> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://gamelauncher.cloud/help/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://gamelauncher.cloud/help/changelog/2026/august-10-2026.md).

# August 10, 2026

Player Tiers: decide who gets which build with the Discord roles and Patreon tiers you already use, and let supporters who lapse keep the version they paid for

## Player Tiers

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**NEW FEATURE:** The **Authentication System** add-on can now read the **Discord roles** and **Patreon tiers** your players already hold, and use them to decide which version of your game each person may download. A new **Player Tiers** section appears under Managed Access.
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Two things become possible. A supporter who stops paying stops receiving new builds, but keeps playing the version they were entitled to. And you can publish genuinely different builds to different tiers, whether that is a closed test branch or a version with the extras your top tier pays for.

### How it fits together

A **player tier** is something a player can hold, such as `Gold Patron` or `Closed Beta Tester`. You decide how it is earned, and any one way is enough:

* a **role in your Discord server**
* a **tier in your Patreon campaign**
* a **manual grant**, given to one player at a time

Because any single source is enough, a supporter who qualifies through Patreon keeps the tier even if they leave your Discord server.

Then you require a tier on an **environment**, which is the channel your players pick in the launcher. That is the whole configuration: tiers describe people, environments describe builds, and the requirement joins them.

### What a player without the tier sees

Each gated environment is set to one of two behaviours:

* **Visible but locked.** The channel still appears in the launcher, with no download available and a line naming the tier that would unlock it. **Anyone who already installed from that channel keeps playing the build they have.** They simply stop receiving new ones.
* **Hidden entirely.** The channel does not appear in the launcher at all, which is what you want for a private tester branch.

Turning the gate off leaves your tier choices saved, so you can switch it back on later without configuring it again.

### Connecting Discord and Patreon

For **Discord**, paste your server id and a bot token from the same Discord application you already use for sign in, and invite that bot to your server. **Test connection** confirms it can see the server, and from then on the tier form offers your real roles in a picker instead of asking you for snowflakes.

For **Patreon**, connect your creator account once. We then read your patron list to keep tiers current, so a lapsed patron stops receiving updates without you doing anything.

Membership is re-checked in the background, and Discord is also re-checked the moment a player asks for an update.

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**Nobody is locked out by an outage.** If Discord or Patreon cannot be reached, or a token stops working, the tiers we already know about are kept exactly as they are and nothing is revoked. The Player Tiers panel shows a warning so you can fix it, and access is only ever removed by a successful check.
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### Before you gate a busy channel

When you require a tier on an environment, the dialog tells you how many of your known players would lose access to it, **before you save**. Gating your main channel by mistake is the one expensive error here, and this is the guard against it.

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Player tiers decide who your launcher offers a build to. They are an entitlement mechanism, not copy protection: build files are served from a public content network, so someone who already has a download link can still use it. Use tiers to manage who gets what, not to protect a build you could not afford to leak.
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### Who it works for today

Tiers are read for players who sign in with **Discord** or **Patreon**, which is the setup this was built for. Players who sign in with email, Google or Apple, or as a guest, hold no provider tier yet, and a **manual grant** is how you give one to them or to a tester. Letting a player connect a Discord or Patreon account after signing in another way is coming.

Player Tiers is part of the Authentication System add-on and needs it enabled.

Full guides: [Authentication System](https://gamelauncher.cloud/help/add-ons/login-system) and [Environments](https://gamelauncher.cloud/help/applications/environments).

***

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**Need Help?** Check out our [Help Center](https://help.gamelauncher.cloud/) or join our [Discord Community](https://discord.gamelauncher.cloud)!
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