Publisher?s Club

[Russ Pitts]

If you must know I asked those questions because I'm curious to know exactly why that original concept was scrapped, and why a similar, if not replica concept appears to have emerged under a paid membership. Of course this is all speculation - I don't know what these new "focus groups" will involve - then again, if you explain maybe people will gain a greater knowledge as to what you have planned and thus get involved in your subscription.

Fair enough. It's not a big deal, really, it just struck me as odd that you would lead with "I'm totally not buying this." But your questions are fair.

To answer:

A custom title of your choice: We've only given out a handful of custom titles over the years, but you can claim a unique title of your own (within reason, of course). We'll even throw in a special badge for good measure.

This is the section that irritates me - really, you're now selling custom titles - making those titles earnt through winning contests or posting a lot completely pointless...I wouldn't pay just on principal...

Sorry you feel that way. Although this isn't really a question is it? More of a gripe.
Some people value identity and if they want to pay for that, great. We encourage that. There will still, however, always be "even specialer" titles and such that will only be available by winning a contest or some such. To my mind, the fact that we are offering custom titles does not diminish this. People who earn something will still be able to brag about that to those who had to buy theirs.

Audience panel membership: Let our content team know which direction you think they should go by participating in opinion surveys and focus groups.

Wasn't there a user group created for this very purpose that was disbanded? Was it purposefully disbanded to make way for this paid membership group - if not, why was it disbanded if you're simply going to do the same thing?

There was a user group created for this purpose, although it was not implemented according to plan. There were some issues with how we wanted to present and organize it vs. how it was actually presented and organized, so we had to pull it and take it back to the drawing board.

The opportunity to participate in content surveys and such as a member of the Pub Club does not mean we will not be rolling out that forum again. But there are some questions and topics that we would rather present to a smaller, more focused audience before presenting them to our entire audience.

If you're the kind of person who would like to know as much as possible about our future plans, as early as possible, and are willing to pay for that privilege (in addition to receiving many, many other benefits), then the Pub Club is your ticket. If not, no sweat. We still love you.

 

[jthm]

Not to be a jerk here or anything, but I have to wonder why you're asking us questions about something you've already told us in no uncertain terms you won't be bothering to support? You're not giving me much incentive here to answer your questions, dude.

Not to be a jerk? I often answer questions people ask me with no thought towards compensation. I would be more likely than ever to do so if I created a thread specifically to answer questions. You're not giving him much incentive to be persuaded by your salesmanship, wit and charm.

I'm not a salesman, dude. Sorry.

Besides, I'm of the mind that this program sells itself. Either you enjoy our content and feel motivated to put some money towards it - reaping some solid benefits in the process - or you don't. In which case, you'll still enjoy all of the current content and forum member benefits we have always offered.

I understand people have questions, and money makes a certain type of person feel like they're being cheated or "sold," but there really is not downside here. If you don't like the plan, you don't have to join, and you lose nothing.

That said, the issues in question will most likely get an answer. Probably even by me. So stay tuned!

Oh it's that all or nothing talk "either you enjoy our content and feel motivated to put some money towards it, or you don't!" In the middle of a recession, asking for money because we enjoy your free service is maybe a little unrealistic? Some of us enjoy your site, but scramble to make rent each month, renting or borrowing games rather than buying and eat a whole lot of rammen and baloney sandwiches. Not to mention your target demographic is mostly high school students (who have no source of income), college students (who have college expenses to pay for, to say nothing of beer and weed) and young people starting out (see above). Sorry man, but enjoy the site as I might, I'm not going hungry for you and I'd rather be able to rent and play video games than hear about them.

 

[Vohn_exel]

I love this site and I'll probably join whenever I get paid, since I'm paying the same price for my phone. However, I do kinda hate to see the site go this way. It was always great as a free service and as someone else said, I can see this dividing people greatly. Hopefully, it won't ruin the experience here.

 

[dls182]

It's rather amusing going back and watching things like De-Rez in high quality.

Shame I never found them super funny, but interesting to see that they've been given a high-quality stream too.

 

[Russ Pitts]

Oh it's that all or nothing talk "either you enjoy our content and feel motivated to put some money towards it, or you don't!" In the middle of a recession, asking for money because we enjoy your free service is maybe a little unrealistic? Some of us enjoy your site, but scramble to make rent each month, renting or borrowing games rather than buying and eat a whole lot of rammen and baloney sandwiches. Not to mention your target demographic is mostly high school students (who have no source of income), college students (who have college expenses to pay for, to say nothing of beer and weed) and young people starting out (see above). Sorry man, but enjoy the site as I might, I'm not going hungry for you and I'd rather be able to rent and play video games than hear about them.

Sorry you see it that way. From our perspective it's more of an "all or almost all" situation.

If your personal financial situation is such that you can't or don't want to pay a relatively small amount for a yearly Publisher's Club subscription ($10) to support The Escapist, no problem. Don't. We will still love you. I promise. We don't want you to starve on our behalf.

