Economical Gamer - A new direction

[Charlie Miso]

how do you have more posts than me ian?

O_o

[ianinozzie]

I post to share random thoughts?

Could also be the troll in me.

[Anthony]

I've been really hard at work on this new site, but unfortunately yet another spanner has been thrown into the works. I was intending to get a beta out after the Christmas holidays but it seems it might be later, but with no additional features. I'm planning to launch this thing pretty lean already but I hope it is enough to completely replace the front page:

For anyone keen to know about the new site, I don't want to use such a dirty phrase but it probably best describes the new site better than any other: social network. WAIT! Before you leave and never come back again the new Economical Gamer won't be what your friends had for lunch, or what your games your friends are buying/playing. That **** is rubbish and will never be the focus of Economical Gamer.

The new site will draw its submission/feedback interface directly from Facebook. Each game will have its own unique page (accessible via a search box at the top) where there will be a wall, which I prefer to think of as a bargain chat. Here you may post anything you like, from questions to prices, bundles, broken street dates, DLC talk and so forth.

Posts with the newest replies are at the top, directly under a form allowing you to post new content (Facebook). The types of posts though, revolve around gaming. You may post either a discussion or a review (with more to come, won't announce anything until later). Discussions are the focus for the initial site release and they will have optional attachments, links and headlines. Headlines turn your post into a sort of news article, making it more visible. Perfect for announcing a broken street date, prices, collector edition bundles and so forth.

Down the side of each page will be sortable lists of headlines, reviews and the newer things to come. The concept here is that if someone posts a price or what ever it may be, nobody never needs to ask "where is the cheapest place to get this" if the question has already been answered. People will be encouraged to ask questions, unlike the current bargain chat. But with headlines, readers can scan and find exactly what they want immediately.

Each post be it a discussion, review or coupon code will allow replies and in future (not the initial release) voting. Voting won't just be standard + or - but also include options to notify of expired or duplicate posts without giving negative feedback to the poster. This is probably more influenced by ozbargain than anything else.

Thats about it for now. I intend to also add a list of retail, digital and online stores for which similar posting mechanisms and lists will be available. On launch we are talking dicussions, reviews and coupon codes. Imagine finally being able to simply search for a store and find the latest coupon codes available there, or a master list of codes the help decide where to purchase.

It is my hope that this new site addresses four main concerns I have with the current website:
- Delays in content
- Cluttered bargain chat
- Not being able to find what you want at a glance
- Amount of time (I personally) put into the site

I plan to monetise the website too through the use of affiliate links that override links supplied by user submissions. I hope this does not offend those kind enough to send content to the site, but it is something I have to do to support myself and future development. That spanner that I mentioned earlier relates to finances.

I have signed up for UserVoice as a means of tracking which features members desire most. To begin with it will be a voting match between must-have features such as RSS feeds and hardware/accessory pages (as implied, these won't make the initial release). As time moves on I hope to use it as a means to keep in touch with the desires of the public.

Anyway, I still have a long way to go for the initial release and this initial release is probably only 15% of my overall vision. Once I rush this thing out I can forget about the hour a day (yes it takes that long) updates I do. Instead I'll be able to do development when it suits me and leave the content up to the community. Fingers crosses that when the change over happens there isn't a mass exodus because of the radical change.

Your initial impressions and suggestions are welcome.

[videogamer]

Good luck with it all Anthony. Looking forward to see how the whole thing works.

[ianinozzie]

The update to the website sounds like an IMMENSE amount of work Anthony, but I can't wait to see what the new site will be like. Thank you always for your hard work and keeping this site in tip top shape!

[SNUKE]

Sounds like fun Anthony, I may be way of the ball in my interpretation.
Have a look at this social gaming site I admin for.
http://www.1000fraggers.com/

It also runs that FB style, the biggest issue many of us have with it, is that information gets lost very quickly as newer posts come through.
I constantly have to deal with duplicated posts, and these are made by members / admins that know better and how to look.

[Anthony]

Sounds like fun Anthony, I may be way of the ball in my interpretation.
Have a look at this social gaming site I admin for.
http://www.1000fraggers.com/

It also runs that FB style, the biggest issue many of us have with it, is that information gets lost very quickly as newer posts come through.
I constantly have to deal with duplicated posts, and these are made by members / admins that know better and how to look.

One of my priorities with the new site is to make sure good content is never buried, input/concepts after the new system launches would be much appreciated. I don't think initially there will be enough content for things to be buried in the first place though so it hasn't been a priority thus far.

[ianinozzie]

Maybe you could write subsequent articles relating to this article.

Paradox! My head just exploded.

[Anthony]

Maybe you could write subsequent articles relating to this article.

Paradox! My head just exploded.

Here I was thinking someone was interested in the new direction for the site

[ianinozzie]

Ditto Anthony; especially when I saw that he/she had 3 posts! How goes the redevelopment?

[Anthony]

I've made some decent progress and given some private showings to select individuals for feedback. Still a long way to go and unfortunately life priorities have changed (again) away from getting it completed.

[ianinozzie]

No worries Anthony. We know this will take time and as a community, I'm sure all of us appreciate how time consuming and difficult it is to make the changes! We recognise that this is all for the good of all Ecogamers!