A new feature has been added to BYOND: game waiting lists! Because a game you like may not always be available, you can join a waiting list for the next game that comes online. This list is there to alert you the next time that game appears. If you're browsing on the BYOND website or logged into the pager (as of version 428 or later), you'll be alerted as soon as the game is online. Your request to be alerted will stay around for 24 hours, or until you change that by joining the game when it's live, acknowledging the alert, or leaving the waiting list.

The goal of this change is to make it easier to coordinate sessions of games that aren't hosted all the time. You can still watch games on your pager, but with the waiting list you signal to a potential host that you and others like you are hoping for a game to start, and when it does you'll be alerted even if you spend more time on the BYOND website than on the pager.

Along with this change, the BYOND hub has undergone some minor facelifts. Some of you may remember that hub entries used to have a special login URL that could be used to point to a single full-time server. That was reached by using the byond://Author.Game##remote URL. Now if a user tries to join a byond://Author.Game##remote URL, the hub will see if there are any servers running for that game, and if there is only one then the user will be transported directly into it. If more than one server is up or none are, they'll be taken to the hub page. As of version 428, ##live behaves the same way as ##remote.

Another change we've made is to make it easier for developers to get a piece of the BYOND pie. You've already heard of the referral program, where by introducing users to BYOND you can get paid if they decide to become a BYOND Member. We've taken that further by letting your games refer people as members--and this works for people who already have BYOND accounts. When you edit your hub entry you'll see an option to include member benefits in your entry. This includes any perks that BYOND Members can enjoy in your game that aren't available to all users.

By checking the box that says you want to be a part of this referral program, and listing some of the benefits your game includes for BYOND Members, you'll get a referral link that you can give to people to become members. Users will see the list of Member benefits when they visit your hub page, and the referral link will be right there for them to use. The only real effort on your part is adding cool new goodies to your game for BYOND Members! By helping people become BYOND Members, you're not only helping yourself but you're helping BYOND continue.

As always our goals are to increase user activity and make BYOND an even more thriving place for players of all kinds to enjoy. We hope these new features will serve you well.