Someone's plan b paid off nicely

[DimPrawn]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technolog...line-game.html

Joe Chedburn, a self-confessed geek, was just 16 when he came up with the idea to write an online game focused on crime.

Torn, which is text-based and has no graphics, grew quickly and now has around 41,000 active users with over 1.3 million account holders.

Although the game is free to play users can pay £3 every month to receive extra points and status.

Most players are willing to pay enabling the site to make around £50,000-a-month. Joe, from Frome, Somerset, is now a millionaire at the age of 21.


Good luck to all the plan b'ers here.

[MrMark]

Anyone tempted to steal his idea?

Wonder if the young man will consider moving abroad - 50% of his earnings will now go to the taxman. I believe some here regard that as theft.

[DimPrawn]

More like 60% when you include NI.

He'd be mad to base his Internet business here.

[Platypus]

Text based games...

Anyone else remember or play the Infocom games such as Zork, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, etc?

I first played a text adventure game in circa 1980, "You are standing at the end of a road before a small brick building. Around you is a forest. A small stream flows out of the building and down a gully."

xyzzy !

[TimberWolf]

Text based games...

Anyone else remember or play the Infocom games such as Zork, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, etc?

I first played a text adventure game in circa 1980, "You are standing at the end of a road before a small brick building. Around you is a forest. A small stream flows out of the building and down a gully."

xyzzy !

Plugh

[VectraMan]

Gandalf goes west. Gandalf arrives from the west. Thorin sings a song about gold...

Even that had graphics.

[DimPrawn]

Gandalf goes west. Gandalf arrives from the west. Thorin sings a song about gold...

Even that had graphics.

But it didn't generate £50K a month did it?

His brilliance was:

1. Making the game free
2. Letting people get a leg up for a measly £3 a month.


It's a good model. Provide something free but charge a small fee for better options and hope you get a million people signing up.

[Lockhouse]

All respect to him, the boy done good.

[Moscow Mule]

It's a good model. Provide something free but charge a small fee for better options and hope you get a million people signing up.

It's a common model. IIRC, Travian also uses it - I expect there are countless others.

I expect what it making him money is that the game is good.

Also, he'd probably the richest person in the tulip-hole that is Frome, Somerset...

[Sysman]

Text based games...

I first played a text adventure game in circa 1980, "You are standing at the end of a road before a small brick building. Around you is a forest. A small stream flows out of the building and down a gully."

xyzzy !

The original sources to that have been found, bugs 'n' all. It was based on Colossal cave in Kentucky.

Further details here.