Are MMOs worth the 15 dollars a month?

I love the sense of community in an MMO, but i hate having to pay monthly for it. Whenever i do pay for a subscription, I always think, couldn't I just play another game or too online (One that isnt an MMO) and get years of playtime out of it for free?  
 
Of course, i don't play alot of MMOs, so im wondering what your viewpoints were  
 
(Im thinking of this because of the recent star trek beta, which i can't say i am in love with, but there are some good MMOs i might want to look into this year. Eg. Black Prophecy/Jumpegate Evolution)

WoW is, but thats about it.  And you really cant compare MMOs to other games.  Sure you play monthly, but the amount of content you get is..well pretty massive.

If you have some bros to play it with on a regular basis, then yes definitely.  Playing alone will get to you, eventually.

Depends on your own free time. MMO's are great fun, but if you can only put a couple hours a week into the game, it ends up being a lesser value.

Yeah, time-wise they are. But ask yourself if you really can afford to be addicted to an MMO. They are huge time sinks.

I have no objection to paying a small fee to cover server costs - but server costs are waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay cheaper than the standard $15 a month per user. So that's a no from me.

Easily.  I've never really understood why people complain about monthly subscription fees when it comes to MMOs.  Unless you just straight up don't have a job, it really shouldn't be any kind of a problem.

I'm holding out for guild wars 2, but I could picture someone paying monthly for EVE or WoW. 

Millions of people seem to think so.
 
 
 
Also, back when I played WoW, $15 a month for me to play 4-12 hours a day was a much better value than $60 for a 10-20 hour game.

If you're not playing other games, it's a bargain. If you are playing other games, it's debatable.

Well, there is no such thing as a good MMO in my opinion. There are only addictive MMO's. A huge waste of time that seems fun while you're doing it,
but leaves you feeling empty once you're done with it, not to mention the missed opportunities for actually doing something with your real life.
You'll find yourself asking "What have I done with the past 2 years of my life?" Endless hours of grinding for gold or exp, all that work, for nothing.
 
I have high hopes for Bioware changing that with The Old Republic. The only MMO I have ever enjoyed for its gameplay is Guild Wars, though that game doesn't have subscription fees. 
Ah, I was young and basically didn't give a shit. If you have the discipline to limit the amount of time you spend playing an MMO, then by all means give it a try.

" Easily.  I've never really understood why people complain about monthly subscription fees when it comes to MMOs.  Unless you just straight up don't have a job, it really shouldn't be any kind of a problem. "

I've been playing guild wars for like 6 years now. They've released 4 games at about 40 bucks each, and there is no end in sight for things to do in that game. You can only play WoW for less than one year at that price. Also WoW looks like ass. 
If I were you I'd either play guild wars, or wait for guild wars 2.

Do MMOs need to be 15 dollars a month?  No.  Are they worth it?  Depends on what you're getting out of the game.  If you have fun playing it, fuck anyone else that tells you it's not worth your money.

Here's the thing: When I was on my WoW kick, I'd play so much WoW that I'd barely purchase any other games.  If playing WoW stops you from purchasing just one mediocre game every fourth month, the cost will even out. In my opinion it's completely worth it, but everyone has a different opinion about MMO subscriptions. Try it out - if you feel like it's worth it, it probably is. 

It depends. If you like and play a MMO enough, then that should be enough justification.

Depends on how often you play.  My free month of World of Warcraft runs out in a few days and I don't think I am going to continue playing. 

In my opinion, its a scam.

" Depends on how often you play.  My free month of World of Warcraft runs out in a few days and I don't think I am going to continue playing.  "

Work out how much it costs you per hour then go from there.

At 1 hour per day (though most people who play these play for a lot more than that), 30 hours a month = 50cents an hour... I'd be surprised if you could find cheaper entertainment.  
 
There has been a fair few $50 or $60 games that have cost me more per hour.

I don't think any mmo is worth 15$ a month, just like I don't think XBL is worth paying for at all monthly, but its how things are and it isn't really going to change. So like it or not, get used to it.

I hate paying monthly fees for anything.  I'm extremely annoyed I have to waste money on XBL Gold when it runs out for me in February, but I need to to continue enjoying multiplayer.  I also find MMOs really boring and repetitive so the answer for me is no.

I just can't get into MMO's 
So no

Perhaps part of the problem is not really having a sense of the value of $15/month. How much does maintaining a MMO really cost? Are they making money hand over fist or is it rather costly for providers? I think its that sense that it could be cheaper that makes the $15/month a turn off.

