Pay map makers money (V2; NoFlameWar; Respectful version)

[curiosity]

Blake, Stryde, wuv u, les be frends? No more fwame wars okay? I'll be gud. Im sowwy for hurtin...

Ok, now for real. I will try to explain the thing better this time and will try to be as polite as I can. Please don't lock this topic. It's an important feature I'm proposing.

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IDEA:

My idea is to implement a system into PB3 level editor that would allow map maker to create an "In-Map Store" (do not confuse with "in-game store" where custom skins and guns made in graphics editor are being made and sold by community artists) inside his map with just a few mouse clicks where he can sell his own in-map features (like access to secret room in base map that has something cool in it) or custom gun (made with invisible gun and decoration attached to it in level editor) or literally anything else he can create within level editor for real world money (or some sort of in-game currency that you buy for real money).

It will work only in custom maps, not in approved maps. And this feature will only be available to "approved level developers" who are trusted and won't fool the buyers. The Staff team will decide who will be allowed to have a store inside their maps.

Example how it would work: trusted level developer installs a store inside his base map in level editor and puts an item called "access to secret room 0.25$" that would give you access to a secret room with secret guns, then players who play this map in multiplayer can press a button right during the match and buy it in a few clicks, then the map runs a trigger that would open the secret room for you. Easy.

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JUSTIFICATION / Q&A:

Yes, it may contain some Pay2Win aspects in it, but on the other side this feature has a bigger positive outcome: it will encourage level developers to make more maps with better quality and it will invite new people into PB3 therefore making the community bigger and making the game live longer. The last one is important because we all know how many other cool games are being released today and how hard it is for game developers to fight for their audience. Having a way to make money for creating maps would be a good way to lure new players into the game. Unless if you want PB3 to die in a year? Because it is very possible for it to die quickly if current players get tired of it just like how they got tired of PB2 and there would be no new players incoming to replace them.

If you're really worried if it will turn custom maps into Pay2Win, then think about this: only trusted level developers with Staff's approval mark will be able to have an in-map store. They won't abuse the feature because otherwise they may lose the approval mark and money income. Also there is an old good saying: "if you don't like the map then don't play it."

You can say that there is an in-game store already where artists can sell custom skins and guns made in graphics editor therefore people will be capable of earning money and my system isn't needed. Maybe, but there is a problem - only artists will make money, good artists, approved artists. Are you a good artist? How many people will actually gain money? Very few. Those who can only make maps will earn nothing.

You can also say something like "this is already possible, Max teabag did it" or "you can put patreon page or something and ask people to donate you directly". Yes, but who would actually deal with complicated trigger system or with third party donation system? A few people. My system would be clean and simple for everybody, even for a schoolkid, that takes no big effort to install and use. Who would use this system? Many people.

To Eric: you can have a fee from each in-map payment.

To community: you will earn money for making maps. Sounds cool, right? Or is it better to spend 2 whole days on a map and have nothing in return? What else should be said? Think about what you'll get with and without this system. Also don't forget that if you want your lovely PB3 game to live long enough it must have a reason to make people come and stay. Money is a good reason.

[gsa12]

Map makers almost always get a feedback from the players, what do you mean they get nothing?
Now this is not a game where you're paid to play, its free to play game, so no ones getting charged here.

[curiosity]

Map makers almost always get a feedback from the players, what do you mean they get nothing?

True, but it's not much. Especially if you are an adult feedback is not something to invest your time in. And I think PB2 community isn't made out of kids only.

Now this is not a game where you're paid to play, its free to play game, so no ones getting charged here.

You don't need to pay to play the game. Did you even read the OP?

[Nyove]

Hey curiosity,

The upcoming features of the PB3 involves implementing programming, where you can create your code as triggers in a sense. This means that, without the help of Eric, map makers will already be able to make their own store and have it implement it with his map. Even the current PB2 already supports a simple database system (the popular max teabag map, using the URL trigger function)

If you meant that Eric should implement something like a store for map makers to tap into (something like a Steam?), I wouldn't think it's a good idea - simply because it's a lot more effort for something map makers can already do.

