cRPG

cRPG => Suggestions Corner => Topic started by: Tanken on February 27, 2012, 07:14:29 am

Title: Premium Membership Idea
Post by: Tanken on February 27, 2012, 07:14:29 am
So I got to thinking, and in an open chat in NA_1, we kind of thought of a good idea to both help server costs, and also reward our Devs for their work and continued support of this free-to-play Mod.

What we started thinking of, was why not offer Premium Membership? Some benefits of Premium Membership at only $5.00usd/month could be:
- Double XP on Weekends (beneficial for those who work a lot and thus can afford the membership)
- Have an additional Main on their account so they can create an Alt who has all the features of a Main character but CANNOT access Strategus (or could they?)
- Be entered into the Lordag Lottery for the continued Loom drawings
- Have something next to their name either in-game or on-forums that designates them as a Premium Member


Would love for the community to build on this idea, and see how the Devs respond. Could be a nice way for you guys to continue adding content to the game, especially if you're getting rewarded for it and also keeping the servers open and growing and costs covered there.


Tanken_KUTT
Title: Re: Premium Membership Idea
Post by: Zerran on February 27, 2012, 07:41:15 am
I'm not actually 100% sure this is legal, being a mod and all.  :lol:

Plus it would probably be a lot of work to keep track of the payments seeing as they would need to be done on a monthly basis and the mod team doesn't exactly have any automated system in place for taking payments on a large scale.

Also paypal decided that it would be a great idea to screw over my account, so I can't use it.  :cry:
Title: Re: Premium Membership Idea
Post by: Tanken on February 27, 2012, 07:48:18 am
In Second Life, generally everything you make for that game is a "Mod", and people can charge money/subscription fees for stuff there.

I would think this is no different, especially if it's going towards the server costs.


They would have to find out a way to charge monthly to an account either through paypal or figuring out a website way to make it a recurring fee on your card as long as you leave it active.
Title: Re: Premium Membership Idea
Post by: Digglez on February 27, 2012, 08:37:24 am
Quote from: Zerran on February 27, 2012, 07:41:15 am
I'm not actually 100% sure this is legal, being a mod and all.  :lol:

Plus it would probably be a lot of work to keep track of the payments seeing as they would need to be done on a monthly basis and the mod team doesn't exactly have any automated system in place for taking payments on a large scale.

Also paypal decided that it would be a great idea to screw over my account, so I can't use it.  :cry:

voluntarily giving away your money is not illegal
Title: Re: Premium Membership Idea
Post by: zagibu on February 27, 2012, 09:02:56 am
It's not voluntarily giving away money, it's paying for a service, which is based on a commercial game. Such stuff is usually illegal, but I couldn't find anything in Warband's EULA.

Second Life is different, because it explicitly endorses that kind of business.
Title: Re: Premium Membership Idea
Post by: Teeth on February 27, 2012, 05:08:53 pm
Never going to happen
Title: Re: Premium Membership Idea
Post by: Siiem on February 27, 2012, 05:13:47 pm
chadz making money on taleworlds game... lawsuit incoming!
Title: Re: Premium Membership Idea
Post by: Dravic on February 27, 2012, 05:22:13 pm
Quote from: Siiem on February 27, 2012, 05:13:47 pm
chadz making money on taleworlds game... lawsuit incoming!

Actually it's not making money, it's donating for a server.

Oh rly, in CS there are lots and lots of VIP Premium bullshit accounts and noone complains.

And chadz already did something that can be called "paying for" - Lottery Loerdag.
Title: Re: Premium Membership Idea
Post by: MrPink44 on February 27, 2012, 05:35:18 pm
There are tons of games that "take donations" as subscriptions for server maintenance fees and the like out there on the web. I for one wouldn't mind helping pay a little upkeep and tbh I think for Taleworlds whatever has people playing their game still is fine with them. That just keeps people interested for new games/sequels coming out. So I would definitely be on board and the mechanics are actually quite simple through Paypal. I think it's a worthy idea it would just have to be brought to the dev's to see how they feel about it.
Title: Re: Premium Membership Idea
Post by: RibaldRon on February 27, 2012, 11:36:12 pm
I am fairly certain that there's nothing wrong with accepting donations, even if you compensate said donators, so long as the money does not primarily go towards personal use.

Spend it to upgrade servers, pay for server hosting, maybe even pay a little for your own coding or other members of the team (NOT MEGAUPLOAD LEVEL,  less than you'd earn at a gas station..) and I think you're in the clear.



