The Master Skins!
What are they and how you can get them!
Friday, January 19, 2007 by Frogboy | Discussion: WinCustomize News
Master Skins. What are they?
A Master Skin is a skin made by a user with Master access or higher that is premium content. On WinCustomize.com we have access levels:
- Citizen
- Apprentice
- Journeyman
- Master
Users can rise up through those access groups based on merit -- becoming part of the skinning community and contributing to it in the form of skins, themes, icons, wallpapers, helping other users, writing articles, etc.
Once they get to Master level, they can choose to submit a skin and ask for a price on it. By the time they've become a master, they've probably provided a lot to the community for a considerable amount of time. This becomes a way for users to "give back" to the skinner for all the hard work they've done as well as for the skinner to be able to help support their hobby.
It also provides an incentive for up and coming skinners to create great stuff to share freely with others. By doing so, they too move up through access and can one day become a master. Half the income generated by master skins goes to the author and the other half goes to help maintain the site. WinCustomize.com subscribers get a 20% discount on Master Skins.
Master Skin Example: Suite 18
Master skinner Adni18 has uploaded literally hundreds of skins and themes to WinCustomize.com over the past 6 years. In that time, his skins and themes have been downloaded over 11 MILLION times.
Today, Adni submitted a suite called Suite 18. It contains a WindowBlinds skin, 4 gadgets, a wallpaper. When he submitted it, he made it a Master skin for $9.99. If you're a subscriber, it is only ~$7.99 (though the price is only updated during the checkout phase).
The Inevitable Debate
Master Skins are integrated into the main gallery section. You'll see a little tag by the skin if it's a Master skin. Now some people are going to say "I shouldn't pay for skins". I'm not one to argue what people think they should pay for. One of my main "day job" activities is helping produce PC games. PC games make millions of dollars (GalCiv II certainly did). Are games worthy but skins aren't? I certainly don't make that distinction. What I do know is that if the community wants to encourage long-time skinners to keep making cool stuff, then making some income to help pay for computers and software and their time seems to be a pretty worthy thing.
I also like the idea that it provides an incentive to up and coming skinners to make stuff. Skinning is fun. It's supposed to be fun. But it can also be a lot of work too. I used to skin a lot a few years ago. But I'm not very artistic and with 3 small children, it's hard to find the time. But I applaud those who dedicate the time to share their great creations with the rest of us. And I am glad to have a way to contribute in my own way back to them. Plus, it provides another incentive to subscribe to WinCustomize.com and help keep the site growing and running.
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Reply #42 Saturday, January 20, 2007 6:44 PM
| I would prefer to pay for a skin that functions as well as the WindowBlinds program allows (in other words; the only glitches in the skins are due to the unavoidable incompatibilities between WindowBlinds and some Programs - e.g., Office 2007 running on Windows XP). |
That's why, I was told, that the skins go through moderation. I hope they don't just check to see if it looks (pretty) but works.
Reply #43 Saturday, January 20, 2007 10:24 PM
Reply #44 Saturday, January 20, 2007 11:06 PM
| I look forward to the day my work can be deemed worthy of Master status |
IRBrainiac...As far as I'm concerned...and I'm sure a lot of other people...YOU ARE A MASTER SKINNER! You've put out a lot of skins that are equal to if not above some of the skins by those deemed master skinners by this site. Your skins are awesome!
Reply #45 Sunday, January 21, 2007 12:16 AM
IRBrainiac...As far as I'm concerned...and I'm sure a lot of other people...YOU ARE A MASTER SKINNER! |
Second that!
Brad, it's a winner. I'm already a customer.
Reply #46 Sunday, January 21, 2007 1:23 AM
Reply #47 Sunday, January 21, 2007 7:26 AM
Reply #48 Sunday, January 21, 2007 7:52 AM
IRBrainiac...As far as I'm concerned...and I'm sure a lot of other people...YOU ARE A MASTER SKINNER! Second that! Brad, it's a winner. I'm already a customer. |
Which brings up an interesting question which is, who exactly decides who is a master skinner? Is it Brad? It is a committee of employees? Is it the admins and mods? Seems like a subjective call at best. So who decides who has the right to earn money at WC from the sale of skins?
To be clear, I fully support the concept of Master Skinners, just curious about the hows and wherefores.
Reply #50 Sunday, January 21, 2007 8:14 AM
| Ever since WB 5 came out, the skin quality has decreased substantially |
Just to let everyone know, who participated in the GUI Champs, your skins were (all) low quality.
