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Should Geocaching become premium only?


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While growing it's clear the Geocaching needed to be a free service. Now that it has over a million hides worldwide do you think it is time to make Geocaching a premium pay for only service? This would mean no more Geocaching for free, you would need to become a premium member to use it.

 

The advantages to this would be better quality hides and more money for Groundspeak to add features and improve the service. The downsides are obviously you would not have as many new cachers (many would say this is a good thing.)

 

What are your thoughts?

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The site has a plethora of income streams. If they wanted to improve service and features they have a feed back site with current users explaining what they would like to see, staff to do it, and income streams to fund it.

 

I don't think it should be premium member only. I likely would not pay for this site at that point as there are not enough benefits to justify the cost of the membership at this point. I would probably go over to the free option in short order.

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Absolutely not. I never would have gotten into this, and I would never have convinced any of the people I already have to join. This is a great thing for lots of people without much money, including young families. Taking geocaching away from that many people would be just terrible.

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While growing it's clear the Geocaching needed to be a free service. Now that it has over a million hides worldwide do you think it is time to make Geocaching a premium pay for only service? This would mean no more Geocaching for free, you would need to become a premium member to use it.

 

The advantages to this would be better quality hides and more money for Groundspeak to add features and improve the service. The downsides are obviously you would not have as many new cachers (many would say this is a good thing.)

 

What are your thoughts?

 

What? This would make geocaching less popular. The fact that newbies have a chance to experience geocaching with a free membership before they go spend money. If geocaching was only premium, then newbies would buy the membership only to see they go outta interest. Then they would still have to pay the fee. So I say noooooo. 100% of experienced cachers started their geolife as a basic member.

 

BTW, its been a while since ive seen you post. :)

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While growing it's clear the Geocaching needed to be a free service. Now that it has over a million hides worldwide do you think it is time to make Geocaching a premium pay for only service? This would mean no more Geocaching for free, you would need to become a premium member to use it.

 

The advantages to this would be better quality hides and more money for Groundspeak to add features and improve the service. The downsides are obviously you would not have as many new cachers (many would say this is a good thing.)

 

What are your thoughts?

 

What? This would make geocaching less popular. The fact that newbies have a chance to experience geocaching with a free membership before they go spend money. If geocaching was only premium, then newbies would buy the membership only to see they go outta interest. Then they would still have to pay the fee. So I say noooooo. 100% of experienced cachers started their geolife as a basic member.

 

BTW, its been a while since ive seen you post. :)

 

What if you got a FREE trial membership, for say, 60 or 90 days before you decide if you want to continue and pay or not? I don't think that making it premium would help quality hides so much, as people with money can hide just as crappy as people with out. But, it might help people respect the game more if you have to pay to play it. With the expense of the equipment (GPS or Smart Phone) I'd find it hard to believe someone couldn't afford 30 bucks for the year. I paid the premium membership, and b/c my equipment is so old, I'm not sure that I'm getting that much out of it (like, now downloading to my GPS, I have to print everything I'm going to find) but I feel like I'm supporting the game.

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While growing it's clear the Geocaching needed to be a free service. Now that it has over a million hides worldwide do you think it is time to make Geocaching a premium pay for only service? This would mean no more Geocaching for free, you would need to become a premium member to use it.

 

The advantages to this would be better quality hides and more money for Groundspeak to add features and improve the service. The downsides are obviously you would not have as many new cachers (many would say this is a good thing.)

 

What are your thoughts?

 

What? This would make geocaching less popular. The fact that newbies have a chance to experience geocaching with a free membership before they go spend money. If geocaching was only premium, then newbies would buy the membership only to see they go outta interest. Then they would still have to pay the fee. So I say noooooo. 100% of experienced cachers started their geolife as a basic member.

 

BTW, its been a while since ive seen you post. :)

 

What if you got a FREE trial membership, for say, 60 or 90 days before you decide if you want to continue and pay or not? I don't think that making it premium would help quality hides so much, as people with money can hide just as crappy as people with out. But, it might help people respect the game more if you have to pay to play it. With the expense of the equipment (GPS or Smart Phone) I'd find it hard to believe someone couldn't afford 30 bucks for the year. I paid the premium membership, and b/c my equipment is so old, I'm not sure that I'm getting that much out of it (like, now downloading to my GPS, I have to print everything I'm going to find) but I feel like I'm supporting the game.

I'm currently in High School. You can bet that even with a few months free trial, I wouldn't want to shell out 30 bucks for an online thing. Money means different things to different people, and to a high schooler 30$ means a lot more than to an adult.

