Interested in more cool features?

[Jonas]

We would like to add some more advanced features for the online play but we woudn't be able to add much without charging a small fee monthly.

Would you pay a montly fee for a Upgraded membership status (call it say Gold member...no not gold finger!).

And if so, what type of features would you like to see added to it?

Some ideas might be: (feel free to add your own thoughts here)

Exclusive rooms characters or fooms for members only.
Advanced tourney features like Auto seating and our own league system and ladder rooms.
Extensive personal stats like win/lose trends. Rateing chart over time, etc.
Your own custom word filter ( block words that the main filter doesn't)

Any thoughts would be great,
Jonas

[omni_555]

...Not too fond of the idea of introducing "exclusive" clubs on a pay basis... I would like to see some of the features you mentioned, but to have them at the expense of excluding part of the membership I would not agree with. If SCE needs more money to make certain features available, then conduct a poll of the membership to see what increase in the game license fee they would be willing to accept. I would see this as a one-time thing, tho. As far as paying a monthly fee, I am afraid that I would have to say that I for one would not become a "gold member", as much as I like this site. Nothing against SCE, but I have enough "dribs and drabs" draining on my monthly income that I would not relish another monthly deduction from my pitiful paycheck.

Before anyone comes back with the "cheapo" accusation, let me say that if there were NO other games out there vieing for my attention (and bucks!) I MAY feel differently about this. However, as it stands right now, I do not, as a matter of principle, participate in any gaming sites that either require monthly fees for membership or take monthly fees to elevate a select few to some sort of "elite" status.

So, Jonas, for MY 2 cents worth (would the monthly fee be more than that? ) I would welcome any improvements and/or features that SCE would like to add to the games here, but if there is going to be a fee charged, I would like the opportunity to decide in advance if it is worth my paying an additional one-time fee as an overall upgrade to membership that ALL members would be either obligated to pay, or else none.

But on the whole, great game site! Keep up the good work, and keep it open to as many as possible for as long as possible!

[Xuzika]

Yes, I would pay. and why not, to have a better service, plus, and attractive innovations, such as the one that you describe, after all it is this that we are whole asking, already the some time, but an exists however, always and when, be not a very high value, and be a tax plane equal for all the ones that choose for paying without differences like you already knows gold diamond or platinum, only one that you can choose for pay annual or monthly it doesn't matter. I believe that the great majority would be willing to pay.

[SuicideNil]

Yes, I would pay. and why not, to have a better service, plus, and attractive innovations, such as the one that you describe, after all it is this that we are whole asking, already the some time, but an exists however, always and when, be not a very high value, and be a tax plane equal for all the ones that choose for paying without differences like you already knows gold diamond or platinum, only one that you can choose for pay annual or monthly it doesn't matter. I believe that the great majority would be willing to pay.

[spadelover]

Yes, I would absolutely pay if it was a cool feature. Especially the ability to add my own avatar!
Yes, I would absolutely pay if it was a cool feature. Especially the ability to add my own avatar!

[spadelover]

Sorry didn't mean to post that twice. Don't know how that happened!

[SuicideNil]

Hi,

It will be very hard to hardwood to make non-member believe that they not get screwed by buying a license. They will know that if they want the " real deal " they will have to pay a license + monthly fees.. Before instauring a " Gold membership " HW should fix others things ask by the players for years now. I mean, there is lots of thing who can be improve in HW spades and can contribute to sell more licenses. I am wondering why HW is thinking to make people pay for an " upgraded online experience.. Or maybe, it was a part of the plan... Wait for improvements till people pay?? I really wish it's not the case...

This gold membership will, again, separate players and will create an " Virtual elite " in hardwood. People who can pay and people who dont. What will happend if you regular P pay a Gold membership and you not.. You will lose this P. He will certainly not restrain himself to play in a " member " league when he pay for it. I am wondering... what will happend to the game upgrade. Do those upgrades will be " reserve " to the Gold membership; Do the member will have an upgrade different then the people who dont buy a " Gold membership ". And what about the league play; Does it mean that people who will pay will have great tour, well organised and the non-member will have crap??..


I think HW should improve their spades game : reduce cheating, tussle in the lobby, news rooms, improve league system and ACT against people who have bad behavior ( maybe if you are a member, you will not have this kind of problem.. they will send the trouble maker in the non-member room ) before lauching an idea of a gold membership... In my opinion, if HW need some money they should put their efforts on attracting new players instead of charging people who are already there. But to do so, they had to improve the product... or maybe.. it's more easier to create " cool features " and charge monthly fees then improve the game...

