"You’ve just been given the key to unlock a world of posh possibilities! New today: Stardollars are available to everyone on Stardoll.
Do you have some Stardollars already burning a hole in your purse? Your Stardollars are now available to spend your Stardollars in Starplaza, StarBazaar and Suite Shop!
The Superstar membership is still incredibly valuable, where as a Superstar, you have access to exclusive membership features and activities on Stardoll.
In need of a little-pick-me-up in your purse? Visit the Stardoll payment page to find out how you can purchase more Stardollars!"
- from the official Stardoll blog
To me, this is a marketing scheme to plant the seeds of temptation within the minds of non-superstars. Of course, It's a good thing, in that they'll get to pick up a nice item here and there; it's also a bad thing, in that there will be an increase of Superstar-only items. That's why Stardoll are so quick to stress that "
The Superstar membership is still incredibly valuable."
And of course, it is. At first glance, I was ready to launch into a full blown tirade about why the newfound availability of Stardollars to non-superstars undermines the worth of Superstar accounts. Upon further reasoning, I've found that it's pretty much the same thing.
Let's look at the Stardoll hierarchy:
Royalty:
Same as superstar but with a useless club and a useless diamond. Ooh, shiny!
Superstar:
Penthouses, beach villas, extra rooms, Starbazaar, special clothes, special furniture... wait a minute, this sounds familiar...
Stardollars:
Still the currency of the aforementioned groups, but now with added temptation.
Starcoins:
Confusing, to say the least. They're the pennies of the people, but you can also convert your dollars into them to pay pretty much the same price you were paying anyway, give or take. Oh well, at least you can earn these.
So in essence, yes, you'll get the access to (a few) Stardollar items when you sign up. But once your initial amount is gone,
it's gone. This is, in my opinion, simply a very calculated move from Stardoll - making them look like the good guys by giving everyone the access to Stardollars when in all actuality, it's meant to give you a small taste of the supposed "high life" before never seeing that kind of wealth again. Unless you buy Superstar, of course.
In conclusion:
Nothing's changed. Just Stardoll being Stardoll.
