Lifetime Subscriptions?

[runevirage]

Do you think RS should allow you to purchase lifetime subscriptions? It would be something like a high upfront cost equal to 2 or 3 years of subscription, and then after that your account will be members forever with no future payments. Games such as Lord of the Rings Online are already offering this feature, and I personally would like some sort of option like that. What do you guys think?

[compfreak847]

Probably not. It's unlikely that anyone would purchase it unless they were positive they wouldn't quit for a long time, losing Jagex money. Plus RS has a way of keeping people attached much longer then they plan to...

[purewcnub]

Probably not. It's unlikely that anyone would purchase it unless they were positive they wouldn't quit for a long time, losing Jagex money. Plus RS has a way of keeping people attached much longer then they plan to...

 

That last line made me laugh :)

 

 

 

I wouldn't like buying one of these, for example what if something bad happened during the subscription and you wanted to start fresh? That would be horrible...

[runevirage]

But would Jagex really lose money from the players who go past the amount of the upfront cost? They get a large injection of money which can be used for investments, company growth and game development, which in turn makes more money and attracts more customers.

[bronzewarrior]

the only people with permanent subscriptions are the ones who ratted out katnieks for making an auto bot and SixFeetUnder for duplicating items.

 

 

 

I doubt they play though.

[stormveritas]

That's quite the commitment.

 

 

 

If the price were, say $100, I'd probably go for it. That's just under 2 years at normal subscription rates.

 

 

 

Past that, there's really no impetous for Jagex to do this unless they plan on mailing it in and stopping the release of new content (or doing a less stellar job). Otherwise the assumption that people will want to play for a lifetime would incentivize Jagex to just get monthly fees.

 

 

 

The price balance would be really hard.

[Dharockslayer]

the only people with permanent subscriptions are the ones who ratted out katnieks for making an auto bot and SixFeetUnder for duplicating items.

 

 

 

I doubt they play though.

 

The one who ratted out SixFeetUnder was banned too wasn't he?

[n_odie]

But would Jagex really lose money from the players who go past the amount of the upfront cost? They get a large injection of money which can be used for investments, company growth and game development, which in turn makes more money and attracts more customers.

 

 

 

 

 

That is actually a very good point! If it was like $100 bucks or something I might do it. Been playing for 3-4 years now, most of the time members, and even while I play 5 or less hours a week I still find it worth $5 bucks (or whatever subs. you have).

[BloodArgon]

Also consider the fact that the company would have to honor the agreements. There would have to be some sort of ratio that the cost is per months of members. It may cost two years worth, but be unlimited. This means that when you signed up, you would be owed at least two years of membership. This is bad if runescape is planned to close say, in a year, and you go ahead and buy two years. Now Jagex is suddenly tied to giving you another year. Too many stipulations to make it worth it. Plus the fact that you might want to start over, or you get banned. Overall, not such a good idea. I like being able to toggle my membership on and off.

[Dragons_Might]

A few people say they would lose money from people who play longer.

 

 

 

What about the reverse? Say it was $180 (3 years at new price). Someone buys it and in 6 months has to quit for some reason or just wants to. they just got 2.5 years of payments from someone who isnt even playing.

 

 

 

Now think of who gets banned. Someone buys it and gets banned, then jagex still gets free money from a player who has to now either quit, or will make a new account and give them even more money.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As to whether I'd get it.. Idk.. really depends on the cost. Not even sure if it would be the greatest benefit.

[runevirage]

Also consider the fact that the company would have to honor the agreements. There would have to be some sort of ratio that the cost is per months of members. It may cost two years worth, but be unlimited. This means that when you signed up, you would be owed at least two years of membership. This is bad if runescape is planned to close say, in a year, and you go ahead and buy two years. Now Jagex is suddenly tied to giving you another year. Too many stipulations to make it worth it. Plus the fact that you might want to start over, or you get banned. Overall, not such a good idea. I like being able to toggle my membership on and off.

 

 

 

Jagex would be in no way "tied", nor would they be legally obligated. Even right now, Jagex can terminate its service whenever they want, the same as any online service or retailer. Also your statement is quite paradoxical, if you really consider Jagex possibly closing in one or even two years, why would you be a member or play Runescape currently? Also, consider that this could be an option, and those who prefer to pay monthly or yearly could still do so.

[Crimsoncow42]

the only people with permanent subscriptions are the ones who ratted out katnieks for making an auto bot and SixFeetUnder for duplicating items.

 

 

 

I doubt they play though.

 

 

 

I think the guy who duped tried to turn himself in and get the permanent subscription but got banned instead.

[AgentEarl]

i would never buy one, who knows when youd get bored or have other commitments

[aguz]

people with lifetime subscription and gets banned or muted would get mad

[Mugunge]

the only people with permanent subscriptions are the ones who ratted out katnieks for making an auto bot and SixFeetUnder for duplicating items.

 

 

 

I doubt they play though.

 

 

 

I think the guy who duped tried to turn himself in and get the permanent subscription but got banned instead.

 

 

 

Assuming were talking about the famous purple phat dupe way back in RSC, it was like this:

 

 

 

Someone, dont know the name, found a way to dupe through the trade window by inserting IDs into the "trade-x" thingy (i think, its been a long time). Anyway, whoever did it, didnt keep it to himself and it spread to quite a few people, hence why so many pink phats were created and it went from rarest to least rare in a matter of days. Jagex noticed and made an announcement that whoever TELLS them how to reproduce the bug, will get lifetime membership, because they needed a fix fast, before more damage could be done, even though the economy was already ruined. After the announcement, a person who knew how to dupe, told them how to do it and got banned straight away. Whether he/she actually did abuse it or just knew how to, nobody knows and Jagex didnt have a way to check at the time (hence why all the dupes had to stay in the game), so i believe the person got banned without evidence, unless he/she had say 100 phat sets or something obvious like that.

 

 

 

This happened a long time ago though so bear in mind that my memory might have failed me a bit. Im pretty sure this is quite accurate though.

 

 

 

Off-topic: Personally, i think the dupe back then was the best thing that couldve ever happened to Jagex. Sure the economy crashed and all, but it spawned a lot more rares which turned out to not be such a bad thing. Later on Jagex had a lot of issues with rares and their insane prices, think of rares at their highest, and then imagine if there were even less of them (the dupe probably doubled the amount of rares in the game). They wouldve been so much more rare and much more of a problem for Jagex.

[runevirage]

people with lifetime subscription and gets banned or muted would get mad

 

 

 

People with any form of membership or even nonmembership would get mad for being banned or muted. That's the consequence for breaking the rules repeatedly or committing serious offenses and always has been.

 

 

 

the only people with permanent subscriptions are the ones who ratted out katnieks for making an auto bot and SixFeetUnder for duplicating items.

 

 

 

I doubt they play though.

 

 

 

I think the guy who duped tried to turn himself in and get the permanent subscription but got banned instead.

 

 

 

Assuming were talking about the famous purple phat dupe way back in RSC, it was like this:

 

 

 

Someone, dont know the name, found a way to dupe through the trade window by inserting IDs into the "trade-x" thingy (i think, its been a long time). Anyway, whoever did it, didnt keep it to himself and it spread to quite a few people, hence why so many pink phats were created and it went from rarest to least rare in a matter of days. Jagex noticed and made an announce that whoever TELLS them how to reproduce the bug, will get lifetime membership, because they needed a fix fast, before more damage could be done, even though the economy was already ruined. After the announcement, a person who knew how to dupe, told them how to do it and got banned straight away. Whether he/she actually did abuse it or just knew how to, nobody knows and Jagex didnt have a way to check at the time (hence why all the dupes had to stay in the game), so i believe the person got banned without evidence, unless he/she had say 100 phat sets or something obvious like that.

 

 

 

This happened a long time ago though so bear in mind that my memory might have failed me a bit. Im pretty sure this is quite accurate though.

 

 

 

Off-topic: Personally, i think the dupe back then was the best thing that couldve ever happened to Jagex. Sure the economy crashed and all, but it spawned a lot more rares which turned out to not be such a bad thing. Later on Jagex had a lot of issues with rares and their insale prices, think of rares at their highest, and then imagine if there were even less of them (the dupe probably doubled the amount of rares in the game). They wouldve been so much more rare and much more of a problem for Jagex.