[curiosity]

Hey curiosity,

The upcoming features of the PB3 involves implementing programming, where you can create your code as triggers in a sense. This means that, without the help of Eric, map makers will already be able to make their own store and have it implement it with his map. Even the current PB2 already supports a simple database system (the popular max teabag map, using the URL trigger function)

If you meant that Eric should implement something like a store for map makers to tap into (something like a Steam?), I wouldn't think it's a good idea - simply because it's a lot more effort for something map makers can already do.

Re-read OP carefully. I said that most people here won't deal with complicated trigger systems nor third party donation sites. I even mentioned Max teabag's case in OP (did you read it?). To make the payment system available to the masses (which is the goal) it should be simple and accessible in one click without anything complicated. And it should have in-game payment system installed or maybe even in-game currency (like PlazmaCoin or some other name). Or what sort of "programing" are you talking about? Is it going to be simple enough to an average player who never programmed before in his life and cannot even make some complicated trigger system in his map? Also wdym "steam-like store for map makers to tap into"? I didn't get it.

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

People, read OP carefully before responding. I'm getting a feeling that people here can't read. I feel like people read 2-3 sentences out of all and think they already know enough to post a reply when they don't. You read everything from first sentence to the last in the OP (maybe even 2 times for better understanding), and THEN you can post a reply. That's how discussion works.

[alj99]

Some stuff first.
Ability to trade with real world money as an option for map makers is a huge no no. It's harder to moderate, and any scams that happens Eric will be mostly responsible for it or take blame regardless as he is the developer of the game.
So it has to be an in game currency. (Even if that currency can be traded to real world money again but it's way better than trading with real world money directly.)
With an in game curency, it's easier to punish offenders, moderate, and also refund.

Speaking of moderation. The maker also has to consider every payment he does. I know that would be a mistake on the map maker's part but remember that the consumers also becomes a victom in this. A method to report in this matter and also a moderation team to take care of this matter, all of these really should be taken seriously. Even if the person in question has been approved by the very same moderation team.

Moderators have to confirm that the purchases actually exists. (Or not check then let the players report it such afterwards but probably not good a way to handle this.)
Even if there's a system that let's moderators choose who can make trades, i think that can be bypassed, half-heartedly done, and even just not work cause people are fairly unpredictable. This could just use more resources on just this doing an investigation and stuff.
On the inverse, blocking people who can make trades is better we could just set in stone that anyone that violated ethical practices are just blocked.

The things that has to be considered when done in practice.
Here's some stuff that I'm at least definitely sure of:
1. It may only apply to one round (or during the time you're alive).
2. It may not apply upon rejoining.
3. It may not transfer well into other maps.
4. It may not transfer (if it could even) to other map creators.

This of course, depends on the map. A more or less competent map maker may want to try buying token instead of getting something directly so it could transfer to the next round, or any other time when rejoining if there's a support for variables that transcends over the current match. Cross out 1 and 2 in this case.
As for 3. If there's an easy way to transport values to other maps then you could also cross out 3 in this case.
But 4 people have to agree and team up for this but if they did then cross out 4 as well.
Of course, to actually do any of these, you also need knowledge of variables.

There's also 5 actually: It's competition.

You could expect that the maps in the game would be so dilluted that your singular map or maps would probably get quickly overshadowed by this. Whether be it lower quality or the higher quility there's one thing in common for all of them. There will always be repitition and people will eventually leaven and join a different match the nexy day.

This could definitely deter players from paying in maps. At any rate, for most of the time, you're still buying a thing on one map (or that guy's maps) on probably just one game (or round in coop) and that's not a particularly good scope and knowing that there are so many other maps to check out the content off, the extra optional and paid content that map has to offer may not even be relevant.
But yeah, a quart is cheap (and likely people will make paid stuff even cheaper). Maybe at most players will by one thing in a map but likely never again.

Btw, psychologically, there's a mental detachment involved with in game currency. With the right marketing strategy you could constantly make players pay but competition is certaintly going to be annoying anyways. I also understand the terrible ethics it may bring out.

What can you actually gain from this?
I'd say a pocket money of worth. But I can't speculate this since I don't know how popular pb3 will be and more importantly, how good that map is.

Some suggestion i have personally.
I don't really like the paying section right into ur interface. Some people likes to make shops of sorts and i'm also one of those people.
Design like a vending machine or just a stall people could go to and open a shop menu stuff.


