Indie-Resource.com

Hey guys, i'm not really sure if I'm going forward with this idea for a project, but i might in the xmas vacations.

So here it is:

A SOCIAL NETWORK FOR GAMERS.

Have you ever wanted to play a game, but you don't or don't spend any time playing because you're alone? No more, with this "social network" you would be able to chat with different gamers to set a time for a gaming party on your favorite game.

So the project is very simple, a website, where you can register (maybe login with facebook who knows) and setup a party for a gaming session. Then in the end you can rate that party, and each member so later people can know who to invite (the good sports) and whom not to invite (the trolls and stupid kids).

My aim with this would be to create a nice community of gamers, that aren't complete assholes like the ones i get in public matches.. If you play GTA V or CoD you know what I'm talking about. With this website you can create nice friendships with the good sports instead of keep being trolled or annoyed. A game is supposed to be fun and entertaining not supposed to be a stress matter right?

What you guys think, and would you join such a website?

PS: IF (oh boy this is a super hyper big IF) the website gets popular between a good gamer community, who knows we could setup some tournaments with prizes etc.

Give me some feedback if you please

The problem with this is that there are already so many message boards, in game chats, etc. that do this. The solution? Make your product have something so interesting people find it. Not sure what you could do with this. If one person plays Madden, why not go to a madden forum and instead go to Vitinho's gaming network?

Xaos wrote:The problem with this is that there are already so many message boards, in game chats, etc. that do this. The solution? Make your product have something so interesting people find it. Not sure what you could do with this. If one person plays Madden, why not go to a madden forum and instead go to Vitinho's gaming network?

Interesting point indeed, I need to put more thinking into this than i initially thought then. Hum... that really stuck to my mind now need to think about it a LOT.

If I could find a place where I can add some of these odd ball games I play like Lux Delux, Ticket To Ride, ect.. and players who want to play can all meet there that would be epic. I would join instantly. Problem is you need the audience as well. You need players to get players catch22.

Gaming networks setup by a gamer tend to do the best. Why? Because they bring their small group of friends (or even a "clan") with them. If you don't have anyone start asking around, and looking for a few people willing to give a new site a try. Once you have a small number of gamers (and they can't usual be casual but those who spend hours a day on it) you will find attracting people much easier. As said above you need members to get members. same principle as setting a forum up really, if topics are answered quickly, and content is good people will come back. If the content is good but questions are slow they will simply ask elsewhere.

In reference to the above question "what is your USP" it is usually experienced players they want in a community so maybe start small and focused on a few specific game discussions and grow slowly but steady. You could give the members the option to set new areas up for each new game they play.

hallsofvallhalla wrote:If I could find a place where I can add some of these odd ball games I play like Lux Delux, Ticket To Ride, ect.. and players who want to play can all meet there that would be epic. I would join instantly. Problem is you need the audience as well. You need players to get players catch22.

Yeah, The more i try to do (projects and stuff) the more i see how hard is to start... When you reach your first thousand players, you can be almost sure that you are cruising.. but till there you need to work your ass off to accelerate, and this is just the same, it's very hard to start something from scratch nowadays, because there are other things already built.. imagine starting a new IR ... It would be very hard i imagine.

But i don't really know, It would be a neat project and even if it failed, i still had a pretty good base for another type of social network, maybe display as open-source to help somebody for a change.

Dominion wrote:Gaming networks setup by a gamer tend to do the best. Why? Because they bring their small group of friends (or even a "clan") with them. If you don't have anyone start asking around, and looking for a few people willing to give a new site a try. Once you have a small number of gamers (and they can't usual be casual but those who spend hours a day on it) you will find attracting people much easier. As said above you need members to get members. same principle as setting a forum up really, if topics are answered quickly, and content is good people will come back. If the content is good but questions are slow they will simply ask elsewhere.

In reference to the above question "what is your USP" it is usually experienced players they want in a community so maybe start small and focused on a few specific game discussions and grow slowly but steady. You could give the members the option to set new areas up for each new game they play.

Yeah of course, in the beginning it would be like (example), Me, Halls, You, Xaos, and then if you liked to play with me and halls and xaos, you would call your friends to play too, and then they found out halls plays another game that they like, and they have another friend that plays it too, so they call him, etc etc.

vitinho444 wrote:

Dominion wrote:Gaming networks setup by a gamer tend to do the best. Why? Because they bring their small group of friends (or even a "clan") with them. If you don't have anyone start asking around, and looking for a few people willing to give a new site a try. Once you have a small number of gamers (and they can't usual be casual but those who spend hours a day on it) you will find attracting people much easier. As said above you need members to get members. same principle as setting a forum up really, if topics are answered quickly, and content is good people will come back. If the content is good but questions are slow they will simply ask elsewhere.

In reference to the above question "what is your USP" it is usually experienced players they want in a community so maybe start small and focused on a few specific game discussions and grow slowly but steady. You could give the members the option to set new areas up for each new game they play.

Yeah of course, in the beginning it would be like (example), Me, Halls, You, Xaos, and then if you liked to play with me and halls and xaos, you would call your friends to play too, and then they found out halls plays another game that they like, and they have another friend that plays it too, so they call him, etc etc.

I doubt anyone on here is the type of gamer I was talking about. Programmers tend to be much more casual. I am talking about the people who post their gameplays online daily, and essentially it is as a hobby.

You need to consider what kind of structure it would have as well maybe based on Linkedin? Never used it but it's supposedly professional? I doubt an open page system like Facebook "likes" would give you the type of community you want. It would attracted the ones you don't want as well, and completely closed would be a hard sell when you consider what is already out there.

A social network is not just facebook. For me it's a website where you can connect to people in a easy way. And you can share your results if you want, rate your friends etc.
Ofc there wouldn't be a LIKE button in "my" social network.

I can see where this would be a hit, especially if you can attract people and provide better platform than a free message board, a skype conversation or a Facebook page. I think it should focus on the person and their profiles, showing reviews, ratings, gameplay videos, their style of plat, etc. maybe have profile options where users can enter games they play and their play style, which allows for a bunch of customization and specifics. Then have a Facebook like news stream where people can update about their games, who they're playing, etc. etc. etc. and obviously a big chat room as well as individual private instant messaging and group messaging would be vital. Also, voice calling would be great.

I'm probably not as good of a programmer as you are, but If you wanna see this succeed and at least have a shot, I can help