M57 wrote:

To some, 30$ might seem like a frivolously small amount that they make in a fraction of their work day at their job, but in other parts of the world that's a months salary for many people, and could even be two days salary for many professionals in such countries! 

How do these people afford computers and daily internet access?  Fair or not, for those who have the means and are willing to pay for access, they need to be prepared to deal with the economies of the parts of the internet they wish to access.

Here's one not very clean, but possibly workable solution that comes to mind.  If you have a preferred, less expensive way to move funds.. I.e. a personal check, etc., you could find a member of the site who could pay for you.  The site provides a way for members to do this.  $30 is still $30, but if it's the exorbitant back-end fees that either offend you, or make it too expensive.. Obviously, there's a level of trust involved if you don't know anyone on the site personally, but on the plus side, there is a pretty tight little community of active players and posters to the forums that are not very likely to defraud you.

Also, you could PM tom and ask for an alternate method of payment.

Checks can be tricky internationally.  I tried to cash a $500 US check in Mexico, and the fees for shipping it to the US and back and forth for "authentication" was over $150 (ended up tearing it up and making other arrangements). 

I've heard Western Union is a safe way to move money, but I've never tried it.  Paypal is also supposed to be a good way to move money internationally.  But, I don't know how you'd do that.I've only paypal'd from a US account.

Last time, I needed to move cash back home I hand carried it on the plane with me.  Nothing like holding 6 months savings in your back pack.

thought Paypal had a direct to your bank account option (that's how mine is set up i think). I never gave consideration for those that aren't making $30/mo - but I also assumed the people in that situation wouldn't be able (or care to) have a computer/internet.

weathertop wrote:

thought Paypal had a direct to your bank account option (that's how mine is set up i think). I never gave consideration for those that aren't making $30/mo - but I also assumed the people in that situation wouldn't be able (or care to) have a computer/internet.

True, I haven't tried setting that up with my Mexican Bank though. Just doing normal stuff with them can be a pain in the ass. And, that wouldn't help Erick at all since the African Banks are clearly corrupt. But, Slander's tourney plan should take care of that pretty quick.  ;)

As for global internet access: Another mind blower.  Let's get these kids on wargear.  =D

http://www.ted.com/talks/sugata_mitra_shows_how_kids_teach_themselves.html

M57 wrote:

How do these people afford computers and daily internet access?  Fair or not, for those who have the means and are willing to pay for access, they need to be prepared to deal with the economies of the parts of the internet they wish to access.

When I experience an extended blackout here that sees my laptop battery completely drained, I go to a cyber cafe and play my turns there.  Other times I've played from my smartphone of which phone connectivity and data is pre-pay and have daily internet bundles available.  Unfortunately (as far as WarGear is concerned) my phone is Nokia which is not compatible with flashplayer.  So, when I've used my phone to play I've had to use the native player which was only working through my phone's built in browser and ended up being a slow and expensive alternative because the built in browser is much more data intensive then opera mini.  If I had a non-Nokia that was flash compatible, however, then perhaps I could use opera mini and the standard player with a data bundle and then perhaps it could be really cheap to play by mobile phone?  The mobile providers here do have some pretty cheap options for smart phones here, so, many people who I would consider to be of a very low economic strata still have a smart phone, such as the Google ideos phone.  Many people who even work as house helps and gardeners and make 30-40 dollars per month still have a Google Ideos phone, but I have no idea how that particular phone works with flash and opera mini?  I think that Microsoft is trying to bring a cheap smartphone into the market as well, but, I'm not sure about that.  But, the Bill and Melinda gates foundation and google do have it as one of their priorities to make computers and the internet available to most of the world.  I guess what I'm saying is that everyone does not approach the idea of computers and internet access in the same way and access to computers and the internet is not a homogeneous experience from one country to the next.  I don't know what other people in similar circumstances to me have done, or even if there are all that many people playing WarGear from economies like the ones I subsist in?  We are probably pretty few and far between.  But, some of us are still here!

Since some people are from places in the world that might limit them to being standard because of their circumstances, I have some other ideas that might be considered for all standard members alike no matter if they're standard because they live in an economy like the one I live in, or if they're 14 years old and don't have the means because their priority is school with a little fun on WarGear as an aside.  How about if standard members are given a limited access to making new maps for map competitions, but, if they win the competition, instead of winning the 100$, they win three years of premium membership? 

