Kickstarter

[Windemere]

What if we could find a couple of really awesome coders who we could hire to get some tasks in genesis done.

It would cost money, but it wouldn't be permanent. Maybe choose three or four projects that we want done quickly and pay them to do it. How could we pay for this? Kickstarter provides an excellent opportunity not only for promotion of our game, but also to crowdsource funds to help us accomplish a particular goal.

It's not guaranteed we would get funded, but it is an opportunity that I don't think should be dismissed. Now, you have to provide rewards for people donating, that's just how kickstarter works. I've thought about this and think that we could have a few different reward levels. Here are some suggestions that go from lowest donation of $1 to highest donation of $500. All tiers will include all previous rewards

$1 - Your name on the thank you section of the website
$5 - A personal thank you card signed by our Keeper (shipping extra)
$10 - 1500 Platinum coins (in game currency)
$25 - Your name on a mural in game thanking you for your support
$30 - 2500 platinum instead of 250
$75 - A t-shirt (we can design later)
$100 - A tshirt and printed fabric map of Genesis
$150 - 5000 platinum instead of 750
$200 - A statue of you in the newly developed sponsors Garden in Sparkle
$300 - 10000 Platinum coins
$500 - One time only, One character gets 1/2 the quests completed. (Could be limited to like 20 people)

These, obviously, are just ideas, but I think it would be cool to start a kickstarter and try and accomplish something that we may have in mind. We, obviously, have raised money ourselves for promotion...but this gives us another tool to accomplish perhaps a very specific goal.

Not sure if it's been considered, or if it is even a good idea...but I've been kickstarting a lot recently and just thought I'd bring it here.

Windemere

[Draugor]

I actually like that idea aside from the platinum part

It feels alittle to much like Gold selling on WoW

[gorboth]

Yes, this topic was already discussed (and the idea rejected by the Admin), here:

https://www.genesismud.org/forums/viewt ... f=5&t=1943

G.

[Rhaegar]

First couple of hundred plats in gen are a chore, after that it's pretty much ezpz to get your money (unless you're switching races and guilds like gloves).

Also, I believe that Kickstarter is for getting projects started and not revitalizing something that's been around for 20 years, has pretty shifty legal status (copyright issues) and not that many people interested in it. If someone is frequenting Kickstarter, trying to support indie developers there's like 99.99% chance he'll take something like Project Eternity or Grim Dawn over Genesis any day.

It has just occured to me that perhaps we're approaching this from the wrong angle altogether. Seeing how there's games with even smaller playerbases than Genesis (I know, I've recently picked up an excellent card game that hasn't been released since the 90's and am having a blast) and they're doing fine. The problem as I see it, is that we've been (rather unsuccessfully) trying to attract more people to expand our playerbase. What those other games did was focus on their current base instead and expand on that. This way you get a close-knit community working towards the same goal - sustaining and making better what they love. You can't go wrong with that.

In my opinion, if we stopped this futile efforts of attracting young blood and instead focused more on improving what we already have while maintaining our playerbase we'll be just fine. The game will remain interesting for us, it will keep getting better and better and maybe some new people will come when they see that despite low player count the game is actually very good, the community is great etc. In other words, let's all have as much fun as possible, without worrying about attracting new players, having to do things in a rush etc.

[Creed]

That's quite a lot easier said than done.

Specially since Genesis is generally divided into two different play-types.
Those that try to roleplay and be their character, for who size and xp is a secondary thing.
And
Those that just want to grind bigger and bigger, for who roleplay and interaction is secondary.

I mean, how are we supposed to be happy with what we got, when all that ever happens is people bitching about eachother and thinking others are ruining their game, while those others have another style of play.
Usually people have to generally agree on something, to be able to take it in one direction.

At the moment there are people who would love for stats and mortal levels to be reverted to the old style, just to make it easier for people to forget the whole grindfest. And there are others who think there should be more levels of stats and mortals.
It's not very easy to make these people pull in the same direction, as they are on each side of the donut.

[Rhaegar]

That's why we should check what are the most common factors between players and perhaps try and develop stuff that everyone would enjoy in the first place. There are no simple solutions here, but apart from the introduction of new mortal levels, in general people are usually rather happy with changes Genesis has undergone. The game is vastly improved I think.

What I think we lack the most now is some form of "end game content", that could keep big people interested and also motivate smaller people to grow.

Almost every single MMO this days has some ultimate super hardcore uber elite instances to raid, which are the focal point of much of their activity and turn guilds into actual communities rather than places where you get your skills and keep your gear.

[Amberlee]

This is actually an idea that im in favor of.
And it poses NO problems since QEXP is actually capped now..
And might bring in some donations.

[Cherek]

In my opinion, if we stopped this futile efforts of attracting young blood and instead focused more on improving what we already have while maintaining our playerbase we'll be just fine.

While I think you have a point in focusing on maintaining our current playerbase, I dont really agree with you that we should not try to attract new players. And what "futile attempts"? We still have not tried to attract any new players. In the history of Genesis we have more or less never seriously tried. I think we should at least try first before dismissing the idea of getting new players.

Also, the game itself is designed for more players online. It would probably be alot of coding work to change Genesis to become a game for around 20 people online instead of 100. I dont know whats harder, changing the game for 20 people or attracting new players. Neither has really been tried so your guess is as good is mine. Allthough it's an interesting idea... and maybe as you say, a more fun and active, but smaller game, might attract new players in itself, and then the game will grow again because it needs to.

About Kickstarter, that idea has been discussed too, and from what I remember it was not dismissed by the admin. Hiring people for coding help was, but using Kickstarter to get funds to use for other things, like promotion, I think most people felt was interesting. Also, even if we only got pennies from it, actually having a project on Kickstarter and/or Indiegogo is great advertisement in itself. Even if people dont give us any money, some may at least be interested enough to check out the game. I bet lots of people who check those sites have at least once or twice played a text game at some point in their life. So... I dont think kickstarter should be dismissed at all if we're talking about promotion, rather than coding work.

However, as you pointed out there are quite a few issues. Will they accept a game thats already working, and not new? Well, there are many half-done projects there who need money for continuing their work, or who need manufacturing/advertising funds etc so I dont think thats a problem. Genesis is hardly "complete", and probably never will be. The copyright issues on the other hand might be a problem. We need to research that more if we wanna try. Another problem with Kickstarter is that you need to be a US citizen, which makes it harder for many of us to be involved. Indiegogo is open for people from all over the world, allthough it is not as big as Kickstarter yet I think.

But the biggest problem is probably that someone needs to actually DO IT. Set up the project, be in charge of a creating a video to describe Genesis, writing the text, handling the funds, etc. As with all ideas, it mainly a matter of someone stepping up and actually doing it.

[Amberlee]

What planet are you living on Cherek?
The game is designed for 15-20 players.
If there are more, we run out of grinding places.
One goodie team, one evil team.. And some others running around.. And everything is empty all the time.

[Draugor]

What planet are you living on Cherek?
The game is designed for 15-20 players.
If there are more, we run out of grinding places.
One goodie team, one evil team.. And some others running around.. And everything is empty all the time.

True, and when people dont have anything to kill they stop playing, half the game wont stand around RPing, a few do that but most are out to kill stuff