normally, i would be against this, but given the circumstances, i think it is a fair decision....but i do see a potential conflict....and here is a potential way to solve it....

ok....so premium goes to premium....normal goes to normal........but what if the two players wish to play each other.....the only way for that to happen is for the premium to play on the normal server....but thats ok right?....what if the premium play more on normal than on their own servers?......the normal will obviously complain...and for good reasons too....

so heres my idea.....yes, have premium server only for premium people.......yes, have normal servers...but have certain normal servers only for normal people and have some that will accept both type of players

edit*

about some ads on the forums...i see them in game...but never on forums....potential revenue there

also.... bring back the watch ads for ingame money, but have the glitch fixed this time....i already got money from the last glitch, but i still wouldn't mind watching some adds each day to help fund DF

Honestly Zuperman, I don't see the means to a solution here, only a temporary fix. I'm looking at it from many sides and still see what will always be the issue. Excuses from many who aren't willing to pay or contribute, or can't contribute due to other circumstances in life. Nothing personal towards anyone, I get it, no need for hate mail.

By offering free servers, a great deal will choose option A, while those of us who wish to support, will continuously worry that the funding will not subside the expense of the uber servers. Or that any update or glitch fix will be month's in the making, while we deal with the glitches and lag, as lag will always be a part of any online community.

In part, you have a life yourself and need to supplement your income. Meaning, time away from this great game you have created, while we wait to hear what future we all have here and whether it will cease to exist.

So how does one approach this real problem? I think that you as the creator are the only one who can answer this question and come to a conclusion that may subside the current events, or something of the end.I love this game with all the good and bad, it has become a piece of me that I can't get rid of and always fear will end. You created a means for bonds, friendships, rivalries and fight's here. A community that bonds when crises enter our real lives and all come together in thought in prayer, support.

I am willing to support as I have many others in many ways here and only hope many more feel the same and once again come together in support of a place we all enjoy and escape our day to day tasks in life. So there it is, I truly hope the best.

I like the idea of a yearly subscription.you don't want the same mess in 12 months time.$5 is still cheap so you could have the option when paying to + the amount if the player wanted to donate above that.A donate button on screen somewhere cant be a bad idea if someone's flush that week.
Ads on the chat bar is a defo no no.the player would loose connection in the middle of a game.Out of game screens maybe for the free version.
The premium servers would lessen the trolls(well said hulk).

You have probably received many responses on how to fix the problem. I will throw in my ideas. Don't do the one time for life fee. Look for a steady stream of revenue and make it an option for daily, monthly, six month, or yearly. Make a price point for each that offers a discount for longer terms. Look at other games like World of Tanks Blitz and see their pricing levels. While some of your followers may not have the resources to pay big fees, many youth have the resources to buy lots of games, gaming devices, and items that go with them. So they will find a way to manage fees for DF. I am not sure how you would verify or manage a fund that would support those who cannot pay. I have seen many who have said they would donate as would I, but I am not sure it is feasible. Anyway, keep us in the loop as much as you can. Good luck!

im in I have spent many hours here like everyone else and love the community (well most of)and I don't have any issues paying even more to keep it going.

Call me cynical,

Bought new planes, paid premium $ for upgrades to help you with $$$..
No response to emails for 1.5 months. (Still no response.)
Offers of FREE mods ignored.
Allowing WC to become a cesspool of vulgarity.
And, as I predicted, we'd hear from you for more money.

I don't mind paying more, but not for MINIDF or your other adventures.

If you would have communicated, I wouldn't feel this way.

Cynically yours,
Paul

Monthly, yearly, bigger one-time fee, I will pay it. Yours is the only game that is worth that to me. But please make sure that you MAKE SOME PROFIT on this new opportunity to re-price the game. None of this break-even or subsidized game bullcrap! I'm pretty sure you didn't intend Echoboom to be a nonprofit!

We want you to thrive, and not just because you're a good guy -- if you thrive, we get to play a great game, with quality data throughput.

