[Approved] Pay To Play And Freebee's

[Troglodyte]

Perhaps when there is a couple of weeks left in a round, all Freebee accounts should be upgraded to full status.. Give them the feeling on what they are missing out on

Just an idea?

[Kal]

i think that is a good idea, though we would probably do it the other way round and remove the restrictions on free accounts, or say give everyone the full tech tree or something fun, in the final 2 weeks that wouldn;t affect overall politcs in anywya but might allow a few people to have some fun.

[mist]

i think the last two weeks is a little short tbh. they're not going to see much of a restrictionless game with only a fortnight to mess about in.

ideally, i'd suggest that you fix a rough end point for a game when it starts and then give freebies 2/3 of their playtime limited and 1/3 unlimited. that way someone who starts at the beginning gets a monthish and anyone who signs up later doesn't get it immediatly, so there's less potential for abuse

-mist

[fizzyxl]

I agree with Mist. people who pay usually start in the first few weeks, then by 2/3 of a round are above the range of the freebies (except some people who get mugged etc) and so freebies get a chance to compete against each other properly and also would provide more roids for the weaker paids.

also it would encourage people to pay the next round.

[Kal]

people actually upgrade throughout the round, i;d say about 50% before ticks start then with a declining rate as time goes on, having said this if we announce a rough game end date and a rough time for freebe restricions to be lifted it means we will offer better value for money to our customers who might otherwise have upgraded near the end of the round and wasted their money.

[Appocomaster]

I agree. if you check the records for the last two rounds, and check to see generally how long through the round say 80-90% of people have paid and set the date for then through the next round.

[Kal]

i think the only problem here is how easy is it to do the desrestriction, so I have mailed spinner to find out

[Spinner]

The last month of the game, there was less than 10 credits purchased I belive. Then again, it is hard to say how many wouldnt have paid in month two if they knew they were perhaps 2 weeks away from a free "upgrade" (?)

[Kal]

1 month is roughly 720 ticks which is getting close to half of a short round which seems to long to me - so i'd suggest something like the last 500 ticks would seem reasonable - however this then bring the problem that we need to know when the round should end at least 500 ticks before hand

[Judge]

I think the "credit bin" suggestion has more of a chance, given that it means income for Jolt/PA as opposed to free accounts at a given time, which would only (imho) reduce the income to Jolt/PA as people would hold off upgrading if they knew that at a specific time they would get upgraded anyway.

Rewarding activity and being recognised for it by the community is a far better prospect than upgrading all at a given time.

[Kal]

ys but my siuggestion is only the last 20 days of the round - and i think it has the possiblity of increasing the number of paid planets for the following round if people get to see what they get if they upgrade.

and there is no reason why we can;t have the credit bin as well

[Judge]

Originally Posted by Kal

ys but my siuggestion is only the last 20 days of the round - and i think it has the possiblity of increasing the number of paid planets for the following round if people get to see what they get if they upgrade.

and there is no reason why we can;t have the credit bin as well

K fair enuff

Overall probably a good idea then (tho i still have doubts about potentailly taking income from Jolt/PA)

[Kal]

Approved