I'm sure that this wouldn't be popular with everyone, but premium membership would be something that I would really enjoy.

Something like -

$10 a month could give you....

- 500 diamonds a month, or a permanent discount on diamonds.
- You could go "invisible" (aka your profile would say Invisible instead of Online or "On 15 minutes ago"
- Discounts on tabs and stables
- Discounts at healers
- Little Icon on your Page to show premium membership


You could also make it so that you could buy premium months for other people. Either making it an item that you "activate" or just an option that you're "doing this as a gift".

This way people who like to throw their money around (myself included) could buy premium memberships for people who don't have access to credit cards or paypal.

You know I do like that idea, so many sites have premium memberships.

The one thing I'm worried about is that it'll drag those down who do not have the memberships. I've seen that happen before. Some sites its like "You don't have a premium, well get one otherwise you can't do this, and this and this."

But maybe that's because they limit peoples options. :D As long as it doesn't mess up the sites economy then why the heck not. More money put into the site = more things :D

I think I recall reading an Interview with Krin saying they weren't going to add in Premium Memberships....
Let me see If I can find it....*Forever later*
AHA! I FOUND IT!

[quote]
Q: So as Sylestia continues to grow, which I believe it will, how will you plan to fund it? Will you continue with the "freemium" cash shop setup? Make an option for premium accounts? Others?
A: That's a good question. As paying 'customers' of many, many games in the past, we often have hated the "Free to Play" set up. Just about every game out there limits you beyond belief if you decide to play for free. Whether it's locked features, only so many pets, etc. And Faiona and I think that is awful and a huge turn off. Now, obviously, you can understand why it's that way. But our model is entirely different. We set out to create the best game we can possibly create and offer it to anyone who wants to play it for free. No catch, no hidden text, nothing. We offer a cash shop with some "perks", but nothing that is game changing in any way. And so far, it's been working to keep Sylestia afloat for more development and more artwork. We do have some ideas for things to add to our Diamond Shop in the near future, but we refuse to ever add anything that is 'game-breaking'. We created Sylestia with the intention of making a great game, not a quick buck. And I think that makes a big difference.
[/quote]

Read the full Article Here.

I have been on sites that are like that, and I will agree it sucks. My suggestions were merely things that make it nice, like healer discounts and whatnot, invisibility and things that are moreso "perks" than "you have to have this, if you want to do that"

:)

I don't think any of what you're saying is gamebreaking, but a lot of those features cast a 'pay to win' stigma on a game (which turns me off greatly, it's like Subeta).

The stigma of a pay2win game probably isn't a big deal to a consumer (and there are thousands of players on the internet that don't care probably whether a site does that or not), but I just really liked sylestia as it is now regarding its cash options, albeit it's in beta.

Plus, premium memberships are often posted in an ostentatious way. It's to grab the attention of paying peeps, and kinda in the rub, make free-playing players sigh. It gives off an exclusiveness that I think is pretty unnecessary.

I have seen many peeps on this game take advantage of playing with cash. Their "premium membership" can be seen in the fact they use mystical essences to generate projects with nice colors/early catch on genepools/sell babies of rare species/genepools/combos at high price/get gold via exchange of diamonds/turn in customs/etc etc.

Plus, if you play the game THAT often, those tiny perks would hardly make a dent. And any dent worth making to someone who pays a higher buck spoils the idea of gaming, for me. (Call me a sore player aha, I've had my share)

Premium membership on this game I think is more of a challenge as to figure how, on an individual basis, to get the most out of your diamonds/cash spent. Whether it's trading items or buying what you want for cash, or starting projects. It depends on everyone, but I think so far, what we have is good.

I'm sorry, but some of us don't have money to do all that fancy shmancy stuff and can't buy anything. I like this game because it's free! It also makes some of use "lower" players feel left out since we can't do those things.

Please, creators, don't do this. "Premium Membership" has always bothered me and its a blatant attempt to make cash. Just...please don't.

I quit a lot of games because of that. I love this game and I want to keep playing! I love this community.

The "perks" idea is great, I mean if your willing to pay for something you should get it right? There's no holding people back with perks, no limitations. As long as the premium didn't limit players I'm for it...although calling it a premium account does turn me off xD Maybe instead of a membership of some sort, you should have like...stamp cards kind of thing where you buy a stamp from the diamonds shop for lets say... buy 3 tabs in a stable get the 4th free. xD something like that. Or "buy all tabs in one stable get a stable free." Those kind of things wouldn't limit anyone. Or discount cards for 100-200 diamonds.

For the whole discounts on healers, I think if you become allies with a place you should get cheap healing because you fight for them. Gifting discount and access cards would be fun. Just like... GIFT CARDS !

I would cry if they came out with something like this... I love sylestia and am so willing to spend money because the admins are so nice and the site isn't a pay-to-play or pay-for-benefits or anything. I love this site, and would hate to stop playing it, but sites with premium membership (no matter what it does) do not keep my attention long. I used to play Howrse all the time, but then they added premium and even though it simply gave nice perks, I felt left out because everyone else was paying for these memberships and could do things that I couldn't, so I stopped playing as often...

If the "perks" that you got were, say, strictly to your knowing, then it wouldn't be that bad. The problem would be if you got perks that others could see, like "invisible" status or the "premium membership" icon.