Sorry your browser is not supported!

You are using an outdated browser that does not support modern web technologies, in order to use this site please update to a new browser.

Browsers supported include Chrome, FireFox, Safari, Opera, Internet Explorer 10+ or Microsoft Edge.

Geek Culture / Who would be interested in a hosting/advertising site?

Author
Message
Robert F
User Banned
Posted: 8th Jul 2009 08:33 Edited at: 8th Jul 2009 08:49
Link
I am in the process of building a Game Hosting/Advertising Website. On the site you could:

Paid Subscriptions:

-Host and Advertise your Game/Media on the Website
-Upload Any Size File
-Have your own Page/Blog where people may follow your work and you.

Non-Paying(Users)

-Download Games
-Download Media
-Follow Artists
-Upload Files under 5MB

Non-Paying(Guests)

-Download Games
-Download Media

There will be more to I just don't know what yet. The MAJOR problem though is that I will not be able to pay for the site except from the paid subscribers and advertisments. For the Paid Subscription I was thinking of a price around $5 a month or so.

I just wanted to know if anyone would be interested in the idea. If not then I will just drop the website.


Back to top
Profile
Van B
Moderator
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 8th Oct 2002
Location: Sunnyvale
Posted: 8th Jul 2009 09:01
Link
These things never take off.

For one thing, myself and I suppose a lot of game developers don't feel that we should pay to upload our games, we make them for free, release them for free, so it shouldn't cost us anything to provide them. And it doesn't, because there are dozens of services that allow bigger uploads for free. If I was to pay you $5 a month to host some files, then I'd expect to visit the website and not find 1 single advert - why would I pay you guys to host my free games, just so you can have a bunch of adverts plastered around. Here's a thought, maybe a percentage of advertising revenue should go back to the game developer.

You have to ask yourself why people wouldn't rather just setup their own website, it would probably cost the same except they could get their own advertising revenue and have a whole website to themselves. Moreover, why wouldn't they use a well established service instead!


Health, Ammo, and bacon and eggs!
Back to top
Profile PM Email
Robert F
User Banned
Posted: 8th Jul 2009 09:10
Link
Quote: "These things never take off.

For one thing, myself and I suppose a lot of game developers don't feel that we should pay to upload our games, we make them for free, release them for free, so it shouldn't cost us anything to provide them. And it doesn't, because there are dozens of services that allow bigger uploads for free. If I was to pay you $5 a month to host some files, then I'd expect to visit the website and not find 1 single advert - why would I pay you guys to host my free games, just so you can have a bunch of adverts plastered around. Here's a thought, maybe a percentage of advertising revenue should go back to the game developer.

You have to ask yourself why people wouldn't rather just setup their own website, it would probably cost the same except they could get their own advertising revenue and have a whole website to themselves. Moreover, why wouldn't they use a well established service instead!"


Yeah you do make good points. The point of paying was really for advertisments on the site... to get your game recognized.

I guess I could change it so Non-Paying users can upload up to 1GB, and Paying Users can upload as much as they want. I guess the site is a no-go then?


Back to top
Profile
Van B
Moderator
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 8th Oct 2002
Location: Sunnyvale
Posted: 8th Jul 2009 09:37
Link
Based on the amount of times this has cropped up, and the amount of times it's worked - this has a 0% chance of success.

The first thing that won't happen is people won't join and upload their games. This is not a matter of site quality, advertising, or anything like that - it stems from the mindset of your average hobbyist developer. If someone wanted one of my games on their website, then they could either email me and ask to upload it, or they could ask me to upload it myself, then I'd say no, or ignore the email.

Take a look at what http://www.caiman.us do. They actually find a lot of the games themselves, email the author for permission to upload, and review the game, then the developer get's feedback by user ratings, comments etc etc. See that's a service that is quite cool to be a part of, it's a website with hardly any advertising (less than here as far as I can tell), yet it's been going for years.

I think you need to come up with a more diverse plan, like ways for the developer and yourselves to benefit, make money, get feedback. It would be great to get people onto the site who don't visit gaming sites, maybe you should start a fun upload service. Like people can upload a song they've made, a picture, story, movie, game - but all user content, no piracy - kinda like youtube for creative people to root around in. You can excuse some advertising on a site like that, and the visitor turnover would be huge, imagine people being able to upload screenshots, movies, and downloads for their games in one place, but with the casual gamer traffic thrown in. That's how I'd look at it at least, better not see you on Dragons Den with my idea LOL.


Health, Ammo, and bacon and eggs!
Back to top
Profile PM Email
Dared1111
18
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 25th Oct 2006
Location:
Posted: 8th Jul 2009 11:50
Link
Dont forget a member of this forum kicked off one of these sites rather well. It was free to use though

Back to top
Profile PM Website
NeX the Fairly Fast Ferret
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 10th Apr 2005
Location: The Fifth Plane of Oblivion
Posted: 8th Jul 2009 14:07
Link
VanB - deviantArt.

