Joined: 11/27/2004
Posts: 688
Location: WA State, USA
Bisqwit wrote:
Well, frankly, this suggested business model is not likely to produce anything but mere pennies, if even that. I don't know which CDN you are talking about, but from what I know the subscription fees to high-speed content delivery networks are quite high, and if you are going to use one of those, your membership fees just aren't going to cover it and leave you any reasonable amount of money to cover both of your living expenses.
You're forgetting that speedrunning is more popular than ever. Take SDA's marathons for instance. Their popularity and revenue has been increasing exponentially every year since they started out. I think it's about time that we as TASers stand up for ourselves and take the slice of the million-dollar pie that rightfully belongs to us (about 78%, by my estimate). There are plenty of avid gamers who would love to empty their wallets just for us. I mean, just look at Bobo the King. He's so desperate for watching these new Professional Quality TAS Products that he posted his credit card information on a public forum. Even if we just make "pennies" per subscriber, the sheer volume of paying viewers will greatly offset any upfront cost. Just like P.T. Barnum never said, "There's a sucker born every minute."
In short: I, for one, welcome our new corporate overlords.
Nach wrote:
I also used to wake up every morning, open my curtains, and see the twin towers. And then one day, wasn't able to anymore, I'll never forget that.
Joined: 8/1/2004
Posts: 2687
Location: Seattle, WA
Are you guys planning on doing any freemium style memberships? I wouldn't mind being accosted by ads and video interstitials every 15 seconds or so. Or maybe I could complete a series of surveys with partner sites? Even better, you could have me install a browser toolbar.
Gotta have my pro, man.
Am I seriously the only fucking one here who is the least bit angry we now don't get to see all of the TASes on the site? Really??
Assuming this isn't an April fools joke (which seems super likely), then no you are not the only one. I don't typically quit going to sites but this would make me stop supporting this community. I may not be active on the forums but I've been around for many years now, seen this place grow up... I'd always wish it well, but I will not support anything like this.
<i>A little rudeness and disrespect can elevate a meaningless interaction to a battle of wills and add drama to an otherwise dull day.</i>
Pfft, I dunno how much I give for this "Pro" crap. I saw a Super Metroid 100% run up there that finished in 59 minutes, which is pretty underwhelming considering I recently made one that finished with 999% in under 15 minutes. Color me unimpresed!
I am, for one, completely outraged. Not only is this nonsense a complete travesty that goes against the entire purpose of TASvideos (entertainment for the casual viewer), but I seem to have not gotten a membership pass that I very much believe I am entitled to for my hard work! Step your game up Bisqwit, or I'm afraid I'll be spending my money on Enterplayment instead.
An example of my hard work:
http://tasvideos.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=15105
Also, one of your pro TASes is very obviously cheated. You can't beat Mario 64 in 5 minutes, that's absurd!
My account has not been grandfathered into the TASVideos Pro site, so I am faced with the prospect of a subscription fee. I can't both TAS and be employed--it's one or the other. This means I don't have much money. It is my understanding that having a TAS published to TASVideos Pro will earn a user a 1 year subscription to the site. My question is this can I buy my way in with a TAS of sufficient quality? Or would I still be required to pay the initial fee before then receiving a 1 year extension to my subscription?
If you restrict all the reset-button-using and arbitrary-code-executing runs to the paid portion of the site and leave the actually fun runs to the free part, then I'm all for it. You can keep your soft-hacked games for all I care.
Actually the funniest part of all this is that some people really are unsure if this is a joke or not. (Unless they are meta-joking...)
Joined: 3/9/2004
Posts: 4588
Location: In his lab studying psychology to find new ways to torture TASers and forumers
£e Nécroyeur wrote:
My question is this: can I buy my way in with a TAS of sufficient quality? Or would I still be required to pay the initial fee before then receiving a 1 year extension to my subscription?
The current members who have access all bought their way in with a professional level TAS, except Bisqwit. We gave Bisqwit a free account since we feel we owe him something for creating the site in the first place. I might also add that adelikat and I had to lay out our own money up front to do this, to pay the players the agreed upon amount for their pro TASs. We're hoping you take this seriously and strongly consider joining.
Warning: Opinions expressed by Nach or others in this post do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, or position of Nach himself on the matter(s) being discussed therein.
For those complaining about this initiative: welcome to the real world. There is no such thing as a free lunch in the real world, and TASvideos has been ignoring that for ten years. We all owe them, massively, and anyone who begrudges paying for the hundreds of hours of previously free, high-quality content they have provided is a spineless hypocrite.
Nach, I have PM'd you with my bank account number, password, and mother's maiden name. You can do the rest.
Actually the funniest part of all this is that some people really are unsure if this is a joke or not. (Unless they are meta-joking...)
In a moneyless communist society, it might sound like a joke, but in the real world, everybody has to make money, and why would we TASers work for free when everybody else gets money from their work? There are a lot of websites where you pay to get entertainment, so is it really so hard to believe?
Yeah I would like a gold premium member ship in the TASvideos professional tool assisted speedrun group and I'd like a scoop of banana ice cream to go along. I'm going to be working on Zelda Wind Waker in 5 minutes and Mario Sunshine in 7 minutes. Let's do this
Joined: 3/9/2004
Posts: 4588
Location: In his lab studying psychology to find new ways to torture TASers and forumers
Mothrayas, thank you for reporting the img bug, it's been fixed.
Warning: Opinions expressed by Nach or others in this post do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, or position of Nach himself on the matter(s) being discussed therein.
