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Jack - I'm one of the people who has been with the PC/PC+ group since sometime in 2005 or 2006; I also seem to have more money than sense
so I have content enough to quit buying and stay busy rendering for years.
I'm here for the discount, the extra free items, and the PC+ prices on select items. And the PC forum.
I will also note that Connect has been a non-starter for me from the beginning - I don't have broadband internet at home and even if I did the main render system will be running Win 7 pro without internet access until such time as a Studio update comes out that won't work on that platform.
The March Madness vote was for anyone not just PC members. Some menbers liked it, some didn't; personally I didn't, it was controlled by a set few that yelled the loudest, at times it came close to badgering and bullying. I don't think the PC club use to be more interactive with its members the whole of Daz was. Jack has brought an element of interactivity to the PC club and its members that wasn't there before.
I'm not sure that an hiden easter egg idea would be a good thing look at how upset people get over the banners if they don't get them, I think if anything if I found out I was missing out on things because I didn't or couldn't visit the forums as often as others then if anythhing I would most likely end my membership.
I would like to see coupons stack, I'm sure that was talked about if not promised when they changed the PC to the PC+.
Dear God NO. Just no. I don't care if they gave access to their entire store for 2 full weeks with that...I am not touching connect for ANY reason. I would actually be more likely to quit Daz Studio all together if that happened, that's how strongly I feel about it.
Anything like that would very easily slide on to a very slippery slope. Any subscription based plan could that. I think a sub would do great harm long term and open the door for a competitor to jump in.
I got very bad vibes from that survey. Jack might say its just a survey, but somebody had to come up with the questions, so somebody in Daz is thinking about it. Otherwise those questions would not have been asked.
Nothing should be locked behind a sub fee. Certainly not improved customer support, that is awful. We already can buy add on plugins for Studio today, answer own them. Like the new Face Transfer. There are also things like Measure Metrics and Decimate, and more. Now just imagine a plugin kept behind an active subscription. If you let the sub lax for any reason, you would lose those plugins and other features. How is that a good thing for any of us?
This comes down to ownership of what you are paying for. Today customers get to keep what they purchase, which makes sense because this an asset store after all. These products are not consumables and should not ever be just a rental.
The one and only thing I would possibly support would be a sub for training and such. But only for that, none of the other things should be there.
Certainly Daz would like to be able to drive more recurring spending, any company would. But they have content for that, releasing every single day. If Daz wants to grow, I think they need to make a new push towards gaming. Not Morph3D, but right here in this store with improved interactive licenses, and some kind of model that is better prepped for gaming yet still compatible with current Genesis. It can be done. I'm seeing more and more people bring up Daz in different circles. Its painfully slow, but slowly Daz is starting to make traction in that industry. It is a huge market, always hungry for new content and the gaming industry is bigger than the movie and music industries...combined. Its well worth taking another stab at, it just needs to be done right. Unity and Unreal both have thriving asset stores, and the Daz store could be a part of that, either as a part of their stores or as a competitor here.
If I may say something that might get me burned alive at the stake:
It "seemed" that before the buyout of RDNA (and I'm not blaming that in particular, I'm just using it as a gauge of when I first noticed), that whoever makes the decisions of what goes into the store were much more, shall we say, discriminating. I could count on Daz out of all other content stores to deliver quality and beauty as well as items that always worked the first time. I was much more happy to buy then, because the stuff at Daz was just NICER on average. Now, the offerings seem on par with other stores (and some even worse), which I find kind of sad - like the end of an era. I'm not as happy to buy anymore. Having said all that, I trust that my measley buying habits haven't hurt the store one way or the other...lol...and that a lot of folks really like the stuff I really dislike, but hey, I needed to say it. I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels that way ;).
Edit: maybe I should expand and give some examples:
Punk, cyberpunk, goth, emo, etc....ALL of those have been done to death and some can even be considered passe. Can we move on? Trowel-worthy makeup - urgh, just....urgh. Two glaring ones I can pull off the top of my head. Again, pointing at no one in particular.
