RE Competitive Games: Quin gets paid, we stay free & open

[greaserpirate]

A while ago(in the "suggestions to increase playerbase" thread) I heard that Quin was thinking of eventually making additional content that would be available for money. I have to say, even if I don't like the idea of paid content, he definitely deserves something for how much effort and sacrifice he's put into this community. Also, having a source of income would benefit the community and help it to grow. The problem is that making extra content takes a lot of work, and the end result is only accessible to the people who can pay for it. It's possible to make money this way, but it doesn't seem easy.

Here's an idea I have, that could be used instead, or in addition:

Players could register accounts and pay to reserve time on a Competitive server. They would get to choose the map, mode, and mutators, as well as the number of bots, who can join, and other things. They would pay a small fee, like something around $1 USD, and get the randomly generated password for the server in return. Then they could invite other players to join. It would cost a fee to join the server, but there could be opportunities for discounts, like being invited, first time hosting, etc.

What sets the Competitive servers apart, besides customization, is that doing well can get you awards, which are saved to your profile and displayed next to your name on the scoreboard and leaderboard. Good rankings would be as much of a true indication of skill as possible, and getting them would require a good amount of skill. In addition making their owners proud, they could be used to make sure matches are balanced fairly. Winning a Competitive match could also get you prizes, like discounts on other matches or free invites, but would not "unlock" anything that would give you an advantage over other players. Also, one of the advantages of this is that you get to choose which matches you want to play competitively, and which you want to play just for fun and not have to worry about getting a high score.

The best part about this method is that it would generate income, AND Red Eclipse and the RE community would stay free and open source. The game could stay as good as it is and nobody would have to pay for features. And at the same time, a whole new competitive aspect of the game could be added.

Anyway, what do you think of this idea?

[wowie]

Sounds like Mann Up mode in Team Fortress 2's Mann Vs. Machine Mode. It might work for TF2, but that's because TF2 has an extremely large playerbase. It may or may not work for RE, because the playerbase is relatively small. Nvertheless, every little bit helps. Edit: So it's 1 dollar per player or one dollar for a match? I kind of missed that.

[Ulukai]

I have been thinking about how some fundraising for the efforts of the devs would be possible as well, but never came up with a good idea or something that wouldn't destroy / split the community. This sounds interesting, and it could be combined with a leaderboard for the registerd players, something that the community has asked for quite some time now. It is better than locking content for paying players, otherwise you might get the impression that you're playing a shareware game instead of an open game.

I'm curious to see in which direction this will be going...

[Evropi]

Sounds like Mann Up mode in Team Fortress 2's Mann Vs. Machine Mode. It might work for TF2, but that's because TF2 has an extremely large playerbase. It may or may not work for RE, because the playerbase is relatively small. Nvertheless, every little bit helps. Edit: So it's 1 dollar per player or one dollar for a match? I kind of missed that.

If not tiny!

The problem is not that RE could not implement this (though it would be a lot of work, especially interfacing with PayPal or even directly with Mastercard or something), but that implementing this would mean that it would scare most people off (fast-paced shooters are nowhere to be seen these days, mostly the "old guard" plays them) if you had to pay a little. So the community would not grow, people would leave with time and NO-ONE would play the game.

RE needs to expand its player base a great deal more if this is to happen. Seriously, it's not relatively small--it's tiny. There are only 1 or 2 servers with a decent amount of players in at a time. Maybe 3, though the 3rd one is usually far from full...

I think a better model is paying for access to versions in development and for becoming a tester, though the release model would need to change a great deal for this to become a reality. This would also require a larger player base.

[greaserpirate]

The problem is not that RE could not implement this (though it would be a lot of work, especially interfacing with PayPal or even directly with Mastercard or something), but that implementing this would mean that it would scare most people off (fast-paced shooters are nowhere to be seen these days, mostly the "old guard" plays them) if you had to pay a little. So the community would not grow, people would leave with time and NO-ONE would play the game.

You wouldn't have to pay anything. The whole point is that it leaves the game the way it is.

