A revenue idea. Perhaps win/win/win?
By
Ad Astra,
Posted on: 2012-01-31 15:33 in Suggestions and Ideas
Ick. The idea of people participating in advertising to earn in-game stuff makes me sick to my stomach.
"You don't lose levels. You don't have equipment to wear out, repair, or lose, or that anyone can steal from you. About the only thing lighter than debt they could do is have an NPC walk by, point and laugh before you can go to the hospital or base." -Memphis_Bill
We will honor the past, and fight to the last, it will be a good way to die...
I play an online First person shooter that has this. Wouldn't do it myself cause to much of a hassle but some friends of mine do it.
Good idea I think.
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Why? it's a good way for young kids to earn money or in this case credit on a game that is equal to real money(think of it as a gift card for COH) that is absolutely not going towards drugs and or booze.
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Originally Posted by DarkGob
Ick. The idea of people participating in advertising to earn in-game stuff makes me sick to my stomach.
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Young kids technically aren't even supposed to be playing the game, I don't think. (Yes, I realize that they do, but the devs aren't going to actively enable this behavior.)|
Originally Posted by Lucky666
Why? it's a good way for young kids to earn money or in this case credit on a game that is equal to real money(think of it as a gift card for COH) that is absolutely not going towards drugs and or booze.
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As for your ridiculous drug reference...wow.
Regarding why, I don't like my entertainment bogged down my advertising. While it is a necessity of capitalism (and if anyone even tries to take this statement and start a separate political/economic argument I will have a mod close down this thread, because seriously), most of the time it's a vile, crass and obscene medium.
"You don't lose levels. You don't have equipment to wear out, repair, or lose, or that anyone can steal from you. About the only thing lighter than debt they could do is have an NPC walk by, point and laugh before you can go to the hospital or base." -Memphis_Bill
We will honor the past, and fight to the last, it will be a good way to die...
Seems like you (DarkGob) are getting confused. There are zero ads in the game, even under this idea. The ads and everything are on their own site page, never touching the ingame.
I'm with Gob on this one. Best case, I find the practice distasteful and can guarantee I wouldn't partake myself. Worst case, those things can be misleading and often predatory, which could end up getting Paragon in trouble for sending people there, even if it's technically hosted out-of-game.
(Actually, worst case for me personally, and I admit this is an extreme and very unlikely example, but stranger things have happened: it'd be wildly successful, and then it would invade the game. You think running to the Boomtown security chief is a pain, wait'll that contact sends you to some survey website to answer a few quick and easy questions about your TV viewing habits.)
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If I'm remembering the TOS correctly, it's supposed to be 13 and up. The game's T rating supports that, but doesn't prove it. I suppose I could comb the fine print to verify, but... eh.
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Originally Posted by DarkGob
Young kids technically aren't even supposed to be playing the game, I don't think. (Yes, I realize that they do, but the devs aren't going to actively enable this behavior.)
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FUN FACT: That burst of light when you level up is actually the effectiveness escaping from your enhancements all at once.
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Again, if only I could give the example, then you'd see that it is already working without invasion with this other Asian MMO company that recently bought some spacey MMO and other superhero MMO... whoops |
Originally Posted by Doctor Roswell
I'm with Gob on this one. Best case, I find the practice distasteful and can guarantee I wouldn't partake myself. Worst case, those things can be misleading and often predatory, which could end up getting Paragon in trouble for sending people there, even if it's technically hosted out-of-game.
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Whether it works for another company or not is irrelevant.|
Originally Posted by Ultimate Wrath
Again, if only I could give the example, then you'd see that it is already working without invasion with this other Asian MMO company that recently bought some spacey MMO and other superhero MMO... whoops
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I'm not interested in filling out a Procter and Gamble survey on my bowel movements so they can better market Pepto-Bismol to an MMO crowd.
Even if it netted me a sweet Pepto-Bismol dripping trail aura.
"I saw my advantage and took it. That's what heroes do." - Homer Simpson.
Great idea!
Have a section in the forums dedicated to this, different threads for different advertisers each with their own link to their own survey site.
Upon completion of their survey you get your Paragon Points added to your account.
Don't be fooled people, this is why FREE social media pages like 'Facialbook', 'YourSpace' and such are making so much cash with the games on their site, and even those free games are making money off this system.
Social media page makes money, and are happy. Advertisers do a study and get recognition, and are happy. Survey takers get tokens/chips/points and guess what.. they are happy too.
You don't have to participate in this, and if it is just a section in the forum where people can go to find links for deals, who cares?
I for one would love to do a free 'Netphlicks' trail for a month and get 100PP for it too. Or take a 5 minute survey and get 10-50PP.
