Payware? Is this a new direction for Flightsim.to. I purchased London International Airport, and it is well done. I know the amount of work that goes into airports because I'm a "Freeware" creator for this site. But I'm miffed. It is the "Freeware" that has grown this site. It is the "Freeware" creators that have done so much to make this site so popular. If Flightsim is now offering "Payware" and especiallly if it is getting compensated for it, as in a cut of the price, then perhaps it is time for us "Freeware" creators to get something too.
My suggestion? Get rid of the cup of coffee etc.. no body gives anything.. Instead Flightsim.to should create a points system for "Freeware" creators so that creators can get some of those "Payware" airports or planes for free. They could also use their ponts to get merch, coffee cups, Tshirts etc.
Mazer...
Payware? New Direction for Flightsim.to?
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You do realize just how much it actually costs to run a site like this? To provide servers for the size and quantity of addons that are hosted here? The amount of bandwidth it takes to service everyone? And who do you think is paying for all this? Not you. Not me. Not the vast majority of users (both uploaders and downloaders - the rest of us are freeloaders!).
So, where does all this money that is expended on servers, data storage, data comms, and all the other things that go to make up a site like Flightsim.to come from?
Well, in the early days, the people who set up and run the site paid for it out of their own pockets. AFAIK (and I'm NOT one of them) it still does, apart from any revenue that they can earn by offering paid for services from the site.
I've been advocating for the site to introduce tiered membership, giving "premium" users better access, faster download, etc, but so far it doesn't look as though that idea is getting any grip.
So what are the paid services? Well, I'm sure that the advertising revenue helps, and that allowing Payware to be sold from here helps, as well, but neither are bottomless pits.
If you go and look at the "traditional" MSFS sites (and none are more traditional than Avsim.com and flightsim.com) you'll see that they also rely heavily on advertising and sales to provide them with the revenue to run, in both cases, free flight sim sites, and have done so for many years.
So what do I think of your proposal? I think that if you feel that way, you should seriously consider taking your addons elsewhere, and see if anyone else will offer you payment for them - perhaps the groups that spend their advertising money here will find your addons have some sale value.
BTW, there are a number of developers who visit here frequently who either build stuff for commercial sites, run commercial sites, or are otherwise involved in commercial activities, who still contribute their time and effort here, and long may it be so.
Oh, and BTW, what freeware have you developed and posted on this site? Since you only joined this site today, I can't imagine that you have had the time to build anything worthwhile and have it uploaded prior to crafting the starter for this thread - or are you using a "nom de plume", because you aren't willing to come right out and tell us who you are.
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Couldn't the payware have its own section apart from the freeware?
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It does. LH side; $ Payware
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That works, however they all appear with the freeware, when you just select what's new.
It's difficult to see it's payware until you go into it.
Nothing against payware... -
I for one welcome payware together with freeware. Payware gives the hard working people some financial credit, but also keep them sharp on quality. I spent a kidney and half on OrbX already, and I'm willing to spent more here if I find something that I like. Edit: and I have to admit, I loathe those buymecoffee things because of the commission and hassle.
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That works, however they all appear with the freeware, when you just select what's new.
It's difficult to see it's payware until you go into it.
Nothing against payware...How often are you bothered by a "payware" notification? AFAIK there are currently only 18 of them on the whole site.
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It only just started showing up recently. That's all... Pete
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So it really isn't much of a problem at all, then - just a couple of key clicks and it's gone.