If you're concerned about pricing some of the players out of their financial capability, maybe try a tiered pricing setup with benefits. For example, $5.00/yr might keep most in the game, but you could easily pull $25.00 out of my wallet if you included a Dogfight t-shirt! (Plus shipping from Spain.)

Manfred

EDIT: I see Paul's message below, and I have to agree that this is ill-timed. But all connected. Another reason to charge enough money to make Dogfight profitable is that business tend to service and protect their profitable products. So please be profitable with DF.

I think a monthly or yearly fee would be best. one off fees, means that the money runs out eventually if not enough new users sign on, where as the monthly or yearly subscription means there is a stream of revenue, some predictability about the revenue for Echboom.

On the price, it depends, kids can be priced out, remember that $5 isn't that much to some of us, but if it's 300 Rupees (not sure what that buys these days but I used to get an awesome lunch for 70 rupees when I was in our Indian office). Just want to think about our friends in countries where the exchange rate isn't so great.

Maybe $36 per year, $3 per month, or $3 per month and $33 (a small discount for paying 12 months up front)?

I see where everyone is coming from here, and how people are saying that it should be more money or no lifetime. Well for those of us younger players who have been playing for a long time and are loyal to the game, and who also don't have jobs yet, that wouldn't work out great. Im happy to pay 5 bucks for this game, heck i ill pay 20, but people age said they also think it should be $5 a month, $60 a year. I can't do that, and there are probably others who can't either. I don't want to be unsupportive, but it would be the end of the line for me.

Read ZUPERMAN'S post again :

$1 monthly OR $5 lifetime.

I'm probably the newest member of the DF community that will post and if the 5 for life goes you can count me in too. I'll even cover costs for another dozen. While I'm at it how about an option that allows for the selling of a plane that's past its prime enabling some of us rookies with a hint of talent to aquire the newer more expensive planes a little faster thus evening the odds a bit or at least when its 6 morafs against 1 lowly Major General maybe make them down grade just to be fair. After all they are the more skilled pilots aren't they? And they should still come out the victors, right? Now I'll be quite wouldn't want anyone getting all road ragey on me:).

Paul why would we call you cynical, We've called you much worse. but ZUPERMAN he has a point

I would gladly pay 5 dollars to keep playing.
Ty sir for your work, in keeping this game going.

Forget the subscription! I'll give you $10 for each "loud dirty sick poty mouth sob" that is banned!

$5?! thats pretty cheap I support you 100%.

Can somebody help me?! My DF doesnt want to work on my windows 8 tablet!!!

I'm with Manfred 100%. Charge enough to make it profitable! Charge enough to where you can spend more time and effort on the upkeep the game needs.

I want to point out that this game is played on smartphones, smartpads, PCs, and other devises that are in general, not cheap!! A reasonable fee should not be an issue for people who have these types of devises.

I think a yearly fee of between $25 and $45 US dollars is reasonable. Divide by 10 for a monthly fee.

My boss has a Vett that he lets me drive sometimes. I really enjoy driving it, but I won't buy my own because it is beyond my means. I could re-arrange my finacial priorities and buy one if I REALLY wanted one, however there are things that are more important to me. It is a fact of life. For such a small amount, those who want to play can find a way.

Date cuenta que la mayoría de los pilotos activos son personas mayores a los 25 años. Y que quienes ahorita están opinando corresponden a ese perfil, y por lo tanto, son personas con sustento económico propio.
El cliente joven, exige aun mas que los que ahora están aquí presentes, y son aun mas exigentes cuando pagan por algo. Yo hice hace algunos meses un acuerdo con un amigo de que descargara el juego en cada una de las tablets que el vendiera, y que lo hiciera también en las computadoras que él arregla. Pero desgraciadamente muchos de sus clientes se quejaron de que el juego era muy malo. No por los gráficos, no por los controles, no por lo dificil, sino porque no tenía sentido.