Summary cause people can't really bother to read lengthy stuff.
A. A huge moderation problem. You need to put a lot of resource to moderate this.
B. Choosing who can make trades are probably more a impractical effort.
C. People may not have experience to handle a shop responsibly especially given the age demographic pb3 will have.
D. In the end, you probably won't gain much from this (speculation).

[curiosity]

-quote-

Everything is discussible, all your suggestions and technical details of how can it work.

Firstly, when I said "trusted approved map makers" I meant people like Max teabag, Stryde, Phsc, Nyove. People who are respected in the community, good at maps and triggers, spent years in the game, have reputation and LDR to lose and who passed the Staff team's moderation procedure. Do you really expect someone like Max teabag to scam people for quarters? Yes, there is 1% chance it may happen. But are you ready to sacrifice the possibility of having a huge motivated map making community that will warrant long living of PB3 (PB2 lived long enough only because of map making, same will happen to PB3) just because of this 1% chance of "ooaf sumfin BAD may HAPPEN so no NO no"? 1%, seriously? Even in life nothing is 100% safe. Sh*t happens.

Secondly, nobody is responsible for anything, juridically or ethically. Not Eric, not Staff, nobody. It will state in game's agreement, map shop's window and at token/coin buying page that users use this currency to buy in-map stuff at their own risk, no refunds, everyone's warned. If some stupid kid wastes his parent's money, it's parent's fault he is not looking what his kid is doing on the internet. However players can report abusive map makers and Staff may begin the investigation (check the transaction, log into the map under other player's name to check if triggers work properly, talk to the map maker to find out what is going on) and remove the approval mark from map maker. The buyer himself can just DM the map maker so he fixes his sh*t with variables and everything else. In else case the buyer can just stop buying things, nobody forces him to anyway.

"You won't gain much" - are you sure? People play same maps over and over again. If someone like Paul308 adds a custom sniper rifle to his base map do you really expect him to not earn anything? What makes you think people will not stick to their favourite maps in PB3?

The goal of this in-map payment system is to motivate people to join PB3, join PB3 map making, improve their skills in map making and be able to earn money for hard work they've done. Map making is the only reason why PB3 will be afloat. Do you not understand that PB3 has not much to offer to 2022/2023 players from outside of this community and this money motivation system will actually help in this case? Do you really want PB3 to die in few years? Or do you expect the remaining 100 players (+/-) from PB2 to keep it afloat? There are 3D AAA games, there are cool online games out there. Who would want to play an old looking 2.5D platformer shooter that has nothing cool to offer (not even cool maps) today, except people who could'nt find the strength to leave PB2 up to this day?

Edit: also think about Eric. He has to pay for servers, for other things like website. Do you think the ads will cover all his spendings? The fee from each in-map payment is something that can help that.

Also, come on. You make a map and earn money from it. Do you not want it? Do you hate money or something? It's cool to be able to earn something when you spent a week to make a map and put a lot of effort into it. Why is this not obvious to people? I don't get it.

[mokaal]

No, no and just no, your ideas and suggestions make the game more complex, besides the fact that the whole community is dead and the game can be played by 50 players maximum everyday, therefore what the point of implementing it?

[curiosity]

All you say, is makes sense x3

Thanks pal. Seems like you're the only one in this community who agrees with me.

No, no and just no, your ideas and suggestions make the game more complex, besides the fact that the whole community is dead and the game can be played by 50 players maximum everyday, therefore what the point of implementing it?

It's for PB3. There will be new community. Please read OP carefully.

[mokaal]

No, no and just no, your ideas and suggestions make the game more complex, besides the fact that the whole community is dead and the game can be played by 50 players maximum everyday, therefore what the point of implementing it?

It's for PB3. There will be new community. Please read OP carefully.[/quote]

Well what made you reckon that the game will attract new generations? As most of the gamers nowadays focus on console and steam games ( my opinion ).

It can be possible that PB3 will have some kind of same fate as Strike Force Heroes remastered, as most of people became interested after the devs announced their new project and photos and so on.

I just believe that the community of PB3 will be mostly made or midgens and fairly little newgens, and your idea is actually promising and beneficial but let's take to some scenarios: What if the seller of the said map was actually scamming the buyer by showing him some sort of promising map showcase, but upon buying and trying it they get bamboozled.

