So we've been having a few discussions about patron status lately, namely what we can offer to Patrons to enhance their gameplay without unbalancing things.

The last thing we want to have is a system where you basically need to pay to win.

So I have a few questions that I'd like to have folks discuss! If you feel you want to keep your opinions private, that's fine.

I'm posting this on AT first, as I feel the majority of Patrons will come from the Alliance, FFA and Team servers.

So here are a few quick questions:

What type of rewards should Patrons be given?
Examples include: access to a special "Patron" board, new feeds for hosting sites which allow access to ingame events without logging in (market sales, defending news, spyop info, etc), forum badges, an in-game phonbot which calls you when you get hit, etc

How should the service be offered and priced?
Examples include: Subscriptions (with a graduated pricing model) or 'lifetime' membership

What type of "status symbols" would be appropriate to include with this service?
Example include: forum badges, integration for clan hosting sites to know who is and isn't a patron, badges on countries on the past rankings pages, counts of patrons in tags at the set's end

Any other thoughts?

I want to just clarify that we haven't really made any decisions on what we want to do, and this is merely me seeing what our users want to do on this topic.
I should also note that we still plan on keeping any and all money this project makes within the project. If we are able to generate enough revenue, we can begin bringing in professional resources (which I can get at cost :D) to help with various aspects of the game.

Thanks for your input!

how much does it cost to get rid of the ads on the forum and ingame?

hmm, are there any ads on the forums?

free pr0n!

ya, patrons also wouldn't be served ads... that's a good one I forgot!

I'm not so much looking for price point at this point -- that would be determined based on the services offered and all that

Do accounts expire now?

Obviously don't plan to go inactive but should it happen being kept active as a paid account would make me happy.

Rather then being a new member every time I disappear.

we haven't deleted/deactivated any accounts.... but if you go away, galandy, I will personally delete your account until you bring me a beer.

:p

Not to go off topic but if youd like one we will all be having dinner later this week. Feel free to join us in the T DOt aka Tarwanha

An icon under your name over there

<------

for every $20 you donate, as a symbol of "this person cares about this game more than you do."

also, i wouldn't mind some enhanced features on the forums. maybe make it extra pretty, be able to edit your posts without the original post being viewable.

moreover, patrons should be able to bold/italicize words on the forums, and other little goodies (except editing font size, which is annoying as hell if (when) abused).

i would give Patrons stuff that makes their lives easier, like auto spyop uploads to hosting sites (i know its a feature for everyone atm), ingame spyop storage for solo servers and stuff like that

i'm a need a badge that states "I don't care more about this game than TAN does."

Lasers.

So what I'm seeing here so far is that the social value is more important than actual services?
Is that an accurate summation?

you pretty much stated that you didn't want to hear anything about people being able to pay to win.

give it some more time Pang, i know i had 1,2 more ideas which i forgot for the moment ;)

well, offering additional services (such as a phonebot, extra data uploaded to hosting sites, etc) are fine

but things like getting an extra 30 turns a day or goods only taking 1/2 the time to get to the market for being a patron will be avoided.

upgraded FFA control panel to make running countries faster, global account settings such as across all servers, 'turn off tutorial' option, no ads of course, some very slight in-game advantages: maybe 1-2 bonuses that are 'patron only' or get to pick from different bonus sets (war farm cash indy specific bonus) that are tweaked slightly for certain strats.

they already have the option to turn off the tutorial, it's under Preferences. maybe you mean an option to keep it turned off?

yep just some master setting so that any country you create automatically starts with the tutorial turned off.

I would love my phone to light up like a Christmas tree when i'm hit in any server that I set up mobile alerts :)

so global options for things like..
- Which site your status uploads to by default
- Tutorial state
- Ad state (ie always off unless you want them on for some reason)

The last thing the forums need are decorations. Keep it simple and people will post. Don't let the complexity of posting exceed the seriousness of the post content. This is a game forum, not a scholarly or professional forum.

Otherwise I have no real suggestions for patron status benefits.

Would you say that a badge on the user-info section of posts (created by EE, not user-defined avatars) to denote a poster be acceptable based on your previous post, oats?

yes, but, i really couldn't care less whether somebody kills my country in the middle of the night because was sleeping, or i missed an oil buyout because i was sleeping, i pretty much consider it a turn based game that is meant to be played when it's convenient to me. not me being a slave to some irc bot telling me what needs to be done and when.

we should get the name "Pay Pal" under Patron :-P

I think a fair bonus would be an extra one or two of the bonus points per day

I think social status/ ease of access to game admins via a patrons forum and/or a private message acct available only to patrons to send suggestions etc. would be enough. Also a patrons forum needs to happen just b/c of all the old jokes from the old game=)

The Patrons forum already exists. Has existed pretty much since the creation of these boards. And it has like 13 threads on it.

