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Who is first?
- Thread starter srude
- Start date
Announcements are communication too I think.
Yes, they are, but poor communication. Most communication is a 2 way street.
Mike
amigacooke
Well-known member
Announcements from Auran are the most important communications I would have thought, being authoritative statements.Maybe I should say it like this. If Zec does work for Auran, then I need to include him along with Chris. I do not count Spiffy (no offense) as he does not interact with the community very much. Making announcements to me is not an interaction.
I didn't realise that not interacting means that your posts are of no consequence.
Correct me if I'm wrong (I'm sure you will ;-), but are you hankering back for the situation where there was an inner circle of content creators who had additional access to Auran staff? Wasn't that in the run up to TRS04 release?
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Driver_Col
Well-known member
Well I have just read this complete thread (really interesting comments from all sides!) and a lot of emphasis appears to be (not surprisingly) on $$$$$$.
While I have to admit that I have neither the time nor the inclination to play games on my pc, I do make lots of time available for Trainz as it is my "daily nostalgia fix"!
Regardless of all the pros/cons of the various versions, Trainz does come relatively well equipped with built in assets in that there is ample to "play the game". For those of us who want to go beyond "playing the built in game", it would not seem unreasonable to charge for additional downloads. Hypothetically, I would suggest that the FCT process be made redundant and a charge based on MB data transfer be more appropriate. I see no issue with the logic of paying more for a 5MB loco than a 500kb wagon. I expect minimal charge for a 35kb asset! Alternatively, perhaps one could purchase blocks of DLS time ......... say 100MB at a time?
Obviously these ideas have huge ramifications in administrative areas, not the least of which is all the FCT's currently in use....... but surely it is reasonable to include an assortment of assets in the product, but then charge for additional items?
Finally, I agree (with sadness) that there are many people who want something for nothing however, that is not the "real world" and I do believe that most people will come around to paying additional costs as long as they know what they are getting for it, and are assured of quality.
Regards to all.
Colin.
While I have to admit that I have neither the time nor the inclination to play games on my pc, I do make lots of time available for Trainz as it is my "daily nostalgia fix"!
Regardless of all the pros/cons of the various versions, Trainz does come relatively well equipped with built in assets in that there is ample to "play the game". For those of us who want to go beyond "playing the built in game", it would not seem unreasonable to charge for additional downloads. Hypothetically, I would suggest that the FCT process be made redundant and a charge based on MB data transfer be more appropriate. I see no issue with the logic of paying more for a 5MB loco than a 500kb wagon. I expect minimal charge for a 35kb asset! Alternatively, perhaps one could purchase blocks of DLS time ......... say 100MB at a time?
Obviously these ideas have huge ramifications in administrative areas, not the least of which is all the FCT's currently in use....... but surely it is reasonable to include an assortment of assets in the product, but then charge for additional items?
Finally, I agree (with sadness) that there are many people who want something for nothing however, that is not the "real world" and I do believe that most people will come around to paying additional costs as long as they know what they are getting for it, and are assured of quality.
Regards to all.
Colin.
Hi Colin
you are perfectly right there. Although some people expect to get everything for free, there are also many out there who do not mind paying a reasonable price provided that the service and quality is good.
Regarding the payware content that I have purchased, some of it is of " dubious quality" to say the least. Therefore to release versions of Trainz for content creators with all the tools built-in that would also check that the assets are built to the required standards I feel would be a great advancement.
To Then have the content creators place all their creations on the download station could also be another big advancement. Freeware you could download immediately, payware the buyer would be requested to make payment to the creater before the download could be accessed.
Would seem to me to be a good business model for all concerned.
Bill
you are perfectly right there. Although some people expect to get everything for free, there are also many out there who do not mind paying a reasonable price provided that the service and quality is good.
Regarding the payware content that I have purchased, some of it is of " dubious quality" to say the least. Therefore to release versions of Trainz for content creators with all the tools built-in that would also check that the assets are built to the required standards I feel would be a great advancement.
To Then have the content creators place all their creations on the download station could also be another big advancement. Freeware you could download immediately, payware the buyer would be requested to make payment to the creater before the download could be accessed.
Would seem to me to be a good business model for all concerned.
Bill
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Driver_Col
Well-known member
Having just had another coffee (it is still early here!) ....... I had to ask myself how I would feel if I uploaded a route to Auran for free, and they proceeded to charge for it to be downloaded! Not surprisingly I would be somewhat perturbed (more accurate expressive terms may not be appropriate here!) however, if some form of "gratis remunerandi" (my personal Latin) could be arranged, I would certainly not be averse to a trade off.
Given that a huge factor for Trainz popularity is 3rd party content, and given that software development is surely the greatest cost for any business (i.e. producing the DVD's is very nominal), why not send out complimentary copies of the latest version to 3rd party contributors? If the "pay as you go" strategy can be applied to DLS, then 3rd Party contributors could be given complimentary download MB's.
The above would be minimal actual cost to Auran (of course I am not addressing the implementation!), and would hopefully encourage more 3rd party content.
Trainz time allocation has finished ........ got to go.
Regards. Colin.
Given that a huge factor for Trainz popularity is 3rd party content, and given that software development is surely the greatest cost for any business (i.e. producing the DVD's is very nominal), why not send out complimentary copies of the latest version to 3rd party contributors? If the "pay as you go" strategy can be applied to DLS, then 3rd Party contributors could be given complimentary download MB's.
The above would be minimal actual cost to Auran (of course I am not addressing the implementation!), and would hopefully encourage more 3rd party content.
Trainz time allocation has finished ........ got to go.
Regards. Colin.
