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jacksgreysays · 8 months ago

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Extremely late, completely unnecessary opinion of the Watcher situation, (2024-04-24)

So this is a relatively belated post — several days after the initial “Goodbye Youtube” and one day after the “An Update” videos — and surely by this point there are more interesting/insightful op-eds (both in written form and video form, especially penguinz0’s fairly objective POV as, essentially, a YouTube expert) but there is something about the Watcher situation that made my brain itch. Thus, I wanted to write about it in order to make sense of it all as well as get into a philosophy that seems to be haunting me in recent years and which I think applies greatly here.

This may seem completely out of left field considering 1) definitely not fanfiction and 2) about Watcher Entertainment, a YouTube channel which—as far as this tumblr is concerned—I’ve not engaged with whatsoever, but I don’t know where else I would put this, and weirdly enough I think the general tumblr response to this whole predicament is maybe the… if not objective… then at least, most thoughtful?—or, perhaps, least immediately reactive?—amongst the various social media platforms, that I think some people might appreciate this anyway.

In terms of my relevant background: I majored in Management Science (which is just a fancy way of saying Economics + Business + Accounting because they are, weirdly enough, separate things) and minored in Film Studies in school, I am currently working in the stage tech industry (which, I know, is obviously different from film/video industry), and I like to think I am a fan/consumer of a wide variety of independent creators, some of whom I am lucky enough to be able to afford being a patron/subscriber. I won’t go into all of them—because it is a lot—but there are four in particular whose business models I want to analyze in comparison to Watcher’s admitted blunder:

A) RocketJump (known for Video Game High School and Anime Crimes Division; the core group which turned into the podcast Story Break, then became Dungeons and Daddies) B) Dropout (formerly College Humor, we’ll get into their discography later) C) Drawfee (previously an offshoot of College Humor, now fully independent) D) Corridor Digital (used to be mostly behind the scenes of how VFX studios work, have since become a mostly original content creator)

I will say, right off the bat, I am a patron of Drawfee as well as Dungeons and Daddies, and I am a subscriber to Dropout. I am not subscribed to Corridor Digital’s streamer, which I will get into why later. I understand that being able to sustain those two patronages and one subscription is a luxury that not everyone can afford and so my point of view is already skewed by being such a person who could theoretically afford another streaming service if I so chose. I also acknowledge that many fans of Watcher are not in similarly financially secure places as I am and that regardless of the business model, any monetization that comes from fans would have been a rough ask. However, I wanted to go into this essay in a way that accepts Watcher’s statement—that they needed more funding—in relatively good faith rather than assuming the worst (although that is another point I’ll get into later, largely related to the philosophy I brought up earlier.)

All four of the above listed content creators started or, at least, hit their stride on YouTube:

RocketJump and College Humor were, if not household names, then the digital equivalent of it in the “early days of YouTube.” They were part of the wave of content creators that made YouTube seem less like a bunch of eccentrics with cameras making videos on the side and more like a viable way to support yourself/your team with the art you create.

RocketJump’s Video Game High School went from short (less than 10 minutes) minimal location episodes in season one, to 30 minute plus episodes with full on fight scenes and car explosions by season three thanks to a Monster Energy brand deal. They also had two seasons of Anime Crimes Division, a literal TV quality show, thanks to a Crunchy Roll sponsorship. Unfortunately, RocketJump shut down not long after (their videos are still up on YouTube but they obviously don’t add anything new) but the core creative team behind that have been involved in several projects outside of YouTube (Dimension 404 on Hulu being one of the biggest ones so far) including the podcast Story Break (part of the Maximum Fun network) and now the independent podcast Dungeons and Daddies, the episodes of the main campaigns which are free with ads or, for patrons, ad-less along with additional mini-campaigns and other benefits.

I will say, during RocketJump’s decline, they did try their best to keep going. The partnerships with Monster Energy and Crunchy Roll were the big swings to get the funding to make those TV quality shows they wanted. I believe they lucked out with those brands in particular, or, at least, those brands didn’t seem to inhibit the creative process or ask too much of them that it felt like “selling out” but I also don’t have insight into why they didn’t pursue this model of, essentially, very weird but interesting season long commercials. Maybe they just couldn't find the right brands or maybe they did feel like it was too stifling. Regardless, before they shut down completely, they did also downsize—moving out of the actual city of Los Angeles over to Buena Park. Which is in Los Angeles county, and basically counts as LA still, but is way cheaper than literal Hollywood real estate. (I should have added to my relevant background that I’m born and raised LA county, and have relatives and friends in the film/movie industry, so trust me when I say literal Hollywood/city of Los Angeles is so overrated and unnecessarily expensive. There is a reason why LA traffic is the worst and it’s because everyone is commuting INTO the city. Respectfully and with affection, no one should live there. No one’s start up should be located there.) Obviously the downsizing didn’t necessarily work for RocketJump, but they also didn’t have multiple successful revenue streams the way that Watcher currently does.

