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Topic: The trial account restrictions.

Why exactly are the trial restrictions so harsh? It prevents one from fully getting into the game during the 14 days and makes them not want to play it. Not only can you not join corps but you can't buy from players on the market or sell to them? Is there a real reason for that? I mean, hell. You can't even upgrade from the bot you get from the tutorial assignments unless you build your own which means you are either stuck doing level 1 missions for 14 days(And barely being able to afford NPC priced ammo/gear) or mining. To be quite honest, I doubt many will "find their calling" in this game and subscribe to it if the restrictions continue to be as bad as they are.

/end rant


P.S. Saying how "cheap" it is to subscribe is irrelevant because not many people will subscribe to a game in which they can't tell whether they like it or not due to the restrictions put in place.

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Re: The trial account restrictions.

Talking about the 'join a corp' part, I think you can arrange a 'pseudorecruiting' deal with your chosen corp, not able to join them in fact, but if you can use their coms and outpost during your trial is like be a part of the family. I dont know what corps take trial accounts into recruiting, but it deserves the time looking for it.

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Re: The trial account restrictions.

The restrictions are there to protect the gaming community. Anyone with enough time and an array of 14 free trials account could really have an impact on the game if they could join corps and interact freely with other players.

A trial is the MMORPG version of the single player game’s demo. You can’t expect to have access to the full content for free. The trial is there to let you get a look at the game see if you like it or not. If you want to get deeper into Perpetuum as it seems to be case, it means that you enjoyed the first contact, and you ought to subscribe.

Welcome to the community.

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Re: The trial account restrictions.

I suggest allowing players to join corporations would be acceptable and direct trading (But not NIC) would be acceptable however the issue is as JeanMi has said, the trial is there to protect us and give you an idea of what the game is like. The idea isn't to experience it all, it's to see what you do and don't like about the game. If you like it and want to not just view the world but interact with it then you'll need to subscribe.

Think of yourself as a data ghost. You and I are in the same world but can't interact. I think trial accounts should be limited to the islands they can visit as well. A free 15 day scout is a very nice thing to have.

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Re: The trial account restrictions.

JeanMi Requile wrote:

The restrictions are there to protect the gaming community. Anyone with enough time and an array of 14 free trials account could really have an impact on the game if they could join corps and interact freely with other players.

A trial is the MMORPG version of the single player game’s demo. You can’t expect to have access to the full content for free. The trial is there to let you get a look at the game see if you like it or not. If you want to get deeper into Perpetuum as it seems to be case, it means that you enjoyed the first contact, and you ought to subscribe.

Welcome to the community.

Protect the gaming community? Even Eve has less restrictions on it's trials than this one. Yeah, I know that they aren't the same game but the fact of the matter is that allowing the trial accounts to access the player markets or allowing them to join corps is not game breaking or an invitation for "OMGGOLDSPAMMERS" to join. The playerbase is most likely far too small for the gold farmers to even look at this game, actually. I am well aware of what trials are in MMOs but there is a point at which the Devs should think "Are we going a bit too far with the restrictions?". Trading with a trial account is bad, yes. That is common knowledge but letting a trial use the market at least would likely improve their feelings for the game greatly. Same goes for allowing them to join a corporation. I read in another post from a couple weeks back that the Devs said they don't let trials in corps because of the corp hangars, which made me lol. They can control just about every other aspect of the game in regards to trials except making them unable to use corp hangars? I highly doubt that.

Alexander wrote:

I suggest allowing players to join corporations would be acceptable and direct trading (But not NIC) would be acceptable however the issue is as JeanMi has said, the trial is there to protect us and give you an idea of what the game is like. The idea isn't to experience it all, it's to see what you do and don't like about the game. If you like it and want to not just view the world but interact with it then you'll need to subscribe.

Think of yourself as a data ghost. You and I are in the same world but can't interact. I think trial accounts should be limited to the islands they can visit as well. A free 15 day scout is a very nice thing to have.

I find it quite *** that we can't interact. I'm not asking to go to the Beta islands or anything like that, I am asking for the player market and corporations. I'd love to subscribe due to the fact I really like games like this but I really don't like the way the company treats it's newest players and restricts them so much.

P.S. It is supposed to be a sandbox so let it be a sandbox then.

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Re: The trial account restrictions.

WtfMutant wrote:

Why exactly are the trial restrictions so harsh? It prevents one from fully getting into the game during the 14 days and makes them not want to play it. Not only can you not join corps but you can't buy from players on the market or sell to them? Is there a real reason for that? I mean, hell. You can't even upgrade from the bot you get from the tutorial assignments unless you build your own which means you are either stuck doing level 1 missions for 14 days(And barely being able to afford NPC priced ammo/gear) or mining. To be quite honest, I doubt many will "find their calling" in this game and subscribe to it if the restrictions continue to be as bad as they are.

