[dogscoff]

Run a poll, and see how many people would actually refuse to pay. There would be some ppl who say "no I wouldn't pay" hoping to discourage you from introducing fees, and there would equally be some who would say "yes I'd pay" and then not bother to sign up. These would probably balance each other out, but even if you lost 25% of your players then you'd still have 300 odd Subscribers. Call it 300.

300 Users x $5 per year subscription = $1500 dollars. That wouldn't be too bad would it? And that's assuming that loads of players refuse to cough up.

To be honest I can't imagine any existing PBW player begrudging you $5 per YEAR. I know some of us are better off than others, but if you can afford to buy the game in the first place you can afford 40cents per month. $5 per year. Per YEAR. I mean come on...

I don't know about prices anywhere else but round here I could go down the pub and spend US$5 on one drink and not think about it too much. I mean if you met Geo in a pub wouldn't you buy him a pint? I would.

Besides, existing players are too far hooked to give up now. Recruiting new players might be harder, but they could be given 6 months' free play time to get them addicted. Sure, they could just sign on again with a different username, but then they'd lose all the reputation they had built up under their first name - especially if a ranking system was introduced.

Anyway, I'm in favour of annual fees. In the meantime, I'm going to get a donation together...