I just don't like PB3 or PB in particular become a pay to win game or some kind of free game but have a lot of gamepasses that can be bought by USD or myriad of advertisements embedded into the game every 5 minute ( as for an " average " mobile game )

[curiosity]

Well what made you reckon that the game will attract new generations?

There are lots of gamers in the world, lots of games, lots of different tastes and PC specs (people with low budget PC cannot afford playing high detailed AAA games so they are stuck to games like PB2). There will be new people for sure unless if Eric screws up with the advertisement campaign. Because making good product is only 50% of success, other 50% is advertising. Without advertisement nobody will know your product even exists.

What if the seller of the said map was actually scamming the buyer by showing him some sort of promising map showcase, but upon buying and trying it they get bamboozled.

Only trusted approved by Staff map makers (like Max teabag, Stryde, Phsc, Nyove) who has reputation and LDR to lose will be able to install a shop into their maps. In else case they lose the approval mark and will not be able to sell anything in future. Read my reply to alj99 where I described it better.

I just don't like PB3 or PB in particular become a pay to win game or some kind of free game but have a lot of gamepasses that can be bought by USD or myriad of advertisements embedded into the game every 5 minute ( as for an " average " mobile game )

Read above and read OP. It's only for custom maps, not approved maps, so no Pay2Win. In custom maps it's up to trusted map maker to decide - if he doesn't care about his reputation he may add some content that can be described as Pay2Win. In such case just don't play his map/maps. It's not that difficult to not play something. He even may lose the trusted approval mark in some cases.

Also you think only about cons. Better think about pros: you will have a big motivated map making community who sharpen their skills again and again to make their maps better and better. And map making is the only reason why PB2 lived for 10 years and why PB3 will be afloat - only map making, only. Money will also lure new players into PB3 which is the goal of this idea.

Also your questions really show that you didn't read the OP carefully. Do it. Because I already answered all such questions before. Also read my replies in this topic too where people ask the same questions as you do.

[Gashadokuro]

"In the span of three weeks, Gashadokuro Junior kept spending money on PB3 packs, eventually spending £550 ($709.91) altogether, completely emptying his parents' bank account, but never receiving one of the best skins in the game as well as his favorite character: AMOGUS Proxy.

Gashadokuro Junior apologized to his parents and explained that at the time he did not understand how much he was impacting the family's financial situation. There have been other situations where PB3 children spent £700 ($903.53), £1,000 ($1290.75), £2,000 ($2581.50), and even £3,160 ($4078.77) on microtransactions in various map stores, usually as a result of them getting tricked by Eric Gurtini or the Staff-approved map-makers to pay for something in-game or just not understanding that real money was being taken out of their, or their parents', bank accounts when they bought items in-game. Spending such large amounts of money on microtransactions have devastated some families financially, including some who had to pay a bill full of microtransaction payments with college savings and even money in life savings accounts."

Thank god is responsible for anything, juridically or ethically. Not Eric, not Staff, nobody!!!

[curiosity]

"In the span of three weeks, Gashadokuro Junior kept spending money on PB3 packs, eventually spending £550 ($709.91) altogether, completely emptying his parents' bank account, but never receiving one of the best skins in the game as well as his favorite character: AMOGUS Proxy.

Gashadokuro Junior apologized to his parents and explained that at the time he did not understand how much he was impacting the family's financial situation. There have been other situations where PB3 children spent £700 ($903.53), £1,000 ($1290.75), £2,000 ($2581.50), and even £3,160 ($4078.77) on microtransactions in various map stores, usually as a result of them getting tricked by Eric Gurtini or the Staff-approved map-makers to pay for something in-game or just not understanding that real money was being taken out of their, or their parents', bank accounts when they bought items in-game. Spending such large amounts of money on microtransactions have devastated some families financially, including some who had to pay a bill full of microtransaction payments with college savings and even money in life savings accounts."

Thank god is responsible for anything, juridically or ethically. Not Eric, not Staff, nobody!!!

What sort of a retarded parent would give his own bank account to their kid allowing him to spend all the money from it?

What sort of a retarded parent would give their kid 4000$ so he can spend them on online games? Some rich ass f*cking parent, man.

"How to be a good parent 101": Not giving kids lots of cash? Nah. Controlling what they spend money on? Nah. Teach kids how to be responsible? Nah. BLAME ERIC? YES!!! BLAME EVERYONE JUST NOT YOUR F*CKING STUPID SELF.

