How to be a V.I.p.
When BarbieGirls.com was first released in it's BETA state there was only one way to become a V.I.P. member and it was through buying one of the MP3 players that one could create a online V.I.P. player account. After the website got out of BETA in late 2008, MP3 players could give one year of V.I.P. subscription or only one month. This was due to the website starting to have online subscriptions. There were three types of subscriptions: 1 month signup for 5,99 $, 3 months for 17,97$ (reduced to 16,99$) and 6 months for 35,94$ (reduced to 29,99 $). While the MP3 players came with more, the expiring date made that if players wanted to keep being a V.I.P. memeber they would have to buy an online subscription or loose their account after 6 months. Another selling point of the subscriptions was the exclusive items that came with the subscriptions of 3 or 6 months. Also if a user wanted to upgrade their Basic account to V.I.P. they could only do that through the online subscriptions and the MP3 players required a brand new account created.
eXCLUSIVE cONTENT
My Fab Facts
After the big update on late 2008, a new feature was added for V.I.P. members which was My Fab Facts. Now members could click a V.I.P. member and it would pop up a profile with a customizable character background. Players could pick an emoji for their character mood and show a bit of their personality (like personality types, favorite colors, food, school subjects, hobbies, sports, how they help others, what they wanna be and see, their crush type and Barbie Girls faves like hangouts, games and activities) plus their month birthstone and their home country. It was a easy way to know a little bit of the players personality while keeping most important information private.
Hangouts
From the early days of the BETA state of the game there were V.I.P. only hangouts such as Club Beauty and Glam Gowns which were part of the inicial marketing for the V.I.P. accounts made with the MP3 players. After the big 2008 update Sparkle Coaster Place and Tail-Shakin' tree house were added. From then till the website was close more places were added such as: Twilight Woods, B Kooky Costumes and Enchantment Bay. Most of these hangouts were stores or just hangouts while others gave access to multi-player games and activities.
Games & Activities
In the eraly days of Barbie Girls there were few activities or games offered to players. The only one exclusive to V.I.P. members was the Club Beauty makeovers, and it was also the most advertised one. After the big update on 2008, new exclusive V.I.P. games were added for the first time: Crazy Carpet Ride, Jungle River Boogie, Shimmy Bop Pets and the multi-player Sparkle Coaster Race. Other activities were added later on such as Deck Out the Rec! and Design Idol were V.I.P. members could enter an online competition and see their own designs sold at Shop-a-Mallics. V.I.P. Members were also the only ones who could complete badge collections.
Shopping
During the BETA phase of Barbie Girls all members could buy items at the stores, as such not all clothes and furniture items were V.I.P. exclusives. However after the big update only V.I.P. members could buy items on the website, such as clothes, furniture and pet items. Non V.I.P. members only could try clothes at the stores.
Events
Events at Barbie Girls came with lots of new additions and exclusives, with some being V.I.P. exclusive activities. These include the Halloween Goodie Game, Missing Frisky Pets, Holiday Goodie Game, Give a Valentine, complete the Summer Scavenger Hunt and the Too-Cool Back-to-School. Other things include exclusive freebies, limited time access to hangouts, being able to buy all the festive items and the special badge collections. Some of the free items to all players and activities were also later turned into V.I.P. exclusives in other years.