not planned Account: Allow lending planes to other players (for a "shipping" fee)

[M-Flux]

Just a thought/idea, if this could be fun to boost the DCS community, without reducing profits: Lending ones own planes to other players. For a "shipping" fee to be payed to ED.

• Allow player A) to lend his/her purchased planes to player B)
• Add a "shipping" fee to pay to / determined by ED (maybe ~10% module price?)
• Player A) selects if he/her or player B) pays the fee
• Player B) confirms the transaction
• Player A) can't use the plane then while player B) has it
• Player A) can however reclaim the plane at any time free of charge
• After reclaiming player A) can lend the plane again for the same "shipping" fee to other players, or use it again themselves

Main goals/motivations:

• Having an easy, uncomplicated way to have an ad-hoc way to play/try DCS with a friend who is new to DCS. "ad-hoc" meaning spontaneously, with no commitment and with no downside other than the "shipping fee". Right now doing "ad-hoc" is a bit tricky because of the prices for full purchases or not wanting to "waste" the free trial.
• Being able to transfer/spread bought planes to different accounts to be used on different PCs for local events (LAN parties, DCS showcasing events). Where it would be infeasible to make extra accounts / purchases just for this weekend event.
• Interaction between people, enhancing the community spirit.

Other (potential) benefits:

• Would make less popular planes (like jet trainers?) more popular: I'd be less hesitant to purchase (especially trainer jets) if I knew that I could lend them to others, that they wouldn't become a mostly unused, "wasted" purchase that accumulates dust and rust in my garage.
• Makes it feel more like a real, physical asset than a digital commodity, leading to more engagement / perceived value?

From an economical standpoint the trick(y part) would be to find the sweet spot for the "shipping fee". Where it would overall lead to more customers/purchases.

---

I was also wondering if adding a fixed (maximum?) leasing time would make sense. Or as an option, for a discount on the "shipping" fee. But I think that would defeat the purpose of being an uncomplicated/easy option, where you don't have to think / calculate / worry about the best options too much. So I'm not sure if that would make sense.

Another thought was whether it would make sense to then allow purchasing identical modules multiple times for the purpose of lending. I'm mostly thinking of a local flight (sim) club scenario who maintains a room of PCs / sim gear for its members. (But not sure if this could lead to some weird secondary market effects? But maybe that could be prevented by disallowing third parties selling leases in the general terms and conditions.)

Edited October 4, 2023 by M-Flux

[Tom Kazansky]

Are you aware that ED gives you free trials that cover your list of main goals for free?

[M-Flux]

@Tom Kazansky Yes, I am. Like I wrote above I don't consider the free trials as fully "uncomplicated"/suitable though, as I'd have to decide when best to use the free trial without wasting it. Activating a free trial is not something that I would be able to decide in 5 minutes. Lending one of my planes to a friend for a fun weekend for $5 or even $10? <- That's what I could easily decide in 5 minutes. Also the free trials don't have the "Other (potential) benefits" I listed above, I think.

Edited October 4, 2023 by M-Flux

[SharpeXB]

This idea doesn’t make sense as there is already a free trial available. The point of which is to encourage the player to buy the module, not just get an eternal free game. You’re missing the whole way in which ED stays in business, by selling content.  

[Tom Kazansky]

@M-FluxOk, but If you wanted to fly the same type if aircraft with your friend to show him how it works, you are better off with the trials.

I haven't done trials since the authenticator update, but what takes more than 5 minutes to decide to use a trial or not? Am I missing something here?

Wouldn't it be less complicated if ED simply charged you for the second trial after a free trial of the same module within 6 months?

[freehand]

What a over complicated load of old booolicks. 

[M-Flux]

@SharpeXB for a player to be able to lend the plane, they'd have to have purchased it first, of course. So someone has payed for the plane already. In contrast to a free trial.

And that's why I also wrote that the "shipping" fee would need to find an economical sweet spot. If it were the full module price, then it wouldn't make sense to lend planes. If it were too low then it might reduce profits, because ED would ideally like to sell all planes multiple times, both to me and my new friend, even if unused, of course (which is what I guess you were referring to?)

@Tom Kazansky maybe it's just me and my head :D. But I'd have to check my schedule first if I'd have time to optimally use the free trial. And then I'd have to estimate if there could potentially be a better time for a free trial later. And I'm not quick/good at making such decisions :D.

28 minutes ago, Tom Kazansky said:

Wouldn't it be less complicated if ED simply charged you for the second trial after a free trial of the same module within 6 months?

