9:06 a.m. Aug. 19, 1997 PDT
AOL likes to call itself the "world's largest community" - a joyous world where 8 million happy surfers come together to play and chat and learn. But in its biggest test of community development thus far - being able to keep the communities it has developed satisfied and alive - AOL is failing miserably. As AOL pushes its premium-pricing gaming area, where games cost US$1.99 an hour, it's wreaking havoc with some of the strongest communities that it's managed to develop. And, not surprisingly, it's infuriating gamers and developers alike.

On Friday, AOL abruptly canceled MetaSquares, the latest in a string of popular games that have departed since the pricing changes. The contract for the strategy game, which drew 80,000 regular users, was up for renewal. MetaCreations says AOL wanted the developer to move its game into the premium pricing area, and MetaCreations wasn't buying it. The company was still hoping to negotiate a deal when AOL suddenly put up a notice saying that the game was canceled as of 1 September. Infuriated, MetaCreations sent out a press release denouncing AOL and apologizing to its gaming community, which was, not surprisingly, upset.

This is not the first time this has happened. The Net has been flying with angry email from gamers and developers ever since AOL announced its plan to start charging $1.99 an hour for games like poker, bridge, and hearts - games that are universally offered for free elsewhere - as well as an upcoming slate of games. Adding fuel to the fire, AOL simultaneously cancelled a number of games that weren't headed into premium area due to "outdated technology" or contracts that just weren't renewed. Seven games - Cyberstrike, Gemstone III, Federation, Dragon Realms, Modus Operandi, NeverWinter Nights, and now, MetaSquares - have either departed or are slated for departure due to the changes. Most went of their own volition. Julie Sigwart of MetaCreations says AOL's tack has been to push gaming partners with contracts up for renewal to put their games into the premium channel - companies either have to get with the pricing program, or get gone.

"We have the kind of game that builds a community; that's not what AOL wants," says John Wilczac, CEO of MetaCreations. "AOL wants you off the system as quick as possible. If you don't pay for premium channel, they don't want you to play."

Most online game services coddle their communities and recognizing the profitability in avid gamers who spend hours online multiple times a week. But for AOL, communities with long log-ins are a detriment, not an asset: AOL's not making any money from those extra hours that gamers spend online, thanks to flat-rate pricing. In fact, the gamers take up valuable connections that shunt others out. Some gamers have taken the step of circulating a patch that disables the 46-minute warning notice that's famous for disconnecting unwary gamers.

So AOL's working to get rid of the free riders. Visitors to AOL's gaming channel are slapped in the face with a huge button advertising the WorldPlay premium games area; the free games are hidden. There's no index of games to be found, and the only games "teased" are primarily ones that will cost you, or else the quick-hit game shows.

And for the new games that are appearing, pricing will likely deter communities altogether. Mac Air Warrior, for example, is a relatively new game on AOL that, despite being a buggy beta version, now costs $1.99 an hour (bafflingly, the PC version is currently free, although that's slated to change too). Bryan Moffett, a trainer for the game, points out that no one will spend the money hanging out on a game that's going to take them hours to figure out in the first place.

"Right now, we're getting no more than 10 to 15 people online at any given time. Compare that to 900 or more for the PC players who have no hourly charge online in those arenas at any given time," Moffett comments. "I realize that development costs money, but in order to make this game a success, AOL will have to attract a player base. With the current situation, that will take a long time."

Additionally, AOL has a habit of insinuating that unpopular game decisions weren't their fault, but were the decision of the game developers. Moffett's inquiries about Mac Air Warrior pricing, for example, were met with responses that claimed it was Kesmai's decision to charge for a beta game, rather than AOL. And MetaCreation's Wilczac complains that the cancellation notice on AOL sounded "as if we were canceling it, and that's not what happened."

Of course, most gamers aren't taking this lying down. Many are declaring that it was a bait-and-switch tactic: Get 'em in by promising cheap flat-rates for good games, then cancel the games and force 'em to play other games at cost.

For the past few months, those angered gamers have circulated various petitions, called their attorneys general, and started newsletters, letter-writing campaigns, and boycotts. Many are threatening to leave AOL altogether.

"I'm just trying to get people to keep writing letters, to file complaints with the FTC and to also boycott advertisers on AOL," writes Diane Reed, who used to clock more 200 hours a month playing poker and is now heading a boycott protesting having to pay $1.99 an hour for what was a free game. "AOL only understands the money, and that's where we need to hit them. I'm willing to hang in on the boycott for as long as it takes."

But the nature of community means that poker players hang out with poker players, and RPG players hang out with their own; without much intergame unity, the protesters' efforts haven't garnered enough attention or gained enough momentum to register on AOL's radar. Instead, there are only what AOL calls a "a small vocal minority" of protesters.

What effects the protests and prices are having is mostly evident in the numbers, which AOL refuses to talk about. While poker die-hards claim that the numbers went from thousands of players to mere hundreds virtually overnight, and one trainer called the Mac Air Warrior and Battle Tech games a "ghost town," AOL spokespeople say that the new games are tremendously popular. Says Wendy Goldberg: "We've had a really positive reaction. We're on track with how we thought the new area would do."

Meanwhile, AOL competitor Microsoft's Internet Gaming Zone say it's reaping the benefits of AOL's new prices, and has watched its traffic skyrocket as the Premium Pricing Plan went into effect. The Zone quickly issued a release after AOL's announcements, promising that its comparable games would remain free, and welcoming the AOL gaming community into Microsoft's fold.

"We've seen quite a spike in sign-ups, from 300,000 to over 400,000. We think a lot of that is attributable to the AOL changes," says a satisfied Adam Waalkes, lead product planner for the Zone. "We think we've got the right model. Let the best man win."

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