Pricing structure

If someone currently pays more than 3 pounds 90 (this bloody
keyboard has no
pound symbol), does their turn cost go down ?

*** Yep...

Prices go down ? GMs were always considered crazy, but even that is a
strange idea. In my twisted and cunning mind, its all a plot to cut your
profits. You then need to cut staff, and its no surprise which staff member
is first on the chopping bloke.

And Fourth Age players have a reduction - it's not
all bad news
guys...

and girls. I live in hope that one day I might actually get to talk to a
real women. I don't even on chat rooms any more after the last surprise.

SS turns are cheaper as it's already a big pain for
players when
they get SSed as it is.

makes sense.

This should help ease the burden with

us charging
the basic cost of printing/phoneline etc so we don't lose out too much.
Basically international players benefit (where we are
consistently getting a
higher proportion of our new players join from maybe because
the UK players
have actually seen us!)

I've seen you too (I was looking for a cat- even a fake one - in your photo,
but I missed it). I thought it funny that the flagship and your photo at the
last PBM convention were exactly the same.

UK credit card payments still at +5%.

Still thinking of letting the UK players pay me money. I
charge you 2%, and
pay Clint on your behalf.

**** Yep and we kindly ask you to leave the game. :slight_smile:

Can I have someone named 'M2', but who has a hotmail address run any
existing game ?

Or if we think
players are abusing it we charge everyone.

:frowning: So I want no players into abuse to be abusing 'it' (even the pope agrees
on that).

Basically you be
honest, we be honest.

You expect middle earth players to be honest ? Have you listened to the lies
and threats that go on when we try to convince other players to join our
side, or have to convince an ally to send more aid ?

We (well maybe just 'me') also like to kick a nation when they are down
(less chance of getting killed yourself). Thats why G34 is so much fun.

International players find it hard enough to get

funds to us so
this helps them. UK players have plenty of options available
to them. :slight_smile:

We generally keep an eye on players who are, let us say,less
than totally
honest.

Can I be on their side ? Sneaky, backstabbing, murderous people make the
best ME players (they also make nice politicans). Saints and do gooders
seems to lack the killer instinct necessary to win (but they do give you
plenty of money and pop centres when you ask).

For example I know of at least three players who are running
multiple positions under assumed names, allegedly.

Tory voters all of them ?

So when it
comes to a GM
decision we are less likely to help out..

I'm assuming Clint isn't taking to me when he said that. And I'm declining
to notice that my last request for help was turned down (all I did was ask
for the corsairs to be SSed in G34 since we was cheating by attacking when
he should have been on his death bed).

(I have checked with them on

multiple times.) I was thinking that I would like their
partner in crime to
contact us directly - generally the brother/spouse/son/father
is unlikely to
want to actually lie to us publicly?

I've no comment on that since any humour I make about
brother/spouse/son/father is very likey to be misunderstood as a serious
comment.

Opinions on this

difficult topic very
welcome even if I am totally in the wrong. (Can't think of
anything else to
stop this form of cheating).

Let me win all the time ? My brothers want nothing to do with me, I've no
spouse since women are more fussy (what was wrong with the old 'love and
obey' marriage vow ?). No spouse means no son. And my father is too busy
studing old french as a hobby (we keep on trying to get him to take up a
hobby like coin or stamp collection that we can make some money on when he
dies, but the old bastard wants to enjoy his life). We can still get the
last laugh, he tells me that in Oz this is the last year of old french,
seems they can't get 15 students, so its bye-bye to his old stuff (the
classics are next on the chopping list he tells me).

I enjoys the g34 shots.
m

p.s actually I've done the orders for a second nation in a game (they were
on holidays at the time). I admit it was wonderful to have them do
everything I wanted them to do. I can relate to people wanting to do it all
the time.

pps actually i've no idea which staff member is first on the chopping block,
but if they have time to read this, they can get nice and paraniod (like any
good middle earth player is).

You then need to cut staff, and its no surprise which staff member
is first on the chopping bloke.

Unfortunately there's a pecking order and I am the saddo that will stick
with it to the last person... :slight_smile: bad luck...

> And Fourth Age players have a reduction - it's not
>all bad news > >guys...

and girls. I live in hope that one day I might actually get to talk to a
real women. I don't even on chat rooms any more after the last surprise.

