Use of "Premium" to describe some things (discussion)

[taosin]

I notice many powers as described in the wiki use the term 'premium' in their description. Agge pointed out to me '"premium' is used to describe the fact that you have to pay for it - "premium" player, "premium" powerset, "premium" archetype'

I can see this point, in one way. However, I still see a few reasons not to use this term so widely (if at all). Can we open this up for discussion?

Here are my reasons not to use that term:
• If we accept premium as above, then all powers and purchases (and that is a lot) at the market are by definition 'premium', which devalues the term.
• I think it raises confusion, implying the power is superior to other powers in some cases, whereas in fact in many cases they are inferior (for example: Rocket Board and beast Run are inferior to Flight/Afterburner and Superspeed, which i see as premium travel powers.)
• I do not see NCsoft using 'Premium' to describe these.
• I do see NCsoft seeing 'purchased' to describe these.
• The term "Premium" is only used by NCsoft to describe a type of player, that I can see. it seems confusing to.

Factually, I simply see these things as 'purchased'. It is a simple term, accurate, and matches what NCsoft give us. replacing "premium' with 'purchased' in al the instances I have seen would work equally as well, that I can see.

(Am starting a deeper search through NCsoft releases for the term, will see if there is any use of Premium I have missed.)

Again, I am not sure I my take is cultural.

[eabrace]

Alternately, we could link the first mention of "Premium" when it's used to here

[taosin]

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]

I figured it was better than the disambiguation page.  Maybe we need to expand the definition of "premium" as it's currently being used?

[Sekoia]

"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]

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]

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.  :)

[Aggelakis]

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.

[taosin]

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

Noted Agge. However, I am an avid player, devour the released material (announcements, inducements via email, web site),  like most players especially new ones. I've never seen or heard premium used to describe Market features. I'd much prefer the wiki to stick to the NCsoft published  line on this, so as to not conflict our information with NCsoft's.

Looking at how NCsoft present this, I would actually guess they consciously steer away from describing market items as premium, as noted above. They are 'purchased', 'fantastic new power' and so on.

Here's a summary of what I looked at:

For these things, there is no mention of Premium in any NCsoft published material on their site, all are "Purchased" or "free for VIP players":
Coyote Travel power
Magic Carpet
Titan Weapon pack
New year' pack
Winter Holiday Pack
Fire and ice tier
Mini Snow-beast pet
Titan Weapons release announcement
German Shepherd pet
Gunslinger Costume Bundle
Pilgrim hat
Autumn path Aura
Time manipulation announcement and release
Undead Survival Kit
Three Transformation Powers - Rikti Mentalist, PPD Hardsuit, or Carnival Harlequin
Volcanic Aura
Street Justice release to market announcement
Street Justice dev article

I stopped there.

Then looking at the canon marketing/announcements about Freedom:
Freedom overview: no mention of premium
Player Choices: only mention is "Returning Players Become Premium Players" and that VIP players get "Premium In-Game Customer Support"
Paragon Market: "In the Paragon Market, coming in City of Heroes Freedom™, you will be able to purchase new in-game items and account services, manage your game account, and access premium customer support without leaving the game."
New User Experience: Note that returning players "Never fear, we remember you! You may not be a VIP player, but you are a Premium player to us,..."

Seems to me NCsoft are adamant the only use of Premium seen is as above, and are sticking to it.

[Sekoia]

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]

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]

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]

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]

(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.