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.<br /><br />***Additional info on the concept payment model...<br />"A lot of people are getting hung up on the leading/team aspect, and that's my fault for not explaining it better.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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."<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />The "mission" system works on a matchmaking level, like that of Tribes, Warframe, Battlefield, etc, etc."<br /><br />(Play PlanetSide 2 for Free: http://brinx.it/GB1)<br /><br />::Attached Videos::<br />Shaping Communities - http://youtu.be/WiQyp2gnkNo<br />Wraith Cloak Review - http://youtu.be/nnRGPIw7VEs<br />What Keeps You Playing? - http://youtu.be/zvWahKIiMFQ<br /><br />****<br />Live streaming every Wednesday: http://twitch.tv/wrel<br />--<br />Check out the Let's Play Channel: http://youtube.com/CasualWrel<br />--<br />Get notified via Text Message when new videos go live: http://motube.us/warpathwrel<br />--<br />Talk to me on Twitter @WrelPlays<br />Or chat with me on Google+ <br />--<br />Bonus points for Facebook Likes: http://facebook.com/WrelPlays<br />****