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While growing it's clear the Geocaching needed to be a free service. Now that it has over a million hides worldwide do you think it is time to make Geocaching a premium pay for only service? This would mean no more Geocaching for free, you would need to become a premium member to use it.

 

The advantages to this would be better quality hides and more money for Groundspeak to add features and improve the service. The downsides are obviously you would not have as many new cachers (many would say this is a good thing.)

 

What are your thoughts?

 

What? This would make geocaching less popular. The fact that newbies have a chance to experience geocaching with a free membership before they go spend money. If geocaching was only premium, then newbies would buy the membership only to see they go outta interest. Then they would still have to pay the fee. So I say noooooo. 100% of experienced cachers started their geolife as a basic member.

 

BTW, its been a while since ive seen you post. :)

 

What if you got a FREE trial membership, for say, 60 or 90 days before you decide if you want to continue and pay or not? I don't think that making it premium would help quality hides so much, as people with money can hide just as crappy as people with out. But, it might help people respect the game more if you have to pay to play it. With the expense of the equipment (GPS or Smart Phone) I'd find it hard to believe someone couldn't afford 30 bucks for the year. I paid the premium membership, and b/c my equipment is so old, I'm not sure that I'm getting that much out of it (like, now downloading to my GPS, I have to print everything I'm going to find) but I feel like I'm supporting the game.

 

There is already a free 30day trial membership, when you buy a new GPS. I am currently on one.

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While growing it's clear the Geocaching needed to be a free service. Now that it has over a million hides worldwide do you think it is time to make Geocaching a premium pay for only service? This would mean no more Geocaching for free, you would need to become a premium member to use it.

 

The advantages to this would be better quality hides and more money for Groundspeak to add features and improve the service. The downsides are obviously you would not have as many new cachers (many would say this is a good thing.)

 

What are your thoughts?

 

What? This would make geocaching less popular. The fact that newbies have a chance to experience geocaching with a free membership before they go spend money. If geocaching was only premium, then newbies would buy the membership only to see they go outta interest. Then they would still have to pay the fee. So I say noooooo. 100% of experienced cachers started their geolife as a basic member.

 

BTW, its been a while since ive seen you post. :)

 

I've bought 2 gps units in the last year brand new and neither of them came with a trial membership. both Garmin.

 

1 month was not enough for me to truly determine if I like it. If I look at it like the weather is now versus last year I'd hardly be out caching in the month because the days I can go out have mostly been bad weather days. I needed to do this at my pace and really figure out the ins and outs before I decided to buy a membership.

 

What if you got a FREE trial membership, for say, 60 or 90 days before you decide if you want to continue and pay or not? I don't think that making it premium would help quality hides so much, as people with money can hide just as crappy as people with out. But, it might help people respect the game more if you have to pay to play it. With the expense of the equipment (GPS or Smart Phone) I'd find it hard to believe someone couldn't afford 30 bucks for the year. I paid the premium membership, and b/c my equipment is so old, I'm not sure that I'm getting that much out of it (like, now downloading to my GPS, I have to print everything I'm going to find) but I feel like I'm supporting the game.

 

There is already a free 30day trial membership, when you buy a new GPS. I am currently on one.

 

I've bought 2 garmin gps units in the last year and neither came with any trial membership.

 

It took me more than a month to decide if I really wanted to buy a membership and to learn the ins and outs of the site so I could make an choice as a consumer.

Edited by Chokecherry
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I'm a premium member and will continue to pay the fee as long as I cache.

 

That being said, absolutely not (in response to the original question). That type of bait and switch would turn away a large number of people who may have opted to become premium at some point. Also keep in mind, some non-premium members create great content that premium members use (caches, etc.).

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I'm currently in High School. You can bet that even with a few months free trial, I wouldn't want to shell out 30 bucks for an online thing. Money means different things to different people, and to a high schooler 30$ means a lot more than to an adult.

Actually, you may be surprised about that. How much is your mortgage payment?:lol:

 

To the OP... years ago, when this was all first starting, Jeremy Irish made a public commitment to keep a free version of geocaching, and to date, he has kept that commitment. But that commitment is probably not as altruistic as it may sound. He is a smart businessman who realizes the benefit of free samples when it comes to getting paid customers that want more features and benefits. Besides, I really don't think any business decisions like that will be made in these forums.

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I'm currently in High School. You can bet that even with a few months free trial, I wouldn't want to shell out 30 bucks for an online thing. Money means different things to different people, and to a high schooler 30$ means a lot more than to an adult.

