SixPrizes Underground: The Unveiling

Next week marks the 1 year birthday of SixPrizes.com! I wasn’t sure if the site would ever last this long, but here we are. :)

As part of its growth and development, I’ve been toying around with the idea of some sort of premium content offshoot of SixPrizes.

People sometimes complain that the article quality on the site is lacking, so for all you highly competitive people holding that gripe, I am making this for you.

I NEED input on all of this, but here’s what I am thinking so far…

The Writers

I will try to get some of the best players out there writing for this…people that have won multiple States, Regionals, and World Championships. La creme de la creme, if you will.

I’ve talked to a few of these players so far and I know Chris Fulop said he is very interested in writing, so that’s one name for you.

Let me know if there are any specific players you’d like to see writing articles for this! I will try to get them on board.

The Format

My initial thoughts were to do a mailed newsletter that gets delivered to your mailbox twice a month (every two weeks). It would contain 3 to 4 columns per issue, with each writer giving you a comprehensive deck analysis and maybe some thoughts on the current metagame or whatever seems relevant at the time.

Each column would probably be about 4 or 5 typed two column pages.

I am leaning toward the physical mailed newsletter option over e-mail for a couple reasons…

1. It is very easy to copy and paste an e-mail to a website or forward it to all your friends.
2. Getting something in the mail is cool.

The only issue is that it costs more to mail something than to send an e-mail. I’m still crunching the numbers to see if I can make it work.

Alternative Options

As I mentioned, an e-mailed newsletter could be an option. This would get sent out maybe once a week with 1 to 2 articles rather than every other week.

Another option is to make a members only content portion of the website where you would have to log-in to see the content.

This problem with that is again, it’s easy to copy and paste a whole webpage and post it elsewhere. I want the good people that sign up for this to be getting content they would otherwise not be able to find elsewhere on the internet.

I am not sure about the price point yet, but I will be offering a 1 month free trial for everyone once I start it up.

It will be reasonably priced, especially if maybe you and a friend pitch in for it together and share (which is what I imagine will happen in a lot of cases).

What I need from you:

In the comments section, please answer these questions…

1. Let me know if you’re interested!

2. Which players would you like to see writing?

3. What would you like them to write about? I’m just making an educated guess and assuming you want to see deck analyses.

4. Which format do you think will be best? Mailed newsletter, e-mailed newsletter, or protected on-site content?

Thanks,

Adam

Reader Interactions

116 replies

  1. Adam Capriola

    I don't really remember how Top Cut worked, but everyone please forget about
    that!

    A bunch of people I've talked to have mentioned how Top Cut failed…this is
    SixPrizes. Totally different thing.

  2. darklight1030

    Im interested, do not want to have to pay money and think E-mailed newsletters would be the best method. As long as this does not replace the original Sixprizes I am in agreement because though some of the articles may be lacking I do enjoy he quantity that are posted.

  3. Jean-Philippe Chen

    1. i am intrested :D 2.pooka! 3.deck analysis XD 4.MD on?
  4. tim h

    Hey, I'd love to write about stuff if you want me to. Regardless of the fact I have almost no experience with actual competitive playing that is… I wrote the long article about the cards that got rotated out and I could pull off more articles like that.

  5. Martin Garcia

    Like the idea, but since im not in america, the letter thingy seems kinda expensive for me, so i will go with the e-mail. I guess i would like to see deck analisis, but card analisis would be good too, and maybe some cool moves, or techniques for games? Dunno if top players will be willing to write about those tough.
    I dont have a particular player that i want to read, i guess any experienced one can do.
    As everyone else stated, if needed, i can write a few things myself.

  6. Jason Windham

    Paid subscription? TheTopCut used to have it and it doesnt seems to work, seeing their are sharings, etc.

    But yes Adam, I'll be up to write top notch articles if needed. lol.

  7. Adam Capriola

    International shipping won't be an issue, it would just be an envelope with
    the printed newsletter inside.

  8. Adam Capriola

    This will not replace the site at all, it's just something extra for the
    extra competitive people out there.

    And it's going to cost money…how else could I get a world class player to
    write for it?

  9. Perry Going

    its cool the way the site is now…. Emails are alot cheaper in the long run, but newletters would be cool but pretty, expensive. Any player is cool. This site is awesome how it is now….Thank you for creating this site.

  10. Matthew Riddle

    A mailed newsletter would be a very original idea!

    Another idea is to make each newsletter an image (.jpg, .png), so that if you need to e-mail it, people can't just copy and paste the text and email it to a friend/s.

    But I really like the mailed newsletter thing. Given the right design, and the consistency of the mailing and the quality of the product, I could see it being a very good product.

  11. Matthew Riddle

    Advertising is a good point. You could put advertisements for online stores like CollectorCache, Troll and Toad, etc if they were willing to help a little on the costs.

    But we start kind of getting into a legal issue with any kind of product sold that has copyrighted icons on it.

  12. Matthew Riddle

    Would it be in color or black/white? Just wondering because Kinkos recently went up from $0.33 a color copy to $0.55 and I don't know if you have a way to print out large batches of newsletters for cheap.

  13. Matthew Riddle

    I think the costing money is fine. There is a special quality to items in the mail. I always look forward to the last item I ordered online, and I look forward to insignificant items like the POP Player Rewards.

    As much as it'd be easier to just e-mail digital versions, a printed newsletter arriving in the mail, I feel, would get players so much more excited about the site and the game in general.

  14. Matthew Riddle

    Another thought on the matter.

    People keep bringing up how “good” the content has to be for people to be interested in ordering the newsletter. Honestly, I'd just like something I could take to league that could be fun to read and my league members would enjoy reading it.

    It doesn't have to have 100% World-Championship articles for me to be interested, and I can say the same for most of my league members. They AREN'T world-championship-class players. They would be more interested in the news about Pokemon Black and White, or information about the new Tins coming out this fall. Sure, throw in a WC-level article for some of the more competitive players, but do realize that once you start catering to 'one' type of players, you exclude all the other players.

    I don't see why a newsletter like this can't appeal to all different types of players. Competitive, or non-competitive, new player or experienced player, video game user or strictly tcg player. The more players you appeal to, the larger your potential member group is.

    A good quality newsletter can be taken to league and passed around, and when players get interested in it enough, forward them to the online site where they can read more articles and subscribe to the newsletter themselves.

    You can't do that with a digital version.

  15. Jay

    The Top Cut failed I believe mainly due to the fact that a majority of the staff worked and were full time students as well.

    Adam in my opinion I believe the success of this will come down to the quailty of the writers you get to be honest. I would mainly only top notch writers to write in this. But at the same point in time I would also have a section for “Opinion” pieces where normal people can write an article, and maybe include one or two of the better ones in your news letter, and post others on the site.

  16. Tweed Moore

    From a purely business viewpoint, I don't see you being able to make the subscription/newsletter thing viable financially. I understand the desire to make the use of the time and effort for profit, but just look around and see what does work in an information age. I'm into fantasy sports and they have tried to do the subscription thing. The only way they can do it is to provide faster, more indepth, and unique contributions to the discussions. But their target is adult men with money. Your target is younger and recreational. I would take that into consideration.

    Here's some ideas off the top of my head:
    Iphone/droid app
    Web advertising
    donations
    swag sales
    sponsorships by bigger organizations (e.g. toad and troll, pokemon, ebay, etc.)
    Raffle gaming mechanism – you get in more than you put out.

    Just some business model thoughts.

  17. Ben

    I think this a very good idea and I like it alot. Assuming you can advertise it well enough I think it could work.
    1. I would be interested
    2. Don't really know, I talk to alot of the top notch players pretty often
    3. Deck analysis for the most part, strengths, weaknesses, ect.
    4. I like the mailed newsletter format

  18. Ed Mandy

    I think you're right, and when people have something tangible in their hands, it's somehow worth something. I'm not saying that you can't charge for email or web access, but I think it's ingrained that tangible items have an associated worth.

  19. Sergio Ortiz

    1. I would be interested
      2. Tom Ross, Khan Lee, Gino Lombardi, Pooka, Tsuguyoshi Yamato (i know it would be dificult but it worth 30 dollars to read)
      3. Deck analysis with detailed Match ups (i mean not just “40-60 cuz of weakness” like the poorly written articles)
      4. Protected on-site content
  20. Alex Domini

    I really like the idea
    Mr. T, no jk we could have people that are famous take up 3 slots and then we can have people post their articles to you and you choose the BEST one from their to be aired on the newsletter. This is to keep the website fresh.
    I would like them to write about Pokemon. But mostly TCG thoughts they have on cards, processes on making decks like *sabelock*(Steve Silvestro and Aaron Curry),And already popular meta game decks.And honestly Adam it's just like renting movies or playing video games freinds are going to share with friends and teams are going to share amongst each other but It's still a good idea imo.

  21. Zachary Slater

    Good idea Adam, I might be interested in purchasing the newsletter as well depending on payment options.

    :)

  22. Dave Hueglin

    It's an interesting idea, but there are lots of potential pitfalls.
    – I'd go electronic instead of snail-mail. I think the latter would be way too much effort – stamps, mailing address labels printing etc.
    – Not all top level players are top level writers – some definately are though.
    – It may be hard to make this a regular (weekly or bi-weekly) event, as you are still relying on essentially free-lance writiers.
    – As to the price-point. I think you should make it a pay per view type of set-up. You would end up with a catalog of articles listed by author and subject matter. The articles would be published as available. You could have 6P members suggest topics they would like to see written about. In order to read and download the article (I'd suggest a pdf format), the reader would need to pay using Pay-pal or credit card.
    – I know you are worried about pirating, but even with a mailed newsletter it would be nothing for someone to scan the letter and post it as digital text. I think you just need to find the right price point where most people are willing to pay what they consider to be a fair price. I don't think $1-2 dollars would be unreasonable as long as they were well written, edited and formatted correctly and about a topic of interest. Also, as people would only be buying what they are interested in, and only re-buying articles by authors they thought were good writiers, you would get a very good sense of what topics to provide and who should be writing the articles.

    I guess I would kind of see it as 6P providing a hosting/hub for free-lance Pokemon authors to sell their articles to the Pokemon community. Obviously, any profits would be split at a proportion that you and the authors think is fair.

  23. Adam Capriola

    It would be black and white. I am going to bootstrap and print everything
    myself at least in the beginning.

    I have a laserjet printer and I calculated most of the costs already…

    For me to print a piece of paper it's like 3 cents front and back (that
    includes the price of the piece of paper)

    I am thinking each newsletter would be about 10 pages front and back (so 20
    pages of content, 5 pages for each of the 4 writers).

    Envelopes range from 1.6 cents to 6.3 cents I think, depending on if I order
    in bulk and if they are self sealing.

