You may be right. Only time will tell. Except how would they verify that? Just by taking them at their word? There goes the "strict" system in place. Anyone can claim something similar. There has to be some way of verification. Otherwise you have to just keep it open to all, or lock it down with specific qualifications like IP address, etc. My concern was more for EMC than for those players themselves. If they play for free or go elsewhere, then EMC management does not count on their subscription in forecasting covering of their operational costs. On one hand EMC gets the money while they are added subscribers on someone else's account. But perhaps if they had just stayed as free players then more would have stayed than left and a percentage of those players might eventually become supporters Now whether the revenue would be greater with the time that X% of those players spent as add-on supporters, or greater with Z% eventually becoming stand-alone supporters is a big question. On one hand EMC gets immediate revenue which is great (and perhaps necessary for the present survival of EMC). On the other hand, possible long-term revenue could be eliminated if players are disgruntled and quit instead of purchasing their own subscription.
I think there is a risk for everyone with a "family/Friend Plan". I also feel there may be a solution. Just like other rules of the Empire, rules can be clearly added and defined and agreed upon when starting a family/friend plan. EMC is NOT RESPONSIBLE for other parties lack of payment and no refunds will be given for lack of payment. The Primary account holder has the right to remove any party at any time. I think the idea of a cap per account like Aikar had suggested (5) also limits the possibilities of EMC loosing out by large numbers "taking advantage" of the discount offered. When I first mentioned this idea, it is because we have 4 members in our family that all play and like most families a limited budget in which to live on. I like the idea of checking the IP's and that each account has to login from that IP at least once. Not just anyone banning together for a discount is going to be able to accomplish this. That requires sharing passwords and that is not allowed with the EMC or at least strongly discouraged. I was thinking by offering a Family/Friend plan, it might also open the market for more players that can't currently support the Empire to perhaps be able to now support the Empire. I realize it is simply an idea, but would greatly help my family to be able to support more consistently. The best part of a community is sharing and brainstorming ideas! And EMC does it the best!!!!!
Another random idea, instead of a family/ friend plan, could you offer a discounted rate for say a 6 month or 1 year supporter status? People could have the options of monthly, 6 months, or a yearly supporter option. The longer the term, the better the discount. Some of us are here to stay and would take advantage of a long term supporter package. Again I'm just throwing out random ideas.
Military ID and college ID. Simple as that. Combine that with IP logging and it would be an easy task. All it takes is for one friend to leave, and then they all do, unless they have already been hooked into the community. EMC should never rely on short term income forecasts. No business setup should. Short term income forecasts are a death sentence, which is why it should be limited to family only. A family is obviously more likely to stick together. I feel that if this were allowed in friend groups, all we would be doing is encouraging them to stay in their group, instead of becoming part of the greater community.
I heard that some people like the idea of allowing Supporters to have more than 1 auction at a time in the general auction area. I also had another idea, it would be somewhat complicated, if at all possible, to implement. What if an "account-linking" feature was added to the website? People with alts could link them to their main account, which would allow them to receive all notifications and messages without having to sign in on different accounts. This feature could also allow people to automatically gain admin flag on their alt-account residences. Since this is a website feature, it could be included in supporter packages. For example, Non-Supporters could link 1 alt account, Iron could link 2, Gold could link 5 and Diamond could be unlimited. Of course, not everybody wants their alt-accounts to be known, so you would have the option to make the link private.
16 pages is a lot to read through, and this may have been covered in said 16 pages, but couldn't you just put all perks for Iron/Gold/Diamond as purchasable in-game with a jacked up token price? Would that conform to the EULA rules?
The only reason I became (and have remained) an Iron supporter is for Derelict Protection (and to a lesser extent Map Hide); all of the other "perks" of any of the supporter ranks are pretty much irrelevant to me. The main reason for this is that I am prone to play any given game for a few months and then rotate back to other games for awhile, so for me, keeping all my items and residence intact during my absences is a key feature that is worth $5 a month, even during the times that I'm not actively playing EMC. If that price point goes away and I have to pay $10-15 a month to not lose everything while I'm inactive, I'm not sure I can justify that cost; I enjoy playing and building in a community, but at that price, I may be better off just starting a single player world so I can safely let it sit for months at a time. I realize your options are somewhat limited given the wording of the EULA, but if at all possible, I'd strongly suggest finding a way to continue offering some kind of Derelict Protection without doubling or tripling its price. For example, what if derelict residences automatically went into some kind of "deep freeze" alternate Town rather than being deleted entirely? Then if the owner ever returns and renews their Supporter subscription for 1+ months, their old res could be restored from deep freeze into some available Town plot.
Well, potentially today we are going to start offering a new "additional service", allowing you to buy permanent derelict protection for 50$. So, unless you plan to quit EMC within 10 months, that will save you money in the long run.
You can't have RL money tied to any ingame feature, so this wouldn't work for new purchases. That method only works for grandfather clauses.
Hypothetical situation: The EULA is put in to effect, and someone who was previously gold gets transferred to the supporter rank. It was decided that supporter and the cosmetics pack would cost the same. In the FAQ, it's stated that gold vouchers can be redeemed for a month of supporter. Because, in this scenario, supporter and cosmetics cost the same, and this person already has supporter, could they instead redeem a gold voucher for a months of cosmetics?
If it did end up like that, sure they could. But current idea is to target 20$ price point for both, but at a 7/15 scale, 2$ discount if both.
