I want stuff and things, but I can't have stuff and things. And until I donate $100 a month through Patreon, all I can do are suggest things like this.

My main question is: Why can't any of these help the site money-wise? They all can be monetized in my opinion, and fun for the users. Sure, only the forum members would see most of this, but wasn't there already a big promotional thing many times before to try to get RGR-only users into the forums? I believe all of these would help with that.

Idea 1: Battle System
Ok, so we've all likely given up hope on this, right? WRONG. It was a good idea from the beginning, and it's still a good idea! Have a text-based battle system with your equipment making an actual difference (I say text-based because it's easier than animation, therefore cheaper). Community Points (that most of you know as "CP") would be like a Ranking system, making more dedicated users naturally more powerful, and a Pokemon-esque reward system where you steal an amount of Viz from the loser equal to their User Level or something. Make loss kinda matter! Also in order to challenge someone they both have to accept, but otherwise they don't have to be online to fight. Imagine this:
- User A is online and wants to battle. User B is not online.
- User A challenges User B to a battle through his Profile.
- User B logs in after a 3 day hiatus. Checks his notifications. Sees this notification: "User A (Level 17) has challenged you to battle! Accept?" User B accepts by clicking the given link, which opens a popup window with battle statistics and his attack/heal options.
- User B begins battle by using Attack command, attacking with equipped Scissors. Calculates and does damage.
- User A gets notification of that battle. Clicks link in notification and attacks with his equipped Sword of Vizzed (this is a hypothetical scenario, deal with it lol). Calculates and does much more damage. Defeats User B. As User B is Level 18, User A would gain 18 Viz normally. However, User B is almost broke with only 5 Viz to his name. Thus, User A gets 5 Viz.
- User B checks his notifications. He has lost the battle and the 5 Viz he had. However, he is not sad because he gets Viz from daily logins. He'll try again tomorrow.

Idea 2: CometChat
Obvious idea. Already has hints of implementation. I want it back, but I gotta wait for it. Anybody else want it back? Being able to talk to people instantly was nice back when it was first introduced.

Idea 3: Vizzed Stocks
Ok, here's the first true potential moneymaker idea. Simply put: ONLY ALLOW MONEY-DONATERS TO BUY STOCKS. Make them special, even though stocks are only worth Viz and not actual money. Then, having a simple stock calculation system in place is nothing difficult. User traffic compared with current monthly costs, toss in an equation kinda like "(This Month's User Traffic divided by Average Daily User Traffic) divided by Monthly Cost of Site Maintenance" and BOOM. That's how much stocks are worth in Viz, which would change monthly and according to the site itself. It'd be accurate. Obviously, that's not the equation that'd be optimal, but it's a start. Plus, I'm typing this in a semi-rush, so I couldn't think of a better one.

Idea 4: Vizzed Trading Card Game
Was this talked about before? I think it was a rumor, but it's an idea that has some real merit. Let me take full control of this, cards are my thing. This wouldn't be a collectible card game, where "Cool, I got the Geeogree card!" is just like a sticker from a Cracker Jack box. No, I'm talking an actual Trading Card Game where "My Geeogree attacks with his Vizzed Rage directly for 8 damage! His ability also lets me steal 2 of your 5 Viz, and do 1 damage to your Health!" is seen as a good move. I can entirely create a database of cards and a ruleset within a week. Only thing I can't do is art. Doesn't matter whether this is entirely online-based where it costs money to buy virtual cards (like MtG Online or Pokemon Online) or you connect with an actual TCG company to make this real and people would actually buy packs of real cards right next to where they sell Yu-Gi-Oh! and Magic the Gathering cards in Walmart. It's a noteworthy idea. You could also create a forum for card ideas and any competition winners for card ideas would also get a Viz reward. Cuz why not?

Idea 5: Customizable Avatar Character
This is usually seen hand-in-hand with the ideas for the "Old Battle System" idea, but think about it: A separate entity of dress-able, customizable, equippable avatar. Think Gaia Online, but here on Vizzed. And better art. And NOT Gaia Online! Because copyright. Sounds cool, right? Not only would you have people interested in the look of it, which would draw RGR users into the forums more as well, but also (*cough*just like Gaia*cough*) have equipment and accessories ONLY available by donating money to the site! Tell me this isn't a good idea, I dare you!

