PBW Needs you!

Puke · #1 September 9th, 2002, 10:42 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Trajan:
This model is based not on the number of players, but on the number of turns played. If the cost structure where a graduated system where the more you play the less it costs per turn, then there is an incentive to play more.

i can imagine. people stacking up their build queue and research orders so they can survive a couple turns without actually playing them

I think the best plan yet is the small dollar ammount per year. perhaps premium service would be restricted to paying Users. for instance, you can play the stock game for free, but you have to pay to play with mods. or you have to pay to play with GOLD, or with patches

or you have to pay to play on the ladder, or in sponsored tourneys. PBW could host events, that are pay events. make some tourney games, with turn limits so they will end within 2 or 3 months, charge a buck a seat, kick 50% back to the winner. have a higher stakes game at $5 a seat.

combine this with the existing donation method, so that the people who want to give more than $5 a year for premium service and mods, still can.

when i measure the ammount of time i have been entertained by this game, and by the community, and the PBW service, and the quality of that entertainment compared to other games or other forms of amusement that i have paid for, and then compare the costs. even considering the copies of the game that i have bought for myself, and the copies that i have bought for others, and what i have given to PBW, im still coming out on top.

hell, having played this game for about 3 years now, im practically STEALING all the entertainment its given me.

geoschmo · #2 September 10th, 2002, 01:57 AM

I am not terribly keen on the idea of charging extra to use mods. It's hard enough as it is to get people to sign up for mod games.

What we are considering as a long term solution is to charge a yearly fee, along the lines of the 5 dollars you and others have suggested. The fee would not be mandatory to play however. We would start selling a limited amount of ad space on the website (Not popups. Yeech!) and by paying the 5 dollar yearly fee you would not have to see the ads. Of course this would be "grandfathered" so that anybody that has already made a donation would be paid up already. For those of you that made large donations you would be paid up for several years.

What do you all think about this?

Geoschmo

TerranC · #3 September 10th, 2002, 02:42 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by geoschmo:
What we are considering as a long term solution is to charge a yearly fee, along the lines of the 5 dollars you and others have suggested. The fee would not be mandatory to play however. We would start selling a limited amount of ad space on the website (Not popups. Yeech!) and by paying the 5 dollar yearly fee you would not have to see the ads. Of course this would be "grandfathered" so that anybody that has already made a donation would be paid up already. For those of you that made large donations you would be paid up for several years.

I think you guys should have some "profit" to all this, to compensate for the money and time put into all this.

Also, the "profit" could be used to hold more contests

, improve the server (lesser downs), but more money in the emergency coffers, improve the site, send some cheese or fruit baskets for those who contribute more than 50 dollars

and other expenditures.

Monthly fees would generate too much revenue, and most of it will go to geo's grubby hands

, and a yearly fee would generate not much to do this, although it would barely keep PBW alive, IMHO, and leave coffers bare in dire times.

So what I propose is bi-annualy, or quarter-annually (forget the Proper words for both) fees of about 3-5 American dollars, which should generate enough to not just keep it flying, but rather to keep it flying and attach another couple of rolls royce engines on it

geoschmo · #4 September 10th, 2002, 02:48 AM

If 300 people paid the 5 dollars a year that would totally cover the expenses plus leave enough to replace the motherboard or another critical part in the event of a failure.

If we go with the ads as well that will make up for anyone that doesn't contribute their five bucks. And they w1oiuld not be seen by those that do.

We of course would still accept larger donations if anyone feels so motivated, and those can be used for upgrades or additional sevices that seem like they might be a good idea.

Geoschmo

Puke · #5 September 10th, 2002, 05:34 AM

i like geo's plan. pay to be ad free. i still think you should run pay for play tourneys, in the theme of "charity balls"

the only mod game i have had trouble getting people to show for, was my devnull game (which unfortuneatly underwent massive problems with turns not running properly, and me dropping the ball, and the game getting scrubbed) which was my only non-themed game since the PBW Beta test. i always figured it was hard recruiting because i didnt bother to think up a theme or plot for it. I thought the P&N games were popular, people always show up in spades for Junkyard Wars, and I saw a handfull of new Devnull games running, the Last time i looked.

are people really having a hard time getting Subscribers for Mod games?

geoschmo · #6 September 10th, 2002, 02:20 PM

There were a few Puke. I think you have such a good reputation for running good games that you haven't seen the problem though.

Pay tournaments with cash prizes would be something I would be interested in. But I would be worried that we might be opening ourselves up for legal issues with something like that. I'll try to find out some more info about that.

As far as the PBW admins making any moey off the site. I don't think any of us would complain if the thing actually made some cash. Everyone who has ever made a website has dreamed of someday getting enough traffic to be able to put a little jack back in their pockets from it. I don't talk about it much because frankly it's never looked like it was feasible with PBW.

It's always been a labor intensive thing. We all spend a lot of time administering it. But we do it for the love of the game. The donations have always pretty much covered the expenses, and not much else more. And that is fine if that's all it ever does.

If the combination of 5 dollar yearly fees and advertising brings in enough that we can say it turned a profit, fine. But it'll only really be a profit in name. It's not going to by a new Miata or anything.

But what would make me feel kind of wierd is if we turned a profit because a handful of very loyal (and addicted) players sent us large amounts of money. I think it's better if everybody pay a little bit.

Geoschmo

Mylon · #7 September 10th, 2002, 03:01 PM

You should probably go with the ads anyway, whether people pay or not. Regular banner ads (as long as they're silent, unlike some I've seen!) don't bother me in the least, and if you get a little extra money on a per impression basis, then why not? At the very least, it might act like another $5 per year donor.