/end rant


P.S. Saying how "cheap" it is to subscribe is irrelevant because not many people will subscribe to a game in which they can't tell whether they like it or not due to the restrictions put in place.

You are right. The restrictions are unnecessary heavy where they are not required - joining corps, market, private conversation, direct trades and completely missing where they are a must.


The only argument and measurement for trial account limitation is: The impact of what throw away trial account alts can do.


Limiting trial accounts to basic combat and industrial robots is okeyish as there are not many robots in general.



Absolutely hilarious is that considering the heavy restriction at one side, you are free to run numerous trial accounts on single machine and I assume same way you can have your own army of trial account alts to your subscribed account....




Just a fine example of rigid reasoning and short sighted implementation, sadly so often seen in Perpetuum sad

I not feel any elaboration is necessary, the reason you being a very smart individual.

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Re: The trial account restrictions.

WtfMutant wrote:
JeanMi Requile wrote:

The restrictions are there to protect the gaming community. Anyone with enough time and an array of 14 free trials account could really have an impact on the game if they could join corps and interact freely with other players.

A trial is the MMORPG version of the single player game’s demo. You can’t expect to have access to the full content for free. The trial is there to let you get a look at the game see if you like it or not. If you want to get deeper into Perpetuum as it seems to be case, it means that you enjoyed the first contact, and you ought to subscribe.

Welcome to the community.

Protect the gaming community? Even Eve has less restrictions on it's trials than this one. Yeah, I know that they aren't the same game but the fact of the matter is that allowing the trial accounts to access the player markets or allowing them to join corps is not game breaking or an invitation for "OMGGOLDSPAMMERS" to join. The playerbase is most likely far too small for the gold farmers to even look at this game, actually. I am well aware of what trials are in MMOs but there is a point at which the Devs should think "Are we going a bit too far with the restrictions?". Trading with a trial account is bad, yes. That is common knowledge but letting a trial use the market at least would likely improve their feelings for the game greatly. Same goes for allowing them to join a corporation. I read in another post from a couple weeks back that the Devs said they don't let trials in corps because of the corp hangars, which made me lol. They can control just about every other aspect of the game in regards to trials except making them unable to use corp hangars? I highly doubt that.

Alexander wrote:

I suggest allowing players to join corporations would be acceptable and direct trading (But not NIC) would be acceptable however the issue is as JeanMi has said, the trial is there to protect us and give you an idea of what the game is like. The idea isn't to experience it all, it's to see what you do and don't like about the game. If you like it and want to not just view the world but interact with it then you'll need to subscribe.

Think of yourself as a data ghost. You and I are in the same world but can't interact. I think trial accounts should be limited to the islands they can visit as well. A free 15 day scout is a very nice thing to have.

I find it quite *** that we can't interact. I'm not asking to go to the Beta islands or anything like that, I am asking for the player market and corporations. I'd love to subscribe due to the fact I really like games like this but I really don't like the way the company treats it's newest players and restricts them so much.

P.S. It is supposed to be a sandbox so let it be a sandbox then.

Welcome to the community....

I not feel any elaboration is necessary, the reason you being a very smart individual.

DEV Calvin

8 Reply by Legedric Warstrike (edited by Legedric Warstrike 2011-04-08 09:32:36)

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Re: The trial account restrictions.

In my opinion it is not really necessary to remove the trial limitations if the game just gets up enough motivation for new players within the first hours/days of gameplay.

At least for me it is as simple as: Keep me motivated by an interesting (and rewarding) tutorial, visible/noticable(!) progression and I won't miss a copr that much while checking the game during the first days.

But regarding the current state of the game with a huge learning curve, utterly boring and annoying tutorial (you know what I mean when you forget to fetch you data console the first time...), getting lost after the tutorial "hey, what should I do now beside running assignments until my brain melts off?"... there is no motivation to subscribe to this game unless you have a good friend persuading you all day long (which was the case for me) or having a corp supporting newbie players (no NIC, just guidance).

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Re: The trial account restrictions.

don't say any anti-gold-farmer measurement is useless as the game is so small.

actually we already had one here, and he got banned right away.

15 day you have not to pay anything to play the game -> but you can earn a reasonable ammount of nic in that timeframe, with multiaccounting and botting that can't be discovered easily, you can start your life as goldseller.

the current implemented restrictions prevents that because theres no way to trade stuff between trial accounts or paid ones.

eventually they can enable joining a corp, but you would still be disallowed to use corpstorage or corporation funds.

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Re: The trial account restrictions.