No drinks on us funkstable - basically no women that I am aware of on this
list. We have a few female players but rarer than a virgin sheep in the
outback.

> SS turns are cheaper as it's already a big pain for
>players when > >they get SSed as it is.

makes sense.

I know - :slight_smile: Might cut it to zero sometime even. Seriosuly though if
anyone has any comments about the pricing structure please get in touch soon
so that we can get everything concrete.

I've seen you too (I was looking for a cat- even a fake one - in your

photo,

but I missed it). I thought it funny that the flagship and your photo at

the

last PBM convention were exactly the same.

We were the meet... :slight_smile:

>
>> UK credit card payments still at +5%.
>
>Still thinking of letting the UK players pay me money. I
>charge you 2%, and
>pay Clint on your behalf.
>
>**** Yep and we kindly ask you to leave the game. :slight_smile:

Can I have someone named 'M2', but who has a hotmail address run any
existing game ?

Why not... :slight_smile:

> Or if we think > >players are abusing it we charge everyone.

:frowning: So I want no players into abuse to be abusing 'it' (even the pope

agrees

on that).

It's supposed to be good for your health. Heh it's that 2 in the morn
conversation after doing the collation for game 46, 16 bad news to the rest
of the team, and 23's even worse news... :slight_smile: That just leaves 39 and my
legends turn to do now.... Think I'll leave it the last minute as per usual.
Also I put out on this list that I was looking for a good Scifi game to play
in - so John's bagged me for Starquest now. Bum.

> Basically you be > >honest, we be honest.

You expect middle earth players to be honest ? Have you listened to the

lies

and threats that go on when we try to convince other players to join our
side, or have to convince an ally to send more aid ?

Yes, shame really.

>We generally keep an eye on players who are, let us say,less
>than totally > >honest.

Can I be on their side ? Sneaky, backstabbing, murderous people make the
best ME players (they also make nice politicans). Saints and do gooders
seems to lack the killer instinct necessary to win (but they do give you
plenty of money and pop centres when you ask).

Um - you don't know the Cardiff lot then? Gentleman's agreements in Dune
was my most infamous example - after that I decided to play more straight
up... :slight_smile:

> For example I know of at least three players who are running
>multiple positions under assumed names, allegedly.

Tory voters all of them ?

One is... :slight_smile: No real difference between Tory and Labour now though.
Aside: Did you know that Haiti has recently abolished it's military force.
Decided it didn't need it.

> So when it > >comes to a GM > >decision we are less likely to help

out..

I'm assuming Clint isn't taking to me when he said that. And I'm declining
to notice that my last request for help was turned down (all I did was ask
for the corsairs to be SSed in G34 since we was cheating by attacking when
he should have been on his death bed).

:slight_smile:

(I have checked with them on > >multiple times.) I was thinking that I

would like their

>partner in crime to > >contact us directly - generally the

brother/spouse/son/father

>is unlikely to > >want to actually lie to us publicly?

I've no comment on that since any humour I make about >

brother/spouse/son/father is very likey to be misunderstood as a serious >
comment.

:slight_smile: that's what smiley faces are (annoyingly) for. Otherwise I think that
it is my job description (must get one of those written up some time -
haven't written a CV in ages), to act as if players are talking sense and
deal with it appropriately "Eg are you sure that you haven't recieved my
ten copies of my turn?" :slight_smile:

> Opinions on this > >difficult topic very > >welcome even if I am totally

in the wrong. (Can't think of

>anything else to > >stop this form of cheating).

Let me win all the time ? My brothers want nothing to do with me, I've no
spouse since women are more fussy (what was wrong with the old 'love and
obey' marriage vow ?). No spouse means no son. And my father is too busy
studing old french as a hobby (we keep on trying to get him to take up a
hobby like coin or stamp collection that we can make some money on when he
dies, but the old bastard wants to enjoy his life).

How inconsiderate. My dad's into repairing cars (very useful) and doing the
DIY stuff around my house - very cool. My mam get's bored when she visits
so does the washing up and I pay my sister to to the housework (she's a
student so I get her cheap rate). Bro just gives me "free" chocolate (works
for Cadburys). Come to think of it what do I do for them?!!! :frowning:

We can still get the > last laugh, he tells me that in Oz this is the last

year of old french,

seems they can't get 15 students, so its bye-bye to his old stuff (the >

classics are next on the chopping list he tells me).

