A discussion on payment models in free to play games, the conflicts they create, and how to forge a better experience for players on both ends.

***Additional info on the concept payment model...
"A lot of people are getting hung up on the leading/team aspect, and that's my fault for not explaining it better.

Instead of thinking about each player as a member of your team, think about them as a harvesting unit in Starcraft or Command and Conquer. They are there to gather resources for you.

The smart player will reinvest a portion of those resources to make sure that their harvesters are upgraded and protected. The bad player might let their harvester's die.

The difference between a harvester and a free player, is that the free player can choose to stop gathering for a bad player, and find a smarter player to "work for."

So it has little to do with leadership from a leadership standpoint. It's more individualized than that. The exceptional players will be better at leading than others. Because of that, upper level non-paying players will want to be a part of their team, because they know that they're getting looked after properly.

As far as needing more free players than paying players, that wouldn't necessarily be the case. If there ever was a lack of free players (which would never, ever happen,) paying players could just be given NPC minions that do mock missions and require the same sorts of reinvesting of resources.

The "mission" system works on a matchmaking level, like that of Tribes, Warframe, Battlefield, etc, etc."

(Play PlanetSide 2 for Free: http://brinx.it/GB1)

::Attached Videos::
Shaping Communities - http://youtu.be/WiQyp2gnkNo
Wraith Cloak Review - http://youtu.be/nnRGPIw7VEs
What Keeps You Playing? - http://youtu.be/zvWahKIiMFQ

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