We should all thank Buttermaker for pointing that out to us.
Oh, and didn't most of us upload the skins here? Wierd! Guess we all need more work.
Not to take away what Purrball said. Selling master skins is a privilege, not a right.
Some Master skins may be turned down, after going through moderation. So they have to be extra good.
Reply #51 Sunday, January 21, 2007 8:24 AM
| Which brings up an interesting question which is, who exactly decides who is a master skinner? Is it Brad? It is a committee of employees? Is it the admins and mods? Seems like a subjective call at best. So who decides who has the right to earn money at WC from the sale of skins? To be clear, I fully support the concept of Master Skinners, just curious about the hows and wherefores. |
Change the word "right" to status, but the question is the same. Who decides who becomes a master skinner?
Reply #52 Sunday, January 21, 2007 8:30 AM
"Not all good skins are made by "Master"s.
True indeed!
Reply #53 Sunday, January 21, 2007 9:22 AM
| I knew it was going to come to this! Just a matter of time! I pay money for OD, which is too high to begin with and I get average to below average skins to choose from. Now for the good skins, I am suppose to dish out more money??? |
As it's been said in many other posts. There are literally thousands of skins available on Wincustomize alone. There are just a handful of Masters skins available for purchase, and you are in no way obligated to purchase them.
Reply #54 Sunday, January 21, 2007 9:40 AM
Reply #55 Sunday, January 21, 2007 10:02 AM
I WANT TO BE A MASTER SKINNER!!!!!
Reply #56 Sunday, January 21, 2007 10:02 AM
Just to let everyone know, who participated in the GUI Champs, your skins were (all) low quality. We should all thank Buttermaker for pointing that out to us. |
Yeah, I'm rather grateful to Buttermaher for pointing out where I've been going wrong for the last 3 -4 years....I've been thoroughly enjoying skins that are all of 'low' quality....hmph, when I could/should have been complaining.
I mean, I really, really enjoy a good whinge and haven't had one for yonks.
Oh Buttermaker...Buttermaker, why couldn't you have imparted all this great wisdom to have more richly enhanced my life much sooner than this. It's just not fair...that you can find all these things to find fault in, complain about and rubbish - and I'm rowing a barbed wire canoe up the Grand Rapids with a crowbar to find a solitary one. 
Reply #57 Sunday, January 21, 2007 12:03 PM
The point is if you want the skinning community to progress isn't it logical to think that technology will change along with the way it goes to market?
No one gives a second thought to paying for changing all of their cassettes into CD's, buying a new cell phone (and one for all of the kids), or upgrading to satellite. So what is the concern here? I don't want this site to only survive, but to progress. So congratulations to the Master Skinners who are the reason the site has survived. And more power to them as the community progresses.
Reply #58 Sunday, January 21, 2007 12:30 PM
| Change the word "right" to status, but the question is the same. Who decides who becomes a master skinner? |
Moderators nominate someone to be a master based on their contributions and we vote on it. Masters then have the right to submit content as a premium (master) skin which is then moderated by Stardock.
Reply #59 Sunday, January 21, 2007 12:33 PM
| rowing a barbed wire canoe up the Grand Rapids with a crowbar |
OMG!
[Tasmanian water...must be...]| I don't want this site to only survive, but to progress. So congratulations to the Master Skinners who are the reason the site has survived. And more power to them as the community progresses |
Amen
Reply #60 Sunday, January 21, 2007 12:33 PM
| I knew it was going to come to this! Just a matter of time! I pay money for OD, which is too high to begin with and I get average to below average skins to choose from. Now for the good skins, I am suppose to dish out more money??? |
Object Desktop is too high?
What software product do you feel should be the example of what is priced right?
When you purchase Object Desktop you get:
- WindowBlinds
- DesktopX
- ObjectBar
- IconPackager
- SkinStudio
- IconDeveloper
- WindowFX
- RightClick
- Keyboard LaunchPad
- Theme Manager
- Virtual Desktops
- IconX
And you say Object Desktop costs too much? Good grief.
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Reply #41 Saturday, January 20, 2007 3:47 PM
Long overdue.
Great plan.
The only proviso would be whether or not bugs in the skins (if they exist) are addressed in a timely manor. I would prefer to pay for a skin that functions as well as the WindowBlinds program allows (in other words; the only glitches in the skins are due to the unavoidable incompatibilities between WindowBlinds and some Programs - e.g., Office 2007 running on Windows XP).
I would also agree that a filter to show/hide any Master Skins would be appropriate.