The Battle Between P2P Online Games and F2P Online Games

By Mark Walters

There are two types of online games - free ones and paid ones. Free online games are referred to as F2P and paid online games are referred to as P2P. Whether F2P or P2P is better is a hotly debated argument that online gamers can't agree on.

There are good arguments for either side of the debate and, probably, there will never come a time when everyone agrees. If you're an online gamer yourself, then you may well already have formed your opinions on the matter, but it's still worth reviewing the points for and against both P2P and F2P.

When you have a pay to play game, you will need to pay a monthly fee to allow you to log in and play. The usual argument with this is that in a pay to play environment, your subscription may run out without your using it if you play due to busy schedules and such, while free to play games that you can register and play on for free are there for you to visit anytime you want without the overhead monthly cost of membership.

When you play an F2P game, you can log in any time and play any time without the need for subscriptions and paid game time, but the downside to these games is that you need to purchase certain items in an item mall to strengthen your character up or to help them level up faster. This means that if you play an F2P game, even when you do not need money to play, you will still need money to build a strong character. This contrasts to P2P games in that, with P2P, once you pay for the game time, all additional extras are achievable in-game, without the need to continually buy weapons, armor and accessories.

The number of players involved in a game is the other major factor to take into consideration as, generally, the more players, the better the gaming experience as there is more action and interactions with others. F2P games tend to attract more players, though there are some exceptions, and you would therefore assume that F2P games win on this issue. However, the 'quality' of players is generally better on P2P; they are more involved and more knowledgeable. Therefore, for those gamers who wish to build armies and form alliances, P2P games are better, as the other players will be online more and will be more reliable. - 30202

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