Superfriends, Ho: RPS Supporter Program Update

Hello, friends, best friends and frenemies. Our new-fangled Supporter Program has been in full and healthy swing for a little while now, so I thought I’d encourage even more people to join the thousands who have already signed up, and elaborate a little more on all the lovely things the scheme offers.

The Supporter program is an entirely optional way of getting extra-involved with RPS, and while it doesn’t take anything away from the main site, the idea is that proceeds from it will fund the additional exclusive articles we write for Supporters, selected highlights from which will appear on the main site later on, and enable us to commission out more ambitious features, from great writers, which will appear on the RPS’s front page for everyone.

The idea behind the supporter project came from people already supporting the site with their own money. We had over a thousand people signed up to our old Paypal subscription system for no reason other than they wanted to support RPS. We set that up because people asked to support us. That they did that is amazing, and we wanted to do something palpable to reward that generosity. Make no mistake: this – the sheer gallant enthusiasm of RPS readers – is the main reason for doing this. Now that far more people are supporting we can do *even more*. An extraordinary virtuous circle that we can only be astounded by. People are amazing, kind, and brilliant.

So, here’s exactly what happens behind the Supporter-only veil:

Every weekday we publish one new, feature-length post, written by an RPS full-timer, that only supporters can read (for the time being, at least). These are going to cover all sorts of things in all sorts of ways over time, but the likes of Wot I Thinks, impressions and interviews will always appear on the main site (with the possible exception of gag posts. Maybe I’ll write Wot I Think: My Cat’s Infuriating Toileting Habits for supporters one day).

Having listened to feedback from Supporters and non-Supporters alike, we’re going to periodically open up access to a fair few of the more popular and/or interesting articles after a little while. In fact, we’ve done so already with the following:

  • From last week, the first part of my own quasi-memoir, Raised By Screens, in which I share how my young eyes responded to the first game I ever played, The Hobbit on Spectrum. Earlier this week, Supporters got Chapter 2, which contains my maudlin recollections of Repton 3: The Life of Repton and how it seemed to tie into teenage loneliness.
  • Last week Graham wrote of the gaming monument he’s most proud of, and how it involved 439 FIFA 13 matches played against the same friend.
  • Alice has written about ‘dreamy’ games, and how the likes of Mountain and Glitchikers helped her get a handle on her own thoughts during a difficult time.
  • Also John made a big flowchart which proves definitively that videogames make everyone violent.

Remaining in the Superfriendszone, for now at least, are pieces about the enduring terror of Silent Hill 2, how to the be bad at games, the RPS Book Club For Games, why games involve a special and vital form of solitude and more. Each week, supporters will be able to read five brand new examples of That Sort Of Thing.

The main site will continue to see the same quantity and quality of posts regardless of what’s going on in Supporterland. (In fact, we’re currently increasing the number of posts on the main site each day). Proceeds from Supporters enable us to go the extra mile and write these bonus subscriber-only posts, but they also mean we can spend more on freelancers for the main site, for everyone to read. There’ll be an Elite Dangerous diary from Brendan Caldwell starting up very soon, as well as big stuff from RPS chums Tim Stone and Richard Cobbett. Better still, we’re able to spend money on work from completely new writers, which is always an exciting thing.

That’s why we’re doing this – to make RPS even better. Again, more selected supporter posts will be made public on a regular basis too.

Another thing we want to use the Supporter Program for is to talk more directly to our most dedicated readers about what they’d like to see on the site, both for supporters only and for everyone. There are some threads in which we’re all chewing over such things already.

Of course, as well as bonus words, joining the Supporter Program also gets you a bunch of gifts, including an exclusive Team Fortress 2 hat which depicts the sacred face of RPS’s deity Horace The Endless Bear, and discount codes for GoG. There’ll be new gifts over time, for Supporters old and new. We’ll let you know when the next ones are ready to go.

We’d absolutely love it (and you) if you signed up, but if you’d prefer not to, please rest assured RPS-prime will continue to be as good a PC gaming site as we can possibly make it.

Oh, also we made that special Supporter badge for commenters a whole less ugly. Phew!

From this site

128 Comments

Top comments

  1. Hutze says:

    I'll happily dedicate my first comment to more Tim Stone
  1. Gemberkoekje says:

    ben there, dan that, but I am quite grateful for the supporter tag being what it is now. So thanks!

