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Suggestions to earn Mene Moar Money! Edited and added more!
Menewsha needs more money. Everyone knows this by now and I'd hate to see this site close down due to lack of funds someday. x__x
Anyway, here are a few of my suggestions an ones that have been mentioned throughout this thread a few times in other posts. Suggestion Number One/Feedback: The extra item when donating so much. I enjoyed being able to get an Afrodonkey whenever I spent 10.00 US dollars in the CI shop. I can understand that creating new pixels takes time and more money, but I felt that I had even more of an urge to donate more to the site getting that exclusive item. So, every now and then, I would suggest throwing in an exclusive item. Even if it is Afrodonkey one month, then a few months later a Peeblo or some other NPC doll and then back to Afrodonkey a few months later.. Afterall, the Yumeh Plush is brought back in the shop for New Years.. Suggestion Number Two: Recolor! Some of the old CI's and EI's are so rare and so hard to find that is is nearly impossible to be able to find any to buy. The CI Ningyo has a black recolor called the Karasu Ningyo. They are the exact same item, just different colored. A think that putting a past CI or EI in the CI shop for a very limited time in a different color could be fantastic. I am not saying have the item look exactly alike, because that would be unfair for people who own such rare items. For example, a pricey CI such as the Pudao of Time is purple, but could be recolored to red or green and placed in the CI shop for a short time period. Same goes for other CI's like the Royal Cape, Orental Fan, ect. I think that many Menewshans would want to spend money on items like this because many of the older items are loved by nearly all of Mene. Suggestion Number Three: As mentioned somewhere in a post in this thread, Mene wants to open (or is already in the process/has already) an Ebay shop! How fantastic is that? Suggestions on what I would love to see in that real shop would be hoodies, hats, trinkets, keychains, posters, figurines, ect. I would love a blue hoodie with Yumeh on it like the Anniversary hoodie! Or a hat like Chilly, Phear Meh, and the Yumeh Anniversary one. T-Shirts with the logo or with an NPC on it. I would definitely want to buy real life items like that. And if little figurines were made of the different NPC's that would be incredibly cool. A little Yumeh action figure a long with Peeblo, Afrodonkey, ect. Great for collectors or even the parents that are on this site. :P I personally love glass figurines/trinkets. Anything that would be constructed of glass or clay would be an ideal gift for myself. x) And now I am ranting.. xD Suggestion Number Four: Some sort of evolving like items? I know this would require different coding/work, but on another site items that evolve tend to be popular. Perhaps releasing new items in the CI shop that are different in such a way could spike more interest and money. I would enjoy simple evolving item. I think it could be interesting to hold an item in my inventory and watch it change and become a bit bigger and better. Any thoughts on this? More suggestions to come eventually. |
It would become a trickle down effect: more users buying MCs to sell, means more users who don't can get those items. Any incentive, or perk, for those who do spend their real dollars on the site, is OK with me.
Menewsha is a business. Period. Money makes things happen. If more money came into Menewsha, the site can grow and become a bigger success. |
That's my look on it as well. I would enjoy more extra free items with my purchases.
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Since I can actually donate now on a regular basis, I like this idea. Especially since I donate $20 at a time :P but I rarely buy extras to sell and if I did I would probably keep them for at least a couple months before selling.
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There has been more then the Aphrodonkey on this concept. A couple other times this has been used. If I remember correctly it was mentioned by the staff that it created more revenue during the month of.....but ended in less for the next month. Which only evened things out.
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Well, I can see that. I know I found myself mildly disappointed when I went to spend 10 dollars in the CI shop and saw I wasn't getting an Afrodonkey.
But they could still earn a bit more. A few months with just usual CIs and no extra gift - usual amount spent from buyers. A month with an extra item - more users spend more money Then back to usual amount spent which I would assume would be less than the month with the extra item. Overall, they earned more money the month with the extra item even if the next month without the extra item was back to having normal amounts spent. And even if it does even out, it prevented them from losing money the way I see it. |
If they come out with something new every month, or every other month, there would be a steady flow of cash.
Special holiday themed items, which would be around for a limited time, would spike the levels of money coming in. Users love limited items. They love the fact they're getting something that only a few will have. |
See but thats the thing, the next month they spend less then normal making the total really even.
For instance. Say someone normally spends 40 a month. They where spending more like 60 the month with the item and then their budget only allowed them to spend 20 dollars the next month. Meaning they still only spent 80 it was just split differently. |
We'd love to give you guys more things to buy. But part of that is the work needed to make them. We try to squeeze it in when we can, but I doubt it would be a regular thing. Users voting is a neat idea, it's just that then we'd have to deliver. And what if something happened and we couldn't? Or what if what you guys had in mind was different from the result? While some of you would be understanding, it would reflect pretty badly upon us. So I'm sure that's a position we'd like to avoid. [lol]
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Stuff happens. However, making money should always be a priority. Users vote on something they'd want and it has to be made. Delegate the task to the artist who has the most free time.
Money is above everything else. It means taking the site out of the red. Also, are Mods just Mods, or are they part in the creation process and their jobs are more than just... Moderating? |
I'm unsure what you mean by "stuff happens." Yes, it does, but a business shouldn't put itself into a position of having to say "stuff happens" when it can be avoided.
There is only one pixelist who would really be able to make it. [sweat] And to throw more work onto Wishie's plate when we know she's bogged already would be a bit cruel. We need to make money, yes, but it's not like making one extra item would bring in loads of cash that's worth overworking her. Not to mention the fact that she needs to get paid for it. As I said, we try when we're able. The real problem isn't a lack of items to buy, it's the lack of people to buy them. Our jobs are more than moderating, yes. |
Lawls. I wanted to say [insert curse word] happens, but I couldn't remember if cursing was OK, so I said Stuff.
