Author Topic: Use of "Premium" to describe some things (discussion)  (Read 4621 times)

taosin

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Use of "Premium" to describe some things (discussion)
« on: January 29, 2012, 12:10:53 AM »

eabrace

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Re: Use of "Premium" to describe some things (discussion)
« Reply #1 on: January 29, 2012, 12:31:55 AM »
Alternately, we could link the first mention of "Premium" when it's used to here
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taosin

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Re: Use of "Premium" to describe some things (discussion)
« Reply #2 on: January 29, 2012, 01:34:11 AM »
Alternately, we could link the first mention of "Premium" when it's used to here

Yep, as per standard guidelines.

That meaning of the term "Premium" in the link has almost nothing to do with the term premium we see in many wiki entries, however?

eabrace

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Re: Use of "Premium" to describe some things (discussion)
« Reply #3 on: January 29, 2012, 03:02:36 AM »
I figured it was better than the disambiguation page.  Maybe we need to expand the definition of "premium" as it's currently being used?
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Sekoia

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Re: Use of "Premium" to describe some things (discussion)
« Reply #4 on: January 29, 2012, 03:32:10 AM »
"Purchased" (or "purchasable") makes more sense to me than "premium".

Is "premium" actually officially used for anything other than an account/player? If not, then we shouldn't be expanding the definition.

taosin

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Re: Use of "Premium" to describe some things (discussion)
« Reply #5 on: January 29, 2012, 03:38:38 AM »
Is "premium" actually officially used for anything other than an account/player? If not, then we shouldn't be expanding the definition.

I'm not seeing it in NCsoft published material yet, will finish that search I mentioned later tonight my time.


eabrace

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Re: Use of "Premium" to describe some things (discussion)
« Reply #6 on: January 29, 2012, 04:44:18 AM »
Is "premium" actually officially used for anything other than an account/player? If not, then we shouldn't be expanding the definition.
I honestly don't know how official the use of the word is.  For all I know, the developers or community reps might be throwing the word around all willy-nilly on the boards.  :)
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Aggelakis

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Re: Use of "Premium" to describe some things (discussion)
« Reply #7 on: January 29, 2012, 05:39:12 AM »
They use it fairly regularly when discussing new powersets on Ustream, and I have seen it in several posts on the forums. The forum usage was mostly when Freedom was getting ready to launch and in the month or so afterward - now it's almost entirely contained to Ustream.

"Premium" is an almost globally used term in mtx games to describe things that must be purchased before use.
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taosin

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Re: Use of "Premium" to describe some things (discussion)
« Reply #8 on: January 29, 2012, 08:43:32 AM »

Sekoia

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Re: Use of "Premium" to describe some things (discussion)
« Reply #9 on: January 29, 2012, 12:14:06 PM »
It sounds to me like the devs are informally using the term, but marketing is not. While it may be in wide use on the forums, we have to be mindful that much of the wiki's readership are not necessarily avid readers of the official forums nor avid watches of Ustream.

I think the term "purchasable" is pretty clear and unambiguous. Even if the devs and some of the community are informally using "premium", and even if the term is commonly used in other games, I still don't see an advantage to using it over "purchasable". Many (perhaps most?) players simply will not be familiar with the term, and why should we try to foster more widespread usage of a term that isn't official? I think we'd just be muddying things rather than making them better.

I do think it'd be valuable to mention the casual usage of the term at Premium since the devs are using it. I would explicitly mention that it's casual/community usage, though, and not an official term. I wouldn't necessarily include it in the Paragon Market article, though.

GuyPerfect

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Re: Use of "Premium" to describe some things (discussion)
« Reply #10 on: January 29, 2012, 05:08:10 PM »
I do think it'd be valuable to mention the casual usage of the term at Premium since the devs are using it. I would explicitly mention that it's casual/community usage, though, and not an official term. I wouldn't necessarily include it in the Paragon Market article, though.

There's a difference between "premium" and "Premium". If we're taking "Premium", then it specifically refers to purchasable content as per the official game overview. Specifically, it refers to an account that has purchased content, meaning any such content is unavailable to Free accounts. People used to call the Hero/Villain disparity "faction" until an official term for it came along... And that term isn't "alignment", but "Alignment".

As the wiki, it's our responsibility to honor the terminology that Paragon Studios chooses to describe their product. What business is it of ours to say "We don't like the word they used, so we're using one of our own"?

taosin

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Re: Use of "Premium" to describe some things (discussion)
« Reply #11 on: January 29, 2012, 08:15:10 PM »
Guy: If we're taking "Premium", then it specifically refers to purchasable content as per the official game overview. Specifically, it refers to an account that has purchased content, meaning any such content is unavailable to Free accounts.

Exactly, or any returning player.

Guy: As the wiki, it's our responsibility to honor the terminology that Paragon Studios chooses to describe their product. What business is it of ours to say "We don't like the word they used, so we're using one of our own"?

Agree here.

Guy, I take it your post indicates the use of 'purchased' to describe content on the market?

GuyPerfect

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Re: Use of "Premium" to describe some things (discussion)
« Reply #12 on: January 29, 2012, 10:05:40 PM »
I would agree to a lowercase "purchasable," though marketing has given no specific name to features that can be purchased. The closest applicable term we do have is capitalized "Premium", though that one's only true by proxy...

On the one hand, we could pick capitalized Premium, because it reflects both that the feature is purchasable and also that it is not available to Free accounts. This distinction is important because it draws account type to attention, which is far more likely to pique curiosity and lead people to investigating how they might be able to get more out of the game.

On the other hand, purchasable content isn't necessarily accessible to Premium or VIP accounts, so perhaps the use of Premium to describe those features is ambiguous at best and misleading at worst. Having said that, some purchasable content becomes available to VIP accounts without purchase (such as the Signature Story Arcs and Archetypes), so maybe that's not the best route to go either...

I suppose the best, unambiguous trait shared by these features is that they are available on the Paragon Market. Perhaps we should approach it from that angle.

taosin

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Re: Use of "Premium" to describe some things (discussion)
« Reply #13 on: January 30, 2012, 06:34:21 AM »
(selective reply, I know, apologies)

Guy: I would agree to a lowercase "purchasable," though marketing has given no specific name to features that can be purchased.

NCsoft describe all content on the market as purchasable. or available for purchase. That is very clear I hope from the above and from each of their releases describing new additions.





The closest applicable term we do have is capitalized "Premium", though that one's only true by proxy...

Guy: On the one hand, we could pick capitalized Premium, because it reflects both that the feature is purchasable and also that it is not available to Free accounts. This distinction is important because it draws account type to attention, which is far more likely to pique curiosity and lead people to investigating how they might be able to get more out of the game.

Strongly disagree here, as 'Premium' is a strongly defined term used by NCsoft for a very specific purpose, and never when applied to any purchased content.

Guy: On the other hand, purchasable content isn't necessarily accessible to Premium or VIP accounts, so perhaps the use of Premium to describe those features is ambiguous at best and misleading at worst. Having said that, some purchasable content becomes available to VIP accounts without purchase (such as the Signature Story Arcs and Archetypes), so maybe that's not the best route to go either...

Yes, not the best route to go! Agree very strongly.

To clarify, (and this is trivial), rather than saying "some purchasable content becomes available to VIP accounts without purchase" we and NCsoft would say (I believe!)  "certain content is included with an active subscription (or VIP status etc.), but must be purchased by other players" or words to that effect.

I suppose the best, unambiguous trait shared by these features is that they are available on the Paragon Market. Perhaps we should approach it from that angle.