    • mtomto says:

      It is nice for you :) I didn’t know the site even had supporters. Do you not see the google adservices then?

      I know I am being somewhat of a Scrooge (Ebenezer), but I already got the damn ads plastered all over the screen, so I am supporting too in a way. I don’t care about the supporter tag, however I do care about the “speciel” articles – it is a feature that is degrading the value of the entire site for “non-supporting” readers.

      I am not mad :) I just think I should be looking elsewhere for gaming news now.

      • thesundaybest says:

        I think you might be overestimating the value of that advertising. And by think I mean know and might be I mean are.

        • AngoraFish says:

          It’s funny how the site managed to stay in existance for many years without a supporter area, during which time it generated enough income from advertising to employ multiple writers simultaneously.

      • PoulWrist says:

        I supported for years and I always have adblockers disabled on sites I enjoy the content from. Such as RPS. Why you think you should get news elsewhere I don’t know. The posts in the supporters only area are not of the news variety.

  2. JB says:

    More Tim Stone? I like the sound of that.

  3. aerozol says:

    Awesome, you guys really deserve the support you get, and I hope it lets you guys keep giving us awesome content that you want to write!!
    There’s been some suggestions already about only letting supporters comment (perhaps just for x amount of time, or putting their posts at the top?) instead of locking off content, and, as a non-supporter peasant, not only would I prefer it for selfish reasons, but it would also make me more likely to throw down the money to become one. Seems win/win to me (except for poor ol spam bot), so just thought I’d bring it up again. But happy regardless (:

    • Llewyn says:

      The impression I got (or perhaps hoped for) is that the supporter-comments-only thing would apply only to the supporter articles. Not sure if that was what you meant too, but I’d hate to see non-supporters prevented from commenting here even more than I dislike the article paywall.

      Personally I’d like all feature articles to be posted openly, with only the “dialogue” articles (ie the “help shape the direction of RPS” things) restricted to supporters.

      • aerozol says:

        Hmm, honestly, I wouldn’t mind all comments being supporter-only.
        This is going to sound dumb, but I looked at mediated communication for my university study, and the reason we have so much negative/ flippant talk on the internet is because people don’t feel personally connected with their profile. Dropping money on it would certainly change that..
        But mainly, in my opinon, RPS isn’t a forum, so being allowed to ‘Opinion, away!’ should be considered a generous privilege anyway. Also locking content behind a paywall blocks new traffic/users and search engines which possibly isn’t the best long-term strategy I think, although possibly negligible considering it’s only a few articles.

        • Baines says:

          When you introduce a paid subscription element to comments, you start to shut out people with opposing opinions. After all, the people most likely to pay to subscribe are people who in general agree with the content a site is generating. Someone who disagrees on certain key topics is less likely to pay to support a site.

          While that might not sound bad to some, ending up in an opinion echo chamber can distort people’s views and how they act when they run into a person that they believe doesn’t support their views 100%.

          • aerozol says:

            Group congruence, how likely you are to positively contribute to a community/site, and how comfortable you feel there, (how likely you are to drop dollars..) is completely reliant on building up that ‘echo chamber’ you’re talking about, and is why we’re both commenting here instead of on X other site. This also applies to social groups we find for ourselves in face-to-face situations.
            Anyway, I figure you’re splitting community either way, and obviously this isn’t a popular idea, so no worries. I guess for me the articles themselves have always been the main attraction, and comments (sadly) sometimes detract from my experience. Not because of differing opinions, but usually how they’re rendered, mainly by people with no connection to the site/ their avatar here.
            I guess I’m not representative though and that’s fine :)

          • blind_boy_grunt says:

            I really can think of only one topic where i’d think/hope rps subscribers are so united that there are no differing opinions, because all differing opinions are, to say it plain and simple, idiotic.
            Outcast clearly is the 57th best game of all time.

          • Baines says:

            For the last couple of years, I’ve found the articles at RPS to be the weaker link of the equation, with an increasing amount of the value coming instead through the comments section.

