ID:1939118
 

Poll: In your view:what are the best byond member benefits a game can provide and Why?

Tangible rewards (In-game items, etc) 14% (3)
Stat Boosts/Enhancements (More HP, Less XP req, faster atkspd, etc) 0% (0)
Rares (weapons/tools/etc) 0% (0)
Bonus Access (tips/tricks/maps/private forum/etc) 33% (7)
Level Boost (Couple of free levels?) 0% (0)
Tags/Titles (Beta tester title, or champion/etc) 19% (4)
Currency Boosts (Starting gold, easier income, etc) 4% (1)
Premium Time (Free +P time per month for members, etc) 4% (1)
Other/Unlisted (Fill in the blank) 23% (5)

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Have a free flowing discussion of which benefits are best to provide to Byond members via Byond games and explain why (if you so desire). The idea here is to provide that incentive and equal return for being a Byond member.

What are the most "rewarding" benefits to provide as oppose to others? Etc...

What may be the Pro's and Con's of each varying method of rewarding the investment.

There are drawbacks for games that implement too harsh of systems ("Pay to Win") in the pursuit of revenue generation so that is clearly not what the discussion is intended to be about. In a neutral fashion, which may be better than the other at rewarding a member?
The best benefit if possible for being a byond member in my opinion would be having in game early access, like if a new game came out byond members could play it 2 or 3 days ahead of time.
In response to Colesprite
Colesprite wrote:
The best benefit if possible for being a byond member in my opinion would be having in game early access, like if a new game came out byond members could play it 2 or 3 days ahead of time.

huh. -grabs and walks away-
In response to Colesprite
Yes that would work for starters but there needs to be more to it than that, right? What about after the game is released they get the associated titles and some other kind of bonus?
p2w.
Honestly I don't even like the idea of member benefits. The service should either be like this:

1. You pay a one time fee to access all material
2. You access limited material and pay a fee to access more.
In response to Lugia319
Well this topic stems from Byond's somewhat aged push to get games to utilize member benefits so that people would buy more byond memberships. I agree with that sentiment and would like to know what benefits people would find worthy for being a byond member.

Essentially, it helps byond as a project and community and it also helps the game itself. With this system, games don't even have to charge as they can provide member benefits and the associated cost is going into keeping byond afloat.

This would be for projects that want to generate an income but don't necessarily care about that income going into the game itself.
Stat boosts are cheap and easy to do, but I think if the goal is to convince people to buy BYOND memberships then exclusive content (such as new dungeons, new equipment, exclusive only to BYOND Members even with item trading) is probably a better bonus than anything else can be.

This can be better utilised with the tools already available, such as the hub page medals, ability to show off premium gear or loot to non-member players, anything that allows a little greed and jealousy to manifest.

I don't believe this has to be contradictory to a pay or free game, I think its quite doable even in a game that charges, especially if its a free to play, pay for extra kind of game.

I think early access is also a good idea, if we had enough developers who were willing to do that it could be a regular thing, almost like offering free games on a console subscription.
I pretty much agree entirely with Acebloke. I really don't like stat boosts, or anything like that where it borders on pay to win, the closest I find okay is just a minor start out boost.

Early access, member only areas in-game, and in-game content that players can show off to non-members to instill a stronger desire to obtain it is probably going to dominate this topic fast. I'd add it to the poll, personally.

Aesthetics are a very effective way to achieve this. They don't have to offer much if any statistical advantage, yet they look cool, so some players get them and that makes other players want to look cool and buy them too.

Convenience is another. Members having access to shortcuts to previously visited areas etc is a nice fair perk.
I am personally against any kind of game that gives benefits to those who have access to funds others don't.

I believe games should be enjoyable for all players without the need of feeling like your time is being wasted because you can't afford x3 EXP or such.

Cosmetic items and such are another thing, tho if I was to do such I would have it so even those that couldn't afford the cosmetic items could earn them in-game with some work :)

/opinion
I actually like F2P games that make it possible to get nearly everything you can pay for. I enjoy grinding rare items. It's more rewarding than buying them.
In response to Acebloke
Acebloke wrote:
Stat boosts are cheap and easy to do, but I think if the goal is to convince people to buy BYOND memberships then exclusive content (such as new dungeons, new equipment, exclusive only to BYOND Members even with item trading) is probably a better bonus than anything else can be.

This can be better utilised with the tools already available, such as the hub page medals, ability to show off premium gear or loot to non-member players, anything that allows a little greed and jealousy to manifest.

I don't believe this has to be contradictory to a pay or free game, I think its quite doable even in a game that charges, especially if its a free to play, pay for extra kind of game.

I think early access is also a good idea, if we had enough developers who were willing to do that it could be a regular thing, almost like offering free games on a console subscription.

p2w
In response to Ghost of ET
Ghost, can you please be a contributor and not a burden?
Thank you.

I agree Ter, Tod, Kozu, Ace/etc. All content should be had by all players in some form or the other. The only content I think would be okay if it was exclusive would be aesthetic items and bonus info/early access (like maps or areas or some of the other great ideas people have mentioned).
In response to AERProductions
AERProductions wrote:
Ghost, can you please be a contributor and not a burden?
Thank you.

I agree Ter, Tod, Kozu, Ace/etc. All content should be had by all players in some form or the other. The only content I think would be okay if it was exclusive would be aesthetic items and bonus info/early access (like maps or areas or some of the other great ideas people have mentioned).

My contribution is telling you the ideas that are p2w.
In response to Ghost of ET
By all means, share your superior ideas that are not Pay To Win. :)

I don't see how giving someone a simple text Title would be pay to win, it seems like you've lost the meaning of that phrase in favour of just saying it as a catchall.
I tried to limit the ideas on the poll to the least advantageous of them all. There are no korean projects here with the sole intent of making money via Pay To Win (which is where the phrase mostly applies). Pay to win is quiet literally you pay money to get a clear and specific advantage over every other player that they cannot achieve without paying the same amount.

Most games have systems that prevent this, such as only matching up same ranked people, or allowing the unpaid to gather the same materials/rares/etc as those who have paid.

I suppose early access could be seen as getting a clear advantage over others by being a Byond member vs not being one but I don't see that having such a drastic impact that it would mean those members "paid to win" (especially in a game where there is no winning, like mine).

Seems like you just want to loosely throw the term around without actually defining what is, and isn't, pay to win.

@post below -- Hard to understand what you are calling p2w when the only thing you post is "p2w". See where I am coming from?
In response to AERProductions
I'm not going to argue on why you havent read some of the ideas people posted. Or how you seemed to have mistaken what i was calling p2w.
Man, screw pay2win - I want someone to release a game that's pay2lose >:C
In response to Kozuma3
Kozuma3 wrote:
Man, screw pay2win - I want someone to release a game that's pay2lose >:C

yes. that is all.
In response to Konlet
That is basically wurm online, which is the basis of the concept for Pondera. :)

The only difference is mine doesn't yet have a pay structure in place (wurm has in-game currency that is purchased with real currency and the game takes a lot of time to enjoy and mostly just tries to make it miserable for you the whole time... pondera is a re-envisionment of that style of game except made more arcade style for fun and not profit).
That is basically wurm online

Oh god... Flashbacks. THE SPINDLES! NOT THE SPINDLES!
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