In contrast, College Humor was acquired by InterActiveCorp and was turned into CH Media which was three pronged: College Humor, Drawfee, and Dorkly. In 2018 they made Dropout, which had exclusive content separate from their YouTube videos which involved all three prongs. Then some financial shenanigans happened early 2020—IAC withdrew their funding—and there were a bunch of layoffs right before the pandemic which extremely sucked. It has been stated by multiple people involved that it was basically a miracle that Dropout survived through all of that, but there were definitely some sacrifices along the way to make that happen. Currently, Dropout seems to be thriving with mostly exclusive content with the occasional “first episode of a season” posted to YouTube, OR if Dimension 20 is doing a “sequel season” in an already established campaign they will put the entirety of the previous season on YouTube.

IAC withdrawing their funding did put CH Media in a bind. They had to layoff a lot of people right before pandemic and, understandably, a lot of trauma was had. There were also weird issues with who controlled certain IPs/brands/digital assets (I mostly come at this from a Drawfee POV, it took several years for them to own the Drawga series and be allowed to host all of the episodes on their YouTube, and there was also something about the sound file for their opening animation?) but mainly the difference is what kind of content they generate. Originally Dropout had multiple scripted shows with high budgets and pretty cool effects/animations/stunts (Troopers, Kingpin Katie, Gods of Food, Ultramechatron Team Go!, Cartoon Hell, and WTF 101) whereas now almost all of their shows are variations of improv comedians being put into different scenarios or given different prompts. I’m not just talking about Game Changer and Make Some Noise, because Dimension 20 and Um, Actually also technically fall under that description as well. Which is not to say that these shows are worse than the scripted shows—I subscribe to Dropout, so clearly I’m a fan of their current shows—and the budgets for them have since increased to resemble, if not match, those early shows, but it is a noticeable shift in their content creation strategy as a response to the lack of IAC funding. And I will say: Dropout releases at least three videos a week if not more and at least two of those are long form at 30 minutes plus (Dimension 20 being the longest, of course.)

So, these first two business models are not really the most applicable to Watcher Entertainment considering their origin was to get away from Buzzfeed—they’re probably not keen to be partnered with or purchased by a larger company—but there are some aspects to both that I believe are valuable in at least showing the strategy in how these former YouTube creators could successfully extract themselves from YouTube or how they still utilize YouTube even if it is not their main hosting platform or revenue stream.

Then there is Drawfee and Corridor Digital, both of whom are currently—if not primarily—on YouTube, whose situations are more comparable to what I believe are Watcher’s goals.

Drawfee had to rebuild themselves like a phoenix from the ashes of the CH Media layoff during the beginning/worst of the pandemic. Side note: I’m happy that Nathan (one of the four main artists of the current Drawfee team) at least has forgiven(? or let bygones be bygones) Dropout enough to be on an episode of Game Changer (although I will say that this happened after Drawga was “returned” to Drawfee, and after Dropout officially split from College Humor as a brand.) All that being said, Drawfee was a team of four artists plus their editor who wanted to stick together but basically had all of their support system taken away from them. They took a bit of a break to assess their goals and options, announced a patreon with several tiers with great perks, and stuck to their upload schedule. In addition to two videos a week, they also stream on Twitch weekly, have a patron only stream once a month, and a draw class (for one of the higher tiers) once month. After asking their patrons on the relevant tiers if they were okay with it, they began releasing the patron only stream and the draw class to the general public for free after a month. The patreon perks also include things like merch discount codes, high quality PNGs of the final rendered art, access to the draw class with live interaction/critique, and a commission from the artist of your choice. The only “ads” they run are for their own patreon and merch store and, even then, they’re usually at the end of the videos with a credit scroll of the patron names during their exit banter.

Admittedly, they only have MAYBE eight employees—that’s including their video editor(s?) and their discord mod(s?)—with the main four artists doubling/tripling up duties as additional video editors, CFO, and marketing/merch leads. It’s a very streamlined crew and their production costs are not very high since it’s mostly screen recording of their drawings with their audio recording overlayed onto that footage. Although the video editors do sometimes have clever cuts to relevant images depending on their vamping. Sometimes they will have a guest artist but, again, since it’s screen and audio recordings, there’s no travel/housing costs. So, very minimal expenses due to low production costs and small crew but, again, their only revenue source is the patreon/merch, they don’t do outside ads and they very rarely do live shows.

Corridor Digital is, I think, the most applicable to what Watcher would ideally do, which I suppose is somewhat ironic for this essay in particular considering they’re the only one of the four that I don’t financially support. They have two YouTube channels: their main one being where they show the “final product” videos, but I believe their Corridor Crew channel which started primarily as behind the scenes type of videos is where most of their views come from. Especially their React series (VFX artists, Stuntmen, and Animators React etc.) On Corridor Crew they usually upload two videos a week — one which is a React and the other which goes into fun projects/challenges (involving VFX or not) or using VFX to explain scientific concepts — as well as the first episodes of their exclusive content on their streamer. Also behind that paywall are longer and ad-less versions of the videos on YouTube. They also have merch. All of them have merch, I don’t know why I’m stating that. They don’t have a patreon as far as I know, but I also don’t know if their subscription to their website comes with similar perks like discounted merch or something similar.