            A seemingly increased number of lackluster WITs, plenty of postings of videos with a light dusting of text, some slanted reporting (and non-reporting) of certain topics. The “Have You Played” articles take it to an extreme, as they effectively consist of an RPS writer name dropping a classic game, writing a handful of sentences that amount to “It was a good game, eh?”, and then waiting for the comments section to write the bulk of article as an audience participation project.

            The Flare Path and Week in Tech are pretty much the highest quality articles posted to RPS these days, the ones best able to stand on their own without a comments section. (I can’t speak for s.EXE, as I only ever read the first few of those, finding them to not be particularly interesting. But they may also count.)

  4. derbefrier says:

    lol that flow chart

  5. Thurgret says:

    “There’ll be an Elite Dangerous diary from Brendan Caldwell starting up very soon, as well as big stuff from RPS chums Tim Stone and Richard Cobbett.”

    Everything about this sentence is excellent.

    • colossalstrikepackage says:

      So true. Caldwell risks becoming my favourite on this site. I’m rooting for him!

  6. Sp4rkR4t says:

    All reviews should be in flowchart form from now on.

  7. Premium User Badge

    wonderingmonster says:

    Are there any plans to add an RSS feed that combines the regular and supporter posts?

    • Jim Rossignol says:

      Feasibility being studied.

      • LegendaryTeeth says:

        Please. I was a paypal supporter expecting nothing special, and I’ll continue to support you in the new program, but unfortunately (for me) things that don’t show up in my RSS reader basically don’t exist for me. I’m happy if it’s just a title, though the intro paragraph is nice too.

        I really just need to be notified of new articles, or I’ll never see them.

        • jmexio says:

          This 1000 times!! (hope you find a way)

        • Premium User Badge

          Arnvidr says:

          This is my life as well.

        • Tender Branson says:

          Same here. No RSS feed means i need to check the tags manually. Just make em appear at the same time for all Users, Supporter or not. I dont care!

        • binkbenc says:

          Re: RSS. In the short term, would it be possible just to post a quick article at the end of each week saying here’s what supporter articles were published this week…with just a bunch of links to them. Then non-supporters could see what they’re missing, and us slaves to RSS could use that as a diving board to catch up on the articles from the week.

          • LegendaryTeeth says:

            This would be very helpful for me too, as a short term solution.

      • Premium User Badge

        Barvahal says:

        Even a separate RSS feed with supporter posts would be enough for me.
        I could write a program that generates an rss feed by scraping the “supporter” tag page, but I’d prefer an official solution.

    • Oozo says:

      In a related question: I found out that the Pocket (fka Read It Later) app runs headfront against the supporter wall whenever I want to save an article for later reading. Has anybody a handy work-around for this problem?

      • SominiTheCommenter says:

        Save As > HTML, Full Page

      • AXAXAXAS MLO II: MLO HARDER says:

        Pocket has a way to manage paywalls, so you could tell it to log in as you to RPS to access supporter content. I’ve never had to use it so I don’t know how it works, though.

      • Bury The Hammer says:

        I can’t see supporter posts on Pocket either, which is very frustrating, as I use Pocket a lot. I got in contact with support, their response was pretty vague. They said there was a problem with the Site Subscription function and are working to resolve the issue. I work on a development team – this is a nice way of saying “we’ve put it on the defect backlog, we’ll get around to it at some point”, which y’know, could be months away depending upon how serious they think it is.

        To clarify about the site subscription function (paywall logins), you have to go to the settings on the mobile/tablet app, select “manage site logins”, and add it there. Though, RPS doesn’t seem to work yet for me.

  8. Shadowcat says:

    We had over a thousand people signed up to our old Paypal subscription system for no reason other than they wanted to support RPS. We set that up because people asked to support us. That they did that is amazing, and we wanted to do something palpable to reward that generosity. Make no mistake: this – the sheer gallant enthusiasm of RPS readers – is the main reason for doing this.

    The main reason you’re now making content that people cannot see unless they give you money is because generous people have given you money in the past?

    I’m… not sure that’s a good way of putting it.

    Nor is it obviously that those people would have wanted this to be the outcome of their generosity.

    Have you considered assigning all of your original supporters a permanent free membership? That way you at least don’t punish any of them for their generosity!

    Having listened to feedback from Supporters and non-Supporters alike, we’re going to periodically open up access to a fair few of the more popular and/or interesting articles after a little while.

