>There's a huge amount of demand considering most games are coming out
>with an online component, but most gamers I know are split on the
>value of paying an additional monthly fee for server access. They
>already pump money into buying games, upgrading their rigs, and paying
>for high-speed bandwidth.
>
>Some online games, most notably MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online
>Roleplaying Games) are only playable on the publisher's servers and
>they require a monthly fee to play. Typically about $15/month.
>
>Other games, typically FPS (First Person Shooters), come with their
>own game servers that people can run themselves either on their local
>LAN or on the Internet. Usually, the publisher will run several free
>public servers, but they are usually crowded with beginners who don't
>know how to play as well as obnoxious jerks and cheaters. Some people
>will run servers that are open to the public as well but try to police
>them a bit better. But the bandwidth requirements are steep. Think
>terabytes when you have 30 people at any time, each using something
>like 50KB/s. (That's for Battlefield:1942 which is a pretty hefty
>game. Other games, like EnemyTerritory and CounterStrike are lighter
>on the bandwidth, but it can still add up.)
>
>There are several hosting companies that specialize in offering
>pre-configured game servers. They generally average about
>$2/person/month with a minimum of 12 players.
Kevin & Paul,
Thanks for your insight. I was asking because I was wondering if there was
a business opportunity here. I just want to make sure I understand this
correctly. The average gamer pays about $2 a month to play their games
online?
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