    The envelope is going to weight right around 2 ounces, which is 61 to 78
    cents for the stamp. Under 2 ounces is 61 cents…I hope I can keep the
    weight around there.

    So total it's like a dollar or so for each mailing, not that bad.

  24. Adam Capriola

    Mikey I would love to have you on board…get me your e-mail address and
    I'll give you more details. :)

  25. Adam Capriola

    I don't think the demographic is really all that recreational…I mean look
    how many people go to Nationals in their respective countries.

    Also this isn't a cheap game to play, people who play Pokemon are spenders.

  26. Martin Garcia

    hes got a point there. If you can spend 50 dollars on a luxray lv X, you can spend 1 o 2 on a good pokemon tcg newsletter.

  27. Tweed Moore

    I agree with the pitfalls mentioned. I should have added his idea to my models I proposed.

  28. David Burnett

    1. I am very interested.
      2. I would like any players who are experienced and are good at the game to write for it.
      3. Analysis would be preferable.
      4. I think the best format would be the current Modified format.
  29. Thomas Binghi

    I think this is a great idea, i think that it would be really cool to get it in the mail

  30. ESP

    I think this would be a great idea. I would love to receive this newsletter, and I would write for you if you wanted. I enjoy writing articles and I think I'm halfway decent at it. I know I'm not amazing or a world-class player, but I think that I have good insight into the game that people would enjoy reading.

  31. Tweed Moore

    I agree pokemon devotees will pay. Just like fantasy football, the reason people will pay beyond whats available for free is more immediate, and deeper info that others won't have in their leagues. Proven track record of predictions etc. give credibility. So Your idea of getting experts to do the articles, is awesome. I think the number and focus of the info needs to be pretty significant though.

    I will be one who subscribes, don't get me wrong. I'm just thinking further out in terms of making this not a short term fad.

  32. Joshua Pikka

    Nah dont like the idea.

    Im not paying for Pokemon content because 1, it should be and is free, and 2 the best players wont just give out their decklist for a couple of bucks.

    And if your worried about this content getting distributed around the net, having mailed newletters also is easy for people to scan and then email out, so its not like its that much harder than email.

    If you want to have a new article on the website entitled like “The Masters Corner” and a couple of good players write that article that would be something. Or have another six prizes site with just those authors on it, that would be something.

    But the main thing is no big players will just spill their decklists when they know they will be circulated very quickly.

    But happy birthday anyway.

  33. Sledd

    I think it is a great idea. I think E-Mail or a part of the site would be best, so you can keep it reasonably priced. I think that if it gets too expensive, people won't buy it. As for who to write, you should try to get at least 1 Pokemon World Champion from 2008, 2009, 2010 or so.

  34. Adam Capriola

    I think good players will share their winning deck lists (before the tournaments happen) if I compensate them well enough.

    I won't go through with this unless I am satisfied with the content that people write for it. If I think any writers are not giving their all, then I won't accept their articles.

    P.S. It's not my birthday?

  35. Adam Capriola

    I agree that I need to be a little more harsh when reviewing some of the articles, I'm too much of a push over sometimes.

    The thing is, you really can't find articles like the Jason's Nationals report or Fulop's Jumpluff discussion on the Gym very often. We get a lot of great articles on this site, but elsewhere it's tough to find real high quality info without spending a lot of time searching or trying to decipher what people are really saying.

  36. Adam Capriola

    World Champions would make for excellent writers, that exactly who I'd like to get on board.

  37. Adam Capriola

    If you are able to write stuff that people would enjoy, I might be able to use you if I can't get enough big name people on board. I'll keep you in mind. :)

  38. Adam Capriola

    I doubt Yamato speaks English well enough to write for it hahah.

    Thanks for the input Sergio. :)

  39. Adam Capriola

    I agree, this isn't really going to be something for the fairweather player, this is more for the gamers. Like the fantasy sports comparison you made, people get really into that stuff and pay for leagues, stats to help make decisions, etc…

  40. Adam Capriola

    Yeah exactly, the newsletter will be something you can divvy up the cost for between people at your league, team, testing group, or whatever and share it.

  41. Adam Capriola

    I've printed a sample newsletter just to weight it and figure out how I'd ship, and I gotta say it looks pretty cool. Getting one in the mail every couple weeks would really be something to look forward to during the season.

    The problem I see with doing more general information is that I don't think people want to pay for that kind of stuff. Maybe I could write about that kind of stuff as an extra thing or do that as a separate newsletter?

    It is really cool though, the whole paper aspect…it's something that is being lost as we progress into the digital age.

  42. Adam Capriola

    Yeah I don't know all the legal issues…I'd stay away from that for now.

    I'm going to be doing black and white to start, so I don't even know if it will even be worth inserting many pictures. I'd rather include more straight up content.

    I'll contact those stores to see if they're interested…they haven't responded to my e-mails for advertising directly on here though. :/

  43. Adam Capriola

    I agree Jay, the quality of the writers is super important.

    I am only going through with this if I feel that you are going to be getting great value. If I feel that the writers aren't giving good enough info, then I'll find new ones or give up on the project.

    The goal is to give people who want premium content just that. Of course I would like to make some money off it too, but I want to make sure people are more than happy with what they pay for.

  44. Sledd

    Yeah, I do agree with you. I like the idea of getting good players, but not paying for it. Maybe, like $2 dollars a month, but anything more than that wouldn't get much costumers because there are other sites Pokemon tcg sites out there, so if you check out a few, you can get enough good articles, that you don't need to pay for them. I think what you need to do is just put better articles up by not letting such novice ones get on the site.

