Pay money? Why would I do that?
A while back (a year? year and a half? maybe two years) I got a Drengin.net subscription. I had looked at it at various points in the past but could never talk myself into buying it. But then Galactic Civilizations came out. Or more accuratly it was announced that if you bought a subscription you'd get the game when it was done, even though it was in beta at the time. I looked at what was offered (one future game that looks good, a handful of existing games of various types, plus anything new that shows up for a year) and paid for the subscription.
Well in that year I got my moneys worth. As noted Galactic Civilizations, and then it's expansion pack, Altarian Prophecy. But then they turned Drengin.net into Totalgaming.net and added a bunch of games. Yes, I had already played some of them, but it was a considerable increase in offerings. Yet when my subscription ran out I didn't renew, there didn't seem to be anything good on the horizon and I already had everything that was offered (except Disciples II, but that's another story). So I let my subscription run out and went on with my life.
Shortly before it expired, I noticed JoeUser.com through Stardock Central and started reading the various blogs. In time I even started blogging myself. I got to know many of the other bloggers, and even some of the Stardock employees. I also read about some people that were upset that there weren't more games offered through Totalgaming.net. They said something about how there was supposed to be a new game each month, which I hadn't heard of before reading their complaints. But then again, I didn't get into the community until after my subscription ran out, go figure. Maybe it's just me, but I saw it as I got two good games, plus an expansion pack, so it was well worth my money. All the other stuff was extra bonus, sure it was nice to have a dozen games or so, and more would have been even nicer, but I'm not upset at all.
So then the almighty Draginol announces plans for Totalgaming.net phase 2, and that the beta for Galactic Civilization 2 will be coming out in March (ie any day now 
). Reading his description of how phase 2 and tokens would work, it seemed like it would be good to resubscribe now. So I did. Looks like only one new game has been added since (World War II: Frontline Command, which doesn't impress me), but if Galactic Civilizations 2 lives up to expectations, and something else equally impressive comes out in the next year then yet again I shall consider it money well spent.