Gifted Play Time

[JasperCity 24]

A lot of my villagers are poor college students, and I'd rather not have to buy 10 silver to get them one month premium when 2 months premium is the same cost, so perhaps allow us to gift playing time to other people? I don't see why this wouldn't be allowed. It'd be a great way to give a new player a few days of premium to see if they like the game.

[Maozorz 127]

Wait what's this about 2 months costing the same as 1?

And yeah, this seems like a great idea! If it's already paid for then why the hell not?

I don't see how it could be messed with, too.

Edited October 19, 2012 by Maozorz

[Selva 9]

I known how they feel x(, specially if you need to use an international credit card

[JasperCity 24]

well I want the ability so that when there's someone new I can gift them premium for a few days to see how they like the game with horses making things easier

[Nadineb 65]

Yeah good idea. That you as premium player can buy premium time for another player, or 'transfer' some of your time to another player. Same costs when calculated to euro's. Down side; how do you prevent people 'selling' game time if they are quiting? I think Rolf like it better if everyone pays for it. On the other hand, if its restricted to max 7 days per transaction and max 1x a month to the same player, I think that can be prevented a bit.

[Maozorz 127]

Yeah good idea. That you as premium player can buy premium time for another player, or 'transfer' some of your time to another player. Same costs when calculated to euro's. Down side; how do you prevent people 'selling' game time if they are quiting? I think Rolf like it better if everyone pays for it. On the other hand, if its restricted to max 7 days per transaction and max 1x a month to the same player, I think that can be prevented a bit.

Good idea, the last sentence.

Still though, if someone PAYS for membership then it should be theirs to do with as they please in terms of giving it and selling it I believe.

[JasperCity 24]

how is giving or selling a premium time count any different then giving or selling silver? You can buy premium with silver already.

I don't see any argument you could use that wouldn't be used the same way against silver. In the end I think it'll bring in more paying customers

Edited October 19, 2012 by JasperCity

[Aldaturo 6]

Wait what's this about 2 months costing the same as 1?

2 months premium and 10 silver each cost €10 in the shop. 1 month premium can be bought ingame for 10s. Presumably to give those who can't pay for premium an option to work for their premium, whilst still giving an incentive to those who can pay to pay for it.

Down side; how do you prevent people 'selling' game time if they are quiting?

Don't allow transferring premium time to another character. Add an option to buy a non-drop "premium time gift card" in the shop and in the game. You can give these to the player you want to donate time to, and they "use" it to add the premium time to their account.

[Maozorz 127]

how is giving or selling a premium time count any different then giving or selling silver? You can buy premium with silver already.

I don't see any argument you could use that wouldn't be used the same way against silver. In the end I think it'll bring in more paying customers

Do you mean that you're pro or anti-selling silver?

[atazs 965]

Just ask for their password and then log in with their character to the shop and buy it?

[Maozorz 127]

Just ask for their password and then log in with their character to the shop and buy it?

That would be quite dodge. Rolf should consider the giving, it should be the buyer's choice. They bought it, it's theirs and to give or sell it isn't abusing anything. Can anyone think of any risks, why this shouldn't be? I don't see why not, it sounds dodgy at a glance but if you think about it it makes sense.

Any reasons against?

[JasperCity 24]

They've already got the system in place to "give time". The referral system does exactly that, gives premium time. Just add a donate command that removes time and gives it to someone else.

The fact of the matter is people buy premium time with silver which doesn't cost them a dime if they work for it. I'm willing to pay for premium (it's still a better conversion rate than buying gold pieces from a player) for others but I don't want to have to log in to their account to do so.

[Maozorz 127]

Yeah, I only just realised that if someone made silver in game and got prem that way, then sold it... That wouldn't be fair!

I was chatting crap before, wasn't thinking.

[Nadineb 65]

My point regarding the restriction of giving away play time is the folowing; I buy a year membership of Wurm. After 2 months I deside I don't want to play anymore and quit. There is 10months left in there. In the current situation that means my money is gone. New situation would be I could sell that time to somebody else, instead of he paying for that with S or Euro's. And since I don't want to bother waiting for a long time for the right price, its going cheap. So prices for premium time will drop. The problems I forsee by that is a dramatic drop in sales in hard Euro's to Rolf for surver upkeep and a decrease of value on being a premium member. Because, why would you buy from Rolf if you can get it 1/2 the price from another player? I don't think premium time is expensive as it is, and risking ruining the whole premium/frelo system with this, is by my oppinion not worth it. IF its implemented without restrictions ofcourse, like the one is suggested.

Another idea I have is an addition to the refferal program; for every month you are a premium you can give a day or so as a gift to another player. No restrictions on your build-up days nor to who you give it to. Slow build, and practical.

[JasperCity 24]

once again, people are already getting premium for free by using silver. Most veterans i know have long since stopped paying actual money for premium, and only use silver (they sell so much high QL gear) which is easily obtainable once you've established your skills.

