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Who else is Not subscribed?
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Celia Scarlet
Celia Scarlet

Jul-6-2006 16:33

I'm not subscribed,but just to see that i'm not alone.
Who else is Not subscribed?

Replies

Balthaak
Balthaak

Dec-17-2007 18:19

I tried to read most of the posts here, and I am in a situation that is not really nice. I come from Macedonia and paypal considers us a threat so I can't use it. Not when I started my account, not even now. And I want to subscribe, though it's a lot of money for my standard. I used to work all day in a cafe for 7 bucks, so you see what I mean. And even if I decided to use the post way of payment, our post offices are not so safe, so chances are slim the money will get through. And even if they do, I still have to pay another 15 bucks of expenses minimum!

Answer that!

Balthaak
Balthaak

Dec-17-2007 18:22

PS. I would kill to go on a villain hunt! Or at least to be able to go to London, or any other city!

David Adams
David Adams
Red-Nosed

Dec-17-2007 20:09

Unsubbed people have a limited number of choices simply because they don't pay for the content, unfortunately. Sleuth is a for-profit enterprise, and like it or lump it, the creators and administrators of the site have chosen to offer special features to those who pay for the extras. Yours is not a new arguement, but it's one that's not likely to influence change anytime soon. Sorry.

Macedonia is one of many countries that is considered a 'borderline' country as far as security threats go. While these countries are not actively considered terrorist threats by the Super 8, the internal security of the governments and power structures is potentially unstable or rebuilding, and therefore a risk.

There are ways to deal with this. Most countries have banks that will issue what is known in the U.S. as a 'cashier's check'. Basically, instead of you writing a check, the money is being underwritten (and secured) by the bank. This also takes care of the problem of exchange rates. There are other means of getting money to the U.S. The best bet is to probably check with a bank you trust, or your local U.S. Consulate or Embassy near you.

As for postal systems, they can be problematic too. You can ask the bank you're at (while you're dealing with the check part) to send off your letter. Most banks will gladly include your letter in their mail as long as the postage has already been taken care of. If that won't work, you can send the payment as part of a bigger packet or package to a friend or trusted colleague OUTSIDE of your country, and ask them to forward your payment on. Again, it's a bit of a headache, but packages aren't always as easy to target as letters are.

My wife and I have lived in a number of countries where the banking and postal system are, shall we say, eccentric, at best, so I am sympathetic, Balthaak. But there are ways to get around the difficulties if you want to. Good luck, and I hope to see you continue to Sleuth!

crunchpatty
crunchpatty
Old Shoe

Dec-17-2007 23:23

David, for so articulately broadening the Sleuth world's understanding of how global politics affect local financing, and suggesting ways the average person can still manage to get around decades of social and political red tape, I salute you! Brilliant post!

Balthaak
Balthaak

Dec-19-2007 06:25

Yeah, great. It;s really easy to say that when you're not here. A friend from Russia sent me a CD two months ago and it still hasn't arrived :)

I thank you for the advice, but an an outsuder you simply don't grasp the situation. It's not only the method, but also the amount. 36$ (+post expenses) might not seem a lot to you, but I work my ass off for that cash. It's 7-8$ per day for students (which I am), and I'm really sorry, but I simply cannot afford it.

I wouldn't go any forthet in explaining my situation. It's clear you don't and could not understand. As it is for now, I will not subscribe.

Lady Emerald Devon
Lady Emerald Devon
Nomad

Dec-19-2007 08:00

Balthaak, I would have some sympathy if this game were an essential human need such as clean water or food.

Here are some facts I have taken from a World Vision page:

Every 15 seconds, a child dies from a water-related illness.
More than 2.7 billion people have inadequate or nonexistent access to proper sanitation.
When a community gains access to clean water, its child mortality rate drops by half.

Also, how many of those people have internet access? How many people in the world even have a computer? How many people in the world live in area that lack infrastructure to provide electricity in the first place?

