Petition to make PotCO free for beta testers
 

Let's make a petition to make PotCO free for beta testers! If the game is pay-to-play, I'll be very mad. I love the game but don't have the money to pay $10 a month to play it. So I'm making this petition to make Pirates of the Caribbean Online a free game for all to play! Disney made VMK free; why can't they make Pirates Online free also?

Once I get an appropriate amount of yeses voted, I will send it in to the PotCO support team.
Please post your username on PotCOF and your avatar(s)'s name in PotCO, and your vote (yes or no to make PotCO free).

Thanks for voting!

Yes:

1. PirateAhoy, Davy Deckswabber
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.


No:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

You can still play PotCO for free when it comes out...

I am too cynical to expect anything for free. The service we offer as beta testers is rewarded with a first look at the games/software we test. If that seems unfair then we don't have to serve as testers. I would gladly accept any comps that Disney might offer, but I will not hold my breath waiting for it. I say if you want unlimited access to the live game then expect to pay $5 to $10 a month for it.

According to Disney, they gave out 10,000 beta keys. Read Here I hardly expect them to just give away free access to 10,000 players.

There is a huge difference between VMK and POL.
VMK was made to bring guests to the real parks via the children. Of course the adults also enjoy the game.

POL is made to be a pirate game. The only income Disney will receive is from the monthly payments. This income will pay for everything to keep the game fresh and fun.

MouseTyme took the words right out of my mouth, I was going to say the same thing. The way beta testing is going right now, I'm going to just go with the free thing. I'd rather not pay for a game that will have bugs that affect gameplay nonstop. This is beta, but I'll bet there will still be many bugs left over.

Sr.Penguin :00001927:

What if PotCO dia a promotion that if you buy a plastic swoard or plastic pistol/handgun/shotgun or whatever at the Disney parks you get a code to enter and you receive that weapon in the game, plus 1000 coins? That would be a great idea to get people to go to the parks.

Yeah, that would be nice.

But they would still need to charge.

There are 10,000 beta testers. If every they all got to play for free, staff would loose
100,000 dollars each month. Ten dollars per person is a lot when you add it up.

Hi :)

I was just wondering if there was any official word on what they might charge when the game is officially released.

Was anyone here a beta tester for Toontown? Did Toontown beta testers get free memberships when the game was officially released? What do they charge for Toontown membership?

I was a beta tester for VMK, but that game stayed free when it was released.

Also, I keep hearing that our Pirate characters will be deleted when the game officially opens. Has this been confirmed officially, or is it just speculation?

Were toontown beta testers accounts deleted before the official release?

I know as a VMK beta tester, I did not have my account deleted when the game was officially released, so I am just wondering if there is any official information out there about what will happen with our accounts when the new release date arrives.

:skull:-Reebee

I understand your frustration. It would be nice if Disney did not charge us.

Unfortunately, Disney is not doing the game to attract people to the parks. They are basing the game on the publics attraction to the movie.

VMK is proving to be costly to Disney. In the sense that the on line staff is getting paid, for the 15 hrs a day that VMK is open. They also have to man VMK Central in the parks. (they have already closed it in DLR.) The Techs are also costing for their time. Then you have the running costs of the servers.

I believe they are going to run POL the same as ToonTown.

Disney is such a rich company, and they make millions of dollars every day. If they made 1,000 dollars less per day, it wouldn't hurt them a bit.

Yes, I beta-tested ToonTown Online. No, beta testers did not get a free account. Yes, we had to pay-to-play...which I did for a while. Content was being updated very slowly back then (which was before Cog Headquarters) so the game became too boring after a while. Hence, I left the game. I am thinking of starting playing again soon...first I must justify having 3 MMO subscriptions at the same time to myself! -)

Yes, ToonTown Online beta accounts were deleted but our character names were "reserved" for us to use on our public account. Basically, our toons were kept in the database in case we started a paying account. Then they just showed up as being wiped to the players.

