Player Houses/Funding

User avatar
NiteHawk
Site Admin
Posts: 3120
Joined: Wed Apr 20, 2016 7:33 am

Player Houses/Funding

Postby NiteHawk » Thu Aug 10, 2017 7:03 pm

I am working on player houses first before guild houses, though the systems will be similar and most likely will be used for both, it's just that player houses obviously don't involve the guild wars system.

Standard player houses will be generic, nothing too fancy, and not customizable beyond some little things. They will have some sort of vault storage for items.

Custom player houses will allow full portrait changes, description changes, special rooms, and the like. They'll have heavier storage for vaults, and generally all rooms can become vault rooms if you feel.

Thing is, I want custom player houses to be something not really obtained through gold. Dare I say it, through actual funding. We currently are sinking in money to a server, and I'd honestly like to get a little coin that doesn't involve anything pay to win, as I think PTW games are terrible.

I am not sure how I'll do this yet though. For example, custom player houses could be something that you pay lets say, for a 3 months, or a year, or every month (though you can pay upfront or whatever.) I don't want it to be too crazy though. I do think it should be some sort of recurring but fairly cheap option.

I am also not sure if we should combine this with lets say, a package that boosts the amount of items you can hold in your vault, amount of items you can post to the auction, things like that. Things that would make your life alot easier. So it would be like Vault Space + House + Auction Posting Amount + Whatever other things, or keep them separate and let people choose what they want. What do people feel would be the best method? I'm still not sure how I'd reduce vault space if they find out after a year or whatever they don't want it anymore, but I'll think up something probably.

What do people think? I know it is a touchy subject and I want to get says. Obviously this doesn't mean its the ONLY way to get some things, at least the custom houses, but for sure vault space and other things are going to be something of a 'gold membership' type thing.

Furthermore. What would really be a good price? For the 'gold membership' or houses, or it all combined or whatever. I'm really up for opinions here.

Custom portraits, name changes, etc, will be coming soon as well, but that's for another topic too.

User avatar
Lateralus
Posts: 932
Joined: Wed Apr 20, 2016 2:21 pm

Re: Player Houses/Funding

Postby Lateralus » Thu Aug 10, 2017 10:05 pm

I think this is a great idea as long as you make sure it's tied to an account and bound there because otherwise it does become currency (which kinda defeats the purpose of not giving a player an advantage) if any of the extras are not tied to accounts players will simply buy a bunch sell for gold or pp and use that for items to become powerful etc. that might bring in more revenue at first but I think you might lose some players if they know there is a loophole to still get a big advantage in the game.

That said as a player and staff I'd support this. I think going the patreon route is the best idea. It's a monthly reward system that's auto withdrawn from the account and sets up diff rewards for different levels of membership. I believe it falls under donations so tax wise it's cheaper on you and even the people donating can write it off on their taxes ;). I use the site for a few iOS Dev blogs and whatnot that I like to support so I know it's top notch.

killa
Posts: 315
Joined: Wed Sep 07, 2016 3:05 am

Re: Player Houses/Funding

Postby killa » Thu Aug 10, 2017 10:44 pm

Reserve me the penthouse suite, top floor. Hold back no amenities. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ #biddingwar #weed$

killa
Posts: 315
Joined: Wed Sep 07, 2016 3:05 am

Re: Player Houses/Funding

Postby killa » Thu Aug 10, 2017 10:48 pm

Pay to buy options that don't effect gameplay other than "cosmetics" or shit like that, why not make a bit of coin to fund the game? As I said since the beginning I'm down for that and anyone that isn't should get copies of the bills and invoices for time spend coding and working on items etc. See if they wanna pay it

User avatar
Eld
Posts: 152
Joined: Sat Feb 11, 2017 3:16 am

Re: Player Houses/Funding

Postby Eld » Fri Aug 11, 2017 1:42 am

I'm glad you're looking at this, houses are needed and the game could do with a revenue stream.
It'd be good if server hosting, certificates, and your development time all had some funding coming in.

