Payment for start games

[PiotrP]

For poor countries price 4euro/month is too expensive.
I can buy game for 5$ and plany many many months or years.
I want be able to start carcassone, but prices in my opinion is too high.
It should be possible to buy option to start selected game for always.
For example for 5$ i should buy law to start carcassone every time when I want.
Today, in 5 months, 2 years etc.

I know that it can decrease your earns, but it should expand group of players intrested to buy that option.
Maybe group of players will increase and some of players will buy option for other game, next other game , etc.
It is only suggestion.
I dont buy BGA access, but i could buy right to start game carcassone.

[sourisdudesert]

Thanks for your suggestions.

The club membership is 2€ / month if you take 1 year. This is really low, even for poor country

[PiotrP]

BGA is located in France ? (I only guess). 24 Euro for 1 year is a lot of money. For this price I can buy 3-10 games on PC which i can play forever. (bundles or sale). Steam have different prices on different world regions. I play on different games on Steam, Origin, BGA, Uplay. My friends also play games on different distibution sites. Your system is very simple and good for west countries. I wonder how many club membership is per country/per mln citizens of each country. It could give intresting information where price is acceptable, and where is hard to gulp it.. Close thread, because i have no more to add.

[Jest Phulin]

I find it hard to understand the logic of "I live in a poor country, so therefore you should lower the prices for me."

Yes, you can buy games cheaper. However, you want *these* games. If I wanted a Ferrari, I doubt that I could convince Enzo to lower prices for me because I can buy a car for less. The cost to produce the games (hosting, power, etc.) is based on western Europe costs. So is the price to get extra benefits.

Additionally, most of this site is free to the user. If I recall correctly, only about 5 of the more than 100 games require a membership to start, and NONE of them require membership to play.

I don't know. Maybe I should still go up to Enzo, explain that I really like riding in my friend's Lusso, and ask if I can get one for cheap because I have a job that doesn't pay well.

[PiotrP]

I see.
But please try to understand - is it better to get 5$ or get nothing?
Your explanation I can reverse - maybe you should hosting system on place with lower prices ? Or expect money for more games - not only 5 games?
Microsoft is most popular system because low prices and because _everybody_ have to pay.

I bought box game carcassone. I want play online with other players, but i can wait for others players who start game.
But if i can start game for 5$ (payed once), I will pay this 5$.
I know that hosting is expensive so maybe you should get money for other games too.
It is only wish thinking.
Ranking system was changed some time ago - so not only BGA club members can see ranking.
Maybe changing rules of paying is also nessesary.

I know that is isn't simple, but i give you suggestion that maybe one rule of paying is not enough.
Maybe it is good to give alternative options.

[Liallan]

I see.
But please try to understand - is it better to get 5$ or get nothing?
Your explanation I can reverse - maybe you should hosting system on place with lower prices ?

I don't think you're in a position to judge that. But in all fairness, I don't think anyone is in a position to judge what is or is not "cheap" for you either.

Microsoft is most popular system because low prices and because _everybody_ have to pay.

So isn't it nice that there are places out there online where you can play any of the games for free, and there's more of them out there. I've never seen anyone upset that they don't have to pay to play a game and are touting the one where they do have to play. Huh?

I also think the confusion is in the fact that no one is paying to play Carcassonne in particular. They are paying to support the site, so the money they are changing is not your fee for starting Carcassonne games. It's to support the site. You can play any of the games for free, and there are a small handful that you will not be able to start yourself but have to find another invitation, which is a small perk for supporting members. (And I think a much better way to make a perk for them than hiding ELO from non-paying members.) If that's the only game you want to play, then you have to decide whether paying to support the whole site is worth that one game for you.

And perhaps there are other ways to charge fees, and I see nothing wrong with suggestions as to what other things they could do. However, it has to be based on the overall membership, not on your personal finances and what you can afford. They also just got done opening up ELO for everyone and need to see how that affects subscriptions.

EDIT: I can't afford to buy the boxed game of Carcassonne, so you get to own the game and I don't. But I'm not expecting someone else to fix that problem for me.

[PiotrP]

Is it site for suggestions ? How I see it is place for Suggestions. So don't attack my seeing. I know that owners/providers of BGA will do what they want. But it is place for suggestions and I did it.

[Liallan]

Is it site for suggestions ? How I see it is place for Suggestions. So don't attack my seeing. I know that owners/providers of BGA will do what they want. But it is place for suggestions and I did it.

Yes, you did, and they can't allow you the privilege of posting your suggestions without allowing other people to do the same and comment on those suggestions. So are you suggesting that I should lose my privilege to respond? I did not suggest you didn't have the privilege of posting or offering suggestions, not by any means. If that was what I meant, that is what I would have said.

[demiurgsage]

I see a point in the views of topic starter. If someone wants only Carcassonne from BGA's premium games why should he pay for other games?
Also I agree that membership should cost different for different countries. While people in Canada earn more than $20 per hour on average, there are countries where it's hard to earn $2 per day. So your choice between not to be hungry and pay for premium is pretty easy.

[Andy_K]

I don't think there's anything much wrong with, in principle, allowing 'purchase' of an individual game on BGA. Or alternatively, allowing a subscription at a reduced rate, to an individual premium game only. Let's say $1 per month per premium game, or for $5 you get the whole lot. The actual numbers can be tweaked to whatever is deemed fair, but since so many people here are only interested in a very small subset of the available games, I think it would be wise to cater to this in some way.

As for the actual prices, BGA already offers a very generous service which the vast majority of users don't pay anything for, and charge relatively little for the existing premium membership. I don't agree with charging different prices based on the location of the user, that's far from 'fair'. There are plenty of poor people in rich countries.