Ah, that's an interesting idea, too! That would likely also solve my perceived downsides of just using the free trial. And would likely indeed be easier to implement.

On the other hand, I'm still wondering if having the option to lend ones own planes would increase the perceived value of a plane. It would feel more like having bought something "real". And would make it easier at least for me to actually buy a and try new plane(s), as it would increase the feeling of having bought something valuable. Like I'm hesitant to buy trainer jets. But if I knew I could lend it to a friend to get into DCS, I would buy them. (and then this could get my friend hooked to buy the more expensive, non-trainer, planes. Which I prefer flying myself and might not currently be able to spare for lending as I fly them myself.)

Edit:

> @M-FluxOk, but If you wanted to fly the same type if aircraft with your friend to show him how it works, you are better off with the trials.

Right, and if we both wanted to fly the same plane, then we couldn't. That would be a small downside, yes. But maybe that could then also be another incentive for the friend to purchase the full module instead. Or it could be an incentive for me to buy a two seat jet trainer twice on the same account .

Edited October 4, 2023 by M-Flux

[SharpeXB]

3 minutes ago, M-Flux said:

for a player to be able to lend the plane, they'd have to have purchased it first, of course. So someone has payed for the plane already. In contrast to a free trial.

And that's why I also wrote that the "shipping" fee would need to find an economical sweet spot. If it were the full module price, then it wouldn't make sense to lend planes. If it were too low then it might reduce profits, because ED would ideally like to sell all planes multiple times, both to me and my new friend, even if unused, of course (which is what I guess you were referring to?)

Why can’t the new player either buy the module after a trial or just buy it on sale? There are sales too. Why would someone want to pay just to try a module? 

1 hour ago, M-Flux said:

I'm mostly thinking of a local flight (sim) club scenario who maintains a room of PCs / sim gear for its members.

There’s such a thing as a flight sim club? That doesn’t seem too common. 

[M-Flux]

37 minutes ago, SharpeXB said:

Why can’t the new player either buy the module after a trial or just buy it on sale? There are sales too. Why would someone want to pay just to try a module? 

Of course they could still buy those. The immediate benefit for the borrowing player would be that the only time constrain they would have is when the lending player would like to fly that plane again themselves. And that is a lot more flexible. Just like you can ask your neighbor if you could borrow his/her lawn mower for one more week, as things got in between and your lawn is not done yet :D.

And if unexpected things get in between with the free trial then you'd feel that you have wasted that opportunity (at least until you can try again 6 months later.). If the "shipping" fee for lending is small enough and I have a good friend who actually has a spare plane to lend then I might prefer that over the free trial for testing due to the extra flexibility.

37 minutes ago, SharpeXB said:

There’s such a thing as a flight sim club? That doesn’t seem too common. 

Good question :D. Just a scenario that came to my mind. We have a lot of RC model plane clubs here though. I could imagine that they might want to add a flight sim room for interactive multiplayer studying and leisure purposes to their facility if financially feasible.

Of course, they could just create an account per plane for multiplaying. But maybe lending to other accounts would be easier to manage. Also from a security point of view, you wouldn't need to expose the login credentials of the module owning account on these PCs. So if some rogue member/visitor stole the login credentials from those PCs at an unattended moment somehow, you could just cancel the lending to those PCs' accounts from the club's private, main account.

Edited October 4, 2023 by M-Flux

[SharpeXB]

37 minutes ago, M-Flux said:

Of course they could still buy those.

DCS modules just aren’t that expensive. They’re actually cheaper than many PC games. Anyone who really wants to play this game can do it. Cost really isn’t the obstacle. The PC hardware is along with the learning curve. But if you can afford that then buying the game is secondary. I would figure that’s all pretty obvious. 

Edited October 4, 2023 by SharpeXB

[draconus]

12 hours ago, M-Flux said:

Just a scenario that came to my mind. We have a lot of RC model plane clubs here though. I could imagine that they might want to add a flight sim room for interactive multiplayer studying and leisure purposes to their facility if financially feasible.

Of course, they could just create an account per plane for multiplaying. But maybe lending to other accounts would be easier to manage. Also from a security point of view, you wouldn't need to expose the login credentials of the module owning account on these PCs. So if some rogue member/visitor stole the login credentials from those PCs at an unattended moment somehow, you could just cancel the lending to those PCs' accounts from the club's private, main account.

Please read EULA before you get into troubles or contact ED to get other type of license.

Seriously, FC3 aircraft on sales are $7, how much cheaper you want it? There are 2 free aircraft. If you "waste" a trial of one module just trial another aicraft - there are over 40 types!