Pay to Race - Would You?

Lewis Fergusson · Nov 22, 2009

This idea has been brought up in the past and other sites run on it completely, so I thought I'd see what people think about this now.
Would you pay to play a game?

Ross Balfour · Nov 22, 2009

Hmm, it really depends on who I was racing. If it was 24 other people I knew I could have a clean race with then of course, but it ifs just some randomers who might be clean. Im not willing to take the risk.

Neil Gault · Nov 23, 2009

Myself i race for fun and having to pay to race kind of removes some of the fun aspect, i do not mind donating towards server/site costs when i can but having a set amount to pay each race for me is a no.

Dan Coldrick · Nov 23, 2009

Neil Gault said:
Myself i race for fun and having to pay to race kind of removes some of the fun aspect, i do not mind donating towards server/site costs when i can but having a set amount to pay each race for me is a no.

100% Agree with you Neil.

Neil Tennant · Nov 23, 2009

pay or dont pay, still racing with people who can punt you from the track.

Jamie R · Nov 23, 2009

Paying per race would ruin it for me, I would rather just go subscribe to iRacing if I wanted that kind of racing.

Lee Downham · Nov 23, 2009

Agree with all the "no" supporters' comments above ... plus, because people are paying there will probably be an unhealthy increase in the level of seriousness and desire to win rather than fair play (something which is often too high already) ... leading to a breakdown in the community spirit, more formalities and rules, increased workload and pressures for all people involved ... and finally me and I guess a lot of folks migrating elsewhere to race. :nono:

Rhys Gardiner · Nov 23, 2009

Lee Downham said:
Agree with all the "no" supporters' comments above ... plus, because people are paying there will probably be an unhealthy increase in the level of seriousness and desire to win (something which is often too high already) ... leading to a breakdown in the community spirit, more formalities and rules, increased workload and pressures for all people involved ... and finally me and I guess a lot of folks migrating elsewhere to race. :nono:

^This.

Kevin Watts · Nov 23, 2009

No I would not and I would not expect anyone else to do so. I pay to play iRacing when I have the time because its a fully integrated service. I log in to the web-site and I can launch the game, check my stats etc with a minimum of fuss. Sites like Race2Play and to a lesser extent RaceDepartment cannot compete because they have to use off the shelf software and try to make this fit in with their existing web-site structure. This is not to say they don't do a good job but they cannot compete with iRacing. Paying for a service doesn't necessarily mean clean racing as I have found in iRacing though to be fair the crashes I have had are from either drivers inexperience or a momentary rush of blood and not something premeditated.

I have donated to RaceDepartment though not as much as perhaps I could however I do donate my time to assist where I can and that time is more precious to me than a monetary donation. I run a site that supports a computer hardware manufacturer and work closely with them and that has its own costs such as hosting, software and my own spare time. I have always run that site without asking for donations and without running ad's because its something I feel strongly about. While I have donated to RaceDepartment and will likely do so again it is very rare for me to do so as in my opinion if you run a web-site its up to you to fund it - if you can't then stop running it.

Kevin Ascher · Nov 23, 2009

Clear question asks for a clear answer.
Yes, if I was happy with car/track choice and the rules and knew I could get top class racing, I'd pay a lot.

Patrick Speleman · Nov 23, 2009

I wouldnt' mind to pay for a decent race.
A start fee of let's say 5€ for some fun (not crashing) then for sure I'm in.

Mark Birney · Nov 23, 2009

The whole appeal to simracing is a cheaper, more approachable and more enjoyable alternative to real racing. It's like the water tax they are bringing here soon. Bull.

Matthew Gutteridge · Nov 24, 2009

I race for enjoyment. Paying would make me feel more competitive, as if I have to do well to make it worth the money. No from me.

Andrew Herron · Nov 24, 2009

To me the whole point of simracing is that it is free. Having to pay to race defeats the whole purpose. You might as well start racing for real.

Kevin Ascher · Nov 24, 2009

Andrew Herron said:
To me the whole point of simracing is that it is free. Having to pay to race defeats the whole purpose. You might as well start racing for real.

Racing is really really really expensive, why can't simracing at least be cheap then when it's nowhere near as expensive as real racing?

Stuart Thomson · Nov 24, 2009

So, taking RD as an example, is sim racing actually free?

Donators are paying the expenses here, which means they are subsidising non-donators.

I wonder what the reaction to "Donators only" races & leagues would be?

Lee Downham · Nov 24, 2009

Good point Stuart ... but then again there are money making ways other than Donations.

I have suggested numerous ways of making money for the site and so eradicate the need for donations each month, yet no one seems to have taken me up on it.

One of the simplest ways of paying for the site would be to have some T-shirts, stickers and similar things made up ... the outlay is marginal when you buy in bulk and the profits would easily keep things going for a while.
EDIT: .. you could even have an advanced order on the first set of T's made up and get the funds in before even shipping them, I am sure a lot of folks would not mind a jot that they have to wait a couple of weeks.

Stuff like this worked at Gixxer.com (in the past - not sure of current situation) and tonnes of other sites, so why can't it work here where we have a great community spirit?? :th_wink:

Stuart Thomson · Nov 25, 2009

That's kind of besides the point I was trying to make Lee, irrespective of how valid your point is (and it is valid).

15 different posters in this thread, only 4 donators.

So the majority of people who have got something to say about whether racing should be pay to race are the ones who don't pay anything now.

And again, we're over 80% through the month, but only 50% of the way to the required target. How many current non-donators will step up?

But how many will moan when the targets aren't met and we have to get rid of services to make up the shortfall?

Yves Larose · Nov 25, 2009

Lee Downham said:
Good point Stuart ... but then again there are money making ways other than Donations.

I have suggested numerous ways of making money for the site and so eradicate the need for donations each month, yet no one seems to have taken me up on it.

One of the simplest ways of paying for the site would be to have some T-shirts, stickers and similar things made up ... the outlay is marginal when you buy in bulk and the profits would easily keep things going for a while.
EDIT: .. you could even have an advanced order on the first set of T's made up and get the funds in before even shipping them, I am sure a lot of folks would not mind a jot that they have to wait a couple of weeks.

Stuff like this worked at Gixxer.com (in the past - not sure of current situation) and tonnes of other sites, so why can't it work here where we have a great community spirit?? :th_wink:

i think its the same as the donation, people that don,t donate will probably not buy for t-shirts or stuff like that adding to that the ones that will buy stuff will onces again support those that don't buy stuff. to me that solution is the same as the donation and we are back at square one.

Lee Downham · Nov 25, 2009

Lets face it, this thread and all similar discussions evoke more "fire" in those who have something to lose.
Maybe also those who have something to lose have less expendable income, so feel they will be excluded from the RD community should it become a pay per race format.

The more apathetic donators are perhaps so inclined because they have less to lose - they already pay to race and so do not feel there would be much difference to them.

Is that what RD aims to achieve ... to become an exclusive club just for racers with a bit of money, or would you rather it be a great place to have fun and fair races with anyone from any walk of life, whether they are richer or poorer? :soldier:

It seems to me that donations are a constant struggle ... if so, then I fail to see why there is a problem with trying alternative methods of keeping the racing free such as those I proposed here, plus others like advertising, sponsorship, marketing surveys, demographics data, statistical data collection and resale to large corporations ... etc etc etc

I would personally be more inclined to donate if I were to see one of these other methods tried and even failing ... but what do I know about anything anyways??

:clown: