Free/Free To Play terminology

[Ben Lubar]

If there's a demo you can download before you buy a game to see if you like it, that's called a "Free Demo" (or just "Demo", with the "Free" being implied).

However, imagine a game where the demo is integrated into the "base game". You can download the "base game" for free, and it has what a demo would have, plus all the support for modding and Steam Workshop that a paid version of the game would have.

You can buy ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ game content as DLC, but there is no in-game store or microtransactions.

Is the hypothetical game I'm describing "free" or "free to play"?

I made a poll a few days ago and got 7 votes for "free" and 7 votes for "free to play", so I figured I'd ask here for more opinions.

[sandokanski]

If it is just a Demo and you need to pay to unlock the core game, no. Is neither Free or Free to Play.

[IFIYGD]

Just call it a Prologue and get it over with.
More than a Demo, but less than a full "all-content unlocked" game.
Unlock additional content with paid DLCs.
Because that seems closer to what you are describing than "Free" or "Free to Play".

[kaibarnard]

Most 'free to play' games that have multiplayer are in fact pay to win. You can play free, but you're a punching bag for anyone who's been in the game months longer, and any payers....well they'll curbstomp you

VERY few free play games are free to actually have fun with

[Crashed]

Diposting pertama kali oleh Ben Lubar:

If there's a demo you can download before you buy a game to see if you like it, that's called a "Free Demo" (or just "Demo", with the "Free" being implied).

However, imagine a game where the demo is integrated into the "base game". You can download the "base game" for free, and it has what a demo would have, plus all the support for modding and Steam Workshop that a paid version of the game would have.

You can buy ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ game content as DLC, but there is no in-game store or microtransactions.

Is the hypothetical game I'm describing "free" or "free to play"?

I made a poll a few days ago and got 7 votes for "free" and 7 votes for "free to play", so I figured I'd ask here for more opinions.

Is this a question to ask in the Steamworks group? I'd think that "Free" means you can get it for free and there are no payments, where "Free to play" means you can download and play it but you have to pay for premium content or items.

[matt]

That would be what we used to call shareware. Nobody uses that term any more, so I guess it doesn't matter.

"Freeware" has the connotation that all content is available for free, and there's no paywalled content. "Free to play", like others have said, implies a pay-to-win mechanic. "Free" doesn't really have the baggage of either of those, so it could mean anything you want it to mean as long as the initial cost is zero.

[wesnef]

Diposting pertama kali oleh Ben Lubar:

IHowever, imagine a game where the demo is integrated into the "base game". You can download the "base game" for free, and it has what a demo would have, plus all the support for modding and Steam Workshop that a paid version of the game would have.

You can buy ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ game content as DLC, but there is no in-game store or microtransactions.

This sounds vaguely like the old "shareware" - the game was freely distributable/copyable/tradable, but you could only play a small demo amount of the game. To unlock the full game, you had to pay the dev for an unlock code.

I got the original Doom this way, way back when it came out. An old Mac dev team, Ambrosia Software, distributed all their stuff that way - I got several of their games back in the 90s like that (Escape Velocity, Avara. . .)


And no, I'd never describe those as "free" or "free to play"; nor would I describe demos that way.

Diposting pertama kali oleh matt:

That would be what we used to call shareware. Nobody uses that term any more, so I guess it doesn't matter.

Ah. That's what I get for not reading the whole thread. :D

[Thiesen]

NOTHING is free...

We all pay for life with death...

[wesnef]

TANSTAAFL
(there ain't no such thing as a free lunch)

[Chika Ogiue]

Bait and Switch. That's what most people will call it when they discover they have to pay to unlock the actual game if you list it as either Free or Free to Play. This feels like the sort of model that's rampant on smart device stores and is an instant turn off over there like most other things listed as "free" with "in app purchases" or "subscriptions".

Why not just supply the title as both a demo -- no purchase required and [game title] full game unlock -- or similar for whichever "DLC" allows the full game to be played. I'm sure there have been a few games on Steam that have done it this way already.

But don't use Free or Free to Play as it is neither of those.

[Ben Lubar]

Diposting pertama kali oleh Chika Ogiue:

Bait and Switch. That's what most people will call it when they discover they have to pay to unlock the actual game if you list it as either Free or Free to Play. This feels like the sort of model that's rampant on smart device stores and is an instant turn off over there like most other things listed as "free" with "in app purchases" or "subscriptions".

Why not just supply the title as both a demo -- no purchase required and [game title] full game unlock -- or similar for whichever "DLC" allows the full game to be played. I'm sure there have been a few games on Steam that have done it this way already.

But don't use Free or Free to Play as it is neither of those.

Two reasons:

1. Demos can't access the Steam Workshop.
   
2. I don't want to have any specific one of the pieces of content be mandatory to purchase.

The idea is that you can buy a Lego set that builds into a Batmobile and a Lego set that builds into a castle and nothing is stopping you from combining them and making a Batman themed castle on wheels.

The only way to accomplish that on Steam is to have the base game be free and the DLC contain the content. And that means the demo is essentially a demo-themed DLC that comes free with the free base game.

Steam does not have an option to list a free game as "shareware" or "demo and/or full game" or anything other than "Free" or "Free to Play".

[Chika Ogiue]

Diposting pertama kali oleh Ben Lubar:

Steam does not have an option to list a free game as "shareware" or "demo and/or full game" or anything other than "Free" or "Free to Play".

Then you'll have to take this to the Steamworks forums and ask there for advice. All we can tell you is that customers aren't likely to like this kind of model. Personally, I'd make a proper demo without workshop support and keep the workshop for the actual game which you then include as part of all the DLCs if you insist on each being optional without an actual base game unlock first. That would solve this problem immediately in a manner that isn't going to be received negatively by potential customers.

[Ben Lubar]

Diposting pertama kali oleh Chika Ogiue:

Diposting pertama kali oleh Ben Lubar:

Steam does not have an option to list a free game as "shareware" or "demo and/or full game" or anything other than "Free" or "Free to Play".

Then you'll have to take this to the Steamworks forums and ask there for advice. All we can tell you is that customers aren't likely to like this kind of model. Personally, I'd make a proper demo without workshop support and keep the workshop for the actual game which you then include as part of all the DLCs if you insist on each being optional without an actual base game unlock first. That would solve this problem immediately in a manner that isn't going to be received negatively by potential customers.

It was Valve's business team that suggested this model to me.

My original idea was to include the base game in every package, but that would result in the Steam store warning people that they are re-buying a game they already own every time.

And I can't even add the base game to a DLC package without having someone at Valve manually edit it.

[matt]

There doesn't seem to be a good solution for that situation. Some free games offer paid DLC, though.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1481400/Dagon_by_H_P_Lovecraft/

This free game has several paid DLC, and it's tagged as free to play. For what it's worth.

[Ben Lubar]

Given what people have said, both in this thread and during the original poll, I think I'll be going with "Free" on the add-to-account button on the store page. "Free to Play" implies too many things that the game is not.

[HikariLight]

Diposting pertama kali oleh IFIYGD:

Just call it a Prologue and get it over with.
More than a Demo, but less than a full "all-content unlocked" game.
Unlock additional content with paid DLCs.
Because that seems closer to what you are describing than "Free" or "Free to Play".

Not all demos are set in the start or a game, some are part way into the game but in a way to not spoil the game. So they can't be called prologues.
A demo is a limited portion of a game.
So thus it doesn't get to be considered a full game.
DLC are not compatible with demo versions of a game.