I won't rent a game. Never done, never will. If I pay for something I want to "own" it rather than having someone else just allowing me to use it under his terms.

On the other side, having to rent the game would require also having the client to be connected all the time while playing. I know that might be less and less of an issue these days, but some still have to pay for the bandwidth they use (I know it's probably only very little actually used, but still).

For what I'd pay is extra content (S3, S4.... whatever).

One problem with the current system is that now further developments (S3, S4 etc) are content based, if we keep paying 12 quid per stage then someone new to LFS would have to pay £48 for S4, maybe £60 for S5 if we get that far. It would become even more niche, whereas people might be happier spending the same amount of money over a longer time with a time based licence instead of content based.

Quote from Storm_Cloud :

One problem with the current system is that now further developments (S3, S4 etc) are content based, if we keep paying 12 quid per stage then someone new to LFS would have to pay £48 for S4, maybe £60 for S5 if we get that far. It would become even more niche, whereas people might be happier spending the same amount of money over a longer time with a time based licence instead of content based.

By that logic I'd have paid £72 by now, hmm actually £84 with 2010...

Quote from three_jump :

By that logic I'd have paid £72 by now, hmm actually £84 with 2010...

You would have paid as long user over long time period, but newcomers will have to pay this growing amount at once. Thus there is growing price barrier for newcomers diminishing steady income more. In rent model there is flow from both newcomers and old users.

That would be resolved by instead of having to own S1, S2, S3 and S4 before you can get S5, would be to have 'packs'. So you buy the basic version of LFS - which is the game, with all the features for, say £20. It'll include a small selection of cars and tracks to get you going. You then buy each content pack for a fee - single seaters, or UK circuits (or perhaps even individual cars/tracks. Don't like single seaters? Then don't buy that back, and just buy the GT Cars pack or the Rally pack.

I'd much rather have that system then a rental system, and I believe it could work. Some people might want to pay lots of money and have 'everything'. Others would pay less to get more tailored content. It would be much like The Sims and The Sims 2. Base software + expansion packs that you can buy in any order and skip what you don't want.

Implementing it would be relatively easy. Scawen does the "base software", whilst Eric does the "content" (assuming the current dev team layout remains in place). With the right tools, Scawen wouldn't have anything to do with content, other than adding/improving features to enable content to be used as it was intended - e.g. adding boost controls if a Turbo F1 car was added by Eric...

Oh dear god no ! I hate this 'cash cow' recipe. Lots of mmo work this way and while i can understand they need to maintain full-time
(24/7) servers, i just won't pay a 'rental' fee. I'll play the free content then move on to another game and i'm not the only one.

I agree with Bob Smith that it won't affect developement speed and i'd add that in no way would it increase
the number of people racing. How could it ?! It would only reduce the number of active racers.

There would need to be a completely new game or some major changes worth paying extra money for an *cough* old *cough*
game that's simply not finished. There isn't anything new in LFS, just old stuff that isn't finished yet.

I'd rather see ads paying for server fees.

Quote from Fonnybone :

Oh dear god no ! I hate this 'cash cow' recipe. Lots of mmo work this way and while i can understand they need to maintain full-time
(24/7) servers, i just won't pay a 'rental' fee. I'll play the free content then move on to another game and i'm not the only one.

I agree with Bob Smith that it won't affect developement speed and i'd add that in no way would it increase
the number of people racing. How could it ?! It would only reduce the number of active racers.

There would need to be a completely new game or some major changes worth paying extra money for an *cough* old *cough*
game that's simply not finished. There isn't anything new in LFS, just old stuff that isn't finished yet.

I'd rather see ads paying for server fees.

Well, I dont think that ad fees would be big (around 500 racers daily, so probably max.1000 unique users monthly)
I cant find now at LFSW number of LFS users, considering 30000 it is £360000 for 6 years. Aint that big for a smasher.
8 bucks a month is something I wouldnt pay for iRacing but I wouldnt reject this businessmodel because it is iRacing's. For now demo/S1-S2 ratio is ~50/50 so nowadays price £12/24 is not that big.
And 1 quid a month is not a cash cow model, but I would say that stable £500-800 monthly for 3 devs (instead steep slope down of new racers) would prioritize LFS higher among their other projects

edit: btw. I knew what I was paying for and I dont moan for new content. The reason is: better content = more racers = more servers I can race on

Hmm I dont think it would speed up development at all. However I do find the amount we have payed for this game (yes it is still a game) a absolute laugh.
I mean 24 pounds for a game we have played for years now. I would easily payed a lot more for the game. It still is to me the best sim racing for pickup racing. There isnt a system out there just like LFS. iracing I tried and agreed graphics and the skill of racing there is briljant. rafctor i did liked it but teh online play is horrible. And so on, you pick numerous games outthere but I still get back at LFS. But as soon as they gonna charge you a montlhy pay to do a game I would think twice about it before I would. Even if the development is promised to be faster. Like any game you buy its once you spend that money and not montlhy to pay for your license.

Hmm, well... I suppose the £12 per year is a good idea if you don't play LFS frequently, however if you play LFS alot you would be better off just paying the £24 for the full license imo.

LFS needs to stop charging pounds and charge in USD, to attract more US/world players...

OR at LEAST euros, pounds are just too expensive for everyone else.

If LFS hosted GOOD severs, which were admined and manned. Along with constant updates to the code i'd be more then willing to pay that amount a year.

In a game where online gameplay is entirely community driven and updates are mostly bugfixes or minor improvements, subscription model just isn't reasonable. In most subscription based games you get frequent content patches that add new stuff into the game every couple months, which is very different from LFS update cycle.

Quote from zazzn :

LFS needs to stop charging pounds and charge in USD, to attract more US/world players...

OR at LEAST euros, pounds are just too expensive for everyone else.

If LFS hosted GOOD severs, which were admined and manned. Along with constant updates to the code i'd be more then willing to pay that amount a year.

Why will it attract more people if they charge you with Dollars or Euros ?

LFS has good servers, it aint the servers its the people that rides there !!!
Constant updates no need for it as the game is still in aphla stat so why would we contribute to something which isnt a beta stage even.