VIP-status

[Finnix17]

-1

As others have said, it will help with the funding for the servers, But It's gonna create a division between players. VIP's are going to be cocky and treat normal players like they're not important an a "nobody", and it's going to make us normal players feel like we don't matter and isolated.

And it's not going to be fair on people like me who probably won't be able to afford it, ESPECIALLY it's a monthly payment.

[scaNIaCK]

After giving more thought to this I think that the term 'VIP' should probably not be used. Better to have something like 'Silver Supporter', 'Gold Supporter' and 'Platinum Supporter' depending on amount of donation made. Of course you need to give some reward but care needs to be taken in not making things too unbalanced. Things like queuing for slot time, afk time, testing opportunities, might be ok.

[StanceNation]

I love how when I make this exact suggestion no one likes it but when an admin does everybody loves it

[Dave]

I love how when I make this exact suggestion no one likes it but when an admin does everybody loves it

 

There's mixed opinions in regards to this mate, not everyone likes it I can assure you that. I'm in the middle with it.

[Guest]

I love how when I make this exact suggestion no one likes it but when an admin does everybody loves it

Did you post the exact same suggestion on before him or after?

There's mixed opinions in regards to this mate, not everyone likes it I can assure you that. I'm in the middle with it.

What if the vip purchase where at a higher price than 9$? Maybe something like 20-30?

[Dave]

What if the vip purchase where at a higher price than 9$? Maybe something like 20-30?

 

I'd straight out refuse to pay anything if it was a monthly reoccuring payment regardless of price, I honestly don't care how much I enjoy MP I'm not going to pay for something like that (for anything). I'd also refuse to pay for it if credit cards weren't accepted as well.

 

30GBP would be more than enough money to suffice per person for the developers as 30GBP converts to 41.47 Euros. I'm going to assume you meant US dollars, so 30USD converts to 27.34 Euros; that all said, if it was a pft.. a 4 to 6 month payment for that sort of price that would be not only a reasonable time slot given but also a reasonable amount of money for both parties involved. Not to mention it would definitely deter anyone purchasing whatever perks were given to these 'full VIPs' as spending that sort of money just to risk being banned is an absolute waste. 

 

If there aren't any perks that would be worth spending that sort of money on then what's happening now will just happen again if this system is implemented. Yeah, fair play donating money keeps the servers running but if I donated money right now, for example, I'd get jack s--t in return. If perks were given to those who did 'donate' AKA. purchased this VIP those perks could be viewed as a little thank you from the developers for giving them the money that we earn. I'd say if such a system was in place that you would see an increase in money being given to support the MP.

[StanceNation]

Did you post the exact same suggestion on before him or after?

What if the vip purchase where at a higher price than 9$? Maybe something like 20-30?

 Before about 1-2months ago

[Guest]

I like this idea! but if everyone buys it.. it won't be "vip" anymore as everyone will have it so no one will make any notice of it... but should still come

 

But why not make it only available to like a 100 players for each colour?

 

+1

[StanceNation]

In my opinion the perks should be expanded and it shouldn't be a monthly fee

[VincentM]

Mh. What I think is that players with this status, thinking they can ignore the rules and blaming other, 'non V.I.P's'. Otherwise, I don't think that many peopel buy since there are new expensive DLC's coming out soon.

 

about VIP rammers,

If they are rammers, they will be penalized with (removed VIP subscription, Longer Ban )

I mean, Penalty will be harder than the normal member !



what you think iReacheR

In my opion admins need to threads every user the same way.

[Flashylights]

€10 or €15 or €5 is month

And €20 or €25 a year

And €30 or €35 2 years

What about that ?

Like Microsoft do with Windows

[[ S.PLH ] Warrior]

please be realistic since we are not sure about v.i.p option yet 

we are thinking about it (well MWL4 is hehe) but nevertheless it would be hard to implement this feature in game

 

while we did had it at the old forum but since this is different board idk how hard this will be   

end if this board even support v.i.p option 

[Dave]

€10 or €15 or €5 is month

And €20 or €25 a year

And €30 or €35 2 years

What about that ?