I will not be signing anything requesting a free account. The payment for most online beta testings is that you got to see the game before it was released...for free. Your input and bug reports were helpful in making the game better. They allowed you on their server(s) and you had some fun. That is your payment. To ask for anything more, in my opinion, is selfish and not in the spirit of beta testing. But hey, I don't expect most testers to understand me! -)

Toodles,

Dolnor Numbwit
Eternal Testing Newbie

I understand you not signing. But what PotCO is doing to their beta testers is also wrong. Let's have a look.

1. They gave us the server when it was slow; so, we spend about half of our time on the game waiting for our characters to start moving.

2. They gave us the beginning of the game; bad graphics and plenty of glitches. We die from Crabs that cannot be shot, and we kill crabs that cannot do damage.

After all this; trying to help them fix the glitches and the lag, and having to go through some rough times in the game, all beta testers, or at least those who have submitted an appropriate amount of bug reports, don't get free accounts? I don't quite understand.

PirateAhoy,

The things you mention as "what PotCO is doing to us" are the things beta testers are supposed to put up with. It was explained to you when you received your beta key that this is an unfinished product and that there would be bugs, glitches, crashes, missing items and so forth. It was never stated that it would get any better any time soon. It is a beta and we may not even get to see everything the public release will have until it is released. This is not a finished product and everything isn't going to work they way it will in the final release. If you feel that this wrong and your being taken advantage of, you should not be beta testing, you should wait for the release.

Dude, it is free.

You just dont get additional content.

Yep. So yeah, PirateAhoy, it is free.


We, as beta testers, signed up because we wanted to play Pirates Online first,
for free. But as beta testers, we [are supposed to] know that bugs and lag comes
along, so it is our job to report that.

But like I said, Disney would lose $100,000 a month if they gave beta testers free
accounts. I would rather get a limited-edition pin than free play.

POTCO is not only a free game. It is in beta and has a lot of problems. Most games, in early closed beta, are pretty bad. I alpha/beta tested The Realm. That game would reset the server every 15 minutes...every day...24/7. The testers still stuck with the game to help find bugs.

While some are here to just play for free...this is fine because the Devs have programs running that track what you do, how you survive, what kills you, etc. Many are here to be an active bug finder & play the game. We just like to help the Devs make a great game. Maybe something that we suggest ends up in the game...we can point and brag! -)

Think of testing POTCO as volunteer work. You don't get paid, you are helping someone out, and at the end....you go home...nothing gained other than self esteem and sense of purpose. Think of this game as an extended buggy preview of the released version....a sneak preview.

Toodles,

Dolnor Numbwit
Eternal Cannon-fodder

a few of you have good points.. it sounds like alot of people that are beta testing thyis game have never done this before.. I feel bad for them.. but having these forums up and running are excellent.. i can rmeber beta testing LOTRO and like only having one place for testers to pass info.. this isite is great.. and who knows the way things are going we might get a game for christmas.. but I am sure like other companys diney will give a special ingame gift to beta testers who signup for the real game.. like a special cutlass or ship or something

It takes way more then 1,000 dollars each day to run. Thats including server costs, paying the game's team members, advertising commercials, there's so much that has to go into it.

Sure they "collect" a lot of money daily. However the overhaed they pay takes a good chunk of this money. Take into consideration the cost of electric, telephones, employee pay, Park projects, Legal teams etc. etc.. You will see the overhead is easily in the billions of dollars. Yes, they do make a profit. (As any other company does.) if they didn't the share holders would quickly leave. And there would be NO Disney.

Below is just a couple of overhead costs for Disney's computers. This does not include the game computers. Nor does it include the daily running of the company.

IBM receives approximately $730 million over 7 years to manage Disney's mainframe and approximately 3,700 midrange computers, data storage systems holding 1.4 petabytes (1.4 quadrillion bytes) of information, major applications such as SAP AG business planning system and legacy software that runs operations at the domestic theme parks.

ACS receives $610 million over seven years to manage Disney's network, desktop PCs, help desk support, procurement and security.

As you can see just a small aspect of running Disney is over $2 million a year, or broken down further $5,479.45 daily.

Yep.

Pirates Online is not making any money right now, too. They have been working
for loads of months, maybe even years, but there is no income from the game
because it is in beta.

YEA! otto88812,Chrisaphor(SP) I don't know if I'll keep that name. If i don't it'll be bobpirate(hopefully)