Back to top
Profile PM Website
Van B
Moderator
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 8th Oct 2002
Location: Sunnyvale
Posted: 8th Jul 2009 15:15 Edited at: 8th Jul 2009 15:16
Link
I thought DeviantArt was just for artwork - what I'm thinking is like youtube for everything other than but including videos. So you might have a game project and would be able to upload everything; design documents, tutorials, screenshots, videos, demos, audio track previews. But this would be a non-specific site, not just for game developers but anyone with something they want to share, a funny drawing, poem, 4th grade English essay that got A+...

Deviant Art is great, so full of eye candy and talented folk - my concern though is that an amateur would be torn to shreds there. If it's a silly drawing done in paint, then Deviant Art folk don't really want to see it - but your friends might want to, and so might anyone looking to waste their lunch break looking at silly stuff. Youtube is limited to videos, Deviant Art is limited to high quality art - a site for all types of creative stuff would be pretty neat. Personally, if I could upload screenshots and files to youtube then I'd be happy - being able to learn more about a project after watching the video, whether it's looking at screenies, reading more in-depth info, or downloading a demo. - I'm sure that would please a lot of people.

Marketing firms would have an absolute field day with that.


Health, Ammo, and bacon and eggs!
Back to top
Profile PM Email
NeX the Fairly Fast Ferret
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 10th Apr 2005
Location: The Fifth Plane of Oblivion
Posted: 8th Jul 2009 15:22 Edited at: 8th Jul 2009 15:24
Link
Quote: "Deviant Art is limited to high quality art"


Since when? There's LOTS of junk on there.

You can also upload Flash games, 3D models, fonts, themes for Windows/Linux, fully blown exes, anything YOU think is art. The only thing you can't upload at the moment is video because of the bandwidth required and dA struggles a bit anyway.

Back to top
Profile PM Website
Van B
Moderator
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 8th Oct 2002
Location: Sunnyvale
Posted: 8th Jul 2009 15:31
Link
Oh, had no idea that DA accepted those as well. See I've thought about joining up, but never bothered because of all the talent, like I can draw, but most of those guys can DRAW, in capitals!.

I wonder if it's worth making a pretty cruddy title screen to go with a demo or a free game, then with the power of blind hope - someone might make a nice version for you . I guess every artist out there who doesn't make money would consider that an option, if just for the warm fuzzy feeling and recognition.

You have to consider that even a succesful artist might have their work seen by a few hundred people, in a gallery or wherever - but donating artwork (so to speak) to a videogame title screen, well any game that would warrant such attention would easily get 10,000 downloads in it's first year. That's some pretty good recognition I think.

Anyhoo, sorry to digress so much, I should just shut up and drink my coffee.


Health, Ammo, and bacon and eggs!
Back to top
Profile PM Email
Robert F
User Banned
Posted: 8th Jul 2009 20:14
Link
What I was kind of aiming for this site was something like a file front/ign mix. People can upload their stuff, and share the links. If you wanted you could pay me to advertise and review your game on the main site. Thats what I was trying to get at. I could have a prize system where if your game get downloaded so many times that you would get a free month of advertising or it could even be a cash prize. Its just ideas though.


Back to top
Profile
lazerus
17
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 30th Apr 2008
Location:
Posted: 8th Jul 2009 20:25
Link
Am working up a portfolio before i make a DA account. Dont want to have to struggel to fill it up a bit lol.

Time won’t tell, fate shall’nt decide and the gods themselves can’t intervene for fear of my retrubution. You cannot hide, now face me.
http://lazerusreborn.tumblr.com
Back to top
Profile PM Email
Jeku
Moderator
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 4th Jul 2003
Location: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Posted: 8th Jul 2009 23:05 Edited at: 8th Jul 2009 23:05
Link
My best advice would be to make it all free, and then display ads to help pay for your work, hosting, etc. There are SO many free places to put our games nowadays that nobody in their right mind would pay you to place their game.

You are correct to have an option to charge for advertising, but it's a steep uphill climb if you expect to make money or even break even.

Myself, I would consider such a project ONLY if I had a GOOD domain name (not greatgames.freewebs.com or something stupid like that). Something like gametorpedo.com is unique enough that people will click there to see what it's about. But even then, how do you attract new people when you have an empty database to start off with?

I would love to build a site like this but I fear it would be just another empty site with an empty forum. You really need to have something NEW and UNIQUE that nobody else has (say, a great way to display WIPs). Also, hire a web designer to do a professional Web 2.0 look and feel, and not have the site look like it's using a generic template.

Good luck!

North Korea 2007 Tour Pictures
Back to top
Profile PM Website
Robert F
User Banned
Posted: 9th Jul 2009 05:34
Link
Quote: "My best advice would be to make it all free, and then display ads to help pay for your work, hosting, etc. There are SO many free places to put our games nowadays that nobody in their right mind would pay you to place their game.

You are correct to have an option to charge for advertising, but it's a steep uphill climb if you expect to make money or even break even.

Myself, I would consider such a project ONLY if I had a GOOD domain name (not greatgames.freewebs.com or something stupid like that). Something like gametorpedo.com is unique enough that people will click there to see what it's about. But even then, how do you attract new people when you have an empty database to start off with?