Moral of the story: if people are this f*cking stupid - its their f*cking fault. They should make mistakes and learn from them. If they are stupid and don't learn from mistakes - f*ck them.

I hope they pay map makers money!!
Im a poor turk kid and I need money
I would make a thousand alts for money!
I hope you agree

Read OP and replies. It states that only trusted approved map makers who are not new (like Max teabag, Stryde, Phsc, Nyove) will be able to use this system. What's the point of making alts then? Or perhaps you can't read? That would explain why I have to repeat the same things over and over again to people who ask the same f*cking questions again and again.

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PEOPLE. READ OP. READ REPLIES BEFORE POSTING SOMETHING. STOP ASKING SAME QUESTIONS. LEARN TO F*CKING READ. IS THIS A F*CKING ZOO?

[Eric Gurt]

Similar stuff has been discussed in PBC multiple times before. Maybe it will be possible, maybe not.

[curiosity]

Similar stuff has been discussed in PBC multiple times before. Maybe it will be possible, maybe not.

Hi! You should do it. You need something to offer to outsiders and motivate map makers to make maps otherwise your game is dead.

[Gashadokuro]

Similar stuff has been discussed in PBC multiple times before. Maybe it will be possible, maybe not.

Hi! You should do it. You need something to offer to outsiders and motivate map makers to make maps otherwise your game is dead.

Plazma Burst: Forward to the Past and Plazma Burst 2 were succesful without your monetary incentive idea. What motivates creators (after themselves) is the community and the reception their work gets, when shared.

Also, when pressed about responsability and ethics, you used vulgar language, please refrain from it.

[curiosity]

Plazma Burst: Forward to the Past and Plazma Burst 2 were succesful without your monetary incentive idea. What motivates creators (after themselves) is the community and the reception their work gets, when shared.

That worked 10 years ago. I'm not sure if it will work out well today. Maybe it will. If I was an outsider I wouldn't join this stuff today, 10 years ago - yes, today - no. There are better games to try out. But if people paid me for maps - I would make something.

Also adding more motivation won't make things worse. More reasons to make maps - more maps in the end - PB3 lives, yay.

Also, when pressed about responsability and ethics, you used vulgar language, please refrain from it.

ok mommy i'm sorry

[Eric Gurt]

Similar stuff has been discussed in PBC multiple times before. Maybe it will be possible, maybe not.

Hi! You should do it. You need something to offer to outsiders and motivate map makers to make maps otherwise your game is dead.

I feel like we discussed it with you in past via PB2 site inbox conversation. Not much have changed from what I think about it since then.

With payments only towards approved creators it probably could work better. With better level scripting (which PB2.5/3 has) developers won't even need to require such features from game to be developed, only allowed. That could bring some popularity. Making it integrated into game - probably mostly for actually working monetization model, if anything.

Stuff like this can change at any point. I do develop game in a way so it could be possible to easily implement some of similar features just in case.

[alj99]

The 1st quote about who can make trade in their map.

Yeah sh*t happens, like your aguments.

We're not just talking about them, we're talking about systematic procedure as to whether or not, the people who want to be able to make trades in their maps can be allowed. If we're talking about the same procedure as a mod in a very large discord server then that would mean the takes days to process for an unkown amount of dozens applicants.

If you're going to give an idea how it could come out then tell me how the bloody hell is this manageable? You want mods to just investigate, and verify people every time? Not to mention, this is also entirely up to what the moderator thinks.

If you really are seriously talking about these sort of people, then that's just hella restrictive. If you're going to speak up about letting map makers earn money then this shouldn't be this limited to the most well-known people and respected in the community. We're looking for good people.
With the criteria being that high and targets way way more qualities than actually necessary to begin with that would mean that in map trading would become the most under-used feature in the game.

The 2nd quote about the person that's responsible.

I don't think you understand the social pressure from this. Large companies can handle some parent's complaining from this but i don't think indie devs can tolerate it as well.

Also it does apply juridically and ethically. Tell what you've said to the judge see how it goes. Scams happen because it's a form of a deceptive or manipulative marketing scheme. And also that has to be specifically prevented and may also has to be refunded if it is possible for the victims and also punish the offender and that's by law.
Ethics means having a moral principles when it comes to activities that affects people. Deceiving people into wasting money literally breaks the conventional idea ethics.

