This seems pretty perfect, just to recap: All players could have access to Utopia, but supporters would have priority which would comply with the EULA in that it does not restrict content but gives supporters guaranteed access. Would there only be like 5 slots for free players, or would there be a chance that a supporter would be booted for another supporter? Because Mojang may not like it if free players only have limited spots instead of just making the server cap at like 15 and automatically boot players if they go over a certain time or is someone with priority comes on.
What about free players who already own a utopian res? Owning a res is outside the realm of "free trial" (it's actual gameplay). Those res owners being thrown into the queue would be a feature that does not comply with the EULA because it restricts them from normal gameplay.
I just fear for structures that are a hop skip and a jump away from spawn points. Paid supporters meant way less griefing to worry about. I got faith in Aikar. To this date, I have only seen the Empire improving since I have joined. Just adding a couple thoughts here and there. Would be really nice if there was some way for players to protect what is built in utopia. On other smps, it seems that travel distance from spawn points has been the 'main' way to help protect builds. In Utopia, in the past, it was the 'paid' supporters that helped to protect builds as well.
I don't think it would be considered restricting game play because Mojang said a server can offer priority to a server and the queue would just be a nicer place to wait instead of the server just telling you you cant connect. Also Aikar has said multiple times that old players with utopia resses will still have access to their utopia resses.
Perhaps free players get x amount of hours on utopia per week/day/whatever, but supporters get unlimited access.
Only issue is that would not be in technical compliance. Mojang said that priority access is acceptable. Regardless on whether Mojang 'likes' it or not, being in compliance, is being in compliance.
Is what I was trying to explain is that the way the Q&A was worded, is that gold contracts would become whatever equates to the $15 amount ending up being as I voted for $10 support/$15 cosmetic.. They would've converted to cosmetic per that wording should the $15 pricing had gone into effect for cosmetic, but in the example the gold member that is now paying for supporter perks would then be paying for cosmetic perks and loose access to utopia (Where they maintain a registered outpost) per the rank entitlements. The iron member on the other hand would get what $10 rank would have become which in my example would have been supporter but they would have rather references to Psychonauts as their custom residences messages and not access to an endless summerworld. In that example based on what I was reading, both contract would need to be cancelled and restarted as what the person wanted/needed and thus they would've lost their legacy contact pricing..
A queue lobby to a free player who owns a res is essentially them being told they can't connect, in the sense they are being restricted to the res they bought in the past. They fall outside the boundaries of a "free trial" (because they've made payment before), and therefore can be either given full access (not necessarily with priority for server connection) or be restricted entirely. The legacy access idea has only stated that we may keep and use/access the reses, but does not mention whether this queue will restrict the times when we can access them. So, how do past supporters fall under the "free trial" aspect, especially when it might fall in the way of the "legacy pass"?
Why not have Utopia be accessible to every member, but keep res claiming on that server locked down to only supporters. Close to it is now, but free members would be able to access the wild, without the extra perks in the wild or town.
The Free Pass/Trial wording we used applies to the old idea of how to handle it (ie: not really changing it much from today). But now today we have a new way to approach this. Realistically, we would have to allow all players to claim a utopia res. And if that user has their only residence as utopia, then they will very likely want to support to continue accessing it. However, we can place even further restrictions on Utopia in that you must be 3 months old on the Empire to access it, to curb griefing. It might cut out some people who support in the first 3 months, but as said above, we would be going away from calling it a "Supporter Server", and it would just be a "Special Server" where special servers have lower caps. This would not be in compliance with the EULA. Free has to have same rights as paid. We are exploring options to expand Town size to help with the Residence count issue.
To encourage members to support, how about claiming a Utopia residence, without being a supporter, would require the player to pay a ridiculous amount of tokens instead of claiming it for free.
One thing I want to chime in on is the TNT issue. I saw it suggested elsewhere (EULA discussion thread?) that TNT access could be blocked in frontier/wasteland worlds, but allowed in towns. This seems to me like a good way to kill any thoughts of griefing with the stuff, while giving everyone the same gameplay opportunities. As far as Utopia goes... by virtue of the wilderness being supporter-only, TNT was always allowed. I think it's a valid concern though, that even with a three-month waiting gate, allowing every free player TNT in Utopia wilds is somewhat risky. Would gating TNT access via time-lock be EULA compliant? Must be [X] months old on server to use?
Yes. Gating features you can do anything you want that doesn't involve IRL money. So blocking in wild and throttling in Town does seem reasonable.
I understand what your saying - but where things are now in pricing poll, the 20$ option appears to be winning. So, I think were going to be looking at something like this: 7$ Cosmetic 10$ Reserved Slot only purchase 15$ Supporter 20$ for Both (2$ discount) Iron => Cosmetic (2$ discount) Gold => Supporter (5$ discount) Diamond => Both (no extra discount, but getting the same 2$ discount) ---- The Guaranteed Slot is going to be the primary perk now, so I feel this scheme will set us up for the most stability, and give many flexible options for supporting.
What about access to Endertopia and the Frontier and Wastelands of Utopia? Will you guys have to allow all players to go to current supporter perks, or will that be a cosmetic/stay a supporter option?
I know people have said this before, but I think server downsizing is something that should be taken into consideration.
Can I offer a limited trial period for all users? Yes. So long as both trial and paying users have access to the same gameplay features during the trial, we’re cool with it.
