Comment by Locke | Hacker News Reader

Comment by Locke | Hacker News Reader

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My site is a turn-based games site. There are many others like it, most either charge for memberships or are free, advertising-based sites. Some seem to be very successful, some I would classify more as hobby sites.

A few of my current ideas are:

  * Vacation days (a very standard feature... they extend the time limit on your games so you don't while you're away on vacation) (carrot)
  * Advertising free (I don't have advertising now, so I'd have to introduce it for the free accounts) (carrot or stick?)
  * 30-day free membership (stick -- don't like this idea)
  * Limit on the number of simultaneous games a user can have (stick -- don't *really* like this idea, either)
  * Prize tournaments for members only (need to research this idea... not sure I like it) (carrot)

And I'm considering a bunch of other minor perks (customize your profile, change colors, etc...) that would count as very small carrots.

although you can put ads. If your crowd is technology minded they won't work, as they will likely have adblockers installed. But people are used to ads and as long as they aren't obnoxious people will be unlikely to complain.

But more carrot than stick. If you hit your users with a stick too hard they won't want to pay and will leave, they may even talk to other users who wouldn't have cared and convince them to leave.

Perks are good. If you have any kind of social aspect consider having people advertised as paying. Theres a certain... prestige gained by letting people know that you are paying for a product that can be mostly used for free (at least I think there is).

You can also give paying members something besides additional functionality. Game sites with even minor social functions naturally bring out the competitive sides of players. A "supporting" player could have their username in bold or with a star beside it making them stand out more in "Now Playing" or "Top Rated" lists.

That's a very good point. I've had a player ask for a "feature" where he could have his username appear in red instead of the normal color. I think people like to be able to customize their internet personas and those kind of features would make nice carrots.

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