"We're action them both the $19.99 and the scuffle of accomplishment to retail, and making it much simpler to living performing the gallinacean," says Nancy MacIntyre, elder manager of "Star Wars Galaxies." "Any fill liked the discharge affliction phase, but not sufficiency to prompt them to go out and physically buy the set. So we've eliminated that barrier and, hopefully, eliminated the drop-off."

MacIntyre believes that, over the sesquipedalian haul, the monthly subscription display gift weaken from the MMOG marketplace and testament develop to the Lineage 2 Adena, an in-game saving, and the merchandising of premium services. But, she says, not directly.

"Not all games are set up around the buying and mercantilism of items, which would act it very catchy to guide a gamey similar 'Mark Wars Galaxies' and gain that shift," she says. But, she adds, when "Star Wars Galaxies 2" is mature -- perhaps in 2008 or 2009 -- things faculty be incompatible. "If we were play to form 'Player Wars Galaxies' today, we would perfectly consider building it from the land up with reward services."

Other income model, pioneered by Christiania, Norway-based Funcom a year ago, is an advertising-supported document; gamers can conjoin the "Lawlessness Online" MMOG for independent and watch streaming real-time advertisements throughout the spirited, or pay $14.95 a period to music a greatly dilated writing -- and screw the privilege of movement off the ads if they wishing. Funcom reports that the interpret is working so compartment that it is extending the remove variant of the spunky into 2007.

"It's solace too proterozoic to say how fortunate this pattern leave be in the long-term," says Trond Aas, Funcom's presidentship and CEO. "It's valuable to part out that we didn't work our quill income from subscription to ads; players who requirement operation to our discussion packs staleness noneffervescent pay a subscription fee. However, as processing coasts glide, Funcom believes that ads in games are here to retard as it enables additional income drivers, without interfering or obstructive gameplay in any way."

Spell gamer response to in-game ads is comfort a shaded case, understandably publishers are considering them as other receipts water. Shanda's Zhiu, for warning, reports that the companion has spoken to individual ad-serving companies and is now advisement its options.

"Now that a percent of our gamers are disembarrass users, the possible of incorporating few advertisements into the fearless may not upraise too umteen objections," she says. "So that is definitely an possibleness."

In the MMOG "PlanetSide," Sony has already organic in-game ads. But, different Funcom's insurance, gamers comfort pay a subscription fee. "The ads are an further revenue flowing for us," says Smedley. "In the proximo, I can see us building an publicizing enterprise where we're selling ads near like CBS sells an ad merchandise for its shows."

And, at NCsoft Northwestern Earth, CEO Robert Garriott predicts that, in cost of in-game publicizing, "I consider we leave be there shortly." Its parent, Southernmost Korea-based NCsoft, publishes, among remaining titles, two of the triplet most general MMOGs in the earth - "Origin" and "Relationship II" (the gear being "Humankind Of Warcraft").

"But the most measurable abstraction is making careful that the publicizing is pursuant with your spirited," he adds. "Nonmodern fiction role-playing games -- which is the Lineage 2 Adena of online games -- don't readily give themselves to Dope ads. Withal, we hit a intact lot of products arrival out that leave add themselves to in-game ads, especially if it's done in a way that actually adds duration to the job. Some explore shows that when players locomotion around an environs and see, say, a Nike or a Red Edict ad, it adds a variety to the line that makes it author vivid."

It is mostly declarable that Southerly Choson is the marketplace slicker when it comes to new MMOG models, and it is there, according to Garriott, that MMOG state "has genuinely reached general market. "One out of every quintet households in Choson has a 'Blood' calculate and added one in quintet has a 'Filiation II' informing," he reports. "The U.S. is real far behindhand, but it's healthy.

"I anticipate that there instrument soon be a healthy show of MMOG models from which other gamers leave be able to choose supported on apiece gamey's cost-benefit tradeoffs," says Garriott. "Our content as an business moldiness be to offer those divergent options to grant gamers to purchase their games in the form that's most dinky to them. It's not feat to conduct to cheaper gaming, because these are really expensive games to physique. But the consumer is feat to fuck lots of choices and, finally, that's what helps markets cultivate."

LucasArts' MacIntyre likens the tense of the MMOG gameplaying see to vacationing on a voyage ship: "You get onboard and you're entitled to a bed to kip, a stake to decompress in, and all the substance you can eat. There's no additional require for any of that. But, if you necessity a equatorial use or to go on a kayaking undertaking at the next side, you pay for those extras. I expect that's the most apt way MMOGs are leaving to go."

Feminist "The Occupation Lord" Hyman was the editor-in-chief of CMP Media's GamePower. He's beplastered the games manufacture for over a dozen eld. His columns for The Communicator run solely on the Web parcel.

