Subscriptions and the future of SC4

[FrankU]

For some time I asked myself how the bills of this site are paid.

Sure, there is a lot of ads on the site. Does this mean the bills are paid by advertisements? Is it enough? Is it so much that the administrators live in wealth and all have their own Mayor's House Rewards set up in their hometowns? Or do they work extra hours every week to meet the demands of providers and telecom companies?
I never knew.

Now Dedgren wrote his elaborate post and made some things clear.
In the past I have donated some money already, because it seemed appropriate. I like the concept of subscriptions though. I think it is a good means to keep members together.

Dependencies are a recurring subject of discussion. There is one kind of dependecy that I'd like to expell: the dependence on advertisements or other external parties.

So subscription looks like a good answer to that.

I have only one question. I don't really like open end contracts. I would like to subscribe for one year and get a reminder after 11 months wether I like to extend my subscription or not and if I say no or do not answer to this question the membership is ended. Is that possible? Or is that exactly what you have set up already and am I just too stupid to see it?
I don't know what future brings. I break my leg, get divorced or killed in a car crash... I don't want my heirs to be part if this community against their will. I even may forget about the membership, the site and the game, but still keep paying my membership. Though not really conceivable it still may be possible.

Regards,
FrankU

[catty]

You can subscribe each month for 1.1€ or for the year its 12€ you can renew it automatically or only renew it when you want it or you can do what I do and renew whenever you have some spare cash so I'm good till October 2012

[jmyers2043]

I would like to subscribe for one year and get a reminder after 11 months wether I like to extend my subscription or not and if I say no or do not answer to this question the membership is ended. Is that possible?

The subscription is set up through paypal as an automatic debit from your account into the SC4D account. I think all you would need to do is to undo or cancel the subscription at paypal and they'll simply stop the money transfers.

A paypal rep may be able to help you with the procedure as I'm not totally sure of the cancellation process.

With regards to notification? Well, if I were the SC4D treasurer ( I'm not by the way ) I'd prefer that you manage your own funds. I think that would add a lot of work and time to the job which is done voluntarily.


- Jim

[jeronij]

Hello to all,

I think a good point is raised here, and just to clarify a bit the situation I have attached a pic where you can see how to set your subscription. If you leave the check, the subscription will be automatically renewed evey year. If you uncheck the box, the subscription wont be renewed. I dont think that Paypal sends a reminder when a subscription is to be renewed, but I think they send it when is going to end.

Also, if someone does not like the automatic subscriptions, or does not like Paypal, or wishes to donate in another way, you can simply send me a PM and we will find a solution

Currently the subscriptions do not offer much more than a few extra features, and no ads, but it is the firm intention of the SC4D staff to extend those extra features, and they could include other extras which are not part of the forums or the LEX, like a @sc4devotion.com  email account, perhaps some free hard disk space in the cloud to host your SC4D pictures, perhaps a gallery to show your best pictures... besides, of course, other extra forums features. Your suggestions are also welcome. Once this is totally decided, we will inform about it. As the new features or changes are implemented, they will be automatically assigned to the subscribers accounts.

I want also point that I find really annoying and sad that some members of our community have reacted in a somehow "energic" way, and are loudly complaining about the changes made in our forums. The changes are onlly cosmetic, and not a single member has lost not a single way to participate in the forums and in all the sections of the site. The changes are in fact a call to the members of our comunity to recall them that a bit of help and support would be really welcome to help keep this site and make it better every day.

I really appreciate all the members who have subscribed so far, what,as I understand it, is not done to remove the ads or recover the abbility to upload an avatar, but to support a site that they like and that form part of their lives 

[FrankU]

There is no such thing as a free lunch. We all should know that by now.
Things that are offered free are either a way to attract your attention in order to let you pay later or are given away by someone who is going to be broke soon.

The site is not free. I understand that. That's why I agree with your subcription plan. I will subscribe.

I had only one worry: either I forget to stop paying when I have no interest anymore or I forget to advance my payment when I do stay interested. That's why I thought it might be nice to get a warning when the year is almost over. Couldn't that be some kind of scripting thingy? It would indeed be a tedious job keeping track by "hand".

You know what? I just subscribe now. When the year is over and I forget to pay another € 12,- I probably will see advertisements popping up everywhere.... Meaning: Paypaltime!

[jigsaw]

although im more of a lurker, and RL doesnt permit me to spend lots of time in here, the messages received yesterday were a wakeup call to me. this site has given me so much to make my game better it's the least i could do.

if you think about all the advice from the forums, help, tips, tricks and discoveries that have been made, and the content in the LEX a subscription is very little, very little.

thanks again to the team that make this place a reality.

[rooker1]

If you go to your Profile/Actions/Paid Subscriptions you can see when your Subscription starts and finishes.

Robin 

[gritt81]

I think this thread needed a bump.  I know its been sometime since someone posted here, but I think this is important.  For yrs I have been coming to this site to download stuff, have never really contibuted to this site, and was on my way to play my game with the new goods I downloaded.  But for some reason I never really considered the cost of running this website.  That is until I read Dedgrens' post.  So, Jeronij, I wanted to thank you for fitting my bill these last couple of yrs, and apologize for not doing something about it earlier. 

[catty]

On behalf of the site, thank you gritt81 not only for subscribing, but for also taking the time to post.