Idea 6: Your ideas!
Please, if you have more ideas, list them below! I'd love to hear what you guys think, and I'm positive David would too. Who knows, maybe some of these ideas aren't too difficult to implement and you'd see it on-site one day. No harm in discussing it! So please, list any and all ideas you want Vizzed to have below!

Davideo7 : I list these ideas not as whining or begging, but legitimately trying to help, or at least spawn ideas of your own. There are other ways to get money from your users than simply begging and Patreon-whoring. These are incentives for people who wouldn't normally donate. Not to mention, you don't have to take on every bit of the workload all by yourself. Allow some of the content to belong to someone else if you need help implementing something. People like Randy are in the past, most of the users here don't see you with malicious eyes. I can promise that. It's not difficult to share the workload so more improves on the site, faster. I see the potential in this site, and so does everyone else. There's a reason so many users show up daily. There's a reason everyone worries whenever technical issues or hackers hit the site. Everyone wants this to work. Don't take on the whole burden by yourself.

I think ideas 1, 4 and 5 would be good, but I dont think David has the time to do these. I like the idea of having users come together to work on these though. 
Comet chat is back.

A Battle Arena is something I've been wanting to do for over a decade now. However, since it'd be the most time consuming feature, I've never been able to find time for it. Now that the Item Shop has been recreated from the ground up, that does slightly quicken the process since it would have required me to recreate the Item Shop anyway. If I can manage to continue working on the site full time, then this is something I really want to start working on within 3-6 months. At the moment I am looking to get a full time job somewhere so this would have to wait until Vizzed brings in a full time income again so that I can quit whatever job I land.

Fixing the CometChat That should only be a few hours worth of work. I began working on it but haven't had time to finish due to having to find ways to come up with money.

If I was to do a card game, I'd base it off of video game characters. For example, a character card could be Mario and there'd be a few variations of Mario based on which game the card is based on and that'd determine the power, attacks and graphic on the card. There'd also be stage cards which would be based on a stage from a game and item cards which would be based on items from games. I just don't think a card game based on users of the site would be all that appealing to newcomers.

Vizzed Stocks would be pretty simple and wouldn't be very much work if I based the stock prices off of site traffic. The Stocks use to be an item that had fluctuating prices but a few users were able to earn way to much Viz off of it so I discontinued it. I'd only do it again if I was for sure able to prevent users from making a ton of Viz from it.

Customizable Avatar Character is an idea I came up with years ago and out of the ideas listed, this is one that I've been most excited to bring to life. It was discussed briefly in this thread and this thread but I never really made any progress on it. This would be a feature that I'd have to create before creating a Battle Arena since the Battle Arena would be based off of your Vizzed Character. The coding required to pull this off would probably only be a week worth of work but the time consuming part would be creating all of the avater customization sprite options but I could possibly pull that off in just 2 weeks if I started out with basic customization options. Of course these "weeks" would have to be undistracted weeks where I primarily focused on these things.

I like the idea of the card game and its an idea that has been mentioned in the past. It could be a lot of fun if implemented correctly.

The battle system could be fun, but it seems like a lot of work...

I would actually like other chat options to be discussed. My personal choice would be the tried and true mIRC as the site's chat protocol.
There are plenty of ways to integrate IRC into a site without having to code them yourself, as well as ways to run personal servers so we wouldn't have to use any of the major networks... or perhaps we could use them to save on bandwidth.

I think all these ideas are great. You know, what if we had the ability to use our own sprites as avatars in the battle arena? Like we do with profile pictures and such. That could be a stand-in until a full customization feature was done and still be availible for those who want to use it.

