Members Only items now require active Membership to use

As some of you may be aware of, in the past month SOE made some changes to the Member only Items and how they work. Previously, if you were to purchase 'members only' items with membership - you would still be able to use that item when (and if) your membership expired.


However, this was changed in July shortly after the Free Membership Trial began. According to the Free Realms Support page entry, here is the new policy:

"Members Only items require that the player be a member to purchase them, and as of July 1, 2010, also be a member to use it. This includes rides, pets, the Small Wilds House from the membership package, and other various Members Only items. If they were purchased/acquired before July 1, 2010, players can still use these items if their membership lapses. But if the items were purchased after July 1, 2010, players will need to have membership to use them."

As of July 1st 2010 you will be required to have an active membership to use the item you purchased. Any item purchased before July 1st 2010 should still be usable by your characters if they do not have an active membership.

Although these changes were mentioned briefly on the SOE forums in July, many of our members do not visit or have access to these forums. There was no note of these policy changes in the Patch Updates or News in connection to the July 4th membership weekend, something that may remind members of theSpeedy Kick downgrade and changes from last year.

Please be aware of these changes as you continue to make your station cash and coin purchases of member only items.