Options / Concerns about Nitro Boost
I'll begin this overlong post with my feelings that this is part of a larger rollout, and some rough edges are to be expected. I'll try and break apart my ideas to make this much more manageable. Feel free to pick apart these ideas.
-> Boosts need to be capped. Since there is no way (yet) to purchase a Boost for say, $4.99usd (Like a twitch subscription... *cough*) you have created an economy of have and have nots whereby a user must pick their most bestest and most favorite community to boost. If a server has reached "tier 3" it needs to have a "cap" to prevent excess boosts from being wasted. Its fine to have excess (say, 25) to allow for the usual movement/loss of boosts, but allowing people to "waste" their boost on a server not needing it is pretty nasty to other communities. As a follower of a LOT of twitch communities, I watched this very effect chain reaction so small communities were left with nothing, while mega-streamers had thousands of boosts. For being community oriented, that was a horrid bad move to really put the burn to small communities. I saw a server get t3 in literally under 30 seconds, and many small streamers get told by community members "I WOULD have boosted you but threw my token at [big streamer]" and it was utterly frustrating.
-> Boosts, or the perk rewards, should be able to be purchased. Boosts for say 1.99usd is a great start and allow even non-nitro users to support a server. This also hedges away the resentments I hear of "filthy plebs coasting off us paid for members" and other divisive comments. In a similar vein, I cannot fathom why the tier perks cannot simply be purchased and instead involve such a community racehorse popularity contest that inherently is designed to destroy smaller communities. Discord wants to make money... offer these perks in the Nitro Store to allow your favorite communities to be supported for a month/year/whatever. This way small communities or even say, PRIVATE communities can enjoy these perks without such song and dance.
-> Servers with paid for boost need to not have boosts applied DURING TIME OF PAID FOR BOOST. Same thing as above -> cap on boosts. Lets not create a system that allows boosts to be "wasted" and encourage instead a system that is community oriented... as it should be.
-> Server side Icons toggled on/off for members that have boosted or paid for a server tier boost. Its an idea, some people like to be recognized and some do not. Having the option is a sweet little nod to supporters if they want to flaunt being a booster or great for stealthy people who just wanna support and show love without the glory.
-> Ability of servers to block or deny boosts. Some people might not want the hooplah or have a server for private chats and other such stuff that they don't want boosted. Having the option to toggle acceptance on and off is a nice idea and it cuts down on "oopsie! I boosted the wrong server!" moments.
-> Ability of server owners to purchase a server tier boost alongside Nitro for a reduced bundle cost. Hey we all want money, we all spend money, we all like saving a bit of money. If I want to treat my community and I'm a Nitro "super-ultra-mega-supporter-user" user, why not let me also buy all my yearly Nitro AND a tier 1, 2, or 3 for my server in one fell swoop?
Just ideas, I'll try and come up with more here later.
EDIT 1: Further notations and ideas!
=> As Discord is a service that requires expensive servers and bandwidth and upkeep, why not have "annual" and "semi-annual" paid for server bonuses that tie into partnership and benefits? As Nitro Boost is allowing more emote slots and luxuries, why not also tie into the Nitro Store the ability to purchase additional server LUXURIES like more emote slots, higher voice bandwidth, bigger upload size, and other such "non-vital" items. This sort of "Nitro Value Added" could be really lucrative while preventing a lot of this "dog and pony" popularity contests.
=> A flat, annual price and/or monthly prices (*cough* subscriptions) for treating friends or subscribers would be a nifty bonus for server owners / friends / streamers. The ability to use Nitro Boost as a gift, or perhaps gift your favorite streamer with awesome perks, or reward channel VIP with awesome perks would be awesome uses of Nitro and the Boost function.
More ideas as I see how this is shaking out.
Edit 2: Pricing Ideas!
I did some more work and sat with a calculator to draw a sort of benefit / cost spreadsheet. Here's my ideas for a strait forward pricing tier as well. Since pricing is strait forward "cash in the bank" and subscriptions being a lot of "volatility" in trying to achieve a rank, I adjusted prices accordingly.
