DCS Module Trial.... A Possible Improvement To The Trial Period Format??

[cfrag]

1 minute ago, Dragon1-1 said:

Autodesk gives you one month of free access to their professional CAD tools.

Isn't this an apples and oranges comparison? AutoCAD's 1-year subscription runs some USD 5'000 a year, and it is used to generate income for you. So your purchase decision depends on how well you can integrate it into your daily workflow, and how much it attributes to your yearly income to refinance that cost. None of that applies to entertainment titles.

Here's a counter-point: all I got was a 1 minute preview for Avatar II (with limited replay value, as after a couple of re-runs it got stale), and I had to base a similar purchase decision (USD 80 for my family - plus snacks!) on that - for a measly 3 hours of entertainment, with zero replay value without re-investment. I think ED's 14 day free trial looks positively stellar compared to that, as you can try different modules, and re-try after just 6 months!

10 minutes ago, Dragon1-1 said:

Somehow, "freeloading" is not a major concern for them

That is because if a business invests a person month or more to integrate some software into their production process, that business is locked in. A vendor can afford to be lenient when calling their dues - the customer won't run away without having to write off that initial integration investment first. This doesn't apply to games at all.  

[SharpeXB]

26 minutes ago, Dragon1-1 said:

I'm asking for a trial that is easier to manage for people with limited time.

So you’re asking for this to be treated like a free game, not a trial. You know there are actually free games out there. You should stick to those instead of DCS since they seem to be within your budget. There’s no value for ED in what you’re suggesting and it would be much harder for them to keep track of than a simple download date. The motivation for ED in offering a free trial is to sell the game. Anyone who can’t decide to buy it after two weeks likely never will. 

[SharpeXB]

56 minutes ago, Dragon1-1 said:

Admit it, you're just one of those people who can't stand that other people might be able to do fun stuff without paying for it. You know, the sort of person who would shut off someone's running water if they forgot to pay for it (FYI: illegal in most civilized places, and in the UK).

You paint an amazing picture of someone unwilling to work and pay for the things they want. Maybe getting your water shut off would motivate you. When you equate a computer game to something vital like running water you make it sound like games are an addiction for you and not merely entertainment. 

Edited January 10, 2023 by SharpeXB

[Dragon1-1]

3 hours ago, SharpeXB said:

The motivation for ED in offering a free trial is to sell the game. Anyone who can’t decide to buy it after two weeks likely never will. 

Here's another take on this: how much potential is lost on those alleged "freeloaders"? The answer is, zero. Because if someone can afford it, they buy it. I've got money to spend for DCS modules, so I do. Others might not have it, and they don't. The options are, let them "freeload" long enough and hope for that bug to bite them by the time they do come into some money (if they ever do, which is not a given) and gain some money eventually, or... not. You think people getting some fun for free is a bad thing, but it's just the opposite.  

And no, it's not a motivation problem. Most people aren't poor because they lack motivation. Most often, they're poor because the world is pretty much rigged to keep them that way. You'd do well to educate yourself on how the modern world really works. Part of the reason it does is that people born into privilege, instead of being sensitized to how lucky they are, instead are being fed the illusion that they world is fair and that everyone can get where they are. Money is not the means of keeping nice stuff out of the hands of the unworthy, it's the means of fairly compensating the providers of that nice stuff. As long as ED is being fairly compensated from all those who can afford the modules, it costs them nothing to allow those who can't to experience them (again, they won't be paying either way, so no lost revenue). In fact, more players are typically a good thing for everyone. 

A possible way to encourage actual purchase would be to restrict trials to one module at a time. One could forfeit the remaining time, and start the 6-month cooldown, but not try two aircraft at the same time. That would be restrictive enough, relative to what you can do with modules you own, that people who can would be driven to buy relatively quickly. Meanwhile, kids who can't afford $80 out of their lunch money would not be driven to look around and discover certain other sims with much lower costs of entry.

[Rudel_chw]

4 hours ago, Dragon1-1 said:

Most people aren't poor because they lack motivation. Most often, they're poor because the world is pretty much rigged to keep them that way.