If you do want to pay, then we will throw some added benefits your way to make it more interesting for you. Stuff that isn't necessary to the enjoyment of our content, but that you might like anyway.

Seriously dude, it's not worth stressing over. It's like an NPR pledge drive, where, if you give money, they'll send you a tote-bag and a CD of the soundtrack for the music of Fresh Air.
If you don't donate to NPR, you can still listen to NPR, you just don't get the tote-bag. Same thing here.

 

[epikAXE]

What about the UK? Is there a payment option for the Sterling Pound??

Edit: Also is this adding Extra content? or is it just paying for more that we already have?

 

[Virgil]

I'm having the same problem. Anyone know if there's a way to subscribe via a non-US Amazon thing?

I would be interested in that as well. amazon.de for example allows to pay per direct debit. I don't own a credit card and I don't plan on ever getting one so that would be nice.

Amazon payments should work internationally - they say they do, and there appears to be plenty of international signups. Try logging in with the same account you use on Amazon.de. Unfortunately this kind of thing is what we have to take them at their word on, as I can't actually test international payments personally.

So will I be able to download all videos ever uploaded on to the Escapist. Will this download feature be retro active or will I only be able to download future videos.

The video podcasts apply to every video series we ever published, and go back all the way to the beginning.

It's rather amusing going back and watching things like De-Rez in high quality. Shame I never found them super funny, but interesting to see that they've been given a high-quality stream too.

We did everything. Check out some of the stuff from the Film Festivals too - the video quality varies dramatically depending on what they uploaded, but it's all there.

It says I my subscription is activated, but I still have ads and can't view videos in high quality...

Just log out and back in. The PM you get tells you to do that, but you might have missed it. Because of the way the payments work, and our login system, it's hard to update your account while you're actually using it.

Do we lose anything from not subscribing? For example, is the quality of videos going to go down for non-subscribers, or will content that would have been offered to anybody now only be offered to subscribers?

No. There is nothing that you have been able to do on the site for the past several years that you won't be able to do now. We're not going to lower the quality of anything, and we're not planning on taking anything away. In fact, we actually upped the quality of all the videos, for everyone, a few months ago.

 

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

Spoiler

I'm having the same problem. Anyone know if there's a way to subscribe via a non-US Amazon thing?

I would be interested in that as well. amazon.de for example allows to pay per direct debit. I don't own a credit card and I don't plan on ever getting one so that would be nice.

Amazon payments should work internationally - they say they do, and there appears to be plenty of international signups. Try logging in with the same account you use on Amazon.de. Unfortunately this kind of thing is what we have to take them at their word on, as I can't actually test international payments personally.

So will I be able to download all videos ever uploaded on to the Escapist. Will this download feature be retro active or will I only be able to download future videos.

The video podcasts apply to every video series we ever published, and go back all the way to the beginning.

It's rather amusing going back and watching things like De-Rez in high quality. Shame I never found them super funny, but interesting to see that they've been given a high-quality stream too.

We did everything. Check out some of the stuff from the Film Festivals too - the video quality varies dramatically depending on what they uploaded, but it's all there.

It says I my subscription is activated, but I still have ads and can't view videos in high quality...

Just log out and back in. The PM you get tells you to do that, but you might have missed it. Because of the way the payments work, and our login system, it's hard to update your account while you're actually using it.

Do we lose anything from not subscribing? For example, is the quality of videos going to go down for non-subscribers, or will content that would have been offered to anybody now only be offered to subscribers?

No. There is nothing that you have been able to do on the site for the past several years that you won't be able to do now. We're not going to lower the quality of anything, and we're not planning on taking anything away. In fact, we actually upped the quality of all the videos, for everyone, a few months ago.

Ok thanks for clearing that up as if I were to join this Publisher group it would be to download the videos as that is something I have wanted to do on this website for a long time.

 

[laserwulf]

If you bring back downloadable .pdfs of the weekly 'issues', I'm in. I remember back in the good ol' days when they were available for free...

 

[Legion]

If i become a "member" can i have my post count and badges wiped out, never to come back? Please?

Admittedly I'd like that, instead there'd be more room for the avatars to be a little bigger.

 

[Caiti Voltaire]

It may be fictional and all, Susan, but it's still.. Well.. In extremely poor taste. I've read through a few and I really just can't stand it.

And of course I know of the actual reviewers, in fact I've watched several and enjoy them.. But there's reviewers.. And.. Well.. Douchebags.

It seems very curiously hypocritical to me here, so perhaps you could help me out here, why complain you don't like a place that you patronize? This isn't akin to complaining about a gas bar you're at having high prices because they all bleed you dry nor is it like a supermarket where you may loathe the quality of the wares but buy them anyways because you have a strong need to eat sometime this month, so what's the bloody point?

It's hard not for me to come off as being offensive or personal here, but honestly your post (and probably my response) really seem an awful lot like trolling and baiting the troll, respectively.