Eres una persona bastante complicada ,Joaquin. Y lo estoy diciendo porque tu trato hacia mi es así, complicado. Crees entonces tener la capacidad de dar un servicio al cliente propio de quien cobra en una app ?

No sólo te pagaría la anualidad del juego, sino te estoy regalando mis servicios que como asesor de análisis de producto hago y que del cual cobro un salario, pero aún así no importa quien sea, lo que te ofrezca o lo que te pide, tu simplemente ignoras.

Si de algo de sirve, te recomiendo mejor comenzar a cobrar las balas, las bombas y el combustible de manera que un escuadrón deba sostener la manutención de sus pilotos. Entre todos los pilotos deberán dar un % de sus ganancias al escuadrón, y se generará entonces un ahorro del escuadrón. Entonces, el piloto no solamente pagará la membresía para poder seguir jugando, sino también porque tiene un objetivo, y es la de ser rentable para el escuadrón y no quedarle mal a su equipo. Pero obvio, primero debes encargarte de que sirva para algo pertenecer a un escuadrón.

Y repito, no importa mucho la cantidad que gustes cobrar, sino que ahora se tendrán mayores motivos para exigir un servicio propio de atención a clientes.

As someone that has paid for some of our younger players to begin to play and grow with us I agree with $5 lifetime.
You have to consider the market.
Many of our young friends would struggle to pay more. They wouldn't eat so they could play DF.
This is their outlet and in many cases, their only connection with older guidance.

We also have older folks here with families and others that are homebound and on fixed incomes.
Dog Fight and WE are their outlet.

I DISAGREE with the idea of separate servers for those with money and those without.
It's fundamentally and financially unsound to accomplish your goals.

USD 5 will be around rupees 300 in my place.
Fair price+ no trolls(Ty sir hulk) I'm willing to pay.
But as some of u guys were saying 60 dollars for an year. It will be like rupees 3600 for an indian to pay. Trust me friends,that's too much for an avg guy to pay for a game.

besides what Paul is saying when I started the game it costs I don't remember four or five bucks for a lifetime of gameing then I have paid more for miscellaneous items I do not mind paying for another subscription a monthly fee I believe would be a larger headache then it would be a benefit just the bookkeeping part alone would be enough to make you go bald but it is your game and I respect your decisions but we would as a community like to see you around a bit more often I understand you are working on the game I appreciate your efforts but when someone ask you a question and you never get back to them I say this because I see the post all the time you could at least enlist the help of a subordinate to answer some of the emails are threads.

Greetings,

I can readily see paying one-time $5 to play, however I doubt that's the last time money will be requested. I purchased points to upgrade planes/tanks etc. in anticipation of playing a game that would stick around and function. Many here do not have the cash and it may limit the players of all ages. In turn, that would limit the fixes proposed and increase money requested from the rest of us.

With all due respect, this program has been promising things that never happened, kicks many players out of constant good games, never produced moderators and squad wars is no longer discussed. It is the strong community of players that have formed friendships that allow it to continue.

I very much like this game, as many do. But when cracks appear it's not a good sign of the future.

Trust me, I do hope I'm wrong and all will work out well.

Best, Dire

We couldn't get people to donate for dogfight elite, minimum of $1.00 over a period of thirty days to jump start the new project, yet 100,000 new players in how many hours downloaded the free version thanks to windows and with that in flux, no gross profit.

I paid $5.00 for this game and love it, yet here we are several years down the road and facing the possibility of the end. So how much more time will $5.00 buy us? How many now will pay? How many parents will thank god that they can get the kid outside again?

A band aide over a used band aide will not hold as long as the first few and wishful thinking is great but only practical if put into actual productive use.

