Stuff that should matter to gamers and developers.

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Midnight
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Stuff that should matter to gamers and developers.

Post by Midnight »

Here's something I found I just thought everyone should see. It's a really inspirational rant about the independent game industry and how it's taking shape and how you can affect it. I highly suggest you show all your gamer friends not just developers as they are the ones that will effect change the most.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joOZ8DlT2sU

I've also included the website of the developer he is talking about ( jason rohrer ) for your convenience. some nice games he's created.

http://hcsoftware.sourceforge.net/jason-rohrer/
MasterGod
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Post by MasterGod »

You know that's very interesting thing he says there but it would never work in our world, where people would never pay the price for a good game if they have finished playing it.
It's like saying "hey wanna eat this sandwich and if you like the taste of it you can pay me".
People would just go for the "ToMyself: I really like it but I don't wanna pay. ToHim: Nahh, its bad I ain't gonna pay for it."

I wish it could be better but he aims for ideal world where people would be honest.. Too much to ask IMHO.
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Lil Margin
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Post by Lil Margin »

He is right but the sad thing is that that it might never happen...
Midnight
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Post by Midnight »

MasterGod wrote:"hey wanna eat this sandwich and if you like the taste of it you can pay me".
I'm not sure what you're talking about but it seems like you missed the point entirely.

What he said was people should invest for a chance of profit sharing into someone like jason because he is capable and they could make money.

Personally I think that's a great idea. So great that before I noticed it I had already thought of the exact same idea before watching this again because of your comment.

If you don't think that will work that's totally fine but I'm in the process of proving you wrong so lets see how it works out shall we?
FreakNigh
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Post by FreakNigh »

Well it's up to us independent developers to create a new standard for payment that is widely accepted and standardized. That is how it works in any market. We're completely capable of providing demos so they know what they are getting before they pay their $5. People need incentives to spend their money, extra features or a t-shirt or their name glowing a special color. I recommend making sure your game is dependent on your central server cause it's almost the only way you can force payments to play.
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Frank Dodd
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Post by Frank Dodd »

That was a very interesting video not that I agreed with a great deal of it. I have never liked the concept of a revenue model based about a donation for a product for the very valid reasons that MasterGod has described.

The idea of an investment is interesting and would encourage payments as I guess people will like the idea of a return in buying a share of revenue from your future developments, but you have to break out of that revenue model quickly as it is pyramid based.

I suspect that ultimately revenues based on merchandising, sales of expansions, sales of add ons, subscription, sponsorship & advertising or simply the good old demo and box sale are going still going to be king.

However I think I'd love to be proved wrong and see alternate revenue models appear, the more the merrier. The only things that do worry me though are the closed shop virtual stores like steam.
torleif
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Post by torleif »

FreakNigh wrote:Well it's up to us independent developers to create a new standard for payment that is widely accepted and standardized. That is how it works in any market. We're completely capable of providing demos so they know what they are getting before they pay their $5. People need incentives to spend their money, extra features or a t-shirt or their name glowing a special color. I recommend making sure your game is dependent on your central server cause it's almost the only way you can force payments to play.
This is a good idea. I too don't like the traditional model of distributing computer games.

My two cents is a distribution system where the games you like playing get more 'points'. Based on these points, the monthly fee gets distributed to the games with the most points.

Because you pay a flat rate and can play ALL the games submitted, it's a win-win. Thousands of titles for one price. Independent distributors will love this, as it doesn't cost to submit. Based on time spent playing, and user votes, popular games would be voted up (IE, like on reddit) and generic blood lust games won't.

The downside is all the games would be in a locked system, where it can only be played if you have paid the monthy fee. If you choose to buy the game, then it behaves like a normal game.
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