This is a big change, so here's a big thought out reply:

Donation Method/Amount

Patreon could be a good platform to use, there's a short video on the homepage that explains the concept:
https://www.patreon.com/
Upsides would be you're more likely to have repeat donors from that system, downside is it's going to be an unfamiliar concept to many, but it's getting more well known.

Maybe $10 USD a month could be a good level to set the bar at for the full range of perks you listed.
Maybe have different packages so $10 USD is just extra vault space, a few exp boost scrolls (similar to referral rewards).
$15USD could be the first tier plus a personal house plus extra auction house listings

I'm not sure if Patreon lets people donate more if they want to, but it'd be good to have that option there in case people are feeling generous and want to show their appreciation for everything you do.


Failing this, you could have a Paypal donate button, which would be familiar to more people but might be less likely to get repeat donors.
If you go the Paypal route then you probably want to set the membership period at 3 months. One month would be too short, whereas one year is too long and you'll end up with irregular income.

You could potentially have both methods but I would lean towards using only Patreon, however this is assuming they have a way people can allow larger one off donations? I couldn't find the info on their website, hopefully someone with experience can confirm/deny?

Potential Perks

Potential perks we could implement that aren't pay to win but are worthwhile:

-Name changes (maybe have a public record of this so people can't hide behind it)
-Description additions (either a preset list like ranger pets, or have to be approved but this eats time and won't be consistent)
-Picture changes (debatable whether just from the character creator or allowed for all pics including monster pics)
-Gender changes :shock:
-Longer biography
-Rename an OAD (maybe reserve for for larger donations, or just some special conditions on it, maybe dont do this at all)
-Player Houses (like you mentioned)
-Play as monster mode :mrgreen:
-Special once a month membership mosh where people get a choice of a temporary overpowered weapon, like say a div blade, or a bane on certain races. Items disappear outside the mosh. Everyone in the mosh gets boosted HP through a script (similar to what you did with that dog mosh?)
Mosh designed to be for fun/novelty only, if any reward then a novelty item with no playable value, maybe they spin a wheel to get a special junk item (tshirt, beggars cup, etc.)
Probably low amount of PP too?
-Novelty chat filters you can turn on, you have Swedish, Dog, how about Pirate? Maybe if you make public the syntax for this we can get some community created ones that can be implemented. However maybe hard code a time limit as this could easily get really annoying.
-In game vanity area, where all donors get some sort of statue or monument. The bigger your total donations the bigger your statue. People will like this as a dick measuring contest and it'll have no effect on gameplay.
-Chance to reclaim 1 unused name holder a month - conditions: not logged on in 3 months, character under lvl 16. The "old" character would be put in limbo and the old owner has the chance to rename the "usurped" character and continue using it, or they can just delete it if there was nothing of merit on there. If the new name isn't on a lvl 16+ within a week then it reverts to the original owner.

Would the character changes be done through scrolls? If so would you make them not able to be transferred to another account? People could potentially sell these to other players if allowed. Should we allow/deny this?


Expiring Memberships

As for what to do with vaults/houses when memberships expire, I don't think items should expire or become available to other people to snatch up the house as this doesn't seem very fair.
How about the items are put into a sort of limbo, where they can be withdrawn from the storage but you cannot deposit into the storage?
I could see people taking advantage of this though, as many items sit in my storage for a long time before i withdraw them for usage. However, does that matter?

Maybe put a time limit on this so they have to withdraw within 3 months before the items expire or get automated listed on the auction house?
Maybe not allow them to access the items until they subscribe again, but not sure how i feel about this...

Housing Access/Location

How would we want to limit access to houses? Would buying a membership give you keys you could then duplicate? Equippable keys that come SBed? Would it be account based? Could you give other people access? Are you able to drag people into the house?
Can people who are dragged into the house pick up items, or are they prevented unless they have a key?

Until clan houses are put into game people will look to see if they can use player houses for the same purpose, do we want to allow that or prevent that?

Also, if we want clans to later on risk their items/gold in clan houses during guild wars (I'm not sure this is the intention?) then we need to make sure they cant just use a player house to get around that mechanic.


