Patron Perks

[djensen]

If we can, I would like to offer perks to patrons.

Bronze: badge
Silver: badge, aaa
Gold: badge, aaa, no Google/Amazon/eBay ads on the forums

Bronze: badge
Silver: badge, no Google/Amazon/eBay ads on the forums
Gold: badge, no Google/Amazon/eBay ads on the forums, bbb

The question, what is aaa or bbb?

• A sticker?
• Access to a year end drawing (technically I would have to open this to everybody but those who are not Gold/Silver would have to send a letter in the mail to enter)

[Gargantua]

Hmm… Any additional titles or ranks would be nice.

Could integrate the League?

AAA would be a league option like Playoff Contender, Champion, or Veteran.

Or -albiet this is hard to track, the amount of support this person has shown gives them a title like supreme commander, or field marshall etc,  whatever it was someone else listed before.

[CWO Marc]

I’m not sure what is meant by “a sticker” – more specifically, I don’t know if this means a physical sticker (like a bumper sticker, for example) that would be physically mailed to a person, or some sort of digital sticker that would show up on the forum (similarly to a badge).  Would you have more detailed information?

The year-end-drawing option, however, doesn’t particularly appeal to me, for a couple of reasons.  First: everyone except the winner would end up with nothing.  Second: even the winner, once the prize was collected, would have “expended” that part of their higher-cost contribution for that year.  Badges, by contrast, are “forever”, in the sense that a person’s contribution in a given year is permanently recognized.  To me, that has a higher and longer-term sentimental value than a one-time prize (assuming I even won the prize in the first place, which would be a low-order probability).

[djensen]

It would be a physical sticker that I would mail.

[Private-Panic]

Benefits of Patronage can be achieved by either adding something for Patrons or removing something for non-Patrons. Your query focuses on the former.

My take on adding something of real benefit for Patrons:

• I guess losing the non A&A related adverts would be a benefit, although they are very easy to ignore.
• Personally, a physical sticker would be of no value.
• Being entered for a draw may encourage some, but I guess most would just be pleasantly surprised if they ever won something.
• My conclusion is that to come up with a real benefit you would need to invest some real imagination and effort, which should not be a surprise. For example - add a Patrons only area to the site which includes new content that is actually of interest.

Turning to removing something that already exists for non-Patrons:

• Make avatars (i.e. the picture and caption we can each have) available only for patrons.
• Ditto the ability to attach files to posts.
• Limit access to certain boards. An example might be player aids and maps being restricted to boards accessible by patrons only. This would presumably need the agreement of the members who kindly make such resources available to us, which may be problematic.
• Limit access to the League.
• This whole approach could be controversial. However, at the moment we give everyone access to everything whether they contribute or not.

I did mention elsewhere a few weeks ago my perception that our problem is lots of new members who do not stay with us very long. They get what they want (e.g. access to some rule clarifications, some free advice or the odd player aid or map) and then disappear. Somehow we need to draw such new joiners in rather than allowing them to go. For example, by attracting them to Play By Forum, potentially in the League. At the moment we do not attempt to suck new members into anything we just supinely wait and see whether they continue to come back. Restricting content to patrons may exacerbate the problem of disappearing members, who cannot get at content they want. Or it may engender an increased commitment to the site once they have decided to contribute. :?

Good luck!
PP

[Bob77]

I came here for player aides. Dont know why, but i have stuck around. I like the idea of contributing money, but im always broke. Sorry.
I like the idea of multi tiered with restricted access, but a lot of people would look else where for info before paying for access without knowing what they will find once inside.
Its a bad idea to make people pay to post files. These files can get people to come/stay. Dont charge the guy that gives you free bait.

[Private-Panic]

@Bob77:

Its a bad idea to make people pay to post files. These files can get people to come/stay. Dont charge the guy that gives you free bait.

Wise words Bob :-)

[Imperious Leader]

make people pay to post files.

probably the worst idea ever conceived.

[djensen]

I think not pitching in is fine. But, of course, pitching does go above and beyond.

For a few reasons, we can’t take away what we already offer. For one, we want to attract new players not discourage them.

Ah…brainstorm. To be continued.

@Bob77:

I came here for player aides. Dont know why, but i have stuck around. I like the idea of contributing money, but im always broke. Sorry.
I like the idea of multi tiered with restricted access, but a lot of people would look else where for info before paying for access without knowing what they will find once inside.
Its a bad idea to make people pay to post files. These files can get people to come/stay. Dont charge the guy that gives you free bait.

[djensen]

@Private Panic + something that Bob said resulted in this idea:

First, we remove custom avatars.

Bronze: can change their avatar to anything (within the rules) if they don’t renew, the avatar can  remain the same but can’t be changed to a new custom.
Silver: avatar, no ads
Gold: Discount at a Sponsor (or other discounts), avatar, no ads

Unfortunately the avatar idea is trickier than it seems so:

Bronze: badge
Silver: no ads, badge
Gold: discount, no ads, badge

[barney]

I would just stick with what you’ve been doing.