Laurie
Aside from that, I didn't notice anybody mentioning the question about what subscription services people use. I think it let people choose between Amazon Prime, Costco/Sam's Club, Pandora/Other Streaming Music Service, and Netflix. My problem with it was it only lets you choose one. As if there's no chance that I have a Costco membership, Netflix, Amazon, and a music service at the same time. I think I ended up trying to pick my favorite out of my subscription services. And it really felt like trying to pick a favorite child.
I'm another person who listed better documentation as the main improvement I'd like. But they definitely need Daz Connect and Daz Install Manager to work together. If I install something through DAZ Connect., it shouldn't be listed as available to install in DAZ Install Manager.
I go back and forth with the "Platinum Club" membership, keeping it active more often than not. But I'm pretty sure the amount of money I'm saving doesn't match what it costs. Maybe it does. My biggest gripe with them is the free items are things I wouldn't pay for. They used to have free items like the stuff from Nightshift3d that I would have paid for if they weren't free. I think they just look at items that didn't sell and make them free items later.
I wouldn't say I'm completely against a subscription model. But I already subscribe to a lot of things. I don't think I'm going to add another one. And if they try to charge a subscription fee for something that used to be free or possible to buy outright then I don't care how much better IRAY is than SuperFly, I'll reinstall Poser and never come back. Or at least it will take me years to come back like last time. I completely missed out on Genesis and Genesis 2 just because of refusing to go to DAZ for years. I went from Victoria 4 on DAZ Studio to Poser to Genesis 3 on DAZ Studio. I wouldn't mind an easy V4 to G8 conversion tool. Textures too, not just morphs. Easy.
I think the survey results will be ignored except for the people who accidentally said the most important thing is the avatar that shows they are a monthly subscriber.
Yeah, but what are we here for? To give visual expression to our imaginations. There's lots of stuff that doesn't float my boat, like sci-fi and Xena type stuff, but there are lots of folks who really enjoy that, and so PAs cater to them, and so they should. If Goth sells, make more Goth. PAs and Daz know better what sells than we do as individuals shopping according to our tastes.
What bugs me is when I have to take a number of items I don't like in order to get bundled stuff I do want. Like the only thing I liked out of the Babina bundle was Babina, and the bundles never include the HD, which is annoying as fudge. If Daz wants to make this PC+ clubber happy, then give me the choice of what I want in my Pro Bundle. I'd be all over Pro Bundles if I could fill them up with clothes normal people might wear to work or on the street or at home in 2019.
None of that, however, will appeal to people who just don't want any more stuff in their runtimes. In fact, I think it's a mistake to try to milk existing customers rather than focussing on growing the appeal of Daz assets to new customers who find Daz models too difficult to integrate in their platforms of choice. Daz needs what tools will make it easy and integrate those into Daz rather than making things like Alembic paid-for addons. It's all about the asset store and growing that customer base.
Oh, and yeah. CMS is of the devil.
after reading this failure of a survey I can guess that
Ross is happy!
I answered that one with "increased price or decreased benefits".
@NylonGirl Daz Install Manager (DIM) has a Download Filter for Connect Installed. You can uncheck that so DIM does not show products that you have installed with Daz Connect in the Ready to Download tab.
No to anything that would require me to connect my art computer to the internet. No freakin' way will that ever happen.
I have so much stuff in my runtime that I will never use, such as some outfits that came in bundles.
I would like to be able to gift my unused products to someone who would use them but can not afford to buy them.
One thing that would be nice for those of us who have spent a lot would be a permanent discount for PC+ members based on the current value of our runtime. 1% off per $500 owned would be a nice way for DAZ to say "Thank you for overspending".
I'd like to add here, I actually love DAZ. I tried getting into 3d art a long, long time ago, but wasn't able to figure it out. Thanks to DAZ, I've got my feet wet and been enjoying making 'pretty pictures'. I've been a PC+ member for two years, but I'm not sure if I'm going to renew.
