Opinions on EN World commercialisation

[Psionicist]

Hello there fellows.

This is a thread. It's a serious thread and it's an important thread. This is the thread where to discuss the commercialisation of EN World, something I know there are split feelings about. Write your opinions of the subject here, before it's too late.

Here is my opinion; Commercialisation might be the wrong word here, anyway, I think it's a GREAT idea! It's indeed a very smart way to deal with server costs and things like that, to keep EN World going on and on and on forever. Think about it! I can see more competitions, updated software, faster servers - everything good! Lots of credits to Morrus and RPG Shop for this move

So, what are your opinions? I mean, this is a chage and there are always opinions on changes. What do you think, is it good, bad, ugly? Write it all in here!

Sincerely
- Psionicist

 

[Morrus]

It's the side of things that I don't like. It changes running this site from a hobby to 'work'.

But the sad fact is that I need to dip into various pies in order to cover basic costs - hopefully I can make sure that all of those pies are useful and/or relevant to the people who visit. I'm fairly strict on the ads I'll accept, for example, although it would be possible to raise more funds by lowering those standards.

And also, the shop is something that has been requested time and time again. I would have liked to work with Derek (Talon Comics) on it, as he is a long-standing community member, but he wasn't tempted by the idea, unfortunately.

 

[Umbran]

I certainly don't think there's anythign wrong with making branded merchandise available, and pumping the revenue back into the site. These things arent cheap.

Really, it's the same principle as making a donation to a PBS station. You pay some money, get a nifty item, and support something you like at the same time.

The only real issue is the matter of sustainability - EN World is a fairly small community. Will it be long until everyone who wants branded merchandise will have bought it?

 

[EricNoah]

Really it's the same deal as when I was pimping Amazon.com. As long as it's not "in your face" all the time, and as long as the site maintains a high level of integrity (which is certainly has thus far), I see no problem with it. People have long had a choice between their local game shops, chain book stores, big online merchants like Amazon, little online merchants like Talon, and now they have one more choice. If it means the site can stay open and continue to be a resource to the D&D community I'm all for it.

The one argument I could see against it would be in the area of tying the review system too closely to the purchasing system. In the short run an unscrupulous person might be tempted to make sure the good reviews got seen and the bad ones didn't, to increase sales. Over the long run, though, the integrity of the site (the honesty to say "this product sucks, don't buy it even if I would make money off of the sale") will be what attracts repeat visitors and repeat buyers. I'm sure we'll have no problems in this arena.

Finally I would urge Morrus to be careful -- if your new business partner isn't shooting straight with you at some point, be ready to cut them lose. They need you more than you need them.

 

[EricNoah]

I certainly don't think there's anythign wrong with making branded merchandise available, and pumping the revenue back into the site. These things arent cheap.

Well we're not just talking about EN t-shirts here, Morrus will be opening an e-commerce deally where he will partner up with an online store to sell stuff through his site, get a commision, etc. I think that's more the thrust of Psionicist's question.

 

[Emiricol]

Commercialization of best game site on the net, if it means the site stays open: GOOD.

I can think of at least one community project that will result in either a free product or an inexpensive product where the limited profits go back into this community rather than someone's pocketbook.

Of course, in my ideal world the ecommerce portion of ENWorld gets split up by system, then by category (setting/module/expansion, for example). Because, just, DAMN it is a stone-cold bizzich trying to keep track of what is out there. There's gotta be like 10 products I'd buy if I could just remember what they were

The "sorting by publisher" structure 'suxxors' or whatever. It is just a HORRID idea when it comes to a web store. DON'T DO IT! JUST SAY NO!

 

[graydoom]

I see commercialization of ENBoards as at worst a neutral thing, and at best a great thing. Either I like none of the products but other people do, and they support the site with their purchases, which works out fine for me because I can just ignore the buying/selling parts and the site still gets supported; or I like some of the products, in which case the board is supported and I get some cool new thing for D&D!

If it keeps the site open and helps Morrus, good.
If I can buy cool stuff, even better.

 

[Umbran]

Well we're not just talking about EN t-shirts here...

Yes, as I have just discovered. Serves me right for reading the Meta forum first, I guess

The principle is mostly the same - you can sell branded T-shirts, cupcakes, gaming materials....

As you note, there are a number of folks hereabouts who are actually in the business of making RPGs. But if the store's operation does not influence the review section or the message boards, there should be no issue.

After all, it's really no different than letting, say, Amazon.com advertise at the site (except that this is probably more efficient, economically. If it's run as yet another service - making rpg stuff available to the community, it should be a bonus

 

[Wicht]

Well as a full blown capitalist myself i gotta say I am all for it... provided of course that the selling of merchandise does not change the way the rest of the board operates.

 

[Darkness]

I'm all for it. Morrus works very hard for this site, and him having also to pay money for it is just not okay AFAIC.