Or, what if a mentorship program was initiated to promote relationships in the WarGear community and improved game play.  There could be a portal whereby the mentored would report feedback regarding their mentoring and for every x number of positive feedback comments the mentor could be awarded 1 month of premium membership credit irregardless of if they are premium or standard.  Standard mentors could earn premium and premium members could extend their membership before having to renew again.  Some rules for such a mentorship program could be built to make it fair and square of course, but, I think you get the gist of the idea.

Regards,

Erick

I think what may need to considered is that Premium membership is not something that someone needs to 'earn' or be initiated into like going from an apprentice to a journeyman to a master.  It is an incentive to encourage players to contribute money needed to keep the site running.  When viewed in that light it is difficult for me to see how it could be unfair to anyone, although I do understand and appreciate the difficulties some may have in becoming Premium members.

itsnotatumor wrote:

Slander's tourney plan should take care of that pretty quick.  ;)

 

As for global internet access: Another mind blower.  Let's get these kids on wargear.  =D

http://www.ted.com/talks/sugata_mitra_shows_how_kids_teach_themselves.html

Hey tumor,

I looked throughout the thread and I can't find it... What's Slander's Tourney Plan?   Never mind, I went back to the forums and found it had it's own thread.  Great idea, I like it!

Your link was really interesting.  Originally I thought your link was going to be having something to do with the Khan academy, which is pretty interesting as well. http://www.ted.com/talks/salman_khan_let_s_use_video_to_reinvent_education.html It's amazing how computers and the internet are being utilized in developing nations (and even in developed countries) to offer new avenues for learning.

Erick

SquintGnome wrote:

I think what may need to considered is that Premium membership is not something that someone needs to 'earn' or be initiated into like going from an apprentice to a journeyman to a master.  It is an incentive to encourage players to contribute money needed to keep the site running.  When viewed in that light it is difficult for me to see how it could be unfair to anyone, although I do understand and appreciate the difficulties some may have in becoming Premium members.

Hey Gnome,

I don't consider the map contest idea to be "earning" premium in the way that you are using the term.  That player would just be winning the competition, but the those winnings would be used back towards inputting money into the site by buying premium membership instead of leaving the site as a prize.  So, it is a double incentive.  1, to contribute to the site through the creation of an award winning map, and then 2, to buy premium membership with their winnings and contribute again.

Erick

Slightly off-Topic

I think Tom has done a great job of making this advertising-free site available to all, yet somehow managing a revenue stream. Doing this AND maintaining a playing parity between Standard and Premium members is pretty much unheard of in on-line gaming communities. It is indeed laudable that players in developing countries are able to play on and enjoy this site.

With this in mind, I'd like to bring up a contrarian point of concern. Changes to the site should not be so much about extending benefits to Standard members as much as it should be about maintaining fairness, adding features, and possibly even extending (or at least maintaining) benefits for Premium members.

Yes, changes to the site should be about extending features to all.  But if there is not enough differentiation between features and benefits, then the economic model fails.

Back on topic..

I had a few thoughts about board design, but is it true that anyone can design a board, and Premium Members can design more than one?

berickf wrote:

SquintGnome wrote:

I think what may need to considered is that Premium membership is not something that someone needs to 'earn' or be initiated into like going from an apprentice to a journeyman to a master.  It is an incentive to encourage players to contribute money needed to keep the site running.  When viewed in that light it is difficult for me to see how it could be unfair to anyone, although I do understand and appreciate the difficulties some may have in becoming Premium members.

Hey Gnome,

I don't consider the map contest idea to be "earning" premium in the way that you are using the term.  That player would just be winning the competition, but the those winnings would be used back towards inputting money into the site by buying premium membership instead of leaving the site as a prize.  So, it is a double incentive.  1, to contribute to the site through the creation of an award winning map, and then 2, to buy premium membership with their winnings and contribute again.

Erick

Hi Erick,

Yes, I agree with you on that idea and many others that involve having premium membership as a reward/prize, I think they would be great. 

