I'm really happy to see that. I hope it makes the others add similar benefits.
I think you're on the right track for your game, as well. I've been thinking about a similar concern, but even if little to none buy the membership, I think it still may help because it contributes to the overall benefit of getting a membership? At least, I think it does.
In fact, that reminds me. In the games listing page, there should be an icon showing if a game has Member Benefits or not. This way, if it was added to your game, and any other games; people would see this icon and see the overall benefit. It's kind of an indirect way to help, I think. The game its self might not pull memberships, but it contributes to the overall temptation.
I just remember back when GOA was a popular game (~200 players on average), I'd look at list of people logged in, and a good portion of them were members. The only incentive was a BYOND store with a few unique items, iirc. So hopefully a popular SS13 branch, if they decide to add membership perks, will bring in consistent income. It would obviously take a lot more than just that to close the gap though, but it would be a positive change regardless.
And good idea, Toddab. Maybe games that offer membership benefits could receive extra advertisement by the BYOND hub? Higher ranking, banner ads, etc. That might encourage projects to chuck in member benefits. Although, as Tom has stated before, he's most likely done with focusing on trying to turn BYOND into a profitable business and wants to move in if this doesn't succeed, so we're probably going to have to hope that donations make the cut. | |
I wasn't really one to check GOA, but I remember a big incentive for BYOND Membership a few years ago were games like LRS. You wouldn't see a lot of players due to the type of game, but there were several who weren't members, and then a few were so any time they got on or someone got a membership it was a big deal. So, SS13 should definitely help a bit, at least.
That's a good idea, too, but I think it's already implemented to some extent. I vaguely remember reading somewhere that people who are BYOND members becoming a fan of a game have a higher impact on its ranking somehow, but I could be wrong on that, or it could of changed. I don't really expect BYOND to be a business at all. I just want all the tools we can possibly get for making sure the donations, memberships, and subscriptions support BYOND enough to keep it the same as or better than its always been. The membership display should be very quick and easy to add, too, so we'll just have to hope this all gets done and works. I think I'm a little too obsessed with this, heh. Five years has made me more attached to BYOND than I thought; I think that may be the case for many. They don't realize how much it would suck if BYOND changed, instead of kept progressing. Edit: Fun fact. My first Membership, which was 1 year, was a gift because of a few rounds I played with someone on LRS. | |
Well, someone COULD go to some of the more popular servers of games like SS13 and offer to clean up some of the code to reduce some of the clutter in exchange for adding member's perks.
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Five years is too long for a membership for 60 dollars, should be more like 375 for five years. The simplest way for BYOND to be profitable consistently with new users could be to charge for the software and have free trials. I don't think I'm overpricing and a free trial gives everyone a chance to try BYOND for "free."
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Honestly, a year should had always been 10$. Doesn't mean that BYONd is dying that it necessarily has to be THAT expensive. Already that not a lot of people have "5 year membership" that would decrease even more the rate. I've seen more people with Lifetime membership than 5 years
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UltimateGameMaker wrote:
Five years is too long for a membership for 60 dollars, should be more like 375 for five years. The simplest way for BYOND to be profitable consistently with new users could be to charge for the software and have free trials. I don't think I'm overpricing and a free trial gives everyone a chance to try BYOND for "free." This is exactly what we Do Not need. Byond is and has always been free, any other way just doesn't feel right. Instead of charging for Byond itself all they are really doing is charging for Byond to be better and it is a volunteer effort ~ which is proven to be the best bet. When you Force people to do things, you make them unhappy, when you give them the choice ~ more often then not they will make the right one if you do not force them. | |
You also need to take into consideration that alot of the BYOND community are kids who do not have money and we adults who "do" have money also have bills to pay. Making BYOND a pay-per-use kind of program would absolutely kill the entire community. I for one will not pay to keep using it, I can live without...
As AERProductions so meticulously pointed out, those given a choice are more often the ones who make the right choice and those who are forced into doing something are the ones who refuse... And Dark-DVF, you are correct, 5-Year Memberships are very rare. In all the people I have met on BYOND, I am the only person I have known who has purchased a 5 year membership. Due to my personal financial situation, I doubt I will be able to renew it next year either. As I stated, we adults have bills to pay and keeping a roof over my families head is far more important than BYOND in my eyes. | |
Genesismagician wrote:
You also need to take into consideration that alot of the BYOND community are kids who do not have money and we adults who "do" have money also have bills to pay. Making BYOND a pay-per-use kind of program would absolutely kill the entire community. I for one will not pay to keep using it, I can live without... Ah, but you can use Byond to help yourself achieve your desired goals. Do not disregard it so easily! :D Remember, Byond can make Anything, not just games. You can make viable applications with Byond. | |
I have a 5 year. Though it was bought for me.
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I'll be honest. I'd LOVE to support byond, but I have next to no income, so it's hard for me to spend what I don't have. T_T
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Thank you for proving my point.
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wow
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Bought 3 years for myself and 2 or 3 years for a friend of mine if that counts.
My problem now is that there is no incentive to become a BYOND member anymore, back when I bought membership it was because of the homepage customization mostly and whatever else became exclusive. | |
Sasuke36910 wrote:
Bought 3 years for myself and 2 or 3 years for a friend of mine if that counts. Think of all the goodies you can receive in games. Also help me with some ideas and implementation of those ideas, I can't even get a measly -100 exp to work as a test. What kind of benefits (that are not game breaking) do you want? | |
This is partly why more games should employ membership perks.
Also, I don't think you can get a BYONDexe key if you're not a member, so there's a perk? You also get hard drive space and the ability to disable ads on the site, on the pager, and in between games. | |
AERProductions wrote:
Sasuke36910 wrote: Naruto GOA was the only game I played and was my reason for buying membership (3 years worth was a stuff-up. lol) | |
Genesismagician wrote:
And Dark-DVF, you are correct, 5-Year Memberships are very rare. In all the people I have met on BYOND, I am the only person I have known who has purchased a 5 year membership. Due to my personal financial situation, I doubt I will be able to renew it next year either. As I stated, we adults have bills to pay and keeping a roof over my families head is far more important than BYOND in my eyes. I did a 5 year membership partly to save money, your right, we either have bills or we have no debit/credit cards. It would be great if there was an easier system to convert peoples money to online credit, particularly if we could then cut down BYOND's current $3 minimum for subscriptions we could maybe encourage more micro transactions. Its been stated by people before, but item/dlc like purchases is an extension of this but would need figures as low as 10 cents to be useful (which, under the current use of Paypal would be soaked up in fees). | |
I've thought about doing something similar for my game. Maybe BYOND members could spawn in a unique set of gear. I'm not really sure if it'll help much, though, considering we already have a subscription system that BYOND gets a cut out of (albeit, the amount they make from it is trivial compared to these monthly goals), and someone "subscribing" twice may be unlikely.