Well, an idea to shoot at you guys, would be to add a few items that would have been originally free and sell them for a Mene. Hm... OKies. I thought Mods were just regular Mods, nothing more. Good to know. Anyway... I don't want to derail the thread any more. |
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As cash grabby as that sounds I'd easily put down rl money for a boa or some of the NPC items.
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I can see how some users would extremely disagree with the selling of old item for cash because it would cause those items to significantly decrease in value. So, you would have a lot of happy users that can finally get a dream item that is currently worth 10 mountains of gold by buying that item with real money, but then you'd have other users that worked hard and over a long period of time to acquire the same item. That would lead to disappointments.
But a knock off item could be good too though. Like a knock off of say.. the Pot of Gold. I know that item is expensive and hard to come by. But an item that looks similar, but has a major difference that can easily be identified is always a nice way to go about it. And as for the voting, what if there was an item creation contest of sorts? Have the users of Menewsha draw and describe an item they'd like to see in the CI shop. They can draw the poses and even put the colors and any detail they need. I'd enter that contest. *Shrugs* No problem. I can draw a stick figure and different poses of an item I'd like to see. xD The item with the most popular votes can be created and sold with the poses and coloration that that user described/drew. *Nods* That was understandable, right? That way it isn't a disappointment and would basically be exactly what was voted for. Sure, some users would be unhappy if the item they voted for didn't win, but the majority that voted for the winning item would be thrilled. I'd definitely buy that item. ---------- Post added 12-18-2012 at 02:16 AM ---------- Quote:
For instance, say someone just spends 40 a month normally without anything extra involved. So one month they spend 40, but the month after that they are only spend 20. Menewsha then loses 20 dollars. But at least that extra item that caused them to spend more one month would even it out and wouldn't cause money loss for Mene. *nods* |
That's an interesting idea you have there, Velvet. Selling old event items, or at least ones where there is less than "X" is a novel idea. Considering CI are limited for a reason, and aren't going to be resold. However, event items, are free from the start. I don't think there is anything saying Menewsha wouldn't re-release an old event item.
Of course you're always going to have users cry, whine and complain about that. But, hey, tough tiddly winks. You can never please 100% of the party. If you can manage to please 75%, then you can call that a success. I'm not put off for replicas of old event items, however. |
I wouldn't mind seeing Recolors of old EI's..you oculd sell that in a set.. like Say Recolorations of the valantine events.. Purple and say blue for the boas instead of red and white and black and red...or so forth so on. totaly different colors..but items people WANT.. sure it'd be a different item from what they where after but it'd be clos eneough they'd be estatic.. and the original item would STILL be worth the amount of money it's being sold for.. I've said it before.. you could always do recolors of items. I'd be estatic for a bunch of recolors of certian items and it wouldn't be as much work.. i don't.. think? for poor wishie..
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There's nothing on earth that would convince me to sell old EIs for cash. Simply because people have quested for those. They'll have donated and sold the CIs to gain the cash to buy that elusive EI. So in actual fact, that EI will have ended up costing them a lot of RL money. So it would be a very bad move on our part to sell that item.
How would you feel if we started selling V Day pins at $5 a pop, if yours had cost you over $50... We've talked about recolours before, the Auctioneer items were a test for that. I wouldn't mind some better, more useable colours of old CIs. But there's always people who are very very against that kind of thing. But the site desperately needs money...Just how close to be forced to shut down do we have to get, before we'll stop listening to the nay-sayers and do something that will bring in income. [sweat] |
Mene's close to being closed down? shoot.. if i could I'd so donate more..i LIKE mene dang it.
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If an announcement starting how close the site is close to shut down, it'll send in an influx of donations for a bit. >.<
Me, personally, would be happy if V-day was sold for 5 USD. Even if I did have in my inventory. I already have it. This opportunity gives others the chance to have it, as well. That's a personal opinion, however. In the end, you'll have to look at what needs to be done. Sell old EIs, make recolors, etc. for the sake of keeping the site up, or don't do anything because it'll upset a small group of users. To me, that's an easy decision to make. >.< |
star2000shadow: Senpai:
I'd like to hope that we weren't close to being closed down. I was just trying to be realistic. We can't continue for ever as things are, because you guys will simply give up and leave, because Mene is boring. Inso made an announcement a long time ago about the financial state that the site was in, it didn't make any kind of difference, and things are no better now. Far worse to be honest. Looking at those old stats that Inso posted makes me want to cry. These days, it's a miracle if we clear $1k in a month now. Selfishly, I miss the days when I used to get paid [blush] As you can see from what Inso said in that announcement, simply churning out more items isn't going to fix things. That would be no different to papering over the cracks in a wall. It would bring a little bit more money in for a short while, but the underlying problem would still be there. That of us needing more users [sweat] and the fact that we have no money to spiffy up the site to appeal to a wider audience, and that we have no money to advertise to try and attract that widen audience in the first place. Our income needs to increase permanently, and for that to happen we need more people, because the ones we have cannot provide the funds that we need to be able to develop. So we drift along in our current stalemate position. There's only so much that the staff can do, especially as most of our time is already taken up with regular staff duties and preparing for the next event. Also, speaking for myself here, and I'm sure other staff members feel this too. I just can't maintain a permanent gung ho attitude. I burn out and have to retreat, or I'll go mad. I wish I had the drive to take over the internet with Mene-related stuff to raise our profile and draw people in, but I just don't have the time/mental capacity to do that (._.) |
'Sigh' Im sorry Jelly i didn't mean to make you upset..I'm just trying to help..I love mene and don't wanna see it close down..
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Hm... interesting. Ah, well, I'll see what donations I can come up with starting next month. This month is tight.
On average, how much do you guys rake in? Even if it's ball park, not a definite number. |
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