Not to me, ESPECIALLY if you have to buy the game itself before the subscription.
 
I could see buying a game then paying $5 a month if I really liked it. Or I could see paying $10 a month if I wasn't required to buy the game itself first. But paying for a game and then paying a subscription fee that's too high to begin with, hell the fuck no.

Well, If your into the game then yes.
For your $15 you get access to the game for about 720 hours (I'd hope your not playing that much, But it's there)
And they offer a whole lot more in the way of gaming community than the vast majority of games out there.
 
I was a FPS player for years, Started of casually then got into Clan gaming for a good while, But the Clan gaming burned me out on FPS games for a good long while.  
In that time I went to FFXI and then WoW, And dumped about 2 years into those.
But I have now become bored with them. Though I can say I totally felt the subscription was worth it, At the time.
Now I'm back on FPS and couldn't be happier :P

They are easily worth every single penny. 15$ a month really isn't all that much, especially when you consider everything there is to do in something like WoW. The instances and events that occur at 80 are like virtual rides at Disneyland they are so well done.

i would say if u have the time to play them. if u only play during the weekend or only like an hour a day then don't bother. if u can play for like 8 hours a day then yes u can. also if u have the money to play the game. $15 is a lot of money to play a game. i use to play wow for like 3 years.

I don't feel it's worth it nowadays.  I guess because the magic of MMOs has worn off for me, so I can't justify paying every month to do the same old thing.

" Well, there is no such thing as a good MMO in my opinion. There are only addictive MMO's. A huge waste of time that seems fun while you're doing it, but leaves you feeling empty once you're done with it, not to mention the missed opportunities for actually doing something with your real life. You'll find yourself asking "What have I done with the past 2 years of my life?" Endless hours of grinding for gold or exp, all that work, for nothing.   I have high hopes for Bioware changing that with The Old Republic. The only MMO I have ever enjoyed for its gameplay is Guild Wars, though that game doesn't have subscription fees.  Ah, I was young and basically didn't give a shit. If you have the discipline to limit the amount of time you spend playing an MMO, then by all means give it a try. "

My opinion is, would you rather play an MMO for 1 year, or Xbox Live for 3 / 3 New Games.

"My opinion is, would you rather play an MMO for 1 year, or Xbox Live for 3 / 3 New Games. "

Depends; if you're getting so many hours enjoyment out of it per month and you aren't playing much else then $15 is a bargain.

I would say yes, if you put enough time into it to justify it. MMOs can be cheaper than regular games if you are pretty devoted to it.

nope if MMOs did not have fees I'd play alot more MMOs

" I don't feel it's worth it nowadays.  I guess because the magic of MMOs has worn off for me, so I can't justify paying every month to do the same old thing. "

I've never thought so. Hence, why I've never subscribed to an MMO.

Only if its good and you have enough time to put into it.

No

not for me.

world of warcraft is, but everything else is crap in comparison.

Some are. It depends.

Back when I played WoW it was worth every penny.

" I have no objection to paying a small fee to cover server costs - but server costs are waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay cheaper than the standard $15 a month per user. So that's a no from me. "

" Back when I played WoW it was worth every penny. "

Think of it this way.. You pay 60 bucks for a new game that lasts about 10-15 hours.
 You beat it within a day. That's 60 bucks gone.
 
You buy an MMO, let's say...WoW 20-30 bucks, and then you pay for a month of subscription time.
That's 45 bucks and you've got a month worth of game. Now if you times 15 by 12 you get 180, divide that by 60 and you get 3.
 
So you can buy 3 new games and possibly stop playing them in 3 days, or play WoW for a whole year.

I'd agree with WoW being the only game really worth the subscription costs, putting aside my personal views of that game atm.
 
I always wondered why the Phantasy Star games kept having subscription fees, when a game like Borderlands doesn't. Whether heavily "instanced" games use servers or just P2P connections doesn't really matter, I don't think said games should have subscription costs. If for some reason there is some sort of Lobby or whatever that requires an actual server somewhere, it's not justifying the fees.

my experience with MMOs  (just WoW haha)   it started off wayy to slow with repetitive missions. collect x thing s by killing x monsters. 
kill x monsters 
bring me x 
 
over and over    i got tired of it fairly quickly. i could only make it to lvl 25 before i was done. but if you like that kind of grind work then go for it