BYOND Merchandising

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ID:181834
 
Aug 4 2009, 5:19 pm
Hey Everyone,

Past week or so I've been talking with Tom about the possibility of BYOND Merchandising. The idea popped up when I was thinking of ways to promote BYOND in new ways.

But we didn't want to go about it the wrong way, like what the previous BYOND Store did. Overpriced and lacking in range / style.

So that is why I'm posting here today. I just want to ask a few questions regarding this service, before it's set up completely.

1] What types of merchandise would you like to see? Shirts? Mugs? Mousemats? Clocks? Jerseys? etc.
2] What styles of design would you be most interested in? Parodies based on BYOND's content? Spoofs of popular games? Common BYOND humour?
3] What sort of price range are we talking here? How much can the younger BYONDers talk out of their parents? How much can the older BYONDers spare from their living costs?
4] How often would you like to see (and what type of) prizes based on BYOND merchandise for competitions?

There's a few other ideas in the 'possible' queue for this too - discounts for BYOND members, individual game marketing/merchandising, and some more.

Here's a few ideas to get your brains going - they're just ideas, so don't go crazy if you don't like them.


BYOND It. (I really don't know what it means, but it's catchy.)


... gotta have something for the girls? Get 'em for your girlfriends or something.


Some BYOND Parodies. Why not?


For those with cars. Why not?


A mousemat. Nothing fancy.


KeyChains. Sleak, Cool, and Affordable. Yeah!

Post your ideas/suggestions/thoughts. I will appreciate them all. Do not shoot this idea down though, it's pointless.
Aug 4 2009, 5:29 pm
You gotta do the Apron thing, man.
it's genius.
Aug 4 2009, 5:38 pm
In response to Super Saiyan X

The captaion reads:
'<s>Hell's</s>BYOND's Kitchen.'

=D
Aug 4 2009, 6:37 pm
You should make a Fabricmage one ;)
Aug 4 2009, 6:53 pm
As for the 'parody' ones, not possible. Using copyrighted images goes against most printer's service terms. Even when used as parody.
Aug 4 2009, 7:30 pm
1] Shirts mostly.

2] Spoofs of games.

3] $10 or so.

4] Every month perhaps? Maybe prizes could be for non-members; a week trail of a Byond membership. They would get the whole site thing and member icon for a week. Then it gets taken away.

Just throwing in my 2 cents.
Aug 5 2009, 7:12 am
In response to Nadrew
I meant parodies of BYOND Games - with the owners consent, of course.
Aug 5 2009, 10:40 am
I wouldn't go too far out there with some of the designs. As long as the key chain is a sensible size, I'd definitely go for it. I like the thought of a bumper sticker, but I'm not sure I like what the one you posted says. I'd personally be more partial to basic designing of merchandise.

To be honest I think it's a reasonably good idea, but I'm not sure how well it would catch on.

Aug 5 2009, 12:26 pm
my other car is a multi-tile /mob
Aug 6 2009, 10:40 am
AZA wrote:
4] How often would you like to see (and what type of) prizes based on BYOND merchandise for competitions?

I was actually discussing something similar to this in the BYOND Action guild earlier, I was saying that competitions on BYOND games with prizes would cause more BYOND Action guild participation but we wouldn't be able to afford to give out BYOND Memberships so I thought if they was up for the idea I would email or do something to contact BYOND to ask for help in this(Who knows they might've said yes and gave whoever won free gift memberships xD) but I suppose the idea would work for all of BYOND as well.
Aug 6 2009, 11:05 am
In response to RGproductions
RGproductions wrote:
AZA wrote:
4] How often would you like to see (and what type of) prizes based on BYOND merchandise for competitions?

I was actually discussing something similar to this in the BYOND Action guild earlier, I was saying that competitions on BYOND games with prizes would cause more BYOND Action guild participation but we wouldn't be able to afford to give out BYOND Memberships so I thought if they was up for the idea I would email or do something to contact BYOND to ask for help in this(Who knows they might've said yes and gave whoever won free gift memberships xD) but I suppose the idea would work for all of BYOND as well.

I'd be glad to sponsor membership (or other) prizes for official contests. Eventually I'd like to build in some tools to more widely broadcast such contests, but there's no reason we can't run them before those are available. If the lack of incentives is holding this up, then let's do something about it.
Aug 6 2009, 11:49 am
In response to Tom
Tom wrote:
If the lack of incentives is holding this up, then let's do something about it.

I'd think offering memberships might be a lack of incentive for people who already have memberships... Especially since I imagine most of the decent developers already have them. I'd like to have a contest where the winner gets a coolio BYOND-themed custom-built desktop computer with laser-cut atom fan grills and lots of blue or orange LED fans. :) I'll build the computer if someone wants to sponsor me (read: pay for it).
Aug 6 2009, 11:56 am
In response to Foomer
When the prize is something concrete like a BYOND membership or hat or t-shirt, it makes the prize seem less appealing to someone who doesn't want that particular thing.

I think it would be neat to have some sort of BYOND currency which could be gifted to people for various good deeds, contest winnings, etc, and which would be redeemable for a wide and flexible array of goodies, including merchandise, memberships, and any other cool thing we can come up with.

If we allow people to buy BYOND points, the concept is similar to BYOND dimes. I think that we could avoid the pitfalls of that system by not offering any system for redeeming BYOND points for cash, except perhaps to developers who have a special business relationship with BYOND.
Aug 6 2009, 12:04 pm
In response to Ryan P
Kind of like BYOND Action points, except they'd be just BYOND points.
Aug 6 2009, 2:30 pm
In response to Jeff8500
Jeff8500 wrote:
Kind of like BYOND Action points, except they'd be just BYOND points.

I believe BYOND Action points were sort of a test run for a more general contest point system thingy.
Aug 6 2009, 2:33 pm
In response to Ryan P
Byond Dimes.

George Gough
Aug 6 2009, 6:03 pm
In response to Ryan P
I think a concept like the BYOND dimes is a damn good idea. X amount of dimes could maybe be membership for a month, or for some short amount of time. It might encourage people to actually pay for an extended membership as well.

I also like the idea of being able to redeem your points for BYOND related gear.
Aug 7 2009, 1:24 pm
In response to Nightmare3
Except BYONDimes were abused and caused the staff a ton of grief. It's easier to just not have a system like that.
Aug 7 2009, 1:26 pm
In response to Nadrew
I think that the system could be better if direct transmissions and cash-outs weren't part of the mix. IIRC those were the two biggest sources of trouble.
Aug 7 2009, 1:33 pm
In response to Ryan P
Ryan P wrote:
I think that the system could be better if direct transmissions and cash-outs weren't part of the mix. IIRC those were the two biggest sources of trouble.

I agree. You get the BYONDimes or Points, you keep them, and the only thing you can do with them is buy prizes. There would also be no buying of Points, but only earning of them through prizes and they'd likely have to be awarded by the staff.

Although I suppose some provision for transfer would have to be made if Tom doesn't want to be handing them out himself after ever contest (maybe he does, I don't know). He'd have to be able to give them to a contest holder and allow the contest holder to give them to the winner(s).
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