  45. Takettsi Johnabaki

    Well like Adam said, Sixprizes and Topcut were totally different things with different circumstances.

    The reason why Drew Holton closed the site down wasn't due to him/the staff being busy, so much as A) him not making _enough_ to justify it, and B) the content actually hurting his own chances. Anyone at Worlds 2008 will tell you that Gardevoir mirror's complexity and deepness actually had topcut to thank for it; nobody else would have had incentive to go into such depth otherwise.

    While a “pay site” angle is the way to go with 6P, I believe that Adam can improve the regular content immensely by just _not_ posting blatantly bad articles. How many times can you post Feraligatr Prime/Ho-Oh LEGEND decks before it begs the question, “why?”

  46. chrataxe

    Man, I think this is a GREAT idea! I don't get what people are saying…people that play pokemon don't have money? Really? Are your cards given to you? Cause I pay crap tons of money for my cards, a few bucks a month for GOOD reads on Pokemon is awesome. I've only been doing the pokemon thing for about 6 months now, and I can say that I have only seen 2 REALLY good articles: Jason Nat's report, and an article that just rotated off of the Pokegym home page about consistency. But, that is one of the things I love about 6P. There are a lot of pokemon players out there of different ages and different talents. I think its awesome, and is what sets 6P apart, that players of different ages and talent levels can write articles, instead of other sites where you if your aren't writing about a top tier deck or have a recognizable name, you won't ever be seen.

    I am also sick of this crappy elitist American attitude that for some reason we are entitled to everything being free. We FINALLY have “free” healthcare, now we expect top quality pokemon advice for nothing? Lets just one thing straight: that info that you get from other sites is NOT free. The second law of thermodynamics: there is no such thing as a free lunch. All of you people that just LOVE T&T so much, just remember the reason that you do have to pay as much for cards from them, or anyone else, is because they pay to advertise, which they make up by selling you cards. If we had pay sites with no advertisement (this includes Pokemon advertising on CN), cards would be a lot cheaper. This “free” info comes at the cost of raising the price of every consumer product on the market to offer you “free” advice, hope its worth it.

    I'm not saying its original, but I think it is a great idea. I think it has a lot of potential. As for the business side of things, I think it is a great idea for you (Adam) as well. Anything that can be made inexpensively, have a large profit margin, and still be offered at a low price is great for everyone. There are so many great ideas you could do with this. It doesn't appear that Adam is worried about being ripped off, more about authenticity. If one were to take the time to type out the newsletter, everyone would have no doubt it originated at 6P and would discredit any other writers as being not credible. Things of the internet, while originating somewhere, are just reprints of reprints of reprints. I think Adam is just trying to offer a truly authentic product.

    Some ideas I would like to see:

    1. Reoccurring articles (ie, Regional Meta-game [from different regions every time])
    2. Some kind of trinket (something as simple as a signed energy card from contributers or even a JWittz like card of the featured contributer)
    3. Contest (even if it cost more. Think about it guys, pokemon is a community that loves to collect rare things.)
    4. Color (even if it cost more)

    Something else I think the Pokemon community is in dire need of is a Pokemon Podcast (I know there are a few, but I'm not impress with any of them). I have thought about doing one many times.

  47. Dexter B. Pizzey

    Actually what that guy said is true. Setting it up like you plan with a subscription service isn't a good idea. Something that would work better as he said is getting advertisements and making them pay to provide players with this information. It will make people know them and be aware of them more and would be amazing advertisement if you could get good quality players to write

  48. Brandon Bittinger

    1.) I would definably be interested!

    2.) I really don't care who writes the articles as long as they are really good helpful articles!

    3.) I woul like to see deck analysis but an occasional card of the day or something like that.

    4.) This is a tough question personally I would love to get something in the mail because I never get anything. On the other hand it would cost a lot of money play people could still scan it in or retype it but that isn't as likely. Personally I think you should do the protected on-site content it would be easier and would save money. Also I have no clue how to do it but I think there is a way to disable right clicking on a web page I have no clue how to do it but if you can figure it out people can highlight but can't copy. I'll look into it if you want.

  49. Brandon Bittinger

    I think you should go for Steven Salvester and maybe some of his friends he won Worlds a year or to ago with The Bees didn't he? Him and his friends also created Sablelock witch is a great deck. I know I have seen him on the site before so it shouldn't be to hard to get him on board!
    —————
    Sent you a message with more info.

  50. Brandon Bittinger

    About your first part I really don't know if I could pay for it because I am a kid and I don't have money… Now if I had a job that would be different but I still nee dot be a bit older for that.

  51. Kenny Wisdom

    Here are my thoughts:

    – Firstly, I know we've talked about this before, but how do you plan to combat people simply forwarding the newsletter or copy/pasting stuff from the site into an IM to their friends, on their team's secret board, etc? I mean, in order for someone to do that of course they'd have to be paying members, but still, they would be spreading it to all of their friends who don't pay, etc. Just asking how you would plan to deal with that. Another side of that is how do you stop people from giving bogus decklists etc?

    – Secondly, I'm not really sure I'm down with this idea. It seems like there could be some other incentive to get good players to write articles, y'know? Maybe just try and reach out to them and ask if they'd be willing without getting paid? Or maybe getting a free t-shirt for writing, etc? I dunno, I just don't see paysites really working with the way the internet and social media are going right now, but then again there's really no alternative I can come up with.

