Premium Accounts Discussion

Micah
Micah
edited March 2008 in General Archive

Comments

  • Micah
    Micah
    Posts: 894
    *Update March 15, 2008* We've re-enabled the subscriptions. Amazon fixed the issue on their end and we're all ready to roll.

    -We've just rolled out premium accounts...and they're broken! Amazon pulled a fast one on us with the payments. Everything worked fine until we moved the code to the live server, where all of the sudden Amazon refuses the requests. We know what the issue is, and Amazon needs to check a box on their end saying that we're "OK to go" so it's out of our hands right now. Frustrating!!!-

    We've added a small "comparison list between basic and premium accounts":http://www.obsidianportal.com/subscriptions/new that should explain what you're getting. Naturally, we will be adding more features over time.

    If you have any questions or comments about the premium accounts, please post them here and I'll try to answer. We've been working hard, and haven't had a lot of time to post here on the forums, so we apologize. Hopefully we can be more responsive in the coming days.
  • MythicParty
    MythicParty
    Posts: 78
    Micah, you had said that there would be a "whole slew of stuff planned" besides the higher zoom levels for maps. At some point can you list the benefits that come with upgrading to a premium account? Thanks.
  • ryan
    ryan
    Posts: 126
    Unforunately there was an issue with Amazon's live server so we rolled back the changes. Once we hear back from Amazon about the issue will will push out premium accounts again. There will be a list of features posted again, once we resolve this issue.
  • RobJustice
    RobJustice
    Posts: 178
    Sorry, we could not find that page.
  • Micah
    Micah
    Posts: 894
    Yeah, that page won't be active until we re-release the subscription code. It should be very soon, perhaps within a day. It all depends on Amazon at this point...
  • Micah
    Micah
    Posts: 894
    We recently got a question by mail, and I thought it might be useful for everyone:

    The premium account sign up page did show up for a while last night, which lead me to a question. I didn't want to throw it into the forums and make a huge stink, but thought it might be something you want to discuss on there. If the basic accounts are going to be limited to 2 campaigns is this just for gm's creating campaigns and assuming that, what will happen to accounts that have more than 2 campaigns?


    Good questions! First off, sorry about the subscription stuff. At the
    last minute we had a problem with Amazon payments and had to pull stuff
    out. Hopefully it will be resolved soon.

    As to the campaign limit, we will be limiting people to GM'ing two
    campaigns. You can be a player in any number. All campaigns you
    already have will still be yours to keep, so anyone currently running
    more than two is safe. We would never take away something like that.
    However, if you try to create another, you'll be asked to subscribe.

    Very soon, we hope to offer a "campaign archive" feature where you can
    archive an old or completed campaign and not have it count against your
    limit of two. This way, you can run a campaign, blog about it, finish
    it, then archive it and start with a new campaign. Archived campaigns
    will be viewable just like any other, but cannot be edited or modified
    in any way. It will be possible to bring campaigns out of the archive
    and modify them again, but they will have to stay in the archive for a
    certain period (like one month) before they can be pulled out again.

    The reason for the limit is actually two-fold. Obviously, we want to
    make some money and encourage people to subscribe. However, we also
    want to limit the number of half-done, mostly-empty campaigns that are in the
    system. Recently, someone signed up and created five campaigns,
    and hasn't updated them since. The descriptions are decent and could
    make for good campaigns, but I doubt they'll ever amount to anything.
    It's our opinion that with a limit, people will be more likely to
    concentrate their energies and create one or two good (or great)
    campaigns, rather than several mediocre ones. From our perspective, we
    would like Obsidian Portal to be known for the quality of the campaigns,
    not just the quantity.
  • RobJustice
    RobJustice
    Posts: 178
    Whats to stop people from signing up for multiple accounts in order to have more then two campaigns?
  • Tikanni
    Tikanni
    Posts: 9
    That seems reasonable to maintain decent campaign info. The archiving feature sounds like a good idea too. I was just slightly concerned when I saw the chart without explanation.
  • Micah
    Micah
    Posts: 894
    bq. Whats to stop people from signing up for multiple accounts in order to have more then two campaigns?