Nitro "Server Subscription" = $1.99usd (note all prices henceforth are in USD)
Server "just buy it" prices
Tier 1: $5 a month, $50 for an annual purchase, $475 for a lifetime guarantee of benefits.
Tier 2: $50 a month, $500 for an annual purchase, and $4500 for a lifetime guarantee of benefits.
Tier 3: $100 a month, $1,000 for an annual purchase, and $9,500 for a lifetime guarantee of benefits.
Reasoning: For mega-streamers and communities, raising approximately $10,000 can take as little as 2 hours. (As a community manager, I've both participated in organizing these fundraisers and been a happy viewer participating in them) and $100 is a reasonable monthly expense for a community wishing for the benefits. If I wanted to purchase this alone, here's the math...
Lets assume I wished to use the free token boost for my server. I would need to purchase 50 accounts with annual nitro (least expensive option), and at current rate that is $100 and tax. That is $5000+ annually to get "free" tokens, or roughly $100 a token (since I do not need the games for each account, I am paying for just the token.)
Ouch. This is also "per server" so every server I wished to accrue all benefits would need an additional 50 accounts and an additional $5000+ annually.
I fielded these numbers as a sort of "soft guide" for the community to check over and discuss. The way I sequenced it is so that a direct, one time purchase would guarantee all current (and future!) benefits, plus all the snazzy bells and whistles one could imagine by your name if you GIFTED such a thing.
Note: I don't know how this would affect "subscriptions" and sub icons by viewer names... unlike Twitch, there's no profit share system in Discord so it would be people paying for a snazzy icon by their name?
Also idea: Purchasing a lower tier allows the community to begin accruing benefits towards the next highest tier! It allows a server admin to "lay the groundwork" and the community to fill the gap!
Edit 3: After talking with partnered server admin a quite universal feeling was "Ouch." Perhaps Discord should review partnership perks and consider a few additional perks for partnered servers, owing to the amount of hoops and work put into it.
Ideas for the idea machine:
-> Lower the boosts needed for partnered servers by 1/2 (1, 5, 25)
-> Increase visibility for partnered servers
-> Double/increase the benefits for partnered servers (double emotes as an example)
-> (Toggleable!) Snazzy global icons for partners so they can rep no matter where they are.
-> Snazzy background art / mods for the server to rep their channel/community
-> Additional chances to meet and represent themselves with Discord at events
-> more Wumpus.
Edit 4:
I trawled around and found some great ideas, as well as looking into options from Twitch and BTTV and other such areas. Some I feel are more "Quality of Life" and I wont include them here. I again offer all this as IDEAS to improve this.
==> Video bit-rate increases
==> Customize profile "aura" or "Frames"
==> Custom Fonts
==> Unique font colors
==> Unique Profile Perks!
Note: I reserve this space for edit 5. OwO
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Well said. Very well said. I would like the flat rate idea for nitro members and I think they should be able to boost multiple servers.
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I definitely agree with capping boosts once maximum tier has been reached +/- maybe 25 to account for fall-off.
Boost purchases will allow a community to crowdfund support for their server taking monetary constraints off of Discord and the server admin.
If a server is already boosted to maximum, the paid-for-boost option should not be available so that community members do not "waste" a boost. Or you can include a disclaimer "This server is already boosted to maximum. Your boost will not contribute towards any additional server benefits. Do you still want to boost this server as a show of support?".
I do have to say avatar frames or auras could be a really cool idea, a la Path of Exile supporter packs.
Overall this is a very well-laid out and thoughtful review and recommendation for the boosting system. I really hope this is considered as an update to it.
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Nitro users should be able to boost more than 1 though too
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I believe that it needs fine tuning which as a new feature is bound to happen but I do feel options like OP has suggested would be beneficial for for-profits, niche servers that dont have a large user base, fall within partner/verification guidelines and so on. However, the fine tuning that commences may remedy this only time will tell.
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+1
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