    – If you go through with it, my suggestion would be to nix the newsletter ideas. Instead, have the article appear on the site (with the title, author, and a short intro), but then when someone clicks “Read More.” or whatever, it prompts them to log-in/sign-up for a premium account (also make a “hide” feature for those articles for people who aren't premium members). That's a win/win imo, as it gives the people who aren't premium members the chance to see what they're missing, and is also easy to access for those who are.

    – I think recently Chris Fulop and Ryan Vergel have written some of the best Pokemon oriented articles. I'd also like to see any top player — Pooka, Ness, either Silvestro, Omar, Sami Sekkoum, Alex Brosseau, etc. Just anyone who is both good at the game and can write well. I'd also be willing to write for free. :)

    – I think they should give deck analysis, tournament reports, format analysis, general tips, etc.

    – As far as the price goes, it really couldn't be more than a few bucks per article. If there were 4 top-tier (which is what I think you should call the premium service btw, SixPrizes Top Tier Members), articles on the site per month I would be willing to pay $5.00 – $10.00/month for that.

    Gotta run to work, but I'll add some more later.

  52. Mike Fouchet

    to all you people who think top players won't write for free…you're wrong lol

    when thetopcut was active, good players because they got paid. they didn't write often before that and haven't since, so why would they now? i'm certainly not. you may get the occasional article after-the-fact (see fulop's jumpluff article) but yeah, that's about it.

  53. Travis

    I think you should forget the paid subscription and add a donation button. Sure you wont make steady money but people read this, and im sure the community would love to give back. There are always negative feelings for getting left out of the “good” stuff because someone did not pay. The sites great, you get lots of visits, dont do anything drastic.

    Donations seem like the best idea to me, but again, thats just my opinion. I have seen sites sink because they added a subscription for a better service.

    ~travis

  54. Michael Randolph

    I actually like the idea of having pro's write and then novice writter submit and you choose one or two every few issues or so, the reason for this is because it will cause more people whom otherwise wouldnt purchase this “product” to pay just for the chance they will see themselves published.

  55. Mewuk85

    I don’t think it should just be the “good people” that’s being a separatist. If you pay for something anyone should be able to write an article. Every one person has great ideas. You need to stop being so secretive, your kind of acting like this is government top secret stuff. any one can view the cards and study them. Don’t get me wrong I visit this site a few times a day and enjoy it. but you asked for input and here’s mine.

  56. Adam Capriola

    Here's the thing…are you really going to pay for something like this
    unless somebody good is writing for it?

    There has got to be credibility otherwise this will never get going. I
    can't have random people who no one has ever heard of writing to start off,
    even if they are good players. Otherwise I doubt people would sign up.

  57. Adam Capriola

    Yeah that may work, it kinda depends on how much room I have for extra stuff
    though. I don't want the envelope to be too heavy or not be able to fit all
    the papers inside.

    I think most people should stick to submitting articles to the website, and
    if they build enough credibility then they could become part of the
    newsletter staff.

  58. Adam Capriola

    Great post man, I want to chip in that a podcast is a really good idea, you
    should go for it!

  59. Slowdog

    I don't like this “exclusive” idea. I think a site like this should be about sharing, not about keeping knowledge exclusive.

  60. Dave Hueglin

    I agree with Kenny (maybe because we had a lot of the same ideas – lol!). One area I do differ is on the subscription idea. I think it would work better if you paid by the article – so when you clicked on the “Read-more” it would prompt you to pay the $1-2 extra to read the rest. It should be in a separate area like Kenny suggests (I like the name Top-Tier). In addition to the advantages of this I listed in my first post, I also think staying away from the subscription service idea would eliminate some of the some of the negative feelings many people have about separateness or elitism.

    The other thing about having a “pay by article” format is that top tier authors that did want to write for free could have their articles posted in the same area for no cost. You might find that some very good players are willing to write for free just to benefit the game as a whole – this way they can get recognition for their generosity.

  61. Eelis Peltola

    I don't have the time to read all of the comments, so I may be repeating stuff…

    I think this is a great idea, if it works. And I hope it does, I really do. Deck analysis is the way to go. Other content isn't prohibited, though, just as long as it's some real advice that's got the potential for a good article.

    The best way to charge for the content would imo be to have a small 1-3 bucks pay-by-article fee, OR some kind of monthly/every two months/half a year fee, which would be a bit less than what all of the articles for that time would cost if you bought all of them. This way people could choose if they want to see all of the articles or just a few.

    As an European player, I'm not a fan of the mail thing. It's gonna cost a lot, and it may take some time to get the mail. I've done some trades to the US, and it's taken even two weeks for the mail to get over the Atlantic. On-site content sounds best, especially if you could prevent copying somehow. Serebii.net has got some kind of thing on their site that prevents right-clicking, that could help a bit.
    Of course, you could just hire assasins to keep mouths shut.

  62. Mewuk85

    I never seen or heard of Con lee that guy who won the nationals he kicked all your butts rite. so look at it like that, I never heard of you and u have a good recorded. so lets see theirs millions of people in the USA and every one has potential to be great. if they put their minds to it and study.
    I understand that you don’t want to have a novice write. but also you should take it in consideration that even the novice has great ideas. and you should take and review all submitted articles.
    We know that the site is in good standing and making hits and you want to make money off it now. (pokemon tm should be the one making a profit). the site is great how it is.