 

 

 

This is not a discussion on some one incident, we're discussing an actual legit avenue of membership in the form of lifetime subscriptions. Please read the first post.

[Mugunge]

This is not a discussion on some one incident, we're discussing an actual legit avenue of membership in the form of lifetime subscriptions. Please read the first post.

 

 

 

People were talking about lifetime subscriptions, a case (or cases) of where those were supposedly given out was brought up and there seemed to be some confusion so i thought id clear things up? I dont get why that is too far from the topic. Its all related to it after all, except for my off topic bit which was just a random comment.

 

 

 

Oh and i did in fact read the first post, dont assume i didnt.

[Toad]

to my memory lifetime has been offered once, in 2004 november when the partyhat dupe happened they said anyone that says who did it, and how, they will give lifetime membership to.

[Cheefoo]

What is you saved Andrew Gower's life? What if you saved Andrew and Paul Gower's lives? What if you saved their lives blindfolded? What if you became a genie and granted all their wishes? What if you paid 6000 dollars?

 

 

 

I don't think they'd do that. What if you paid for it, then never played again? That would benefit Jagex. What if you paid for it, then played for years and years? That would benefit you, at the cost of quite a bit of money for Jagex. It's best if you are charged as you play, nothing in advance.

[runevirage]

What is you saved Andrew Gower's life? What if you saved Andrew and Paul Gower's lives? What if you saved their lives blindfolded? What if you became a genie and granted all their wishes? What if you paid 6000 dollars?

 

 

 

I don't think they'd do that. What if you paid for it, then never played again? That would benefit Jagex. What if you paid for it, then played for years and years? That would benefit you, at the cost of quite a bit of money for Jagex. It's best if you are charged as you play, nothing in advance.

 

 

 

Games such as Guild Wars charge a one time fee and provide huge amounts of updates along with continued development and maintenance, and it's way more profitable than Runescape. Clearly there is logic to such a subscription model or else the top players in the industry wouldn't be doing it. There is definitely a flaw in thinking that a player playing for many years would lose Jagex money, although as I'm not a businessman (yet), I can't explain it to you fully. But if the upfront cost was about 3 years worth of membership, then Jagex would only start "losing money" 3 years after the payment. In that time they could've easily doubled that initial payment's value through investments, making up for future membership costs of that member and more.

[Knitewulf]

the only people with permanent subscriptions are the ones who ratted out katnieks for making an auto bot and SixFeetUnder for duplicating items.

 

 

 

I doubt they play though.

 

The one who ratted out SixFeetUnder was banned too wasn't he?

Sixfeetunder ratted himself out in hopes of a lifetime membership. Instead jagex lied and he got an IP ban.

[Patr1ck]

With the economy in its current state you never know when you might need that money. :thumbdown:

[highlanders]

On the long run, it's pretty risky to offer that option. If in a few years runescape was struggling to make money, they would be stuck with a potentially large amount of players who bought lifetime memberships, and would freeload on the servers, resulting in server costs and no fresh money entering. If one made a graph out of this, assuming the lifetime membership cost is equivalent to 3 years, then one could see jagex making a profit boom at the time of purchase, then be profiting until 3 years, but after those 3 years each additional year they would lose money. The older the game would become, the more they would lose money on lifetime suscribers.

 

 

 

This is something I would see on younger games with higher player turn-over rates. Flashy graphics, nice combat, is fun for a while, but little content so people leave fast. Player buys it, quits after 6 months, profit made. On rs a lot of people stay years, because the content and updates incensitive to stay years is there. Jag knows they can get people to pay the full price for years and years, they don't need this.

[3hitm4g3u]

If you could change it between accounts a few times each year it would be good. If not then no.

 

 

 

 

 

the only people with permanent subscriptions are the ones who ratted out katnieks for making an auto bot and SixFeetUnder for duplicating items.

 

 

 

I doubt they play though.

 

 

 

Jut said everyone involved was banned.

[Crimsoncow42]

Permanent memberships are usually offered when a new mmo comes out and the company needs cash quick to start investing. Runescape is definitely not new and the number of players is increasing every year. Jagex has also stated that it plans to keep Runescape updated for 5 to even 10 years. So, I honestly don't think that Jagex would consider offering lifetime membership.