Anyway, their studio seems to be about 15 to 20 people — not all of them are VFX artists, of course. I believe they have higher equipment costs than Watcher since, understandably, Corridor has to be on the cutting edge of video editing technology. They do occasionally travel for shoots, but it doesn’t require big teams, and that’s only when the local locations available to them don’t match the requirements for the “final product” videos. Otherwise most of their videos are set in the studio or in the alleyway outside their studio in Los Angeles (the city itself, not just the greater county, though they are in a rougher and thus probably cheaper part of Los Angeles). I personally don’t subscribe to their website primarily because their exclusive shows don’t appeal to me—either they’re too technical or a little too dry; to be fair, most of them are VFX artists first before they are performers—and I don’t particularly feel the need to see the extended cuts of the videos uploaded on YouTube. Also I sometimes get a little bummed out by their lack of diversity.

All of this to say, from these four different business models, a bespoke Frankenstein business model for Watcher could be cobbled together. But also, even with that bespoke Frankenstein, there are some changes that Watcher would have to make: primarily their upload schedule. As of right now, I think they do MAYBE one video a week if not, perhaps, one video every TWO weeks. If they want a monthly subscription model, their rate of content generation would ideally be higher to double/quadruple their current upload rate. Obviously they want to create videos with higher production value, but at that rate of generation, something’s got to give: supplement their TV quality shows with either a behind the scenes type series or an increase of “we get four episodes out of Shane and Ryan get increasingly drunk in someone’s backyard” or something similar. Leaning into shows like Worth A Shot (the first season in which Ricky Wang makes cocktails based on a random ingredient, the second season threw in some competitive aspects which I didn’t really find necessary) or the Beatdown which has relatively low production costs (no travel, one location, maybe two cameras at most therefore smaller crew requirements) but a higher polished look. Otherwise, for a separate streaming subscription service, 2-4 videos a month is not going to cut it.

As of right now they probably can’t back out of the separate streaming subscription service because those set ups usually require some level of contract/paying for servers for the website and whatever is hosting their videos for a set amount of time. However, what really strikes me is that I literally didn’t know they had a patreon until I scrolled through the comments of the first Goodbye Youtube video. Maybe it’s been linked "tactfully" in the descriptions of videos, but considering they claim to be lacking in funds, the fact that they weren’t plugging their patreon at the end of every video is not just strange, but also irresponsible considering they do have 25 employees that they don’t want to layoff.

Additionally, I understand artists needing to be in a space that promotes creativity, but there are cheaper places that must be comparable that aren’t in literal Hollywood. It’s an unnecessary expense. On top of that, other people have already brought up that it was fairly crass to introduce this paywall, attributing it to the increased production costs, when the next planned “new series” is a reboot of an old Buzzfeed series in which people travel and eat expensive food. I’m not even talking about the personal expenses of Steven, Shane, and Ryan; what kind of car they drive or the cost of their wedding venue doesn’t matter on a business model basis.

But getting back to the patreon: again, I literally didn’t know they had one. I’m looking over their tiers�� they have $5, $10, $25, and $100 — and for the most part they seem okay, although I think they have more to offer that wouldn’t necessarily cost them more. Ie, something that has baffled me for a while: the fact they don’t sell the mp3s of the Puppet History songs; they already exist and it doesn’t cost them anything additional because they don’t need to put it on physical media. Or maybe they do and they’re not marketing it similarly to how they weren’t overtly marketing their patreon?

And, okay, maybe they didn’t want to seem desperate — in the early days of Dropout and independent Drawfee, they both were very blatant in getting people to subscribe/join their patreon. As they should be. Desperation maybe doesn’t look cool and sexy, but it is earnest in a way that conveys equal effort that fans who can afford it would want to see. The fact that we weren’t getting rotating ten second clips of Steven, Shane, and Ryan asking people to join the patreon at the end of every video — even if its the same clip every three videos — is wild. And yes, the $25 tier includes a shoutout every 3 months on Watcher Weekly+ (which I don't quite understand what that is,) but the fact that they weren’t doing a quick post movie credits scroll of all the patreon names is, again, wild. Once you have that initial list, it’s not too difficult to add any new names that join and put that title overlay on top of, again, those nonexistent ten second clips of the three.

As others have already stated, it seems like an extreme mismanagement of their existing successful revenue streams, if they are actually struggling to pay all of their employees. Which goes into the philosophy part of this essay: don’t assume malice when it might just be incompetence. It’s something that I have to remind myself of often because I do get paranoid about people’s intentions sometimes and I have to check myself. Am I being overly suspicious of what might be just an honest mistake? Am I assigning ill will to an action just because it inconvenienced me?

