Although the number of people subscribed to games that charge monthly fees for access continues to grow, we've all heard protests from those that refuse to pay any kind of regular fees to play a video game. Many are accustomed to the traditional retail offerings: buy the box, take it home, and play it forever, or until you get bored of it. By comparison, the $10-$15 per month a lot of MMOGs charge may look rather steep, but are they really a rip-off, or are they good value for your entertainment dollars?
Versus Other Video Games
My experience has been that video games, in general, are among the cheapest forms of entertainment to be found, particularly if you don't take the cost of the hardware into account. On the PC, gamers have quite a few free games to choose from, assuming they have an Internet connection.
Free is a good price, but free games don't always live up to the growing expectations of gamers.
At retail a single-player game can cost anywhere from $20 to $80, and usually provides dozens of hours of entertainment, potentially more if the game can replayed using a different class, faction, or gameplay mode. Even if you play through it only once and it takes 30-40 hours, o
