I wouldn't mind a game room, but there are so many flash game sites out there I don't see how VideoSift would be special in any way. In addition, hosting flash based games would only increase the traffic and I don't think that's a good idea considering the current situation.

However, in terms of games, there's something that would interest me:

While watching the Academy Awards I thought "Wouldn't it be neat to be able to bet on the oscar winners using power points as currency?" That's just one example, but involving the use of power points might be a bigger incentive to sign up for a basic or even charter account.

i'm not gagging for a games room but saying that, i'd definitely use it and i'm pretty sure it'd keep people on here longer. having said that, it might dilute videosift's main purpose. would it not be better to start gamesift.com or something similar? if it did happen though, i'd suggest the same format as with videos: sifting the best games. i'd definitely use that.

I don't think it's a good idea at all from a finance point of view.

The problem with games is that, the good ones anyway, involve you playing for some time. Thereby less pageviews, thereby less revenue. Plus there's less to discuss about a game vs a video.

Videos are generally a few minutes of watching followed by a whole heap of watching. Games would be a whole lot of playing with a little discussion past 'I just got 40 gazillion points on astro babe humpers!'

I rather like the GameSift idea - there's a TON of great flash and java games out there... but even more dreck to wade through to find it. And who knows, I might have enough good games bookmarked to get a bronze star (although Ant will probably submit them all first ).

And to counter spoco2's argument, there are better ways of making ad revenue than page view-based stats. You can put ads in flash games themselves or in wrappers that deliver an ad based on time played.

...

gamesift isnt a bad idea but a game room on videosift doesnt seem like a good idea. it would be confusing.

(btw i love how people share their ideas on how to help the sift survive)

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag. (show it anyway)

I'm with the people who say that it would be better on a separate site. The other issue is that many flash games are not "embeddable" so the sources would be much smaller.

I'd be all for a gamesift.com. Do you have any idea how many crappy flash games there are? Every once in a while, you find a gem and it'd be nice to share those with friends and/or sift 'em up so they're easier to find.

I also have to give points to spoco2 on the call that you wouldn't get nearly as much feedback on them. Just a bunch of people asking "How do you get past level 15??"

I say fix the site before making any more things.

Like the UI.

Instead of sifting games.. Why don't a few of you clever ones make ones somehow incorporating member names or avatars. You could include them on the page w/ the crossword puzzle.

Or.. seasonal events... Lucky and a couple of you brainy boys out there could make an 'easter egg' hunt for next month. Place little tidbits around the site? However that can work out..

*doublesupermegarolleyes

I think the space for Flash games is already a little crowded. I'm a big gamer, and some Flash games are in fact diamonds in the rough... Which is why I have an account on Kongregate. They allow game rating, have their own API which existing Flash games can hook into, a metascore system like Gamer Points, integrated chat, their own CCG, revenue streams for developers, and then some. So without some great innovations or a "killer app" of a feature, I don't see GameSift doing very well.

How about affiliating with a games blog, like we do with Neatorama, et. al? JayIsGames has some good stuff going on.

>> ^blahpook:
How about affiliating with a games blog, like we do with Neatorama, et. al? JayIsGames has some good stuff going on.


Kongregate is one of my favorites.

Also, off topic: I love blahpook's avatar.

i said no... because i assume it will raise bandwidth usage? if not then sure, do it. don't want to cause any expense though.

I don't think it's a big deal either way. I'm sure some people would use it. I doubt it would draw much traffic. People come to videosift for the videos and there are so many sites out there with tons of game content.

In any event .. it seems like creating traffic isn't the issue, the problem is generating revenue from it. The ratio of traffic vs. dollars isn't working .. so simply increasing traffic ("appeal") isn't enough.

It would be fun to play cards or Risk with people, sometimes.

Hey videopeeps. I'm out of town for the week and haven't much time to sift. I'll be back next week.

KP, sounds like a good idea, but many of the best games aren't embeddable. Would it be beneficial to the site if we were to play desktop tower defense on VS as opposed to kongregate? Also, I accidentally voted no instead of yes. oops.

Here are a couple of ideas I've had for sometime, but they might not be practical.

-I'd love to have an audiosift, where we could exchange songs and playlists. If we were to do this, we'd want to suspend the self link rule, so that we would all have the ability to upload the kinds of eclectic and obscure music that you don't find on youtube. Is there another type of embeddable media format that would work better than flash videos?

-I'd also love to have an Obama progress report page, where we could list his activities and accomplishments in office, both good and bad, so that we could have a broad overview of how he spends his time in office. We'd have to be careful to use basic neutral wording so it doesn't become an adoration/hate page.

audiosift sounds good .. though we do have several music related channels already ..

You want to watch Obama's progress? You can start here with the war Bush started and he won't end: http://antiwar.com/casualties/

^Feeling a bit frisky, are we, Mister Fister?

Voting for this poll ended with the majority of users voting Yes, a game room would be nice.

>> ^dystopianfuturetoday:
^Feeling a bit frisky, are we, Mister Fister?


Hey man, you asked for Obama's progress, and I think showing the blood on his hands is the best kind of progress report. And, yes, I do feel frisky when my Democrat brethren claim to be the party of peace and the party of anti-war but their actions smell of repulsive contradiction. That does make me frisky.

All of these ideas are crying out for the return of collectives. I voted no on the games addition, for reasons better stated by others (bandwidth, already done). But the notion of specialized interests is even more important now than it was 2 years ago.


Completely remove the current channel system. All the 'top level' channels (music, comedy, science, movies) become pre-defined tags. More specific channels are turned into the old form collectives - people join and participate in a few select areas of interest. Combine that with the ability to filter videos based on each user's area of interest (especially in the queue) and you've got much less bandwidth requirements, though perhaps heavier server requirements. But that's what you want right? Processing power is a fixed cost, bandwidth cost scales, doesn't it?

>> ^blankfist:
>> ^dystopianfuturetoday:
^Feeling a bit frisky, are we, Mister Fister?

Hey man, you asked for Obama's progress, and I think showing the blood on his hands is the best kind of progress report. And, yes, I do feel frisky when my Democrat brethren claim to be the party of peace and the party of anti-war but their actions smell of repulsive contradiction. That does make me frisky.


I wish his withdrawal timetable was shorter too, my peace loving friend.