Premium Content Ideas

[normsherman]

Thought I would open this up as a Suggestion Box for what Drabblecast Bsides Premium Content subscribers would like to see made available beyond stories. We've got ideas for an App, DC ringtones, DC desktop and mobile themes, a text-based In Search of the Mongolian Deathworm video game, a possible webcomic. Let us know what you'd like to see!

[Praxis]

Interviews (audio or otherwise) with authors. Discussions of the ideas behind their story, discussions (and this would personally be my favourite bit) of what they changed in the story as it was being created: what they wanted to keep in at didn't work, other ways they'd thought about taking the story.

Relatively simple to implement, also it doesn't diminish the enjoyment for listeners who only listen to the main (free) content. I mean it doesn't make non-premium content less worth having... you'll just get more out of the podcast if you have the extra goodness.

[Varda]

I like author interviews. And ringtones - cat splat, please?

Also, maybe an occasional live chat Q&A with the DC crew, where subscribers can ask questions/hear about the making of the 'cast? Sorta like MBDM?

Another idea: wouldn't have to be B-Sides exclusive, but how about a flash fiction contest, similar to what they do at EA, where the winners get produced as a Trifecta? It would drive forum/community involvement, which I can personally say makes people more invested in the 'cast and more likely to subscribe.

(Also... MDW text adventure/comic?! YES!)

[tbaker2500]

I like the idea of interviews being done in a separate 'cast. I dislike interviews being run with the main story, I don't get to see how long the story itself is (1:45?? I don't have time for this!)

[Praxis]

Each premium content subscriber gets sent a picture of Norm.....I dunno....lying in the middle of some pumpkins, or something.

[tbaker2500]

I bet the newer members wish they knew what you were talking about.

[strawman]

Great ideas. If the author interviews for the main stories were on B-Sides, that would be a separate cast.

I'd also pay to hear a smackdown panel discussion between Abbie Hilton, Hearty White and Connor Choadsworth about certain stories, like Cold Equations. Maybe not with beer, like the MBDM discussions. But scored, and with sound effects, for "maximum entertainment value". This could be a regular feature, like MST3000.

[Algernon Sydney is Dead]

How about a forum badge? A little ribbon, trophy, etc., that shows everywhere a donor's avatar does. Says something like: "I'm paying for your downloads, bitches! Fear me. (Or pay up yourself)"

Likewise, maybe host a similar bit of flair that a donor can place on his site, blog, Facebook, etc.

Example of flair for a different site:

[Varda]

I'd also love to see a gift subscription option, so I can have yet another tool for guilting my family and friends into getting podcast-addicted.

[strawman]

How about a forum badge? A little ribbon, trophy, etc., that shows everywhere a donor's avatar does. Says something like: "I'm paying for your downloads, bitches! Fear me. (Or pay up yourself)"

Likewise, maybe host a similar bit of flair that a donor can place on his site, blog, Facebook, etc.

Example of flair for a different site:

Oh, yeah:
An "I'm a DC Donor!" with a picture of a tentacle hooked up to a green blood bag.

[tbaker2500]

I also thought of badges. So that's two votes for that.

Gift subscriptions: We have a new automated payment system in the works. It doesn't yet support gift payments in the automatic sense, but I could set up a manual way of doing that. Good idea.

[tbaker2500]

An "I'm a DC Donor!" with a picture of a tentacle hooked up to a green blood bag.

Perfect!

[Praxis]

Premium content subscribers finally get to find out why there was all that fuss about Walt, and what was with those damned polar bears?

[Praxis]

How about giving subscribers snippets of up coming stories. Could be relatively short, like a paragraph or a sentence or two.

Obviously in the age of t'internet it would be impossible to stop people Googling away to try to find the rest of the story but, then they'd be spoiling their own future story enjoyment.