I used to do this on 'Facialbook' on a game i played, and i'd love the chance to do this here too.
This also means more revenue for Paragon Studios to commit more resources to new content or updating older content.
Dark Energon, Founder of the Freedom Legion SG on Guardian server.
(SG founded on 12-08-'09, Top100: 08-17-'10, Top50: 12-23-'10, Top25: 12-11-'11)
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Unsigned.
This wouldn't make the devs that much money, I think. If we can just keep doing surveys, we won't be buying points. Points are 100% profit to the devs, while adverts might be pennies.
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I said earlier I play a game with this feature and this statement is pure non sense no offense but you obviously have zero idea what your talking about.
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Originally Posted by Doctor Roswell
(Actually, worst case for me personally, and I admit this is an extreme and very unlikely example, but stranger things have happened: it'd be wildly successful, and then it would invade the game. You think running to the Boomtown security chief is a pain, wait'll that contact sends you to some survey website to answer a few quick and easy questions about your TV viewing habits.)
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Originally Posted by Trilby
Unsigned.
This wouldn't make the devs that much money, I think. If we can just keep doing surveys, we won't be buying points. Points are 100% profit to the devs, while adverts might be pennies. |
You don't get it. Third party companys buy the points with real cash and then give them away to people that take part in adds. The points are paid for with real cash either way it's not the devs giving them away it's third party companys.
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Oh, well if one other game doesn't do it that way, then clearly it's fundamentally impossible.|
Originally Posted by Lucky666
I said earlier I play a game with this feature and this statement is pure non sense no offense but you obviously have zero idea what your talking about.
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My mistake.
(Never mind that I specifically pointed out that I knew it was unlikely and extreme, nor that I also pointed out a number of less-extreme, more-likely scenarios that would also make this a bad idea. We'll ignore all that, though. No offense, but you obviously have zero idea what I'm talking about.)
FUN FACT: That burst of light when you level up is actually the effectiveness escaping from your enhancements all at once.
Sorry, but I find the practice fairly shady and distasteful myself.
Worse, something like this would pull significant time from a Paragon Employee's schedule, as something like this HAS to be ruthlessly policed so that it isn't subverted by ad groups serving up malware.
Seriously, stuff like this always starts out cleanly enough.
But, sooner or later, such networks are subverted by crapware pushers.
Moreover, while I love CoH, I don't think it has enough social presence to command worthwhile revenues from this. This means people participating in the program are going to be scrabbling over a too-small pool of points.
/unsigned
Clicking on the linked image above will take you off the City of Heroes site. However, the guides will be linked back here.
I used to play a couple Facebook games that used this method of eraning free game money.
Over half of the surveys I did followed the same format:
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Sorry, but this is NOT the type of company I want associated with Paragon Studios and City of Heroes.|
Hi, thank you for choosing to do our survey! To start, please enter your email address below! (Some make you click a verification link in an email sent to the address, and a few gave you the option of adding your full address and/or mobile number for "demographic tracking") Before we start, we need to ask a few questions to see if you are eligible for any of the surveys we're currently offering. ... After clicking through 20 minutes of questions that are basically the same thing as every other survey asks ... We're sorry, but you don't qualify for any of the surveys we're currently offering. If you had qualified, we would have just asked the same questions you already answered, so we're just going to file away your info and save it for later. Since all you did was sign up and you didn't actually complete a survey, screw you, we're not giving you any points. And thanks for your email address and any other personal information you were dumb enough to volunteer, we'll be sure to sell that information to as many irreputable companies as we can, so that you can be spammed endlessly. Thank you, and have a nice day. |
/unsigned
@Roderick
Sounds like a great way to get a bunch of viruses on your computer.
Hell yeah!
Clicking on the linked image above will take you off the City of Heroes site. However, the guides will be linked back here.
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Seems like you (Ultimate Wrath) are getting confused, partaking in surveys on a website in exchange for in-game influence DOES touch in-game.
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Originally Posted by Ultimate Wrath
Seems like you (DarkGob) are getting confused. There are zero ads in the game, even under this idea. The ads and everything are on their own site page, never touching the ingame.
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"You don't lose levels. You don't have equipment to wear out, repair, or lose, or that anyone can steal from you. About the only thing lighter than debt they could do is have an NPC walk by, point and laugh before you can go to the hospital or base." -Memphis_Bill
We will honor the past, and fight to the last, it will be a good way to die...
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Originally Posted by Hyperstrike
Sorry, but I find the practice fairly shady and distasteful myself.