Zeldisaster : Allowing others to help me work on the site at this point is a terrible idea. I've had many issues with past coders. Here are potential problems with hiring others to help out:
1. They may eventually request the features they made be removed (this has happened)
2. Having access to the site's code makes it sooooo much easier to find exploits that can be used to hack the site
3. I risk someone taking the code and using to completely make a competitor site
4. It's hard to find someone who has the skills and time to help out, even more hard to keep them interested in doing work (they usually only invest 5 hours a month into development if that)
5. Coders don't always have security or optimization in mind. I've had coders make features in the past that either put a lot of strain on the site or opened up serious exploits

Also, in the past when I've had coders work for free, they rarely get anything accomplished since they're working for free and don't prioritize the work they do. JigSaw is the only past developer that I can think of who accomplished a lot.

Also, I'm not sure how making any of these features would get users to donate more money. I've added some great features over the past year and none of them increased donations.


Vanelan : I'd only consider other chat software for the site if the site users could be integrated into it.

Davideo7 : I know there is irc server software that has DB integration, but I don't know much more beyond that. I would have to look into it more.

Zeldisaster : .

"There are other ways to get money from your users than simply begging and Patreon-whoring."
Yeah maybe if should go rob his users at gunpoint that will fix the problem.

"People like Randy"
I don't get it, you want David to hire new developers but at same time mention people like Randy have screwed the site over. That only discourages him into hiring anyone.

I wish I could say your features would make the site money but honestly I don't think they would. I mean Sonic, Mario, Pokemon are just a click away in the RGR. The only people I see using any of those are casual board users and patreon supporters of the site. I guess if these features were only accessible by patreoning or donations THEN I could see them making money. Who the heck knows though... I guess the only way to find out is make the features and hope for the best.  

Davideo7 : Personally, I recommend against using video game characters as the cards. Nintendo (as you know) is very touchy with their stuff. However, only a few of the actual users would be turned into cards. Like Admins (maybe even past users like JigSaw or Leggy, but that's a different subject) or site staff, big users who've mattered. If I made the card game, it'd be based off features of the site itself, like Viz, the RGR, and sure there'd be a few users turned card but it'd be like an avatar of the player. Or like the DBZ card game where you're lucky if you draw it.

Btw "how these features would make the site money" is obvious. Literally, look at Gaia Online. A free site that already has the "Customizable Avatar" option which is also free to use on their site. And yet they've made bank from it (by only allowing certain items to be bought and not earned, plus item giveaways for certain competitive things). Same with Pokemon TCG Online. Costs money or winning some tournament to customize your avatar on that site as well. Same argument for the Battle System, same argument for the TCG (cuz you'd be marketing to people who have no idea what Vizzed is and might spend the $4 a booster pack costs just to check it out, which would lead them here through some code insert like Pokemon cards do).

One way to prevent Stock abuse is to ONLY allow Stocks to be bought with REAL MONEY, but make them (through an algorithm) be worth more Viz (ideally) than a straight donation. Or equal to the general risk of stocks, where if you buy them and wait you might make more than what buying them was worth (if $1 donation is worth 1,000 Viz, and a stock was worth a dollar, but waiting could make it worth 1,200 Viz, wouldn't some people be interested?).

Considering the RGR users, at least, you gotta think about this: Most of those RGR users aren't what we think of when we think "gamers". A lot of them are likely just normal people who missed a game console that they lost as a kid or broke or something. Even the "gamers" that ARE on there would donate money if they felt their investment was worth it to THEM. If I remember right, a guest user is only allowed 5 plays in the RGR before they have to sign up. Is that still true? Why not add a graphic to Viz? Like an arcade token. Advertise more tokens on every RGR page through donations. Make the token sprite appealing. Make users want more tokens. You're already triggering nostalgia anyway, why not add the nostalgia of dropping a coin into the slot for an extra life? Only this time it's extra Viz tokens. Just a thought. Or for the average user, thread an offer a "Share Achievements to Facebook" option that gives free Viz whenever they share something to Facebook? Free marketing, right? Again though, just an option to think about.

