Phoebe Halliwel
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Posted - 2010.05.23 00:53:00 -
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Your enthusiasm and the idea of these events is pretty refreshing in game; not so attractive to people in MD who expect a return on investment.
It's your choice how you hold events, but in all honesty, it's a shame to see that you don't seem to be breaking even on them. There are plenty of successful lotteries held where a nominal fee is paid to enter; 10mil is not exactly crippling for most players, so what is your rationale in waiving that? If you've burned through your personal ISK to sustain these events so far, it looks like a money pit, underlying that is the risk of burnout, regardless of how genuine your intentions are. If people do choose to contribute, knowing there is no return, I'd imagine they would want their ISK to be managed carefully, with a view to supporting the "events" long term.
300b is a ridiculous amount of isk to give away. Might be an attention grabber, and possibly a way to generate more coverage, but why not 100b, or 50b, or 20b as a weekly event?
Why are you approaching individual investors as opposed to in game businesses who may be prepared to sponsor in return for exposure?
Not sure if you recall the suggestion I made to you a while back about getting someone in to audit your events to ensure you aren't bleeding ISK. You said you were also spending a lot on advertising, but Chribba's Titan/Mothership lotteries sell out within a few days based on a forum thread and an ingame mailing list; I'm pretty sure I suggested a mailing list a while back but never got a response, was on the sales thread so maybe got missed or I didn't spot a response.
It might be worthwhile to ask this particular section of the community how to make these events viable long term and take on board criticisms/suggestions, before you ask for ISK (you could change this to a discussion thread and backtrack a bit). You're not getting that many constructive responses because you've already thrown out a number; it's certainly attention grabbing, but suggests you are here to ask for isk rather than have a discussion, so you're likely to just get caught up defending your proposal as opposed to discussing how to improve it. You don't need to justify or rationalise why you want to create community events; you do need to demonstrate that you are able to manage public funds securely and effectively. Even if all the funds are to be used for events/advertising, people have a right to know how their isk will be spent, and they may have some decent ideas you can use.
Secure the event funds in such a way that the majority are satisfied; if you try to use the "reputation" card here you will get stomped on, mostly because of Curzon. I'm pretty sure you know you will need 3rd party security, the onus is on you to arrange that (I notice you are asking people to discuss whilst accepting funds which is a bit hmm). Some people here may genuinely be able to offer advice and assistance, but you need to be open to discussion rather than defending your plan. Look up Bad Bobby's Titans4u pre launch discussion thread for some ideas of MD concerns etc; they may not reflect the community as a whole, but they do reflect the sentiments of the portion who are interested in investment/other markets in game.
Best of luck 
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