Basically, the overly simplified version is this: if you want to prove how awesome you are, you pay a small fee to enter a competition. If you win, you get an Official Certificate of Awesome. The more competitions you win against harder and harder opponents, the more impressive your Certificate of Awesome becomes.

And yeah, finding a good pay service might be pretty tricky. Still, it's probably way easier than making a whole expansion pack.

I don't know though. This idea isn't really intended to be a main source of money, just something that would give us a bit of a boost. As it is, we're doing fine without any money (besides donations).

I think a better model is paying for access to versions in development and for becoming a tester, though the release model would need to change a great deal for this to become a reality. This would also require a larger player base.

I'm not so sure... the number of people who use SVN is pretty small, so the majority of us wouldn't have to pay, but it seems kinda counter-intuitive to make them pay, since they're just testing new features which will soon be released for free.

[arand]

(...)
I think a better model is paying for access to versions in development and for becoming a tester, though the release model would need to change a great deal for this to become a reality. This would also require a larger player base.

That's a very bad suggestion as far as I see it; testers and "casual" developers are an asset, why the heck would you make them pay for volunteering?

[Ulukai]

(...)
I think a better model is paying for access to versions in development and for becoming a tester, though the release model would need to change a great deal for this to become a reality. This would also require a larger player base.

That's a very bad suggestion as far as I see it; testers and "casual" developers are an asset, why the heck would you make them pay for volunteering?

I couldn't agree more. People who love the game and are proud to play it should be able to pay something if they want to.

We could try to make donations more attractive too, by having a more actively maintained website where people go to to check out something new, or read the latest news, where the donation button jumps more in the eye and tells you what the money you give will be used for at that specific time (like now still the player model). It doesn't have to be difficult, we just need a good strategy and then actually do something about it.

[charlie]

The sentiment is good (get some money for Quin) but the suggested approaches are probably a bit flawed.

I like the idea of an official server that will hand out awards and rankings. I think you should just have some kind of subscription model for it; a dollar a month or something similar, a low cost (or make it pay what you want with a minimum of a dollar a month) that gives you access to it. Keep it simple, keep it low cost, but at the same time keep RE free. I think that's a great plan.

[hulk]

I think the best way in order to raise funds for Red Eclipse to pay additional modelers, texturers, coders etc. is to make a Kickstarter campaign. If the campaign didn't succeed nothing would be lost and everybody would get their money back. You only need a great Kickstarter video and do some advertisement.

[Calinou]

I think the best way in order to raise funds for Red Eclipse to pay additional modelers, texturers, coders etc. is to make a Kickstarter campaign. If the campaign didn't succeed nothing would be lost and everybody would get their money back. You only need a great Kickstarter video and do some advertisement.

<sarcasm>Yeah, pledge $20 and get a Lamborghini.</sarcasm>

Anyway, I think people who donate at least $15 should recieve some cosmetic special in-game item, such as golden weapons (:D)... (the Minecraft mod Optifine does that in a similar way, you donate at least $10 and you get a cape )

[raiden]

My example refract studios with their actual project "distance" reach the goal just in this moment: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1857884659/distance-a-next-generation-arcade-racer

[hulk]

I think the best way in order to raise funds for Red Eclipse to pay additional modelers, texturers, coders etc. is to make a Kickstarter campaign. If the campaign didn't succeed nothing would be lost and everybody would get their money back. You only need a great Kickstarter video and do some advertisement.

<sarcasm>Yeah, pledge $20 and get a Lamborghini.</sarcasm>

20$?

I don't know about you but i can see a project like this could easily receive 50k if not 100k... Assuming that the goal is 50k, it must be reached otherwise the project won't get funded. As said before the most important thing is a good video and advetisement. Also good prizes. I'm against the idea that people who pledge a certain amount get special items. Nobody should have an advantage over people who pledged less or didn't pledge. The prizes could look that way, that at lower tiers people will just become credited in the game, at the next higher tier they would get Red Eclipse t-shirts or physical game copies (probably too expensive) at next higher tier they maybe could design an ingame character or weapon.

[Sniper-Goth]

This is not a bad idea at all.
Using Kickstarter would be nice.