You need more dough after that …then people can chip in again

[Midnight_Reaper]

@djensen:

{snip}
Unfortunately the avatar idea is trickier than it seems so:

Bronze: badge
Silver: no ads, badge
Gold: discount, no ads, badge

I think that this idea is the best of what I’ve heard so far. I think that maybe perhaps the higher tiers might need to come at a higher price if costs have increased. Right now we have:

Bronze - $10
Silver - $25
Gold - $50

I like Bronze at $10 - I contributed a little bit, here’s proof. But maybe we might think about Silver at $30 and Gold at $60. Higher tiers - get more after giving more. I know I don’t speak for everyone, but I’d chip in $60 for gold. And yes, it put my money where my mouth is, when I do send my PayPal for my gold, I’ll send $60 this year.

Also, why not a Platinum tier. Do it for, say, $100. I don’t know if I’d plop down for that, but I guess it depends on what you or someone else can think up for possible Platinum tier benefits besides a badge that might get confused for Silver…

Another idea - sign up for Patreon.com. Perhaps some people who can’t do $50 in one shot can do $5 every month - which would be $60 for you, minus whatever Patreon charges.

-Midnight_Reaper

[Panther]

@djensen:

Gold: discount, no ads, badge

Discount would probably be interesting for North-American members (only)…

[GeneralMayhem]

If you’re still looking for relevant/cool/inexpensive ideas for aaa or bbb, how about some Roundel Coasters from HBG?
(insert URL code here).historicalboardgaming.com/HBG-60-pt-Beverage-Coasters_p_388.html

I just got mine in the mail yesterday and they’re a great add (along with a Ger airship for AA1914).  Happy days :-D.

Just sayin’/suggestin’
GM

[Bob77]

How about
Bronze $5.  Avatar
Silver.  $10 quote and avatar
Gold.    $25 quote avatar badge
Platnum $50 quote avatar badge no ads
Diamond$75 quote avatar badge no ads 1 random custom vc piece of flag stands or country sticker.

The low tier doesnt give much over free access, but helps bring in some cash.
Bump diamond to $100 and freebie is axis and allies t-shirt

[Bob77]

I like the idea of the ease of use for pay pal, but they charge you a % on your end. You think about accepting check or money order to lower your costs? I know its small potatoes, but it adds up

[djensen]

@Bob77:

I like the idea of the ease of use for pay pal, but they charge you a % on your end. You think about accepting check or money order to lower your costs? I know its small potatoes, but it adds up

Check and money order is a big hassle. PayPal doesn’t charge me fees. I won a hackathon a long time ago and the prize was no fees up to $x. I forgot what x was but it’s small for most retailers but quite large for our needs.

[Bob77]

In that case….paypal is the only way to go. Congrats on that

[AAGamer]

I joined this site in 2007. I checked it out signed in and left. At that time there were many Axis and Allies sites and this was one of many. I played only live games up to that point and only at GenCon. (well some on aamc but i hated typing in all the orders) After about 2009 or 10 I quit Axis and Allies completely – gone. Played Flames of War - miniatures until I was broke. – now.

So then I decided to go back to Axis and Allies. I checked all the sites I had done before… There were very few and none really active. In fact the only one with any kind of activity at all is this one - Axis & Allies.org. 
I got here and was like WoW – look at all these games… Crap what have I been missing. So I called up an Old A&A friend and said lets play and he showed me AA50 and 42 and I was once again hooked.

But how/where do I find players–I did google searches and looked around Wisconsin- any cons events with A&A nope it was long gone. None in Mn, IA or even IL… I would have to go back to Gencon.
I was like I really don’t want to, However this site had it all and it then it hooked me on Global 40 2nd editiion.  I was like this is what I been looking for all along… But how/where do I find players. This site has it too.

So what I am getting at is to find ways to advertise this site more on social media-- I have no idea how to do that. But I have learned there are many people that would play if they knew a site like this was available.
I am hooked back in because of TripleA and the Play by Forum option that this Web Site offers.

One option is to give perks to people whom advertise on Facebook or twitter or other places.  I mean I have 1200 people on my Facebook and if I knew what was wanted I could post something every so often about A&A Org.
Others could pick up twitter or other places that they like to use.

You could give them a bar or something – about advertiser… Plus it would give your sponsors more hits/views and could bring in more players to the site.

As for current Patron Perks I had considered giving but was short but when you personally sent me a message DJensen is when I committed. It meant a lot. This site offers something that no other site is really doing – yet very few people know about it.

I think offering more options then 3 is good. A platinum for 100 bucks or so. give a t-shirt - send them a beer. Heck I have seen kickstarter people suggest 500 dollar donations or 1000  dollars for dinner and a game with the best players…
Heck anything for fund raising.

Sorry I was so long winded I just think you have a great thing going and would like to see it grow. Thanks.

[AAGamer]

A prize drawing (or perks) could include gift certificates of sponsors or actual items/games

Maybe get Larry Harris to sign something A&A related and auction it off or give as a prize. (He is a good guy like that last time I knew it)