Yes, of course, a lot of this situation could be misconstrued as straight up greed. But, also, Watcher is a relatively young company, helmed by three people who certainly don’t have experience running their own company:

They like to travel. They like to bring a full crew around with them. They’re renting out a shiny office in the heart of Hollywood where everyone knows is where real show biz happens. They’re adding more employees to the team because surely more people means better. And they want better productions values because the prettier the videos the more people will like them right?

It’s naive. It’s a level of inexperience combined with giving responsibility to officers whose main priority is to entertain. And if that means entertaining themselves and their staff, then they might not know the difference. It’s the kind of mistake that first time managers make—trying to prioritize fun over getting the job done. Prioritizing making friends with their employees rather than making sure the work the employees put in is equal to (or greater than) what you spend on them whether that is in paycheck or bringing them to cool locations for fun shoots. It’s a mistake anyone can make, it's just unfortunate that they made this mistake in front of millions of people. It doesn’t necessarily mean it’s solely a greed induced cash grab.

But then comes the catch-22 of the philosophy—is it worse to assume incompetence than it is to assume malice? Or, in this case, greed. Especially for the heads of a company that holds the livelihoods of 25 employees in their hands. At what point does it not matter if it’s incompetence or greed if the end result is the same?

Is it better to think that Watcher knew about the various other business models of independent creators and just ignored the efforts put into achieving those successes or is it better to think that they didn’t know and just stumbled into one of the worst moves they could have done. Again, other people have mentioned that Great Mythical Morning—which Watcher has had multiple collaborations with—has managed to make the YouTube subscription/tier system work to the point that they can sustain themselves as well as spinoff channels. Is it incompetence or greed that led to Watcher thinking they could bypass that completely in less time and with less content?

I’ve been at this mess of an essay for several hours when I should have been asleep. Ultimately I want to say, regardless of incompetence or greed… yes, Steven is CEO and yes he is ultimately the one who makes the final call but it is disheartening to see the pointed vitriol at Steven specifically and the infantilizing of Shane and Ryan in comparison. Either they’re all silly uwu boys who are messing around not knowing how to run a company, or they’re all complicit in a crass cash grab in an extremely busted economy.

I think what’s most frustrating to me in all this is that there were so many other channels and creators who have literally walked this path before them and, again, whether through incompetence or greed or arrogance, for them to just ignore it… It’s not betrayal because I don’t know them and so there’s no relationship to betray, it’s just so inefficient and convoluted that I don’t understand. Or, no, even if it was greed, it’s an incompetent greed because at least pure greed would have been pushing that patreon every second they could. Their ratio of YouTube subscribers to patreon members is less than 1% and I bet that’s because a lot of their audience, like me, literally didn’t know they had a patreon. I probably would have become a patreon member of theirs had I known earlier, ESPECIALLY if it included access to those Puppet History songs. Drawfee has half as many YouTube subscribers and nearly double the patreon members as Watcher. I’m just baffled, is all, and maybe by this point sleep deprived.

Anyway. That’s my extremely late, completely unnecessary opinion of this situation.

Edit (several hours later after some sleep): I forgot to mention, because they did walk this back almost immediately, even before their "An Update" video, but I believe the original plan was to put EVERYTHING behind that paywall and pull their content from YouTube entirely. Which is, again, extremely baffling, because if ALL of their content is behind a paywall, how would they possibly gain new fans? Even if all of their current fans were able and willing to pay for their separate subscription streaming service, how would a brand new person even stumble on their content enough to want to subscribe if there wasn't a significant amount of "proof of value" free content on YouTube? Again, extremely baffling, and a level of incompetence that overshadows a "cunning" greed. But, like I said earlier, they did walk this decision back almost immediately. If I've misunderstood this and that was never their plan, please let me know, I don't want to be spreading misinformation in a situation that is already so convoluted.

#jacksgreyson #writing #nonfiction #essay #watcher #op-ed #youtube #drawfee #corridor digital #dropout #rocketjump #dungeons and daddies

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texasthoughtsaboutnothing · 1 year ago

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The Economics of Limbus: why the Gacha isn't really worth it and why that's kinda cool actually

Preface, if you are new this doesn't apply to you but is worth keeping in mind, please read the whole thing.

Summarizing some cool things about Limbus Company and it's internal economy:

In Limbus Company you get a minimum of 750 Lunacy a week (usually more like 1050 because of various apolunacy or maintenance compensation) which is our Gacha currency. This comes out to roughly 25 - 30 pulls a month (not counting events, story, random gifts), which is more than par for this monetization model. Banner Pity is at 200 pulls and it doesn't carry over between banners, which in a vacuum kinda sucks shit, but Limbus is unique in having the Dispensary, a system where you outright buy IDs (units) for grindable currency (shards/shard boxes) which is gained from the primary mode of play (Mirror Dungeons, also called MD).

