Board Game Arena

I, for one, am happy to pay for premium. I almost never play real time, and seldom play with people I do not know; most of the time I play in games with my far-flung or busy friends, no time limit asynch.
So why do I pay for premium, when I am not getting anything for it? Because I am getting enough from the free version (5 to 30 minutes of enjoyment, taking my turns every day, depending on how busy my friends are) that I OUGHT to be paying for it. That much fun is worth 30 (now 36) bucks a year. Back when I was poor, I would have been glad they did this for free, and thrown a once-a-year what I could afford at them. Now that, as the OP said, "it does not really put a dent in my budget," I am happy to pay a bit, both for the joy I take in it, and to cover the costs of a few people who cannot afford it. But if you do not get 10 cents worth of enjoyment from it every day, then yeah, you should not pay for it.

Thanks, BGA. I am so glad you are doing this all!

-Rick

I agree. It's cool that a good proportion of the functionality here is offered for free, but if every single player chose to be non-premium, there would probably come a point where BGA couldn't exist. So I pay for premium because I'd like to see them continue to be around. I also like being able to start premium games - among my friends, I play more than anyone else, and they know I have premium, so I can start the games for anything they want to play as well. I definitely feel I get the value for the subscription price, so I will pay it. But certainly, if you're looking for something else, if you're ok to enjoy BGA while it lasts and won't be too bothered if it disappears, then in that scenario, I probably wouldn't support either. I have paid for other gaming service subscriptions in my time, and eventually decided to stop supporting those, and maybe a point will come where I no longer see the value in this one either. And if you don't, then you're probably making the right call in not paying for it.

I am happy to pay for premium if nothing else to promote the hobby. That being said, the guys running the show here per say are very peculiar and run the site very militant like. You cross them in some weird way you are punished like a child but others will do something clearly detrimental to the site and it is ignored. You kind of have to treat this place like work, keep your mouth shut and you are good. I love board games so I stay.

90%+ of people like you just resubscribe quietly after claiming "I will never be premium again".

Game companies know because they have access to all the numbers.

Dogs that bark usually do not bite.

Post here the date of the end of your subscription and come back to this thread one year and one day after that.

Have a nice day.

I came back to this thread to apologize to leadership:
Je suis sincèrement désolé d'avoir confondu l'offre premium avec la capacité de jouer en temps réel. J'ai appris par l'entremise de la communauté et reconnais maintenant la différence.

To be clear: I was NOT asked to apologize by anyone, nor woud I have obliged them, nor was I ever sanctioned on BGA aside from losing karma for late play on games, or falling asleep on them when I should have been in bed. I just recognize I was wrong in my interpretation of the premium offer.

Also being clear, my disappointment with Real-Time matchmaking is ongoing, I do think there is a lack from leadership in that respect: be it effective action (yes, it's a complex issue!), interest (also known as prioritization and decision-making), or communication with players (customer relations). I read the fantastic question "What positive changes would you have them make?" and this is why I opened this other thread to try and figure this out: https://boardgamearena.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=30498 (How can BGA improve Real-Time matchmaking?)

The remainder of this thread should be in the lines of "I like/dislike variety/hotness/other reason, so I like/dislike premium". That is less relevant to me, and to the reason this thread exists.

Cheers,

me

PS: "Post here the date of the end of your subscription and come back to this thread one year and one day after that." Do it yourself, track me if it interests you. You don't know my situation or myself, and diminish the argument by not addressing it. But that's common practice, I'll grant you that. I'll try not to come back to this thread as I've exhausted its potential, but if I do, I'll dutifully accept your snickering

I'm back, to whoever lo*v*ers were following
Let's do some non-supportive gaming until I see if anything's changed..

It hasn't. You can leave again.

Unfortunately, it's almost true. And I left again. * has been very good for real-time play.
Now, i see there's a "see all available tables" tab, which is an improvement towards getting to play in real time, saving a thousand clicks

*Moderator edit: please do not specifically name other gaming platforms

Perduicitte wrote: ↑28 September 2025, 10:32 Now, i see there's a "see all available tables" tab, which is an improvement towards getting to play in real time, saving a thousand clicks.

As far as I remember, this tab was already there for years.

A newer feature you might not know of, is the subscription (bell) for less popular games played in real-time. Just go to the game page, click on Play and Real-time and the bell shows up. Click it for subscribing. Then If anyone opens a real-time table in that game, you will get a toaster notification - and vice versa. For unsubscribing, just click the bell again.

That's a useful feature too, thanks!