Subscription Options

[Zageron]

Subscriber

• Early Access to Song of the Week
• Custom Titles in the Forum
• Private Forum for Subscribers
• No Advertisements on the Site
• Special Super-Bedazzly, Alternate Color Font for Forum Username List
• Subscriber Version of "Contact Us" for Guaranteed Response
• + Many More Features Planned for the Future Including Early Game Betas

Even in 2008 and 2009 I believed that the subscription option for FFR didn't have enough benefits to be worth while, although at that time it was pretty much for the User Title, Blue name, and the good feeling that you were somewhat helping FFR.

Now that FFR is going to be based on a much cheaper-to-run server, it may be that subscriptions will go a little farther. Thus perhaps giving more benefits for subscribing would be a good idea.

I am suggesting a slight overhaul of the subscription system. This may be rather difficult, as I am not sure how the system is linked in with all the other aspects of the website.

New System:
Instead of 'subscribing', one would simply purchase, or gain, a status.

Anonymous (Visiting the site without signing in)
- Access SOTW 2 days after regular users
- Read only forums
- No Saved Scores
- Reminder at the game page to register for more benefits
- No Multiplayer
- No Video or profile chat
- No access to SUI (instead see a video of the game in action)
- (? A hard-limit on the number of simfiles you can download per 24hours ?)
- Cannot view anything that is bandwidth intense, to reduce costs??
- ...?

Regular User (Gained my registering for an account)
- Full access to all games
- Forum account
- Multiplayer access
- Very light limit on SimFile database?
- ...?

Regular+ User (Pay 10,000~20,000? credits for a month)
- Access SOTW 3 days before regular users
- Play new Engine versions 3 days before regular users
- Advanced / More options in certain aspects of the site
- User title in Forums
- More profile features?
- ...?

Silver Status (Users who contribute a lot to the site will be awarded this)
- Access SOTW 5 days before regular users
- Play new Engine versions 5 days before regular users
- Advanced / More options in certain aspects of the site
- Able to view subscriber forum, perhaps post here too
- User title in forum
- Silver? Username in forum
- More advanced profile features?
- No adds on any page containing a game engine
- ...?

Blue Status - (Purchased for $X. The longer the period it is purchased for the cheaper it is per month.)
- Access SOTW 9 Days before regular users
- Custom User Titles in the Forum
- Private Forum for Subscribers
- No Advertisements on the Site (Don't need to use Ad-Block)
- Blue Username in forum
- A special "Contact Us" system that places your requests in a "Subscriber" list, which appears before the regular users list
- Very early access to new engine versions for FFR, SIU, R2, and Resonance
- Ability to stream a radio stream through the FFRadio
- ...?

Blue:
1 Month - $4.00
4 Month - $10.00
6 Month - $16.00
12 Month - $27.00

Not a subscription. More like a licence on those file downloading sites.

Please feel free to contribute your ideas for each area, or totally revamp the idea if you feel mine is not satisfactory.

[Vanilla Mnm]

I think it's good the way it is.

And the sole reason I've ever gotten a subscription was to get rid of the ads, because they made me lag.

[OneHandNow]

I think the # of days (for the SOTW) isn't really any motivation for people to get subscriptions, and the silver status' ability to view subscriber forums makes subscription pretty pointless (in that aspect)..

I think it's fine the way it is, to be honest.. The price (could) be a bit cheaper though. Hehe.

[25thhour]

Originally Posted by OneHandNow

I think the # of days (for the SOTW) isn't really any motivation for people to get subscriptions, and the silver status' ability to view subscriber forums makes subscription pretty pointless (in that aspect)..

I think it's fine the way it is, to be honest.. The price (could) be a bit cheaper though. Hehe.

3.50 a month is perfectly fine IMO

You gotta make money somehow to run the site.

[devonin]

As was commented elsewhere, figuring out what to do regarding subscription and other benefits in the future is down at the bottom of the list under getting everything working, and dealing with people who are -owed- time from previous purchases.

Though a couple possibilities have been suggested for what to do with this stuff going forward, so please, keep brainstorming about what, as users, you'd like to see available that way.

[Plan_Bsk81127]

These suggestions really make no sense. They are basically how things worked in the first place, just spread out. All the benefits you mentioned were the same as what subscribers got in the first place. I think how it was before was fine just need more things for subscribers to have. But the whole subscriber deal isnt anything to worry about now so stuff like this should be held of discussing about until that time comes around.

[Zageron]

I was hard pressed to find other options and benefits, hence the '...?'. I am looking for suggestions, regarding that matter. (And as the staff of the website can see the back end, they really know what is actually available.)

With any new features comes the ability to create extra features, which could then be added to the list.

[AsphyxZero]

I would definitely love to stream a radio show through FFR Radio. I could do some mixes and whatnot.