Scrolls to feature 'free to play' elements; Notch hates the term

Minecraft creator Markus Persson comes out against the term "free to play," but teases that elements of that model will be included in the upcoming game, Scrolls.

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Founder of Mojang Specifications and creator of Minecraft, Markus Persson (aka, Notch), recently tweeted that his upcoming game Scrolls will feature elements of games that describe themselves as 'free to play.' Ironically, this revelation comes alongside a recent blog post by Persson, entitled "I hate 'free to play.'"

The tweet reads:

@notch: And, yes, Scrolls will contain aspects of "free to play". We won't call it "free to play," though, as it's not a "free" game.

Despite the caustic headline of his blog post, Persson isn't entirely against some of the concepts and conceits of the 'free to play' model. Though he's not entirely sold on the trend of free-to-play games, what really irks him is the misleading nature of the "free to play" nomenclature, which he feels is more accurately described as "as expensive as you want it to be." Case and point: many gamers already jokingly refer to these titles as "free to pay."

"The idea [of free to play] is to find a model where there basically is no cap on how much the player can spend, then try to encourage players to spend more and more money," Persson writes. "Various psyhological traps like abusing the sense of sunk costs get exploited," he continued, "and eventually you end up with a game that's designed more like a slot machine than Half-Life 2."

Persson isn't yet talking about how "free to play" will factor into Scrolls, specifically, but we'll let you know as soon as he shares some more details.

The Minecraft creator also isn't averse to paying for post-launch content, or a subscription-based game. In fact, his post ends on a semi-ironic note: "I'll go play some Team Fortress 2 now until DOTA 2 is released. I can't wait!!"

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  • reply
    October 24, 2011 5:00 PM

    Jeff Mattas posted a new article, Scrolls to feature 'free to play' elements; Notch hates the term.

    Minecraft creator Markus Persson comes out against the term "free to play," but teases that elements of that model will be included in the upcoming game, Scrolls.

    • reply
      October 24, 2011 5:58 PM

      notch is a weirdo

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      October 24, 2011 6:11 PM

      Notch summarized my thoughts on "free to play" fears very nicely. "You get your players hooked on your game, and then you try to monetize them." What he's saying here is that he's concerned about the base level of the game itself, as played with the minimum amount of extra expenditure. Is it a full experience? Is it satisfying? Is it an interactive experience with satisfying feedback?

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      October 24, 2011 6:17 PM

      Fuck notch.

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      October 24, 2011 6:18 PM

      "And, yes, Scrolls will contain aspects of "free to play". We won't call it "free to play," though, as it's not a "free" game."

      So the game isnt free but will have f2p elements, pay for the game and still have microtransactions maybe?

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      October 24, 2011 6:41 PM

      You mean The Elder Scrolls right? Just kidding.

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        October 25, 2011 7:25 AM

        Kidding? It's quite commonly mistaken for it, they should get sued.

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          October 25, 2011 7:55 AM

          i'm sure Notch wouldn't mind changing the name or adding a subtitle. Then there should be no confusion or need to sue.

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      October 24, 2011 6:48 PM

      The first taste is free.

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      October 24, 2011 6:50 PM

      What a terrible term that drives sales according to GabeN

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