Why does this site cost money?

[itz orb1t]

Dude why does it cost money to watch interviews? thats how websites die out... look at facebook the owner is a billionare and everything is free. But when you start charging for all kinds of stuff on the site people over time will stop visiting. And you will never get the attention of the casual gamers.

[Crinkly Duke]

First post is an awesome post bro! I have no problem paying for all the premium content. They drop so much money into this site, servers, equipment, etc. not to mention the cost of having all these guys over to LAN and stay at their place. I think instead of just saying what they are doing wrong you could come up with some suggestions. For one maybe since they put up a couple interviews at a time, give people who are not premium members, a test interview. Just a random featured one, that gives some members an idea of how well they are done. Or they could come out with a sort of one day trial, that doesn't come with the stream, but unlocks some content and maybe a rebroadcast so they can see what the site is all about.

But either way I feel the site is great, they have the content that needs to be locked up, locked up for premium users and they do a great job of giving you a feel of the site before you sign up. Now that they have the forums, their support is great and it's creating a better community around here. While I'm sure they'd like this site to be main stream, at this point (I'm not sure about financially) with all the new things they are putting in, it's nice to not have to deal with tens of thousands of premium members and they can sort of get a better idea of what the community wants and slowly adapt the site to make it the best it can be.

[Fierce]

OP has a clue what he's talking about.

Facebook generates revenue through ads and they have sponsors.

TLN doesn't subject us to ads, and they don't have any sponsors(yet?). It costs a lot of money to acquire and maintain all of the equipment necessary to stream how they do(good quality, multiple PoVs), on top of of all the tvs and Xboxes, and providing for all of the players during LANs.

[Lefthanded]

After Dallas i think it'd be a good idea to allow non premium members to see a rebroadcast of one of the h3 6 team lans mainly because everyone(mostly) will have moved onto reach.

[iDactyl]

Dude why are you asking stupid questions? That's how people get flamed.....look at moderators and shit. They post amazing quality posts and most people love them. But when you start posting stupid questions all over the site, people will eventually start giving you stupid answers and flaming you. And you will never get the love of society.

/iwin

[Araneatrox]

And we love you too iDactyl XD

But on a serious note, it costs money because off all the time and effort that is put into the site. LAN's are not cheap, i hosted a few LAN's while at university and they are hard work and expensive. There is also added costs of servers and the stream bandwidth.

If you don't want to pay, then that's your choice. But i am more than happy spending my �4 a month to help with the cost of the site.

I've also seen the rumblings of a Flame thread starting, i will keep the thread active as long as people are civil towards each other,

[Morgacht]

They have a few interviews that are free already, plus fantasy is free to play for all members. At 6 dollars a month for a premium membership I feel that you're going to come across whiny when you ask for free stuff at this site. It's not as though they are charging a ridiculous price, honestly its lower than what I would charge. Welcome to the site and the community my friend, however if you wish to get all the incredible content you will need to pay for it.

[Skyzorz]

Think of how much money they put into everything they do orbit. And they've been doing it for years now, too! I think them charging money is totally justified

[forefront]

I think it's important here that we all take a moment to look at our posts in this thread. Yes, it is a "sore spot" question for most members. However, some replies here, as it seems to me, are aggressive and counter to the stability and quality of our forum. I am not pointing anyone out, and I don't want anyone else to try. However, before you respond to any post negatively, I challenge you to take a moment and breathe. Decide what you want to say, and ask yourself how it will be interpereted by others.

to OP: There are many expenses in keeping this site up and running the way it is. If you do not wish to pay, then no one would blame you. However, we ask that you respect those individuals who have put their own time and money into this project, and ask only a minimal amount of return. I will say, as I do to everyone with this question, if you could mow one lawn a month, you can afford a premium membership. If you can't, then it probably isn't that big of a deal to you anyway.

[TACO]

3 words...... It's worth it! Lol and I mean it's only like 10 bucks at the most....save your lunch money and go get a refillable debit card at like walmart or something

[Hylian]

Its worth it.
that is all.

[Kwame]

having been lucky enough to have spent time at one of these lan's and seeing everything that goes into them, there are hidden costs that many people here haven't even touched on. The obvious one's are there, cost of equipment, i.e routers, xbox's, routers, cables, and much more. What about the costs that no one thinks of, that we take for granted? The cost of the games alone, we're talking at least 16, prolly more along the lines of 25 Halo 3 games. Even if some were purchased used, which i doubt they were, thats $1,200 right there.

Monthly electric bill, when was the last time any one of us paid an electric bill of close to $1000/month? I would venture to guess it hasn't happened. These costs go on and on, not to mention the cost of feeding 35 people for 4 days, 30 of which are teenage and twenty something guys, who eat like horses. Having been on one of those Sam's Club runs with Mr. P, the ticket charge is mind blowing. (check out Bravo's twitter pic, from the 6 team lan, of red bull alone.)

I agree and would love to see this site grow, I think people just need to realize that there are inherent costs that go along with streaming, providing for the participants, IT support, and much more. I can assure you that this site runs in the red every month, there is no one getting rich, and we should all be thankful that Joe and Gina are happy to spend their hard earned money, supporting such a site.

Those are just my two cents...

[Lefthanded]

Those are just my two cents...

Very well read two cents :)

[Waterboy7]

OP has a clue what he's talking about.

Facebook generates revenue through ads and they have sponsors.

TLN doesn't subject us to ads, and they don't have any sponsors(yet?). It costs a lot of money to acquire and maintain all of the equipment necessary to stream how they do(good quality, multiple PoVs), on top of of all the tvs and Xboxes, and providing for all of the players during LANs.

I'm too lazy, but pretty much everything Fierce just said....

[stupidnerdyspider]

Have you seen any ad whatsoever on this site? Ads drive Facebook. Ads generate their revenue. Ads make the site 'free' when it really isn't. Right now The LAN Network is at most a group of people that spend $1000s of dollars just to run a LAN for people to watch. It costs money. Maybe in the future, it will become like the MLG where they have copious amounts of sponsors and where streaming is completely free, but now putting prices on their streams is their one and ONLY way of funding the LAN.

[Antidote]

It has to get expensive judging by the amount of awesome food that gets cooked up for these LANs and how many players there are to eat all of it. :P

[TripChee]

if it was $20 dollars then i might think thats too much to pay but at $6 a month you really cant go wrong

[Brixxx]

Its about 19.3 cents a day for this site ($6 a month) i mean really if thats too much money for you maybe you shouldn't be playing video games in your free time. just sayin

[gleeper1010]

Members used to have to pay to watch VOD on MLG's site too for those of you a little newer to the league. Give TLN time and some of these fees may end up being paid for by Ad's and such. Currently I would rather pay $6 than watch another Hot pocket/Stride/etc...ad. Then again I watch ALOT of VOD so I've seen them all like 100 times

[Jewjitsu]

Currently I would rather pay $6 than watch another Hot pocket/Stride/etc...ad.

lol, those get so annoying

[HavkinKnight]

yeah u seem to complain cuz u wanna see what we all got well we pay for it and to tell the truth i enjoy paying i feel like im paying back for all the stuff MLG/TLN has given us they dont have to host 21 PRO players in their basement nor do they have to make sure they put the hard work into allowing us to see behind the closed doors. i feel honored that they have set all this up so us THE fans can watch and cheer for our Heroes.

[epyonjk]

He is probably young and doesn't understand it isn't a big deal. In my opinion, 6 dollars a month for the service they provide is outstanding. I am surprised this site hasn't been thought of a lot sooner but thankfully it finally has.