To get it out of the way, I want to say that I've been a member of GiantBomb since the beginning and love the idea of supporting the Whiskey Media brand. A subscription based system is certainly a way to go about it but as many of the users have pointed out it is a way of splintering the user base into pay scales. Either you as a member are completely supporting GiantBomb by donating the 50 dollars a year or the five dollars a month for x-many months, or you don't and let the ad revenue you generate from simply visiting the site cover for you. Or you can be a total douche and have ad-blocker on at the same time.
My idea is a little wild and crazy for the internet. It's something people who listen to the radio are accustomed to, especially if they listen to National Public Radio. What I am eluding to is akin to a "Donation Month" where users from the community chip in to cover the extensive costs of running this website. This has the possibility of users donating values across the board and can become problematic if everyone merely donates a dollar or two. To counter-act this simply setting a bare minimum of five-ten dollars and you have a decent revenue service in place. That's roughly the price of an inexpensive Steam game, and we all know how crazy those games sell
The Very Reason This Still Exists Is Evidence EnoughSo what's going to be the incentive of donating larger sums? Ten dollars a pop isn't going to keep this site independent from advertising dollars and allow all the nifty features that Whiskey Media wants to implement. Well, we return back to the NPR model and offer people gifts for donating specific amounts or higher. Say someone donates fifty dollars to GiantBomb, in return they send them one of those fancy dancy T-Shirts that's going away with the fifty dollar subscription. The higher the donation the grander the gift. Seventy-five dollars for a signed photo of the crew or a personal phone message from Matt Kessler? One hundred dollars for swag from conventions or company promotions? Anything higher could warrant a lunch with Sara from Comic Vine, or the chance to get a tour of the Whiskey Media complex... Or you can walk Will Smith's Dog.
This would continue until the goal for the next several months (or possibly further) was met . This would include the HD Video option, the taking down of advertisements,as well as a complete bombcast It's a new and inventive way of going about it but it allows everyone to reap the benefits of a subscription based system without segregating the community. It's not too late to switch gears and try it out. GiantBomb's members (especially the general Whiskey Media audience) are incredible supportive and in my opinion are of a higher class than your typical video game website. Opinions are always welcome guys, feel free to comment on such a proposal.