Really, content management is 'a thing' I'm running in to. I wish there was an easy way in "Smart Content" to throw all the bus stops into a folder, all the landscapes into a folder, etc. I know there's a way in the catagories, but I'm still learning that as I take the gazillion "lost and found" items from the pre-Smart Content days and catagorize them getting to know that interface. (There was something in the store, but I saw it was for Windows only which does me no good.)
I do love when you get an item, you can still download the item again, even if it's taken out of the store. To me, this and the EULA was an easy sell on taking a chance on buying electronic content. I wasn't happy when the new EULA came in with the limiting of 3d printing, though I understand the business end of "why" it happened. This does make me a bit antzy that my ownership of the content may 'go away'.
Some of the older content could use some more 'marketing copy' or promo renders. (Yes, daz-plugin will link to pictures in the gallery, but some older content doesn't have many or any renders.) I take a chance now and then and some are amazing (Night Slayers and Space Defenders) and others are so low poly that should be mentioned in the write up as they will only be useable in certain, more static, poses.
One thing I would really love, is an easy way to render in the background, while setting up a new scene. (I know this may not be feasible due to, what seems to be, a memory caching issue.)
I didn't get the survey, but someone mentioned about recommending DAZ to friends. I do all the time! I find it easier to use than the expensive Poser! But some of the features are so hidden, it's a crying shame they aren't promoted as much!
I don't understand what you mean about the $6 off $18 coupon. Do you think it is only good on a single full (PC+)price item? Actually, it is usable on just about any items except New and Fast Grab, and it is not "$6 off one $18+ item." The coupon works on items in any non-Fast Grab deal. You can use it on any cart with any number of eligible items that adds up to at least $18. I often use it that way. The only time I skip it is if I just don't have the $12-13 that month.
PC+ biggest assets are biweekly freebies and coupons (except the Save6 doesn't really work efficiently)! Take them away and most customers won't bother acquiring PC + membership. As I see it, there are so many old/ancient items for G4 and Genesis that are discounted for PC members. It is time to change that, give them away. PAs are not creating products for the older generations. It is really not a good idea to use these older items as a lure for people to buy newer items. Or sell them at a lower price (that won't be used anyway) just to earn money from them.
The survey will mean nothing and will be useless if the answers are not taken into consideration. Hopefully it will change the current system. I would like to see those $1.99 older items with low resolution disappear (if not given away as rewards for members). Not only that it looks bad on renders but also a source of frustration as it requires Iray compatibility (and such) with Daz 10+.
As a former PC+ member who dropped out purely for financial reasons (I'll go back when I'm working again), here's my 2c:
What I like about current PC+
Things I don't want / am not interested in:
Things that could potentially make it better:
I did a screenshot with my iphone, and it says most valuable to least valuable, and you had to start with number one or it bumped numbers down. So one was most, and ten was least.
You can drag and drop the options and order them any way you like. It's not necessary to enter numbers.
I also remember the sneak peeks in the PC Club forum (was it done by Pat? That name rings a bell.) He left and no one took it up. I actually rarely go to that forum anymore and I used to post mainly there. I don't find a reason to pop over there anymore, there's nothing exclusive for us anymore. So yeah, I miss that.
The PC+ items need to have a limit on outfit materials. Good heavens, do we need tons of Hinata Dress change ups?
I find the most value to PC+ is the discount on regular items WHEN there's a stacking sale. Otherwise 30% isn't going to get me to jump on a product.
My main thing was priority support- and I clarified that to say weekend support IF they weren't going to do that for everyone, which is what I said would be the most beneficial. So far as exclusive content, that would be a nice perk, but excluding people like what goes on with banners (all types) just creates hard feelings. On the other hand, if you pay for more perks, you are paying for more perks. It's the same with every store, so exclusive content wasn't low on my list, it was rather high. I see both sides though.
And kudos Jack, for at least trying.
Ooo, yes! Being able to access the HD-tools and d-force hair tools would be nice, and would make a nice additional perk to being a PC+ member. Granted, I don't know the mechanics behind this for feasibility, but I'd definitely like to see it taken into consideration.
