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-TARBY-
18-08-2002, 09:32 AM
This may bore some of you, if it does I apologise but I need you all to understand what I am going to be talking about.

As you all know we moved to BarrysWorld after 2 years with Gameplay.

Barrysworld have been perfect hosts. They leave us to do basically what we want and don’t interfere..

I believe it has been a very good time for us.

Barrysworld are one of the last of the original GSP's to still be offering cost free online gaming. Yes, they offer ‘rentable’ servers and enhanced services, but I am sure that doesn’t pay all the bills!

BW are lucky that they are backed by Electronics Boutique. EB seem to appreciate the value of being able to offer shoppers online gaming when they buy a compatible game.

BW have launched the beginning of their new service. Emails were sent out to BW account holders last week.

This is the mail

Read it carefully and then follow on my comments at the bottom before you pass judgement or hit that 'reply' button.



BarrysWorld Subscriptions
=========================

It’s been a long time in coming, but it’s finally here and there’s a lot in it! It’s also at a price that might take you by surprise…

It’s £24 a year. That’s the equivalent of £2 a month! It’s even cheaper for GAME Reward card holders – only £12 a year for a subscription.

We’ve done our homework. As well as the costs of running such a service, we’ve paid attention to what Gamers actually want and how much they’d be willing to pay for it.

It had to be more than just a bunch of game servers, and it also had to be a single annual payment, not a monthly payment. We think we’ve achieved our goal - providing a feature packed service at a price gamers can not only afford, but would be willing to pay for without feeling exploited.

For instance, our Bookable server service is worth the asking price on its own when compared to the cost of alternatives. And the same applies to our web hosting deal, especially as MySQL is included as standard now. The few people who we've shown this to already say it would be worth it for the Bookable server access alone, which makes us think we've got the pricing in the right area.

Here’s an outline of the complete service:


Basic Free Membership
---------------------

Use our Forums

Create Players and Teams and use our recruitment service

Join and play in our Leagues

Play on our Bookable servers (not book though, only subscribers can book from now on. We’ll honour all bookings already made though)

Access the BarryServers Clan Servers pages (our Clan Servers are NOT part of our subscription package)

Access most of our website and associated sites, including our Gaming News

Speed Limited (max 12kb/sec) & number of clients limited access to our FTP Server on a new address, ftp://freeftp.barrysworld.com

Existing customers can keep their @barrysworld.com email address for free (that is, all those who signed up with us before we changed to a subscription system)

Install and use BarryBar, our purpose built IE toolbar. Some features are for subscribers only. BarryBrowser comes included, but again its usage is limited for non-subscribers. However, it does list all our servers in a nice and easy interface.


Full Subscriber Membership
--------------------------

For just £24 a year (and half price for GAME Reward Card Holders) you get everything that’s listed below, as well as all free Membership services listed above.

Access to our huge array of “Public” Game Servers. With your Subscriptions coming in, we’ll be better placed to support new games and mods in the future too

Booking time on our Bookable servers

Faster access (64kb/sec) to our FTP server via ftp.barrysworld.com
Special FTP server for customers whose ISP directly peers with us. ukftp.barrysworld.com has a speed limit of 512kb/sec!

A BarrysWorld Email address, accessible via POP3 or via our webmail service. BarrysWorld email also has spam tagging, enabling you to easily filter spam

BarryBar, our purpose built IE toolbar including unrestricted use of BarryBrowser, our web based server browser and BarryLobby, our Peer to Peer gaming client

Stay logged on in the easiest way possible with BarryLogon. A small simple to use Windows task tray program that keeps you logged on without hassle. Non Windows users can use our Website logon service.