    Nothing, except for the hassle factor. We expect that someone would eventually get tired of signing up for new accounts, managing all those usernames and passwords, and would rather just pay a subscription, especially considering that they would get additional features. I could be wrong, I guess...
  • RobJustice
    RobJustice
    Posts: 178
    I'm going to preface this before going on. I totally want to sign up for a preimum account and plan on doing so. Now...

    I don't think it'd be that much of a hassle. I'd just register RobJustice001, RobJustice002, RobJustice003, etc, and bingo 6 campaigns. People go to great lengths to abuse free systems. Now, my example is a bit obvious, and with multiple accounts there are some drawbacks, but really I think limiting campaigns isn't going to stop people from having unlimited campaigns. Now, people having multiple accounts might not be a major concern to you but I'm just pointing out the easy in which limiting campaigns could be dismissed.
  • Micah
    Micah
    Posts: 894
    Good points about being easy to abuse.

    Seeing the Penny Arcade avatar pic makes me think of a strip a long time ago with a Venn diagram explaining Internet Fuckwads in relation to FPS multiplayer cheaters. I guess it sort of applies to the current situation.
  • RobJustice
    RobJustice
    Posts: 178
    Thats one of my favorite "comics":http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/03/19
  • Micah
    Micah
    Posts: 894
    I was actually talking about a different one, but the one you referenced is much better. My wife couldn't understand why I was rolling on the floor over "Shitcock", but then again she doesn't play online...
  • Figment
    Figment
    Posts: 132
    *RobJustice* said ( above )...

    bq. I don’t think it’d be that much of a hassle. I’d just register RobJustice001, RobJustice002, RobJustice003, etc, and bingo 6 campaigns. People go to great lengths to abuse free systems. Now, my example is a bit obvious, and with multiple accounts there are some drawbacks, but really I think limiting campaigns isn’t going to stop people from having unlimited campaigns. Now, people having multiple accounts might not be a major concern to you but I’m just pointing out the easy in which limiting campaigns could be dismissed.


    *Figment* said ( "in this other thread":http://forums.obsidianportal.com/forums/3/topics/201 )...

    bq. However, what’s to stop users from creating shared accounts for games that use multiple GMs? I’d think you’d rather track unique users. Multiple GM games are likely to just create separate accounts for the multiple GMs, sharing the password among them. OP will see only one GM, while the game will in rl have multiple. In fact, it was wandering this site and finding at least two games that look like they’re set up in such a way that prompted this thread in the first place.


    It's fairly obvious that some people already have multiple accounts, and the admins don't seem to mind.





    *Micah* said ( above )...

    bq. Very soon, we hope to offer a “campaign archive” feature where you can
    archive an old or completed campaign and not have it count against your
    limit of two. This way, you can run a campaign, blog about it, finish
    it, then archive it and start with a new campaign. Archived campaigns
    will be viewable just like any other, but cannot be edited or modified
    in any way. It will be possible to bring campaigns out of the archive
    and modify them again, but they will have to stay in the archive for a
    certain period (like one month) before they can be pulled out again.

    That, I believe, will be very useful for some of us who have gimmick games. However, that raises a question: could people still add Comments to Adventure Log posts of an archived campaign? I'd think that'd be the one part you wouldn't want to freeze when archiving it, but it may not be feasible to make that exception.
  • Micah
    Micah
    Posts: 894
    You're right, it would still be nice to be able to comment. Comments wouldn't be too hard to exclude from the freeze-out. We will try that first and see how it goes.
  • ryan
    ryan
    Posts: 126
    Premium accounts are back up. Find out what we're offering and how to subscribe here: http://www.obsidianportal.com/subscriptions/new
  • Tikanni
    Tikanni
    Posts: 9
    I tried clicking the news link at the top of the new main page, and it appears to point to http://www.obsidianportal.com/news which doesn't have anything on it, and not to http://www.obsidianportal.com/subscriptions/new.
  • ryan
    ryan
    Posts: 126
    Tikanni,

    Thanks for the report.. http://www.obsidianportal.com/news actually points to all news that we've posted on the site. I've fixed the links for this so that it now works :)

    http://www.obsidianportal.com/subscriptions/new is where we currently have information about upgrading your account to a premium account.

    Thanks again.

    Ryan
  • farrago
    farrago
    Posts: 4
    Just a quick question on premium accounts and maps.