This is where the battle pass comes in. The battle pass gives 1 shard box for every level over 120 and the premium battle pass triples that output. It's not even terribly hard to max it out to begin with; a dedicated player can have it done before the respective Chapter is fully released as weekly content gives 30 BP levels and a single MD run otherwise gives you 3. This should also tell you just how many shard boxes you can grind out.

The consequence of all the above is that it's really easy to get the IDs you want. In fact, Limbus Company is the kind of Gacha game where you can get most if not all units from dedication more so than luck. The only limiting factor to grinding is, of course, daily stamina.

Here's the funny thing.

You get 750 currency a week as mentioned, but it only costs 26 for your first daily full stamina refresh, with the cost doubling every time after. You can daily refresh twice a day and still be Lunacy positive for the week. More importantly, it is mathematically more valuable to turn Lunacy into Stamina for acquiring IDs.

Buying stamina isn't new for a Gacha game, nor is the idea of doing so being better for your account. There comes a point where upgrade materials are more helpful than new units; most games have a point where buying stamina over pulling is the norm. However, most games don't let you fucking buy every unit with stamina locked currency.

The math on this is a little complicated and varies with your stamina cap which adjusts with your account level, but if you turn Lunacy into stamina you can grind more Mirror Dungeons for more BP levels for more shard boxes in a way that's more efficient resource-wise for getting units. A single 10 pull for 1300 Lunacy is the equivalent to 300-ish shard boxes if you double refresh over 16 days (or 500-ish boxes if you single refresh over 50 days). That is a guaranteed 3 star ID as opposed to a 2% chance for the same price, hell its a better deal as shard boxes give 1-3 shards and it costs 400 shards for a 3 star, you get an average of 1.7 3 stars worth of shards.

If a given banner unit interests you its far better to just buy the unit outright than pull, which is ultimately not too hard to grind out even with normal stamina gain without even thinking about refreshing. The end result of this is that you can get some of the best units very quickly and the game becomes a collector and more about team building and fun interactions, which the game design is leaning into. You can enjoy most of the roster and diverse gameplay without needing to whale and I think that is one of the things that sets Limbus apart.

Pictured, my collection of some of the best IDs in the game as a BP only player who took a 3 month break

CAVEATS

THIS DOES NOT APPLY TO NEW PLAYERS. A new player should still pull as normal because you will get something new almost every 10 pull for your first, like, 200 pulls. In addition, you need to actually be able to grind MD successfully and quickly for this to be worth it. Focus on beating up to or beyond Canto V before even thinking about this, and even then I'd say its early.

The math for this is very different if you don't have the premium battle pass. Remember, you get 2/3 fewer shard boxes per BP level on just the free pass. While it is still worth considering, a free account will have a much longer grind to do for similar results, but you can still have fun and use good units even without this method. For the record, the Limbus Pass is extremally worthwhile a purchase if you want to play this to the fullest, $14 every 4 months is barely Dolphining and you get a whole host of other powerful benefits, including broken EGO and even guaranteed seasonal 3 star tickets.

You have to grind. A lot. This isn't so straightforward as just Lunacy to Stamina to Boxes to Units, to convert stamina to boxes involves doing Mirror Dungeon. Thankfully Mirror Dungeons are a fun and entertaining roguelike gamemode, but it will take 30 minutes to do 1 run, 20 if you are speedrunning it with the best units. A full days' stamina is about 4 runs' worth, and 2 refreshes is about the same, so ask yourself if you are willing to spend 2+ hours a day doing MD runs for the unit you want? Limbus actually let's you convert stamina into stamina modules that have no cap and are what's actually used for content, you can just log in, convert, then do runs on the weekend. It's a good model that respects your time.

And the last and by far biggest caveat...

Walpurgisnacht

That will be its own post.

This post also won't get into stuff like Upties or Thread but keep in mind the above statement about how stamina becoming more useful than pulls is typical of Gacha games and Limbus is no exception as far as needing a lot of ascension/upgrade materials. Not as much as others, but units still need raising and all the above logic can be used even when you have everything and now need to get them useable.

Conclusions are hard, play Limbus Company.

#limbus company #project moon #limbus #gacha #gacha games #video games

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omamervt · 8 months ago

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I hope that if I ever get my fae civil war story written, people talk about it with the same level of respect for the thematic depth as they do stuff like dungeon meshi when surface level it's an action comedy about an incredibly small, angry woman who punches and stabs everything.

I want people to care about the message of endless wars as an economic and government model as much as they do the 4 foot nothing teenager-by-elf-standards entering a berserker-like rage and beating up jacked wizards.

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magicandotherstuffienjoy · 3 months ago

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credit: Scarr Ratt

Why Major Games Should Adopt an Economic System that Rewards Players for Their Time

The idea for this article came to me after a discussion with a friend about the fascinating economic system in Dota 2, which allows players to monetize their game time by selling virtual items and participating in lucrative tournaments. This model could serve as an inspiration for other major games, offering players a tangible value for their in-game time, beyond just entertainment. Unlike games such as World of Warcraft, where the in-game economy seems to lose purpose over time, Dota 2 provides an innovative approach that redefines how players perceive and use virtual currency.