Free extras for Subscribers whilst stocks last
----------------------------------------------

Stocks are pretty large, but not a bottomless pit. As the amount of subscriptions increase we can upgrade these services:

Web Hosting
-----------

Single web address
20Mb disk space
3 GByte bandwidth a month (100MB a day)
1 MySQL database, stored within their quota limit of 20Mb and managed only by PHPMyAdmin
SSI Support
PHP (Version 4 only)
FTP only access to your hosting space

Personal Forums (coming soon, they’re not quite ready)
---------------

Set up and run a single forum via a web interface. No more messing around with web code and databases, use our forum system instead. Private Forum? No problem, slap a password on it too. It won’t appear on the list of our own forums, but is ideal for use within your hosted site.

And Finally
-----------

We think we are offering a quality package at a price that does not present a barrier in itself. With your help we can make online gaming a more stable environment with better quality services.

Full details and a simple subscription signup page are here:
http://www.barrysworld.com/subs/

Please, support us and subscribe!

Ben Lawton & Tony Covelli
aka TedTheDog & DBs
BarrysWorld Co-Founders


Now to start, this does not directly affect us. It may do in the future but not at present.

I don’t know how many of you are signed up to BarrysWorld with regard to having a gaming account (free) ?

I have been talking to BW about how we bring the HLCCL closer to BW.

What I am requesting you do is that you sign up as a BarrysWorld user. This will give BW an appreciation of how big we are and gives me more to say when I get into conversation about 'paying to play etc'.

It doesn’t take long and I need it done.


CLICK HERE FOR INFO (http://www.barrysworld.com/newbie/BarrysWorld.asp)

REGISTER FOR FREE HERE (http://www.barrysworld.com/Membership/Reg/UserRegTabForm.asp)


Please also make sure you fully understand the new subscriptions offered before posting in here..

Apart from that I will be sending a mass forum email to all users pointing them to this post.

I want views on this, I want to know what people outside of the UK think about it too.

Tarbs

Agent X
18-08-2002, 10:00 AM
I done it :)

but! the cheek of it someone had already taken my name :cry:

Boris
18-08-2002, 10:04 AM
tbh even the full subsciption isnt much.
£12 a year with game card-worth it for the webspace alone :)

Agent X
18-08-2002, 10:19 AM
I agree and you can get a cheap .co.uk domain for next to nothing these days and just point it to the space sorted :)

BulliT
18-08-2002, 10:39 AM
I dont play enough to think the subscription is worth it. But I joined the free thingy and put up pmers as a Half-Life team.
http://www.barrysworld.com/Membership/Teams/TeamDetails.asp?Team=25941

ReVo
18-08-2002, 10:54 AM
Yeh to be honest im with bullit, a subscription is'nt worth it for me, but it looks like a good deal for players like moony (i.e. have no life ;))

I signed up for the free thing too Tarbs, imo the subscription thing should be v.good for the community as a whole, but not sure about non-UK peeps?

Immsy
18-08-2002, 10:57 AM
Me signed up for the Free Account :)

BlackDeath
18-08-2002, 11:00 AM
I've already subscribed when you posted about the FTP thingy from BW... Tho I do not fully understand yet how BW knows that if we all joining in that we are indeed from HLCCL...?

BD

Dalehead
18-08-2002, 11:13 AM
Someone got my username too. Its unique so obviously someone from here :(

ReVo
18-08-2002, 11:19 AM
someone already ahs mine too :-/ conspiracy theory?

Immsy
18-08-2002, 11:28 AM
I ad same prob so ended up using Immsy

eP][pulp
18-08-2002, 11:34 AM
yah my username was taken also pfffffffffff

had to use _pulp_

anyway i'm regged now

Golem
18-08-2002, 11:43 AM
"Golem" already used... who's that cheeky *******?

someone took his time to enter all HLCCL nicknames for fun? :hihi:

BulliT
18-08-2002, 11:46 AM
I think it blocks old forum names. I had the same problem.

Flex
18-08-2002, 12:01 PM
TedTheDog the name of the boss of a respected company?

Flex: username in use arg

stazine
18-08-2002, 12:08 PM
prolly got sth 2 do with these forum profiles

i signed up on something..