Really though, I have to say this: In the past year you've optimized the site a TON. I acknowledge, accept, and appreciate that deeply. You've made it look better than ever before, and (although it doesn't work for me for some reason) there's now a customizable HUD which is awesome. But aside from asthetics, are these even noticeable to the average RGR user? Of course these don't make much money, most of your clientele never even sees the changes. Users have to be drawn AWAY from their normal routine. Facebook's games make money because they're eye-catching and when one person plays a game, ten of their friends decide to try it out and it spreads rapidly. Gaia makes money because it's eye-catching and social, and if someone wants to look better than the next guy they can buy the stuff they want. These ideas are the best chance of a return on your investment, but instead your time's been devoted to fixing RGR glitches or speeding up a site that's already running just fine. Then again, I don't exactly know what goes on in your life in reference to this site, so I'm probably speaking out of turn. But it FEELS like you're running yourself ragged on things that aren't benefitting YOU.

A simple eye-catching cartoon avatar. The key to your success, in my opinion. It's been the key to a lot of sites' successes. It's marketable, it's investment-worthy, it's something that if I shared it on Facebook EVERYONE on my friends list will be interested and give the site an extra click it wouldn't have gotten otherwise.

I started the idea of a trading card game a while back and a bunch of us came up with our own little system of cards, but it never worked out, though would have been awesome and Stocks sound like a great idea too if they could work.

I like the idea of avatar customization as well and have wondered why it hasn't been done before lol.

I've wanted a battle system for years Any time it comes up I've lobbied for its creation.

Also, the stocks thing should be simple enough to do and if done moderately enough it should be easy to keep people from making too much money. Maybe add a cost to buy/sell your stocks outside of the price itself to limit profits.

I just don't know who would spend real money on a stock that just gives them vizzes. Maybe if stocks gave them tokens instead of Viz it would feel more special. Tokens could only be earned through stocks which would give them instant appeal. The thing with Viz is not only does it get devalued when you got enough of it but it also becomes a bit worthless if you are a high paying patron who has Viz multiplier and can play any game in the RGR for free of charge. Until things like the Battle Arena are made I don't see the value of Viz increasing much if any.

There has got to be some sort of calculation that can decide the real price of Viz or tokens and also the stocks. Geo is good at math I think and probably knows how that works. The more Viz that is in circulation the less it is worth, I think that is how it's suppose to work. I don't know much about stocks or how or why stock prices rise or decrease.

The card game sounds interesting especially if the # of cards in circulation is decided on rank or some other factor. For instance, Davideo7 is ranked #1 which means there would only be one card in circulation making it the rarest. The lower ranked people like Leggy, Geo and myself would have more cards up for grabs. Stats would be based on many things. Geo was known to some as the ban hammer so he would get one of the highest attack or defense bonuses out of any other card.  Leggy is known as a Zebra or being really fast at things, so he would get a speed advantage etc...  

geeogree : Battle system has been the holy grail of acmlmboards since the 90's man. I think at this point it's safe to say that no acmlm-like will ever have an RPG system.

Definately Battle System. The Card Game is a close second, though.

Lazlo Falconi : It's possible if it wasn't live-loading, much easier if it was text-based and independent (like I described in my first post).

Maybe have an option where people can use a portion of the vizzed code for their own acmlm board for a small licensing fee (Excludes the RGR and VGR) This might help with revenue and activity since you'd have to have 500 posts to unlock the ability to use some of the vizzed code (To prevent abuse)

Zeldisaster : That's all fine and good, but in 20 years nobody has ever done it. It will never happen.

Lazlo Falconi : Lol no. Let me introduce you to the concept of Play-By-Web, which is the "official" term for what I've been talking about. I've played a few games that were this style online, but none that have been purely text-based.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Play-by-mail_game

The first part refers to literal snail mail, the second part is about email or Private Messaging, the third is what I'm referring to for the Battle System. That's the style I've played before, and it's VERY effective for this type of thing. Also referred to as "asynchronous multiplayer" AKA you don't have to be playing at the EXACT same time.

And if you think it hasn't been around for the last 20 years, let me show you Steam's page of NOTHING but "asynchronous multiplayer" games:

http://store.steampowered.com/tag/en/Asynchronous%20Multiplayer/#p=0&tab=NewReleases

Give me ONE reason turning the Battle System into a Play by Web-type game would be "difficult". All of the calculations would be handled automatically. Once players start a battle, their equipment would be locked so they can't change it to get an edge. And a bunch of other possibilities are possible with Play by Web. This is what I was talking about in my first post.

It's a good method. Spread the word.