The beta tournament thing should be totally separate if that happens, plus I would want the beta tournaments to be private, not public.

Cramchakle wrote:

Vataro wrote: No, he's saying you should put it back up on the top of ToS and keep it there permanently.

You mean, you didn't really like it enough to want to play it here?

My post had nothing to do with my opinion of the board. I was simply informing you of what he was trying to say. ;)

M57 wrote:

Interesting ideas.. A couple questions:

Alpha wrote: I like the idea of a simple system, something like:

Restricted Use:
  Standard Users:
    Open Tables: can only join open games on the board
    Tournaments: cannot start tournament on the board

Are these the same thing?

    Open Tables: cannot start open games
    Tournaments: can only join open tournaments?

..and possibly Tournaments in this category should be restricted to joining 1 on the board?

Do/should any of these these rules apply to Beta boards?

Do/should any of these rules apply to a standard user who creates a board?

Treat each of the catagories as being separately set as restricted or unrestricted.

No rules should be applied to beta boards.

here is a idea (it may or may not be original) you are aloud to create 5-7 games on every board each month. After you have created your max you are prompted to buy the board (and support the creator of the board that you like so much so they will be inspired to create more kick ass boards) but you are still aloud do join open games on the board that you have maxed out on. Tournament creation should be for a player who purchased the board. I can see this being a reason to buy a board. This way you are prompted to buy a board that you are always creating games on, But there are ways to continue playing on it of you want.

note: the 5-7 games each month was pulled out of the air so that could be changed, but the number should be low enough that the average player is prompted to buy a board every once in a while or it runs the risk of being a useless system.

So sort of a rolling 'try before you buy' system?

tom wrote: So sort of a rolling 'try before you buy' system?

yeah. The only way the payment system will work is if you restrict access to boards or restrict features on the boards. any way you look at it you have to make it worth someones while to pay to "unlock" a board.

1 month for the role over period seams fair.

A few other option that you could have "locked" for that month would be:

-can only create 4 games on each board (equal to 1 game a week)

-can only join max of 20 games on each board (equal to 5 games a week)

-no change to the fog setting until the board is "unlocked"

-no tournament creation until the board is "unlocked"

-no team game creation until the board is "unlocked"

as far as the price to "unlock" a board I'm still on the fence about. a universal price for every board would be nice but the boards are not universally the same, but with a universal price it eliminates designers competing in price wars to try to get their sold buy lowering the price. but we all know the majority of sales will be for the  3 "Risk" boards, i don't think there is any way around that.

KrocK wrote:

 but with a universal price it eliminates designers competing in price wars to try to get their sold buy lowering the price.

Ah yes, pesky free-market competition. Always getting in the way of fascist price fixing and profit maximizing cronyism. You must be from Chicago.

Maybe I'm the only one that hates the big "screw-you" when you fill up on gas then the next day the price drops. For no reason.

No, I also hate it when the price of gas drops. It's really annoying.

Yertle wrote:

What the heck is that first guy doing?  I don't think we should be watching him do that

Oatworm wrote: No, I also hate it when the price of gas drops. It's really annoying.

Maybe someone should let the oil companies know how annoying this is so that they stop lowering the price.  I am all for arbitrarily inflated prices that stay elevated with no reasonable explanation.  Ah, the joys of modern capitalism, no trusts, no monopolies, just fair free markets that compete on equal footing.

The point is that it would be like buying a year premium membership in November then come December Tom announces that for the month of December year memberships are half price. Only with boards you wont buy a board twice.

yes, I have heard the argument before and didn't mean to come off as saying it was a stupid reaction and not annoying. From my prospective, although it is annoying to the individual (these things annoys me sometimes), for everyone else it is nice to see prices drop. Furthermore, my belief is that if the price in not agreeable at the time of purchase (necessities like oil aside), then you wouldn't have purchased the item in the first place. So even though it became cheaper the next day, you were happy when you made the purchase and should still be.

I am all for a universal pricing scheme when purchasing boards or at least a universal minimum price so that pricing wars only go one-way.

On the one hand it would be nice if the system was simple from the buyer's perspective.

One price fits all certainly fits into that category.  Over on ToS, you can change the price of your board like it was an airline fare.  It seems to work OK.  I've changed the price on a board or two just to see if it makes a difference, but the volume is so low that I can't really tell and I'm not keeping books.

On the other hand we talk about a ratings system for boards. A system based on board sales would go a long ways towards doing that for us, but I wonder that a ToS style free-market system would make it difficult to create a quantitative ratings system because pricing and board sales would be interrelated.

Pros of a set Price: Instant ratings functionality.  Boards which sell more are ostensibly "better", and stand to become even more popular. Designers don't have to worry about playing the price war game.  Buyer's don't have to play the "Am I getting ripped off?" game.

Cons: It will be difficult to come up with a fair price.  Who decides? How does the price change over time.  Do we link it to inflation? ..the DOW? ..the price of a Happy Meal?

A related thought, and this fall in the category of a pro:

If with a premium membership, you get your choice of 1 or 2 free boards (the accounts of the map-makers get credited), players will be introduced to the idea of buying more boards.  It'll be kind of like downloading a few free apps for an itouch or ipad and it may serve to whet their appetites for more boards.

Make it an author adjustable range between $1 and $5. $1 is what most people are used to paying for internet content. $5 is about as high as I can ever see someone paying for something like this. The real world difference between $1 and $5 is pretty negligible, so these 'price wars' everyone is so afraid of will really only be going on in peoples' heads. Sure, you can buy 5 $1 boards for $5, but when it comes down to it, I spend between $1 and $5 without a second thought most of the time. If you want better evidence that this is true of most peoples' behavior, go to a Walgreens and walk up and down the impulse-buy (candy) aisle. Pretty much everything is priced in that window.

And, in the end its arbitrary. It doesn't need to be based on anything. The author can set the price at whatever they want and then sell as many or as few boards as they are happy with.

I'm really concerned about the life competence of anyone who finds a system whereby two items are side by side with the same "buy" button next to each, and the price of one is $1.50 and the price of another is $2.00, and that person decides the system is so complex that they choose not to buy either. That person probably shouldn't be allowed to touch a computer or talk to people outside of their circle of stuffed animals.

Cramchakle wrote:
That person probably shouldn't be allowed to touch a computer or talk to people outside of their circle of stuffed animals.

You're such an idealist.

asm wrote:

Cramchakle wrote:
That person probably shouldn't be allowed to touch a computer or talk to people outside of their circle of stuffed animals.

You're such an idealist.

Such dreams keep me going.