 

35 Euros for 2 years? They might as well give the VIP status away for free if that price is chosen.

 

Look at it in terms of how the long the developers could actually rely on the money that would come in from this as opposed to trying to get more than what we're actually giving. I'm totally against monetizing the AFK option and nothing will be enough to make up for it; although it'll mean nothing in the large scale of things I'll lose complete respect for all of the developers if that is implemented. But the only way any of us could theorize a potential price for this would be confirmation of all of the perks that could be given to a user if they did make the purchase for such a thing, right now what has be proposed is barely worth anything as it stands;

 

Also I would like to suggest to divide VIP-status on two types: limited and full. 

Limited VIP-status

- Price: $5

- Duration of the privileges: 2 weeks;

- Time of AFK: 30 mins;

- /admins command (which shows info only about presence or absence of admins on a server);

- Personal «Welcome» message when VIP-player has been connected to a server;

- Colored nickname [?];

- Test server isn't available for this group.

Full VIP-status

- Price: $9;

- Duration of the privileges: 6 months;

- Time of AFK: unlimited;

- /admins command (which shows full list of all online admins);

- Personal «Welcome» message when VIP-player has been connected to a server;

- Colored nickname [?];

- Test server is fully available for this group. 

 

As with the monetization of the AFK ability, I'm also against monthly reoccurring payments as well. Entirely for personal reasons, however with that said with a monthly payment you will only get a minimal amount of money per person every month as opposed to if you go with what I had suggested in a previous post regarding one time payments that last 6 months, when it runs out a user would pay again if they choose to do so; with such a system you would be getting the maximum amount straight from the start which you could use to better improve the mod, servers etc. straight away rather than waiting for the next month where you'll get a tiny bit more money. 

 

Like I had said to another user;

 

30GBP would be more than enough money to suffice per person for the developers as 30GBP converts to 41.47 Euros. I'm going to assume you meant US dollars, so 30USD converts to 27.34 Euros; that all said, if it was a pft.. a 4 to 6 month payment for that sort of price that would be not only a reasonable time slot given but also a reasonable amount of money for both parties involved. Not to mention it would definitely deter anyone purchasing whatever perks were given to these 'full VIPs' as spending that sort of money just to risk being banned is an absolute waste. 

 

A system where you're getting that sort of money straight in rather than waiting with your hands outstretched for the next trickle of money coming your way you would be able to utilize all of that money that would come in per person straight off the bat. If the pricing I used in that last quote was chosen that's around 80 Euros (dependent on currency) per person every year if the 6 month time slot was used from your UK users. You would be getting the best of both options.

 

You might be thinking to yourself, but surely that's far too high a price to be paying for this? With all due respect, in my opinion it would be almost the perfect pricing simply because a 'troll' would never pay that sort of money just to risk being banned unless they were an absolute dunce. While we're on the subject of 'trolls' lets go back to a previous comment that MaxOMax posted;

 

about VIP rammers,

If they are rammers, they will be penalized with (removed VIP subscription, Longer Ban )

I mean, Penalty will be harder than the normal member !

 

I believe the appropriate way to deal with those who may be 'VIPs' who would continue to break rules is by highlighting at the very beginning before someone has even purchased the service that if they are found to have broken the rules that they risk having more severe punishments put towards them. Now, I'm not proposing that if a 'VIP' user breaks a simple rule like overtaking at EP they get permanently banned, no. As this is peoples well earned money that they would be giving to you with good intentions; for the most part the majority of us will do that, I'm saying that a reasonable set period of time for each rule would be revised for those that would be VIP to intensity the consequences for breaking any rule once they become VIP. If these times are chosen they must be used with every situation involving a 'VIP' user, I've saw a few admins banning people willy nilly for varying lengths of time; that couldn't happen with these users.

 

Not only would this ensure if anyone bought it that they wouldn't break any rules, because lets face it man.. who's going to throw away £40-80, right? But it would most definitely reduce those posts in the ban appeals section which will inevitably come declaring that the MP devs have 'stolen' money from them because they've been permanently banned, threatening legal actions or something along those lines. If their status is taken away from them that's essentially legal theft, so for that reason I suggest not being this extreme in regards to intensifying the punishments.

 

I'd invite someone who would have an 'official' input on how this system would be implemented to offer a bit more in regards to what this type of status would actually give a user access to, like I mentioned earlier what has been proposed already; some of it is good but it wouldn't be enough to warrant those sort of prices. The more that's available the better quality of feedback you would get from us users.

[Alask]

Due to some laws this is impossible for now.

[[ S.PLH ] Warrior]

Due to some laws this is impossible for now.

 

what kinda laws ? 

 

but how come that we did have vip status on the old forum ? is er something changed ? 

[Dave]

what kinda laws ? 

 

but how come that we did have vip status on the old forum ? is er something changed ? 

 

I think what Alask may be referring to is profiting off another's work, which infringes on copyright law - to an extent.

 

This is a slight sub section in which copyright law would come into effect. I'm not entirely sure how the VIP status worked on the old forum, but if the developers never got a cease and desist posted to them from SCS it would most likely be due to the fact the status was concerning forum benefits, not something that would directly effect the game - which is developed by SCS. As the MP developers have not exactly built the MP mod from the ground up (relying on SCS to create map etc.) this would mean that they would be piggy backing off SCS's work in regards to ETS2.

 

This was in the back of my mind for a few weeks but it only surfaced after Alask brought that up. 

[Movvy]

yeah that might actualy be a issue.once you start asking monney for what essentialy is kinda software of SCS you can get in a copyright issues,

im not too sure to be honnest i think if you would like too implent this id talk with a legale advisor maybe and let him give hes opinion..(cheaper then a lawsuite with SCS )

[[ S.PLH ] Warrior]

I think what Alask may be referring to is profiting off another's work, which infringes on copyright law - to an extent.

 

This is a slight sub section in which copyright law would come into effect. I'm not entirely sure how the VIP status worked on the old forum, but if the developers never got a cease and desist posted to them from SCS it would most likely be due to the fact the status was concerning forum benefits, not something that would directly effect the game - which is developed by SCS. As the MP developers have not exactly built the MP mod from the ground up (relying on SCS to create map etc.) this would mean that they would be piggy backing off SCS's work in regards to ETS2.

 

This was in the back of my mind for a few weeks but it only surfaced after Alask brought that up. 

 

yeah it was a only a forum status 

[Darth Wazawai]

Due to some laws this is impossible for now.

Not impossible, just has to be worded right...

Example:

 

By registering for VIP status you agree on said amount selected for the selected timeframe. All funds are nonrefundable and you may cancel your subscription at anytime, in the even of a permanent ban your money will not be refunded.

During said time you will be given various permissions and/or abilities on the forums and/or in game based on what you selected.

For in-game features:

• You're paying for a slot (service) on a dedicated server, not the content on the server.
• You're not guaranteed the ability to get on the dedicated server during peak times.
• If the dedicated VIP server is full your in game benefits are able to be used on the non VIP server(s)

Server selection would need to be placed after login however. But that has great benefits beyond VIP and should be implemented even if VIP is not.

 

Edit: also if scs wants to be a pain all devs have to do is prove all costs are going to developing the mod and server costs. Any left over are sitting in a account not touched. This way scs can't claim they are making money on it. Unless the content on the server is purely their code and no scs content than scs can't touch them as it's not their stuff, their stuff is legally obtained threw users steam accounts.

Edited March 18, 2015 by Egg-Roll

[Dave]

Example:

 

By registering for VIP status you agree on said amount selected for the selected timeframe. All funds are nonrefundable and you may cancel your subscription at anytime, in the even of a permanent ban your money will not be refunded.

During said time you will be given various permissions and/or abilities on the forums and/or in game based on what you selected.

For in-game features:

• You're paying for a slot (service) on a dedicated server, not the content on the server.
• You're not guaranteed the ability to get on the dedicated server during peak times.
• If the dedicated VIP server is full your in game benefits are able to be used on the non VIP server(s)

Server selection would need to be placed after login however. But that has great benefits beyond VIP and should be implemented even if VIP is not.

 

Edit: also if scs wants to be a pain all devs have to do is prove all costs are going to developing the mod and server costs. Any left over are sitting in a account not touched. This way scs can't claim they are making money on it. Unless the content on the server is purely their code and no scs content than scs can't touch them as it's not their stuff, their stuff is legally obtained threw users steam accounts.

 

You're one of the initiated then when it comes to contracts, eh? haha. I know what you're trying to do by choosing the right words but that wouldn't be enough. MP is entirely dependent on the base game which is always going to be owned by SCS no matter what way we try to look at this - without that key ingredient the MP wouldn't exist at all. If the mod was built literally from scratch without using any sort of file that SCS builds the game from, it would be possible to use that as a legal loophole but this would involve creating an entirely different entity from the base game and I'm pretty sure with how stretched they are already that isn't going to be a feasible strategy. 

 

It doesn't matter how much money it costs to run the MP mod, when you get a cease and desist you're legally being forced to shut down everything regardless. I've read one before and I think as long as you don't make any money off another companies product a person is in the green. But as soon as people are being charged. I'm not entirely sure being able to prove that the funds that would come in from the payments for this service would be enough to get them off their backs either, like I mentioned any money that's made as soon as that lines crossed it's bordering copyright infringement territory. There's no problem with such a thing if it's regarding a forum or if it's to help fund running the servers as they are completely independent from SCS and have absolutely nothing to do with them.

 

That said, I do think paying able to 'reserve', so to speak, a slot on the server could be one such benefit which wouldn't actually cause any bickering in terms of a cease and desist as I said if it's related to something that is entirely independent from SCS and their product ETS2 then I would say that it would be possible to add that to the list of benefits a user could get from such a service. I'm still entirely against this, but another such benefit could be.. the AFK option  ... for the exact same reasons as reserving a slot. I would say a user being able to their own personal mod added to the MP is another one? But, the price would have to be pretty high in order to serve as a natural filtering system in order to help alleviate the demand for such a thing. I'm still unsure about that one though. I'm against money not being refunded if a user is issued a permanent ban though, that's just legal theft and downright sly, if anything that is the only scenario where a person should have the right to have their money refunded for this.

[Darth Wazawai]

Lol I hate contracts

But seeing as the servers source code is unavailable to public eyes all we can do is speculate.

For one minute let's assume all code on the server is self made. Now the server is not hosting any scs content, the application to get on to the VIP server is the same as normal ones. The game requires the users scs file via the downloaded program. You could argue about that but the file manipulating the base file was free.

I'm about to fall asleep in the bus so best if I put my phone away before I dip it

[Movvy]

You're one of the initiated then when it comes to contracts, eh? haha. I know what you're trying to do by choosing the right words but that wouldn't be enough. MP is entirely dependent on the base game which is always going to be owned by SCS no matter what way we try to look at this - without that key ingredient the MP wouldn't exist at all. If the mod was built literally from scratch without using any sort of file that SCS builds the game from, it would be possible to use that as a legal loophole but this would involve creating an entirely different entity from the base game and I'm pretty sure with how stretched they are already that isn't going to be a feasible strategy. 

 

another problem here is that i think your violating copyright allready just by copying another game(ets2) im sure that same with music and cars,when 2 games are too simelare you can sue them for copying your  your product basicly

[Master12]

another problem here is that i think your violating copyright allready just by copying another game(ets2) im sure that same with music and cars,when 2 games are too simelare you can sue them for copying your your product basicly

Actually SCS is fully aware of this community and I'm almost sure that they communicate among the development of the game.

Sorry for bringing this back up, but I'm not sure if we could do it if we have scs' granted permission?

[zyprexia]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe ETS2MP is a plugin for ETS2 and as far I've seen, ETS2MP doesn't alter or change any game assets which are copyrighted by SCS. 

Most of the options have actually very little to do with the game itself. They're mostly server-sided features. A personal welcome message or a longer AFK time is something that needs to be implemented on the server only.

As long the VIP status doesn't change any SCS owned assets you should be fine. SCS can't legally object to any paid addon or plugin that doesn't contain any SCS assets. For instance, when such a feature would be implemented, a winter mod is no longer an option as that mod contains (modified) assets owned by SCS as part of the ETS2MP distribution. 

 

Note, that I'm not saying that ets2mp approved mods aren't possible anymore. You are only prohibited to distribute them with a paid subscription. A ets2mp winter mod could be uploaded to the ets2mp website for separate download.

 

I don't think an unlimited AFK is wise. I think 60 minutes is more than enough. But I would only introduce one type of VIP status.

Just make it 1 euro per month or 10 euro (paid upfront) per year (get 2 months 'free'). 

 

Another thing that has to be considered how the subscription is dealing with the upcoming ATS release. Do you need also a separate VIP subscription for ATS? Do you get a extra 25% discount if you get both subscriptions?

[StanceNation]

it will be less enticing if you have to pay for a period of time. There should be different teirs, the most expensive being 40$, forever.