I've updated the forums which now include an 'About' section which is visible to guests and members. It outlines the PopLava vision and it doesn't include any '???'s.
ts
I've updated the member system so it auto accepts without requiring any information. Being a member of PopLava just means your interested and want a little extra info in the forums.
ts | |
After reading your forum post on PopLava's vision, I'm definitely interested in seeing what this is about. If I do get accepted will I find out where my $5 goes in the scheme of PopLava?
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Cody123100 wrote:
After reading your forum post on PopLava's vision, I'm definitely interested in seeing what this is about. If I do get accepted will I find out where my $5 goes in the scheme of PopLava? Yup. | |
If people are testing out this service for you, why are you asking them to pay you? That seems a little suspicious if you ask me. If anything you should be paying all the beta testers.
I know from personal experience, that no matter how long someone has been on BYOND, no matter how trusted someone is on BYOND, it's really easy for things to get messed up really quickly and for you to loose time or money and both are as valuable as the other. I read your statement on PopLava over at the website and forms and the explanation doesn't impress me at all, not only that, they are still extremely vague. | |
Ham Doctor wrote:
If people are testing out this service for you, why are you asking them to pay you? That seems a little suspicious if you ask me. If anything you should be paying all the beta testers. Well, I need to keep some insider information. That should be good enough to understand the overall concept. If its not enough for you, you can follow along as a member and/or user until you feel like getting more involved if at all. The Resource Center requires a deposit so you can spend money in the "store". I technically am not asking anyone to pay me. I get 0$ from the deposit. If they choose to buy something in the store, I (tsfreaks) would stand to earn something as a contributor. I am not hoping that the select few buy something so I can earn a couple of dimes. I'm hoping they become thrilled at the prospect and jump into the fray of content creation and drive the whole thing forward. I have a bunch of about content in the Resource Center that explains the whole thing. And... just to be totally transparent, the 5$ cash deposit is non-refundable although it gets replaced with another form of currency. This is a part of the design and isn't any form of shady trickery. Once released (public beta), normal users won't have to buy-in before getting a look around. Those who aren't so fickle about 500 pennies will learn a bunch more about the Resource Center once they join. Keep in mind, don't buy-in because you want a look around. I don't need that and neither do you you. I need people who want to create examples, libraries, and wouldn't mind a chance at earning a little on the side. The PopLava vision is to grow the BYOND business which grows the PopLava business. I don't know how long it will take for the Resource Center concept to blossom if ever. Things like this have been attempted in the past and as far as I know, have had little success. With that said, this approach is slightly more unique and I think it will be a lot more appealing to the masses as well. ts | |
I already figured that you were going to be running some sort of resource center for BYOND or something based off of the vague explanation you gave. But you didn't need to keep that aspect of your service a secret.
You can make the $5.00 out to be a little more then pocket change and it is going to be for a lot of people, but I have always been selective about what I spend my money on and you are going to find out a lot of BYOND users are as well too. When the paid membership service started to go into effect a lot of people were against it and it took awhile for people to start buying into the service. I still don't think BYOND offers enough services to warrant $15.00 a year for services I can get elsewhere for free. While some aspects of your services explained seem like a nice concept I am still really unsure what percent of the community is going to want to pay real money for resources, especially since, for the most part, quality resources and demos have been available on BYOND itself for free for a long time. I am also curious about your concept behind a engine that allows for "drag and drop" building (with of course, paid expansions). I feel it is only going to encourage more media core games on BYOND. If this service were specifically designed for BYOND (and costed money too), I'd hope BYOND would see some of that money. | |
Ham Doctor wrote:
... quality resources and demos have been available on BYOND itself for free for a long time. Sure, but there is always room for more and I'd like to encourage even more if at all possible. I am also curious about your concept behind a engine that allows for "drag and drop" building (with of course, paid expansions). I feel it is only going to encourage more media core games on BYOND. I'm not ready to discuss the finer points of that project but I will say this. More mediocre games is not our problem. It's the lack of quality games that is the problem. A quality game ends up on the front page while everything else gets buried. Who cares if we get 100 crappy games in the background as long as we are getting a couple good ones up front. PopLava's goals (as outlined) are to generate more activity and eventually produce some of those front page games. If this service were specifically designed for BYOND (and cost money too), I'd hope BYOND would see some of that money. At this point, BYOND can only benefit if someone is putting in a little effort to do something. ts | |
As promised in previous posts... I've scrubbed the PopLava forum along with the vision.
I'm going to start releasing updates for the "Resource Center" as I make progress against v1.2 and beyond. Again, you will need to be a member to follow along. Here's a shot of the catalog interface. You can see that as a user, I've unlocked a couple of examples. Catalog Screenshot This is my first draft of the interface. Everything is hooked up and fully functional but there's a good chance it will improve over time. ts | |
See, that picture is the singly most useful thing you've provided so far, and goes a good way to explaining what I would have been testing. Interestingly had you been very open about this from the start (no-one's going to steal your idea in a manner that would harm your business, let's be realistic), you'd probably have a number of real customers already AND be getting feedback / bug reports.
The picture has also ruled out my need to sign up just for curiosities sake, and probably Tib's too. Thus saving all concerned a decent amount of time and effort. Best of luck with your idea, now I actually know what it is enough to offer you those sentiments. | |
Stephen001 wrote:
The picture has also ruled out my need to sign up just for curiosities sake, and probably Tib's too. Indeed. I have my own projects to attend to. =) | |
Were he a scientologist I'd imagine his goals would be much differently phrased.