Could you please get some more free games?

[FairyGodfeather]

Here’s what Dan posted on the blog two years ago, when Choice of Intrigues stopped being free. Choice of Intrigues Is About to Stop Being Free - Choice of Games LLC

We know that a lot of you still yearn for the good old days when our games were available online for free. We’ll continue to experiment with techniques that could help our free games earn as much money as our paid games, without using exploitative tricks for which free-to-play games are so notorious.

We want as many people as possible to enjoy our games. If we can find an ethical way to make our games available for free without losing money, we’ll do it.

And here’s a link from four and a half years ago, when they got banned from Google Adsense, which was their primary way of making money. 8 Ways to Make Money When You’re Banned from AdSense - Choice of Games LLC

Anyway, the writing doesn’t just take time and effort, it also takes money.

Choice of Games are a business. The reason that their games are of such a high quality, and that they’re managing to produce so many games, is because they are paying professional writers to write those games. Then, on top of that there’s then the price of the cover art, and editing for each game. And then there’s their own costs. They’re very hands on when overseeing the Choice of Games projects to ensure that each one meets their various standards and is the best game it possibly can be.

The official games cost money to make. If they don’t earn money, then no more official games.

Here’s what one of the official authors has to say in another thread about how much money he’s earning.

@Cataphrak

It’s more than just writing and research. Some of us are trying to make ends meet based on what we write. As a writer of fiction, I’d love to give away everything I’ve written for free.

However, last year, I wrote somewhere around 400k words of publishable prose. Personally, I’d like to think that those words and the way which they’re all strung together are of somewhat greater-than-execrable quality. Even so, in total, I made less in 2014 than someone who works full-time minimum wage (though granted, British Columbia’s minimum wage is comparatively generous). As another semi-starving university student living in what may be one of the most expensive cities on the planet, I have to welcome every development that leads to me getting more royalties, price-increases included, because otherwise, I’m not trying to make ends meet, I’m failing to make ends meet.

Have a watch of the video here. Author Hangout on Air - #3 by jasonstevanhill There’s some talk of Choice of Games approach to money as well.

No one’s getting rich off of this. (Yet at least.)

Hosted Games now are different since they’re written, for the most part, by amateur writers. What I absolutely love about Choice of Games though, is that it also tells the Hosted Games authors that their writing is worth money too. This is a chance for people who’ve always dreamed of getting their work published, to actually do so.

Let me grab another quote. Actually go read the whole post, that’s one of my favourite posts on the whole forum.

CoG business model

Today, COG had our second ever face-to-face company meeting, and we signed papers to incorporate as an LLC. In the spirit of introspection, then, I want to talk about some broad issues in this post. NB: This is all my opinion, and not the official stance of Choice of Games. The four issues I want to address are our pricing (and payment) models, our philosophy as a company, our audience(s), and our plans for the future. Let me begin by thanking @Duck for his independent analysis of our paymen…

Okay, done reading everything? Done watching the video?

There are a couple of games available for free on the website. You can also play any of the games posted to the forums for free, although in the authors are expecting feedback in return.

Choice of Games also do their beta-testing on the forum. That gives you the chance to play unfinished versions of their games in exchange for you spending a few hours writing feedback on those games. If you really want to play some games for free, and have the time to spare, then sign up for some of the beta-tests. You’ll also get a chance to see some of the hard work and effort that goes into creating those games.