The Unique Economic Model of Dota 2

One of the standout features of Dota 2 is its player-driven economy, where every minute spent in the game can have a real-world value. Dota 2 sets itself apart by transforming player engagement into an economic asset through several mechanisms:

A Free-to-Play Model with Cosmetic Transactions:

Dota 2 is free-to-play, meaning all heroes are available to players from the start. However, the game offers a wide range of cosmetic content, such as skins, armor sets, and couriers. These cosmetic items don't affect gameplay but allow players to customize their visual experience, creating a thriving market for these items.

A Dynamic Market for Cosmetic Items:

One of the most interesting aspects of Dota 2's economy is its integration with the Steam Market, where players can buy, sell, and trade cosmetic items for real money. Rare or limited-edition items often fetch high prices. This market creates a speculative dimension, where players can invest time in the game, obtain rare items, and resell them for profit. This motivates players to stay invested, knowing their game time can be financially rewarding.

Loot Boxes and Treasure Chests:

Dota 2 also offers loot boxes (treasure chests) that players can buy, which contain random cosmetic items, some of which are rare. This system adds an element of chance and excitement, with players potentially obtaining high-value items that they can then sell on the Steam Market, offering additional profit potential for those who invest in these chests.

The Battle Pass and The International:

Another key aspect of Dota 2's economy is the Battle Pass, which is sold annually during major tournaments like The International. Players who purchase the Battle Pass can unlock exclusive rewards, such as rare skins or effects, by completing in-game missions. A portion of the revenue from Battle Pass sales, typically 25%, goes directly to the prize pool for The International, which has resulted in record-breaking prize pools, exceeding $40 million in 2021.

This model creates a direct relationship between player spending and the growth of the e-sports scene, while players themselves receive valuable cosmetic rewards for their investment. It fosters a deep connection between the player community and the game, while also offering a significant income source for professional players.

Valuing Playtime:

Unlike other games where in-game currency can become meaningless (as in World of Warcraft, where reaching the gold cap often leads to a lack of meaningful ways to spend it), Dota 2 provides a real economic incentive. Players are constantly motivated to earn rare items, participate in events, and even engage in e-sports for potential financial gain. This creates a long-term engagement loop where players feel their time in the game is being monetized and rewarded.

Credit: Gabriel Angelo

Comparing Dota 2 to Other Economic Models: WoW vs FFXIV

In games like World of Warcraft, the in-game economy has lost much of its relevance over time. The gold cap of 10 million becomes largely pointless, as money serves little purpose beyond buying consumables for raids and dungeons. Gold in WoW is now primarily used for cosmetic or convenience items, without creating a real motivation for players to accumulate it.

On the other hand, Final Fantasy XIV offers a more engaging approach with its housing system. The real estate market in FFXIV is highly competitive, and players are willing to spend large sums of money to acquire property, customize it, and show off their status within the community. This creates an active internal economy, where money has a clear and valuable purpose, giving players long-term goals for their wealth.

Why Dota 2's Model Stands Out

Dota 2’s economic model exemplifies how games can create ecosystems where players not only stay engaged longer but also monetize their time in meaningful ways. By introducing a dynamic market and offering ways for players to earn real money, games can extend their lifespan while giving players a new incentive to play.

Allowing players to earn a living from their favorite games, or at least generate additional income, could attract a broader audience, willing to invest not only for the fun of the game but also for the economic rewards it offers.

Conclusion

The economic system in Dota 2 shows that games can build ecosystems where players' engagement is financially valued. By offering players opportunities to monetize their time and efforts, games can create stronger communities and longer-lasting player engagement. Other major games should consider following Dota 2’s example, giving players a tangible return on their time and transforming gaming from a mere pastime into a rewarding investment, both personally and financially.

This message is brought to you by a loot goblin, unapologetically yours.

#dota2 #economy #video game #loot goblin

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tincanaudio · 2 years ago

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Today is Bandcamp Friday! For the next 24 hours, Bandcamp are waiving their cut of sales, making it the best time to support the creators you love by buying their music & their merch.

We're splitting any sales made today between Gendered Intelligence, a trans-led grassroots organisation in the UK that works to increase education and understanding of trans people, and Small Trans Library Glasgow, a mutual aid organisation that also functions as a small lending library of trans-authored books for trans people in Glasgow.

Below the line are some recommendations on what you can find on our Bandcamp site.

First up, we have our latest release: Anamnesis: An Audio Drama

An experimental microfiction audio drama about memory, identity, and mistakes. Adapted from the solo journalling game Anamnesis by @GoblinMixtape.

Second, we have multiple releases for our ongoing audio drama concept album, The Tower, including ad-free versions of Parts 1-3, full series soundtracks, lo-fi remixes and extra music.

