Doctor Archive
Thread: What's wrong with charging for services?
The difference between SWG and a game like EQ or DAOC is that almost all skills are item-based. Meaning hardly anybody in this game can perform their task without shelling out credits or time to gain the necessary components to do so (ie. weapons, stim components, buffs, camouflage kits, etc). In SWG, skills cost money to use. The people you are referring to don't understand this. With those other games, these abilities are "magical" and innate. The only cost is some mana which regenerates easily.
The only profession that I can think of that doesn't need an item for their services are dancers (unless you count their skimpy outfits). 
Musicians need instruments, though these are fairly static items.... one instrument lasts a long time.
Also there is the assumption out there that the XP is enough, so if you are xping they get offended at having to pay a price which really hurts beginning medics ans docs.
However Master Doctors need no XP.
So since I reached master I only heal friends, guild mates, andpeople I am hunting withfor free. Everyone else pays if they come to me and ask for heals. I they don't like it they can find an xping medic that wants the xp.
...and even before in beta and like 6 months ago i tipped my docs...its just common curtousey(sp?)
unless its friends iv simply tell them i dont need the xp and if they can wait afew mins that someone needing it will heal them, if they insist i ask them what they will offer in return most say nothing so thats what they get, the only time i heal someone is if they have asked for a buff and they have alot of damage.
if they player is very new to the game and im feeling generous i'll give them a heal form time to time
EQ was not the altruistic world that your friend seems to remember. True at this point I am sure most things that casters do there are free or fairly cheap due to sweeping game changes and just overall growth of the user base's character levels, however it was not always so. When EQ first started the ability to port somewhere was worth lots of money, as were things like the first Clarity (an Echanter buff to boost mana regen), and rezz. So people charged, and probably still do for things like ports, though it has become less of a necessity with the new transportation system EQ put in. I do know KEI (the new updated high level form of Clarity) makes high level Enchanters insanely wealthy as they buff at key nexus points in the transportation system. And do let anyone fool you, mana is not free. Each time someone uses up mana they have to sit down and regenerate that mana and do nothing else (other than chat of course). This uses real world time, and I dont know about you, but my real world play time has worth, no matter what others may believe.
So now we have SWG, all of the above applies here as well in addition to the fact that healing a person, buffing a person, and rezzing a person all require not only time (a cost), but also money for maintenance or buying resources (a cost). It is up to you as the healer to decide your worth for that cost. If you feel being magnanamous and healing for free is reward enough for the time and money you put into it all, then you gain. If you feel you are due some compensation for this service, then you are entitled to do so.
The main thing when charging for services I have found is that you want to be as up front as possible with your fee structure, and to be at the very least neutral in response to criticism of that structure if not downright inversely polite.
If you say, "I heal for 1 cr per wound...say 500cr for all of your current wounds," and they say, "Heck no!", then just say all right. Period. You are in control. You are the professional healer, not them. There is not really any need to say anything nasty. With this approach I get in hardly any more arguments and most times people come around. And if they do not, then I move on. I don't NEED to heal them for XP anymore, I am providing them a SERVICE, that they can either pay for or choose not to. Their choice.
That said there are some things I don't really charge for...like curing poison or disease, mainly because I do it so little I have had the same packs for months....and it takes up so little of my time to heal and create the packs. I reserve the right to change that at any time if it becomes a strain on my time (again, remember your time playing has a worth!). I charge for wounds at 1cr per, and I buff for 6K on all 6 stats or 1K per stat, with no negotiation for bad rolls.
Any complainers for my bad rolls I politely direct to SoE so that they can give their feedback on variability of buffs since you nor I can do nothing about it more that we do with our experimentation and BE modded clothing, etc.
I hope all this helps. Just remember to balance your priorities and costs and let others know that up front, that all seems to help.
- Ki
I dropped my Doc skills too. I miss them severely. I'm in the process of re-leveling them now. 0/1/1/1 and lots of healing to go.
pizzathehut67 wrote:
although i have dropped doc to holo hunt, i wish i hadnt.