I don't personally need one, and if anything it'd be cheaper for me to make my own website. More effort on my end, but I don't mind that so much. It would give people more of a reason to give out memberships, which brings more money into BYOND. Which, no matter if I support the memberships or not, is good for the growth of the site, which I believe we all want. Plus more money in = less chance of cost rising further.
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NNAAAAHHH does have a good point.
People will gift more, and the people who doesn't have enough to buy a 6-month or 1-year membership, will be able to buy a 1-month membership. Look at it this way; 5 people buys a 1-month membership, that means $25. 1 person buys a 6-month membership, that means $18? 1 person buys a 1-year membership, that means $24? I'm not sure of the price for 6-month or 1-year. | |
https://secure.byond.com/members/-/membership?
3 months - $10 6 months - $15 1 year - #24 2 years - $36 5 years - $60 You could easily fit in a 1-month at $4-$5. | |
A large part of the problem is the transaction cut that BYOND loses to their vendor. Anything below about $10 just really isn't worth vending in most cases.
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Which is why I suggested having set amounts to put into your wallet, then you buy out of your wallet. There isn't a issue with the cuts, because they paid $10~ to BYOND originally in exchange for a sort-of store credit.
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I agree with this Wallet idea. I, for one, would hand out month memberships were they at $4/$5 to people in my gaming community on a monthly basis.
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Crazy idea from someone who probably is completely wrong and doesn't know what he's talking about.
Maybe the "charges" could be sent through at the end of each week (or two week/month) for $5 and the membership wouldn't be applied until that period. Basically it places a hold on the account until that period and then process all of the money in one swoop so it's not likely to all be eaten up by transaction fees? Pardon me if I'm just... wrong... but I think a cheap short-term membership would be quite nice for contests and publicity. :) | |
Doesn't matter how you batch it if you are charging from multiple accounts, so you couldn't do it unless ONE person bought 12 one-month memberships at a time. Yeah, Tom could make a bulk membership token redemption system, where you could break it up into 12 parts and send them to people --but... It's really not worth the effort.
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why not just make players pay the micro charge for 1 month
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reread the topic pls
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I like the wallet idea, if I'm understanding it correctly as being able to gift away your OWN days. But then you'd have people giving friends 1 day (or what ever the minimum is) to make their hubs.
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Jittai wrote:
I like the wallet idea, if I'm understanding it correctly as being able to gift away your OWN days. But then you'd have people giving friends 1 day (or what ever the minimum is) to make their hubs. Except Membership is no longer required for entry creation ;) | |
Oh, so then the wallet idea is the best of both worlds?
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Nadrew wrote:
Except Membership is no longer required for entry creation ;) Wait... What? Then we seriously need some extra perks. I enjoy supporting BYOND, but at this point if there isn't a perk for a membership that makes a difference for me; it'd be hard to justify spending money on a forum picture. (Seeing as how almost no decent games offer member benefits) | |
Well, get to work on one that makes it worth it. We've been wanting better/more member features for a while, but Tom/Lummox never want to do any of it.
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NNAAAAHH wrote:
Well, get to work on one that makes it worth it. We've been wanting better/more member features for a while, but Tom/Lummox never want to do any of it. Would love to, but I haven't the time. Starting a game server hosting business is a pain in the ass. (We're going to make a BYOND debut sometime 2014Q1. ;) | |
NNAAAAHH wrote:
Yeah? I heard A.T.H.K. was looking to sell, you should ask him about it all. Yes, A.T.H.K is the owner of BYONDPanel.com. His service is top-notch, as well! I actually have a server through his service and plan on keeping it regardless of whether I start offering BYOND hosting or not. He's a good developer, and I have no problems supporting him in his endeavors. | |
Although Tom has mentioned that hubs might be going back to free, why would you really need a membership then? apart from helping BYOND as a whole which you would of already done by depositing those funds :P