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Sleuth Costs/Money
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Sleuth Admin
Tale Spinner
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Oct-6-2004 11:35
Although I try to run Sleuth as professionally as I can, realistcally, it is more of a hobby than a business. Since I began offering subscriptions in April, it has made enough money to pay for it's recurring costs (advertising and hosting), with enough left over to occasionally invest in hardware upgrades.
So, the time I spend working on the game is donated, which is fine with me, since I enjoy offering this service and watching the community grow, and there is always a small chance that this will lead to something bigger.
Over the last few weeks, there have been a few interesting trends. One, rate of traffic increase, has sped up. We now are visited by around 200 new players a day, which is great, but it means there has been a cooresponding increase in my hosting charges since I'm now over my previous bandwidth limit.
At the same time, subscription levels have actually dropped significantly. I have no idea why that is happening, but it is noticeable.
Consequently, we're now in a place where Sleuth is actually losing money on a monthly basis. A situation I can't leave it in for more than a couple months.
So, I'm looking for ideas about how to bring in a little more cash:
1) Does anybody have any ideas as to why less people are choosing to subscribe to Sleuth, even as there are more players? This seems quite strange.
2) I'm thinking of carrying ads on Sleuth, at least for non-subscribed players. I can't just slap on Google ads because Sleuth requires a login, but there are other options I can look into. What is people's opinion on that?
3) Would anybody be interested in purchasing Sleuth merchandise (t-shirts, mousepads, etc) if I opened up a Cafe Press store?
4) Should I add further limits on non-subscribed players to encourage more of them to subscribe?
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Replies |
elvenwonder
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Oct-6-2004 12:08
Also, maybe charge a one time fee to get your own avatair.
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Detective_Smart_Ass
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Oct-6-2004 12:12
I agree w/ the onetime fee for avatar. I dont' mind what you do as long as we can still play!
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Greyling
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Oct-6-2004 12:12
Sorry to hear that - I actually thought the subscription rate kept increasing.
1) So no idea at the moment except that maybe people had more time during the summer period?
2) Sure ads can be placed in a way that won't offend the overall look of the game, and I'll gladly click on them all if that means more money your way.
3) Possibly.
4) In which way would you add further limits on non-subscribers?
To Chronestrian's suggetion
***5) It's been said many times that the price is quite cheap, so maybe it won't hurt raising it a bit?
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Faeryshan
Old Shoe
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Oct-6-2004 14:05
I agree that $8 for a three month subscription is EXTREMELY reasonable, especially given what some people are paying for online gaming these days. I would personally be fine with a modest increase, and would love to see some ideas on merchandising. If ads would help and we could limit them to non-subscribed players, or out of the way, I would also be okay with that. Anything that helps you in the long run, Ben and Sunny, I'm sure we could work around. The fee for having your own avatar is a great idea, as well.
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Pokecat
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Oct-6-2004 14:12
I would not mind a few banners,I would even click them for you too. :)
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jstkdn
Well-Connected
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Oct-6-2004 15:04
1) I have no idea why there are less subscribers.
2) As long as they are not pop ups, I think it is a great idea.
3) Yes that's a great idea. Provided you ship internationally. However, I know of people that have done it on an email list I was once on. It seems that offering someone for a cheaper price, has no return of investment.
4) I would let someone play non-subbed with 3 cases a day, for a month. Most software packages work like that. I think a month with 3 cases a day, is enough to evaluate if you want to pay for this game or not. If you don't, well no entertainment is for free.
5) I have no issues with a higher subscription price. It is the cheapest hobby I have. How my product people determine a price, is by sending out a questionnaire to a sample group of people. In that way trying to determine who would stop playing the game, who would not want to start.
Also another way to rake in extra cash, is by having different kinds of subscriptions. Light version, 3 cases a day. Classic version with 6 cases a day, Plus with 9 cases a day. Or one version to have favours, on the other less, on the other none. (Ok can you tell I implement internet products for a living :) Or do something with the agencies in that respect. Another idea is charge 5 bucks to open an agency.
6) Simply ask for donations. Explain that you run this thing on your own time, so we can keep playing this game. Livejournal for instance, when that community grew, they said they wanted to buy a new server, if anyone willing to help out, to donate.
I don't know, think of some extra perks you could charge us more money for.
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jstkdn
Well-Connected
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Oct-6-2004 15:06
You can also do something with off peak hours with a cheaper subscription, and peak hours with a higher subscription fee. 24/7 with the highest subscription fee.
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KerrBear
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Oct-6-2004 15:09
I'm pretty new to this game, and I must say that it's awesome and is run very well.
I was thinking that there seeem to be a lot of people that have been around for a while and if you want to look into merchandise, maybe you could try to do a presale with the people that are really wanting the merchandise. I don't really know much about that stuff, but it's an idea.
Or maybe somehow send a message to all players or even post something on the log-in page asking players to answer wether they would buy anything, for sure, maybe, or no. That could give you a good idea about how sales might go, at least to start off.
As for ads, great idea. easy way to bring in a little money. I'd support that idea.
Also, I would be willing to pay a bit more for the subscription. I think it's worth it.
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Jojo
Old Shoe
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Oct-6-2004 16:06
1. Don't know.
2. Sure. I'd click them too!
3. I wouldn't but I'm sure others would!
4. Don't make them too hurt by being non-subs.
***5. Go ahead and raise it! Ben, you shouldn't be LOSING money on this!
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Orbitrux
Well-Connected
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Oct-6-2004 17:19
1.) Don't know why there are fewer subscribers. When I first started playing I didn't want to subscribe because I thought it would be expensive. I didn't realize how cheap it was! If you continue to keep your subscription prices, low, I recommend you make subsciption information (price & benefits) more visible on the site.
2.) Ads would be fine, I don't mind as long as they aren't pop-ups. I'll click them for ya too.
3.) I might purchase a mouse pad, but I really like Elvenwonder's (?) idea about a dry erase board or pad of forms for note-taking use when solving cases. ('specially the dry-erase board idea--less paper waste)
4.) What got me addicted to this game as a non-subscriber was that I got a good feel for the game, because so many of the options are available to non-subscribers. I think that imposing further limits on non-subscribers might actually decrease your subscription rate.
Regarding what others have said here, I also would be willing to pay more for my subscription. Asking for donations is another good idea, I'm sure many people would be willing to give a few extra bucks (myself included).
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