You have to be a pretty big company in order to sue and win over "donations," and the infractions have to be pretty obvious (that dude who was earning, and pocketing $1 million/year off his WoW free server by flat out giving people whatever they wanted for $5/$10 here and there, and continued after repeated warnings comes to mind)

But the first step, I think, would be to try to contact the copyright owners of M&B and ask their thoughts/blessings to do so.  I for one would not mind larger servers ONE BIT.  I have personally witnessed the  strategus servers being nearly completely full, with a lot of spectators complaining about not being accepted, and also randomly down.  Would be nice to have larger battles and more server stability.

Whether or not I agree with the donation bonus or not, I'm unsure.
Title: Re: Premium Membership Idea
Post by: Tanken on February 27, 2012, 11:43:17 pm
Jesus. -6 atm.

I would have thought people who generally support the Mod and its developers would have given +1 or if you opposed it, provided an idea that could be made easier on the Premium Membership idea.


There's clans out there right now that charge a $10 joining fee, is what they are doing any different than this? If they clear their monthly cost of Teamspeak or Ventrilo, where does the majority of that money go? Right back in someone's pocket. At least with this method it could not only provide more server upkeep, but could eventually provide more servers for more game modes as well as reward those whom choose to become Premium Members.

As Pink mentioned, I don't think Taleworlds is going to flip shits over their most successful mod asking for memberships to support upkeep. It's not like it is anything anyone has to subscribe to, it's simply a means to offer players a chance to support the Developers and the Mod. I've played a few mods for HL2 and CS that offered Premium Memberships. Those Mods are still in existence, why would this be any different?
Title: Re: Premium Membership Idea
Post by: Zaren on February 27, 2012, 11:48:09 pm
people paying shouldnt get an advantage. They should be donating because they want to help not to get double xp. The only thing you should get for donating is donator recognition which you already get(on your character page 2rd from the right of the link to the forums).
and name a clan which costs 10 dollars to join..... never heard of one
Title: Re: Premium Membership Idea
Post by: Teeth on February 28, 2012, 12:10:55 am
chadz has repeatedly said that donating will never give any ingame benefits beyond the lördag lottery. Therefore a Premium Membership will never exist for cRPG. Regardless its lame and would kill half the playerbase.

Also I don't think the devs want to have any obligations towards the community. I don't think they want to lose the 'You don't pay me, so it doesn't matter if I do shit' card.
Title: Re: Premium Membership Idea
Post by: Miwiw on February 28, 2012, 12:14:37 am
read title - no!
read post - no!
read rest of the thread - no!

just no. everything is fine right now. if you like to support, donate.
Title: Re: Premium Membership Idea
Post by: Christo on February 28, 2012, 12:17:32 am
The OP and it's rating speaks for itself.
Title: Re: Premium Membership Idea
Post by: Son Of Odin on February 28, 2012, 12:20:37 am
I've hidden your post
(click to show/hide)
Title: Re: Premium Membership Idea
Post by: Voso on February 28, 2012, 12:45:59 am
This is in fact illegal.

However, chadz could likely purchase the rights from Taleworlds to make money off of his mod. Though, I doubt he would do this.


Make all the justifications and relations to other games you want, it is illegal in the case of Mount&Blade: Warband.

An example of this is With Fire and Sword. It is produced by a company named Studio SiCh. Because use of Mount&Blade's features were used Taleworlds was listed as a developer. This is why any use of WFaS content in Warband mods and vice-versa is copyright infringement.

With Fire and Sword started out as a mod, much like cRPG, but then they entered into a software agreement with Taleworlds that allowed them to sell their game independently. They both share the "Mount&Blade" prefix, but have no trademark relation.

Gathered from:
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Also, "Oh lets just say its rewards for people who donate.", is a pretty unlikely solution as it comes with a league of legal issues. Ultimately any sort of pay towards the developers of cRPG through donations would be out of the question. Maybe if all donations are shown and reported as going to servers and whatnot, they could get away with it.. still, they'd likely have to consult a lawyer about it first.


Quote from: Tank Burner on February 27, 2012, 11:43:17 pm
I've played a few mods for HL2 and CS that offered Premium Memberships. Those Mods are still in existence, why would this be any different?

Because they are created by different companies..
Title: Re: Premium Membership Idea
Post by: ArchonAlarion on February 28, 2012, 05:00:58 am
I like the idea of donaters getting an in game announcement when they join the server in the flavor of "Lord so and so has entered the battlefield"

Instead of Lord, donaters could get something like Saint, Bishop, Burgher, Mayor, Abbot, or something cool and medieval. Beyond that, I don't think donaters should receive benefits.