Would you pay a monthlyish fee for a grassroots game project? (assuming you liked it)

[vbl]

Just a thought here.

What if a group of enthusiast-gamer-programmers created a multiplayer FPS project, but they were independently published (probably only available by download or by mail-order CD/DVD and using Paypal). They acted like a mod, communicated with the playerbase like a mod, took suggestions like a mod, and were quite comfortable with tapping regular gamers as testing resources.

The twist is that the amount of time they'd have to invest in the game would require some sort of sustainable income, and that's where the fanbase would come in.

Assume that there's a core, base game with some content in it. So, like a demo. Free to download and play, but only one map. To add more content and features, they'd need funding.

Would you guys pay? You could set up a regular payment plan, or just donate whenever you felt like it. New content would be added whenever possible, but more donations would always equal more new content.

Big ideas could be posted and folks could "vote" for them by donating $1-$5, which, once enough money was collected, would be used to pay for the development.

For example: We'd like to add the A-10. We need to raise $1,000 in donations in order to model, code, and test it. Please donate $1 if you'd like it in the game.

I know it sounds really strange and costly, but considering how much most of us have spent on BF2 ($50-$90 or more), the little increments wouldn't be so bad. Plus, you'd be able to show support for good ideas with donations instead of being victim to whatever the developers felt like doing because they already have your money.

I'm not planning on doing this (I'm not a developer) but I was wondering what you guys think. Any other ideas, or ways to structure the model, are welcome.

[iostreamz]

Re: Would you pay a monthlyish fee for a grassroots game project? (assuming you liked it)

Honestly, the game would have to have some sort of substance to it to get me to pay....i'm sorry but I don't fund projects..thats what the investors are for =p.

If the game is up and running with support and multi-player i would sure as hell pay, providing that it peaks my interest o'course.

Is this hypothetical or is there really something out there like this ?...if its the latter please post a link.

[vbl]

Re: Would you pay a monthlyish fee for a grassroots game project? (assuming you liked it)

As far as I know, this is hypothetical. The mod teams could probably set something like this up if they had a strong following, though.

[tw1g]

Re: Would you pay a monthlyish fee for a grassroots game project? (assuming you liked

Yea I can't say I would donate to a project in the making. I wouldn't know what it would turn out to be like. If didn't like it there goes my money down the drain. I would probably need a finished product or a demo close to a finished product for me to pay.

[vbl]

Re: Would you pay a monthlyish fee for a grassroots game project? (assuming you liked

Yea I can't say I would donate to a project in the making. I wouldn't know what it would turn out to be like. If didn't like it there goes my money down the drain. I would probably need a finished product or a demo close to a finished product for me to pay.

Assume that there's a core, base game with some content in it. So, like a demo. Free to download and play, but only one map.

[MIKEHUNT-UK]

Re: Would you pay a monthlyish fee for a grassroots game project? (assuming you liked it)

For example: We'd like to add the A-10. We need to raise $1,000 in donations in order to model, code, and test it. Please donate $1 if you'd like it in the game.



But say they don't get the required funds for such add on's. What will they do with the money they have raised?

[vbl]

Re: Would you pay a monthlyish fee for a grassroots game project? (assuming you liked

For example: We'd like to add the A-10. We need to raise $1,000 in donations in order to model, code, and test it. Please donate $1 if you'd like it in the game.



But say they don't get the required funds for such add on's. What will they do with the money they have raised?

They wouldn't draw the funds until they had enough. It'd be like a payment queue. You commit to $1 once they have enough commitments. You can unqueue at any time, too.

Like when you order something and they don't charge you until it ships.

[IVfluids]

Re: Would you pay a monthlyish fee for a grassroots game project? (assuming you liked it)

If your using an already existing game engine, you might find yourself having some issues with licensing and the game engine. Mod tools and game engine are free to play around with, but if you try to make money off of that work, it can be a legal issue with some game companies.

A game I used to play, kind of encountered the same thing in a different way. It was a free mod (not cs), a game publisher was interested in it, they gave them an offer they had to take if they wanted to make money. Their game engine cost $250,000 dollars for the license to use that engine for just one game, there is no way they could afford it, so the game publisher told them that 'we will pay the licensing fee for you but this is the percentage you will make off the profits of the game sale'.

They also had to rename some of the guns in there because they needed permission from the gun manufacturers to use them in the game, Berreta was one of them that said 'No', they didn't want their guns associated with a violent game. That was easily fixed by someone that made a free mutator that renamed all the guns to their real names. Which is also a possibility as to why some of the guns are named as such in this game, like the DAO-12.

If you can find a way around it by wording, it mite not be a bad try, otherwise just double check the legal side of it to cover your ass. If you or whoever is trying to pull it off, good luck to you/them and I'd definitely watch the site as it develops to see if it gets my interest (and a dollar or two).

You could, however, sell shirts and items with your game mod logo (and what have you) and not get snagged with legal issues, as long as they don't infringe on copyrighted/trademarked/registered things with the game engine it is using (or the original game itself).

But, all of what I said is a moot point if your using your own engine

[snuggnads]

Re: Would you pay a monthlyish fee for a grassroots game project? (assuming you liked it)

no...

[Phrag]

Re: Would you pay a monthlyish fee for a grassroots game project? (assuming you liked it)

If the demo peaked my interest and the people behind the demo seemed to have their business heads on straight, I would definetly help fund it.

To explain that a little better, I would not support a group of people who wanted to sit around and create a game while collecting checks from me and my fellow gamers. What is the return for us? Whats to stop the developers from changing their minds after they have a marketable product and taking the project private or selling it off?

What I would donate money to is a community that supported new game developers and connected them to their would-be fan base of gamers. If you had a website where people could post ideas about video games or look for funding, testers and other developers for games that they are currently developing, I would flip over a few bucks to become a contributing member. If at such a sight I found a group that had made games that I really liked or could offer me some additional benefit to funding them, then I would seriously consider giving a donation.

Over all, I would give money to a game developer ONLY if they had a proven track record of making games that I like, had an absoluetly mind blowing idea for a game that I just had to have, or could offer a tangible return for my investment. I do not consider the ability to give my opinion a return for my money. I don't ever think that I should have to pay to state my opinion. (You hear that, American Idol?!)