My comments were not aimed at that in particular.  Instead, as I was going through the thread in its entirety I got the sense that some feel that premier membership is a right they are being denied instead of a marketing incentive perk.

SquintGnome wrote:

berickf wrote:

SquintGnome wrote:

I think what may need to considered is that Premium membership is not something that someone needs to 'earn' or be initiated into like going from an apprentice to a journeyman to a master.  It is an incentive to encourage players to contribute money needed to keep the site running.  When viewed in that light it is difficult for me to see how it could be unfair to anyone, although I do understand and appreciate the difficulties some may have in becoming Premium members.

Hey Gnome,

I don't consider the map contest idea to be "earning" premium in the way that you are using the term.  That player would just be winning the competition, but the those winnings would be used back towards inputting money into the site by buying premium membership instead of leaving the site as a prize.  So, it is a double incentive.  1, to contribute to the site through the creation of an award winning map, and then 2, to buy premium membership with their winnings and contribute again.

Erick

Hi Erick,

Yes, I agree with you on that idea and many others that involve having premium membership as a reward/prize, I think they would be great. 

My comments were not aimed at that in particular.  Instead, as I was going through the thread in its entirety I got the sense that some feel that premier membership is a right they are being denied instead of a marketing incentive perk.

Hey Squint,

I misunderstood what you had written, sorry.  Your clarification makes sense, thanks.  Good luck in Bane.

Erick

In my experience with live games, you want 3 running at the same time or it is too slow. Having to wait perhaps 30mins between goes, but having to hover in case your turn comes around in 4 minutes and then you get counted out.

The pricing was about right for me. I paid in to be able to play more than 10 games. Perhaps that should/could be cut down.

Finally, it is all about the private chat for me. Invaluable for making and breaking alliances etc.

berickf wrote:

itsnotatumor wrote:

Slander's tourney plan should take care of that pretty quick.  ;)

 

As for global internet access: Another mind blower.  Let's get these kids on wargear.  =D

http://www.ted.com/talks/sugata_mitra_shows_how_kids_teach_themselves.html

Hey tumor,

I looked throughout the thread and I can't find it... What's Slander's Tourney Plan?   Never mind, I went back to the forums and found it had it's own thread.  Great idea, I like it!

Your link was really interesting.  Originally I thought your link was going to be having something to do with the Khan academy, which is pretty interesting as well. http://www.ted.com/talks/salman_khan_let_s_use_video_to_reinvent_education.html It's amazing how computers and the internet are being utilized in developing nations (and even in developed countries) to offer new avenues for learning.

Erick

 

Hey Erick,

Slander started a new thread about players sponsoring tourney's for standard players with the prize being a membership paid to tom by the sponsor. 

I was in a gates school that had a similar program to Khan's for math.

M57 wrote:

Back on topic..

I had a few thoughts about board design, but is it true that anyone can design a board, and Premium Members can design more than one?

I believe standard members can design as many boards as they want, but they cannot submit any for review if they already have a live board.   i.e. they can basically publish only one board.   They can work around this a bit by having multiple boards ready to go, then buy the smallest premium membership & publish all of them at once.

Then how can there be a competition offering membership if standard members can't publish after one board?  Wasn't that one of the suggestions?

M57 wrote:

Then how can there be a competition offering membership if standard members can't publish after one board?  Wasn't that one of the suggestions?

Make sure you win the first one you enter :)

I think a suggestion was to allow even Standard members (regardless of how many Live maps they have) the ability to enter the Competitions.

M57 wrote:

Then how can there be a competition offering membership if standard members can't publish after one board?  Wasn't that one of the suggestions?

I agree it's a problem. I'm not sure of the best solution.  As Yertle is alluding to, I think there was a suggestion to say that boards for competitions would not count against your 1 limit for standard members, but I don't think Tom every weighed in on that.

Obviously if you're willing to buy a year of membership once, you can potentially keep that alive indefinitely.  If you compete in all 3 competitions a year, you just need to place at least 2nd in 1 out of 3, and that doesn't seem too hard if you know what you are doing.

Check it out: http://www.wargear.net/tournaments/view/1049

Be the best, or get lucky - and win a $10 Premium membership/extension.  All are welcome.

Good luck.