Would you pay for a facepack?

[Draft Dodger]

Time for my annual annoying facepack thread. This time, with poll goodness.

Here's the rundown: I've been doing facepacks for a few years now. I've never wanted to get rich doing them, but I spend a considerable amount of time on them - especially the action photos. Basically, I wouldn't mind getting a little dough back to at least cover hosting costs and maybe repay LL for fronting my OTBL dues. I tried the volunteer paypal donation option, which worked a bit the first year, but not at all last year. I played around recently with installing ads on the site...but I'm not sure that that is the best option either (and I get the "sense" that a certain company doesn't appreciate my business).

So, my newest "get-not-very-rich" scheme is to compile and release the mugshot photos for free as normal, and request a dollar donation for access to the action photos (from a recent Markus thread, it sounds like only one set or the other will work in the next version - no more using 2 different sets at the same time). The action photos take a considerable amount of my time; basically, I'm trying to gauge whether there is interest enough to even make it worthwile to compile the action photos.

Really just looking for honest feedback to help me make my decision. Not really interested in the names of who clicks yes and who clicks no (if I can figure out a way to make this anymous, I will), just a final tally. Feedback, either via this thread or PM is welcome as always. Thanks.

[Deft]

I bet you didn't know I made my template from one of the images in your 2003 facepack. Thanks for making them!

[WrightWing]

There are 2 different issues here, IMO. Asking for help to pay for hosting is fine. Web hosting ain't free and not everyone has the resources of Bill Gates. However, I think a bad precedent would be set if people started asking for donation/payment for the work itself.

I enjoy doing my facepack set and am proud of the overall product. But I can't do logos worth a darn and have no desire to tackle a fictional stadium from scratch. Nor do I have the math aptitude to do some of the database mods that are out there.

We all do what we can to help the OOTP community and we can each benefit from one another's talents. I was inspired by Tiger Fan's facepacks and decide I wanted to do some too. Hopefully someone will be inspired by yours and do some mod that makes the game better for all of us.

But, I doubt that I would pay for them and suspect most people would feel the same. That would lower the interest in mods and ultimately, the game itself would suffer.

DD, your facepacks are nothing short of spectacular and I applaud the time you spend on them. I know making money is not your motivation and I am not trying to sound preachy or anything. I just think the easier, cheaper and more available mods are, the more enjoyment we will all get from OOTP and the better the game will become in the future.

Anyways, that's my 2 cents worth...

[Derek4jc]

Just throwing my 2 cents in, but I'm not sure the photographers of the photos and/or the mlb would appreciate you making a profit off of what I'm sure is copywritten photographs. Not trying to stir anything up, but just to throw that out there in case it is something you haven't thought of.

[halofan26]

id pay if it was deft or DD but not many others would i pay for

[GForce]

You know my take DD...I don't agree with charging, but I certainly support the donation route. You do great work, and should at least be able to cover some costs associated with it.

GH

[Eugene Church]

Donation would be the way to go. No one can be offended by that.

You deserve to recover your costs.

I try to make a donation to the logo designers and other fine talented members of our community who so graciously help me. But about half the time, they say they do it for fun and not for any pay. The ones that accept my donation usually only accept it to be gracious and please me. None have ever asked for any payment.

Thanks for all your time and talent.

You are a big plus for the OOTPB Community.

[Draft Dodger]

just want to say thanks so far to all the replies. good food for thought.

[sporr]

You need to bundle some Easter Egg pics in your facepack like the one in your avatar. People might want to donate more for that.

[Draft Dodger]

Originally Posted by sporr

You need to bundle some Easter Egg pics in your facepack like the one in your avatar. People might want to donate more for that.

there have been a couple, actually. well, I'm not sure Garth Brooks counts, since he technically was on the spring training roster. but Corey Hart, I just couldn't help myself.

[avwjase]

I'd pay a buck for the facepacks if I used them. I rarely use them, however. As a matter of fact, I rarely use OOTP these days. After playing it for 4 solid years it's grown kind of stale.

[bigdaddykraven]

As a photographer (one who has seen a few of his pictures in your action packs) I must say that some people wouldn't appreciate their work having any kind of charge to it. I personally don't care but others may and in some cases you can actually be sued for using the images in a profit situation. The legal way to do it would be to either pay for memebership to your site or ask for donations to help pay for the server. That would be the way to get it done.

I luckily don't have to pay for my web host and I get 1.5 Gig of space. I just lucked out though...

[Draft Dodger]

Originally Posted by bigdaddykraven

As a photographer (one who has seen a few of his pictures in your action packs) I must say that some people wouldn't appreciate their work having any kind of charge to it. I personally don't care but others may and in some cases you can actually be sued for using the images in a profit situation. The legal way to do it would be to either pay for memebership to your site or ask for donations to help pay for the server. That would be the way to get it done.

I luckily don't have to pay for my web host and I get 1.5 Gig of space. I just lucked out though...

that's pretty interesting that you've seen your photos in my work. I'm glad you posted. I'm pretty sensitive to the fact that everything I'm putting in there is copyrighted. Hopefully, most people are like you and recognize that people aren't trying to cash in on their work.

Although I have not made any sort of decision, the membership option is actually the way I would go if I do go this way. Most of the stuff would still be free, but there'd be a member's area you'd have access to for a $1 a season or something, and that's where the action sets would be available. There's no way I could feel right about just charging to download the set - but a membership I'd feel a bit better about.