New Gaming Website Idea

[Red_Stafford]

Hi all, I am fairly new here I am looking to start my own online business with a very minimul budget at the moment I have a few ideas floating about but I am not sure how to put these ideas into action or where to ask for advise as I am scared my ideas might be used by other people, I have been told to start of with something I enjoy doing and one of my main enjoyments is Xbox360 online gaming.

I am a member of the following website www.gamebattles.com where me and a few friends have setup various online clans (teams) to compete against other gamers, now the main problem with this site is there are no different leagues depending on gamers skill levels e.g. a member new to the site can setup a team find a match with another member but that member might be no.1 in the league as a result they will get totally owned and this happens more often than not and after losing every game a lot of members tend to leave and not bother with the site. What I would like to achieve is a site based on the same principal as gamebattles.com but is setup slightly different with different leagues based on members skill levels e.g. the English football league you get Premiership, League 1, League 2 so on and so on, you wont get a game on a saturday against Chelsea who is top of the Premiership playing a team that is bottom of the third division.

Like I said I dont really have the money to spend £1000`s on the site or even £100`s so I am looking to start small maybe start of with a couple of leagues just for the main online games first and then see how it goes.

Thanks for looking, any advise would be gratefully received.

 

[NextPoint]

So how do the leagues work? Do league managers automatically update the scores of the games played?

 

[Red_Stafford]

So how do the leagues work? Do league managers automatically update the scores of the games played?

I am not sure maybe to start with there will be league moderaters who enter the scores of each game, or can this be done automatically, what happens in gamebattles.com is the teams have 30mins to enter there scores if both members enter the correct score then the result stands if there is any discrepencies then the teams have to post a support ticket refereing to the gam and they have to provide proof of scores, so I could have it setup the same each team enters there own scores.

 

[NextPoint]

Well that makes it a lot easier to develop, but you still have to consider having the ability for:

* User login accounts
* User account management by the website owners
* Moderators for the website
* Website hosting and maintenance
* Visual design of the website

All of this will increase your costs to have such a website developed. How will you monetise and market the website?

You can decrease your costs be using a pre-made template and basing your system on code that is already available, but even these will need to be modified for your specific requirements - something I doubt would cost less than £100. Have you considered trying to find funding for your business idea?

 

[Red_Stafford]

Well that makes it a lot easier to develop, but you still have to consider having the ability for:

* User login accounts
* User account management by the website owners
* Moderators for the website
* Website hosting and maintenance
* Visual design of the website

All of this will increase your costs to have such a website developed. How will you monetise and market the website?

You can decrease your costs be using a pre-made template and basing your system on code that is already available, but even these will need to be modified for your specific requirements - something I doubt would cost less than £100. Have you considered trying to find funding for your business idea?

I dont really want to get a loan to fund the site, I have a sale on a house that I 1/4 own and am hoping that I can use some of the money to fund the site, like I said I want to start off small fisrt and if there is high demand then I can look at improving the site.

I am not sure how to monetise and market the website at the moment, thats why I am here hoping for some advise, I dont have any background in starting a business or creating and promoting websites.

 

[NextPoint]

There are two issues to consider with your website ideal:

* The technical aspects - how it be constructed and maintained?
* The business aspect - how will the project be funded?

The technical aspects aren't a major issue other than knowing who to hire or learning how to create it yourself. You can save a lot by developing the system yourself, but this is a false economy, as it will take you a lot of time to learn how to write the code before you are able to start producing anything that is worthy, hence distracting you from being able to get your product to market - plus, you risk getting overwhelmed in technical maintenance issues that distract you from being able manage the business aspects. In short, it's better to hire or at least enter a partnership with someone who knows what they are doing from the technical side so that you can focus on building your business.

On the other hand, you need to have a model to fund the website - even if you are going to enter a partnership with someone, they will want to see how you intend to make money from the website - as after all, they will be risking investing a lot of time to develop the system without a guarantee of being paid.

Options you could use to fund the system are:

* Selling subscriptions
* Selling advertising space
* Sponsorship opportunities

If you have the visitor numbers, then your options to make money and fund the website will increase. It would be worth speaking to Debbie Williams of Debbidoo about affiliate marketing (www.debbidoo.com). Have you thought about putting together a business plan, complete with market research? This way you will be able to find out information like:

* How many people will be willing to use your website.
* How many people would be willing to pay to use your website.
* How often people would intend to use your website.
* What features people would be interested in using in your website.

The last item in the list is very important, as you don't want to be investing developing features that people don't end up using - hence allowing you to minimise your development costs.

 

[Red_Stafford]

* The technical aspects - how it be constructed and maintained?

I was hoping to learn enough to maintain the site
​

* The business aspect - how will the project be funded?