  63. JWittz

    I'll have to take my time and see if I can offer you some great input, but you know I'm always willing to write for ya! : D

  64. Adam Capriola

    Man I didn't realize it could take that long to ship to Europe, that's a
    real bummer. Maybe I'll just do an e-mailed newsletter for you guys?

    It will still cost me a decent amount to make a membership portion of the
    site though, the software costs like $200. For USA people, I'd definitely
    do the mailed newsletter, but for my foreign friends I'll have to see how
    much interest there is in the beginning.

  65. Jose Pereznegron

    I don't like the idea of paying money to use this website. I don't care affordable it can be. I just don't have access to a credit card to pay for the subscription. Not cool.

  66. Mewuk85

    After some thought, I think yeah it would be good to have everyone’s input on deck analysis the coast needs to either be eliminated or steady no change or hidden fees, we didn’t get wealthy scamming by people we did it legit. fair and honest.

    Ultimately its your website your decision. and your trying to get input so you have a community basis, to follow. if your going to charge people you should give them and incentive. maybe go into more detail then just an email or peace of paper. We don't want to feel like were paying for a dinner menu LOL:)

    Yeah maybe a little detailed drawings, cards scans, pictures with the people who wrote the articles, make a card like TheJWittz did you know funny stuff reel people in and keep them coming. Write back

  67. chrataxe

    Not all of the site, just a portion. Not having a credit card isn't a good excuse, paypal pulls straight from your bank account. If you don't have a bank account, give your friend that does the money, have him pay for it with his paypal.

    Also, everyone, keep in mind, Adam doesn't sound like he is asking for a ton of money for this service. I would bet <$30 bucks covers the year, and I'm sure he would let people pay for the newsletter individually, meaning cranking out a few bucks just to get 1 instead of paying for it all up front. How hard is it to pay a few bucks, see if its worth it to you, if not, don't do it again. But, don't let me speak for you Adam, I don't know what your intentions are…

  68. chrataxe

    I think you are missing the point. First, if you didn't come to this site, Adam wouldn't run it. It is worth his time to run this site because you DO come to this site. When the site gets a lot of hits, it becomes lucrative to advertise. I don't know if you have ever run a website, but I have been a webmaster for a few different sites over the years (still am for one), and it is a pain. I don't do it because its fun, I do it for some purpose, be it money or whatever. Adam isn't saying that he is ripping ANYONE off, or scamming anyone, or that he wants to get rich off of this idea. He obviously loves pokemon. Some people that love pokemon play. Some people judge and are TO's. Some make youtube series. Adam runs a website. I don't know Adam, but I can tell he likes the adventure of stepping out on a limb and pushing the limits. He has a real entrepreneur attitude, not because he wants to, but because it is part of who he is. He chooses to be an entrepreneur in POKEMON because he wants to. He is trying to offer a product that is different, something that is better than everything else out there right now. I think “advice” is the MOST underrated aspect of Pokemon. We are willing to pay for the cards, the sleeves, deck boxes, dice boxes, randomizers, posters, books, magazines, and tons of other merchandise associated with it, but the MOST important part of Pokemon, PLAYING THE TCG, way don't want to pay anything for that….really, why? If there wasn't a card game, how many people would buy pokemon merch? IF there is a card game, and you do play, wouldn't you want to be good? So, if you have access to the same cards as everyone else and can access the same websites as everyone else, why is it is always the same names that keep coming up over and over again? THAT is what we all need more than anything, to hear THOSE people talk and hear why they keep beating everyone despite the fact that they have the exact same stuff we do…No one said they had to give their decklists. No one said they had to be one of a handful of people. You don't have to win nationals to be a good player, no one doubts Con Lee was good before Nats. But, I would be willing to bet that if you looked at his rating going into Nat's, he was no slouch. He didn't get lucky all day and beat great player after great player, 2 of which I know off the top of my head were Jason and Pooka, and they are well known players. He took down great players playing great decks, round after round, after round. Was he a nobody that got lucky? No. He has probably been playing for a while and had a good rating and anyone that had played him before would vouch for his abilities. Adam isn't stupid, he knows that you can be a great player and a great writer based on your finishes, ranking, and past articles and posts. He doesn't think that your name has to be Silvestro or Foloup. But, lets not lie and act like there isn't a part of us that doesn't like our Pokemon community celebrities. Even if anyone reading this DOESN'T, think of how many people out there that would love to hear what some of the big names out there have to say and tell me that that isn't part of the community. I watch Profit regularly and rewatch the episodes many times. I've read Pooka's regionals reports many times (THAT takes a while). I've read Ryan Vergel's article on consistency many times. Finding that stuff is hard. If nothing else, I would pay for the convenience of having it all put together and save me the trouble of searching.

  69. Dave Hueglin

    The cost of the software is a one time investment though. The cost of mailng is recurring and the product is time consuming and subject to the all sorts of production hiccups. Here are some examples:
    – having to maintain an up-to-date home mailing address list – making a mistake and having to re-mail the newsletter because it got sent to the wrong address
    – noticing a serious mistake after printing and needing to do some kind of errata
    – having some kind of foul-up in the printing process
    – the physical time it takes to put together the newsletter, put it into the envelope and put/print on the address
    – if you are printing in colour, the extra cost that involves – versus getting “free” photo quality colour on a digital version.
    Most production problems with an electronic version can be very easily fixed, evn if noticed after it has been published. There is no address list to maintain because people are downloading from 6P. I hate to sound like such a downer on the mailed newsletter idea but I really think the negatives far outweigh the positives.

