Dear dark and pix,
We implemented vBCredits on our forum with nearly 80K registered users and upwards toward 3M monthly PVs. We renamed "Credits" based on our team's suggestion and off we went. What a great idea you guys have!
I spent about 10 hours tweeking various configuration combinations and running the mass update tool. After all that time, I still don't understand how that tool actually calculates legacy credits (LOL), but nevermind, after working all night, I came up with a baseline for our users, many of which have been around for nearly 10 years.
Then, after abit more tweeking, I created a spreadsheet and a table so our mod and admin teams could understand which activities awarded what credits to which (primary) user groups (more on this in another post). I ended up installing the BBCode Tables mod just so I could present this info to our users in an easy to read format.
Then, as you guys know by now, with the force of our user base being me asking questions, I starting asking questions to you guys in rapid fire.
Your replies have been, if I may summarize "we have got cool (commercial) products other than vBCredits, like vBAdvertise/Customize/Commerce and more"..... All of this is great stuff, and I agree you guys have a winning formula for a potential to become one of the top vB addons, far more useful than ipProArcade etc. or the other popular mods (and more profitable!). For sure, credits++ has the potential to be the most powerful. You could build an entire on-line game around vBcredits, more fun that anything in the video arcades!! But I digress.....
However, for our site (and I suspect others as well), we want every user to give currency to everyone, as rewards, for fun, even for profit. We want users to trade them and exchange them. All of this will become the "core economic engine" of the site, so all users can get the max benefit from vBCommerce and more in the future. First, we need a solid economic engine, and vBCredits is not quite there yet.
I think your business model of giving away "the core" vBCredits is very sound and is a must for your future growth. I can understand why you are working on licensing and addons that compliment the core system. Based on my (short few days) work with your product, you have some infrastructure problems as well. I would like to express those to you, if you don't mind, in order to help based on experience running an active, fairly large community.
First, your "free core" is incomplete. Your transaction logging and auditing for admins is non-existent, so it is not possible to see an overall picture of what is happening! This is a very basic requirement.
Second (actually part of the first), the "core banking system" does not provide overall banking statistics such as "total currency in the central bank", "total of all savings and by usergroups " "total of checking and also by usergroups" etc. These are pretty basic economic stats that you must provide to make the "core" feasible to move beyond "an experimental core" to "the future of vBulletin addons". To be a cyber currency for a site, admins and users must know what is the total of all currency in the system, including the central bank, so we can calculate ratios, FDP (Forum Domestic Product, LOL) and know how much currency is floating with the users versus in the central banks, etc. This is not very difficult for you to do in vBCredits, and completes the "core banking system" so to be useful to build virtual economies. This is critical for you for all your underlying future business models.
Third, I forgot! I was so focused on the above, I forgot the other items in my head!! (Something about the need for admins and mods to edit award comments, because we need all users to be able to participate in the virtual economy, not only priv' users)
Basically, you guys are "on to something big" and it seems, from a new admin on the block using your core for a fairly large and busy forum perspective, you guys are seemingly ignoring developing the core free system in order to pursuit commercial addons. I can understand, perhaps, you want to make money, and that is good, because we are certainly willing to pay. I have nothing against you guys making big money, that is why I am writing this post!
However, as I have mentioned, your "core system" is incomplete and therefore the foundation is weak and this weakness is a constraint to your business growth. I am sure you are well aware of this, and you are (more than likely) resource constrained, and maybe you have choosen to focus on the newer (commercial) addons so you can someday "quit your day jobs", which is a great idea! Actually, I don't know what is in your heads, but I do know, as a user, your core product is a constraining weakness.
Althought you are focused on good things such as "advertising models for boards", I can tell you that this has much less potential for your future revenue that focusing on the "core system" so boards can build cyber economies. With a strong core cyber economy, anything is possible. I mean anything!
Please, please. Consider my post as a friend who likes you guys very much and only wishes you the best! I want you to get rich! You can do it, I believe, if you refocus your efforts on the core system for a few months and strengthen it. If you do, it will pay off in big real hard currency and strengthen your commercial offerings.
In the beginning, (a few days ago, LOL), I was very excited as were our users. However, as we use the system, there are key essential parts missing in the core. I kindly suggest that you need to build vBCredits as a viable core economic-engine first, and when you do, the sky is the limit for you guys. Developers will even develop on top of your core. You must know this already!
Please. Fix the core engine. I am happy to help guide you based on our site, because we need your engine for our core economy now. (I notice that others have communicated bits-and-pieces of this message to you as well). We don't need an Advertising model, we have one, LOL (however, we might use vBAdvertise in the future for sure!) We need an internal, virtual, economic model first. We want our forums to be a cyber community with a virtual economy where users can interact with each others with virtual currency. If you guys can do this, you are the big winners as so are board admins and users.
Thanks for listening. Please, consider my advice, and refocus on improving the core. If you do, you will make more money and maybe even become famous.
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