    Okay, that’s definitely an improvement on the initial statement.

  9. melnificent says:

    Any plans for a Linux gaming feature?
    Windows is not the only OS. And with windows product codes being hidden inside hard disks a failure takes it down for good.

    • JamesTheNumberless says:

      What games are exclusively on Linux? Last time I looked there really weren’t many, and most of the games that are better known on Linux have Windows and MacOS ports too. My understanding of RPS has always been that it is PC focused, regardless of the OS you have on your PC (Mac, Linux, Windows, whatever)

      • melnificent says:

        I meant of games that have a linux port too. The decent exclusive linux games are rather rare.
        The bargain bucket is becoming a linux free zone, and more and more frequently I’ll check out a game recommendation and find “windows only”.

        I only really noticed this imbalance since my hd died screaming and had no licence key (windows 8 holds it on disk and there is no licence sticker). It was either linux or £80+ for another windows key.

        • Cinek says:

          But they already do review games that got linkux ports. I don’t see a problem.
          #
          So you had a choice: either gaming or 80 quid and you still picked 80 quid? We’ve found your problem. It’s not about imbalance in RPS , it’s about inbalance in entire market, which you should have known about, and you picking wrong OS for the task.

          • melnificent says:

            Because losing permanent access to software due to hardware failure is the normal way of things? Component failure does not mean “buy the software again”. It means replace the failed component and reinstall the software. Only with windows 8 the key is hidden and never disclosed to the end user. This only becomes apparent on a hard drive failure.

            Besides with SteamOS and Machines coming out soon (valve time). There should be movement on the linux front.

  10. The Sombrero Kid says:

    I don’t think I got my tf2 hat, did anyone else? I don’t play tf2 but I kind of want it anyway, Wish it was for doto though.

    • Premium User Badge

      Ninja Dodo says:

      It only appears once you log into TF2. Just install and load up the main menu.

      • Premium User Badge

        Aerothorn says:

        Thanks so much! I had a ticket in with Humble support and everything.

    • Premium User Badge

      tigerfort says:

      I think you need to have run TF2 at some point for TF2 stuff to show up in your steam inventory.

      Nin… well, maybe not so much ninja’d as grannied. Have I really had this tab open that long without reading it? Wow.

      • Premium User Badge

        Ninja Dodo says:

        Does that make me Granny Dodo?

        [edit: would be funnier if I were actually old, and not a guy]

      • welverin says:

        Horace requires you open the game and click on the flashy alert thingy before he’ll grace your inventory with his presence.

    • Banyan says:

      It was sitting in my inventory accessible from the Steam client. If you’d rather have Dota stuff, I could point out that my hat sold for $25 within 24 hours of being posted on the market. Effectively, you can give money to RPS for free…

      • Jackablade says:

        People are paying $25 dollars for an item acquired through a $20 subscription?

        • Vinraith says:

          These are the same people buying jpg’s (“cards”) for real money, there’s basically no limit to the stupid.

  11. Flying Penguin says:

    Forget “Wot I Think”, for your lovely supporters, I think “My Cat’s Infuriating Toileting Habits” deserves a Let’s Play video, preferably a series…..

  12. DrollRemark says:

    Any chance you guys could get the previous/next article links working under the new system? I miss them so.

    Also, I’d love it if you guys could do a rolling monthly sub. I can’t do £20 right now, but could easily manage three (and a bit) quid.

    • Wedge says:

      That’s the kind of thinking of someone who really can’t be affording to give money to a gaming website at all.

    • Premium User Badge

      Gnarl says:

      As a person that has put a fairly teeny amount of money down, I would also enjoy a return of the Buttons.

  13. Gap Gen says:

    I admit I keep missing these because by default my browser doesn’t always log in, so I miss the hidden content. Thanks for the reminder in the roundup!

  14. AbyssUK says:

    I don’t understand why i am a supporter…I sent you money some time.. really ?

    Edit: looks like it was some sort of hiccup..

  15. P-Dizzle says:

    Did the advertising money dry up?

    • Not_Id says:

      Probably? I mean all they do is write about computer games. And then there’s that bloke that writes about bloody board games? No idea what that’s about. They may as well get someone to write about hopscotch, off ground touch, crazy cricket and all other types of games. Strange how not one of the writers write articles on console games as some of them do own consoles, yet they pay(?) someone to write about board games??