  70. Mewuk85

    Sure you wrote a great essay. look I don’t know you, you don’t know me and you wrote a great speech. you proved my point. That any one can write good. :)

  71. Eelis Peltola

    Yeah, the time it took surprised me the first time, too. :0
    And I didn't realize the software is that expensive… but, like dave said, you're paying that just once. How many people do you think will subscribe to the newsletter? If even 50 people sub, you'll be sending a hundred letters a month. I don't know anything about US postal service costs, but in Finland, shipping one letter costs 80 cents (it should be getting cheaper though). That's a lot of money, and that's only for one month.

  72. chrataxe

    And I agree with you. But, just to “prove” your point, here is Con's list of accomplishments from his Pokegym sig:

    -worlds invite 2007,2008,2009
    -1st place N.H state champion, 2007,2008,2009,2010
    -1st place regional champion 2008
    -1st place mass. state champion 2010
    -1st place 2010 national champion

    He is no slouch, like I said. He didn't come out of nowhere. And, I'm not knocking the guy, but his writing isn't the best. But, what can happen with people like that is interviews.

    Sorry about the essay, lol. I didn't intend for my last post to be that long.

  73. Joshua Hall

    The point of this product is to be a premier service to the most competitive players around the world. It is no way a substitute for the website, merely an add on to satiate the hard core players, or anyone who wants information from the most popular top ranked players over the years.

    You can go to McDonalds and get a burger for a $1, and it tastes pretty good. It'll please most people, and it won't take a dent out of your budget. OR you can go to Five Guys and buy a burger, fries, and drink for $10, knowing your getting one of the best burgers out there. There's no way Five Guys is going to give you their best product if you don't pay up. Similarly, there's no way top players are going to want to release their best ideas if they won't get compensated.

    I think the newsletter would be great for anyone in the continental US, and some kind of email or extra add-on to the website as a substitute for our friends overseas.

    If you don't want to pay for the product, then don't complain about not having it. Also, I'm sure the FREE first subscription will convince many people to shell out some moola once the next year gets rolling.

  74. Mewuk85

    Its all good man its human nature we speak what we fill and what are heart feels content. but no joke i understand most definitely! about what your saying about writing, i know its hard to say in words because we don’t want to be rude. But yeah it would be like hiring a high school student for a management position. (would be lacking the experience and or skills)

    So yeah I totally agree with what your saying. because yeah we all pay for all that crazy stuff and 6prizes is on my favorites and I visit it every day.(great job Adam :) )

    It would great for 6 prizes to be the one stop spot for strategy, it has really helped my game out drastically. I mean how many other places are going to tell you “You can set a BTS use a Pokepower then SSU then put it back down and us it again” HA HA HA, Ya know so yeah I see the picture thanks. LOL Mewuk85

  75. Ziffles

    Stephen Silvestro. I know him. I'm on good terms with him. I'm also friends with some of the people responsible for Sablelock. I also know that it would not be easy to get their secret decks from them. Their nice people, but also very copetitive. They'll help you with your deck, but won't give you theirs. same goes for Jason Klaczynski. I've gotten help from him before, but it was to only tweak my own deck. He didn't give me his decklist. None of those players are going to give away their secret decks, especially not when they have nothing to gain for doing so.

  76. ziffles

    Adam, how would I be able to contact you personally? I have many different ideas about how you could go about this, and I've observed things similar to this on many different sites, even helped with some of them. I also have a friend who knows everything you could possible want to know as well as everything you don't need to know, who could help out with programming this might require. As soon as you let me know the quickest way to contact you, I'll get back to you with all of this.

  77. Chris Barrieau

    1. Let me know if you’re interested!
      I'd be very interested in seeing professionally written, regular, deck and metagame analysis articles. =] Really.

      2. Which players would you like to see writing?
      I don't know the players enough to tell you who specifically I'd like to see writing…. I just like to have a wide variety of deck articles to read through =]

      3. What would you like them to write about? I’m just making an educated guess and assuming you want to see deck analyses.
      Deck Articles, metagame analysis articles, comparing decks, deck weaknesses, deck battles, card articles as well (analyzing specific cards).

      4. Which format do you think will be best? Mailed newsletter, e-mailed newsletter, or protected on-site content?
      I think a mailed newsletter would be really cool! But if you're mailing physically, that would either a) cost you a LOT. or b) stop anywhere from outside where you are to receive it as easily… what if someone in Europe wanted one? I for one am in Canada and that might be a little costly for you.. I dunno.

      However, I have to say that the whole money thing would be a big issue for some people. Not everyone has credit cards, and personally, I'm pretty poor and just don't like paying for online stuff. I -might- pay for a physical mail subscription… But the stuff would have to be good, you know? I'm not saying your stuff would be bad. Au contraire, I think a lot of articles are pretty darn good already! I'm just saying that for some odd reason, I always find myself to be very hesitant in paying for mail orders, and especially web content…. I also think that many other people, though not everyone, would be the same.

  78. Joshua Hall

    That's why a physical newspaper would be really nice. You actually get to hold the product in your hands, you're receiving something “real” in the mail every few weeks. There always is that hold-back in buying virtual content. I'd much rather go to a store a buy a video game than pay for a download. Same concept here.

  79. Drew Stillwell

    Hey Adam,

    This is a tough one for me. I feel like there are two important things this paper needs in order for me to buy in:

    1. Good players/writers- I want credibility and I want good writing, preferably coming from the same mouth. If the names are unknown, it's hard for me to justify shelling out money I can just find somewhere else online, and if the writing is horrible I don't want to even make my way through an article.

