Editorial.....[part deux]
Sunday, December 28, 2003 by Jafo | Discussion: WinCustomize Talk
Posted on Skinbase....but reposted here to provide food for thought for those who may not go there all that often...
hobnobber...yes, basically all that is correct, though a more accurate estimate of those who contribute via skins, purchases, community input/interaction vs. those who only 'leech' for freebies is very much more than the ratio of 25 to 1....perhaps more in the realm of 2500 to 1....and that's the rub.
When skinning was in its infancy, say 5 years ago, it was all new and thrilling to everyone....now it has grown, not so much with newer apps coming on the scene on a daily basis...that was the 'norm' back in skinz.org [mk.1] days, but now the growth is in general interest/popularity, thanks to Microsoft's added awareness of the concept, with its visual styles, etc.
What you get now is many more 'users' but not a heck of a lot new blood in skinning as skinners as such....certainly not a comparable ratio to the popularity growth.
When once the skinners and their 'community' sites could foot the bill for all, as the majority were like-minded skinners themselves, now it's more a case of 'us and them'...the providers of product vs. the users of the product.
The dynamics have changed. With this change comes commercial pressures on everyone involved.
New specifics require new handling.....people need to cater for the changes with methodology that makes the situation survivable or else viability suffers and the reality of the system falls apart.
Change can be horrid and unpalatable but may just be absolutely necessary and unavoidable.
Anyone involved in the game for long enough can see the writing on the wall....even since the dot-com failings of the likes of eFront that killed the first REAL skinning community we have been striving for sustainability.
Anyone with genuine heart-felt feelings for the skinning community as a whole will realise the necessity to not put heads in the sand and blindly hope life will magically go on as normal, but make a conscious effort to find a sustainable model.
Sure, many will arrive at alternate theories of a working model, but until tried no-one will be sure what actually will succeed or not.
All that can be done is to try our collective best, hence many soul-searching threads on the subject of 'the future of skinning' in one form or another on many/most sites.
Poor old Devart has a massive user-base and being a graphics site demands high bandwidth/server load as does any skinning site at their relative levels.
I remember what the world was like before skinning....[my first foray was with Dos GUI shells - pre Windows...then Win 3x and beyond] and would hate to see the whole skinning world fall apart due to ennui or apathy, hence the hands-on involvement.
Let's all look forward to skinning/GUI modification still being not just 'fun', but sustainable in another 5 years, or 50...
[Message Edited]
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Reply #2 Sunday, December 28, 2003 7:24 AM
| #97 by ½Crazy Travis - 12/28/2003 12:11:43 AM |
I can't exactly remember how I got here, but once i found here i stayed. And I agree that "commercial skins" will lower the number of downloads it won't too much. Mostly the freeloaders will quit buying. I think a time trial for a skin would be nice. Use it for a day or week and if you like it you can buy it or it goes bye bye. Thanks for getting back on topic.  |
Reply #3 Sunday, December 28, 2003 7:24 AM
| #98 by Scribe Apocalypse_67 - 12/28/2003 12:18:31 AM |
| That is true Jeff, but sit back for a moment and contemplate this. A new skinner will come into the skinning community eager to share his work for 'free' and with lots of enthusiasm as he/she is learning the skinning process. After a while that skinner will sit back and think about how much time effort and money he/she is spending just to see a bunch of people download with out making any real contribution to the skinning community. That skinner will find him/her self making less skins to share and at the same time figuring out a way to profit from his work and effort. So relatively, those that want everything for free without giving anything back will pave the road to a more commercial way of distributing skins. |
Reply #4 Sunday, December 28, 2003 7:25 AM
| #99 by Citizen digital_trucker - 12/28/2003 12:21:02 AM |