 

I don't follow your logic ...  you are saying that poor people should be allowed to play DCS for free?

because  I don't see how a poor person can afford a computer able to run DCS in the first place  

Edited January 10, 2023 by Rudel_chw

[sirrah]

C'mon @Dragon1-1, stop with the $80... 

There are super cool modules available for about $35, several times a year..

 

That $80 barrier you keep mentioning is only to those who either don't do pre-orders, or have no patience. Each their own choice, but no one must spend $80 to enjoy DCS

[draconus]

25 minutes ago, Dragon1-1 said:

Meanwhile, kids who can't afford $80 out of their lunch money would not be driven to look around and discover certain other sims with much lower costs of entry.

DCS is free so what cost of entry? The PC to run it?

There is also a group of people that simply won't buy anything as long as they don't have to, ex. abuse trials and free stuff.

[SharpeXB]

1 hour ago, Dragon1-1 said:

how much potential is lost on those alleged "freeloaders"? The answer is, zero. Because if someone can afford it, they buy it.

When you give something away for free, there’s no incentive to buy it. “Afford” is a relative thing. What it means is ‘value”. There’s no value in buying something you can have for free. 

[SharpeXB]

1 hour ago, Dragon1-1 said:

Most people aren't poor because they lack motivation. Most often, they're poor because the world is pretty much rigged to keep them that way.

That’s a rather flawed world view or one that looks for excuses. We won’t get into politics here or solve the world’s problems with the sale pricing of a computer game. But I could tell you many accounts of my friends and family who started life with literally nothing. Living out on their own as kids or in a house that had no floor. But they all got an education and made something of themselves through hard work and tenacity. Nobody gave them a handout and they didn’t make excuses like you’re going on about. 
And I don’t see how all these “poor” people can also own a gaming PC like is needed for DCS. That doesn’t equate. 
This isn’t a social justice program. It’s a freakin computer game. 

[Beirut]

As far as the free trials go, I think it's fantastic. I haven't a single complaint.

 

Remember the trials were brought in at the beginning of the plague and gave a lot of us something fun to do in all that home time we suddenly found ourselves with. Now, was it 100% altruistic? Don't know and don't care. I think it was great and it earned DCS a ton of loyalty from me.

 

At the time and still today I think it was a very nice thing to do. 

 

From 2020:

 

[Cab]

On 1/8/2023 at 7:14 AM, Hawk_UK said:

Can I suggest an adjustment to the DCS Module Trail period format??

I downloaded my first trial module, the AH-64D Apache a few days ago, however I have not yet had the time to try and learn to fly it and yet my trial period is counting down the days past even though I haven't run the module for more than an hour as yet.... Would it be possible to integrate the time the module is run to the time period of the trial rather than real world-time hours and days... in other words instead of 14 real world days, rather have it so that the module can be used for a time period of 14 days runtime module use? I hope I've expressed and explained that well enough to be understood? 

That would be 336 hours of free game play, which I don’t think is reasonable.
 

For what you’re asking for I’d say 12 hours total. 

[maikchaos]

Thanks to the free test period, you can already play DCS completely free of charge and always have a high-quality pay module to play with. There are 33 flyable modules (even without the old FC3 planes) that can be tested for 14 days, that's 462 days of fun and the Count is only a half year. So you can even fly 2 modules for free, some times.

And for those who can't afford the $80, there's always another solution.

1$ can certainly be quiet for everyone, right?
So we just do a rental model. You have 4 hours in the evening, so you log into your account, pay $1 per flight hour for a specific module and then you can enjoy the entire evening.

Edited January 12, 2023 by maikchaos

[SharpeXB]

27 minutes ago, maikchaos said:

Thanks to the free test period, you can already play DCS completely free of charge and always have a high-quality pay module to play with

Right. Although I figure the number of people who game the system must be rather low. Or else ED would have to change or discontinue it. 

30 minutes ago, maikchaos said:

So we just do a rental model.

No…

I’m amazed how many “poor” people own gaming PCs though 

[maikchaos]

The thing about the rental model wasn't meant to be taken seriously either