Worse, something like this would pull significant time from a Paragon Employee's schedule, as something like this . Seriously, stuff like this always starts out cleanly enough.HAS to be ruthlessly policed so that it isn't subverted by ad groups serving up malware But, sooner or later, such networks are subverted by crapware pushers. Moreover, while I love CoH, I don't think it has enough social presence to command worthwhile revenues from this. This means people participating in the program are going to be scrabbling over a too-small pool of points. /unsigned |
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Originally Posted by Warkupo
Sounds like a great way to get a bunch of viruses on your computer.
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Both of these.
NC/Paragon would have zero control over what is on the other website, other than dedicating multiple employees - I would think at least one per shift to handle new issues as they come up, since the game is international and folks play at all hours.
I'm on some of the social media sites all day, but I never click on those side ads or take surveys simply because I have no way of determining whether I'm going to pick up something nasty once I leave the social media website.
I don't worry about that on the social media website itself or even on a couple of the game websites (like the big one that starts with a "Z") because I am more confident that they have controls in place to prevent nasty bugs passing through their own content.
OP, you have an awful lot of faith in the "kindness of strangers" if you can't acknowledge the problems that some have raised with your idea. Me, I'm way more skeptical about relying on an outside website provider.....
Altoholic - but a Blaster at Heart!
Originally Posted by SpyralPegacyon
"You gave us a world where we could fly. I can't thank you enough for that."
I'd prefer not to have more of that crap from facebook polluting this game, thanks.
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Gonna agree with Ad Astra and the others on this. /unsigned
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Originally Posted by Ad Astra
^^^^^^^
Both of these. NC/Paragon would have zero control over what is on the other website, other than dedicating multiple employees - I would think at least one per shift to handle new issues as they come up, since the game is international and folks play at all hours. I'm on some of the social media sites all day, but I never click on those side ads or take surveys simply because I have no way of determining whether I'm going to pick up something nasty once I leave the social media website. I don't worry about that on the social media website itself or even on a couple of the game websites (like the big one that starts with a "Z") because I am more confident that they have controls in place to prevent nasty bugs passing through their own content. OP, you have an awful lot of faith in the "kindness of strangers" if you can't acknowledge the problems that some have raised with your idea. Me, I'm way more skeptical about relying on an outside website provider..... |
Forbin, I saw the title, and I wanted to like the post. I didn't. 'nuff said.
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1. The proposal would exchange for PARAGON POINTS, NOT INFLUENCE.|
Originally Posted by DarkGob
Seems like you (Ultimate Wrath) are getting confused, partaking in surveys on a website in exchange for in-game influence DOES touch in-game.
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2. Don't try mimicing me and thinking it's cute. I'm trying to be respectful.
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Originally Posted by Ad Astra
OP, you have an awful lot of faith in the "kindness of strangers" if you can't acknowledge the problems that some have raised with your idea. Me, I'm way more skeptical about relying on an outside website provider.....
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Also, I said this was an IDEA. I know that it is not perfect. Is this not the purpose of this forum? .... I just wish I could earn the damn PP... No wonder I usually lurk forums -.-
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You're right, my mistake (6:40 AM is not my best time). However, Paragon Points are still exchanged for in-game items, so my point still stands.|
Originally Posted by Ultimate Wrath
1. The proposal would exchange for PARAGON POINTS, NOT INFLUENCE.
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| I just wish I could earn the damn PP... |
"You don't lose levels. You don't have equipment to wear out, repair, or lose, or that anyone can steal from you. About the only thing lighter than debt they could do is have an NPC walk by, point and laugh before you can go to the hospital or base." -Memphis_Bill
We will honor the past, and fight to the last, it will be a good way to die...
Greetings people of the CoH internet.
I come to the forums (for once xD) to present an idea that just came to me - an additional way for money flow (i.e. Paragon Points, referred to as PP here on out).
There are -competing F2P MMOs- (Still can't say names, right?) out there that use this concept and provide an interesting intersection.
From the user end, this is how it works:
1 . User goes to a specific web page on the game's site
2. This page has offers on it that the user can do (surveys, ads, etc) in exchange for crediting of -RMT currency here- to their account. (Example providers, FYI: Matomy Money, Super Rewards, Peanut Labs, all of them legit as I have used this personally)
3. The user selects an offer and carries it out (including page redirects, etc etc).
4. The advertiser / entity on the service pays the game devs for the user's business and signals the user's completion.
5. The user gains a proportionate amount of Paragon Points for their account.
NB: There is no in-game component to this system whatsoever. No branding, pop-ups, etc.
Now, then.. how is this win/win/win?
Win 1: The devs get more money as users can do other things (some of the offers are free to the user, like surveys).
Win 2: Advertisers get their products out there more (derp) / Data is filled for surveys
Win 3: The users get the use of Paragon Points without needing to directly shell out money!
Perhaps CoH could consider adopting something like this / any comments?