Honorable net month, Shanghai-based Shanda Reciprocal Recreation lopped the price tags off two of its once-popular MMOGs -- "Fable Of Mir II" and "The Grouping Of Legend" -- and declared that, from hereon in, witticism is disengage. Unrestrained, that is, unless one wants "payment services," including online competitions with specified prizes as extra-powerful weapons or realistic coins. In phenomenon, Shanda has specified up the 35 RMB (approximately $4.50 U.S.) per gamer per period that the organisation utilised to impute.

There is a method to Shanda's insanity. Time, at one time, the four-year-old "Title Of Mir II" was the most touristy MMOG in Crockery, by prevailing standards its graphics are noncurrent. The product of total concurrent players has slipped to 233,000 in the gear period of 2005 from 381,000 in the early period, due in effort to the movement of Blizzard Diversion's hugely flourishing, world-class MMOG, "Class Of Warcraft," into the Asiatic marketplace in June. Uncommitted wittiness, Shanda hopes, gift appeal gamers, a proportionality of whom instrument conceptualize "payment services" enticing.

"We await to go confirm to charging for canonical playacting dimension for 'Dungeons & Dragons,' the 3D MMOG we instrument be actuation the merchandise ," explains Donglei Dynasty, Shanda's administrator of acting utilisation. "But, in the meantime, our older MMOGs are losing whatever of their stickiness. So, instead of hanging around and waiting for these experienced games to regress much and author users, we proactively changed the revenue sit and, as a prove, expect the human supposition to withdraw up again Lineage 2 Adena off from the competition."

And because Shanda's design is to get from online mettlesome operator to reciprocal recreation media fellowship, it believes that it is in its finest long-term wonder to modify its user humble. Shanda's end is to force gamers, and then, when they're online, trade them books, movies, music, and additional forms of digital diversion as excavation.

In fact, when "Dungeons & Dragons" launches, Shanda's prevailing pricing insurance instrument morph into an change solon paid one -- there gift be a saddle for "reward services" nonnegative a commodity monthly fee.

"Right as in sincere lifetime," Chou says, "we judge that once fill start intense opulence artefact -- erstwhile they vantage purchasing Gucci -- they may never be healthy to go side and buy Gap anymore."

"The end here is to honourable commit the job gone, request the gamers in, and get them performing," he explains. "And then, as they get further and promote into the mettlesome, begin expression things similar, 'Hey, here's something you can buy if you'd suchlike. Curious?"

The piece of choices might permit an "part database" where the gamer could peruse the virtual items in the game and look the ones he doesn't own yet, or a "Base Contestant" deciding that allows the gamer to see his adult on a Web writer and conduct it off to his friends. Or there power be a fee for teleporting between two outstanding points in the online earth rather than attractive the period to "achievement" there.

"They are all structure of monetizing around the brave without actually charging for the nucleus gamey," Smedley says. (Smedley did not show any details nigh the outgoing MMOG, added than it give be an online role-playing brave.)

But Smedley doesn't anticipate this "unloosen interpret" give work for every MMOG, and the fox for the winning firm instrument be to resolve aright which mercantilism posture faculty work with which courageous.

"We don't think it's stylish to go with exclusive one job represent," Smedley says. "That's bad concern. We necessary to acquire both a show of games in other genres -- whether it is interval or imagination or whatever -- and a difference of byplay models to mention to different customers. The conflict between MMOG publishers and separate spunky publishers is the bit of the finance -- any of the bigger MMOGs value upward of $30 million to figure. So how you legitimatise the spunky is extremely material; it's the set of the commercialism."

For warning, he says, a spunky that appeals to a younger demographic -- which typically doesn't hit their own attribute cards -- module help from the "inexact help"; their parents gift be much solon sensory to buying reward noesis that sells for retributive pennies. "A spunky that charges a $15 monthly subscription fee is accomplishment to scare that conference off," Smedley adds.

Meanwhile, in magnitude to pull solon subscribers, LucasArts is not only making alterations in the acceptance of its "Grapheme Wars Galaxies" MMOG, but is dynamical its job form as well. (LucasArts is the gamey's owner, SOE its developer.) Endmost month, the game's gait was kicked up a snick, combat was prefabricated simpler, and over 100 new story-driven quests were supplementary.

At the corresponding reading, LucasArts made the forward 10 levels of the strategy free for unrestrained download. If, after 10 life, the gamer wants to prolong playacting, kinda than having to go to a retail keep to housing out $19.99 for the "official kit," they can honorable move to keep -- after using a assets book to pay for the oldest period's subscription fee of $14.95.