Is Old french chatting to a 90 year old from Paris (I have a more
disgusting version of this but ask privately)? Ask Sam about his dad - they
sound the same type... :slight_smile:

I enjoys the g34 shots.
m

p.s actually I've done the orders for a second nation in a game (they were
on holidays at the time). I admit it was wonderful to have them do
everything I wanted them to do. I can relate to people wanting to do it

all

the time.

Me too - I have done it for game 46 when my mate was too arsed. Great; he
did what I wanted him to do as well. Problem was I nearly blew up his
nation when I forgot to natsell... :slight_smile:

pps actually i've no idea which staff member is first on the chopping

block,

but if they have time to read this, they can get nice and paraniod (like

any

good middle earth player is).

Strangely enough I think we all actually like working for Harlequin. (Well
some of the time anyway). I am sure this conversation is more suitable for
a private email but what the heck the list has been quiet of recent.

'Night.

Clint

Hi,
Um, why 3.90? Four quid would have been easier in many ways...

There, now you've seen everything, a player saying you're not charging
enough!

Colin.

1) To repeat what I've said before - The credit card surcharge is bad
marketing. It's old fashioned and makes you appear stingy.
2) Your easiest market is your existing customer base. You should
exploit this by introducing a discount scheme for people who are playing
in multiple games. This would tempt people to play more games and pay
for itself very quickly.

Regards,

Laurence G. Tilley
http://www.lgtilley.freeserve.co.uk/

···

Harlequin Games <pbm@harlequingames.com> wrote

Seriosuly though if
anyone has any comments about the pricing structure please get in touch soon
so that we can get everything concrete.

Laurence Tilley wrote:

1) To repeat what I've said before - The credit card surcharge is bad
marketing. It's old fashioned and makes you appear stingy.

Hmm... On the other hand if Harlequin were to abolish this charge they'd
have to cover the additional costs by increasing prices across the
board. Surely that wouldn't be fair to people who don't pay by CC?

Bear in mind that even the mighty Harlequin have to be careful about
money, theyre not a big corporation that can simply swallow that sort of
loss. The same goes for just about every PBM company.

2) Your easiest market is your existing customer base. You should
exploit this by introducing a discount scheme for people who are playing
in multiple games. This would tempt people to play more games and pay
for itself very quickly.

I have a self-interested reason for agreeing with Laurence here! It
might be worth doing a little market research to find out if such a
scheme would tempt people to play more games. In actual fact I'm not
sure I would - time is at least as important as money as a factor when
deciding whether I'll play in another game.

Colin.

>Seriosuly though if
>anyone has any comments about the pricing structure please get in touch

soon

>so that we can get everything concrete.

1) To repeat what I've said before - The credit card surcharge is bad
marketing. It's old fashioned and makes you appear stingy.

Could well be. I know shops do it, and some firms but it is a pain which
can be easily avoided with a cheque.

2) Your easiest market is your existing customer base. You should
exploit this by introducing a discount scheme for people who are playing
in multiple games. This would tempt people to play more games and pay
for itself very quickly.

Don't agree with this one though. I checked out the time vs money thing and
players are fifty-fifty on this. Money is (generally) not the object for
players who play a lot was the basic marketing thing we came up with. Eg
Legends & SR players pay upto �20 a turn - which is SIX positions in ME.
Time is the all important factor for players who play a lot. Also it would
take a programming change which is annoying. The good thing is that in
encourages player loyalty if there was a discount.

An idea would be a monthly fee and you get to play as much as you like....
:slight_smile: (Players choice as to scheme). We're still playing with ideas though
as to what is both fair to the players and keeps us in business.

Regards,

Laurence G. Tilley

Thanks as always, much appreciated.

Clint

···

Harlequin Games <pbm@harlequingames.com> wrote

I agree. In the US the All Email one-week game players gets a $1
discount. Something to think about.

Ulrik

--- In mepbmlist@egroups.com, "Laurence G. Tilley" <laurence@l...>
wrote:

Harlequin Games <pbm@h...> wrote
>Seriosuly though if
>anyone has any comments about the pricing structure please get in

touch soon

>so that we can get everything concrete.
1) To repeat what I've said before - The credit card surcharge is

bad

marketing. It's old fashioned and makes you appear stingy.
2) Your easiest market is your existing customer base. You should
exploit this by introducing a discount scheme for people who are

playing

in multiple games. This would tempt people to play more games and

pay

···

for itself very quickly.