 

[PopperThingi]

I have a question about this part:

So should we expect retail sales and micropayments too?

Yes and no. What we are planning, actually, is a whole series of benefits that will tie into the membership program - starting with coupons for game stores and book publishers, special downloadable codes for digital content, gift certificates, exclusive contests, and more. We'll be highlighting these special offers as they happen. Our goal is that over time, the membership program will expand until it offers so much value it becomes like a membership neutron star, leaving nothing capable of escaping the gravitational pull of its premium offerings.

And, yes, there will eventually be a retail store where members will get discounts on all purchases.

The Escapist is a global site. I live in Israel. If all the extras planned will not be given somewhere in the globe, it will just piss people off, because we basically paid for them.

Other than that, I don't see any reason not to subscribe. 10$ a year is not a lot.

 

[ManiacEskimo]

Please note that no one is losing anything due to the Publisher's Club subscription service, but those that are classy enough to sign up will gain a more enjoyable experience at The Escapist!

You are right! I already block all the ads anyways, don't care about RSS feeds, podcasts, behind the scenes, custom title, early access to site features or whatever else.
High def would be nice but eh, it just uses more bandwidth and its not like the stuff I watch needs it badly.

Not worth $10 to me, thankfully because I can't afford to buy anything except a bit of food and MAYBE gas until next month anyways but it is not that bad of an idea for those who want to (and can) support the escapist at a very low and sane and decent price.

Mod Edit: Blocking ads is being rude to everyone that works for this site. -Kuliani

 

[dannymc18]

I'm having the same problem. Anyone know if there's a way to subscribe via a non-US Amazon thing?

I would be interested in that as well. amazon.de for example allows to pay per direct debit. I don't own a credit card and I don't plan on ever getting one so that would be nice.

Amazon payments should work internationally - they say they do, and there appears to be plenty of international signups. Try logging in with the same account you use on Amazon.de. Unfortunately this kind of thing is what we have to take them at their word on, as I can't actually test international payments personally.

Just to let you know I've just paid via Amazon UK.. no idea yet if it's been set up, but the payment went through so I assume all's fine.

Anyway, $10 is effectively nothing for something I read (almost) every day, especially saying I spend £'s a week on other magazines/newspapers. It's a great, and presumeably much needed, idea. I do have one gripe however - I absolutely despise recurring payment systems. It surely can't be that hard to tell people their subscription is running out, especially as it is only once per year, rather than forcing them into a recurring sub? It's the only thing that almost put me off signing up, but have no fear, I paid anyway.

 

[ManiacEskimo]

I know we're not losing anything if we dont[/I] pay, but things that are being added to members only would've been stuff that was added to everone before.

That's exactly my point - these are not things that we could give everyone, for a variety of reasons. Well, I suppose we could add a new general discussion forum, but we already have one, so if it wasn't limited in some other way it really wouldn't mean anything.

Custom titles could be given to everyone for free. Not that it matters.

 

[Tzekelkan]

I said to myself, "No way" at first, but then warmed up to the idea. I'd really like to support the Escapist, but for this I'd really like a Paypal option. Unless it's a possibility, I'm afraid I'm going to have to pass (especially since the 50% offer is only until April 21st and I doubt there'll be a Paypal possibility within the week). How about it?

 

[Eri]

It surely can't be that hard to tell people their subscription is running out, especially as it is only once per year, rather than forcing them into a recurring sub? It's the only thing that almost put me off signing up, but have no fear, I paid anyway.

If you do not want a recurring subscription, cancel it immediately after you make payment. The subscription will not run out until 1 year passes and you will not auto renew. Simple.

Custom titles could be given to everyone for free. Not that it matters.

Except not. If everyone had any title they wanted, there would be a moderation problem and people making inappropriate titles that need deleting. By paying 10 dollars, it is like a "built in filter" that mostly prevents problems before they start.

 

[Fetzenfisch]

I'm having the same problem. Anyone know if there's a way to subscribe via a non-US Amazon thing?

I would be interested in that as well. amazon.de for example allows to pay per direct debit. I don't own a credit card and I don't plan on ever getting one so that would be nice.

Amazon payments should work internationally - they say they do, and there appears to be plenty of international signups. Try logging in with the same account you use on Amazon.de. Unfortunately this kind of thing is what we have to take them at their word on, as I can't actually test international payments personally.

My german amazon.de account works, but it still only accepts credit cards, and no debits, so i have to wait for a paypal option or just can't become a member,too.
sorry i don't want a credit card and even if i love this site, i won't get one just for that.

 

[Rauten]

See, if this could be done through PayPal, I'd be all over it. Seriously. I registered during the MM at the VALVe vs Zynga call for arms, and I already love the site. I'd gladly pay those 10$, if I could use Paypal.

But it uses Amazon. And I hate Amazon.

IS MY MONEY NOT GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU, THE ESCAPIST?!?! *Shakes fists in blind rage*