      Hey RPS, would you like to read some of my articles on games to play with friends but are not computer games or board games? If so you can read them here at http://www.paytoreadmyarticles.com

    • John Walker says:

      Nope. There’s more than ever, but thank you for your concern.

      • Not_Id says:

        Strange how people start a blog writing about something they enjoy to then ask readers to fork out to read articles. Even though there’s plenty of ad revenue coming in? It seems to me that all you have to do is tell the writers this –

        RPS: Ok, you can write some words about games but you have to remember! It’s not bloody literature! You can get a cut of the ad revenue like all the rest, but don’t expect us to ask our readership to fund your bloody hobby!

        Sounds fair to me John.

        • blind_boy_grunt says:

          It seems like you feel strongly about something, but i can’t tell what that something is.

          • Greggh says:

            Maybe it’s sarcasm??

            I HONESTLY couldn’t be sure…

          • Klatu says:

            It must be sarcasm, no-one who read Rab’s dice article could’ve written that with their tongue-out-of-cheek.

  16. Premium User Badge

    Qazinsky says:

    Well, I got a complaint, I now wear Horace on my head and I put him in charge of my ammo, how come I run out, huh? Sounds like a bug that needs a patch ASAP!

  17. Tjee says:

    I like the idea but I hate the execution. I too believe that the Supporter system should be based on ability to comment on ‘Supporter’ articles rather than the ability to view them in the first place. I think everyone should be able to at least read them.

    Implement the system in this way and I will immediately subscribe.

    • Cross says:

      This seems odd to me. Why would you permit someone to read a piece of content, then lock them out of the discussion? Contributions would be equally valuable. I think the current system is more sensible, even if it is not perfect.

      • SominiTheCommenter says:

        “Why would you permit someone to read a piece of content, then lock them out of the discussion?”

        It’s not the first time comments are turned off around here.

        • Cross says:

          The comments are turned off for articles where the RPS writers expect nothing good to come out of the comments. That’s far from the same as disabling comments for the arbitrary amount of people who don’t pay.

      • Distec says:

        There’s a popular sentiment that comments sections aren’t for discussion, but just for people to blurt their brain.

        Varies from site to site IMO. I think the RPS comments sections generally have better “discussion” than, say, the average news site I visit. I generally don’t like the idea of witholding the ability of certain people to comment; you either have the feature or you don’t.

        EDIT: My profile info at the top of the page says I’m a supporter? I assume a bug.

    • Faxmachinen says:

      I would be fine with supporter articles if they were released to the general public a day or two later, especially since they’re not news articles.

      • blind_boy_grunt says:

        i think they’ve struck a good balance (as long as the promised game diaries etc. are going to be free).
        The things they posted are not really full articles, more like facebook entries, random thoughts that wouldn’t have been released as an article. Or think of them as dvd extra features(i only look at those when i really like the movie). You are not missing out on the movie.
        In fact i think everyone who doesn’t want to pay would say those articles are not worth paying for. But for people who say they visit rps enough that they want to give back the articles are a nice bonus.
        ps: if someone from rps reads this, i really don’t want to say they are bad or that i’m dissapointed with them, i’m not.

  18. stoopiduk says:

    Paying for news? I don’t think so Murdoch! What do you think this is, the forties? Information should be free. I can get the same news from another website for £0.00 so why would I waste money on RPS?!?!?!?!?!

    • AXAXAXAS MLO II: MLO HARDER says:

      Free as free speech, not free as free beer.

  19. binkbenc says:

    Would you consider receiving articles *from* subscribers that would then only go out to subscribers if you didn’t want to pollute the main site? I’m sure loads of readers have a ‘gaming made me’ in them (mine would be Elite on the Beeb), and it would be a nice privilege both ways for subscribers.

    (NB: No, I’m not yet a subscriber – the RSS thing is putting me off (that’s the only way I consume news), and I haven’t convinced myself I like the idea of it in general yet (though working in publishing, you’d think I’d understand the need to be paid to write), but something like this might be enough to push me over the subscription edge.)