Regards,

Laurence G. Tilley
http://www.lgtilley.freeserve.co.uk/

back to the questionnaire thing again - what would you like to see in a
questionnaire? What issues would you like us to address - I have some ideas
about stuff I would like to see here but am interested in what you think
might be appropriate.

Thanks

Clint

···

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       mailto: pbm@harlequingames.com
            www.harlequingames.com
       Middle Earth - Legends- Serim Ral
    CTF 2187 - Starquest - Crack of Doom
            Battle of the Planets - Exile
****************************************************
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Tel 029 2062 5665 12-6.30 Weekdays
Fax 029 2062 5532 24 hours
----- Original Message -----
From: "ColinForbes" <mearth@suilven.demon.co.uk>
To: <mepbmlist@egroups.com>
Sent: 15 May 2000 12:41
Subject: Re: [mepbmlist] Pricing structure

Laurence Tilley wrote:

> 1) To repeat what I've said before - The credit card surcharge is bad
> marketing. It's old fashioned and makes you appear stingy.

Hmm... On the other hand if Harlequin were to abolish this charge they'd
have to cover the additional costs by increasing prices across the
board. Surely that wouldn't be fair to people who don't pay by CC?

Bear in mind that even the mighty Harlequin have to be careful about
money, theyre not a big corporation that can simply swallow that sort of
loss. The same goes for just about every PBM company.

> 2) Your easiest market is your existing customer base. You should
> exploit this by introducing a discount scheme for people who are playing
> in multiple games. This would tempt people to play more games and pay
> for itself very quickly.

I have a self-interested reason for agreeing with Laurence here! It
might be worth doing a little market research to find out if such a
scheme would tempt people to play more games. In actual fact I'm not
sure I would - time is at least as important as money as a factor when
deciding whether I'll play in another game.

Colin.

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Hi,

I tend to agree with Colin. I play in several games, and am limited by time
not money. Any move by Harlequin to give a discount for multiple games would
give me an immediate cash bonus. It would only pay for itself if people like
me are outnumbered by people who are in one or two games and would be prompted
to join more (but I keep hoping - along with Standard Life de-mutualising it's
one of my few chances for a windfall).

However, if you do give discounts for multiple positions, it might at least
reduce the problem of people playing multiple positions illegally. After all,
if you are pretending your friend is playing those extra positions you are
losing out on the discount.

I do agree, though, that the existing custmomer base is the best market. My
suggestion, Clint, is that whenever a game finishes you offer a free start-up
to those left at the end, provided they sign up straight away for one of the
current games filling up. A nice prize for the winners and the people who have
just seen a game through are probably the very people you want back again.
Especially the people in several games, who might not want to replace the
newly finished game, at least not without a bit of prompting.

regards

Chris Soanes

ColinForbes wrote:

···

> 2) Your easiest market is your existing customer base. You should
> exploit this by introducing a discount scheme for people who are playing
> in multiple games. This would tempt people to play more games and pay
> for itself very quickly.

I have a self-interested reason for agreeing with Laurence here! It
might be worth doing a little market research to find out if such a
scheme would tempt people to play more games. In actual fact I'm not
sure I would - time is at least as important as money as a factor when
deciding whether I'll play in another game.

Colin.

What do people think about that - free set-up in the next game? Problem I
see is that players have teams of 10(plus) quite often left at the end of
the game some �50 for us. Quite a prize! Generally players start up and it
is mostly due to time.

Clint

···

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                  Harlequin Games

       mailto: pbm@harlequingames.com
            www.harlequingames.com
       Middle Earth - Legends- Serim Ral
    CTF 2187 - Starquest - Crack of Doom
            Battle of the Planets - Exile
****************************************************
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Tel 029 2062 5665 12-6.30 Weekdays
Fax 029 2062 5532 24 hours
----- Original Message -----
From: <chris.soanes@cwcom.net>
To: <mepbmlist@egroups.com>
Sent: 15 May 2000 21:42
Subject: Re: [mepbmlist] Pricing structure

Hi,

I tend to agree with Colin. I play in several games, and am limited by

time

not money. Any move by Harlequin to give a discount for multiple games

would

give me an immediate cash bonus. It would only pay for itself if people

like

me are outnumbered by people who are in one or two games and would be

prompted

to join more (but I keep hoping - along with Standard Life de-mutualising

it's

one of my few chances for a windfall).

