So, to be frank - when I was considering subscribing to Supporter, I debated it for quite a while. I ultimately decided to do it because I really want to support the staff and the development of the site, but to be honest the benefits of Supporter didn't entice me much. The animated name is pretty neat and I appreciate having this forum to communicate with you folks, but apart from that, I really only subscribed because I wanted to support you. This brings me to the point of this post - how can Supporter be more enticing without paywalling useful features (which is a practice I certainly wouldn't support)? I think at least part of the answer lies in boosts.
The ability to boost games exists, which is fantastic. As far as I can tell though, boosting a game functionally does nothing except remove ads for some of that game's users for a month. This presents a few issues in my view:
- Most people are probably using an ad blocker anyway (and if not, they probably should be). When the single benefit provided by boosts can be obtained in a more complete way (ie. applies when you're not yet logged in) by a free browser extension, I think the value proposition is pretty low.
- The concept of "boosting" a game translating to "some people don't see ads" doesn't really... work, linguistically (in my opinion, anyway). "Boosting" inherently conveys the game itself (ie. it's board) is benefitting in some way.
- Runners and moderators for games care about those games and their boards (and subsequently, their runs) being more visible, and they care about that WAY more than they care about whether a few people see ads or not.
So, here are my two ideas on how to solve those issues and make Supporter subscriptions more enticing:
- On the main Games list page, shift the "Popular new games" panel on the right side down, and put "Most boosted games" above it. Reduce both panels to top 5 (rather than top 8) so both "Most boosted games" and "Popular new games" are visible on most standard monitor resolutions. "Games from X (Year)" and "Games on X (Platform)" could be below "Popular new games". I did a quick mockup of what this would look like, click here to see that: [Click]
- Similar to the "Supporter" badge for users, add a "Boosted" badge for games, which appears before that game's name on its dedicated board page, and everywhere else it's referred to (on the main Games list page, etc.) Similarly to the user badge, this could by default be the boost skateboard icon, but the game's moderators could customize it with an icon specific to that game if they chose to.
(You could also keep the current ad suppressing boost functionality in addition if you wanted, no harm in that.)
Anywho, just food for thought :) I think this could be a very easy way to both make "Supporter" more enticing and empower community members more directly to "boost" their favorite games, in the most literal sense of the term (ie. increase their visibility).
Hey folks, just wanted to send a shout out to the staff and admins of the site - you've been doing absolutely fantastic work since the acquisition, especially with the site overhaul. I know it was an enormous undertaking, and I'm keenly aware that major changes like that are never simple and never without unforeseen hurdles. Your efficient and effective handling of it all has been and continues to be commendable, great job!
Not to malign the previous staff/ownership in any way, but the improvements, growth, and overall evolution of the site since the acquisition have been incredible to witness. It's clear the site we all love so much is in very good and capable hands.
I figured I'd sign up for supporter to show my appreciation for the staff and admins that make this place such a great spot to be. Thank you for everything you do!
Anyway, I didn't really have anything else to say, just wanted to say thanks. You may now return to your regularly scheduled programming.
Just a quick note to say that a Discord is now up for discussing speedrun strategies and records, etc. for this game! :) Link to join the Discord is on the left side of this page, just click the button labeled "Discord"
Hope to see you there! :)
Just a quick note to say that a Discord is now up for discussing speedrun strategies and records, etc. for this game! :) Link to join the Discord is on the left side of this page, just click the button labeled "Discord"
Hope to see you there! :)
Just a quick note to say that a Discord is now up for discussing speedrun strategies and records, etc. for this game! :) Link to join the Discord is on the left side of this page, just click the button labeled "Discord"
Hope to see you there! :)
Just a quick note to say that a Discord is now up for discussing speedrun strategies and records, etc. for this game! :) Link to join the Discord is on the left side of this page, just click the button labeled "Discord"
Hope to see you there! :)
Just a quick note to say that a Discord is now up for discussing speedrun strategies and records, etc. for this game! :) Link to join the Discord is on the left side of this page, just click the button labeled "Discord"
Hope to see you there! :)
Hi everyone, just a quite note to say that we now have a Discord server for Astray running!
You can join using the invite link to the left.
Good luck in all your runs!
Myself and some other community members have been working on a comprehensive strategy guide for RF1 speedruns. Check it out here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/13oltVIxSvUMg8enaRgNmNc7g5UPfyF4hZsuQHdywXxk/
Also, be sure to join us in Discord to chat about anything to do with RF speedrunning! https://discord.gg/EpbU5xs