Crowdfunded Features via RP donation

EstebanElGuapo·Oct 23, 2014·2 votes·698 views

If riot had a system in the store, where you name a feature that is complementary to their game or that has been sidelined or back burnered, due to whatever resource issues (engineers spread to thin, not enough money to cover all of the things currently on the plate); and people can upvote and donate RP to that category (for example: "Category: Revive and implement the currently shelved Inhouse Replay system") would you be interested in this idea and donating RP to help Riot expand game features more quickly and give a voice to lol users about which features they want to be expedited through fully RP-crowdfunded method that doesnt affect current financial resources or hopefully place extra burdens on current engineers?

In such a system, if a necessary amount of funding were not provided the RP could be refunded. If a technical issue or a feature that is contrary to riot's intentions were suggested and funded, the RP could be refunded.

Perhaps it could be done in steps. The Categories could be created and then upvoted and if approved by riot as reasonable to be RP-crowdfunded, could then be funded, if funding was achieved then it could be researched, talent hired, worked on and implemented.

5 Comments

FloreOct 23, 20141 votes

Replay system is taking so long because server stability has to be better, which is a matter of talking to ISPs, and actually physically moving things, and these aren't issues you just throw money at.

You can have 10000 men working on something, but you have to train all of them how, and they all have to be just as good at maintaining the riot way of doing things, because if Riot isn't making Riot Game's products, what's the point

EstebanElGuapoOct 23, 20141 votes

"...From a software standpoint, replays are essentially shippable, which is why it is on the PBE and being refined in a live state. But, the hardware to enable us to operate replays in the super sexy state you guys desire (and that allows us to do REALLY cool things with replay technology in the future) means that we need to deploy special hardware in our many data centers all around the world and do a lot of complex hardware configuration adjustments to make it all work.

The problem is that even though we are hiring the best network operational professionals all around the world as fast as we can, we STILL can’t keep up with the growth of League of Legends around the world from a hardware standpoint – and we prioritize that over shipping a new feature like replays, because we treat things like our EUW service stability as a higher priority than adding a new feature (that while cool, is not mission critical)."

http://www.newsoflegends.com/index.php/president-of-riot-on-reddit-improving-the-client-in-game-replays-how-league-was-developed-goals-with-e-sport-lcs-issues-with-coding-player-behavior-and-more-14806/

This sounds like something that throwing money at might help. Some people like to buy skins and runes and willing to turn their money into RP to do it. I liked really well rewatching some old games using 3rd party replay systems that are/were buggy and dont function now for me or that I worry about the source. I don't spend RP on anything but if I could direct it toward something specific like this, i'd go to the store now and get some RP and throw it into a black hole just for the possibility an indefinitely sidelined project that they do like but may never see light of day gets pushed forward faster.

FDruOct 23, 20141 votes

This would probably have the opposite effect of what you're going for. Neglected ideas are neglected because they're not popular, and this is pretty much a "vote with your wallet" thing which means the most popular ideas would be getting all of the attention.

EstebanElGuapoOct 23, 20141 votes

My thought was just for those issues where you have a list of things to do and not enough money, time, or people to do it. Of those ideas that match that criteria why not let some of us help out, and those who do fund them rank them by popularity. Popularity of an idea suggests it will get used when it does finally make it through. Though I understand some popular ideas like hit a button and instant win, violate basic riot concepts; obviously shouldn't be entertained (get vetoed, big blue thumb of riot)

SKOBODOOct 23, 20141 votes

Something tells me that this would lead to a whole lot of people feeling entitled to things, because they paid for it. Furthermore, who is to say that Riot won't abuse the system and refuse to develop new features unless they're crowdfunded first? I don't think this is a good idea.