Hmmm...you raise a good point, Justin. Maybe there will be fewer games going on in the future because of this. It might lead to more dropouts from Casting games too. It doesn't seem like there would be a lot of motivation for someone who gets 10th in their first game to blog on a site where they don't really know anyone. I am worried that in the long run, putting a price on game entry will slowly and steadily dwindle the number of people involved in Tengaged.
We have build some inner algorithms to earn money through out several ways. Some of them are almost automatic to ensure that you will have money to enroll at least in one "casting" game, but of course in order to get lots of money or to be able to enroll in further available games on Tengaged, you will need to earn more money, by voting, posting, winning games, betting, etc.
The number of games played per person will decrease a little initially but new people is coming everyday, so hopefully we won't see a decrease in activity within the site.
I agree that overall site activity is increasing due to new memembership and because the site is new. My outlook is towards the future when Tengaged has been around a while and new membership rates are more constant than at sharp increase. ( When I say rate, I mean the proportion of new joins vs membership).
What I forsee happening I can only describe as the 'cream rises to the top' or if anyone cooks, a 'reduction'. As the site continues, because membership will be fairly large there will be some that can't make the rankings they need to stay alive, devote the time, have reason to blog and they leave. Now that the bottom teir is gone, it is harder to stay near the top and new people coming in have a harder time entering in, because everyone is trying to keep towards the top. Again as the new bottom teir is taken away, it becomes increasingly harder to stay with the 'cream' which is at the top.
Ensuring that people have enough money to enroll in at least one casting game will keep the lower teir broad (i.e. there will be a large amount of casting games being played), but will lead way to a model where a small percentage of the 'rich' get richer and the masses of the 'poor' stay poor. Furthermore, the 'rich' or the 'cream' have a lot more power on the blogs due to the belts and can keep the weatlh among them. And lastly you will have ex-rookies in the casting games trying to get back up to rookies by taking out new membership.
The idea of a Tengaged currency is a good one, because it provides motivation to purchase new things or excel at the game. However, what I think is lacking is the means of how one earns the currency. Other sites provide quests, tasks, or games to earn money so you are actively engaged in that pursuit. With the current ways we have to gain money, I think you will see an increase in frivolous blogs or spamming, a survival of the fittest mentality, and a deteriation of the socialbility of Tengaged.
Remember that everything on this site should be based on being social and interacting with other people on the site, and that any game or quest as you say would have to be built around that
I agree with you Stiano and I am not sure that I have a solution to what I see as a problem. Things that pop in my mind right now are polls, because that is social and has to do with voting, and in turn could benifit Tengaged by gathering information of its memberships opinion. Also if there was one game a day (let's just say it is solitaire) and you could play it by yourself trying to achieve the highscore of the day. That would keep people on Tengaged longer, you could award them $.1 for every game they play, and people could be awarded on the daily rankings. Or even if it was a multiplayer game, people could place bets on that.
very interesting comments here ;)
just one thing about "a small percentage of the 'rich' get richer and the masses of the 'poor' stay poor".
In that case, it could be broken by forming an alliance between lets say "poor" people, of course it needs some leadership abilities. Hopefully in 2-3 weeks "groups" will be available on Tengaged and will be easier to do those alliances.
OOooooooh I can't wait for the groups thing to start, that will be a very interesting move. I think it will change the social dynamics quite a bit.
It would be interesting to see if when big groups formed rivalries between them would form.
I can see the people on this site with big 'fanbases' commanding huge numbers of people in their gangs.
Could be interesting :D
Come on people. It's better to start joining me now as the power still haven't gotten to my head and I make you give me (real) money to become my slave ;)
Can everyone please check out my newest blog, called A Proposal? It really makes sense to me and I would like other people's input. Thanks, and sorry for interrupting.
