What do you think of membership charges? Have your say here.

[Kherr]

1. I do think that tokens should be based universally on the total data size downloaded. That way then, small roms are automatically cheaper than large roms.

2. BTW : The Gameboy advance ROM section is in production as we speak, it is the entire GBA collection, over 18GB worth.

1. While I respect your ideas and know what you're saying, I have to disagree. People automatically turn away from per KB cost. Look at cell phone data costs... If you know you have to pay per KB, you don't use said feature, even in the slightest, do you? No, and the answer is simple. The amount of computer illiterate people in this world is growing, and the amount of people who know that it would be cheaper for the smaller KB size files are shrinking. My friend Xieros (whom is EXTREMELY computer literate) for example, he has a 5 MB limit on his data plan for his Cell Phone. He has turned data on his phone OFF to avoid even using a SINGLE KB... (just a thought)

Now, people flock to a system where things are set to an individual amount of points because the reasoning is simple: They don't have to learn anything tech-y. They don't need to pay attention to the cost per KB, only the cost per item (which is how Nintendo is doing it, and Microsoft's Xbox Live HEAVILY uses it, and look at their generated revenue... imagine if they implemented a per KB/MB/GB cost knowing how people respond to per KB on their cell phones...)

2. Simply EPIC... I can't wait.

[Hot Trout]

Now, people flock to a system where things are set to an individual amount of points because the reasoning is simple: They don't have to learn anything tech-y.

You may be right here. I will give this some more thought. Thanks Kherr.

[Kherr]

You may be right here. I will give this some more thought. Thanks Kherr.

Not a problem HT. I want this site to grow, and I'm dedicated to improvement.

*edit*

Also changed this thread to a Global Announcement because it needs more light and activity. Hope this helps out HT.

[JAHGoVeg]

You Know what, I'm gonna have to go with Everyone else on this. I Don't think that the paying thing would work out. There are too many click and download sites on the web just do a search for ROMs . and, if you did that i would be forced to leave (I'm only 16 thus have no way to pay, Can i pay you in cash ) anyways, however the Point system sounds Awesome!!

that way you can have a very active site. BUT, give this some thought first. if you are doing a search for roms and come across this site and see a banner that says "you must register and participate to download this rom" or even "please register to download this rom" (assuming you start out with some free credits) what is the end Surfer gonna do? he might say, "Screw this and continue searching"

SO, the question is how do we go about this in a way that won't scare away people?

P.S. Hey Hot Trout, if you don't know me you will I plan on being very active

[Hot Trout]

Welcome, good to see you here. It is very difficult to get the balance right. On one hand the monthly fees are approx $240 but the total donations are only $40 for last month. I really need the site to pay its way but at the same time I do this for the love of old games and not a profit. If there were to be profit I could use it to upgrade the server/bandwidth etc.

You may have noticed that as of yesterday I have introduced an unlimited download speed option for any users that donate $25 or more. For those that can afford it this is a nice luxary that affords them very cool 5mbs download speed, very handy when trying to download MAME or CPS roms. This way everyone can download with no charge, but if enough elite members sign up I will have my bills covered.

Anyways, good to have you on board I am looking forward to more live board users getting their hands dirty.

Welcome indeed.

[Kherr]

The question is how do we go about this in a way that won't scare away people?

Unfortunately with all of the "completely free" click'n'download sites out there, there isn't a proper way to go about it without scaring people off... Just grit your teeth and PRAY people will respond positively to it. The point system is in theory bulletproof, because if you really want to download a game, you just need to participate in the forums... In reality, Cool Roms or Rom World takes the download point because people nowadays don't like to wait. They don't want to have to work to get what they want, they'd rather get it for nothing. No waiting, no paying... Just completely free and no work at all. But the saying goes... You get what you paid for.

[Hot Trout]

Donations are still very poor for April. Having said that, users do seem prepared to register in order to get 4x download speed for free. Forum membership numbers are now over 800 in just a month.

Do you think people would pay $10 for unlimited? What if I made the download speeds as follows

Not Registered : 64 kb/s
Registered User : 196 kb/s
$10 Donation Registered : Unlimited (typically 390 kb/s or faster)

With Mame, Zinc, N64, Dreamcast roms the unlimited speed is really needed due to their size?

Just throwing this out there again, I need an answer to funding this. Another month has passed, another $250 has been paid but no donations worth mentioning have come in.

[The Shadow Dragon]

Here is my idea:

Unregistered Users:

limit 1-2 downloads per hour
30 second wait for any download
64 KB/sec limit on speed

Registered Users (with a Token system):

limit 5 downloads per hour, can buy more with tokens earned on the board.
no wait on downloads
196-256 KB/sec limit on speed, can be raised or removed for tokens
Can buy tokens with donations

Unlimited Donation Members:

Either none of the limits above or you can buy more tokens with donations

My thought behind this system is that file hosting sites like Rapidshare get people to buy extremely expensive premium accounts by limiting bandwidth, having wait times, and limiting number of downloads, and it could work here too.

Also, do you have per click or per view ads? The reason I ask is that if you put an ad on the download page that is per view, you could at least get a little support from every download.

[crustyasp46]

Just registered to this site, am relatively new to this aspect of the gaming world, but having read some of the forum posts and posted, I don't feel qualified to vote on how you should do it. I just hope that however ti goes the site survives. I am not a fan for PayPal, and I do not have credit cards, as I am sure there are others like me, an address for a simple old fashioned postal money order and I will be happy to donate.

[Hot Trout]

Hi Crusty good to see you here.

One interesting addition to this story is that with the future upload of the (Big Rom) sections in there will be a real need for users to have an unlimited speed account. This is because some of the individual roms are 500MB and you need the speed just to get the file downloaded.

I have just finished uploading the first of the BIG ROM sections, Fujitsu FM Townsroms section and they are mostly around 450MB each. Next on the agenda is the Dreamcast roms section which is even bigger.

I am even comtemplating making these sections paid membership only areas due to the bandwidth load on the server and then resulting costs for download. Something has to give with these BIG ROM sections, I simply can not afford to allow 100 users to be downloading 500MB files, thats 50GB in one hit