Hello everyone, this post is going to shed some light on what your donation, sponsor, partner, as well as the one ad we have on the site does for RMMV. I'm probably one of the very few 1% that do not host websites for money, but for a service. I own GameHandout which I giveaway real, 100% legal, purchased games to people. Such as Black Ops 3 without any form of payment, etc. I made this site for one reason, and that reason was to provide the best resources, friendliest, most helpful, etc. community out of any RM site out there.
Back on topic of the money I make from the site. I've spent every penny back on this site that I received from donations thus far. If you do not know, this site is using XenForo, and all the amazing features we have on here is from the XenForo resources that their members have created. Now, most of the features we use are huge, and took a lot of time to make, so... they charge a lot. Off the bat. XenForo is a $140 system, the resource we have is an extra $60. I'm also thinking about getting a media addon to allow members a whole section (Kind of like imagr) to post their own photos of either resources, or their games they're making. Which is another $60. Wiki = $10 Badges = $35, and more.
I'm also trying to get a blog system added, as well as a homepage, and customizable profile pages. The Blog costs $50, the homepage costs $40, and the customizable profiles cost $10.
I also put money back in, to help out our SEO (Search Engine Optimization) A.K.A. when members search RPG Maker MV, RMMV, RPG Maker MV Resources, etc. our website shows up on the first page. This way we will have more, and more members, and can be the amazing community you all deserve! This isn't cheap, and one service to add some backlinks, .GOV .EDU backlinks, profile posts, PR7-9 links, etc. Costs a lot of money, and I've already dropped well over $100 on this.
As well as the cost for Hosting, and keeping our domain, and you cannot forget upgrading the hosting once we get way bigger. This will start costing a lot of money.
With all this stuff I'm adding, changing, managing, and upgrading it costs a lot of money. So everything you all end up donating goes directly into the forum. Not in my pocket, but to help make this place a better experience for you all. This is my hobby, I don't make websites for a profit, or a living. I have a job/career, I don't need another one. Being a webmaster is my hobby and something I do for the community, to provide a selfless service to the community.
This post isn't to convince you all to donate, or to ask/beg for donations, but to simply answer questions a few of y'all have, or had. To ensure you that anything you do to help out the community goes into the community. I wanted to shed some light to you all, as I feel it's important to know what your money is truly going towards when you do spend it, no matter what it is. I know this site is new, and some of y'all are still getting to know me, but any update, plan, etc. I have, I try to tell you exactly what it is for, and why I'm doing it. I'm an honest man, and I feel that hiding stuff will only make it worse in the long run, and I live by my word. I might be slow to getting around to it from time to time XD But I will always keep my word.
*Slightly off topic* My mom bought a book for me before 6th grade to read in school as we were required to buy a book. I picked out this hardback book called Eragon, which was like $40. That's really expensive for a book, and for us at the time. She told me if she bought it, I HAD to read it, and I made that promise. We'll... Like 2 years ago I found it (a year and a half after I graduated high school) I found it, and read it because I promised her I would. (I did get addicted, and bought every book in the series though XD)
Back on topic of the money I make from the site. I've spent every penny back on this site that I received from donations thus far. If you do not know, this site is using XenForo, and all the amazing features we have on here is from the XenForo resources that their members have created. Now, most of the features we use are huge, and took a lot of time to make, so... they charge a lot. Off the bat. XenForo is a $140 system, the resource we have is an extra $60. I'm also thinking about getting a media addon to allow members a whole section (Kind of like imagr) to post their own photos of either resources, or their games they're making. Which is another $60. Wiki = $10 Badges = $35, and more.
I'm also trying to get a blog system added, as well as a homepage, and customizable profile pages. The Blog costs $50, the homepage costs $40, and the customizable profiles cost $10.
I also put money back in, to help out our SEO (Search Engine Optimization) A.K.A. when members search RPG Maker MV, RMMV, RPG Maker MV Resources, etc. our website shows up on the first page. This way we will have more, and more members, and can be the amazing community you all deserve! This isn't cheap, and one service to add some backlinks, .GOV .EDU backlinks, profile posts, PR7-9 links, etc. Costs a lot of money, and I've already dropped well over $100 on this.
As well as the cost for Hosting, and keeping our domain, and you cannot forget upgrading the hosting once we get way bigger. This will start costing a lot of money.
With all this stuff I'm adding, changing, managing, and upgrading it costs a lot of money. So everything you all end up donating goes directly into the forum. Not in my pocket, but to help make this place a better experience for you all. This is my hobby, I don't make websites for a profit, or a living. I have a job/career, I don't need another one. Being a webmaster is my hobby and something I do for the community, to provide a selfless service to the community.
This post isn't to convince you all to donate, or to ask/beg for donations, but to simply answer questions a few of y'all have, or had. To ensure you that anything you do to help out the community goes into the community. I wanted to shed some light to you all, as I feel it's important to know what your money is truly going towards when you do spend it, no matter what it is. I know this site is new, and some of y'all are still getting to know me, but any update, plan, etc. I have, I try to tell you exactly what it is for, and why I'm doing it. I'm an honest man, and I feel that hiding stuff will only make it worse in the long run, and I live by my word. I might be slow to getting around to it from time to time XD But I will always keep my word.
*Slightly off topic* My mom bought a book for me before 6th grade to read in school as we were required to buy a book. I picked out this hardback book called Eragon, which was like $40. That's really expensive for a book, and for us at the time. She told me if she bought it, I HAD to read it, and I made that promise. We'll... Like 2 years ago I found it (a year and a half after I graduated high school) I found it, and read it because I promised her I would. (I did get addicted, and bought every book in the series though XD)
