I had already considered the idea of a site that "completely dissects video games" but this idea seems like too big of a project to tackle without enough interest. Also, my previous idea would make the ideal (finished) pages ridiculously large.
http://tasvideos.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=18277 Read this for more information on that. That's where this new idea comes from.
So, I was thinking about making a game resources site. This will include all (at least console) games. The idea comes mainly from speedrun.com's layout, where they'll have "leaderboards" for every game.
Well I wanted something like that with my site, except a lot more broad, and I do mean a LOT more broad. So, this site wouldn't just cover a specific gaming task, such as speedrunning or TASing, but would include everything. Each leaderboard would have sections linking to TAS runs, speedruns, walkthroughs, let's plays, lists of glitch videos, ripped stuff (including game music [links to YouTube videos, etc], sprites, 3-D models, etc.), and especially download links for this ripped stuff, links to level editors for that game (if applicable, and really ideally there SHOULD be a level editor for every game in existence, IMO), lists of ROM hacks of the game, cheat code resources, links to reviews, lists of other miscellaneous records (highest score, etc., if applicable), links to places you can buy that game (Amazon links, etc.), links to sites that show reverse-engineered code of that game, and other sites or links that are useful in the context of that game (for instance, with the Super Mario 64 leaderboard, it might link to sm64.org). I'm debating as to whether I should link to ROM/ISO download sites, since I'm not sure about the legality of simply LINKING to such things, but I'm sure it depends on the area.
Now, there's one issue, that's an issue with a lot of sites. Where does the motivation come from to put all this information in the site for all these games, and to organize it all? It'd take a lot of people just to do this much! And it's a new idea, and we have some competition with other sites.
Well I've considered a system where we actually pay users (that's right, with money!!!) to add content. Each task that they can do on the site will literally be called a "task". Certain tasks get a certain amount of money. For instance, the addition of a speedrun for a game will get you a certain amount of money (probably not very much at all if you're just adding a link, maybe a couple of cents). However, people will realize that this adds up, and therefore, hundreds of links will be added.
If a user submits a speedrun that they do themselves, however, you'll make more money than if you just add a link to one. If a user submits a run that they did themselves that is WR, they will get more money than if they submit a run that was theirs that did not make WR.
If a user submits a TAS that they complete themselves, they will receive more money than if they submit a speedrun that they did themselves(?)(because don't TASes take a lot more work than regular speedruns?) and obviously if they submit a WR TAS over a non-WR TAS, then there's more money in that.
Walkthroughs and lets-plays would probably be one of the tasks that makes the least amount of money, since there are plenty of those out there and very few games that actually don't have full walkthroughs. Reviews would be around that same range.
Generally, though, on the site, if you make something yourself and link to it on the site, you get more money than if you don't make something yourself and link to it. There are a lot of common internet things that would get people a very, very small amount of money, among those things speedrun linking and glitch demonstration linking would probably be the most profitable. ROM site linking (if we even do that) wouldn't make any money at all, since I think that's illegal to pay someone for posting ROMs.
Well, so what about reverse engineering? Since it's not done often enough, I feel that I should put a LOT more money into people who link to reverse-engineered code. Also, with level editors. There just aren't enough of those out there, and there are plenty of unpopular games to which I sure wish I had a level editor to play around with. So, level editor linking would give a shit ton more money than other links. And if someone actually engineers a level editor, I mean we're talking about thousands of dollars I would give to someone who did that, for any game. Same with completely reverse-engineered code, I would give thousands for it per game!
So, economically, the motivation would come not only from people feeling that they're doing a good cause by helping out a database, but also being paid for helping out, depending on which tasks they do.
Some problems...
Now, there are a few issues I have with this idea that I'd like to point out, or some things that I'm unsure of. First off, where will I get the money to pay these contributors? Second, we need trustworthy people to verify each of these contributions to make (at least mostly, because it can never be perfect) sure they're accurate. For some games, that wouldn't be too hard to find, but for others, we'd have to have people who are more knowledgable about games in general of a certain category. So where would those moderators come from? Would we pay them too? How would that work?
I mean, I already think I'm going to put ads on the site, just because that's the most common way to pay for casual sites. I don't want to put too many ads though. I don't want them popping up everywhere. Just like an ad on the top of the screen, the bottom, and maybe one on the side. I don't want to go crazy with it, or that will scare people away from the site. I would also have a place on the site where people can donate money to the site.
Another issue. (I know this sounds crazy, but...) some people won't necessarily want money by doing this, but something else. Now, I'm not about to run a bunch of YouTube subscription bots that give people a thousand more subscribers or whatever (seriously, I've actually seen this happen), but maybe there's something else I can give people. For instance, perhaps we could have a credits system as well (many businesses and sites do), and if they get a certain amount of credits, they can unlock certain things. Like maybe if a user contributes enough they could be automatically posted for a moderator request (so they could possibly become a moderator if approved). Or maybe there's something else we can offer with the credits. Like I dunno, what ELSE could we offer people besides money?
Also, what format would we use? I'm completely lost as to what application I'm going to use for the site, or how it will be programmed, etc. I have no idea where to start with all that. I mean I could just put up a wiki site, but then where will that go? We can't pay people for contributing to just average wikis. That would completely destroy the entire point of it being a wiki.
Oh, and I need a site name. But I'm terrible with coming up with names. Now what would that name be...? Any ideas?
So, these are a bunch of ideas I have for this site. I have somewhat high hopes for it if I can actually fund for the site and gather a decent amount of participants.
I really am looking for some advice, or even better but not really what I'm asking for particularly, someone who's interested in helping. I feel that I have a really good idea, but I honestly have close no knowledge on how to really implement this idea and be successful with it. Thanks.
PS: The reason I posted this here on TASVideos is because 1.) There are many people knowledgable about this stuff here and 2.) TASVideos will be a site that is linked to a lot from my site.
