IF this was an actual game...

[Alex LWG 2]

Game purchase is always good, and it depends on the price of a subscription fee. I would pay quite a bit for a standalone version of this mod which is fully prepared. Subscription fee can be good as it helps give the developers income so they can keep working on patches and extra content.

[Dronin 5]

Stand alone (dude this make this your own and gain profit for doing it! your will have earned it!

- Game purchase with Monthly fee? (WoW stylez)

or

- Game purchase only? (Guild Wars stylez)

Latter will probably bring more players if you do the guild wars syle updates/expansions

Also:

- Community developed or studio developed?

Studio is good for the money but need devs that actually listen to their community for a change!

- Community or studio servers? or both?

If you can strike up deals with the big hosting companies like Multiplay etc then this would be the best way to run the server model and allow you control of the central character server. without other people adding their own flavours.

- Kickstarter? or not?

Dont mind

[griffinz 2816]

- Community developed or studio developed?

Studio is good for the money but need devs that actually listen to their community for a change!

Dont mind

The Arma series devs have always been pretty good at collaborating with the community

[Metiphis 4]

Free to play with a store for buying purely cosmetic items.

[litoralis.nMd 1]

How would you rather pay for it?

- Game purchase only? (Guild Wars stylez)

There is a serious problem regarding the limitations of the maximum size of maps in the VR and Arma3 engines. Unlike WoW or other games, you can not continuously expand the maps.

Also:

- Community developed or studio developed?

Is there a difference anymore? You are using BIS IP, you need to go talk to a good IP lawyer now that you are looking into this line of thought.

- Community or studio servers? or both? A few Community servers, let the Arma3 community expand outward. BIS should be cross-pollinating this game with the Arma and Helicopter series to expand their playerbase. You and Dwarden and the others should consider not talking about this further until you figure out your own future with BIS.

- Kickstarter? or not?

I believe you will get sued if you attempt to fund this without a legal agreement with BIS. Hey, JMHO, but you have at least a few employees or contractors with active BIS contracts working on this project in some manner.

I absolutely love this mod, and don't want to see it swamped by IP lawsuits' counterclaims.

[Magnet (DayZ) 211]

How would you rather pay for it?

I would prefer to pay once for the game/dlc content then when future major content is released I would be willing to pay more.

Community developed or studio developed?

If it were YOUR studio I would have faith that no one higher would be able to screw with the vision. If the interference from up top is too high then a carefully executed community development is in order.

Community or studio servers? or both?

Pay once? Community Servers.

Pay to Play or similar? Studio Servers

Kickstarter? or not?

If you remain independent, yes.

Mag.

[vitalfever 0]

I'd pay for the game only, no sub or item payments.

Studio or community, doesn't bother me.

Kickstarter would be a good idea.

[zxcvbn_ 3]

I wouldn't pay anything for the game in it's current state.

I would only pay a one-time fee (no more than $25) if it was recreated and well done.

[funionz 7]

Paid mod/dlc

Studio w/ heavy community involvement

Studio servers, as we've already seen we can't trust the populace to be impartial to one another

Kickstarter only if necessary to gauge interest.

[Chewbacca (DayZ) 2]

What worries me about the thought of a studio or publisher (especially a medium or large one) being involved is that profit will end up corrupting gameplay.

Studios and publishers are obligated to make the most profit they can for shareholders, which means if only 1 in 20 people (potential customers) are willing to play a game where someone can shoot you at any time and you have to start from nothing... then that "feature" either won't be in the game, or it will be toned down considerably. I'm making the assumption that rocket would not retain complete control here, because I'm cynical like that.

Myself and a great many others who play this mod enjoy it for the fact that it's unforgiving and feels like true survival. You have to weigh the pros and cons of your actions, there's complex trust issues when dealing with other players, and the reality is that sometimes despite your best efforts you'll end up alone, bleeding on a roof with no bandages or ammo. I bought Arma II and OA to play this mod, because it's the type of game I've wanted for years but never thought would exist.

But in the grand scheme of things, we're a minority, and the money in the wallets of the majority who will come on the forums and complain the first time they're killed by another player is worth just as much as ours. And there's a lot more of it.

This mod is growing, and there's still massive room for it to grow, but it will hit a limit. That limit is quite a bit higher if it becomes (and I detest this word) casualized.

I sincerely hope that I am completely wrong, and since this is my first post on the forums I want to say thanks to everyone involved in the development of this mod and the people out there hosting servers for the community.

To answer a couple of your questions:

Game purchase only

- Subscription based games give players a sense of (oh boy here we go) entitlement. There's no way someone is going to let your take all their progress away when they're killed if they're paying you monthly. You would need to buy an entire data center to handle the influx of forum posts from people threatening to cancel over PvP interactions.

Studio/Community developed? Not sure.

- I've already voiced my personal issues with game development, however at the same time most communities become dominated by a vocal minority. The 90/10 rule has been around since the dawn of the internet. 90% of people are generally lurkers, meaning if it seems like everyone's complaining about something, it's likely less than 10% of the total community. The other 90% aren't going on forums and making threads saying "everything's fine, keep up the good work". We just sit back and watch the idiots scream at each other day after day.

Forgive the long post.