Driver_Col
Well-known member
I might agree if the content on the DLS was in fact created by Auran. However, it is community created. I could see maybe a small monthly maintenance fee for the DLS service but beyond that I would not consider paying Auran for other peoples work.
Hi; I can appreciate your position but every time you go shopping you are almost certainly paying for other people's work. The only difference in many cases is the perception that there is a quality assurance process in place which Auran may not currently have.
To extend that logic a little further however, while Auran no doubt have the ability to monitor technical quality (i.e functionality to users), they cannot be expected to control/monitor subjective quality. i.e. to a game player, a 1mb steam loco with some detailing may be great ............. but to a "period fanatic", it may be totally inadequate. Personally I would quite happily pay $15.00 - $25.00+Cdn for an accurate steam loco representation (Payware going rate here is around $10.00) whereas I would be peeved to spend $5.00 -$10.00 on something that is not well detailed.
Is a high quality route one that has ample inter-related industries but maybe lacking in scenic realism, is is a high quality route one that looks realistic but has minimal interactive plays? To combine the two may be the answer but then it would probably not run on many pc's!
Quality, to be an effective control mechanism, must be measurable and my final question therefore is ...... how can you measure quality when aesthetics is a huge part of the package. The answer is quite simple .... you can't. As in our "real world market place" however, it will be self controlling. If you pay for a download that is unsatisfactory for esthetic reasons, you will presumably be very hesitant about buying from that source again. This is nothing more complicated than real world stuff and can (and should) be applied to Trainz!
Regards. Colin.
Hi There Everybody.
Once more I believe that Colin has described the situation in an excellent manner. As he states quality is often in the eye of the beholder. Speaking for myself if I am buying a route I look for quality in the scenery rather than industrial linkages etc. (but that is only my preference)
Perhaps if all the payware content were on the download station then a review section could be added to each asset where previous purchasers could pass their comments on the quality of the asset much as you do with hotel rooms with sites such as the rooms.com. (Just an idea, don't everybody scream)
Of course with freeware this would not be necessary or advisable as the asset could have been created by someone still learning or having just produced their first creation and I am sure no one would wish to discourage them. If you download a freeware product I am sure that most people are very grateful for the content what ever its quality (it's up to you if you wish to use it or not).
Therefore having specific versions of Trainz that contain all the tools necessary for creating assets whose physical qualities are suitable for the latest version of Trainz and would be accepted on the download station would be a big advance. I am sure that payware content creators who are really interested in creating quality products would also see this as a big advance as they would know as they built the content that it was at least physically upto the standards demanded for acceptance.
What really does annoy me in some of the threads debating the Auran decision to remove some content that was created for early versions of Trainz, is to see payware content creators debating the rights and wrongs of this without ever mentioning once the quality argument or what standards their future customers should expect.
Being someone who has purchased quite an amount of payware content I have to say that a sizable minority of is of "dubious quality" to say the least. Therefore anything which can stamp out creators who are not prepared to produce quality assets or update those assets for the latest versions of Trainz would be a good thing for Auran, its customers and payware vendors who have a real interest in quality and the satisfaction of their customers.
As I have seen some are stating that they will stop creating content for Trainz. So be it, doubtless they will be replaced by others willing to learn and with new interest. As always happens when money is to be made.
The above would seem to me to be a good business model for Auran, its customers and the existing and future payware creators.
Bill
Once more I believe that Colin has described the situation in an excellent manner. As he states quality is often in the eye of the beholder. Speaking for myself if I am buying a route I look for quality in the scenery rather than industrial linkages etc. (but that is only my preference)
Perhaps if all the payware content were on the download station then a review section could be added to each asset where previous purchasers could pass their comments on the quality of the asset much as you do with hotel rooms with sites such as the rooms.com. (Just an idea, don't everybody scream)
Of course with freeware this would not be necessary or advisable as the asset could have been created by someone still learning or having just produced their first creation and I am sure no one would wish to discourage them. If you download a freeware product I am sure that most people are very grateful for the content what ever its quality (it's up to you if you wish to use it or not).
Therefore having specific versions of Trainz that contain all the tools necessary for creating assets whose physical qualities are suitable for the latest version of Trainz and would be accepted on the download station would be a big advance. I am sure that payware content creators who are really interested in creating quality products would also see this as a big advance as they would know as they built the content that it was at least physically upto the standards demanded for acceptance.
What really does annoy me in some of the threads debating the Auran decision to remove some content that was created for early versions of Trainz, is to see payware content creators debating the rights and wrongs of this without ever mentioning once the quality argument or what standards their future customers should expect.
Being someone who has purchased quite an amount of payware content I have to say that a sizable minority of is of "dubious quality" to say the least. Therefore anything which can stamp out creators who are not prepared to produce quality assets or update those assets for the latest versions of Trainz would be a good thing for Auran, its customers and payware vendors who have a real interest in quality and the satisfaction of their customers.
As I have seen some are stating that they will stop creating content for Trainz. So be it, doubtless they will be replaced by others willing to learn and with new interest. As always happens when money is to be made.
The above would seem to me to be a good business model for Auran, its customers and the existing and future payware creators.
Bill
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I didn't realise that not interacting means that your posts are of no consequence.
And............I said this just when exactly ?
Correct me if I'm wrong (I'm sure you will ;-), but are you hankering back for the situation where there was an inner circle of content creators who had additional access to Auran staff? Wasn't that in the run up to TRS04 release?
Why would I correct you ? I'm really not sure what you're trying to say. Please do explain.
amigacooke
Well-known member
This seems to suggest that Spiffy non-interactive posts are 'of no consequence?'.I do not count Spiffy (no offense) as he does not interact with the community very much. Making announcements to me is not an interaction.
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amigacooke
Well-known member
Deleted by poster, it added nothing.
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