But like that Desiderata says, "If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain and bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself'' so here's why I really don't feel sorry for you:

You're 288 days and your experience is 1380. You mention you're not a newbie in another post but your experience suggest otherwise.
You haven't even tried to make the most of what the game DOES offer you!!
You haven't gained all of the skills available to you, you can't even do Incred Hard cases yet (right? I can't remember what experience they start at) let alone the A.I needed to even do an AVH!!
Have you ever been a faction head? Have you gained all the books in New York you can? NO. Instead you e whinging and whining about what you DON'T have instead of actually enjoying and using what YOU do have.

Also, if you actually get to know people in the community and endear yourself to them instead of bitching, you might have found someone who would have subbed you.

As it's Christmas perhaps someone with the Christmas spirit will sub you anyway.

Good luck and best wishes with your work, it's a hard life and I know what it's like to work you ass off for a crappy wage only to see it spent on rent or bills and miss out of the things you want. Thing is, a lot of a do.





Lady Emerald Devon
Lady Emerald Devon
Nomad

Dec-19-2007 08:02

Also, good luck and best wishes with moving to another country since you seem to think the one you live in isn't doing much for you.

Of course, you do some power to change the things around or to influence others to change the things around you, but I guess you'd rather just whinge and whine than try.

Balthaak
Balthaak

Dec-19-2007 18:54

It was not my point, you got it all wrong. anyway, it's not whining I'm trying to acieve, just a way to get by this situation.

I'm fully aware of the situation about the people starving. Anyway, I's not mainly up to me to take care for it in the first place. It's not me giving 36$ for a game while other people starve. And it's not me robbing people from their basic needs while claiming I liberate them.

What my point was is that I see the economic value of "sleuth" for its creators. And I don't argue about it. I just tried to point out that other games I tried out offered like 75% of the fun subscribers got, unlike this one. Here you only get to smell the cookies. Not even a taste. Maybe if we're given a bit more of the action (we=unsubs) we would get more involved. From my point of view, I'm supposed to pay for something I cannot even see, just hoping it's what I expect it to be.

About not beeing a newbie, I tried to get my experience a bit higher, but it's all the same all over again. Unscrypted mysteries are all I can do and I kind of got bored from them, so I decided upon exploring the site rather than repeating the same thing I was doing over and over. And, by the way, I atleast have ONE book collected. You have none.

I can't really remember the definition of "bitching", but as far as I can think of, it includes personall offense, a bit of what you've just done. But, I guess that's why noone has subbed you yet.

You say that I haven't tried out what NY has to offer me. What does it offer me but unscrypted mysteries? Little jobs? Yeah, tryed that too. It's really unchalenging to do them when you have a site where you have all the answers.

What makes you think I want to move to another country? 7$ a day are quite enough for a life around here. It's only, again, you that cannot understand that. Ignorant and offensive. Typical for someone that cannot see beyond their own nose. You simply ignore anything that's different from yourself.

Balthaak
Balthaak

Dec-19-2007 18:55

And, at the end: a bit of cultural courtesy in effort to broaden your views: Xmas in Macedonia is at the 7th of January.

Thank you.

LauraVo
LauraVo
Battered Shoe

Dec-19-2007 19:22

One of the great things about sleuth is that you get to meet and interact with people from all over the world and sometimes from places with interesting social/economical/political climates.

Balthaak I can appreciate that it's a lot of money for you to subscribe, I can also appreciate that the postal dynamics are funky and so mail doesn't always get through. However I also appreciate that trying to determine a subscription solution to the dilemma of our friends who play Sleuth from countries that are having some sort of strife that is prohibitive to obtaining a subscription is challenging.

David Adams was trying very hard to explain, to everyone, what about countries like Macedonia make subscribing by traditional means hard. He was also trying hard to think of solutions for you. Ok, so the solutions don't work but telling people that they don't understand and COULD not understand is insulting.

When people keep saying that the subscription is very affordable that is because for most people who are adults with jobs, or teens with jobs or parental financial endorsements, who are on this site - it is. The reality is that the site is run in the US, this means that the price of a subscription is taken into consideration from our economic point of view. It wouldn't make sense for it to be otherwise.

Lady Emerald Devon is a wonderful person who has put a lot of work into the game and into our community. She is known for her kindness to those who ask for help and for always looking for ways to build sleuth up. She is not ignorant, nor is she unreasonable. However you already implied that we were incapable of understanding and compassion, and yes it felt like you were implicating people who were reading this thread.


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