Re: PBM deposits & value for money

From: tenchi@iinet.net.au (James Gwinnett)

Date: Tue, 07 Sep 1999 00:00:00 +0000

On Sun, 05 Sep 1999 21:23:26 +0100, ColinForbes
<timewyrm@suilven.demon.co.uk> wrote:

>Hi,
>There's been an interesting discussion in the Middle Earth mailing list
>along the lines of questioning whether, if players paid a deposit, they
>would be less likely to drop out (assuming the deposit were
>non-refundable should they do so).
>
>Obviously this is a big can of worms. Personally I don't think it would
>work ...
>
<stuff snipped>
>Anyone got any thoughts?

Have I ever :)

For the last year I've been attempting to start a PBeM company.  I
have one product (Storm of the Eye), which has taken around 3 years to
develop.  It's a very "in depth" game based quite heavily on my
experiences playing Keys of Medokh.  Basically I noticed that Medokh
was slow, and bits weren't finished, so I decided to do better.

The game itself has a java front end program which is pretty snazzy
compared the other pbem FE's I've seen around the place, and is
obviously waaay better than the original Medokh system of filling out
a sheet of 40 orders plus moves.  I also expanded several things that
I thought were a bit limited in Medokh, dropped a few things, devised
a whole new plot (which is only faintly similar), and basically did
all the work I thought it took to make a winner.

Aside from the java version, there's an Amiga version as well.  This
was the original development platform, and is therefore nowhere near
as nice and swish as the java version.  I've had more luck finding
Amiga players than java players, which is strange as the amiga
community is about 1% of the size of the java speaking world.

I originally decided on no setup fee, and the user pays the first 4
turns.  I set up secure credit card transactions et al to make it easy
to pay.  5 people signed up in the first 2 months.  The game required
100 people to fill a game.

I decided to try giving 3 turns free, so people can try the game.
Things picked up a little, but still a game starting was a long way
off.  I decided to reengineer the game for 40 players, shrinking the
world map and resetting everything up.  Finally got a game started.

18 people put in a first turn.  Currently there are 10-11 regular
players.  Once people start playing, around 50% seem willing to
continue on a paying basis.  This game is up to turn 14.

People kept coming in at a steady rate (roughly one new signup every
day and a half), and a second game started 2 months later.  A massive
3 people put in first turns, so that game died there.

I've since modified my signup form so it explains quite clearly you
must download the front end, and find out the name of the demo tribe.
Signups have dropped to about 1/3rd, and the only people who sign up
don't bother downloading the software, and just guess.  So far I have
no actual players for the 3rd game.

The game is really good, and much effort has gone into it.  I now have
a job, so I'm no longer starving trying to get this up and running, so
I can sit back and laugh at my failures thus far.  I suppose I'll
press on, and see if I can't turn things around.  There could always
be a surge in java popularity around the corner after all :)

Summary:

8-10 people on the net seem happy to pay for things in advance.
95% of net users are too lazy to even do things that are free :)

One guy signed up for the game, and when I sent him his first turn, he
called me a <bleep>head for sending him mail.  My reply may have been
a little terse :)  I didn't hear from him again.

So...all I have from my great PBeM venture is a few amusing stories.
I'd love to hear anyone elses experiences in the field :)

In previous years, 99% of computer problems were caused by the user.
Microsoft has managed to bring this figure down to around 50%.

James Gwinnett
http://www.2bp.com

References

PBM deposits & value for money
ColinForbes <timewyrm@suilven.demon.co.uk>
Sun, 05 Sep 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Referenced By

PBM deposits & value for money
ColinForbes <timewyrm@suilven.demon.co.uk>
Sun, 05 Sep 1999 00:00:00 +0000