Payment questions

[Cody]

Are we going to have to pay to play? If so, how much?

You could also try asking for donations. I've noticed a lot of other websites have followed that route.

[Shamwari]

Yeah we probably are going to have to pay. Not that much I think. We are going to have to buy credits to play games, and some games cost more. But Sami hasn't yet disclosed what the exact cost of one game would be.

[Sami]

This is mentioned for example in the "terms of service" page which is for example visible when registering for a account.

The prices are not fixed yet but we aim to keep them low enough. Advertising and donation schemes have been thought already naturally but they are not feasible for this kind of service.

There will be also free demo games that have all the same features as the full games too but are limited in terms of play time and number of players, so you can test the wonderful game before trying out it "for real"

[Seattle]

Isn't it only to cover the costs of the server? So, when thats done, the game should be free? (ofcourse you may want to include adds and that sort)

[Cody]

I think that you should have a league (or game-what ever you wish to call it) for "special members", and to get into this league, you need to pay. In the "special league" you'd get extra stuff (ie: extra $3 000 000 to start..stuff like that). If you have the option to play for free, you'd probably attract more people.

[Seattle]

nope. Unfair, unrealistic. Do you know any real-day airlines that will go into a "league" ?

Alliances  and airline partners will be implemented (this include code-sharing, usage of other airline slots at airports, once the system is implemented, better deals on leases, better deals on buying planes, ff programs, etc.

[eric_13]

Hes right more people will come if the game dosnt make us too pay. Which is true because most sites have a members area which means they get more stuff then free members.

So why can we do that here?

[Cody]

What is the difference between the free (?intro?) version and the version that you have to pay for? Will there be a limit to how many times you can play the free version? will there be a cost to play for ever, or is it just to pay for the creation of AirwaySim?

[Sami]

There will be a limit on how many demo games you can participate before "having to" take part to the full game. It's most likely 2 demos which after you'd need to make a purchase - not yet fully finalized this.

Otherwise the demo games will have all features than the full ones (at least now in the beginning), but they are limited in terms of number of players and the game time is also shorter (resets more often, like every 2-3 weeks or something like that). There may be also other limitations like for example that only airports in USA would be usable or something that way (though we can also make such custom games available otherwise too, it's easy to customize for each game). Anyway - the intention is that demo is just to try out the system before making your decision and all the fun will be in the actual full games.

[sammn96]

But when will the demos be available?

[Sami]

But when will the demos be available?

The same time as the full games - when beta is complete. My hope is to get the beta started as soon as possible, perhaps next month, but plans may still change.