We also have our delightful fantasy comedy series The Dungeon Economic Model and its soundtrack (and more lofi remixes!)

If you're a fan of shows such as Quid Pro Euro and Stellar Firma (the latter of which I worked on and very much inspired the sound design for DEM) we think you'll definitely enjoy this educational series about maximising your profits by moving your town to a Dungeon-based economy.

Finally, and this is a personal choice more than anything, we have our entry into the 'OST Composing Jam: Crunchtime' called Valley & Mountain.

This release is a soundtrack to an imaginary game, made in 48 hours live on Twitch and inspired by the music of Stardew Valley, Dark Cloud, Minecraft and the Legend of Zelda series.

It's one of my favourite things that I've made.

#bandcamp friday #bandcamp #audio drama #soundtrack #music #the tower podcast #the dungeon economic model #stellar firma #quid pro euro #anamnesis #Bandcamp

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drcuriousvii · 1 month ago

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I think the crux of the matter is more that just, D&D (and pretty much all RPGs) are, by nature, inherently opinionated about the kind of story they want to tell. Regardless of the setting set dressing you use, if you play Dungeons and Dragons Fifth Edition and make use of the core, basic mechanics, there are several assumptions that are baked into the game about the kind of story you want to tell - that players are controlling distinct individuals and reacting to the world, that actions with uncertain chances of success will occur, that the degree of uncertainty can be changed by circumstance, that the outcome of attempting these uncertain actions is typically binarily categorized into 'success' or 'failure', that these actions are resolved non-simultaneously, and so on.

While various systems are optional to the core gameplay, and the text even calls attention to some of them, if you look at what systems are actually present for inclusion or exclusion there's also a clear focus on combat (of the skirmish variety) and exploration of dungeon or wilderness environments. There's not an optional social combat system presented in the player's handbook, or a drop-in economic model for if a player establishes a keep, or things like that. There's firearms and laser pistols, and sanity for if you find any eldritch spookums, and different paces of resting to regain your actions and spell slots. This makes sense, because it's ultimately, yknow, Dungeons and Dragons. It's derived from Gary Gygax's dungeon crawling miniature skirmish game. It's telling a specific kind of story - a story about going somewhere, fighting guys, acquiring material wealth and getting stronger to do it again.

Could you tell, for instance, a love story, in D&D? You could undeniably do so in the social framework of what we understand as Dungeons and Dragons - I'm given to understand it's quite popular, with certain values of 'love story' - but with the actual gameplay mechanics of Dungeons and Dragons the published game by Wizards of the Coast, there's no real support for it! You would either be homebrewing your own full game for the type of story you want to tell from scratch, importing systems from other game(s) that you should probably just be playing instead, or doing freeform RP and occasionally stopping to clumsily attempt to make concessions to the game system you're nominally using when you encounter a situation with which the rules are actually concerned (this is the approach a lot of 5e podcasts seem to take).

D&D is less of a Golden Corral (which some systems do attempt to be with, I am told, very mixed results) and more of a frozen yogurt shop. There's certainly customization - there's a toppings bar - but at the end of the day it's still a dessert. It's frozen yogurt, in different flavors, with sweet (or sweet-complementing) toppings on it. You're never going to get authentic Mexican cooking out of a frozen yogurt shop no matter what combination of flavors and toppings you try, and the closest you could get to it is not very close at all.

And in trying to market itself as either a universal roleplaying game or a game focused on character's social interactions, personalities, et al., 5e is also more like a frozen yogurt shop making a huge marketing push to position itself as the best pizzeria in the city. And every time you say you'd like pizza, your friends go 'hey, why don't we try that one that's advertising everywhere?', and you have to explain that it's a frozen yogurt shop. And they either don't believe you, try to get pizza there, fail, and are disappointed; they bring their own pizza that they made at home or got from another restaurant, pay full price for a frozen yogurt that they don't eat, and say that you were wrong for thinking it couldn't be a pizza place; or they just eat there anyway because they like frozen yogurt too. I don't know. This reblog is kind of falling apart.

im confused about the dnd 5e hatred. yall arent just ignoring rules that are dumb? ur dm actually follows every single thing in the book for real?

if you have to ignore some of the rules for the game to be good then the game is not good

#These critiques have been made better in various forms by mr. david prokopetz and various personalities of the OSR #this is really too long for what this post is #to be clear: marcie is a friend of mine and i'm not trying to attacka her or anything!#i'm just offering some thoughts and possibly information.

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talenlee · 8 months ago

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Planar Lensing

How many wheres are there?

There are three major media franchises these days that all work with the idea of multiplanar worlds. Sometimes this involves creating a huge and complicated network of just coincidentally competing brand merchandise lines, where two companies bickering about a contract results in a storytelling direction that explains why Uncle Ben is a different guy, but sometimes it’s a direct choice and it’s done because you want a new place to be, a new whole world to play with.