Also, the trading is being done through Eric's own system. While i'm not entirely sure what it changes things but Eric will for sure has to manage any trading that had happen terribly. So he's liable legally here.
I think because it's done through Eric's system, he's partially liable for scams that occur precisely because he's technically letting them happen in the first place. Eric won't have the damn money to hire lawyers for his lax security if this just happens.

The 3rd quote about how much can you gain.

Besides a few bucks probably then yes.
Like i said, this is pure speculation. [spoiler]I'm not qualified in statistics nor economics.[/spoiler] I don't even know how much players pb3 will get.

Paul308-base seems like an enticing example of a constantly replayed map. But flashback 8 years (or more) the average players reach 1000 or something and we had significantly more variety in maps. When pb2 reaches a thousand players daily then, you can expect like a hundred and a half matches or more each filled like 6/8 4/8 7/8 or 8/8 (full matches aren't shown tho) something something . And the question is which one of those is ur maps? Probably one or two, and in a very rare case, a handful.
Of course, at the time there's the usual bosscat1-saw5 every few days or so but the rest are just unique maps.
Some City map matches were made and never seen again.
These days, people won't make matches and would often join existing ones.
If you played pb2 when it still reaches 1000 daily, you should have seen the trend where repeat maps are seen for the time being but never seen again when you waited a few days.

What i could say about Paul308-base is that it's a pure and simple rp map. Adding a mere sniper rifle skin for that one map, in one match, in one life that will get stolen afterwards. Then yeah that will deter players from buying that gun.
Like i said, players might try to buy some stuff once or twice but you're buying something that's probably so miniscule that you don't really miss that much when you don't buy them.

Basically, players are hardly going to have any incentive at all to buy a gun in a base map that's going to be gone the next time you join.
In marketing, you want people to feel like they own what they buy that's why you're idea is fundamentally weak.
It's because they can't bring what they "own" to other matches or rejoin that I think they'll hadly have incentive at all.

It's not exactly a stretch either that people just happened to remember a map of a certain genre especially since that's what you see nowadays with a small playerbase. (pvp? niru-dm2, saw? bosscat1-saw5, base? paul308-base)
With a large playerbase that effect is going to be a lot less prominent. (Go back to where i said when it was average 1000 players.)

For now the same map trend died down and have a lot more varied maps in pb2 atm during the time of writing this.

A DLC-ish extra content sp map series or saw maps are likely a better example on how to make trades rather than some splish splash it's waste kit. I can see people buying those if that map is so good and has a lot of effort that players want to see more and there is also actual content to buy. Even then, you can't really make them too expensive like you would for a real dlc.

This isn't a server sized model like minecraft or roblox server does, this is just a 2-32 (32 max players pb3?) players per match in a bound to be oversaturated matches in a game. And how much of those 32 players max at a time are going to buy for such a tiny content?

Why don't you give me a well guided speculation how could you earn a decent amount of money using this? You only just gave example of a popular map with the wrong point of view using the current trend of players in pb2 rather than thinking the size and scale pb3 will have and then slap a pay stuff for thing.
It has to statistically make sense. Ask people what mp matches where like when it was popular.

The 4th qoute about an argument financial incentive to make (good) maps

This ain't a Money krusty krab meme.
It's surprising pb2 managed to even stay afloat without any new content. By the time the vars came (var update is the first major update in years before custom art), pb2 is alr dead. Maybe it would have a spike again in playerbase if it was advertised but we alr know Eric is alr working on pb3 years ago now before the var update even came.
Even then, people still had the creativity to make maps on a true to the word, a dead game.
What about the new players? Same sh*t still applies.

They had the creativity to make maps. Get inspired by existing map that they liked, tried to imitate and top off them. Innovative people making unique maps.

Financial incentive is going to be a side dish or even less in your main course in your food of fun. Unless you can prove that you can get a lot of money otherwise.

The 5th quote about Eric getting money.

This is just rather desperate, this is just one of ways Eric could get money. It's been discussed in discord how could this work. Of course, nothing has been decided yet, just ideas and speculation.
In the most recent, Eric has entailed the idea of still having guest accounts and paid accounts.
Far back are monetizing art for use into something more permanent. Particularly custom player skins. Other example are custom art for use in map making.
I think Eric has also said something involving a subscription.
Eric thinks whether pb3 would be a p2p, or a f2p game with certain restrictions.
There are lots more these are just on the top of my head. Though essentially, Eric remarked that he'd like the payments would be something f2p wouldn't mind to have.

