A question about free accounts

[imported_Starrfoxx]

I hope I'm understanding everything about free accounts, because my daughter would like to play.

On EA-Land site, I saw this:

Former Members Of The Sims Online: You can come back for FREE right now by just downloading the game and REACTIVATING your account. If you do so before March 2008, you will get your earned 'account based' privileges back (gifts, skill locks etc...) when we run our 'amnesty' program. So make sure you are in game before that event!

This tells me that the "paid" account we used to have for my daughter which has gone inactive for over 5 months, can now be reactivated as a "free trial". It's currently counting down from a 14 day trial. Am I to understand that once the day counts down to zero, she can still log in under the Free Account rules? At the moment, she can only log into TC3. It won't let her go into EA Land, because it says it's only for paid subscribers.

But then I saw this here on Stratics under FAQ:

SUBSCRIPTIONS - Free Play and Paid Subscriptions

Can I play for free?

Yes you can play for free. If you have an old account that you no longer pay for, you can simply log in to the latest game version and enter your old account details. EA will automatically register you as a free player.

Free Accounts have the following restrictions in EA-Land:

# Can only buy a size 0 Lot
# No access to skill lots
# No money can be earned by in-game objects.
# Free accounts can get money from other players or by running a store
# Can buy money from EA
# Can only sell back as much money as you have purchased. In order to sell back more money you must have a paid account

Free accounts do not have any restrictions in TC3



I'm just looking for a little clarity. Will her old account (now reactivated via "EA Land") continue to work past the 14 days, and will she be able to play in EA Land?

 

[Guest]

Free account holders at this time are limited to EA Land...check the FAQ at the top of the page often for updates on that....there's talk that eventually free players will have full access to TC3, but be limited to residental lots on EA Land just as they are limited to residential lots now.

I'm not certain that amnesty applies to those who come back with an old account on a free trial...can a mod comment? Also was adding the above to bump it up since I see it's gotten no replies, and was 5 or 6 threads down just now.

 

[imported_Gracie Nito]

From what I understand, old accounts cannot be converted to free accounts. If you re-activated an old account you will not be able to play beyond your 14 days if you do not subscribe. Or perhaps this is a one time offer being extended. If you choose "free access" and later subscribe with that account, you will not be able to go back to free.

If you want your daughter to play on a "free account" then you will need to create a new one, once this option is available. They have not actually turned on the "free access" feature of EA-Land, yet.

 

[Guest]

This is a confusing issue....not helped by the fact that the Team will not post a firm statement.

But this is what Parazid said in another thread, regarding someone that did want to subscribe.

"Since today you are on day 13 of 14, on Saturday it will charge your account, and you will be able to go to EA-Land as a paying subscriber.

We're changing that in the next few weeks to let free players also go to EA-Land."

Just a little tidbit to add to the data base.

 

[Guest]

<blockquote><hr>

Free account holders at this time are limited to EA Land...check the FAQ at the top of the page often for updates on that....there's talk that eventually free players will have full access to TC3, but be limited to residental lots on EA Land just as they are limited to residential lots now.

[/ QUOTE ]Right now, I think you've got that backwards. Free accounts have full access to TC3 without any limitations. Free accounts cannot access EA-Land at all right now.

 

[imported_Starrfoxx]

One thing that was different was that I did NOT have to enter a credit card to reactivate her account. It's listed as a "promotion or game time" account.

 

[Guest]

The information in the FAQ came from the new EA site.

I figured as it was out there on the site it had been implemented already, but from a few queries I've seen about still getting the 14 day free trial, I guess it hasn't actually been switched over to free play yet.

Polly

 

[Sweetdesiderata]

I re-acitvated my old account that I had lying dormant for 2 years. I got the email from Luc about coming back. I never put in any billing info. Last night after reading this thread I looked and it said I was on my last day of the trial. Today I am still able to log in on that account, and when I look at the info again, it has reverted back to saying I have 14 days left. So maybe these accounts will just keep reverting back.... at least I hope, cause Im not sure yet if I want to start paying again lol.

 

[Guest]

<blockquote><hr>

I re-acitvated my old account that I had lying dormant for 2 years. I got the email from Luc about coming back. I never put in any billing info. Last night after reading this thread I looked and it said I was on my last day of the trial. Today I am still able to log in on that account, and when I look at the info again, it has reverted back to saying I have 14 days left. So maybe these accounts will just keep reverting back.... at least I hope, cause Im not sure yet if I want to start paying again lol.

[/ QUOTE ]I'm just guessing here, so take what I say here with a grain of salt...

There is no such thing as a "trial account" in EA-Land. All accounts created are permanent whether they are paid or free accounts, and can switch back and forth between paid and free without any penalties (other than the restrictions free accounts have in the City of EA-Land). In other words, there is no more 14-day trial period, and no more "89-day plans", where the non-active subscriber would resubscribe every 89 days to avoid deletion. Those are all gone.

The 14-day trial period you see in your subscriptions page is a holdover from the old TSO accounting system, and will likely disappear when the subscriptions move over to the EA-Land system. Your account will be either flagged as "Free" (or "Standard") and "Premium" -- or something like that.