Indie MMO 'Love' goes into paid alpha testing
by Griffin McElroy 
{ Oct 6th 2009 at 12:00AM } 
A few of the game's followers have raised quite a stink about one caveat to the alpha test: Applicants are required to purchase a license in order to join in the festivities. At €3.00 (or about $4.50), it's hardly a bank-breaking purchase, but mandating payment in order to test out an MMO is fairly uncharted territory. Don't look to us for criticism of this unprecedented practice -- we instantly bought it.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
mrfong @ Oct 6th 2009 12:03AM
4.50? That's nothing! Totally worth it for this game; can't wait to see how this one turns out!
CH3BURASHKA @ Oct 6th 2009 12:07AM
First, I was like, whatever. Then I saw a demo, I was like, whoa!
Sly (Now equipped with DS!) @ Oct 6th 2009 12:20AM
why not charge for it? most MMOs charge for everything else anyways. the game, the expansions, being able to play the game and the expansions, etc.
F1: Basu Gasu Bakuhatsu @ Oct 6th 2009 12:32AM
As long as the money helps the development time speed up I see no reason not to charge.
Einhanderkiller @ Oct 6th 2009 12:36AM
Funding indie games is fine with me.
Rocky @ Oct 6th 2009 1:06AM
Paying $5 for the alpha of a full MMO is obviously absurd. Paying $5 to test something developed entirely by one man... you can't even compare the two.
nickux @ Oct 6th 2009 1:10AM
PC games have got to be the biggest bunch of cry babies. It's $5 and the guy behind this game has put so much work into it. GET OVER IT
nickux @ Oct 6th 2009 1:10AM
make that PC "gamers" ^^^^^
Azerael @ Oct 6th 2009 1:33AM
WTF are you talking about?
The only negative comment in this whole section right now is yours. Preemptive persecution complex much?
nickux @ Oct 6th 2009 1:39AM
No no not in the comments section! I'm referring to the people the article mentions as those making a stink about the alpha being pay-for.
Satn @ Oct 6th 2009 1:48AM
Oh quit your whining you console cry baby, not like you ladies don't raise a stink about paying $10 extra per game.
Hell, you ladies risk breaking your gaming hardware so you can get pirated games to work on it.
nickux @ Oct 6th 2009 4:03PM
The $10 extra per game I always assumed was because the console makers require a licensing fee. So I don't complain about that- I'm sure some people do. People love to complain.
BananaBoat @ Oct 6th 2009 2:22AM
I hope Eskil can get this game off the ground. Charging for admittance into an Alpha is definitely not the way to go though, especially when he's talked about how one of his key problems is the inability to get feedback from people that have actually played the game. I don't know him, but it seems like there were opportunities along the way for him to either sell Love to a bigger company (with more experience running an MMO), or to partner with one. How he is going to manage an MMO by himself is a mystery at this point, as is the question of how he is going to get the servers he'll need to make the game possible. Surely he won't make enough money on this Alpha test to fund server purchases...is he going to go into debt in order to get the servers he needs? Even renting servers is fairly expensive, and trying to keep track of player accounts without any kind of infrastructure is asking for trouble.
I've been looking forward to this game for a long time now. Keep up the good work Eskil.
Eskil Steenberg @ Oct 6th 2009 2:30AM
Thank you very much for understanding. I would love to have it be free, but I simply can not afford to run the servers need to let everyone who wants to play in. Especially running the servers in Atlanta to give US players better ping. I hope that I clearly state my reasons on the alpha page and that that no one feels cheated. While i expected this to be controversial, I am happy to report that so far no on in the Alpha has complained or asked for a refund.
Eskil Steenberg
Z (uburi) @ Oct 6th 2009 2:47AM
It makes sense. You don't have a multi-million dollar backing.
If EA or NCSoft were asking people to pay to enter a beta (alpha) test, I am sure there would be a well-justified uproar.
I'm pleasantly surprised that most of the other posters here feel the same way.
Good luck!
