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The free hosting ride Game Legend has been getting is coming to an end in a month or two :( I was wondering if people had any ideas about how to try and pay the $129 a month. I'm so busy with my game that I don't have time to write a SE clone or some alternative like that. Traffic is steadily growing and I'm very happy for the site, but I need to figure out some plan going forward or I'll have to cut it loose.

Update I'm definitely committed to the site. So, I added a small banner ad. I hope it isn't too distracting. Let me know you thoughts.

Update 2 The StackExchange people had a big announcement today. While they aren't exactly shutdown us down, it puts me in a pickle. I have an email into them and we'll see what develops.

Update 3 I see two options for us: A) Move to the new SO 2.0 community B) Take advantage of OSQA refugee plan which gives us another year to figure out a longer term solution. I think option A might be better for us but there are some problem areas. First, I've spent too much money and time to just hand it over for free without out some sort of compensation. Second, there is the issue of Smarter Gamer. What do you guys think?

Update 4 It is my desire to move into the Stack Exchange 2.0 community. Unfortunately, the Stack Exchange folks are still organizing themselves, so I don't have any details about how that is going to work. But, reassured, one way or another any questions or answer you contribute will live on! I haven't been active, simply because I'm in wait and see mode. Instead, I have been focusing all my energy into Iron Roads (a railroad sim game I'm developing.)

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 I will sign the petition if it's going to be a requirement of all existing Stack Exchange sites. – cowgod♦ Apr 13 at 23:22
Any update on this? Which direction will you be taking things? I just got a bunch of new games but have been reluctant to post new seed questions in case this site goes away. Anything us users can do to help? (Maybe this should be it's own question) – Josh May 17 at 22:44
Thanks for update 4. I'll continue trying to seed and answer questions. Anything else I can do just let me know! – Josh May 19 at 21:56
Good to hear. The more people involved the better. – MrPhil♦ May 20 at 18:03

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I think the traffic on the site is not yet high enough in any way to pay the $129. I guess nobody is willing to pay for this, even though it is a great idea. The obvious remaining thing is advertisement. Problem is, that with the current low unique visits per day won't give you an income that high (I'm only guessing here).

So, summarizing, I think the only workable option is: have enough stamina until you can make enough money with ads.

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I completely agree, and it is the reason I haven't moved in the direction of ads. I think part of the problem is SE's pricing ladder. It is completely out of whack with the level of traffic most of sites are getting. – MrPhil♦ Mar 23 at 13:48
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Here's a discussion about how to fund a StackExchange site, including being a nonprofit organization...

As an alternative, here's an open source clone of the software...

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Oh, and I'd be happy to talk to you about free hosting... I love this site and would be glad to help. Just email me directly... – Josh Mar 22 at 20:22
Thanks for the offer. I'm exploring building a clone for Google's App Engine with another user, would you be interested in contributing? – MrPhil♦ Mar 23 at 13:49
Sure! Shoot me an email. – Josh Mar 23 at 22:52
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Zu Update2:

If you’ve already created a Stack Exchange site, be sure to read the announcement in more detail to hear about our transition plan. Don’t be alarmed; we’d never do anything to mess with Stack Exchange sites that are already working. Siehe hier.

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Yeah, but, unfortunately, we've already been tagged for disconnect in three months :( – MrPhil♦ Apr 14 at 16:59
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I respect that you invested time and money in Game Legend, but if you would become admin (together with whoever) of the new SE 2.0 Game site.

You get no longer have to pay for the site, you get more people on board that are willing to help out (it's a community after all!) and hopefully you'll get more traffic too.

I'm actually suprised that not a lot of SU-users have started moving their questions here, but I guess it's a lack of knowledge...

But why would moving to the new model be a problem? You want a site for game questions and you get one! The only difference is that you won't be the ONLY boss in town...

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 That's close to what I said in the email to the Stack Overflow people. My main hang-up is that I spent a chunk of change on the domain and logo. – MrPhil♦ Apr 15 at 18:07
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SmarterGamer don't seem to be an issue. From that list, EpicAdvance would "prevail"... And I don't really get it what's going wrong with SE 2.0, why people from 1.0 are hating it so much. It seems like a very nice and improved way to think which enables them to continue with the StackExchange world domination plan. You know, every company wants to rule the world.

Making guesses aside, I think the answer here is quite simple.

If Jeff & Joel let you go with 2.0 and, in case you dislike it, pack your bags and do something else yourself, then you should go with option A.

If not, go with option B, since you're not willing to just "hand out" the work that have been done.

There are many thing that could be said in favor of one or the other, but there's no way to know which one will succeed better (A or B). Regardless, it's very likely that some SE-alike-gaming-site will rise regardless, in either, both or even many places. So, you shouldn't worry about actually doing that. You can just join the biggest one later on, if gamelegend doesn't do it.

I'd say only thing you should worry here is about making a living out of it, making some money to pay expenses and everything else. If that was the initial concern, rather than having your own business, then it will all depends on how SE will handle it. It's completely not clear to me.

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Joel has thrown out a ruler of "85% of questions get answered within one hour." Which is a bar GameLegend and Gamestruction are very far from achieving. I think going to 2.0 could be really great, but I understand where the "hating" comes from. People put time and money into ther sites, with the expectation that they'd be able to licenses the platform and see their investment grow. Now, that the licenses options is taken away they feel like they have been manipulated, especially since the new option is to turn over all the work to the very person that pulled the plug on the original plan. – MrPhil♦ Apr 19 at 15:52
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I have grave concerns for gamelegend.com right now. The Area 51 site is alive and kicking and there's a gaming site proposed already with significant traction. I don't know what this means for gamelegend.com.

I want to support this site as best as I can, but in the end what I really want is a thriving community. Unfortunately, we don't have that here, and this new site seems like it will. Thoughts?

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GameLegend is dead. The SE people decided NOT to involve any of the old communities. It is frustrating that so many people are supportive of the idea, but didn't join our party. I assume it is a Joel Spoolosky fandom effect. – MrPhil♦ Jul 7 at 19:40

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