[MUD-Dev] Levels and Goals [was Alright..IF your gonan do

[clawrenc at cup.hp.com]

In <3.0.32.19970530221523.009d20c4 at mail.tenetwork.com>, on 05/30/97 
   at 11:01 PM, Jeff Kesselman <jeffk at tenetwork.com> said:

> [ChrisL:]

>>This would seem possible to handle in a commercial setting by changing
>>the token that is bought:
>>
>>  $15 purchases an application to join the game.  Note: The company 
>>    has no obligation to approve applications (may partially return 
>>    $$$ for refused applications, and may limit applications from 
>>    players to # per month).
>>
>>  $10 purchases your right to play the game for X hours _IF_ your 
>>    application is approved.
>>
>>  An approved application is valid for YY hours of play.  Most 
>>    applications will be automatically re-submitted and approved 
>>    by default by the company.  Should a player prove troublesome
>>    the application will be denied on its next submission.

>Nice idea JC but, unfortunately, it runs against the entire fabric of
>online business.

>Ulktimatle, wherther your mdoel is subscription, ad revenue, or
>anything else, your money ultimatley is measure in eye-hours inside
>of your service.

> A service that buidls barriers to entry is not likely to be
>succesful.. .the whoel poitn is to make the buying decision as EASY
>as possible...

>In order to get the kidns of numbers you need.. we look for 200+ new
>users per day at TEN .. you can't have an entry process that is
>either labor intensive or unscalable.

Nope.  The problem is not the solution ,its the presentation.  You can
actually keep the current process entirely intact -- what you are
changing is the perceived process by the users.

Still easy to do.  Keep the definitions as above, make approval of
applications automatic (you can even wrap the process in fancy FX),
and then just insert the dissapproved for the ones you don't want. 
just as much or as little work as the current process I'd wager, with
the associated benefit of giving you an automated system for removing
those you don't want without your jurors having to spend any time on
it.

--
J C Lawrence                           Internet: claw at null.net
(Contractor)                           Internet: coder at ibm.net
---------------(*)               Internet: clawrenc at cup.hp.com
...Honorary Member Clan McFUD -- Teamer's Avenging Monolith...