Other entertained ideas that involve the currency is to get coins when leveling up. Seems rejected(?). It's not much discussed how to get coins without paying for those specifically nor from a trade (other than the lvl up).

Virtual currency isn't entirely confirmed yet i think but is very likely to happen. You can probably expect a virtual economy in pb3 i think.

The 6th quote about money good.

Money good brrrrrrrr.
Payment options does not necessarily make the game any cooler.
The reason why pb2 died is because it didn't have any major update when it was just basic triggers, backgrounds, walls etc. (no bg/decor adjustments either.)
Other than creative gimmicks you could pull off, they're relatively plain aesthetically and mechanically. Otherwise, things you could do are relatively simple.

As i said, by the time there's any major update, game's practically dead.
Another factor is that this is flash, we can't go nuts here in detail nor mechanically. phsc's urbanrealwar is close to the laggy point.
Assaultscout going nuts with details (decals, furniture, effects, dead bodies) led to the game dropping fps.

Periodical updates, more possibilities, this is a sandbox game goddammit. So much sh*t you could do in pb3. If you feel like it, you could recreat the entire battle royale game with randomized weapons, the storm, a parachute, the flying plane. In pb2, that would just be 10 fps or smth.

Financial motivation will be the last thing i would need to recreat a popular gamemode from tf2, theme the entire damn map, and even make a whole class system with their own customisable weaps.

For newer people or any player really the allure that you could make your own map and have people try them. It's really intruiging isn't it?
When you think that you have something cool to show to the players in pbc won't you be happy to have them say "this is a great map." Isn't that what map making should be in the first place? Just raw imaginaton and creativity?

Basically what i'm saying is that it's f*cking cool and i should make it.

[mrblake213]

I didn't read the other replies, only skimmed the first post.

Donating money to map makers for their work and contribution is great because as a mapmaker, it would significantly increase my motivation to make more maps and improve the quality of my maps.

But the issue here is that such a system like this is complicated in a game/community like PB2/PB3, especially under a one-man development team. We can see in-game purchases like these in Triple A-rated companies with hundreds in their employment. Smaller than that, we can also see in-game purchases in Minecraft servers with at least several people in their development team using their own created payment method or even using other people's payment methods. When I used to host a Minecraft server before, I used Tebex as a way for players to pay for items inside the server. It was easy because it was automatic and I only needed to link my server and set up the items inside the webstore. However, this worked because Minecraft is already a common/popular game to mod or make plugins for and there have been hundreds of Minecraft servers that have used this service and thereby testing its abilities and fixing the known bugs. But, when we relate this to a game like PB2, it's so much different. Firstly, it would take more of Eric's time and effort. Secondly, it would mean that every payment that happened on the website under Eric's system would be his responsibility, such as scams/fraud/refunds. And lastly, I mean, by just looking at how Eric used Stripe as a method to accept donations for PB2 servers. It's a little wonky, there are some cards that are getting declined, there are some countries that Stripe doesn't serve, and not to mention the player base is mostly minors which means they're probably going to use their parent's credit card.

In conclusion,
tldr;
- giving money to mapmakers is good
- best way right now is for the mapmaker to set-up his/her own payment method which means the mapmaker must have at least a decent amount of programming knowledge
^ eric/staff/website/developers wouldn't have the responsibility for scams/fraud/refunds/any payment that happened
- eric can set-up the system using Stripe (complications such as cards declining, countries not being serviced) which could take more time, i don't even know if it's possible
- eric can find other services
- eric would need to hire other people to develop the system / would need to 'make the modding community' legit by making a system like an api (idk how api works or how the modding community works), basically a way for players to make their own mods in pb2 like how minecraft modders/plugin coders make it and then coders can make their own payment system and share it to other players.
- best alternative: instead of paying mapmakers / having purchases specifically for one map. a site-wide purchase system (with games like valorant, csgo, LoL, dota2) on where u buy the game's items instead.
- another alternative: idea above ^ but with mapmakers who has set of requirements reached can earn money (like youtube)