-catty (Global Moderator)

[M4346]

Tonight I sit here with a sense of pride and satisfaction last experienced when I clicked the donate button and a couple of weeks later received by SC4LEX disc from Europe thousands of kilometers away.

I was a student then and, in part, really wanted to get my hands on the Petronas Towers. I also, however, wanted to make a contribution to ensuring that this platform remains available. Of course, both those motivations are entirely selfish: I enjoy the interaction and having access to an archive of amazing custom content - new and old.

I decided to become a subscriber again tonight (and was amazed at the speed at which it was processed!  ) to ensure that I rest assured that this forum, this exchange and this community will be available the next time real life decides to drag me away from the game and community for months, nay, years on end.

Also to ensure I have access to the best tips, tricks, tutorials and showcases on the interwebs (which I have been pouring over slavishly and religiously in recent days to get back into the swing of things with SC4)!

If I think of the countless hours poured into the creation of custom content - from the widely loved, admired and appreciated CAM to every single BAT, LOT, MOD and other addition to the game - the €12.00 annual / €1.10 monthly subscription seems negligible.

If we had to quantify the hours of each contributor to this community (whether in BATs, LOTs, MODs, moderating or administrating) and put a monetary value to it at the federal minimum wage in the United States, which is $7.25 per hour, we'd need the fortune of a small (developed  ) country to pay it off! 

Thankfully for us the currency of contributors here on SC4D is love, passion and dedication 

The cost of ensuring a community platform like this exists where they can share their work with other passionate and dedicated members, however, comes with a € sign in front of it though and I'll gladly chip in my Randelas (the new South African Rand notes with Nelson Mandela's face on them -> linkie!  ) to

I had to steal this from callagrafx's signature and I'm pretty sure Mandela would support his face being put to good use in this freedom struggle too

Jokes aside, and in conclusion, I firmly believe that SC4 is here to stay, and it is reinforced every time EA tries to create a spin off and cheap imitation as we see people flock back to the game, and more importantly, to the community and custom content that made and continues to make it great.

Let's ensure that the "lost sheep" (like me) have a warm and welcome place to come home to, because this game is only as good as the community that has made it better and continues to do so

Thank you very much to everyone, past and present, who contributed to and who continue contributing to the game, and to this SC4 community - the home for the serious player!

I urge everyone to subscribe, if only to ensure you have a place to readily find much-needed dependencies and the best SC4 custom content (which you can download with peace of mind knowing it complies with the highest standards, is created with the best methods, and has readmes and other bits and bobs required  )

M

PS. Sorry for reviving an old thread, but I felt the need to get this off my chest 

[Swordmaster]

Thanks for posting this Marius, it makes a great read and I subscribe (pun) to every word of it.

It's been great to see you coming back with a bang!


Cheers
Willy

[mike3775]

I will admit, I was amazed at how fast it went through as well.  Whatever system this site is using is awesome, no sooner then I had come back here from the paypal site after paying, it already had the subscriber icon on my profile and the special features were viewable.

Kinda bummed their are no DVD's, but know what, if they become available again sometime, I will donate again as well, this place deserves it

[FrankU]

I will admit, I was amazed at how fast it went through as well.  Whatever system this site is using is awesome, no sooner then I had come back here from the paypal site after paying, it already had the subscriber icon on my profile and the special features were viewable.

Yup. Me too.
I considered: I paid about € 10,-- for the game. Six, or is it already seven? years ago. So a subscription now and then doesn't make me a big spender on games. And otherwise I completely agree with Marius' elaborate post.

[mave94]

Those were the same reasons why I am a subscriber since a few weeks. I didn't know if it was possible for me to make a donation, because I don't have a credit card. Luckily I could connect my bank account to a PayPal account and make a donation. After that it was fairly easy to make a donation. With two clicks the payment was made! It's easy and fast and you can see your paid subscriptions.

It would be said if all the content, and the much effort punt into the projects of the members, would get lost. On top that, this is such a great community, exactly what M said: "Thankfully for us the currency of contributors here on SC4D is love, passion and dedication." And besides, if you need any help or you've got a question, there are always members willing to help.

I considered the €10,- subscription each year not very much, so I decided to subscribe. It's great to see that many others like me did the same. It seems there are so many subscribers these days. That shows that there is still so much interest in this game, even 10 years after its release. That makes me happy. I hope that this community will remain for years.

-Matthijs

[sebes]

After being away from the site for quite some time (the last thing I did with SC4 was unpack the LEX Disc some years ago, I did not even intall it yet as RL kept me busy). I have been been lurking a few times on the site in quiet weekends - and did not even know that subscribing was possible. When I was still playing and downloading i had for myself as a rule that for every 20-25 downloads from the LEX I  made a 10 euro donation to the site. Needless to say that even if I dont come here so often anymore, this place is still HOME for me, and I want to help in keep the place going!

Jeronij and his team do a great job in keeping this home available for all of us, so after reading the posts here - first thing done was hitting that button too. Feels just right, as nothing is free, certainly not a place to call home! 

Oh - and just the chance to use this guy again is worth every dime of the subscription money

[Swordmaster]

Well, in that case. . . welcome home! You're part of an increasing group of old-timers returning to the trade in the past two-three months. Which of course, is fantastic.


Cheers
Willy

[jmyers2043]

... I have been been lurking a few times on the site in quiet weekends...

Hello!! Have you looked at FrankU's Dutch farm project? It may be an intersting read for you.

http://sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=14150.0

- Jim