Actually, you may be surprised about that. How much is your mortgage payment?:lol:

 

To the OP... years ago, when this was all first starting, Jeremy Irish made a public commitment to keep a free version of geocaching, and to date, he has kept that commitment. But that commitment is probably not as altruistic as it may sound. He is a smart businessman who realizes the benefit of free samples when it comes to getting paid customers that want more features and benefits. Besides, I really don't think any business decisions like that will be made in these forums.

Zero, but my income isn't exactly large either :P

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I'm currently in High School. You can bet that even with a few months free trial, I wouldn't want to shell out 30 bucks for an online thing. Money means different things to different people, and to a high schooler 30$ means a lot more than to an adult.

Actually, you may be surprised about that. How much is your mortgage payment?:lol:

 

To the OP... years ago, when this was all first starting, Jeremy Irish made a public commitment to keep a free version of geocaching, and to date, he has kept that commitment. But that commitment is probably not as altruistic as it may sound. He is a smart businessman who realizes the benefit of free samples when it comes to getting paid customers that want more features and benefits. Besides, I really don't think any business decisions like that will be made in these forums.

 

LOL For a long time $30 is what we used to call the monthly grocery money. All we had left after paying the bills.

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I'm currently in High School. You can bet that even with a few months free trial, I wouldn't want to shell out 30 bucks for an online thing. Money means different things to different people, and to a high schooler 30$ means a lot more than to an adult.

Jeremy Irish

I forgot his last name...I knew it had to do with leprchuans. I was close. :anicute:

Edited by sword fern
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I'm currently in High School. You can bet that even with a few months free trial, I wouldn't want to shell out 30 bucks for an online thing. Money means different things to different people, and to a high schooler 30$ means a lot more than to an adult.

Actually, you may be surprised about that. How much is your mortgage payment?:lol:

 

To the OP... years ago, when this was all first starting, Jeremy Irish made a public commitment to keep a free version of geocaching, and to date, he has kept that commitment. But that commitment is probably not as altruistic as it may sound. He is a smart businessman who realizes the benefit of free samples when it comes to getting paid customers that want more features and benefits. Besides, I really don't think any business decisions like that will be made in these forums.

 

LOL For a long time $30 is what we used to call the monthly grocery money. All we had left after paying the bills.

 

Now $30 bucks won't even get said Highschooler a date to the movies with a girl. I must say, it is refreshing to say a highschooler recognize the value of 30 bucks. I work with high school kids at church, who their parents buy them everything under the sun...so i didnt' consider there were kids who might actually have to pay their own way.

 

I guess I'm not an avid supporter of everyone pay, but, if I HAD to pay, I'd continue to do so and continue caching without getting upset about it. I'd rather cache for a year than go to the movies once.

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I'm currently in High School. You can bet that even with a few months free trial, I wouldn't want to shell out 30 bucks for an online thing. Money means different things to different people, and to a high schooler 30$ means a lot more than to an adult.

I bet you will blow $30 faster than I will. It is all about priorities. After rent, utilities (I have voip so internet is here too), food, transportation, the average yearly cost of clothing my wife & kids (note I don't mention my cloths), and maintenance drugs, I have $50 to $75 a month to work with.

If I get a gig then I get to buy cloths for myself otherwise I am wearing donations.

I also do not have cable TV, and the antenna on a good day will pick up 1 station poorly.

To pay for my membership I pick up bottles on the side of the road during my daily walks and weekly hike.

and to answer the op I give a resounding "FRELL NO!"

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I know a lot of caches that are placed by Premium members that are nothing but micro spew so really don't see how that would make a difference.

 

Tell you what, every time you do a cache that really isn't worth doing look up the membership of the placer and do you own little survey.

 

And one local high schooler has put out several good ones on his free account.

Edited by Walts Hunting
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Absolutely not. I did find the following a bit humorous;

 

The advantages to this would be better quality hides ...

 

A cacher near us has numerous MoC hides, most of which are LPC style hides and would have to be upgraded to be considered mediocre while another basic member, that happens to be a student, in the area has several very challenging caches.

 

Very few MoCs we have done have been anything exceptional. It is hard to argue security theater is a valid reason for tuning the site all PM.

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NOOOOO! Even with a free trial I would venture to guess that most dedicated cachers in their first year didn't go out and find that many caches. We simply weren't hooked yet. As time went on we geocached more and more. making it a pay only thing, takes away one of the best things about caching, it's cheap, simple, fun and great for families.

