H1Z1 has had a Reddit presence like not too many games ever have, really embracing the social network as a tool to not only deliver information but take the community's ideas.
That was in full force today when Sony Online Entertainment President John Smedley took to r/h1z1 to give the first details on what will be available for purchase in the free to play H1Z1. Taking advice from the future players on the subreddit, Smedley detailed what will be able to be purchased, and what won't:
"- We will be selling wearables. We felt like this will be a good, fair revenue generator. However - we recognize how important finding wearables in the world is so you'll be able to find and craft a lot of stuff. We agree that's something important. We've also come up with a pretty awesome idea to let players who kill other players loot stuff. So if a player has a black ski mask and gets killed by another player, that player can wear the ski mask for a few deaths (we have durability in the game. Station Cash wearables won't degrade at all but when you loot something.. it will degrade. Please note the original player always keeps their SC purchased wearables. This gives the great feeling of whacking some unsuspecting fool who decided to bring a knife to a gun fight.
- We will NOT be selling Guns, Ammo, Food, Water... i.e. That's kind of the whole game and it would suck in our opinion if we did that.
- Nor will we sell boosts that will impact #2.
- Emote Pack - of course we'll have the basics for free. But we felt like this is another good and fair revenue generator.
- Character slots - feels reasonable.
- Crates - You can find crates sometimes in game. They're filled with random cool stuff from the store. We're considering letting you see what's in them before you buy a key (ala Dota 2.). This idea isn't fully locked yet."
Overall, very reasonable things to monetize, and it should make the game a blast to play if people can't get ahead of the pack simply by spending more money. It sounds like they're taking a similar route to League of Legends, where you need to be the best player to win, but you can make yourself look cooler by spending more money.
What do you think of the choices by Smedley and the H1Z1 team as far as what to monetize? Let us know in the comments.