The Scott Johnson Blog

So I have been working a bit on trying to figure out what listeners listen to what, and where they crossover, etc. I wanted to do this while ELR’s numbers were still current, given the recent announcement. The result was quite interesting for me. I meant for these to be strictly for me to plan for the year, work out sponsorships, etc etc. But I figured you might find them interesting as well.

Here is how the total listeners over ALL FrogPants shows pan out in terms of percentage.

While it was no shock that The Instance has a huge percentage of total downloads, what took me by surprise a little was how some of the newer stuff has grown in a very short amount of time, particularly, Film Sack, Current Geek, and AppSlappy.

ELR has always been a bit of an acquired taste, so seeing it’s lower turnout still represents a sizable number, but not as compared to everything else. Also, a scrubbing of the IP’s indicates that nearly 90% of those listeners also spread around to the other shows as well.

Diary of a Cartoonist, oddly enough, gives me some of my most frequent email feedback, all while being the lowest on the list. I think ELR and Diary both stand as examples of shows with a smaller overall base of listeners, but a super dedicated base nonetheless.

Anyway, I find stuff like this interesting. Looking at numbers takes all the emotion and assumption out of the equation, and leaves you with the raw truthiness of it all. I hate math, but I love what math tells us.

UPDATE: Some are asking where the Fourcast numbers are…I don’t have access to those. In that particular case, Tom Merritt produces and hosts those files.

I am nearly 100% sure that this notion is nothing new, but I was way too lazy to dig around the web and find out.

The current method of paying to play in MMO games is terrible in my opinion. Most think that playing more than one MMO at a time is a problem simply because it would be an incredible time sink. Certainly this is true to some degree, but I think the larger reason is simply this: people don?t want to pay 100 bucks up front, and 30 bucks a month for two different games, no matter how great the games might be.

A real world example? I?d be happy to still be playing Aion AND WoW at the same time. With Star Trek Online out now, there are now three games I?d like to be playing here and there.

So there?s the problem. Want a solution?

Stay with me…

Do it like cell phone services, with a couple of tweaks. Charge me 15 bucks a month, but only if I?ve used all my time.

For example, lets say they charge my credit card on Monday the 1st of March. That would included unlimited play time up to April 1st, just as it does now. That is roughly .50 cents a day for that month.

Now, lets say I only played 10 days worth of that 30 days paid time. Carry that unused 20 days over to the next month, and don?t charge me again until I use the 20 hours up. A little like carry-over minutes for your cell phone. In effect, I am paying a per our rate, and not being charged for time I am not in the game.

Now, I know there are some holes here. For one, no one plays a total of 720 hours in 30 days time. So there?s no such thing as someone getting 100% of their paid time completed in a month. A huge portion of the player base will end up in the ?casual? bracket, and 15 bucks could potentially last them 6 months or more, thus effectively killing a substantial portion of revenue for the games developer.

Maybe you don?t count hours or days, but rather you are given a ?credit? system that represent time chunks. Say they are 8 hour ?credits?, and you are given 90 ?credits? for the month, and when you use those up, you?ve used your time. That could be adjusted of course.

All that said, my idea is all about getting these games into more hands. 10 million players in WoW seems like a lot, but a plan that made these games less of a financial commitment for players could potentially bring in tens of millions more.

I am well aware that no one is going to change to this system anytime soon, but some of these failing MMO?s might find some new life if they change it up a little, and give us more ways to pay…and then maybe we?ll play.