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NOOOOO! Even with a free trial I would venture to guess that most dedicated cachers in their first year didn't go out and find that many caches. We simply weren't hooked yet. As time went on we geocached more and more. making it a pay only thing, takes away one of the best things about caching, it's cheap, simple, fun and great for families.

 

I couldn't have put it better myself!

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Never, it would destroy the sport. If it was made premium millions of people that could not afford the dues would have to resort to new hobbies, some of whom would take up sex. Years down the road, as the population exploded all the areas that currently sustain anything but micro hides would slowly start to disappear as new housing would have to be built to house all these new people. This would result in more and more no members, more and more housing, less and less wilderness and a heck of a lot more micros and personally I hate micros.

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What are your thoughts?

 

Jeremy made a promise.

 

Jeremy keeps his promises.

 

Basic membership will always be free.

 

Please don't tell me you posted without knowing the history... please.

 

Well, it's obvious they did. Second "lets make everyone pay" thread in the past 2 months though. I know you're out there, SS. :lol:

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' timestamp='1306222216' post='4720557']

Never, it would destroy the sport. If it was made premium millions of people that could not afford the dues would have to resort to new hobbies, some of whom would take up sex. Years down the road, as the population exploded all the areas that currently sustain anything but micro hides would slowly start to disappear as new housing would have to be built to house all these new people. This would result in more and more no members, more and more housing, less and less wilderness and a heck of a lot more micros and personally I hate micros.

 

That's actually pretty funny. You sure you just found out about and joined Geocaching 2 weeks ago though? :ph34r:

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While growing it's clear the Geocaching needed to be a free service. Now that it has over a million hides worldwide do you think it is time to make Geocaching a premium pay for only service? This would mean no more Geocaching for free, you would need to become a premium member to use it.

 

The advantages to this would be better quality hides and more money for Groundspeak to add features and improve the service. The downsides are obviously you would not have as many new cachers (many would say this is a good thing.)

 

What are your thoughts?

 

What? This would make geocaching less popular. The fact that newbies have a chance to experience geocaching with a free membership before they go spend money. If geocaching was only premium, then newbies would buy the membership only to see they go outta interest. Then they would still have to pay the fee. So I say noooooo. 100% of experienced cachers started their geolife as a basic member.

 

BTW, its been a while since ive seen you post. :)

 

I'd say no as well, but playing devils advocate, a 30 day free trial would allow anyone the opportunity to try geocaching and get a pretty good idea about whether or not it was worth paying $30 a year to continue playing. I'd even make the 30 day trail a full featured premium account *except* the ability to have caches published.

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While growing it's clear the Geocaching needed to be a free service. Now that it has over a million hides worldwide do you think it is time to make Geocaching a premium pay for only service? This would mean no more Geocaching for free, you would need to become a premium member to use it.

 

The advantages to this would be better quality hides and more money for Groundspeak to add features and improve the service. The downsides are obviously you would not have as many new cachers (many would say this is a good thing.)

 

What are your thoughts?

 

What? This would make geocaching less popular. The fact that newbies have a chance to experience geocaching with a free membership before they go spend money. If geocaching was only premium, then newbies would buy the membership only to see they go outta interest. Then they would still have to pay the fee. So I say noooooo. 100% of experienced cachers started their geolife as a basic member.

 

BTW, its been a while since ive seen you post. :)

 

I'd say no as well, but playing devils advocate, a 30 day free trial would allow anyone the opportunity to try geocaching and get a pretty good idea about whether or not it was worth paying $30 a year to continue playing. I'd even make the 30 day trail a full featured premium account *except* the ability to have caches published.

 

30 days seems like a good idea unless you live in an area where weather isn't ok or you happen to activate your free trial at a time of year you can't or won't use it. If that had been the case with me this year due to my work schedule and weather I would been out 1 time in my first month. Hardly enough to form an opinion and I wouldn't pay at htat point to form more of an opinion.

 

I like the current configuration where people can determine at their own pace whether or not to pay.

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No thanks.

 

By the way - why in the world would hides get better if everybody paid??

  • Autonomous kids would probably not be able to purchase a PM. It would force them to go through mom and dad first. They may not be keen on ponying up for a PM membership so junior could hide a film canister on the back fence.
  • Teachers probably won't give each student a cache hide assignment if it meant each student would need to buy a PM.
  • People who put out cache containers that cost nothing (e.g. film canister and a scrap of paper) are not likely going to buy a PM to list their hide.
  • Testing-the-waters, dipping-their-toe, fly-by-nighters, people who have never found a cache before probably aren't going to buy a PM to try out cache hiding.

