Here’s another Myspace for game characters, I guess: GuildCafe. They just got a hot VC injection from IDG Ventures for buying pizza or juicing up the website, something like that.
I just gotta wonder, why? Venture capitalists do not screw around — they expect big returns within a defined amount of time, so where is this big return going to come from? Click throughs? Procter & Gamble advertising? I don’t think so, but I lack vision.
Anyways, the site itself is flash-tastic and a little rustic, however, there are several contributors working hard on content and being nice to everyone (before the community is ruined by Gamer Asshats like every other gaming community).
Not sure what the site is about and can’t be bothered to click the link to find out but I do know that Sonja Weathers the former DAOC community person is working there now. http://eatingbees.brokentoys.org/?p=19
Judging by the look of the site I’d say they’re going the ad money route—not too uncommon. Perhaps later they’ll unveil some sort of subscription-based service, but given the emphasis on everything being free, my money’s more on ads. Alternate possibility is collecting all sorts of demographic information on their users and selling it to gaming companies as a research tool. (“X% of our users play scifi games, and of those Y% are males in the age group of…”)
so. much. flash.
I checked it out. Really ugly site with nothing special here. I honestly see IDG regretting whatever deal they made. Also, as a side point the guildcafe site set off virus scanner. I’m not sure what that is about…
Oh, RalphDea. So cute. You commented on every site that posted something about this announcement on the 28th, in the same stretch of time, with a different name but the same silliness about “virus scanners” or “keyloggers.” Whose fanboy are you? All within the same block of time.
With more than seventeen thousand beta users, not one complaint about virus scanners going off has ever been received. Given how vocal some of the regulars are, let’s just say… you’re a troll. Try emailing an admin when something “not imaginary” happens.
Foton – the investment is because of the plans for the site, and the history of the founders. There isn’t much built yet, I totally admit that, but IDG is a big player in terms of VC and doesn’t invest lightly. And you already called it – they expect returns.
For that matter, *I* expect returns. I had a number of offers for my carcass after I left Mythic. I would not have taken this gig if all there was to GuildCafe is what shows on the site today. It’s very much in development. The VC meant the founders could start hiring 🙂
Check back in a few months and email me, tell me what you think.
There are a couple other sites doing the same type of thing. My favorite is http://www.voig.com . They do a better job and are able to laugh at their own mistakes.
yeah I actually checked out that voig site, looks pretty good
I’m not sure what the other guy was talking about but when I signed up it immediately triggered my scanner as for malware coming from guildcafe. It looks like mmosocial.com is going to do great things though so I would look out for them.
voig sucks. it takes forver to load and has a lot of bugs.
I checked out guildcafe and it’s cluttered like a CPAs desk during tax season. Horrible navigation control and just too much going on. On the other hand, I found http://www.mmosocial.com and very simple to navigate and just the right amount of features to keep me engaged. What ever happened to simple and purposeful?