However, if you do give discounts for multiple positions, it might at

least

reduce the problem of people playing multiple positions illegally. After

all,

if you are pretending your friend is playing those extra positions you are
losing out on the discount.

I do agree, though, that the existing custmomer base is the best market.

My

suggestion, Clint, is that whenever a game finishes you offer a free

start-up

to those left at the end, provided they sign up straight away for one of

the

current games filling up. A nice prize for the winners and the people who

have

just seen a game through are probably the very people you want back again.
Especially the people in several games, who might not want to replace the
newly finished game, at least not without a bit of prompting.

regards

Chris Soanes

ColinForbes wrote:

> > 2) Your easiest market is your existing customer base. You should
> > exploit this by introducing a discount scheme for people who are

playing

> > in multiple games. This would tempt people to play more games and pay
> > for itself very quickly.
>
> I have a self-interested reason for agreeing with Laurence here! It
> might be worth doing a little market research to find out if such a
> scheme would tempt people to play more games. In actual fact I'm not
> sure I would - time is at least as important as money as a factor when
> deciding whether I'll play in another game.
>
> Colin.

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1) To repeat what I've said before - The credit card surcharge is bad
marketing. It's old fashioned and makes you appear stingy.

Could well be. I know shops do it, and some firms but it is a pain which
can be easily avoided with a cheque.

I use the credit card option because I allow you to debit it
automatically for me at the end of each month. This surely gives you
some advantages over cheques - you never have to chase me, I never miss
a payment or go into the red, you always hold a sizeable chunk of my
money, on which no doubt you already earn interest. Perhaps you should
open other options to save me (and players like me) the 5% levy - like
Direct Debit.

2) Your easiest market is your existing customer base. You should
exploit this by introducing a discount scheme for people who are playing
in multiple games. This would tempt people to play more games and pay
for itself very quickly.

Don't agree with this one though. I checked out the time vs money thing and
players are fifty-fifty on this. Money is (generally) not the object for
players who play a lot was the basic marketing thing we came up with.

It is an artificial distinction, and your question was not the best that
could have been asked. Most people will be concerned about time AND
money. You, as a business, can't do anything about your customer's time
problems, but you can encourage them to play more by offering them good
deals. You should be tempting not saying "we understand why you are too
busy to play more, you poor overworked souls". Lots of players within
teams use "time" as the excuse for, say, not writing good turn reports,
yet funnily enough, if the game gets exciting enough, and they get
cajoled enough, they almost always manage to "find" the time.

Given your claim above that it's fifty-fifty as to time and money, half
of your players could potentially be tempted into more games by a good
discount scheme. Looks like some fairly simple arithmetic to me.

Regards,

Laurence G. Tilley
http://www.lgtilley.freeserve.co.uk/

···

Harlequin Games <pbm@harlequingames.com> wrote

I'd like to see this question asked:

···

Harlequin Games <pbm@harlequingames.com> wrote

back to the questionnaire thing again - what would you like to see in a
questionnaire? What issues would you like us to address - I have some ideas
about stuff I would like to see here but am interested in what you think
might be appropriate.

----------------------------------------------------------
Do you think that a team-play agreement document would be useful?
Such a document would be a gentlemen's agreement to encourage good co-
operative play. It would have a number of flexible clauses which could
be included or excluded by debate prior to the game. They would include
(for example only):
* I agree not to seek to end the game by means of the One Ring.
* I agree to circulate my news or forward it to an agreed co-ordinator
within 3 days of process.
* I agree to concede defeat if the majority of the team wishes to
concede.
* I agree not to pursue the Individual Victory Conditions
-----------------------------------------------------------
I'd be willing to draft such a flexible document, but I'd like to know
first if there's sufficient interest.

Regards,

Laurence G. Tilley
http://www.lgtilley.freeserve.co.uk/

I DON'T like this AT ALL. It encourages people to linger - one or two
intransigent individuals hang on long after the game is irredeemable.
The whole of the opposition have to keep paying their 3.50's sorry
3.90's turn after turn, when more fun would be had by all if the
lingerers conceded, and a rematch was arranged. You'll save much more
money by resigning when your chance of winning is gone than by hanging
on to the end and getting a free start up.

