Not gonna lie, I’m... kinda upset with the way VIP has been handled. I’m not going to go into how astronomically expensive it is & how few people it’s actually cost-effective for, because lots of other posts have covered those points really well already. But here are some other things that I think bear mentioning:
1. I’m 99% sure that VIP is going to reduce the quantity & quality of content available to non-VIP players going forward
This is just basic business economics – if you put out a brand-new subscription service in the middle of a global recession, probably because your profits have dropped in that recession, of course you’re gonna have to really motivate people to buy into the service. And that means keeping as much content as possible behind the paywall, motivating people to sign up because a) they can’t get a reasonable playing experience without doing so and b) their money is unlocking more content, therefore the subscription service seems like ‘better value.’ Actually, something like this has already happened. PB is in a minor content drought at the moment – only 3 books on the release schedule – but they’ve still put a lot of resources into releasing The Unexpected Heiress, the historical mystery book they know everyone so desperately wants, as a VIP book, so that all its publicity can drum up VIP subscriptions. And yes, they’re still releasing a non-VIP book next week, My Two First Loves – but that book is a) another staple romance and b) a money-making experiment in itself, being a daily release (it’s much harder to accumulate diamonds/keys for chapters without buying them when the chapters are being released closer together, you know?). Long story short, I could just be catastrophising, and I hope I am – I hope PB proves to me that they’re better than this. But I think we’re going to end up in a situation where all the ‘good concept’ books go to VIP first, and the free line-up is just ~3 romance books a week.
2. Having all content go through VIP first wouldn’t be so bad if there was transparency on when the general public release is, but there’s been zilch
There’s only one other IF app I know of that has a VIP program, and it’s Originals. In that app, it’s made very clear that VIP players have one week advance access to new books & chapters, which is an important factor in the decision of whether VIP is right for you. In Choices, the wait for general release will obviously be longer... but we still don’t know how long. I get the feeling that PB will release books only when they think they’ve served their max possible marketing purpose in VIP, which could be a really long time and is... just kinda shady, tbh.
3. While PB claims VIP was designed to ‘reward engaged players’... it’s actually of most benefit to new players.
This is something I maybe have a bit of a chip on my shoulder about, because although I’m very aware of just how problematic Choices can be, I remain a die-hard player. I’ve been playing since 2016, I’ve completed 82 out of 85 fully-released books, I stay up-to-date with new releases and buy diamonds regularly. I would love to have access to a VIP service that acknowledges I’m here to stay and makes it a bit more cost-effective for me. But instead, I’m offered a service where the biggest benefit is unlimited keys – something I’m unlikely to use, because I’ve already played so much of the available content – and where there’s an additional benefit of 2 bonus diamonds per unplayed chapter, which I can’t use because I’ve already played so much of the available content. I’m very conscious of sounding whiny here because I know VIP has to cater for everyone, not just those of us who’ve been here a long time, but... I just wish there were tiers or something to give all types of players interested in VIP some level of benefit, you know?
4. Just generally, this is the worst time to be releasing a VIP subscription service
Like I said before – there’s a global recession. Choices is already low on content, partly through uncontrollable circumstances (COVID-induced delays on productivity) but also partly through their own mistakes (writing an OH Book 2 that was so problematic it had to be recalled & abbreviating series like DS that were obviously set up to have multiple books). In the end, they’re a business that probably has to meet Nexon-set profit quotas to survive, and they’ve spoken out about trying to avoid past experiences of being laid off from companies and I sympathise with that, I really do. But still, this VIP feature feels like a slap in the face to everything they claimed to be about – games that would be empowering & representative for young women & marginalised young people – and I don’t know, guys. I just... don’t feel great about it.
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