Henry
18-08-2002, 12:16 PM
Even 24quid is cheap for 1 year

So if you have 12quid jeez thats basically f all a year, I think the service will be alot faster aswell if they have say 100 or so HL DM subs i mean thats 2,400quid =)

laachta
18-08-2002, 12:19 PM
no probs registering with my stupid nick :E

Pavlos
18-08-2002, 12:26 PM
why do they wait until the last page to tell ya that ya username is in use ?

grrr

-TARBY-
18-08-2002, 12:32 PM
Sorry about all the user names used up, remember BW is huge and other online gamers are out there with the same dodgy names as you lot :P

Pavlos
18-08-2002, 12:49 PM
No m8, its coz where already registered on the forums I think.

Golem
18-08-2002, 01:25 PM
yeah, and I'm "Golem", not "golem-" ;(

Psymonkee
18-08-2002, 01:30 PM
hey maybe we could organise 1 v 1's to have rights to the nick.....:P:P:P

[KIA]Stig
18-08-2002, 01:55 PM
Originally posted by Golem
yeah, and I'm "Golem", not "golem-" ;(


lol

stig- was ok for me :E

2Drunk2Funk
18-08-2002, 02:04 PM
My old name on there still from many years ago.
SAS clan, crikey.

Switch, register -[ArmA]- on there ?

Hutt'nKloas
18-08-2002, 02:15 PM
Signed up:)

my nick is also in use by meself due to former account, cant get it back as i lost all details:cry:

MaVeRiCk
18-08-2002, 03:11 PM
Signed up, and check the FTP for missing HL Files.

sent a txtfile with missing files to Inkbatty :)

InkZ
18-08-2002, 03:15 PM
Mav is my little HLCCL File whore :)

MaVeRiCk
18-08-2002, 03:17 PM
can some change my status into L337 L33C|-| b1Tc|-| please :D

Boris
19-08-2002, 02:27 AM
Shouldnt this be a sticky thread?

Deano777
19-08-2002, 02:51 AM
Originally posted by Psy
hey maybe we could organise 1 v 1's to have rights to the nick.....:P:P:P

lol

Ya defo worth it imho, even tho I am clanless and dont have much activity here atm its still a bargin, i mean, some of us would spend more than 24 squid down the pub one friday nite

Mad Mick
19-08-2002, 01:23 PM
I been a member for ages, and I would pay £24 a year if asked. Its dirt cheap. I know some peeps dont think its worth it, if they dont play much, and I understand that. But long term these peeps are gonna need our support. They cant run BW on thin air. And if they dont get anough dosh in, they will charge everyone.
Thats really when the big decision has to be made. Time will tell. Feck me I sound depressing dont I?
Just being a realist I suppose.

InkZ
19-08-2002, 01:28 PM
exactly right m8. The best way peeps can suport the HLCCL is to pay a subscription :)

M.Focker
19-08-2002, 04:05 PM
At first I was thinking, humm,, I dont know if I want to pay to play in servers where I ping 140-200.

I would gladly pay for an organized cup and league event, like HLCCL. Thinking about it, if all the clan teams were paying to play, maybe there would be fewer "no shows", on match day, as there were several this past Sunday.

It would be nice if there was an option to pay membership for 6 months instead of the full year. That way we,(North Americans), would only have to pay for the half of year HLCCL is running. :)

I hope i didnt click reply too soon. ;)

NegoMonKee
22-08-2002, 09:39 AM
Signed up and will notice
the whole clan bout it
so they sign up also

Vectrex
22-08-2002, 10:54 AM
I've signed up the freebie account but tbh I wouldn't be happy paying a subcription of any form, now don't get me wrong I appreciate the HLCCL & Barrysworld for hosting it but £24 a year on top of ADSL makes playing Half-Life an expensive hobby.

I also thought the majority voted for Barrysworld since it was free with no subscriptions unlike what Blueyonder were proposing.

