sweet! :D

I DIDN'T KNOW YOU COULD CHANGE THREAD NAMES AND EDIT OTHER PEOPLE'S POSTS

show me how thx

Hm, the premium sub should help convince numerous industry people to sign up to the site, which means they could foreseeably post on the forums.

Should this happen, could we have a way to identify them? Either staff/mods being informed of who they are (and told to let it go public or keep it private depending on the person's wishes), or maybe give them a tag noting the company they're affiliated with. Don't force them into it, but give them the option should they choose to make a name for themselves on the site.

On neogaf the various insiders are given quite a bit of credibility, and I would want to see something similar here, lest every informed statement they make be followed by "and how would you know?"

@bugrimmar: Not even us mods can edit thread titles! Though I wish we could.

I rather like this, though it may be a case of putting the cart before the horse

It definitely is, and we may not even need such a feature for quite some time.  Despite the fact that the industry has grown more and more receptive to our site, interested parties have yet to show their face on our forums yet, except Shams.  I have few ideas of why they may avoid our forums, but I'll get into that elswhere.

Also, I see you're thinking of becoming a contributor yet again.  I think you'd be a much better fit in a certain other staff position, as you know.  ;)

It's a good concept and everything; I just don't see more then a few people paying for the premium membership.


You should add one thing to the premium: You can't be banned for little things like trolling. If you pay you've earned the right to troll.

Also instead of just monthly for $7.99 you could give a yearly option for like $69.99 or something and give people a good deal if they make the long term commitment.

Last thing the data would have to be on time. Since its free right now I never complain about the numbers being later then usual, but if I'm paying $8/month to see them I'd like them the same time every week.

Edit: If the things I mentioned (yearly payment option, way less bans & numbers on time every week) then there's a much higher chance I'd pay.

Edit 2: Also to thank current members for supporting the site; you could give a much discounted price (like $40 for the first year) to current members with either over 500 or over 1000 posts; something like that to thank them for our loyalty! Because basically just by coming to the site we're supporting it by increasing the value of ad space on the site.

Edit 3: You mentioned MAYBE no ads for people who pay the $8/month. How about you forget about no ads (keep the ads, because they're only a minor annoyance) and make it $5/month which sounds more reasonable.

The Permium Membership is geared more towards development studios and whatnot.  It'd probably be considered a business expense, and they'd give their community manager or somebody control of the account. 

There are some more developers that post here.  They just don't let you know who they are ;)

Buyers get first look, Free users get the data on the following day.

Buyers get no ads, free users still get ads.

Buyers get a raffle every year to have a chance to win a free game of their choice, free users do not.

Every year supscription gets you a free vgchartz t-shirt that free users can not have access to, free users do not get one.

On game reviews allow buyers to add their own mini review along with the official review and maybe like a mini forumn within that to discuss that certain game, free users can only view the official game review.

For buyers when you give out the weekly data sit and talk with them and give your insight or input on the week and the trends and maybe make predictions that only they can have the honors of seeing (on the IM or some other feature), for free users none of that.

Just a couple ideas I thought would make the membership worth while to some.

Edit: Is there a way you can get new games early so we can get reviews up and out before the release like sites such as ign? If so that can help bringing in new users, giving us some more credibility, and ultimately giving you some cash in the pocket.

I'd also like to know how limiting numbers to certain subscriptions will affect the forums. Let's say somebody with a paid account posts the top 200 on the forums for all to see. I assume we'll have to remove such things? Well there be a private forum for paid subscribers to discuss anything pertaining to numbers only they have access to?

Sounds like it'll be a rather decisive move for the community.