| I disagree somewhat on the idea that 'the best skinners won't continue to do it for free'. Skinners will skin. The real problem is the bandwidth that is consumed by the thousands of folks who don't skin but want something different than their next-door neighbor. Charging for access is the only solution to that problem. I don't believe that pay-for skins will ever enjoy a widespread user base. Certainly suite packs will be something of an exception, but the majority of users will be content to purchase a site subscription and leave it at that. I also think that most users won't protest at being charged for the privelege of having access to a library of skins. Some will, but they'll prove to be nothing more than a very vocal minority. Personally, I think that the download limit for non-subscribers is set way too high as it is. Instead of having a size limit, I think that a quantity limit would be better. Say 3 free downloads out of each category...after that, you have to subscribe. That will automatically weed out the ones who aren't likely to come back anyway, and will force the ones who want to return regularly to ante up for the privelege |
Reply #5 Sunday, December 28, 2003 7:25 AM
| #100 by Scribe Apocalypse_67 - 12/28/2003 12:37:16 AM |
| Digital. All skinners will continue to share their work for free, but the amount of skins will drop considerably. Click on any real good skinner's name and browse thru his/her gallery and you will notice how much work they are sharing now a days in comparison to when they first started. You will also notice that most of the good skinners have gone on their own to a more commercial way of distributing their work. They still come once in a while and upload a skin/theme for free such as Mormegil and Adni did with the Christmas theme, but how many other good skinners have uploaded in recent months? People that really appreciate the work that goes into making these skins would not mind a pay subscription for the privilege to get premium skins. Those that voice for free stuff will be left out and in do times will see their way into the loop. Let’s face it; you can only give out so many things for free before you eventually find the need to charge. |
Reply #6 Sunday, December 28, 2003 7:25 AM
| #101 by goodmorphing - 12/28/2003 12:46:38 AM |
 Frogboy used to have a 'story' about supply and demand. It had something to do with a party (thrown by George), and how people liked to come. But they had a hard time agreeing to contribute to the party and George was going broke...Not exactly the story. Does anyone have a copy of that text? I thought the example was rather good... |
Reply #7 Sunday, December 28, 2003 7:27 AM
Reply #8 Sunday, December 28, 2003 8:34 AM
The skinners will not quit making free skins. It might appear that they have slowed down, but it is taking longer to do a skin or suite.
100-200 skins or suites was mentioned in one thread. I feel that that number is not easily attained. Stardock would have to either have to contract with skinners to reach that number or promote a large number to master. A 100 skins or suites (as mentioned in a thread) might be reached but Iam wondering if that can be sustained over time, as each year a new set of premium skins/suites would have to be made.
Maybe it would be more feasible to go to the single subscription and have a section of premium skins/suites to buy.
As its taking longer and longer to do blinds and suites, the authors are uploading less than they have in the past.
Oh well, my nickle. Jafo, go easy on the spelling and sentence structure.
Reply #9 Sunday, December 28, 2003 8:41 AM
Reply #10 Sunday, December 28, 2003 11:11 AM
Reply #11 Sunday, December 28, 2003 11:18 AM
Reply #12 Sunday, December 28, 2003 11:26 AM
Heck, if I get the opportunity to get pay for my work, I'll pull 3 premiums a month
Reply #13 Sunday, December 28, 2003 11:49 AM
Reply #14 Sunday, December 28, 2003 11:53 AM
Reply #15 Sunday, December 28, 2003 12:19 PM
| #12 by Scribe Apocalypse_67 - 12/28/2003 11:26:51 AM Heck, if I get the opportunity to get pay for my work, I'll pull 3 premiums a month |
If I am going to pay for it, I would rather have Quality and not Quantity IMHO.
Reply #16 Sunday, December 28, 2003 12:26 PM
The 'Heck, if I get the opportunity to get pay for my work, I'll pull 3 premiums a month' comment was more of how much encouragement a person will have if there is compensation for his/her work.
I think is also safe to say that in the case of authors submiting premium skins, these skins will be moderated to ensure that the quality is good enough to be up on a premium gallery.
[Message Edited]
Reply #17 Sunday, December 28, 2003 12:27 PM
| Quality |
yes but we must also consider one mans quality skin can be called crap by another man.
That is to say what defines quality? I personally dislike toon xp.
One mans trash is another tresure.
Just my 2 cents.
Reply #18 Sunday, December 28, 2003 12:38 PM
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Reply #1 Sunday, December 28, 2003 7:24 AM
I'm a good example. About 3 weeks ago I saw a PC that was all dressed up like a Mac. I'd never seen anything like that and I wanted my PC to look like a Mac, too.
Jeff