Floating licenses and affiliate program

[Ged]

One of the most requested features for Fantasy Grounds has been the capability to have players join games without first purchasing a license (this has also been opposed). This kind of model is often referred to as a "floating license". For various reasons, we have not offered this kind of licensing. First it was out of principle; the GM should not be made to pay for all the fun. Then it was a technical difficulty relating to piracy, and finally a feasible business model was hard to formulate, one that would not ruin some of the economic basis that allows us to keep developing Fantasy Grounds (sales of Lite Licenses).

We have also thought of how we could reward those users who persuade others to adopt Fantasy Grounds. If we had a large inventory of different products, we could give those in return to some points accrued, but we don't. We could also give upgrade codes to those having a Lite License. But as we believe, it is the GMs, who recruit new players. The GMs already have the best we have to offer.

There is now one model that could accommodate both of these issues, although we know the solution will not get everybody's cheer. We are planning a subscription based floating license system. As it is subscription based, players will probably be more aware that using the floating license seat is not the standard way they should attend games, i.e. GMs should not be expected to provide the seat. The subscription fee could be paid with both money and affiliate points (how to earn affiliate points will be explained when we near the completion of the system). The subscription fee will be deducted from the account only on those months that floating license(s) are used (again one way to protect GMs right not to pay for everything). Several floating licenses can be used, but each one used simultaneously within a month counts as one deduction from the account.

The subscription fee will probably be about $5 per month per license used simultaneously during said month.

As I said, this will probably not receive everyone's cheer, but it is a way we could go ahead with floating licenses as well as give some protection to the GMs purse. There are technical as well as legal issues with the model we have to sort out before even beginning to implement any of this. We also have other things in the pipeline before any of this, but we wanted to share some thoughts already early on. We would like to hear any comments or feedback, those will be read and considered (and if the feedback is unanimously condemning, we might still pull the whole idea).

Thanks in advance,

[zWolf]

Yay! well, I'll start out saying that I'm for such a thing,

the main concern that I have is that I would be planing to pay for 5 or 6 floating licenses each month, and 25 to 30 bucks a month would get too high really. I'm used to paying 15 a month for other subscription services though, and could easily see me just budgeting for that each month.

Thanks for listening, and coming up with something to offer to the community!

I'll probably just use a freebee VT till this comes out, but I WILL be first in line, when it comes time to snag this...(as long as it's not tooo expensive.)

Thanks,

zWolf -out.

[Oberoten]

This sounds like a great way to get to show of the game for newcomers.

I like it.

- Obe

[Bidmaron]

I think this is a workable solution and I would probably keep two licenses. The fact that you folks listen to feedback is a great thing about the company.

[Spyke]

On first sight, that looks to me to be a workable solution. Good thinking.

Spyke

[mr_h]

It may be too early for me in the morning...but as I understand: There'll be A) Purchase a full license and a B) Purchase a floating license as needed plan? Both existing, or is it only one or the other?

I'm not a fan of pay to play, so I'd rather have a just buy a product and be over with it. If everything switched to a subscription based, I'd probably have a problem with it. IF both options are given to folks, it'd be nice. Much easier to demo off the product too.

[Ged]

mr_h,

The Full and the Lite licenses will remain as they are. The floating license will just be an additional option.

[mr_h]

mr_h,

The Full and the Lite licenses will remain as they are. The floating license will just be an additional option.

Gotcha, thanks for the clarification. Sounds good to me

[Valarian]

Ged,

Thanks for the attempt to produce a floating license solution that would work for the company. What you're proposing seems workable from my perspective, although there are some questions over how the proposed scheme would work in practice.

If I understand this correctly, the player would set up a subscription account and get a license to go with the account. If they use that license to play in a game during any particular month, then the account is charged at $5. Good for a casual look before buying with only a minimal outlay.

Less clear, I think is the demo game scenario. If (as a GM) I want to run a free demo game, I set up a subscription account and get a license to give to the players. For each player using that license in any particular month, I get charged $5.
1. Could you use the same subscription license to connect to one Full license, or would several subscription accounts be needed?
e.g. I want to run a demo game for four players
2. Will the subscription account be locked to my Full license, so unscrupulous players can't go and use the license to connect to someone else's game and charge me?
3. Would you be able to open a subscription account for a limited period (say for a certain online convention)?
3a. Would I then be able to open another subscription account for the following time I want to run a demo?
3b. If not, would I be able to indicate whether the license should be considered active or not within the account?

I presume that the subscription player would have to connect using the alias server, rather than being able to connect directly using an IP address.

Regards,
Ian (Valarian)

[Ged]

Valarian,

First, the details are still very much open at this time, thus anything I say may change...

The floating licenses would only be available to GMs, i.e. a particular Full License would be connected with a subscription of the floating license service. It is quite common for a GM to have a group (or serveral) going, and one player who would like to try it out. The GM can lease his floating license to that one player for the duration of the game (as a matter of fact, he cannot lease it any other way - one GM cannot lease his floating license outside games he hosts). In the next group, the GM has a different experimenter, the GM gives the same floating license to that player. As long as there is only on player on a floating license at any particular time, the subscription fee is only for one floating license. On to your questions:

0. The GM would not be paying by individual players, but by the number of players using floaging licenses simultaneously. You could have ten (or whatever number of) different people using the floating license as long as they are not using it at the same time. The GM naturally will have a way to control the number of players being able to connect without their own Lite or Full licenses.
1. If a particular player uses floating licenses in several different games, the GMs of each of the games needs to have and be willing to provide that license.
2. A floating license is only usable with the Full license to which the floating license is connected
3. We haven't decided yet how the subscription periods will be defined. At this point it seems that the subscription account will click on monthly basis. If you have three months worth of subscription, you use one month now, the next on May, and the last in December (during the months you use the subscription, you can use it as much as you like). I don't mean, at least not now, that the subscription has to be tied to calendar months, but just to give you the idea.
3a. The subscription service would remain alive as long as there is enough funds on the account. When you decide to use the funds, is up to you.
3b. You will be able to give or not to give the license to a player who wants to jump in and use the floating license.

We don't know yet how the players would connect. It will, in any case, require some validation on our server.