BananaBoat @ Oct 6th 2009 3:01AM
@Z (uburi) -
I couldn't agree more. Anyone complaining about having to pay to get into the alpha (as if someone is forcing them) is an enormous douche bag. Considering the cost of servers, and how it comes out of Eskil's pocket (I'd assume, I could be wrong), it's obvious to anyone that there couldn't be a large alpha/beta unless the servers were paid for somehow. My only fear right now is that there might not be enough people in the alpha to provide the necessary data and feedback, since there are a lot of people that simply can't/won't pay to get into an alpha. That is why I mentioned how a partnership with a larger company could potentially solve that problem, but I realize that the risk to artistic integrity might be too great (or that there may not be any companies willing to help in this economic climate). It certainly is brave to launch an MMO on your own, especially when you've created the entire thing by yourself (I can't think of any other independently created MMO's)
@Eskil -
Don't worry about the people complaining. They are they same people that would most likely be glad to pirate your game if they could. I hope that this alpha program brings in enough money and data to help with the completion of the game.
Lunastra78 (PSN: lunastra78) @ Oct 6th 2009 3:37AM
Hey Eskil. Any chance of this coming to consoles later on? From what I understand the chance of making a lot of cash and getting financial aid for releasing indie games is much bigger on consoles?
Nudge nudge wink wink... ;)
Sly (Now equipped with DS!) @ Oct 6th 2009 5:47PM
consoles? one guy porting the game would take forever. he would have to work out a deal with a publisher and have the pub get a dev to port it over.
Eskil Steenberg @ Oct 6th 2009 3:50AM
Contrary to popular belief, I have never been offered to "Cash out" by any publisher or investor. Some have browsed, but never gotten serious about a deal. At this point when I have invested so much myself, and I so close to release I have a hard time seeing a deal that I would take. I have gotten interest form some console makers so its not impossible that it may show up some time in the future on a console, but right now PC is my focus and Linux and OSX is next.
BananaBoat @ Oct 6th 2009 4:52AM
There were rumors going around that multiple companies were looking at the game. It's a shame that none of them ever made a serious offer, but I guess it is probably for the best, considering how they may have completely changed the game after acquiring it.
It's interesting to hear that there has been interest from the console makers. I can't think of any MMO's on the current consoles, and Love could easily fill that gap. I don't even want to think about the certification process that would be involved for a procedurally generated game though. The Cave Story port for WiiWare was submitted for final approval a month ago, and the developers still haven't gotten any word on the status of the game (despite it being small).
Anyway, I hope the alpha test goes well.
mister_d @ Oct 6th 2009 7:12AM
Some people will disagree with paying for an alpha build and complain. Then, some people will get angry that people are complaining. Then there will be a back and forth like that until both sides get bored and move on. The game will be stuck in the middle of it, and ultimately there will be a negative effect on its reputation.
It's best to give potential controversy a wide berth, especially when every potential customer counts.
Personally I don't feel strongly either way. But I do feel it would be a shame if the game is marred by controversy down the road. Time will tell.
forbizzl3 @ Oct 6th 2009 8:31AM
It may be uncharted territory to ask for a fee for an alpha test, but it's definitely uncharted territory for an MMO to be developed by a single person. The only reason other games can offer early access for free is that they're backed by giant publishers, and let's be honest most of those are advertisements more than legitimate alpha/beta drops.
If you're the type of person that is ready to bitch about this price, you're obviously living off your parents. Once you make it into the real job market, you'll understand that the price of a latte is very reasonable, and that supporting someone doing something like this on their own is worth while.
DataShade @ Oct 6th 2009 1:23PM
Not "uncharted." To beta-test Star Wars: Galaxies, you had to pay $14.95 for three CDs + shipping. And, frankly, I'm willing to bet this is a better game.
Mr. Joe @ Oct 6th 2009 3:55PM
griffin, is that some kind of pun that you have "raised quite a stink" linked to gaygamer.net?
Author X @ Oct 7th 2009 4:37AM
Awww dammit! I have been lusting after this game ever since I saw the demo, then watched the tools demo, then read the developers blog and read his site...
Well, I stop reading joystiq for a few days to catch up on work, and now I see this and the site is down.
WHHYYYYY???
Author X @ Oct 7th 2009 4:45AM
Haha, never mind. I was just being impatient, it came back up :D