    • John Walker says:

      Within the Supporter Program is the Rock Paper Shotgun Book Club For Games, in which once a month we pick a classic game, play it, and write about it. We’ll link to pieces written by readers about the game each month.

      • binkbenc says:

        Okay, you got me.

      • Premium User Badge

        Sinomatic says:

        Wait, a game book-club? Really? I think I missed that post (I keep forgetting I need to log in to see the new content – I think it’s going to take some getting used to!).

  20. jrodman says:

    Still would like to turn off my supporter badge.
    Don’t make me get another account just for this.

  21. Vandelay says:

    Shout out to the Silent Hill piece. I read it after it had fallen off the front page, so didn’t say how much I enjoyed it. Have never played Silent Hill 2, but it really made me want to. Hopefully it will appear on GoG sometime.

  22. bstard says:

    So you pay to get access to more of the arty intellectual squasi stuff noone knows for sure what todo with?

  23. Paul B says:

    Any future plans for monthly subscription plans? I can’t afford $20 this month, but maybe $2-3 a month I could do.

    If not I expect I’ll sign up soon enough – I think it’s a great idea, and anything that means more RPS articles is good news (looking forward to more from Messieurs Stone & Cobbett).

    • Martel says:

      Please, for the sake of yourself and potentially others, if you’re this strapped for cash don’t spend it on a gaming website. I’d hate for somebody to put themselves in that kind of position. I imagine the RPS Overlords would feel the same.

      • Paul B says:

        Thanks for your concern. It just feels a shame I can’t show my gratitude to RPS for their great output – it’s one of my most visited sites. In lieu of a $20 subscription, I’ll just say thanks RPS for all of the articles (…all of them).

  24. ScottTFrazer says:

    Mark me down as another “as soon as you can support RSS, I’m in” person.

    Even if it was just headlines in the feed that require a click through to the site to read, that would be better than completely missing the additional content.

    Perhaps you can have 2 rss feeds: one non-subscriber that only includes public articles and one subscriber only that only includes the headlines of both public and private articles?

  25. Tei says:

    I am looking forward for Defiance third season.

  26. Bundin says:

    About that there supporter tag. Could you make it optional, or slim down/remove the grey border? It still doesn’t really fit the site design, even though it’s miles better than the previous one.

  27. MajorManiac says:

    Seen a couple of horrid comments somewhere above. So just wanted to balance it out a bit by saying a big Thanks to you guys!

    Like many I’ve been enjoying the work of John, Jim, Alec, Graham, Tim, Kieron, Quentin…(the list goes on) since you all started at PC Gamer. So its great to have a place where I can still follow your writing.

    I’ve also discovered many new great writers here. Adam and Alice are especially good reads.

  28. Vartarok says:

    So, so great you decided to do this. As a supporter I couldn’t be happier and, aditionaly, proud of having thrown you my moneys.

  29. InfamousPotato says:

    Y’know, usually I’d be worried about a something like this happening on my favorite gaming site. Change isn’t bad, but it kinda freaks me out. However, you’ve handled this fabulously. You haven’t taken away any content from non-supporters, in fact you’ve given us some more. I think I’ll join the supporters soon.

  30. Schlobo says:

    Sounds good to me! Really enjoyed the new content thus far.

    …Jim still doesn’t appear to have fixed the buggy password-change page, though :[

  31. Boosh says:

    no complaints, but please, stop being so coy, You want/need more money, you get more money. It’s a business, right?
    It’s a bit rich for me, I preferred the old supporter way, under the radar, no daft ‘supporter’ badges or special articles, and to be honest, I only read one or two of the articles that are pumped out here nowadays anyway, so unless there’s a couple a quid a month kitty, I’ll be passing. But best of luck to you all.

  32. RanCiel810 says:

    Could supporters possibly get a customized site feed when logged in? e.g. have the ability to hide certain columns / features. Certain articles like Have You Played and The Flare Path I have no interest in and I’d definitely pay to condense and get exactly the news I want to see when logged into the site.

    • Not_Id says:

      “Could supporters possibly get a customized site feed when logged in?”

      RPS: Now RanCiel810, that will cost you extra! You only get what we want to give you. Just because you pay us, doesn’t mean you get what you want for free! You know the gaming industry has three deliciously lovely cute letters for that right?

