Is gaming sites hard to start?

AcidRaZor

AcidRaZor

New member
Looking at mygaming.co.za starting out with an obvious budget and a few clients already (thanks to the sister site) I was wondering if it's tough to start one, especially in SA. Lazygamer does a fantastic job and he started out with nothing....
 
As with anything it's probably hard to do. Especially in SA where B/W is a problem and the community isn't as huge as the states.
 
With the likes of LazyGamer, PS3Blog, Curious Onion, Elt33tonline, ZombieGamer already on the scene, I think it's going to be very tough getting visitors.
 
There are quite a few of them for the SA market aren't there? I spose it helps to have backing and prior members like here but there should really be some synergy between the gaming sites.
 
Yeah I reckon its not easy. Nobody wants a site thats a replica of another site, they'll just stick to what they already know.

MyGaming is starting off well, but of course they have the backing of MyBroadband. They are smart as well, kicking off with freebies and good comps, thats whats made me stay initially, and now I'll stick to being a member even if I dont win anything :D
 
I'd imagine that gaming sites is - I mean are hard to start yes. You need a lure to get people visiting the site and then doing so repeatedly instead of disappearing within a week, never to be seen again.
 
I'm kinda hoping that this site's lure (competitions) doesn't fade. I'm sure there'll be some falloff but nothing major.

Speaking as someone who just got here, I like the pull that quite a few members are people I already know/know off and it's a nice relaxed environment combined with a trusted brand.
 
Yes, and at the same time you get the feeling that this isn't a cheap setup. The site is very well made in terms of layout and usability, and that is one of the largest factors that keep me going to a site or never visiting again.

Its basic and it works, and that is simply a winner.
 
AcidRaZor said:
Looking at mygaming.co.za starting out with an obvious budget and a few clients already (thanks to the sister site) I was wondering if it's tough to start one, especially in SA. Lazygamer does a fantastic job and he started out with nothing....
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Yep, I think it is tough. There are loads of competition out there, and the content are pretty much derived from the same sources, so you cannot compete on that level. If you fail with this, you will fail regardless of the below. This is the most important part.

It's the extras - look-and-feel, unique-'ness', members, administration, freebies, reliability, etc. that will make the difference and make a site work and have staying power.

Lazygamer got some nice advertising from MyBB iirc. I was around when he started the site. This free advertising I think made a big difference. Plus, people are herders, i.e. support / following their ebuddies, and I think lots of MyBB people went to Lazygamer and also now MyG.
 
Yeah - Pull factor is what you want. But the problem with only having comps as a pull factor is that they're not sustainable.
 
AcidRaZor said:
Looking at mygaming.co.za starting out with an obvious budget and a few clients already (thanks to the sister site) I was wondering if it's tough to start one, especially in SA. Lazygamer does a fantastic job and he started out with nothing....
Click to expand...

I think so. I think creating buzz is a tough thing to do because obviously the larger the community the more fun it is for people to post. You don't want a situation where you post and nobody replies for ages. At least on a large community you are assured of a response within minutes if not seconds.
 
Which is where most new sites really struggle. With the backing of MyBB though this site's membership should shoot up in tandem with the activity. Will be interesting to see how the next few months pan out.
 
well anyone can start a website these days (thanks to wysiwyg web dev progs) and host it, but the thing that makes a site stand out is its layout, how its advertised does it have something to attract people, does it have a standard of quality etc.
 
Any site is hard to start - well it is pretty straight forward to set it in terms of technical, but getting people to know your site is the hard part.
 
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