[griffinz 2816]

I'm actually worried about a sudden influx of the CoD generation (10-16 year olds), causing that demographic becoming a majority, and inevitably catered to.

This won't happen if independent of a publisher.

[phisher34 12]

Or if its tailored first to the ARMA community, ie ARMA 3.

Sort of like the idea of a rising tide lifting all boats. If this can be packaged as a quality DLC expansion for ARMA 3, both Bohemia and Rocket will benefit. Much like the CS / Teamfortress model.

[qla 0]

Game purchase only & Kickstarter all the way. As you can see from Kickstarter, most of the projects get funded and they do not even have anything "real" to show, most just have some random images of models, short description of the story, concept-art.. etc. You on the other hand, have a proven mod that works, players love and generated money for Bohemian interactive (seriously, when was arma 2 last time on the top sellers list @steam?).

Good luck getting this project going!

[bonetopick 0]

Game purchase only.

Studio developed, but obviously listen to criticisms from the players.

[Leechman 8]

You could always try and get some sort of agreement going with Coca Cola/Pepsi for advertising their products if you need funds :P

[bonetopick 0]

Really, I think it would be best for it to be an ARMA 2 mod for now and then become ARMA 3 DLC in the future for ~$30. Flat fee and nothing else of course.

A stand alone game just doesn't feel right since I don't see it having enough content on its own to justify it being its own game since it really is just ARMA with zombies.

This also helps with sales of ARMA 3 in the future for swaying people who may not buy the game otherwise like it already is doing with ARMA 2

---

Also, PLEASE, please, please, do not compromise your established niche to try and appeal to a larger audience. Whenever games try to do this they almost always fall flat on their face and fail (red orchestra 2 anyone?)

[boneboys 7988]

I'll give you 10€s now (pre purchase).

If that is not an option.

One time purchase.

Studio Development/Community friendly : tools.

Studio Development/Community : run Servers.

-----------------------------------------------------

Thanks.

[cyrus231 2]

- Anything but F2P with MicroTransactons

- Either indie and developed with a small group as it's own game or within BIS as an Expansion of ARMA 3... any other major publisher would ruin it

- Both official and community servers.

- Kickstarter is a great way to do it as it's own game developed by a small group.

P.S. - Shut up and take my money!

[ashten18@gmail.com 0]

I would want it to be game purchase only. Anything else is completely ridiculous.

- Community developed or studio developed?

Studio, with community feedback. But the studio needs to keep the game play as it is, and only improve upon it.

- Community or studio servers? or both?

Both.

- Kickstarter? or not?

This depends on a lot of factors, that I am unaware of.

[Freyar 8]

How would you rather pay for it?

---> Game purchase only? (Guild Wars stylez)

---> Free to play, buy your shit? (To an extent.)

Also:

- Community developed or studio developed?

----> It's honestly hard to say. While a studio could probably get it out of the door more reliably and in a decent amount of time, the community has always managed to do well at pitching in for good projects. I really can't argue either way.

- Community or studio servers? or both?

----> Both could work. Keep the studio servers linked so those are the "publicly persistent" worlds. While community servers are limited to themselves.

- Kickstarter? or not?

----> Kickstarter would be a neat idea, but it is VERY important that presentation be put together with ample time. Videos, future development, a CAREFUL application of whatever "rewards" for support should be looked at as well.

[Spark (DayZ) 0]

• Game purchase Only
  
• Studio developed with capacity of community input
  
• Both studio and community servers
  
• Kickstarter for a reasonable amount of money (will probably exceed goal dramatically in any event).
  

I'll just say that don't forget what is making this mod so popular right now, and try not to deviate much from that. Add more content, opportunities and emergence to the sandbox, polish it up and you'll have a big winner on your hands. Good luck with the transition.

[ghost_kage 5]

Well, here's my two cents. :P

Purchase Method: DLC for ARMA3

Reason: The ARMA3 Engine will not only bring the realism everyone is looking for, it will help maintain the current feel the mod has. If it's DLC you still have an oppurtunity to make it into a product as you hope, while still keeping the same type of player base. Any other setup I fear would result in drastic changes to gameplay in hopes of selling more copies, as many others have talked about.

Developmental Style: Studio, with slight community input.

Reason: Probably the best way of describing the current setup. I think if the mod is continued to be developed and improved on ARMA2:CO, porting all of the finished features to ARMA3 would create the best result. The fact that a thread such as this was made is a step in the right direction I think. As long as rocket remains in charge, I have no doubt the end result will be everything we hoped for. A team will just allow him to get some rest every now and then.. :P

Server Design: Community and Studio Servers, or just community.

Reason: As long as community servers are regulated and held to a certain standard (just like they are now) then there might as well be both.

Kickstarter: Yes.

[choppytehbear 13]

Game purchase only.

Studio Developed.

Kickstarter.

<3

[woodcroft 0]

I would do either Game purchase only, or Game purchase + Monthly fee.

If the game were more MMO type (same concept, just more players and structure but NO LEVELING), then I would do monthly. Wouldn't mind paying an extra fee to keep up servers and further development.

Studio developed.

[Japekkii 0]

Best choice is:

Game purchase only.

Studio Developed.

Kickstarter.