    • amateurviking says:

      No…interest…in the…flare…path?

      but…

      *head explodes*

    • radishlaw says:

      The Flare Path is the only column I will always read, and I would love to have some kind of filtering feature on RPS too. I’m willing to pay extra for this to happen since I am too lazy to fiddle with RSS feed or browser plugins.

  33. _Nocturnal says:

    You’ve shown you’re listening to us, plus I like you a lot and you’ve been a positive influence in my life for years now. Have 35 of my Earth dollars!

    But please, keep thinking about the exclusivity issue. You’re better than this, there has to be another way. Like, maybe the articles could be integrated into the main feed for supporters, but still available, only in a separate section, for non-supporters? And/or maybe you could have some kind of system which limits the amount of “supporter” posts an account can read per month, but allows them to pick whichever posts they are interested in? Convenience can still be a strong enough motivating factor for people to pay, without actually excluding anyone. Man, even those things sound like silly DRM to me.

    • AXAXAXAS MLO II: MLO HARDER says:

      Frankly, letting supporters read them first and then releasing them to the general unwashed masses after a while is perfectly fine with me.

      • Not_Id says:

        Letting readers donate is great if they want to.
        The problem with RPS now is that it isn’t donating. It’s subscribing.
        Remember the time when we used to give our magazines to friends so they could, what’s the bloody word I’m thinking of?
        Work over?
        Study?

        Read for free! That’s it!

        RPS will now let us read…………… the sticky pages!!!

      • _Nocturnal says:

        AXAXAXAS MLO II: MLO HARDER: Agreed. I wouldn’t have any reservations if they simply did that. But it seems like they’re not convinced it’s enough to just delay the stuff and that’s why we get this strange system where only some of the content eventually reaches everyone.

        The sad part is that I’m 100% sure that if they just said “hey, we have this new way you can help us, and we’ll even give you some small goodies to say thanks”, without mentioning anything about any additional content, any delays, just RPS as usual, they would have gotten the exact same amount of money. So, in essence, all of this is because they don’t believe enough of their readership would support them just because we like them. Or, even worse, it’s because they were afraid that morons would just point out that they’re charging $20 for a TF2 hat and the whole thing would become a mess because of those morons.

        It’s a bit depressing, really.

  34. Scandalon says:

    Still awaiting reply(ies) for my account issue. Please search spambox for things with this name or @mindless DOT COM in it…

  35. Premium User Badge

    Sinomatic says:

    Would it be possible for you to have a round-up of all the articles you’ve done in a week? I keep forgetting that I need to log in to see the supporters articles, so it would be nice to see a list of those (I suppose it would act as a reminder to non-subs too), plus it would be nice to have that for the ‘normal’ articles anyway to be honest.

  36. Big Murray says:

    Is there any way to filter posts so that we can see just the supporter ones (for when I want to find the supporter posts from all the regular ones)?

  37. Ham Solo says:

    Okay.

  38. A-Scale says:

    I seem to recall a time when RPS wasn’t shite.

  39. hypercrisis says:

    Premium content on a fucking blog? Your ego is out of control. What the hell happened?

    • Premium User Badge

      Lexx87 says:

      This ‘blog’ has become the most wonderful writings about games and stuff and flowcharts site there is.

      That’s what happened you silly plop.

  40. PaceCol says:

    Can subscribers have their accounts deleted because you don’t like what they say?

  41. sirdavies says:

    I wish you did something about the fonts. Just opening up a supporter article you are seeing text in 4 different fonts and at least 7 different sizes. It’s just confusing to look at.

  42. mpk says:

    You had me at moar Tim Stone.

  43. LionsPhil says:

    You guys are still generating 404 links in your “respond to our gibber” sidebar when people comment on subscriber articles.

    (Stating the obvious again: no, of course it shouldn’t let the unwashed plebs in. But it should probably tell them to whip out their credit card, rather than spit an error. Or not leak what is said in the secret treehouse.)

  44. alsoran says:

    A two tier gaming website, why not. Everything else is these days, marketing bods got nothing to do then? I was quite happy to support the enterprise as it was, now I feel excluded. Mutters about times changing and winds blowing.