They're utterly terrified of gold farmers, automated or otherwise (this seems to be the primary concern), and abuse by corporations (definitely more grounds for this given game history).  Many of us, with registered accounts even, complained loudly about the restrictions when they were introduced.

I personally spoke with a GM in game when they put the restrictions on because the trial codes before they did their facebook promotion were totally open and that's paraphrasing what he said.

I never used a trial myself, I read about the game, read some forums and watched a few youtube videos and bought 3 mos on one account at the beginning and then got 2 more accounts after a couple weeks.  But I agree that the restrictions are unnecessarily harsh and having it be like that doesn't help a first impression.

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<GM Synapse> please don't abuse our fresh players before blowing them up. And for god sakes, don't do that after it!
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Re: The trial account restrictions.

Annihilator wrote:

don't say any anti-gold-farmer measurement is useless as the game is so small.

actually we already had one here, and he got banned right away.

15 day you have not to pay anything to play the game -> but you can earn a reasonable ammount of nic in that timeframe, with multiaccounting and botting that can't be discovered easily, you can start your life as goldseller.

the current implemented restrictions prevents that because theres no way to trade stuff between trial accounts or paid ones.

eventually they can enable joining a corp, but you would still be disallowed to use corpstorage or corporation funds.

Oh, you mean the few accounts using macros and with no resemblance to gold selling?

Macros will be around with or without gold sellers.


Argument that trial accounts should be restricted due gold farmers is completely stupid. If a gold seller cannot afford to pay the subscription, there is no point running the business.

I not feel any elaboration is necessary, the reason you being a very smart individual.

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Re: The trial account restrictions.

obviously the 15day restriction doesn't prevent you from recreating your trial agent again and again.

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Re: The trial account restrictions.

The thing is, when you limit your thinking to ways a trial account can help you win the game, you vastly limit the imagination of the mischief that free trial accounts can inflict.

Step 1: Anonymize my IP address
Step 2: Generate 10,000 Email addresses and spend a weekend making free accounts.
Step 3: Macro setup and tutorials to get startup funds
Step 4: Spend EP on market skills
Step 5: Place buy orders for all items in all stations

Meanwhile, use free account to try to get access to corporations. Get free stuff and empty out level 1 corp storage if they are trusting enough to give me access in the first 15 days. Repeat until corps will no longer accept trial accounts, ever.

This is not an exaggeration. There are people out there who's only goals are to grief games, and getting a game shot down is their only goal. Something like Eve is much to big at this point to have much effect, but a small startup game like Perp with only a few hundred active players, is very vulnerable.

Gold farming is also bad for an ecomony this small, but at least they are like the parasite that doesn't try to kill the host, just keep inflation up so players are forced to buy NIC because they can't earn enough doing legitamate activities.

I agree, its not fair that a few bad apples ruin it for everyone, but when you become part of the community by joining the game, then you have full access to all the game has to offer... including corporate theft if you want, but you have to throw your $'s into the hat first; and if you wanted to spend $10,000 on 1000 accounts to try to ruin the game, have at it, but Greg the out of work Griefer is not getting in for free.

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Re: The trial account restrictions.

Arga wrote:

Meanwhile, use free account to try to get access to corporations. Get free stuff and empty out level 1 corp storage if they are trusting enough to give me access in the first 15 days. Repeat until corps will no longer accept trial accounts, ever.


As if you could not do that with an alt on regular account....

It is only a matter of corporation storage structure and security awareness. Easy to adapt.

Arga wrote:

Gold farming is also bad for an ecomony this small, but at least they are like the parasite that doesn't try to kill the host, just keep inflation up so players are forced to buy NIC because they can't earn enough doing legitamate activities.

Look at the state of the game... The economy is hurt way more by the changes the devs make and ignorant feedback they get than a threat any gold farmer could represent.

If a gold farmer had any interest in the game, seeing a potential for profit, he just purchase the account(s), that is the least concern.

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Re: The trial account restrictions.

As if you could not do that with an alt on regular account....

a regular account costs money

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Re: The trial account restrictions.

Annihilator wrote:

a regular account costs money

Creating an alt on regular account does not and as pointed out, it is a matter of corporation security management. Where are the 'it's a sandbox!' kids now?

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Re: The trial account restrictions.

Maynard Benaui wrote:
Annihilator wrote:

a regular account costs money

Creating an alt on regular account does not and as pointed out, it is a matter of corporation security management. Where are the 'it's a sandbox!' kids now?

It costs money to get the original account, to create the alt, is what he means. And the last paragraph that you didn't quote, I say spend your $ and come grief us as part of the community.

Its a sandbox! But you don't get the sand for free.

Also... anyone else find it interesting that Maynard is obviously a vetern player who keeps creating 15 day accounts. Mischeif meter pegged.