Ya but isn't that Patrons for people who have outside websites and forum developers/admins? I think its called patron board out of laziness to come up with a more appropriate name for it, huh forum developer:P

Wait... What!? Why don't I see it?

yeah, only 13 because you cut my access to it *evil look*

^^ n00b talk

For us long time vets, the social aspect is probably key for patron status.

However, for the new people we are planning on getting into this game and who haven't played every style of possible strategy to this game. Ingame perks would definitely be appealing to them.

Also, if you are going to do a lifetime patron status make it a little higher in money. I want to know that when we pay we are giving you the full value of what we would normally give if we were clicking ads daily (or paying like a yearly fee). At the same time I don't want a renewal fee. So one lump sum would be ideal for me.

I'm just going to toss some ideas out there. Some might be silly, but I'm too lazy to ponder them for long.

Automatic Country Creation - Would be really cool for express and ffa. When the set ends or you get killed it automatically starts a new country. You could pick your name beforehand, at your convenience or set it to just use the same name. Or it could even start the country and allow you to name or rename it before you begin play?

Mobile Alerts when you hit 12 or 18hrs - User preference.

Mobile Alerts when you're attacked, good are sold, etc.

Mobile Alerts managed by tag controller. (i.e. we're under attack)

Access to IRC News Server

More detailed market information

I liked someone else's idea of having ops you get stored in the game where you can access them.

Maybe you can see more of the scores list if you're patron?

More Spy operations, insteada 50, have it at 75 or 100, and maybe the ability to send FA twice.

the best suggestion yet IMO is the stored ops for solo servers.

also add an account preference so you can have it always (set after set) upload to whatever clan site you choose instead of having to choose it everytime you make a new country. ive had to re op numerous times because i forget to go into pref. and change it.

I think modifiable alerts would be something people would want. That way they can set an alert if they're hit, or if they sell, or if there is a buy out etc. Also, perhaps Patrons could have more SOs out at a time, say 5 of each type. One other additional bonus for Patrons could be on the market screen to say when the goods will return, like they are on Express, but for all servers. That way people can know when they should recall (and they'd be able to do it anyways if they kept track of when they put their goods on market, so it's mostly convenience).

good ideas on this thread! thanks everyone... keep them coming! :p

gold toilet seat

Free tiesto Cd's

send everyone who's a patron a pig head on a stick.. and have the pour sods that don't have Patron status come to our houses to play the fiddle.

ok, can someone catalog the real suggestions into some kind of actionable list? :p

nope, we have a board for 3rd party sites. the patron board is just empty due to lack of patrons. (i dunno why i'm a patron, i think i had access to the api board before i got that tag)

anyways,

+1 for nukevils lasers.

also +1 for that pay to win feature dibs mentioned.

get an extra % to build Missiles :-D finally my dream of 2 nukes per household will come true.

ok... fine.. i also think the stored ops for solo servers is a brilliant idea:p

However i really don't want people to be disadvantaged by not having patron status.

That's what I call a "nuclear" family!

I'll be here all week, folks. Tip your waitresses.

or as Bush states.... NewClear Family

patrons get to enjoy having 140 turns with 200 stored?

LIMITED SERVER!!!!

Nudy magazine day!!

I want the same benefits that the other players get, that do all the clicky stuff (I am to lazy to do)

oh and turtle Pron!

I only read half the thread, but I'm definitely not for the "extra hosting site services" or the phonebot.

This is mainly because there are certain types of players who will pay for patron, those are the ones who are already incredibly active. It also hinders an alliances element of surprise and could even make people like suiciders harder to kill. While I wouldn't discourage things like market news being fed into the hosting site, I can't see a whole ton of benefit to it. Whereas defending results / phone bot could make stonewalling a lot stronger. Also, with a phone bot, you'll likely create more grief than happiness -- what if the phone bots texts are delayed, what if they dont reach the carrier? Then you have people demanding money back for a service they're not happy with (not to mention depending on how you set it up, it may not be cost efficient).

Most people pay for active just because they care about the game, that's why I did it. My adblockers already block the ads, tutorials don't bug me, and I'm happy with a simple "Patron" to show that I've given back to the game that given so much to me.

I'd say stick to the "Patron" label, a "Patron" board, and I'm undecided on the ads thing, as they don't bug me :P