[gameprogrammer] Indy MMOG - How much to charge?

With my Indy MMOG coming near it's time to decide how much to charge. I'd like to ask the list advice on what is good price from both the perspective of the developer and as the owner.
For background, my MMOG is a action-based space shooter. It's based on short-play sessions that are fun, and your interactions with other people in a competitive context. While there are levels and items, they are a minor side part of the game. It is not like a traditional MMOG where the point it is explore a huge world and collect stuff. It's closer to Planetside in that regard, though on a much smaller scale.
The MMOG value in the game comes from that the server zones can have up to 500 players - not something you will see on a standard match of Battlefield 2142. Also, there are persistent rankings, characters, and zone events. The kind of stuff you get from hosted games. 

So I'm faced with the question of how much to charge.
One argument is that I should charge something near what other online games charge. This argument goes that people value their time more than the usual rate $15 a month - the market is quality sensitive over time sensitive. Charging $5 instead of $15 only loses $10.
The other argument is that I should charge much less. The argument goes that since my game is simpler and cost less to make, it should according cost less. People who are price sensitive will play and having more people play is better than less since community also in itself draws players. 

A few differences:
I'm not charging for the game itself. Other MMOGs charge $50 for the first month and $15 for every month thereafter. I am simply charging $X per month.
Credit card transaction fees for me are very high. If I were to charge $5 a month, the transaction fees are about 5% of my total revenue.
I need to scale slowly because I don't have the capacity to support more than 10,000 players at launch. 

Right now I'm considering the following
$15 a month - I want to start high to grow slowly, and I'm still cheaper as other games are $50 for the first month.
$7 a month - I should charge proportional to the development costs. This will help me compete in a crowded market.
$20 for 3 months only - This minimizes credit card fees, and is still affordable to the average person.
$8 for one month, $20 for 3 months, $35 for 6 months - Minimizes credit card fees, allows players to pick what they can afford.
So as gamers on this list as well as developer, what do you think I should start out charging? 

Thanks.

---------------------
To unsubscribe go to http://gameprogrammer.com/mailinglist.html

Other related posts: