well, before the current free membership, we had trial memberships, after 2 weeks you pay, or start another new membership. when they introduced free memberships, well, it has had quite the effect on the game, some good, some bad.
the thing about sim country, its a long term game. i played games similar to sim country, for over 10 years prior to starting here, had some really good runs. but most games like sim country, start and end in a 3ish month time span. sim country has been running, with out a reset, for over 10 years.
this by itself, creates problems. most players aren't looking for a game that you would spend the first year just learning how to play well enough to defend yourself, let alone spend 2 years building up enough of a power base to do anything. but that is sim country.
if you can get into this sort of thing, it is such an addiction. fighting, and allying with people that you've known of for 5+ years. the history of wars, grudges, and power struggles, can not be matched.
that said, Sim Country, is a shadow of what it once was. some of it is the players, some is the GM. but the biggest draw and flaw, is the long term nature. for 4 dollars a month, for a couple years, you can be very powerful. in the end, it is much cheaper. you could spend that kind of money in a couple months, on other games... how ever, its difficult for some one new to recognize that, and commit to long term game. most are looking for action, and excitement, and to reach the top in a few short RL months, while sim country seems to purposefully damper the quick rise to power.
it is neccessary to slow progression down, to make the game challenging year after year. how ever, it does often seem rather extreme, almost resentful, in some of the efforts to slow the power progression. and has seemed more and more to cater to "visa warriors," than to in-game skill.
how ever, even now, one can be very, very powerful, or otherwise successful at 4 dollars a month. their just needs to be a better way to communicate to new players that this is a long term, slow game. well worth the time, but not a quick rise to power type thing.