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Re: The trial account restrictions.

Arga wrote:

And the last paragraph that you didn't quote

Majority of the posts containing ill logic or absurd reasoning are simply not worth the reply...

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Re: The trial account restrictions.

JeanMi Requile wrote:

The restrictions are there to protect the gaming community. Anyone with enough time and an array of 14 free trials account could really have an impact on the game if they could join corps and interact freely with other players.

Dead game = zero community. By definition.

A trial is the MMORPG version of the single player game’s demo. You can’t expect to have access to the full content for free. The trial is there to let you get a look at the game see if you like it or not. If you want to get deeper into Perpetuum as it seems to be case, it means that you enjoyed the first contact, and you ought to subscribe.

DDO allows chat and guild joining for free accounts, as well as a single item to be put up for sale on the auction house. It's doing juuuuust fine....

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Re: The trial account restrictions.

Arga wrote:

The thing is, when you limit your thinking to ways a trial account can help you win the game, you vastly limit the imagination of the mischief that free trial accounts can inflict.

Step 1: Anonymize my IP address
Step 2: Generate 10,000 Email addresses and spend a weekend making free accounts.
Step 3: Macro setup and tutorials to get startup funds
Step 4: Spend EP on market skills
Step 5: Place buy orders for all items in all stations

Meanwhile, use free account to try to get access to corporations. Get free stuff and empty out level 1 corp storage if they are trusting enough to give me access in the first 15 days. Repeat until corps will no longer accept trial accounts, ever.

This is not an exaggeration. There are people out there who's only goals are to grief games, and getting a game shot down is their only goal. Something like Eve is much to big at this point to have much effect, but a small startup game like Perp with only a few hundred active players, is very vulnerable.

It's fine if corps don't accept trial accounts. That's a player-imposed restriction, which usually goes over better than a system-imposed restriction.

As for the rest of it. Pure hyperbole. This game is way too smallfry for the people who have the talent and desire to do 1-5.

When you get up to around 200k active subs is when you need to start worrying about organized 'criminals' with any talent whatsoever taking an intrest in your game.

(Why do it here and make chump change from the handful of people playing when they could run a warehouse of bots in WoW and sell all that gold inside 15 minuets?)

I used to farm gold for spare change in highschool, I know a little about the economics of both the smaller and larger players in the market.

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Re: The trial account restrictions.

Xyra Arien wrote:
JeanMi Requile wrote:

The restrictions are there to protect the gaming community. Anyone with enough time and an array of 14 free trials account could really have an impact on the game if they could join corps and interact freely with other players.

Dead game = zero community. By definition.

A trial is the MMORPG version of the single player game’s demo. You can’t expect to have access to the full content for free. The trial is there to let you get a look at the game see if you like it or not. If you want to get deeper into Perpetuum as it seems to be case, it means that you enjoyed the first contact, and you ought to subscribe.

DDO allows chat and guild joining for free accounts, as well as a single item to be put up for sale on the auction house. It's doing juuuuust fine....

Different type of game.

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Re: The trial account restrictions.

I like Glimpse's suggestion to allow trial accounts to buy from player sell orders but not to put up their own sell orders.

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Re: The trial account restrictions.

Campana wrote:

I like Glimpse's suggestion to allow trial accounts to buy from player sell orders but not to put up their own sell orders.

If we would allow that, none of the other restrictions would make sense anymore (NIC transfer etc.).

Player puts up a sell order for 1 piece of titan ore for 50 million NIC, trial player buys it -> 50 million NIC transferred, and god knows where that came from.

Yes, if someone really wants to do goldfarming, the 10 bucks will not stop him. But at least we don't make it free for all. Call us paranoid if you want, but in this case it's better safe than sorry in my opinion.

24 Reply by Legedric Warstrike (edited by Legedric Warstrike 2011-04-13 16:42:34)

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Re: The trial account restrictions.

DEV Zoom wrote:

Call us paranoid if you want, but in this case it's better safe than sorry in my opinion.

Paranoid!

Ok, in my opinion the market access is not the worst problem of the trial but it is a problem
for new players as they do not get access to one of the (several) key features of the game.

If there are any possibilities for a single trial account to get 50 million NIC (with you not knowing where it came from) there is something wrong with your source code that may not be fixed by a set of limitations grown off some paraonia...

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25 Reply by Ral

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Re: The trial account restrictions.

Well wait, why do we care if trial accounts receive lots of NIC?  They still have no way of transferring that NIC to someone else?  I thought we were worried about the trial accounts farming gold, not existing players doing it and transferring it to a trial?

Ral's Mining Guide http://forums.perpetuum-online.com/post/25891