Regards,

Laurence G. Tilley
http://www.lgtilley.freeserve.co.uk/

···

chris.soanes@cwcom.net wrote

My
suggestion, Clint, is that whenever a game finishes you offer a free start-up
to those left at the end, provided they sign up straight away for one of the
current games filling up.

Harlequin Games wrote:

back to the questionnaire thing again - what would you like to see in a
questionnaire? What issues would you like us to address - I have some ideas
about stuff I would like to see here but am interested in what you think
might be appropriate.

What you need is a meta-questionnaire, a questionnaire about questionnaires, but
I feel that the real issue is what questions people want in questionnaires about
questionnaires...

Mark

···

--
Saturnalia - Swords & Sorcery PBM, running since 1984!

http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Station/5676/sat.html

Hi,
I very much agree with Chris,

I do agree, though, that the existing custmomer base is the best market.
My suggestion, Clint, is that whenever a game finishes you offer a free
start-up to those left at the end, provided they sign up straight away
for one of the current games filling up. A nice prize for the winners
and the people who have just seen a game through are probably the very
people you want back again.

This would also offer an incentive to help players decide to stick with
a game to the end - if they drop out then they don't get the freebie
start-up.

Please can we have game winners certificates?

Colin.

Yes I would like to see such a document. Basically there are some players
who play for the team and then for the individual victory conditions when
the game is (effectively) won and then you have the team players who don't
care about the individual victory. That leaves the neutrals who are
generally more motivated by an individual win or a fair game (or other
varieties).

I don't think we could get the players to sign as such but it would be
helpful to encourage as well.

>back to the questionnaire thing again - what would you like to see in a
>questionnaire? What issues would you like us to address - I have some

ideas

···

>about stuff I would like to see here but am interested in what you think
>might be appropriate.

I'd like to see this question asked:
----------------------------------------------------------
Do you think that a team-play agreement document would be useful?
Such a document would be a gentlemen's agreement to encourage good co-
operative play. It would have a number of flexible clauses which could
be included or excluded by debate prior to the game. They would include
(for example only):
* I agree not to seek to end the game by means of the One Ring.
* I agree to circulate my news or forward it to an agreed co-ordinator
within 3 days of process.
* I agree to concede defeat if the majority of the team wishes to
concede.
* I agree not to pursue the Individual Victory Conditions
-----------------------------------------------------------
I'd be willing to draft such a flexible document, but I'd like to know
first if there's sufficient interest.

Regards,

Laurence G. Tilley

Thanks Mark … :slight_smile: Question ???

Clint

···

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----- Original Message -----
From: "mwilliams" <mwilliams@signal.dera.gov.uk>
To: <mepbmlist@egroups.com>
Sent: 16 May 2000 08:48
Subject: Re: [mepbmlist] Pricing structure

Harlequin Games wrote:

> back to the questionnaire thing again - what would you like to see in a
> questionnaire? What issues would you like us to address - I have some

ideas

> about stuff I would like to see here but am interested in what you think
> might be appropriate.

What you need is a meta-questionnaire, a questionnaire about

questionnaires, but

I feel that the real issue is what questions people want in questionnaires

about

questionnaires...

Mark
--
Saturnalia - Swords & Sorcery PBM, running since 1984!

http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Station/5676/sat.html

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>My
>suggestion, Clint, is that whenever a game finishes you offer a free

start-up

>to those left at the end, provided they sign up straight away for one of

the

>current games filling up.
I DON'T like this AT ALL. It encourages people to linger - one or two
intransigent individuals hang on long after the game is irredeemable.

We have that anyway... :slight_smile:

The whole of the opposition have to keep paying their 3.50's sorry
3.90's turn after turn,

Sorry - was this a veiled complaint or aside about the pricing? Please just
say you don't like it, don't mind or whatever. :slight_smile:

when more fun would be had by all if the
lingerers conceded, and a rematch was arranged. You'll save much more
money by resigning when your chance of winning is gone than by hanging
on to the end and getting a free start up.

I concur - but some players play this that they would never surrender the
little hobbits to the mouth of Sauron or the like. Fine by me although I
think it detrimental to actual play overall though as it does penalise the
other team. Very hard to please all of the people all of the time here.

