Publisher?s Club
- Thread starter Archon
- Start date
What is this, Loading Ready La Reistance?Hileict said:
The banning thing mentioned by another poster is an interesting question, I suppose, but doesn't a ban just affect the forums. Wouldn't all the features remain intact? I haven't a clue, I've never been in that situation.
Talking from experience here. Not. Fun.TylerBaumbarger said:
Yes, I donated (a small amount) to an online game podcast in the past. It gave -limited- benefits like an added forum to get unedited podcasts ("in the raw", etc). Just some neat added bonuses.. But then the admins became extreme jerks. Quite a few people, who happened to be "Starbreakers" (the name for the contributors) ended up being pushed back, some choosing to leave, their Starbreaker status still intact, but just not caring.. And some were lead to some rather fierce arguments and subsequent bannings.
Have fun, anyone who gets a ban as a subscriber. Just because you paid money, doesn't mean you'll be treated as a god. Besides, $5 was a minimum where I was. $20? For some gimmicks?
@Eudaemonian, no, not quite a "Resistance", but at least there are websites that DO good things. Merchandise is a perfect way to contribute to a community site, you're getting something from it! Other things shouldn't have to be paid for. Several places have high quality as STANDARD.
You have to understand one of the main gripes coming from the Runners base right now; LRR offered their videos in high resolution video for a long time before the migration over to the Escapist, and now several of the loyal and long-time fans are feeling cheated because they're being put into a position where they pretty much have to pay for something that they've been getting free for years.Eudaemonian said:
While the "you don't lose anything you already have" argument is valid and does hold up, you guys have to understand that in the eyes of the LRR fans they did lose something here, and they aren't happy about it. And understandably so.
You know what I don't need more of? Coffee cups, t-shirts that don't come in tall, and nicknacks to junk up my desk!Hileict said:
Merchandise is one way to go, but if you read the article here, no one's really sure how to finance this kind of content. The web isn't a place where one size fits all. Opening new revenue streams is a good idea.
As for high quality video being standard on some sites, I'm sure it is. Should all sites have what some sites have? The logic just doesn't hold up. High quality video costs money. You're already getting the content of the video for free, and now you're angry that it isn't shinier?
Get real. Internet media producers need food badly. I see no reason to fault them for trying to make a living.
Er, I mean absolutely no offense to the LRR crew (who is awesome) or their fanbase, but it doesn't seem that hard to recognize that the Escapist puts out a lot more content than LRR did back in the day, for a much bigger audience. Putting out high quality streams of one video a week costs a hell of a lot less than putting out many videos every week for hundreds of thousands of viewers.Hileict said:
My thoughts exactly.TylerBaumbarger said:
They're trying to make it seem as though very little will change as a result of this, yet making a 'walled garden'?
And they call The Escapist pretentious...
Now this is phrased in a way that makes a lot more sense and doesn't just sound like someone who wants to be angry.Vanguard1219 said:
I love LRR. I watched it independently of The Escapist. The video quality was never really a big deal for me. LRR was very generous to offer high-quality video, but it is a gratuity and one that gets more expensive the more viewers you have.
I'm sure some LRR folks are bent out of shape about how things turned out, but didn't the "harm" really happen back when they joined up with The Escapist? That ship has sailed. The makers of LRR thought joining The Escapist was a good idea, some compromises were involved, and here we are. They really can't expect for their favored piece of a media group to be set aside and treated differently. If that were the case, why merge?
Here's another quick thought.
All those who do join will no longer see the ads. Advertisers on the Escapist will be less willing to be paying as much if half as many people are seeing them.
This seems to be adverse to the premium plan.
So, the lost revenue will need to be made up somehow.
Which will likely mean either more ads for those of us choosing not to join the premium group. Or more content for the premium members, to try to draw more subscribers. At that point it could begin to look like a pay site.
All those who do join will no longer see the ads. Advertisers on the Escapist will be less willing to be paying as much if half as many people are seeing them.
This seems to be adverse to the premium plan.
So, the lost revenue will need to be made up somehow.
Which will likely mean either more ads for those of us choosing not to join the premium group. Or more content for the premium members, to try to draw more subscribers. At that point it could begin to look like a pay site.
That's not how ad sale deliveries work unless it's a total site buyout. A backend system tracks which ads are delivered for each page viewed and records how many times that ad has been shown. Since the sale was for how many impressions/views/kittens/whatever, it stops showing that ad once it reaches the number that was contracted for.TylerBaumbarger said:
The loss of potential inventory due to a subscription service is replaced by the revenue from the subscription itself.
Maybe I'm just too charitable with my trust, but I figure the people who run the Escapist thought of this and decided it was worth it. They have better figures on such things than we do. Online communities are a great thing, but the sense of entitlement among members can run amuck and start to seem very foolish.TylerBaumbarger said:
These guys have run the site thus far, I'm not going to presume I know better.
EDIT: And above, an example of these guys knowing what they're talking about, as expected.
Though I don't enjoy enough content here to see subscription as a wise investment, I have to congratulate the staff of The Escapist for making this move. Offering viewers and readers the option to remove ads etc. is an experiment in the right direction. We live in interesting times where reliably generating revenue from online media is difficult, at best. Good luck on the experiment.
And allow me to say that LRR's fanbase is not "up in arms" on this subject. As with everything, there are those who oppose it, those who support it, and the (majority?) whose response is 'meh'. Personally, it won't affect me one iota, so I just hope it means more resources for LRR (and other valuable Escapist contributors) to continue to produce top-notch entertainment and commentary, and perhaps even push the bounds of what they've already done.
And allow me to say that LRR's fanbase is not "up in arms" on this subject. As with everything, there are those who oppose it, those who support it, and the (majority?) whose response is 'meh'. Personally, it won't affect me one iota, so I just hope it means more resources for LRR (and other valuable Escapist contributors) to continue to produce top-notch entertainment and commentary, and perhaps even push the bounds of what they've already done.
Yeah Shamus I'm with you on that, they got no balls.Shamus Young said:You guys are wussing out. I can't believe you're ignoring my suggesting to make non-subscribers view the site in 8pt Comic Sans. On a lime background.John Funk said:Wootness. Go team!
And as Kuliani et al have said, you will absolutely not lose anything by not subscribing, so don't worry about that
More seriously, congrats.
I will definitely go out and get one of those fancy card thingies send send you my money, you greedy greedy bastards.
I know this is all just a ruse to get kajillions of dollars so you can tear down the current Escapist HQ and then rebuild it out of solid platinum, and construct an army of solid gold robots to conquer the world and slowly choke the life out of it with your 90 karat solid white gold diamond encrusted gauntlets.