What is the waiting screen?
Just before you start your game, in certain circumstances, there may be a screen asking you to wait some seconds before playing, with a membership subscription form.
BGA Club members never have this screen and can play immediately.
Why introducing this screen?
Until 2017, ELO rank and prestige were only visible by paying members. At the beginning of this year, we made them visible for everyone.
It was a good move, and we do not regret this : BGA audience has grown by approximately +20% since then!
However, in the same time, Club member subscriptions has dropped by 25%, because some of you were buying subscription only to have ELO rank.
We totally understand this, and we don't want to blame anyone for this. We just need to find a way to restore the number of members, so BGA can continue to live for everyone. This is the purpose of the waiting screen.
How does this work? Who is waiting and who is not?
Club members never see the waiting screen. Players playing with a Club member do not see the screen.
For non-members, the rule is simple : the more you play, the greater your chance are to see the waiting screen. We don't want to bother you if you play only from time to time on BGA, but if you regularly play here, please considering supporting us
Note that in any case, all players at a given table are waiting the same time.
Is BGA having money issues? Is there a risk for BGA to disappear?
No.
We chose to wait 5 months after making ELO free for everyone to be 100% of the consequences. BGA lost money during this period, but it was planned and we are fine with that.
We are confident to find a sustainable solution, like this one.
How is the money used by BGA? Are you rich?
On 100 euros we received from you :
We are also very proud of the (growing) amount of money we give back to game publishers each year (thanks to premium games).
And by the way, I take advantage of this answer to thanks all the players from the community who are helping us to make this service running by doing translation/moderation/development work. It would be impossible for BGA to provide a sustainable service without you!
Why can't you just advertise us more to become a Club member?
We did it : more loyal players used to have a big yellow banner at the top. But honestly, it was not beautiful, and it was ignored. By the way, some of you find a way to disable it, so we had to find another way.
Why not giving some more things to members instead of this screen?
Since 2010, that's what we did : we added tournaments creation, color choice, premium games, and so on. And we will continue to add things for paying members in the future of course.
However, the "killing feature" that would convince enough of you to become members does not exist
Why not introducing some advertising instead?
Well, the main reason is that we dislike advertising.
In addition to that, to recover from the 25% revenues drop, we would have to add A LOT of ads on BGA, and nobody wants this.
I don't want / have the money to become a member : am I still welcome on BGA?
Of course you are!
We don't need that 100% of you become members to make this service sustainable : we only need a small percentage of the most loyal players for that.
We chose this solution because on one hand, waiting 30 seconds before a 10 minutes game is not a big deal, and on the other hand €24 for a year (less than the average price of one board game) is not a big deal too. So choose one or another
I hope you found this FAQ instructive. To conclude, I just want to send a special "thank you" to all players who are supporting us with their time or money to make this service running from all these years : this service exists thanks to you!
Just before you start your game, in certain circumstances, there may be a screen asking you to wait some seconds before playing, with a membership subscription form.
BGA Club members never have this screen and can play immediately.
Why introducing this screen?
Until 2017, ELO rank and prestige were only visible by paying members. At the beginning of this year, we made them visible for everyone.
It was a good move, and we do not regret this : BGA audience has grown by approximately +20% since then!
However, in the same time, Club member subscriptions has dropped by 25%, because some of you were buying subscription only to have ELO rank.
We totally understand this, and we don't want to blame anyone for this. We just need to find a way to restore the number of members, so BGA can continue to live for everyone. This is the purpose of the waiting screen.
How does this work? Who is waiting and who is not?
Club members never see the waiting screen. Players playing with a Club member do not see the screen.
For non-members, the rule is simple : the more you play, the greater your chance are to see the waiting screen. We don't want to bother you if you play only from time to time on BGA, but if you regularly play here, please considering supporting us
Note that in any case, all players at a given table are waiting the same time.
Is BGA having money issues? Is there a risk for BGA to disappear?
No.
We chose to wait 5 months after making ELO free for everyone to be 100% of the consequences. BGA lost money during this period, but it was planned and we are fine with that.
We are confident to find a sustainable solution, like this one.
How is the money used by BGA? Are you rich?
On 100 euros we received from you :
- 30 is spent on taxes (VAT + tax on salaries).
- 30 is spent on salaries.
- 15 is given back to game publishers as royalties for premium games.
- 10 is spent on computer hosting.
- 5 is spent on bank fees (we have a lot of little payments).
- 10 is spent for all the rest : subcontractors, offices, business trips, advertising
We are also very proud of the (growing) amount of money we give back to game publishers each year (thanks to premium games).
And by the way, I take advantage of this answer to thanks all the players from the community who are helping us to make this service running by doing translation/moderation/development work. It would be impossible for BGA to provide a sustainable service without you!
Why can't you just advertise us more to become a Club member?
We did it : more loyal players used to have a big yellow banner at the top. But honestly, it was not beautiful, and it was ignored. By the way, some of you find a way to disable it, so we had to find another way.
Why not giving some more things to members instead of this screen?
Since 2010, that's what we did : we added tournaments creation, color choice, premium games, and so on. And we will continue to add things for paying members in the future of course.
However, the "killing feature" that would convince enough of you to become members does not exist
Why not introducing some advertising instead?
Well, the main reason is that we dislike advertising.
In addition to that, to recover from the 25% revenues drop, we would have to add A LOT of ads on BGA, and nobody wants this.
I don't want / have the money to become a member : am I still welcome on BGA?
Of course you are!
We don't need that 100% of you become members to make this service sustainable : we only need a small percentage of the most loyal players for that.
We chose this solution because on one hand, waiting 30 seconds before a 10 minutes game is not a big deal, and on the other hand €24 for a year (less than the average price of one board game) is not a big deal too. So choose one or another
I hope you found this FAQ instructive. To conclude, I just want to send a special "thank you" to all players who are supporting us with their time or money to make this service running from all these years : this service exists thanks to you!