Just my opinion :)

NuT$aCk
22-08-2002, 11:26 AM
signed up under "nutsack" :)

Yo`SeLf
22-08-2002, 11:27 AM
ok just signed up m8

StoNe
22-08-2002, 12:28 PM
online gaming just aint worth paying for.

apollyon
22-08-2002, 12:33 PM
done

FIDDLER
22-08-2002, 12:54 PM
Pay to play? No way.

Kykoyokoyo
22-08-2002, 03:39 PM
nobody got my nick yet ;)

-[S@NDM@N]-
22-08-2002, 04:00 PM
As I understand it... BW want me to pay to use their game servers & web space!

Well I see 2 small problems there:

1. How they gonna stop peeps playing on their servers? WonID ban list?? which leads me to say well why pay to play on servers which only a small body of BW members can play on when servers like Demon are open to all? Lets face it BW's public servers are pretty dead already. Plus I already pay them 10 pounds a month for the use of 1 of their servers... the MOD BW server.

2. It sounds to me like a cheeky way to get users to pay for web hosting which many of us don't need I already pay 350 pounds a year for 1st class hosting 20MB of space & 1GB of bandwidth is p-nuts to me and would never even look at it.

They need to show me some major improvements before I hand over more money.

Whip*
22-08-2002, 04:23 PM
signed :)

Whip*
22-08-2002, 05:27 PM
Maybe we should start collect some money for better HLCCL servers instead ? would be wise

ReNo
22-08-2002, 05:41 PM
Originally posted by -[S@NDM@N]-
2. It sounds to me like a cheeky way to get users to pay for web hosting which many of us don't need I already pay 350 pounds a year for 1st class hosting 20MB of space & 1GB of bandwidth is p-nuts to me and would never even look at it.


Isn't £350 a year WAAAAAAAAAAY over the odds for such a little amount of webspace and bandwith? I get that free with my ISP, and the ISP also happens to be a free one which i don't bother using.

-[S@NDM@N]-
23-08-2002, 11:42 AM
Originally posted by ReNo


Isn't £350 a year WAAAAAAAAAAY over the odds for such a little amount of webspace and bandwith? I get that free with my ISP, and the ISP also happens to be a free one which i don't bother using.

LoL that 1GB bandwidth & 20MB of space is what barrys world offers you for the 24 pounds a year sign up fee. I would never pay for that I got 25GB bandwidth a month & 1GB of web space to play with plus all the rest full cgi, ssi, MySQL, unlimited FTP access, unlimited email forwarding, php4 support, 35 sub domain names, full control panel, video streaming support and best of all 'no questions asked'

FIDDLER
23-08-2002, 02:25 PM
Yeah Sandman I visited your porn site. VERY NICE ;). Just Kidding :lol.

Degrader
24-08-2002, 12:35 AM
Done

MORT
25-08-2002, 08:25 PM
already in there, have been for 2 years


BRUVUKMORT

Paul^-
26-08-2002, 01:15 PM
Seems a good idea..
but i have a bw email

t4zz@barrysworld.com [ dont ask ]

and dont play that much ;(

BoA
27-08-2002, 07:04 PM
signup completed :)

SpArkXz
30-08-2002, 10:47 AM
ye done....

my name wasnt taken yet. So its really unique :P

angelfire
02-09-2002, 03:14 PM
DONE DEAL!

Listee
04-09-2002, 03:42 PM
is your sig big enuff?

angelfire
04-09-2002, 10:33 PM
I thought it was...would you like it BIGGER HON!?!?!?!? LOL, J/K.
Thats the size it is hosted at for the other forums I post at in gamers.com, and I was too lazy to adjust it for this forum...if it bothers you I'm sorry and I'll remove it, ok! ;)
Matter of fact, I didn't see a smile in your post, so if you want, you can even delete these and I won't post anymore, sorry again if it bothered you!:sigh: