13 replies to this topic

[ChicagoMikey]

What is your opinion in creating a "Sponsorship Request" forum located in the advertisement section?

This section would be for individuals/clans/communities looking for game servers, web hosting, voice services, etc.

1. What are the pros for this forum?
2. What will the cons be for this forum?
3. What set of guidelines should a user follow in order to submit a request?
4. What set of guidelines should we have for companies to respond to submitted request?


If you vote, please provide a reason why.

[XSH-Alex]

1. More traffic will be directed to this site from clans. GSPs will want to come to find good clans that stand out.
2. Many people will lie to make themselves seem like good teams. This will cause the forum to be riddled with requests from crappy teams.
3. I'm not sure about this. I assume: What leagues do you currently participate in? What leagues have you participated in? What services are you requesting? Do you have any amazing rewards or winnings that we should know about?
4. Companies should simply be able to have a free card to show their offers to the teams. A system of "bid for the team" would be great. For example, if an amazing team comes, then the forum should be where all the companies post their offers.

My vote is yes simply because it'll bring a lot more traffic from clans and companies looking for clans.

[ChicagoMikey]

1. More traffic will be directed to this site from clans. GSPs will want to come to find good clans that stand out.
2. Many people will lie to make themselves seem like good teams. This will cause the forum to be riddled with requests from crappy teams.
3. I'm not sure about this. I assume: What leagues do you currently participate in? What leagues have you participated in? What services are you requesting? Do you have any amazing rewards or winnings that we should know about?
4. Companies should simply be able to have a free card to show their offers to the teams. A system of "bid for the team" would be great. For example, if an amazing team comes, then the forum should be where all the companies post their offers.

My vote is yes simply because it'll bring a lot more traffic from clans and companies looking for clans.

To sum up your reply:

Pro # 1
It will bring target traffic consisting of gaming communities.

Con #1
Communities will lie about their reputation in order to gain a sponsorship.

Good input Alex. Lets keep this rolling with more input.

[ix007]

1. Pros - There will be a designated place for "clans/teams" to apply for sponsorships and maybe some good will come out of it. Like Alex said, it will bring some more traffic from gaming communities. For some applications it will give us all a good laugh . I think for the most part, this will benefit the hosts because instead of people coming to them they can look at their ease.
2. Cons - Haven't really seen very many sponsorships that were worthwhile for the host but that's for all hosts to decide for themselves. I think it may potentially bring "spam" to the forums. I know this isn't irc but I remember they tried a channel for that on irc and instead of posting to the channel they just message everyone on the forum who's a provider, which isn't that big of a deal as im sure most of them still probably deal with that on a daily if not weekly basis.
3. Can only apply once every 3 months or something like that so the forums doesn't have teams posting things everyday. As Alex said again, their leagues/standings/notable wins/prizes. A website. Apply for what they are in need of.
4. I think if a host does pickup/sponsor a team they should have to post what they're giving them as so others can get a picture of what clans are receiving/hosts are giving.

My vote: no idea...
</large blob of text>

Edited by ix007, November 22, 2011 - 04:51 PM.

[EVL--Ryan]

Here's the thing about sponsorship's.

Most teams that play in leagues etc (if they are good), already have sponsorship's, usually from computer hardware company's etc, and have had them for quite a long time, and either have enough money to buy servers, or already have a provider, OR if they need a server sponsorship they want a ton of hosting, and are extremely picky about what they want.

I had a team who had a decent standing in CEVO contact me about server hosting, they wanted 3-4 24 slot public servers, 1000fps (even though fps doesn't matter in CS:S), and said they were paying someone for their private server that they used for practices etc. So the three servers were just pub's pretty much. Also wanted 3-4 months commitment.

I turned them down, as I didn't want to offer more than one server.

So I really don't even try to get clans/teams anymore as I've never had any luck and it never really paid off. What has paid off is finding a couple of minecraft communities, and starting them off with a 256mb ram server (which is simple to run, and uses very little resources), and then converting the community into a paid customer once they start getting the donations flowing, for vip memberships etc. VIP memberships are quite successful, compared to their TF2/CSS counterparts, since you can get a whole lot of functionality for a vip membership for a very little amount of money. They've also made some videos, and mentioned that EVL Gaming hosts their server, and from that we've gotten a few signups.

Another huge problem I've seen is the issue with younger teams, those 17 and younger. Often times, they call out their leader, they try to take over the team/clan they argue/fight a lot, and then they fall apart and you've given them a server for a month.

Community's and groups that play for fun usually stick together for quite some time, and can eventually get lots of traffic to their own sites etc.

I don't want to say we should completely bar clans/teams but I think they need to specify how long they've been together, perhaps name an average age of the players in the group, show us a website, show us their traffic, and explain to us what they need the server for, and how they will get people into it. And if a provider is interested they can contact em.

[XSH-Alex]

Here's an idea I just thought of also.

Many companies only provide hosting for certain games, so it'd definitely be a good idea to have sub-forums in the Sponsorship Request forum that group up similar games. For example, you could have "Source-Based Games" as a section. Another idea would be to make all sponsorship requests have to include the game they play in the title of their thread. This would make it very easy for companies to go right into the forum and see exactly what games the clan wants to be hosted for.

[LittleB]

Gonna vote no here.I think the drama it would create would negate any of the positives.I imagine most teams looking for sponsors would contact the GSP directly.

[RisenAngel]

I would vote yes but only under the strictest of circumstances. This just to keep down on the number of people looking for handouts. They should have at least a substantial and consistent presence here on the forums so the whole of the community can get a feel for them. This way if they want to contact the various GSPs directly they can and then have a moderator review their request to post such things in the sponsorship forum?

Just a thought.

[XSH-Alex]

Hello,

I'd like to update my reply to this thread.

Lately I've been receiving a great amount of sponsorship requests, all of which I've denied because I don't host Source-based games. I believe it would be convenient for me to redirect them to these forums, where they would be able to submit their request to the public in order to be sponsored.

-Alex

[Shrapnet-Rob]

Lately I've been receiving a great amount of sponsorship requests, all of which I've denied because I don't host Source-based games. I believe it would be convenient for me to redirect them to these forums, where they would be able to submit their request to the public in order to be sponsored.

All the sponsorship requests i get are "new team, with lots of potential" started by a 14 year old looking for free stuff. It got so bad that i put a dedicated link on my page with this text:

Although we are not sponsoring new teams at this time, Shrapnet does sponsor several top gaming groups in North America. Please do not send us inquiries or requests about sponsorships until such time as you see us advertising that we are seeking new teams to sponsor on the Shrapnet website. All unsolicited requests will be deleted and not read.

Feel free to steal it.

[HogWildMark]

I would say yes and yes to being in the advertising section. If you are seeking to sponsor or to be sponsored you are in fact advertising what you want.

[ChicagoMikey]

I created a sponsorship request section located here: http://www.gsptalk.c...orship-request/

Lets see how it goes and we can make adjustments for it over time.

[XSH-Alex]

Looking good now! I'll send any requests I get to that section.

[hjffss]

I would vote yes but only under the strictest of circumstances. This just to keep down on the number of people looking for handouts. They should have at least a substantial and consistent presence here on the forums so the whole of the community can get a feel for them. This way if they want to contact the various GSPs directly they can and then have a moderator review their request to post such things in the sponsorship forum?