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Sleuth Costs/Money
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Sleuth Admin
Sleuth Admin
Tale Spinner

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?


Replies

Rivergallery
Rivergallery

Oct-13-2004 18:05

Ericka- you could if your parents pay ;)... Or if an online friend pays for you.. You could also send money to ben via snail mail
Also you can pay if you have a Checking account.

I also agree with the one month for free. It took me about that long .. and along with this post! to finally break down and subscribe.

Richard Gilmore
Richard Gilmore

Oct-14-2004 00:49

I just started and I love the way the featured mysterys are open ended. I think if more people knew about this game then it would be a HUGE success!

ijsbeer
ijsbeer

Oct-14-2004 16:11

1) I think many people when they first look into Sleuth make several identeties to try out which ones they like best.Maybe it is an idea to look into those who haven't used their non-subribed account for a long time.
Another point is that for non-US citizens its costs a lot more than the subcribsion fee to subscribe.Since I have a student credit card it would cost me at least 5 times more than the subcribsion fee in fees.I would also have to pay an valuta fee.And I am sorry to say that as a student which means are just coming round I can not afford to pay this.I have however a subsribtion on my wishing list for christmas!
Another point already made is that many people (including myself)have limited time to play sleuth.Sometimes I have days in a row, othertimes I have no time aviable to play for a month.This may make some parts of the subscribtion less tempting to some people.

2)As long as the ads are not pop up I would have no restrictions to have ads on the page and I would also click on them to gain you money if that would help(as long as there is no link to spyware etc)

3) maybe the idea of sleuth merchandise would be extra in taste around christmas.people could put it on their wishlists.Then of course it would be best if a link to an merchandise shop would be aviable before you log in.I am not sucscribed and not member of an agency but maybe there are agencies that are willing to pay for a special agency/sleuth t-shirt etc.

4) putting further restrictions to non-subcribed players would do more harm than good I think.we already miss out on joining a agency,going on treausure hunts, more mysteries and playing feuatures mysteries a.o.If I had the money I sure would subricbed and I hope an long term subscribtion will be my christmas gift.However if there were further restirctions than there already many people would not stay not to gain interest in subcribing.



ijsbeer
ijsbeer

Oct-14-2004 16:12

I am sorry for not subcribing but still thank you very much for this great game. I am spreading the word to people I know probably would subscribe

Orbitrux
Orbitrux
Well-Connected

Oct-14-2004 22:14

Ben--several of us have expressed interest in donating money to The Great Sleuth Cause. Is there a way that we can do this yet?

Sleuth Admin
Sleuth Admin
Tale Spinner

Oct-15-2004 10:21

ijsbeer,

Yes, I'm aware that people in certain countries get hit with prohibitively high service charges when using paypal. I do accept several kinds of payment through the mail, as long as you can send it in US$.

Sleuth Admin
Sleuth Admin
Tale Spinner

Oct-15-2004 10:26

Orbitrux,

Thank you very much for the offer. I'm just about ready to launch a merchandise store. When it's up I'll probably add a way to donate, where you get some merchandise, a subscription, and listed on a Sleuth Patrons page. Or, you can just renew your subscription a time or two.

By the way, I didn't mean to imply that Sleuth was in danger of going away any time soon. I just need it to be paying it's own way, which it is very close to doing. It's just a matter of minor adjustments, not any major changes.


jstkdn
jstkdn
Well-Connected

Oct-15-2004 16:23

IJsbeer? YAY, another dutchie!!!! Polar bear!

jstkdn
jstkdn
Well-Connected

Oct-15-2004 16:24

Ben, we want to help anyway!

Krumpkey
Krumpkey

Oct-16-2004 19:58

I started playing when I saw a link on Stickman Mysteries and subscribed the same day. Here's what I think and agree with others:

1. Although I joined the first day I played because it was soooo much fun, you should list the prices on the opening page so people know ahead of time what it costs to subscribe. I was hesitant at first (for about a minute :) because I didn't know what the cost was.
2. The cost is way too cheap! I wouldn't mind paying a few dollars more for the subscription.
3. Try getting more links on other mystery-related websites.
4. I agree that subscriptions could be less because you get to do so much of the game without subscribing. Limiting a few things after a 1-week trial period might help.
5. I have signed up with other sites which ask for my email address but don't send me emails. The request is simply to assure that one person doesn't sign up using several different user names. You could limit 1 "free" detective per email address.
6. The idea of selling a tracking form would be great. I felt the need to draft one up for myself and my husband (who also just subscribed) to make it easier keeping track of the case and I find myself changing it constantly, based on the new skills I gain.
7. If possible (and I don't know how it works), try allowing different ways to pay for the subscription. I know some people who don't want to sign up to PayPal in order to subscribe to a website but don't mind making payments online.
8. Finally, if someone doesn't want to subscribe because they feel it's too many cases for the time they have available to play, ask for a yearly donation in order to keep the site "free" for them.

Boy can I rattle. But I'd be willing to dish out more cash to be sure the site continues.


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