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The Ransom ModelA product of Greg Stolze's mad brain, the Ransom Model is a unique new system of distributing PDF products while bypassing the traditional publishing industry and avoiding the problem of PDF piracy. When Meatbot Massacre and the ransom model were first announced, a ransom of $600 had been set with a deadline of September 2005. When Paypal (or check or cash) donations total $600, the PDF file for Meatbot Massacre would be made available for free download. After that, people can post it wherever they like, print however many they want and share it with anyone. Under the Ransom Model, you can contribute any amount you want — however much you can afford, whatever you want to gamble, whatever. Put in the price of a mocha latte, or the amount of change in your couch, or half what you paid to see Attack of the Clones, or a dollar amount reflecting the enjoyment you've gotten from Greg Stolze's other games. It is, of course, possible that people will donate… but not enough to underwrite the game. In the unlikely event that we don't gather the complete ransom by deadline, all funds gathered to that point will be given to Hesed House, a homeless shelter in Aurora, Illinois. In that event, Meatbot Massacre would remain unreleased. It's equally possible that people will exceed the $600.00 — in fact, that's a best case scenario. If that happens, all excess funds will be divided equally between the author, the illustrators, and the graphic designer. Thankfully, despite some initial public skepticism, the ransom model was a stunning success. With a strong $100+ debut, to the end with a donation of over $130, the ransom was paid in full five months before deadline. Some data has been compiled along the way, which you can see to the right.
Why do it this way?It has several advantages. First off, it makes piracy a non-issue: As soon as the property is available to anyone, it's free for everyone. Secondly, it keeps the prices reasonable for the buyer, by definition. From where I sit, there is no conceivable way anyone can feel ripped off with this setup, since no one is being asked to front more than they're comfortable spending. In theory, it's good for the creators as well. By cutting out the distribution tier, we keep prices low and (frankly) avoid the possibility that our publisher goes bankrupt before cutting our checks. Is it a gamble? Sure, but people who don't like a little random risk have no business playing games with dice. It's an experiment. If it works, you can expect more, and longer Stolze designs released in this fashion. If not, the creators are personally out a couple weeks' work and a few hundred bucks. But at least the homeless folks get a boost, which is more good than comes out of the collapse of a fledgling paper publisher.
Ransom StatsDaniel here. I've been keeping track of some numbers during the course of the ransom and have compiled a simple chart comparing weekly visitors to weekly donations. I'm no statistician, so can't really dive into these numbers and come out with any mind-blowing conclusions. Hopefully anyone who uses the ransom model can find this data useful somehow. *The one odd thing that's obvious even to me is the sudden spike of visitors on 1/23-1/29. The weeks after the holidays were very slow, with only 50ish visitors every week. On the week prior to the spike, I uploaded some new colored art by Ryan Bourret and I'm convinced that had a lot to do with the spike. Not only did we get more visitors, but we got our first donation after a three-week drought. My advice to anyone else putting up games for ransom: Update your preview materials on a regular basis, especially if it's art. Art will sell your product as much as a clever system or pretty prose.
**It should also be noted that on the week of March 19th, we were alerted that the donation button on the front page wasn't leading to a Paypal donation page, just Paypal. I've no idea how long this was going on (I tested the button before adding it to the site back in November). Fortunately, the donation button on the "Buy" page was working correctly. That means for an undetermined amount of time, all donations were submitted by people who stuck around the site long enough to go to the buy page and click the button there, perhaps after attempting to donate through the malfunctioning button on the front page. There's no telling how many donors we turned away during this time, thankfully, but it didn't seem to hurt us that bad in the long run. The lesson here: Regularly check the functionality of every part of your website. My only other advice to future ransomers is to shamelessly self-promote on blogs, message boards, chat rooms, and email. Don't forget to loudly and obnoxiously mention your site at your local game store as well. If you can corral your friends into joining this marketing blitz, all the better. Well, that's that. It's been a great ride with this new, exciting distribution model. We always thought we could make the ransom by deadline, but it's still great seeing it happen this early. Be sure to check out future Stolze/Solis projects!
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