They will probably end up going to the other caching sites. I doubt GS would take that the risk of losing potential customers of any type.

Edited by Lone R
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I've bought 2 garmin gps units in the last year and neither came with any trial membership.

 

 

i'm sorry but i have a hard time believing that, all garmin units come with a free month membership

perhaps you didn't look into it enough

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When hiding one of my first caches I inadvertently selected Premium Members only when posting it for publication. I was still a newbie with the site and I was feeling my way around. It was just an error but I received two e-mails from non-members asking why it was a PM only cache. I corrected the error. But when I think back about it, aren't I entitled to have a PM only cache if I want to? And does doing so mean I have to explain to non-members why I've done it?

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While growing it's clear the Geocaching needed to be a free service. Now that it has over a million hides worldwide do you think it is time to make Geocaching a premium pay for only service? This would mean no more Geocaching for free, you would need to become a premium member to use it.

 

The advantages to this would be better quality hides and more money for Groundspeak to add features and improve the service. The downsides are obviously you would not have as many new cachers (many would say this is a good thing.)

 

What are your thoughts?

 

I would support that idea if they put the maps back to normal... AND return the original, easier to use front page. dry.gif ........kidding. It took me a few months to want to go premium.

Edited by Rckhnd
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When hiding one of my first caches I inadvertently selected Premium Members only when posting it for publication. I was still a newbie with the site and I was feeling my way around. It was just an error but I received two e-mails from non-members asking why it was a PM only cache. I corrected the error. But when I think back about it, aren't I entitled to have a PM only cache if I want to? And does doing so mean I have to explain to non-members why I've done it?

 

You absolutely have that right. The reason many give is that they think it will have less problems. There is some validity to the argument that if people have paid for a membership they are more likely to be nice. The other argument is CO's feel that travelers are less likely to disappear from them.

 

don't know if either reason is correct but they are the most expressed.

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Absolutely not. I never would have gotten into this, and I would never have convinced any of the people I already have to join. This is a great thing for lots of people without much money, including young families. Taking geocaching away from that many people would be just terrible.

 

I think it should be a Pay if you want to use site.....JMO Hmmmmm $30 does not seem to be that much to me tell me another sport that is cheaper then that..,.... even running a good pair of shoes will be more than that. I think everyone that uses the site should pay why should the PM members flip the bill for the Non payers? because lets face it without the PM members no one would have the site that have today. How about paying for what you use to many freebies

 

Scubasonic

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The advantages to this would be better quality hides . . .

Sounds like you found some LOCOWEED, in a cache.

You have stated very clearly that a Premium member is able to hide better quality caches. So give us some insights as to how a premium member has such knowledge and wisdom. I would like to know, so I could upgrade some of my back country caches from a measly 5 x 5 to maybe a 5 x 7 or maybe even higher. Please explain or go sit on a park bench and look for MOC.

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Geocaching is not a cheap activity. You have to have a GPS or a phone with GPS (not that cheap) Traveling around isn't cheap unless you use a bike or walk.

 

My point is that in the long run $30 isn't a lot of money. Most geocachers will use a lot more money to find a geocache.

 

But we need a free trial so people can find out if geocaching is something they would like to do.

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What are your thoughts?

 

Jeremy made a promise.

 

Jeremy keeps his promises.

 

Basic membership will always be free.

 

Please don't tell me you posted without knowing the history... please.

 

I know thye history, I'm just sayin YES pay for what you use.

 

SS

 

Well, at least you have 1 other supporter now. :anibad:

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Geocaching is not a cheap activity. You have to have a GPS or a phone with GPS (not that cheap) Traveling around isn't cheap unless you use a bike or walk.

 

My point is that in the long run $30 isn't a lot of money. Most geocachers will use a lot more money to find a geocache.

 

But we need a free trial so people can find out if geocaching is something they would like to do.

Overall I find caching to be one of the cheaper things I do with my free time. It works out to very cheap per hour of amusment (even if I ignore the time I spend in the forums)- last time I tried to do the math I came up with about 50 cents per hour of amusment.

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I have had a paid membership and right now I am using the site for free, not everyone has an extra 30 bucks to spend on the membership but that may change next month or next year so don't take away the ability to still enjoy the game because someone cant afford the money today. I will renew my membership one day but as for now I still want to play and the cost of gas is killing me.

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