When building worlds, adding these ‘alternate worlds’ – referred to as planes hereon out – can be a great way to continue the ongoing need of the worldbuilder, which is where am I going to put all this stuff? What I’d like to present here are just some ways to talk about how you’re using planar spaces in your worlds.

Here, and There

Examples: Stranger Things’ Upside Down, Narnia as presented in the Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe.

A Here-And-There model wants to have a familiar world and a single unfamiliar world. That other world doesn’t need to have a coherence to it, and it can even exist as a sort of parasitic world to the first. The economics of the Upside Down aren’t important. Narnia is the alternative, some place that has almost no connection to the original world.

Some versions of Star Trek land here, too, with a negative universe where everyone has a mustache. Same basic place, but what if the overall framework of the world was different and sucked.

This is specifically, though, about a binary view of alternate worlds. There’s one and there’s another and that’s it. Travelling to other possibilities isn’t a factor, it’s literally just about how these two places relate to one another.

Basically Protestantism

Examples: The Bible, Dragonball, Yuu Yuu Hakusho, Bleach

Not to make too much fun, but this is what you get when you have a small number of planes that are immediately important to one another. The fact they tend to relate heavily to afterlife stories is kinda a byproduct of dominant cultural framings – Christians did a big colonialism so that story structure is widespread as a result. In these universes, you have multiple alternate realities, but not many of them and they’re not readily accessible. Sometimes only a small number of people can move between them so it doesn’t matter how many of them there are.

In these frameworks, the central plane, the ‘here’ is usually inferior in some way; important, yes, absolutely vital, like it’s the ‘proper’ one after all, but it’s a place where you can’t do as much cool stuff or where all the cool things are missing. Sometimes this is even explicitly the fault of being the place where all the rules make sense.

My D&D universe approach is more here than a big expansive planar cosmology: There are demons and devils and angels and things from ‘outside’ but ‘outside’ represents a sort of wildly different worldscape. In the core of the world, people are aware of the realm of the faeries (the Feywild), the realm of ghosts (the Shadowfell) and then the rest of everything (the prime plane).

A Planar Cosmology

Examples: Many Dungeons & Dragons settings, the DC and Marvel universe of the comics

At the next level of planar availability, you’re low-key just using Star Trek. Not Star Trek and its model of a limited alternate reality, but rather, Star Trek as a series where every week you can go to a new planet with its own established set of ways it’s weird or visually distinct. The model of Spelljammer and Planescape live in this space, where you have essentially multiple world-likes, which are segregated from other things, they can only really transmit from one to another by conscious agents doing things, but which are separated so their rules don’t overlap. You don’t have to think of them as metaphysics or magic or whatever, it’s just the rules of a place.

Conventional D&D models tend towards this because they need places for weird monsters to come from. Demons and devils are from their own special planes of constant war, which represent a punishment afterlife, a hell of sorts, and it’s even weirder that some cosmologies don’t tie those into the life-death cycle, but also, maybe that’s okay? Personally I find the ethical dimensions a little weird – it induces too much of the morality of the universe and diminishes the material reality I favour.

At this point you’re basically looking at a sort of multi-planetary position. I don’t dislike these, but remember that freely travelling between them diminishes their differences. You don’t want Jupiter to be Just Over There, right? I mean unless you do.

Misunderstanding Quantum Physics

Examples: Bioshock Infinite, the Marvel Universe, The Hitch Hiker’s Guide To The Galaxy

The next step is when you get to the idea of Many Worlds theory and start spilling over yourself. You have a limited pool of alternate worlds for alternate story types but then you just keep setting out chairs and you wind up with worlds that are so common that their distinctions become hard to tell. When you start having worlds where the differences are subtle it becomes hard to see these things as limited in supply and at that point you have the infinite potentiality space that in my opinion collapses everything into sludge.

Because, like, when you have worlds that are only minorly different, and a lot of them, the assumption flows that you have more, that are also only minorly different. Since a world is big and complicated, there’s a lot of it. What if the world you’re in is only different in that instead of Dave’s mother dying when he was a kid, she’s alive now, and the result is that largely, Dave’s life is majorly different… Which you may not care about because Dave is from Myrtle Beach California and your story is centered around Singapore.

Like, these worlds tend to bore and frustrate me because once you have this scope of variety already in place, it requires you to have a very narrow, very specific vision of reality and what you can cope with for that to not be a normal version of reality. Like imagine if it’s a world where the dominant flavour of soda is Fanta, and not Coke. No major changes otherwise. Is that really worth things being different? What if it’s that that dominant flavour is dominant in Perth, Western Australia. I live in Australia, and that doesn’t matter to my life.

But that’s me complaining about a thing I don’t like. What this kind of model gives you is vast, untapped, infinite possibility. It lets you have Mister Mxyzptlk and Bugs Bunny and Doctor Manhattan. Those stories can use that kind of thing.

There, that’s a handful of ways to approach it. Know what you like about them, know what you don’t, and make choices accordingly.

Check it out on PRESS.exe to see it with images and links!

#World Building #Making #Media

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