Yes, this would mean that people could trade premium time that is "left over" on an account. SO there would have to be a restriction - basically you must always have 30 days of premium, you can't go below 30. So only excess would be sold (someone who bought the game, decided they didn't like it and then tried to trade off their time for instance couldn't do so). However, if someone bought a year of wurm then decided they didn't want it they should be able to sell it off. After all, they did invest the money into the game. It'd also mean that more people would GO premium if they knew they could sell their time if they decided to leave at any time.

There's so many sides to it, and I don't see how this could possibly end up hurting Rolf. New players who get premium from vets will most likely stay premium, versus a new player capped at 20 skills. Once you've got a taste for high level crafting, you can't go back to free. It's not the same.

Also, people already trade time in the form of silver, which once again bypasses rolf's pockets.

[Issle 793]

Great idea, I would also like to be able to gift out premium. Coding wise its easy, just remove the password requirement when accessing the wurm shop.

[Aldaturo 6]

once again, people are already getting premium for free by using silver. Most veterans i know have long since stopped paying actual money for premium, and only use silver (they sell so much high QL gear) which is easily obtainable once you've established your skills.

And enabling transferral of premium time would effectively make buying premium with silver cheaper. Instead of 10s a month, you're creating a market place where to sell, someone will have to undercut that price. Bear in mind that the silver in the game has initially been purchased with real cash, and premium-for-silver removes silver from the in-game economy. CodeClub may simply not want to allow that to happen at a lower ratio than 10s/month. Buying premium for silver doesn't mean it's free. It just means that someone else pays real money. It is actually better for CodeClub that people buy premium with silver as long as enough silver is brought into the game economy using real money.

Yes, this would mean that people could trade premium time that is "left over" on an account. SO there would have to be a restriction - basically you must always have 30 days of premium, you can't go below 30. So only excess would be sold (someone who bought the game, decided they didn't like it and then tried to trade off their time for instance couldn't do so). However, if someone bought a year of wurm then decided they didn't want it they should be able to sell it off. After all, they did invest the money into the game. It'd also mean that more people would GO premium if they knew they could sell their time if they decided to leave at any time.

In reality, I suspect that the availability of "left over time" would be relatively low - how many would pay for a year if they aren't sure they'd play for a year. If it was me and I'd only just started playing, I'd buy 2months or 1m+5s. When I'd decided to stay long-term, I'd consider buying a year's time in one go. The last sentence in the quote only makes sense if you could only buy premium for a year. Yes, if you had to buy a year or stay f2p, and weren't sure you'd stay, it'd be easier if you could sell excess time if you leave the game before the year is up. But it makes little sense in the current situation where you can buy 2m or 1m+5s, especially if you can only sell premium time in excess of 30 days! Additionally, I would argue the opposite as well - If they know they can't sell their remaining time, they have more incentive to stay and use up the time. Maybe their passion for wurm will be reignited in this time!

There's so many sides to it, and I don't see how this could possibly end up hurting Rolf. New players who get premium from vets will most likely stay premium, versus a new player capped at 20 skills. Once you've got a taste for high level crafting, you can't go back to free. It's not the same.

I wouldn't say I can see it end up hurting Rolf. I do think that being able to donate time already purchased (whether using € or silver) and allocated to a character may have unintended consequences that I think will be avoided with a shop option to purchase time for another player. Type in your username and password as usual, then there's a box on the page with the purchase options where the name of the character that should be given whatever you purchase, defaulted to the name of the character you logged in with. Or as I suggested above - using "premium time gift certificates" that you give to someone in-game.

Also, people already trade time in the form of silver, which once again bypasses rolf's pockets.

No it doesn't. Buying time with silver removes silver from the game economy. That silver was ultimately bought from Rolf by someone.

Just to tie this up a bit, I think it makes a lot of sense to be able to buy premium time for other characters. I think donating already-purchased time is unfortunate, because a) being able to donate/sell remaining time when quiting is small/no incentive to purchase premium given the premium purchase options. being able to sell remaining time is incentive to quit before your time is up. c) being able to donate left-over time means it can be sold, undercutting CodeClub prices. d) I suspect donating time already allocated to a player is more complex, and therefore risky, to implement than donations of "fresh" time from the shop or a gift cert.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think there are possibly two distinct issues in your original post:

1) Being able to donate premium at € rates rather than silver rates.

2) Being able to donate less than a month's worth of premium

The first can be addressed by the ability to be able to buy the premium for someone else in the shop. The second can be addressed by gift certificates . Maybe 8x 1-week certs for €10? or 4x for 10s, 1x for 3s. Also, players who go premium for the first time using a gift cert should not be given a referral.

[Martynas5 435]

Good idea if 2 months for 10 euro. So non prems can work for prem and enjoy more ( +1 month )

[Alyeska 2,621]

It makes no sense that you need someone password to buy them premium in the shop. Bottom line; premium through the shop is money for rolf, no matter who bought it. Allow buying gift subscription in the shop where you only fill in the players name, and then get refered to your paypal, without the need to enter a password.

Exactly the same as how buying premium now works, except you wouldnt need the password. And I dont think anyone will complain "Oh no, but then someone might prem up my account and I dont want them to!"

[Hussars 511]

Maybe if you could do this only from a verified PayPal (or other) account but not from the Guest account?

Edited October 19, 2012 by Hussars