[UA] Bizarre text distribution model

[Benjamin Lee]

Fascinating.

Sort of 'Fire and Forget' publishing.

Why couldn't the money simply be returned to those who
donated via paypall in the event the critical
threshold is not reached?  

Why not try an experiment?  Pick something juicy from
your unpublished stuff, clean it up, and set up a site
to promote it. 

The Faithful can then go forth and talk it up on the
boards.  If lazy people can get paypall handouts, why
the hell couldn't a hard-working game designer?




Alternately, you could do something like the X-Prize
for gaming, money going to the designers who produce
the best game within the parameters of the contest.



-Ben

--- Greg Stolze <holycrow at mindspring.com> wrote:
> This came to me the other night as I was
> contemplating the sorry state of
> RPG distribution all up and down the tiers.  Mixed
> in was stuff about
> iTunes and Morpheus and how discouraging it is to
> sell your indie DIY stuff
> as a .pdf and spot it on Kazaa a week after you
> release it.
> 
> How do you get around this?  Writers are getting
> fucked (fiscal-wise) when
> their work gets pirated and given away free.  Ditto
> musicians, ditto film
> makers.  Most people are willing to pay something
> for their entertainment
> but only (reasonably enough) if they can't easily
> get it for nothing.
> 
> It occurred to me that the solution is a ransom
> model.
> 
> For instance: I've been toying with REIGN, the
> fantasy version of the One
> Roll Engine used for the the game GODLIKE.  No
> publisher resides in the
> overlap of "interest" and "ability to actually do
> anything about their
> interest".  I could sell it as a .pdf, with the
> attendant hassles of doing
> e-commerce and getting art and layout and all that
> jazz.  But that's a very
> uncertain return on investment, especialy when the
> .pdf might just pop up
> for free within days of release.
> 
> Instead, what if I do this?  I set up a web site
> with a PayPal link and an
> address where people can send their checks and cash.
>  You can pay as much,
> or as little, as you want, but until I hit my goal
> -- say, a price reached
> by doing a word count and multiplying it by six
> cents -- nobody sees the
> book.  However, when I hit that goal, I release the
> whole text, to
> everyone, for nothing.
> 
> This means that any publisher who wants can print
> and sell the book.
> Anyone who wants it can download and print it. 
> Kazaa?  Fuck, Kazaa is now
> working FOR ME, because everyone who steals it and
> likes it is more likely
> to invest in my next work.
> 
> The advantages are pretty clear: No piracy occurs
> until I'm paid in full,
> after which I presumably don't give a fuck what
> people do, I've made my
> nut.  Lots of people see the game, with little
> hassle.  Nobody pays more
> than they feel it's worth.
> 
> The disadvantages are equally clear: I need a good
> reputation to make this
> work, since that's what I'm trading on.  If I set my
> goal at $4000 and
> people only pre-pay $2000, what do I do then?  If I
> release it anyway, the
> system collapses because everyone with a grasp of
> economics figures, "I
> shouldn't pay -- in a year, Stolze will cave and
> release it regardless".
> If I don't release it, I've effectively stolen two
> grand from my closest
> fans, which is not a route I want to go.  Plus, I
> can never earn more than
> what I get up front.  (Not that long-term royalties
> have ever paid out for
> me in gaming.  But I suppose there's still time.)
> 
> What do you all think?
> 
> -G.
> 
> "These hardhat deconstruction-workers harass stories
> as if they were gals
> passing on the sidewalk.  They yell out stuff that's
> not only obnoxious,
> but completely bizarre and impenetrable.  It's like
> they yell: 'Hey, check
> out the pelvic bio-mechanics on that babe!  What a
> set of hypertrophied
> lactiferous tissues!'"
> 		-Bruce Sterling
> 
>
http://www.whatgoesaround.org/GiveCart.cfm?page=list.cfm&UserID=1231&cat=&man=&m
>
em_ID=&afid=&criteria=3355&action=list&startrow=1&maxrows=10
> 
> www.waylay.com
> www.thehungersite.com
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> UA mailing list
> UA at lists.unknown-armies.com
> http://lists.unknown-armies.com/mailman/listinfo/ua


__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail SpamGuard - Read only the mail you want.
http://antispam.yahoo.com/tools