I will either save the money or wait for the sale of the house
​

* Selling subscriptions

Im not sure if members will be willing to pay to play on the site when they can get a similar product for free from gamebattles.com
​

* Selling advertising space
* Sponsorship opportunities

these are two things that I would like to offer to generate cash flow
​

If you have the visitor numbers, then your options to make money and fund the website will increase. It would be worth speaking to Debbie Williams of Debbidoo about affiliate marketing (www.debbidoo.com). Have you thought about putting together a business plan, complete with market research? This way you will be able to find out information like:

* How many people will be willing to use your website.
* How many people would be willing to pay to use your website.
* How often people would intend to use your website.
* What features people would be interested in using in your website.

The last item in the list is very important, as you don't want to be investing developing features that people don't end up using - hence allowing you to minimise your development costs.

I dont have any background in business so I am not sure how to generate a business plan and research ?

 

[Zeal]

Hey red,

I my self - albeit, years ago!! Used to play 'online games'. Well one really... and there will ever only be one! Counter-Strike (Not that I play anymore mind..)

They are websites and leagues out there already with different tiers, you play for a season, get promoted to the next league...

Enemydown
TheSGL

Both of which are in fact still going...

They both have hundreds + thousands of members. Provide servers, competitions and a ton of different leagues for different games.

Your going to have to offer something bloody special to compete at any level really.

 

[NextPoint]

I agree with Zeal in that, which is why it's important to start with market research to identify where there is a demand for features that will make you different. It's not only important to have features that make you different, but features that people want that they can't find elsewhere.

 

[Red_Stafford]

Hey red,

I my self - albeit, years ago!! Used to play 'online games'. Well one really... and there will ever only be one! Counter-Strike (Not that I play anymore mind..)

They are websites and leagues out there already with different tiers, you play for a season, get promoted to the next league...

Enemydown
TheSGL

Both of which are in fact still going...

They both have hundreds + thousands of members. Provide servers, competitions and a ton of different leagues for different games.

Your going to have to offer something bloody special to compete at any level really.

I agree with Zeal in that, which is why it's important to start with market research to identify where there is a demand for features that will make you different. It's not only important to have features that make you different, but features that people want that they can't find elsewhere.

I think the sites Zeal is talking about are geared more towards the PC platform I want to set a site up for Xbox360 & PS3

 

[Zeal]

I think the sites Zeal is talking about are geared more towards the PC platform I want to set a site up for Xbox360 & PS3

They are mainly PC... however - TheSGL has leagues for xbox + ps3.

Your going to have to have a massive community following you already before you think about stuff like this.
Otherwise, the only option is to have lots of ££££'s

I organised tournaments with decent prizes. (free gaming servers etc). Although there was a large following already, it was hard as hell to get any real interest.

Unless you have something seriously different to offer (reading the above, I don't think you do... at present!) You won't get far with this new league...

If you really are set on going down this route - build a community first. Create a site which brings "gamers together" but for good reason... then - look into creating leagues.

The chap who told you to start doing something you enjoy.... is right! Keep at it, I'm sure you'll find your place. But with this - I wouldn't waste any more time in it if I'm honest



p.s - the above isn't meant to be harsh or 'having a go'. It takes guts to come forward with ideas and go for them... it's just friendly advice!

 

[penfoldmedia]

!Elite Ladders!

They have a ready made script that will do what you want and more. I used it myself and would have no problems helping you out with any problems you have

 

[DavidGiant]

Check out clanbase http://clanbase.ggl.com/ladders.php?gid=83 and ESL http://www.esl.eu/

Both appear to provide what you are planning to do I think

 

[filtuh.com]

what's hot at the moment is check-ins. Physical checkins such as facebook places, 4sq, gowalla, and tv/film etc checkins. I'm not sure if there is a videogame checkin service yet but I'd expect there to be.

Major problem is you're competing against the console networks - which already have a lot of the functionality.


Lots of communities have ranks, ladders, rewards, so maybe investigate not having them. Create a new community every month where everyone is equal. Or limit each group to 20 players, and there's a waiting list for new players. Have a group of training experts/moderators who will coach beginners on new levels. A kind of gaming bootcamp (probably been done already).

But you can start small. A blog and community for complete beginners is easy enough to do, maybe base it partly geographically as well - advertise in your nearby towns and villages. Maybe pitch it more towards adult gamers who don't want adolescents screaming insults over chat.

A well run friendly community would appeal I think - I'd certainly join (well, I would if I had a console still lol)

 

[Red_Stafford]

Check out clanbase http://clanbase.ggl.com/ladders.php?gid=83 and ESL http://www.esl.eu/

Both appear to provide what you are planning to do I think

Those sites dont really do it for me I dont know what it is but they dont reel me in