Leading on from this, where will the location be? Will all houses be in one town? Will there be a choice of towns? Will players be able to request special locations in the wild?
Will this depend on donation amount?

User avatar
daedroth
Posts: 1178
Joined: Mon Jun 06, 2016 5:53 am

Re: Player Houses/Funding

Postby daedroth » Fri Aug 11, 2017 3:22 am

Not "realistic" but I think a useable item to teleport you to/from your house, unless you don't mind cluttering up city maps with houses.
Only useable in the city where the portal item is linked?
When you leave your house you end up in the square you warped from.
Optional: Portal item has a recharge time.
As I said, this is only suggested to avoid cluttering up city maps, and having to navigate mazes to get to your house; a convenience thing.
Disclaimer: Any ideas I come up with may not even meet my approval. I am just posting an idea based on the topic I have just read.
I love sheep.

User avatar
Lateralus
Posts: 932
Joined: Wed Apr 20, 2016 2:21 pm

Re: Player Houses/Funding

Postby Lateralus » Fri Aug 11, 2017 3:44 am

As eld and some of the others have chimed in there are lots of little features and things we could add for revenue and patreon handles and organizes that easily with flexible donation levels. It can even integrate into discord / forums to add perks there and show player donation levels as a kind of achievement some could even say it's a marketing tool. You have diff levels and memberships which give bronze, silver gold etc status could be $1 up to custom amounts of anything.

Not a lot of people think about this either but when you are donating a monthly amount getting email reminders thanking you for your donations it keeps people active as well. You could make a case that something like this could even bring numbers up and keep them up.

User avatar
JadeFalcon
Posts: 383
Joined: Wed Jun 29, 2016 8:29 am

Re: Player Houses/Funding

Postby JadeFalcon » Fri Aug 11, 2017 4:00 am

I vote for all of the above.
Don't take life too seriously. You will never get out of it alive.

Proud member, Halfling Appreciation Club

HAC Tip of the Week:
Roast Halfling leg with rosemary, garlic and white wine. Ideal for that family dinner!

User avatar
NiteHawk
Site Admin
Posts: 3120
Joined: Wed Apr 20, 2016 7:33 am

Re: Player Houses/Funding

Postby NiteHawk » Fri Aug 11, 2017 5:45 am

I'll reply to this more in a couple days when I am around. Eld made some good points I wanna touch up on. Dae however brought up a point. Do we want it to be like you own a plot of land in a city OR do we want it more so its automated. For example you'd buy a house in Seamoor and you can enter it through a portal or some sort of way that doesn't keep requiring the map to expand. It would have to prob be something like 'enter house 512' and if you have the keys you'd go in.

That way theres no real requirement from build and players won't have to trek 1000 squares to get to a house they have access too.

Similar if we go apartments too for standard houses. I get that treking to your door might be cool, but entering the apartment complex and doing 'enter apartment 111' would bring you to your apartment would allow less of map mess etc.

However if we do want houses more realistic like ROK where you walk the house streets to your house theres going to probably be a limit though we can accommodate it for now unless we get larger. I obviously don't want cities being overrun by houses.

Being able to warp to your house from any city might be too much easy mode dae. Maybe I am wrong, but that would mean instead of a key you'd get some sort of warp scroll or something that works like that. The only issue is I 'don't' want ease storage for gold. If clan houses are similar we'd need to figure something out for that so its not a free gold pass or the clan houses can actually be built in the world anywhere. Dunno yet on that, taking ideas.

User avatar
Eld
Posts: 152
Joined: Sat Feb 11, 2017 3:16 am

Re: Player Houses/Funding

Postby Eld » Fri Aug 11, 2017 6:26 am

Wrote this this morning and only clicking send now:

Would also be nice if there were ways to pimp your house out.
Not sure what form this would take, couple of ideas :

-Different room types i.e. special mana regen rooms, a basic shop
-Different room images
-Some kind of customisable furniture? not sure how this would actually be implemented

Maybe you'd get more customisable options based on higher donation amounts or based on having donated for a longer period.


Return to “Archive Chat”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 11 guests

cron