Me parece totalmamete lógico y razonable.
Es un precio bajo para un gran juego y las horas que todos empleamos en el.
Entiendo que haya personas que les pueda supononer un problema pero la idea de tener las dos modalidades garantiza su permanencia.
Creo razonable tambien se pagasé por alguna otra mejora, traductor simultaneo, etc, etc.
Por mi parte, si promueves otras opciones tambien optaré por ellas y estaré encantado de apoyar la supervivencia del juego y la comunidad Dogfight.
Perdón por no contestqr en el lenguaje del post pero hablo poco ingles y sé de tu conocimiento del español.
Suerte con tu proyecto.
Un abrazo

Anything for this wonderful game. I agree to pay $5 for lifetime.

You have my full support in whatever decision you take to keep the game working.

I'm windows 8.1 user. Kindly confirm whether the game will continue to work in windows.

I also feel like an important fact is missing here. How many active players of this game, POST on the forum?

Relatively simple, looking at this community as most have had some inter action and many have become friends, however the ruling body of active players is absent in this forum.

Some brilliant points raised here...I have something to add, like you guys I love df it's more than just a game as we all know, it's helped me when I had some hard times..( I do have a life!) But this is unique and very hard to put down..so I'm gonna ask questions directly to Joaquin..
What does this game mean to you? Is it profitable enough?
Do you enjoy running it?
Does it mean as much to you as it obviously does to others?
My point is if there was only one game I could play it would be this one.Zup you have created something more than a game here, you have I believe the funding available from the players here me included..your business model should include voluntary skills that some could offer,and the donations button also what ever you decide make it clear as you are more likely to get help from those who will be paying if they have a clear understanding of their financial commitments..I'm guessing that what ever funding strategy that is used it will not be for 100% of the players nothing in life seems to be ...but be assured zup you have a band of followers that will do anything to keep this wonderful game alive...breathe relax the answers will come...yours df ingly.mk

People are willing to pay for value added services not increases to something they already have. You will lose players that way. Here are some tips. If you want to add a monthly subscription, come out with squad wars and charge squads a monthly subscription. Also look at games like castle clash. It is free to play but it takes time to build without purchasing items. Most games have in house purchases to play more. For example. Give daily allowances for bullets and fuel. Say 100 bullets a day, and so much fuel. It should be able to get you through say 5 games without paying. Add a hangers lounge where you can purchase small bundles of bullets for various prices, say 100, 200, 500 bullets at a time for increasing price amounts. Same with fuel, and bombs. Although it will change the dynamics of the game a little it will be a constant revenue stream. Someone mentioned t-shirts. You can add various merchandising for sale in the lounge, after all who wouldn't want a t-shirt for Xmas or commercialized holidays like singles day in china. If you need money at a certain time you can run special discounts to encourage buying. Again you can get a lot of ideas by copying other high grossing games like castle clash. You can add other modifications like shortening the bullet distance for standard guns. Come out with more powerful guns with bigger caliber which shoot further faster etc. also with bundles maybe slightly more expensive with no daily allowance. You can either upgrade standard bullets say 100 standard gets you 60 upgraded. If you have upgraded bullets you would have to have the option of switching back and forth in case they run out of upgraded bullets and still want to play. Why upgrade your bullet distance and speed? Because squads will need to if they want to compete with upgraded squads in squad wars. I think that's it for now. Tired of typing with one finger.

$1 per month
or
$5 per year

And...

Monthly payment required for paint jobs. (after 30 days the paints would go back to the original stock paint)

Never got the time to actually read the adds. Maybe some money can be made there aswell.

Added value!

Change sides button.
Other missions. Maybe first with already existing game assets. (Bomb the bridge/protect the bridge. Bomb hidden tank batallion/protect tanks. Strafe enemy airfield, shoot stationary ground targets. Tank wars. Find the tunnels. Sneak over to the enemy airfield, the enemy tank batallion in a noob plane and take a reconnaissant aerial photo ( screenshot) AND return to base with it for intelligence. etc.)

Later on you can always upgrade to new games, squadwars and such.


(I just noticed my posts are catching up with my 'thank you's'.... So could y'all do something about that?)

... and a thank you here please, if you actually mean it.