Clint

···

Regards,

Laurence G. Tilley
http://www.lgtilley.freeserve.co.uk/

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Left the hardest one for last... :slight_smile:

>Could well be. I know shops do it, and some firms but it is a pain which
>can be easily avoided with a cheque.
I use the credit card option because I allow you to debit it
automatically for me at the end of each month. This surely gives you
some advantages over cheques - you never have to chase me, I never miss
a payment or go into the red, you always hold a sizeable chunk of my
money, on which no doubt you already earn interest. Perhaps you should
open other options to save me (and players like me) the 5% levy - like
Direct Debit.

Yes it is convenient for you to do so. But we are charged for the cc
service. So as a service issue it would be good to just remove the charge.
As a business issue (if you can see what I mean) it is an extra charge to
us. Also it is not our responsibilty if players don't look after their
accounts.

As for players who use monthly debit - it still takes us some effort to get
the card details correct (players often forget to update us with latest
information even when we ask), and lots of other little time consuming
issues. Regularly players get their credit card accounts wrong and the card
is refused because of the monhtly method whereby they forget. All easily
done. :slight_smile:

>
>> 2) Your easiest market is your existing customer base. You should
>> exploit this by introducing a discount scheme for people who are

playing

>> in multiple games. This would tempt people to play more games and pay
>> for itself very quickly.
>Don't agree with this one though. I checked out the time vs money thing

and

>players are fifty-fifty on this. Money is (generally) not the object for
>players who play a lot was the basic marketing thing we came up with.
It is an artificial distinction, and your question was not the best that
could have been asked.

What would be?

Most people will be concerned about time AND
money.

Yes but the first distinction is the all important one. Is it Time or is it
Money? For some it is clearly time (burn out) and for others more the
financial considerations (either don't want to or can't afford).

You, as a business, can't do anything about your customer's time
problems, but you can encourage them to play more by offering them good
deals.

Yes - eg start-up is cheaper, games start regulary, frequent contact with GM
who chats to all the old players who have stopped playing, flyer drop that
sort of thing.

You should be tempting not saying "we understand why you are too
busy to play more, you poor overworked souls".

But I do understand why. Fair enough - players have a limit in effort
(time).

Lots of players within
teams use "time" as the excuse for, say, not writing good turn reports,
yet funnily enough, if the game gets exciting enough, and they get
cajoled enough, they almost always manage to "find" the time.

Yes but this is the nature of excuses. The dog could have ate their turn
report - not everyone plays the game in the same style. Although infuriating
to others who are what I would call hardened gamers, there is a high
proportion of players who just play for fun and like Tolkien. So team games
are organised to help out both forms whereby if you go into an individual
(especially new players) game then you KNOW that there will be a high level
of drop-outs. If you are in a team game then you might say that there
should be no excuse but then again there are many forms of teams.

Given your claim above that it's fifty-fifty as to time and money, half
of your players could potentially be tempted into more games by a good
discount scheme. Looks like some fairly simple arithmetic to me.

I am not convinced. What sort of scheme? The game is priced fine enough as
it is (IMHO) and if you are worried (which some players have been in the
past so it's why I bring it up no offence intended) that we are raking it
in - don't be. One of the questions that I would like in the questionnaire
is income question - helps us a lot and is just interesting.

What you seem to be asking here overall is that turns become cheaper in one
way or another? Would I be correct in this? If so what would be a fair
price(s)? Won't players play as much as time (ie wife, inclination, work
etc) and money (desire to spend and can afford) allow? As pointed out those
players who do not pay by credit card should not be charged for such a
service. The other option is to subsume those costs into the running of the
game and up the charges ie turn cost? Nobody replied to the fixed cost to
play with Harlequin idea though (or Middle Earth only).

As an aside I just realised that the last thing that I did at night (other
than read the Reality Dysfunction by Peter Hamilton a good space yarn btw -
suitbale for a Roleplaying adventure) was write on the list, and lo here I
am again... :slight_smile:

Clint

···

Regards,

Laurence G. Tilley
http://www.lgtilley.freeserve.co.uk/

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Stick the idea on the questionnaire then please.

Regards,

Laurence G. Tilley
http://www.lgtilley.freeserve.co.uk/

···

Harlequin Games <pbm@harlequingames.com> wrote

Yes I would like to see such a document.