compared to other forms of entertainment and gaming. Everquest-type games are an obvious example as are the multitude of computer games with free online play, “fantasy” sports games, etc.

IMO, MEPBM is just plain bad value for one’s money. On the other hand, that is the case with most luxuries–a good single malt scotch probably isn’t really “worth” the premium you’ll pay for it. Same for cigars, luxury cars, whatever. It’s difficult if not impossible to find a hex-based wargame with relatively simple but solid wargame mechanics that also includes an economic game, an espionage element, and the opportunity for detailed, involved diplomacy. Throw in the Tolkien setting and you have a pretty unique product, the type of thing one might expect to pay a premium for.

Like I said, I see it both ways. I guess I’m most sympathetic to the view that in the email age it seems like the game should have become cheaper, not more expensive. But the market will decide, as usual.

#16

The price change is not that much and if people are already playing I cant see a small inflation rise being a big problem. The GM’s still have to live and eat like the rest of us.

If they’d put a massive price hike on it then I really could see some complaints.

I see the point made above about MMRPG as slightly spurious since they are two very different products. MMRPG are not to my tastes. As a result I choose to spend my money elsewhere on things I do enjoy.

#17

To be honest, I don’t like any price increases for anything.

But I won’t begrudge Clint this one, Like Gavken says They have to Live and eat like the rest of us.

I started playing MEPBM originally way back when GAD/ALLSORTS first had it in the UK and it cost £3.50 back then. 10 years + ?

When I rejoined the game 1 1/2 years agon after about 6 - 8 years absence I was amazed that the price had hardly changed.

Yes, with email, delivery has changed and is cheaper, the AMEOW programs allow the orders to be input quicker, BUT we have the added and for me the one ofthe main reason why Clint and co have made MEPBM the game for me over others is SERVICE.

To me, thats worth the extra cost. I know when my turns will arrive, I know there will be someone available to talk to if needed, they even help sort out problems with turns at rediculous times when they shouldn’t be working (like 23:45 on a friday night).

I wouldn’t stop playing due to the cost going up, I would just have to limit myself on the numbe of positions.

Dave Pearson

#18

Well my last post was a bit of a joke but the discussion about the price hike has brought up something that i’m not too happy with.

US turns being cheaper turns than U.K turns. Prices should be standardised - I don’t believe it is a valid reason that they should get lower cost turns just because “US players are used to a cheaper lifestyle”. The service is exactly the same, right?

and to address the above comment about GMs having to live and eat… I don’t think we’ll be putting Clint and the rest on the street.

everyone has the right to moan about prices…

#19

Very true… and I do agree about UK prices being higher than US, us brits always end up paying more…

Dave

#20

No you wont be putting them out on the street, but it will give them a chance to develop the game further - something which does take time and money and at the end of the day we will get the benefits.

Everyone has the right to moan about prices sure. I hate it when prices go up just like anyone else, but also I’m a realist.

Gavin.