Are you looking forward to Valve’s upcoming DotA 2? Interestingly it has been revealed that the game could be employing the free-to-play model, but exactly how will that work? It seems that unlike other companies whose free-to-play model would include in-app purchases and advertisements as a means to generate revenue, Valve could be going about it in an entirely different way. This was revealed by Gabe Newell who described their model as rewarding good players, as in helpful players while penalizing disruptive players who might otherwise ruin other players’ fun.
“So, in practice, a really likable person in our community should get DotA 2 for free, because of past behavior in Team Fortress 2. Now, a real jerk that annoys everyone, they can still play, but a game is full price and they have to pay an extra hundred dollars if they want voice.”
To be honest reading that the first time made me check if it was the 1st of April as it did sound a bit “out there”. Of course it should be noted that this is by no means the final model and we can tell that it just reeks of controversy. Some players might feel that they deserve to be rewarded, while others feel that they might have been wrongly penalized. It will certainly be interesting to see what Valve will ultimately come up with that will appease the majority. Until then we guess it’s time to start racking up those karma points!