freebies

[Robinette]

I would pay double premium just for the entertainment found in these forums...

[Woodruff]

I would pay double premium just for the entertainment found in these forums...

You are a sick, sick individual!

[macbone]

I'd pay double premium for more animated gifs of Scarlet Johannson eating popcorn. =)

Jim, I was doing fine in staving off my CC addiction until I went premium (and that was a gift, at that). Talk about giving a crack fiend a pipe. =)

With all the different types of games I play, be they tournament, clan, training, or just fun games with friends, 4 would be way too few. =) I could probably pick one or two of those categories, but to really experience the most of the site, you have to play more than 4 games at once (although I knew a guy who went premium and kept himself to the strict 4-or-less games that freemium players have).

Your point about tournaments is fair, but many tournaments already limit people who play to premiums, since many might have more than 4 concurrent games at once. (L M S ran a truly wild tournament not too long ago where to win, you had to have the most terminations, and you could join as many games as you liked. Dude had 101 games going at once and flirted with upping the number to 201 or higher. It was insane!)

Restricting training to just paid members might be a way to help us deal with the increased numbers of new recruits in training, I guess, but I know in my case, I wouldn't have stuck around the site if it hadn't been for my teachers in the SoC (guys like denthefrog, dhallmeyer, wacicha, Bruceswar, and mpjh). Lord knows we could use some help with the student load, though. =) Still, in the long run, training gives players confidence and at least a rudimentary grasp of 6+ player escalating games and team games, which translates into more players sticking around, so all in all, training for premiums and non-premiums is good for the site overall.