I won't start saving up for it
Novica mentioned the sneak peeks which had the problem that no one would keep them exclusive so that, very quickly, they would show up in the Renderosity Forums etc... I think the propritary HD tools have the same problem; Daz3d has legal power if a PA were to try to sell or release their tools to a bootleg siite but I suspect that if they granted access to Platinum Club members that it would be quicker and easier to just hand over the tools and the research money directly to their competitors and cut out the middle man....
The purpose of the platinum club for me has always been cost savings. If it can save money, I will make use of it, otherwise I won't. None of the rest matters to me, which makes it a bit hard to give it additional value beyond what it already has, although of course perhaps something I haven't thought of could add value in the future.
Somebody joked about giving us extra days of render time each week, but actually I wonder if some sort of render farm service might be of value to some since it actually WOULD give extra days of render time each week. I've never actually looked into any of those services as I just assume it would be too expensive to use compared to 100%-free-except-for-the-electric-and-AC-bill and I wouldn't make use of it, but maybe others with more money or massive scenes or actual business deadlines might, animators perhaps more so. Maybe the monthly coupons could apply towards either content or buying render time.
Had to select a few false/misleading answers in the survey as noted by others.
The mentioned (thankfully apparently unfounded) fears of software as a service were likely triggered by the inclusion of Adobe in the question what subscription services do you use; at least that's what scared me when I read it since they went that route. Glad to hear that's NOT the plan.
Although I actually did consider documentation as the "one thing you would change", really that has nothing to do with the platinum club as a service, documentation would either be free and included with the initial software or available as a single-time purchase. The same for a few other suggested items in this thread, if it's a one-time thing it won't really help answer the question.
I do not like the subscription model for software personally, and want nothing to do with it. However, I assumed that the survey was about PC+ or something similar and so I have been somewhat mystified at the repeated fears of a subscription-based service. Subscriptions have been around for a long time, most commonly for print media. Software subscriptions are a relatively new and, amongst some (me included), very unpopular. That said, the mystifying part is that PC+ already is a subscription service - you pay a fee yearly or quarterly for the benefits of the membership. Stop paying and the service ends. A subscription. I have no problem with that at all. Its not like I can't continue to use DAZ Studio or all of my content if I let my subscription expire. I do it all the time. So lets not start thinking of a subscription generally as some kind of boogeyman. It depends upon what the subscription is for, in my opinion.
As for the survey itself, the questions themselves and the manner in which they are presented are pretty typical for such mass surveys. First of all, the feedback must be compilable. The answers must be in a form that a computer can sort and summarize. In some cases it must be in a form that can be statistically analyzed. So, yes indeed, such surveys tend to be somewhat rigid and will probably remain so until computers are capable of processing less rigid, less structured feedback. Like, never.
There was a survey and I didn't get one?
Well we do give older items away as part of the Mega Pack freebies.. ususally to cries of, I have all of those already ;)
The other issue is, while I agree the older items don't look great, whenever items were removed from the store we usually receive comments of dimishing the catagloue. Even if we had a 'vault sale' I think comments would still come in. However, it's food for thought.
Yea, a fair bit of the suggestions in this thread, while helpful, is related to the store as a whole.
I'll pick through the PC-related stuff and see what shakes out - however theres a few things I think are doable. Suggestions which sound good on paper, but require investment, obviously will need to be mulled over to see what is feasible.
But thanks everyone so far, keep them coming.
Yea, there are a fair few issues with having sneek peaks.. which is a shame, as it's a nice idea in theory.
No, I do not think the $6 off $18 is for one item only. It is as I said--it doesn't stack, and if I have to use it on full-price items, I'm better off waiting for a sale and letting the coupon go unused. Allowing the coupon to stack or reducing the threshold amount of $18 would make it more useful (and therefore give PC club more value).
I didn't get one either, but I'm pretty sure it's because I'm not a PC+ member.
I perused this thread and it seems to be an odd survey, but some of it seems like they were questions that you might want to ask non-PC customers... but my understanding of the survey is incomplete from various statements that may or may not accurately reflect the original information.