I would love to build a site like this but I fear it would be just another empty site with an empty forum. You really need to have something NEW and UNIQUE that nobody else has (say, a great way to display WIPs). Also, hire a web designer to do a professional Web 2.0 look and feel, and not have the site look like it's using a generic template.

Good luck!"


Alright well I guess I will just hold off on the site for now and think of more ideas and a more professional site. Thanks for the tips everyone. If you have any more ideas continue to post them here!
Back to top
Profile
Veron
18
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 22nd Nov 2006
Location:
Posted: 9th Jul 2009 10:09
Link
I think that it could take off quite well, if executed correctly. Take a look at my thread VeronUpload - http://forum.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&t=127803&b=2.

It was very successful simply because there were no limitations on how much you could upload, and so it got a lot of use. When I was hacked twice, the site went down and I made the choice not to revive it, but it is proof that services like it/similar to it can take off, as long as you're professional, and have a nice site with very little restrictions on the user to back yourself up. For example, the 5MB limit is really just stupid.

You'll also need to consider getting a proper server, for example, on VeronUpload I needed to scan the files that users uploaded for viruses, as well as a scan of the whole server every 12 hours. This is something that shared hosting won't let you do, so look into a VPS/dedicated server.

Good luck!

Back to top
Profile PM
lazerus
17
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 30th Apr 2008
Location:
Posted: 9th Jul 2009 14:33
Link
wait it went down again?

-_- stupid spanish idiots, why dont they get a life...

Time won’t tell, fate shall’nt decide and the gods themselves can’t intervene for fear of my retrubution. You cannot hide, now face me.
http://lazerusreborn.tumblr.com
Back to top
Profile PM Email
Robert F
User Banned
Posted: 9th Jul 2009 16:32 Edited at: 9th Jul 2009 16:42
Link
Quote: "I think that it could take off quite well, if executed correctly. Take a look at my thread VeronUpload - http://forum.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&t=127803&b=2.

It was very successful simply because there were no limitations on how much you could upload, and so it got a lot of use. When I was hacked twice, the site went down and I made the choice not to revive it, but it is proof that services like it/similar to it can take off, as long as you're professional, and have a nice site with very little restrictions on the user to back yourself up. For example, the 5MB limit is really just stupid.

You'll also need to consider getting a proper server, for example, on VeronUpload I needed to scan the files that users uploaded for viruses, as well as a scan of the whole server every 12 hours. This is something that shared hosting won't let you do, so look into a VPS/dedicated server.

Good luck!
"


How did you pay for it though? Unless you used a sub domain and a server from your home. Dedicated servers are pricey.
Back to top
Profile
Veron
18
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 22nd Nov 2006
Location:
Posted: 9th Jul 2009 16:56
Link
No, I just paid for it out of my own pocket, and didn't use a subdomain. I intended to eventually phase in some advertisements once I had a larger user base, as well as adding more functionality to the site which users would have to pay for, again, once I had a huge user base. Sadly, it never happened.

If you're too young to afford a VPS/server, then it can be a problem, since shared hosting probably won't cut it. However, some shared hosting might be very flexible, so it's just about shopping for the right plan.

A host that I'd consider - http://www.webhostingpad.com, no idea of its legitimacy though.

Basically, the first thing to do is design a nice site and lay out plans of exactly what the site will do and what limits will be placed on the user (for example, when uploading games), if any.

Back to top
Profile PM
Robert F
User Banned
Posted: 9th Jul 2009 17:12
Link
Quote: "No, I just paid for it out of my own pocket, and didn't use a subdomain. I intended to eventually phase in some advertisements once I had a larger user base, as well as adding more functionality to the site which users would have to pay for, again, once I had a huge user base. Sadly, it never happened.

If you're too young to afford a VPS/server, then it can be a problem, since shared hosting probably won't cut it. However, some shared hosting might be very flexible, so it's just about shopping for the right plan.

A host that I'd consider - http://www.webhostingpad.com, no idea of its legitimacy though.

Basically, the first thing to do is design a nice site and lay out plans of exactly what the site will do and what limits will be placed on the user (for example, when uploading games), if any."


Their is no way possible I can afford my own server. lol

Thats basically the main problem in running this website. Money. I don't really have alot. That is a good hosting site, except I kind of wanted one that supports ASP.net pages and it appears they don't. I seen GoDaddy.com does but their prices are a little bit more. I will probably just surf around looking at prices for a while before I do anything big.
Back to top
Profile
Veron
18
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 22nd Nov 2006
Location:
Posted: 9th Jul 2009 17:20
Link
Ask their live chat if you have any questions, most live chat reps are pretty helpful.

Back to top
Profile PM
Robert F
User Banned
Posted: 9th Jul 2009 17:26 Edited at: 9th Jul 2009 17:51
Link
I keep trying to talk to the people on there but it wont let me. lol

Anyway, I don't really know if I can even afford hosting at this moment because I don't have a job. I can afford a domain name for a few years but im not so sure about hosting.
Back to top
Profile
Back to top

Login to post a reply

Server time is: 2025-05-30 14:13:33
Your offset time is: 2025-05-30 14:13:33