    2. Audience- You say this is targeted towards more advanced players, but even within this “top tier” player category there are different levels of needs. I feel like I personally know a lot about good plays/cards/consistency and I need higher level strategy in order to get my time/money's worth. If the writing is geared more towards the lower player then I'll get bored and think I've wasted my money.

    The thing is, at some point you stop needing the articles and you just want the lists. How to play matchups and why cards are in the list can only make up so much of the article, and for more “advanced” players, decklists become much more valuable than full-out articles ABOUT a deck.

    I would definitely try this out, whether it be physical or digital, but TBH it's going to take a little more to keep me hooked.

  80. Adam Capriola

    Hey Drew, thanks for the input.

    What more would you want to see exactly?

  81. Dave Hueglin

    I am totally the opposite on this this issue. I would rather have a digital version. It's easier to save and keep track of. I don't have to have one more physical item cluttering up my house.

    Adam, maybe you should set up a poll on this question. Although even then, it would be hard to determine which people in the poll are actually going to shell out some money.

    I'll be honest. Although I have been expressng some opinions, I am unlikely to spend much money on this. If I saw an article about something I was really interested in, I would pay $1-2 for it. I am definately not into a regular monthly subscription.

  82. Ed Mandy

    The more I think about it, the more I'm not sure that the subscription (either to a premium part of the site or to a mailed newsletter) is going to work out in the long run. I like the idea, but it seems like it might not be sustainable.

    I really don't like the idea of having whole section of the site just for people that pay. It seems a bit too elitist.

    I do, however, like the idea of donations and the idea of paying (a very small amount) for premium content. I think we've chatted about some of this in the past, Adam, but I think it could work if done properly.

    I wonder if you could just continue doing what you currently do, but every so often flag an article as a PREMIUM article. You could get a teaser, but if you wanted to read the entire article, you had to “pay.” This payment could be done a few ways. One option I like is a recommended donation. It would be set up so that the reader could see a certain percentage goes to the author and the rest to SixPrizes. The donation box would have a pre-set amount to donate, but you could donate any amount. You could even donate $0. Maybe the $0 donation people would have to go through some extra steps and view some ads or something.

    Some people won't want to pay for all the articles, but this would be a great way to gauge what people are willing to pay. It would be fairly simple to set up and test out, and then maybe you could move on to more grand ideas later. Maybe it would work well, and you wouldn't have to move on at all.

  83. Adam Capriola

    Thanks for the input Ed.

    I'll have to look into the technical side of doing a price per post.
    Amember <http://www.amember.com/p/> is software that allows for subscription
    based content, but it doesn't appear to be able to do a single post
    purchase. I would have to create a whole new amember installation for each
    individual post I think.

    Just googled this: http://member.wishlistproducts.com/ and this too: http://www.newmedias.co.uk/wordpress-membership

    They might be solutions, I'll have to take a look at them more in depth later.

    I'm not sure if a donation is a great idea to be honest…if good players
    are giving deck lists away they would want to make sure they are
    compensated. If someone got their list for free I am not sure they would be
    too happy.

    Good idea about doing individual posts though, I'll have to rethink things a
    little bit. Thanks Ed. :)

  84. Adam Capriola

    Will e-mail you later today, please remind me if I forget!

  85. Sledd

    First of all, I think this could easily be a great, fun way to do the sight or a terrible idea that makes sixprizes look bad.

    How to make it good:
    You should do email newsletters over physical letters because it'll be a lot cheaper and a lot of potential costumers (like me) like that idea a lot better.

    You should, of coarse, try to get the best of the best players and a lot of creditable names for the special content. However, if you receive a great article be some1 not as known, they should be able to have it on the premium content as well. Like, where you can submit an article for Sixprizes, there should also be a button to submit articles for the premium stuff as well. Of coarse, it should be a lot harder to get in and would have to be something special. Perhaps, to encourage people to do that, you could give out a month free if they get into the premium content.

    I think the Free Trial is a great idea, so that way we can see how great the articles are.

    Another great idea is to try to do the adds, like you can view a lot of adds(which give you money) so they can see the content. Perhaps they get emailed a couple of adds a week along with the premium stuff so that way they can get it free, but you still get money.

    Flexibility is a thing. You should have a lot of different ways to pay and get the stuff such as:
    If you get an article on the Premium Content, you should get a month free
    You can use paypal or a credit card to pay
    You can view adds or something like that to get the premium content

    To help get the things going, you should have some sort of survey that people can fill out about what they want to see, such as who they want writing, how often, what method of getting the articles, how much they're willing to pay and if they'd actually buy it.

    lastly, I strongly suggest that you let any1 submit articles as long as they are high quality, perfect grammar and give us some really insight/good ideas about a deck or the current meta game. This will help spread the word about this six prizes premium content and get you a lot more business.

    Adam, please send me an email about what you think of my ideas. My email address is
    ihoppop@gmail.com

  86. Garrett Williamson

    Ya i dont like this.

    1) People shouldnt have to pay to read an article on a deck just to copy it. People should be original with their own decks. So I dont see the website making much off this. I only see it losing readers.

    2) There are always going to be other ways to get the lists. One way or another people are going to find them. JWittz even posted Chris Fulop's list in one of his vids on you tube…And thats free.

  87. Garrett Williamson

    And also if you going to only have people that youve declared as “good players” Being alowed to read the stuff on here and post stuff then have fun with your exclusive little club. Thats honestly just sad.

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