Have status at time of sign up maintained for ongoing games

[Votanic]

Have status at time of sign up maintained for ongoing games and tournaments.

I signed up for some tournaments while Premium. I have since become Freemium and have learned that I will be dropped mid-tournament. This was not my intention when joining these tournaments. I assumed if I had Premium at time of joining I would remain in the tournament even after turning Freemium.
Evidently this is not the case...

I think letting people who join tournaments and other similar ongoing games remain in the games, regardless of membership status, will help Conquer Club by...
1. Allowing tournaments to fill and start faster.
and
2. then keeping such tournaments running in a fair and orderly manner.

Thank you for your consideration of this proposal.

[Votanic]

It's probably too much to expect a quick uptake and policy change about something like this, but there are several premium-only tournaments that will affected by this soon. I'm guessing this must have also been an issue in the past. Perhaps the idea was set aside then, but maybe now CC can rethink this.

BTW, can Freemium players send PMs? i just tried to send one and it seemed to balk.

[MichelSableheart]

yes, freemiums can absolutely send PM's.

I'm not that familiar with auto tournaments. How many games are generally played simultaneously? Because kicking a freemium player because they can no longer maintain the game count required to play in the tournament seems far more reasonable then kicking them from a tournament they could easily play in.

[plurple]

as far as I know it only kicks free players if they don't have the required space for the games.

[Votanic]

No, for example I signed up for a poly escalating tournament while Premium, but it started yesterday after I became Freemium. I was booted from the game and it looks like my opponent automatically wins 5 of 5. Thats not what I intended or thought would happen. Obviously the gamesmanship and level playing field of the whole tournament is compromised. It seems like it could just be avoided by having the status at time of sign up maintained... but I guess not.

[denominator]

You're proposing a nice loophole for people to bypass the game limit for freemium players. Simply pay for one month, sign up for every autotournament, then play a boatload of games after your premium status has expired. That's not a great precedent to set.

As it currently stands, freemium players are given a 24-hour period to re-up to premium if they do not have the required open game slots to continue in a tournament, then they are removed. It sounds like your tournament was 5 games per round, which means there is no way to play as freemium. You should have received a PM and an email notifying you that you would be removed if you didn't upgrade with 24 hours, which I'm guessing you ignored.

[Votanic]

Got it. Noticed it. Didn't ignore it... but didn't feel like continuing as Premium, not at this juncture anyway.

In any case this scenario must have happened before. I don't know how often, but tournament can go on for months and memberships do expire and are not always renewed. It can even take many months just for a tournament to fill up to start.

This limitation does affect the quality, quantity, and likely the popularity of tournament play.

[Votanic]

I'm bumping this because it remains an ongoing issue, and not just for me personally.
I really think the integrity of the tournaments should get more respect, and that will only happen if playability isn't affected by changes in membership status.

[Dukasaur]

You're proposing a nice loophole for people to bypass the game limit for freemium players. Simply pay for one month, sign up for every autotournament, then play a boatload of games after your premium status has expired. That's not a great precedent to set.

As it currently stands, freemium players are given a 24-hour period to re-up to premium if they do not have the required open game slots to continue in a tournament, then they are removed. It sounds like your tournament was 5 games per round, which means there is no way to play as freemium. You should have received a PM and an email notifying you that you would be removed if you didn't upgrade with 24 hours, which I'm guessing you ignored.

This.

I really think the integrity of the tournaments should get more respect, and that will only happen if playability isn't affected by changes in membership status.

You could take action on this by renewing on time...

There are some freemie-exemption tournaments that we use for special events. In general though, allowing people to stay in their tournies without renewing would simply create an incentive for people to not bother renewing.

[Votanic]

I really think the integrity of the tournaments should get more respect, and that will only happen if playability isn't affected by changes in membership status.

You could take action on this by renewing on time...

There are some freemie-exemption tournaments that we use for special events. In general though, allowing people to stay in their tournies without renewing would simply create an incentive for people to not bother renewing.

We seem to be talking right passed each other.
People can't/won't always renew Premium status.
Tournaments will continue to be compromised as a result. You can blame the newly-Freemium player, but the little guy who isn't made of money, isn't making the rules either.
However, dodgy tournaments that actually cause that deadbeating to occur, might also make some players less likely to renew.

All I'm suggesting is that tournaments be treated in the same manner as the other games that Premium-turned-Freemium members signed onto before going Silver.