Yes, I would pay. and why not, to have a better service, plus, and attractive innovations, such as the one that you describe, after all it is this that we are whole asking, already the some time, but an exists however, always and when, be not a very high value, and be a tax plane equal for all the ones that choose for paying without differences like you already knows gold diamond or platinum, only one that you can choose for pay annual or monthly it doesn't matter. I believe that the great majority would be willing to pay.

[TheWeakestLink]

I'm inclined to agree with omni and Suicide on this one. However, that being said, how about you have a try before you buy scheme in that you could have Gold membership for a month free and after that, it gets cancelled unless you pay for it. At least that way, players would see exactly what they would be paying for.

I still prefer the extra money going on the game purchase price though. At the moment, the charge is extremely good value for what you get anyway so I don't think that an extra, say $10, on the price would be too much. Not that I have money to throw around, of course! lol

BTW, been asking for a custard pie foom since forever. When are we going to get it? (Begging here now)

Jules

[SPOOKY TOOTH]

Sorry Doods.........

But I dont think this pig will fly no matter how hard u kick it.

Theres already a 'sense' of elitism prevailing among th Leagues. Any additional 'perks' given to a selected few who wish and are able to purchase them will only further broaden this 'gap' or sense of elitism.

I personally see no need of further improvements along th lines that u suggest. Others, yes, but an added filter? That may b good for peeps that have children, but they're SUPPOSED 2 b 13 to play here anyhow and MOST kids have already heard all that and more at school, TV and th movies.

Hell, from what I have observed, 90 % of th peeps registered to HW dont even know this Discussion Board is here!

I dunno Doods. I truly appreciate the efforts of th SCE Staff to improve this site but how do u improve perfection?

Now I WOULD b interested if u could set up an IM alert.

[MizzzQ]

There is no way in the world I would pay and most the people I play with wouldnt pay either I think. No offense Jonas but a lot us come to actually play spades. I play most all games in gnomes, and let me tell ya, there are a lot of players beyond fed up with your rating system in singles. We have been told that a new rating system was going to happen, and it still hasnt. You are asking about another filter and changing the stats platform when there are other important issues that need addressed.

There are a lot of game sites and new ones always around the corner. I came here when the site I used to play on, closed its door. Only around 10% (and thats being generous) came here because you had to pay to get the software. I think that an additional monthly fee to be "gold status" would have made that 10% into 1%. Omni you pointed out a huge fact and that is that money is tight for most of us and it would cause some hard feelings, watching your friends going to play in a room, that you just dont have the money to belong to a paying game site on the internet. Its not el cheapo Omni to have to balance a budget and as you said there are a lot of free sites out there without fees to be an elite member.

This is a good site no doubt about that. Jonus your team has a lot to be proud of this site is classy. Now please talk about when your going to fix the rating system and not additional filters. LOL if you fix the rating that may sway some of us. Happy Thanksgiving everyone I hope you all have a wonderful day and a lot of good food to eat..... Q

[DoUKnOw]

It would be one thing for a one time fee. But to charge for a monthly service wouldn't be worth it. There is way to many bugs in the system as it is now. There is a lot of lagg booting cheating. There is to much favortism between the ranks of administration. To much of freedom already taken away we have already lost our freedom of speech. When it comes right down to it other then adding a few things what are we really here for any ways To Play Spades. Granted Hardwood is a great site to play at. It is the reason the people purchased to play there to begin with. Now for us to have the extras a one time fee for those who wants it sure I don't see a problem there. But a monthly fee count me out.

[USA_Justice]

As with any new feature, it will appeal to some and not to others. And, as we have discussed with new features before, you can add them as long as it doesn't destroy the integrity of the current features/game that some enjoy now. Some good points have been raised about the possibility of this happening (HW becoming not enjoyable). Will it? I have no idea.

I do know that paying monthy for a game is not my first choice. As with all things, it comes down to value. If the features versus cost was of value to me, it might work. However, I don't want the new characters/fooms near as much as I want, say, a way to reduce cheating (had to plug that somewhere).

The problem I see is that Hardwood is too small now. If you are trying to increase the membership many people would not participate in a monthly fee. Some wouldn't pay or join once they found out there was an option to pay monthly. People would ask the questions mentioned earlier, "What am i missing by not paying... How come i always lose to 'gold' members?" It quite possible would get labled as a sight for the rich. The graphics and features attract some people, but to most, it's all about cold, hard cash.

I fall under the same group as most, I'd much rather make a one-time purchase. I would be much more likely to join "Gold" if it could be a one-time deal.

My thoughts are that I would have to see what features were offered to make a final decision, but as long as I could play without a monthly fee, I'm inclined to believe I wouldn't sign a contract to play. Even yet, I'm not sure Krista (my wife) would let me. Oh, and yeah, I wear the pants in my family (grunt).

[SuicideNil]

Hello USA,

Can you tell us some of the others spades site you are talking about. i am willing to take a look at it ... And i agree without when you say that people wont pay if they are not forced. As you surely noticed, People who wrote reply in this topic ask for game improvements and not for " gold membership " and it's natural. Because, after all and like you said, you are in HW for cards.. the graphics and the rest are optional... And quite frankly.. i am afraid that gold " membership " will allow people to " buy " quality playtime because; if they pay.. they wont accept cheating and others stuff... or they will???


So, the playitme you will have in a non-member room will be spoiled by the peoples and the problems who are not desire in the " member " room. It will create 2 class of players and 2 class of playtime and ,of course, people who wont pay the " membership " will see that as a tentative to make " hard cold cash " and i don't think we can blame them for thinking that way...

As with any new feature, it will appeal to some and not to others. And, as we have discussed with new features before, you can add them as long as it doesn't destroy the integrity of the current features/game that some enjoy now. Some good points have been raised about the possibility of this happening (HW becoming not enjoyable). Will it? I have no idea.

I do know that paying monthy for a game is not my first choice. As with all things, it comes down to value. If the features versus cost was of value to me, it might work. However, I don't want the new characters/fooms near as much as I want, say, a way to reduce cheating (had to plug that somewhere).

The problem I see is that Hardwood is too small now. If you are trying to increase the membership many people would not participate in a monthly fee. Some wouldn't pay or join once they found out there was an option to pay monthly. People would ask the questions mentioned earlier, "What am i missing by not paying... How come i always lose to 'gold' members?" It quite possible would get labled as a sight for the rich. The graphics and features attract some people, but to most, it's all about cold, hard cash.

I fall under the same group as most, I'd much rather make a one-time purchase. I would be much more likely to join "Gold" if it could be a one-time deal.

My thoughts are that I would have to see what features were offered to make a final decision, but as long as I could play without a monthly fee, I'm inclined to believe I wouldn't sign a contract to play. Even yet, I'm not sure Krista (my wife) would let me. Oh, and yeah, I wear the pants in my family (grunt).

[mickodie]

Some ideas might be: (feel free to add your own thoughts here)

Exclusive rooms characters or fooms for members only.
Advanced tourney features like Auto seating and our own league system and ladder rooms.
Extensive personal stats like win/lose trends. Rateing chart over time, etc.
Your own custom word filter ( block words that the main filter doesn't)

Any thoughts would be great,

It's a great idea Jonas! Case ladder has lots of people who pay for Gold, Platinum and Diamond membership. Not sure people understand how it would work though. I assume the fees would allow all members to participate in our own tourney system--with the paying members funding it. (I just paid for platinum --wonder if I can get money back ) Come on guys and gals -- you can come up with another ten bucks a month--I bet ya put more than that into the lotto.

[SuicideNil]

Hi,

Why people should pay more for a gold membership when they are so many thing to fix in HW spades already. Very few peoples will pay because what they want is a good place where they can play spades; they dont want to hear something about gold membership. For years, players ask for change ( cheating, quitting stuff ,league processing, rating system, bad behavior etc ) and nothing happend. If those change happend but only if you pay that membership; lots of people will simply feel screwed about it and will leave HW to play spades where it's free. Lots of site offer quality playtime and i wonders why license owner have to pay more ( in fact 2 time ) to see inprovement in HW. They have already pay there license.. why they should pay more.. What will be the next step??? Add the fact, that what HW need is an evolution if his game.. they need to reach new markets and make people buy license.. Right now, there is so much to fix in hardwood that i doubt that players will pay more...

Add the fact that lots of people have a limited budget. Maybe some people have extras money to spend but some others ( who have family ) don't. So what will happend, we will build an hardwood for the people who have money and another hardwood where people don't. This membership is a dangerous thing to do and it could harm HW much harder they some peoples think. A spades site is popular by the number of the players who play there. Imagine what will happend if people start to desert HW because the room where non-member play is full of cheating, tussle and others stuff... You are right... HW will slowly die but will die in the long term...

Some ideas might be: (feel free to add your own thoughts here)

Exclusive rooms characters or fooms for members only.
Advanced tourney features like Auto seating and our own league system and ladder rooms.
Extensive personal stats like win/lose trends. Rateing chart over time, etc.
Your own custom word filter ( block words that the main filter doesn't)

Any thoughts would be great,

It's a great idea Jonas! Case ladder has lots of people who pay for Gold, Platinum and Diamond membership. Not sure people understand how it would work though. I assume the fees would allow all members to participate in our own tourney system--with the paying members funding it. (I just paid for platinum --wonder if I can get money back ) Come on guys and gals -- you can come up with another ten bucks a month--I bet ya put more than that into the lotto.