    • amateurviking says:

      Slightly perplexed at the idea of RPS having ‘marketing bods’. Part of the reason I love it round here is because it’s clearly held together (just barely) with sellotape, string and good intentions. It exists almost despite the efforts of the hivemind (see for example, the scattered husks of many many half finished diary series and the ‘weekly’ podcast).

  45. nzgunner says:

    good luck building your paywall – hopefully you get whatever it is you want from it

    I enjoy RPS mainly because there are user generated discussions on games that I like, rather than the articles themselves – but you’ve obviously got a core of subscribers who come here to be entertained and like your style enough to pay for it

    • Not_Id says:

      THEY ARE NOT SUBSCRIBERS
      THEY ARE SUPPORTERS
      IT SAYS SO ABOVE THEIR USERNAME
      THE FREE ARTICLES THEY GET TO READ FOR FREE ARE ONLY FREE BECAUSE THEY PAY

      • nzgunner says:

        the official label doesn’t matter – ‘subscriber’ more clearly describes the pay/content arrangement than ‘supporter’ does

        I’m not saying this is a bad thing, it’s just not a thing that interests me

      • Baines says:

        nzgunner is right.

        The old Subscription system was more like a supporter system, with the option for a cheap monthly subscription that got you very little or to just donate money.

        The new Supporter system is really a subscription system. You subscribe for 6 months or a year, and gain access to daily posts that are not otherwise available in addition to multiple other subscription bonuses.

  46. DeFrank says:

    Subscriptions? Nope.

  47. psepho says:

    Just a quick comment to say that RPS seems to have really raised its game lately. I had been a bit worried about a drift towards the mainstream earlier this year. But all the new features like Freeware Garden and Have You Played have been brilliant.

    The thing I have always loved the most about RPS in four years of reading it had been the way it has shared personal views on a lot of games, old and new, that are off the beaten track. It is great to see that centre stage again. Thanks!!

  48. PoulWrist says:

    I personally would not mind that the articles I support are posted to everyone. It didn’t stop me from hitting the monthly support button a few years back that I didn’t get anything for it. But I also didn’t chime in on any debate there may have been on the topic. If this is what gives people enough value to sign up,but doesn’t scare people away, then I guess it’s good.

  49. yongo says:

    I love RPS and what it does, I read it every day, I don’t begrudge you wanting more revenue, and I desperately don’t want to look like part of the horde of snark-mongers you’ve long been accustomed to dealing with. But I had to dig up my account details and log in to say this: this really makes me sad.

    I don’t come to RPS for gaming news (I can get that anywhere). I come for the left-field and the quirky – Morrowind diaries, Dos and Don’ts, thoughts on sexism and homophobia (yes really), jokey images. Stuff a lot like John’s flowchart above.

    I absolutely believe you when you say you’ll maintain or increase the amount of articles on the “main page”, and I know it will still be some of the best games writing out there. But it seems inevitable that when you’re obliged to put five articles per week from your full-time writers behind the paywall, that’s where my favourite stuff – or at least a lot of it – will end up.

    And while it’s nice that “a fair few” of them will “periodically” appear on the main site later, it’ll be difficult to avoid the constant sensation of a two-tier system. When I’m craving the latest flight of fancy from my favourite writers in the industry (this happens a lot), I won’t be able to just bash “rock” into the URL bar and see any more. I’ll just have to assume – or have the constant niggling suspicion – they’re on the paysite.

    Boohoo, wah wah, poor me. I’m not owed anything by RPS, I’m not going to stop reading, and I’m not under the delusion that you’ll be spooked into action by my righteous commenter rage. But I’ve got a horrible feeling that this will irreversibly change the way I relate to RPS. And I just had to say so.

    Love you all, and I hope it all works out.

    • PoulWrist says:

      Sounds like something you value enough to pay for ;)

      • yongo says:

        That’s the point. You’re saying the content I want is becoming paid-for. RPS says it isn’t. You can’t both be right.

        In the extremely financially restrained circumstances I’m in, I don’t really drop €27 on anything, and I can’t really rationalise spending it to subscribe to a previously-free site. But if membership really is an “optional bonus extra”, rather than our moral duty, I shouldn’t really have to be justifying that decision.

        Comment threads in which un-badged non-supporters are implicitly and explicitly called out as cheapskates is just one more unpleasant result. :(
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