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.
Social Interactions
Friendship was a key element in the world of Barbie Girls so as such V.I.P. members were the only ones who could have guests at their rooms (in a way to limit the amount of users able to and to make the website more safe). There was also the Secret B Chat, only available to V.I.P. members who had the MP3 device and needed to connect the two MP3 players and accounts to become Best Friends both in real life and in the world of Barbie Girls. With the Secret B Chat they were free to talk about anything without the restraints of the Super B Chat. V.I.P. members were also the only ones who could send gifts to other V.I.P. players.
Adopt a pet
Adopting a pet was one of the main focus of the initial releseas of the MP3 players. V.I.P. members were the only ones who could adopt a pet at B Posh Pets andhave them in their room to interact with. This included the original pets of B Posh Pets (bunny, dog, monkey and cat) and all the other pets from activities and the ones exclusive from the Deco Packs and Day-to-Night Packs.
Online Membership
When BarbieGirls.com was released the only way to become a V.I.P. was through having one of the MP3 players who gave unlimited access to being a V.I.P. . However after the big update on the english version of the website on late 2008, all V.I.P. accounts had a time limit. As such online subscriptions were created, parents could buy 1 month, 3 months or 6 months subscriptions that could be renewed at any time. As these subscriptions could be almost as expensive as the MP3 player they came with exclusive items. The exclusives were a colorful variant of the Panda and Penguin pets, 2 recolored version of the PJ Party Packs, San Valentine's dresses, Spring jacket, dress and eyes and lips and the super unique dog and cat pet bags (which had animated pets when seen in the profile, they came in and out of the bag and had some extra movements). Each collection lasted some time, with the PJs having lasted more than a year.
Membership Ending
All V.I.P. accounts had a limited time, from one month to one year. As the ending date started getting closer players were notified about the account expiring. Once it expires players had up to six months to renew or the account would be deleted from the website (the account could also not be played as non V.I.P.). Players could renew their account by buying a V.I.P. membership or by getting an Barbie Girls MP3 player. Non V.I.P. account could also be turned into V.I.P. but once the membership experied they couldn't be played as a basic account.