    The maps page in the campaign says "Premium campaigns get tons of storage (enough for hundreds of maps)", but the "Become a premium member today" page says "10". So is it hundreds or ten? Or is it ten per campaign totalling hundreds if you happen to be running 10+ campaigns?
  • Micah
    Micah
    Posts: 894
    Ah, thanks for the reminder. I need to update that.

    The official count is 10 maps per campaign. We might up that, based on demand. Like you said, you can get 100s with 10s of campaigns, but that would be a real pain.

    We've got a major overhaul of the mapping system on the TODO list, as it's kind of buggy right now. We're eagerly awaiting a release of some new code from a friend that will help us streamline the whole system, as well as fix the nagging bug that many people are finding on upload.
  • Idless
    Idless
    Posts: 58
    Also, I think that people really liking OP, will do the Premium thing rather than multiple accounts. Because they like to support it

    Personally don't need more than one map(thought I needed 0, but just made one), or more than 2 campaigns - which is why I won't get a premium of nessecity - but when I am not a student anymore, I will get one out of support! (and then I will get better resolution on the map, which is good, when you need to cram an entire GALAXY in there ;)

    That said, as long as you dont block the adds, its not exploiting the free system ;)

    ...Idless
  • Dra8er
    Dra8er
    Posts: 30
    I'm new to your site & set up. Been poking around for a few hours and I have a very silly question?????

    Are we replacing the word "adventures" with "campaigns"?

    Because I am a paragon level dm in the RPGA and my "campaigns" usually span many months if not a year or two (but they encompass hundreds of adventures). Not to mention that I put sooooo much effort into a campaign that "running" more than 1 or 2 would prove extremely time consuming, but I've been known to whip off several "non-related" adventures at any given time....

    Again sry for my ignorance.........
  • Figment
    Figment
    Posts: 132
    *Micah said* (above)*:*

    You’re right, it would still be nice to be able to comment. Comments wouldn’t be too hard to exclude from the freeze-out. We will try that first and see how it goes.

    How is the Archiving a Campaign feature you mentioned working on coming along?
  • NinjaPirate007
    NinjaPirate007
    Posts: 1
    I just got a premium account and now it say "Ascendant" across my portrait. Why and how do I make it go away? I love this site, by the way. I'm starting a new campaign and it is invaluable. Thank you.
  • Annadeus
    Annadeus
    Posts: 4
    So, I started looking into it a few weeks ago (after getting the link from Johnn Four's RPG Newsletter), and have since decided to use Obsidian Portal to manage my new campaign. I'd always wanted to use a wiki to keep things organized and this is even better.

    I'd love to get a premium account but I don't use Amazon payments and don't plan to. I'd rather do without the forums, and put up with the ads then have my credit card attached to their service.

    Is there a way for me to pay you directly for a one year subscription, or perhaps by paypal?
  • Triggerhappy938
    Triggerhappy938
    Posts: 6
    Greetings and salutations. I've opted to try out the paid services on this site, and I'm liking what I see, but one thing worries me...

    I see no option for canceling my subscription. Now, I'm not saying I want to right now, but sometimes money gets tight, and I may need to cancel a subscription to avoid over drafting my account. I'm sure there is probably a way, I'd just like to know what it is for future reference.
  • ChainsawXIV
    ChainsawXIV
    Posts: 530
    In the _Membership_ tab under _My Profile_, there is a link where you can contact them to downgrade your membership.
  • autumnschild
    autumnschild
    Posts: 153
    That's a solid point Triggerhappy938! And thanks for coming to the rescue ChainsawXIV. We're revamping all the FAQs and tutorials, and we'll be sure to include that in there!

    Good Gaming,

    AutumnsChild(dan)
  • Invictus
    Invictus
    Posts: 54
    So i am an ascended member now, if i have say four campaigns and stop subscribing and become a normal member those 4 campaigns are still accessible and usable?
  • autumnschild
    autumnschild
    Posts: 153
    Hey Invictus,

    As for what is and what would not be accessable, I can't say for sure (I forgot, but the Devs totally know). I do know the content you can't access won't be deleted. It will instead wait for you in the gray places of the internet, sighing and waiting for you to come calling.

    Good Gaming,
    AutumnsChild(dan)
Sign In or Register to comment.

March 2024
Wrath of the Highborn

Read the feature post on the blog
Return to Obsidian Portal

Howdy, Stranger!

It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!

Discussions