Is this a paid game?

So recently i just made an account on this game and decided to look up a wiki to learn to play it. The tutorial states that you have to pay for this game so im concerned. What is going on and im so confused because on the home page it didn't state anything for paying

You don't have to pay, however the restrictions are very high if you don't buy premium. It's basically a demo of the full game. If you do like the game you can and should buy premium. The full game without restrictions is much more interesting and it's not very expensive. This is not a pay-to-win game either. You can progress very quickly without spending on extra gc and there are plenty of players like myself who will try to answer your questions and give advice on how to play.

You don't HAVE to pay, but you get much better perks if you do.

However, saying that, i believe Madoff doesn't pay for the game, and he's the best ceo out there (free play wise).

well what features does paid members get that free members don't have?

- 1200 points to their country score, and the ability to go above game level 3, which means a lot more GC awards for being on the best Presidents list.

- The ability to build corps that require game level 4-6

- The ability to have more than one empire, so you can do cross-world trading, or start your own enterprise to give your country CEO corps, or a bunch of other stuff.

- Much bigger GC awards for hitting higher GL/WL

- A few other things I can't think of?

The cost is pretty reasonable too, it's like $4/month. Try the game for free, if you find yourself still playing after a week or two go premium.

If you make friends with any of the very helpful experienced players here, they can help you get pretty far before you even feel any need to buy into the game.
I'm still a noob here, but I can tell you nobody's interested in eating you. It's not really that kind of a game. Feel free to use the forums and chat.
Welcome.