How About A Homebrew Bounty?

[Vynx]

I've seen this done before once or twice for other homebrew systems, where users donate to a bounty that goes to the first person to develop such and such a program - anyone think this would be a good idea? Some people are willing to donate money to get a project done/finished, but I think with a bounty it would be a lot easier to get a significant amount of money together as an incentive for someone to code whatever program the community decides.

I see it working like this:

1: A trusted GP2X member sets up a page for the bounty.
2: A thread is creating here to discuss which programs/games would be good to port, the best then going through a voting stage to determine the top 3 or 5, or whatever.
3 Each program gets listed with it's own bounty, then users may donate to a program of their chosing to increase the overall pot, further giving incentive for someone to develop it.
4 - If the program is complex, the bounty will be split into milestones/goals to reach to get a percentage of the pot.

Unless this has already been tried, I really think it could accelerate development, i'll even donate a bit of money myself if there's an interesting project bounty set up

If nobody decides to go ahead with it, then I may pick up the idea myself sometime in the future when I can get a little money together to start it off. I'm useless at making websites though, so the only problem for me would be getting all that set up. Like I said though, i'd much rather a trusted member of the community went ahead with it, someone we know won't run off with the money

Not that I would ever dream of doing such a thing, but I am a fairly new member and the bounties would be much more succesful if a major GP2X developer or contributer did it.

 

[cinnix]

I've seen this done before once or twice for other homebrew systems, where users donate to a bounty that goes to the first person to develop such and such a program - anyone think this would be a good idea? Some people are willing to donate money to get a project done/finished, but I think with a bounty it would be a lot easier to get a significant amount of money together as an incentive for someone to code whatever program the community decides.

I see it working like this:

1: A trusted GP2X member sets up a page for the bounty.
2: A thread is creating here to discuss which programs/games would be good to port, the best then going through a voting stage to determine the top 3 or 5, or whatever.
3 Each program gets listed with it's own bounty, then users may donate to a program of their chosing to increase the overall pot, further giving incentive for someone to develop it.
4 - If the program is complex, the bounty will be split into milestones/goals to reach to get a percentage of the pot.

Unless this has already been tried, I really think it could accelerate development, i'll even donate a bit of money myself if there's an interesting project bounty set up

If nobody decides to go ahead with it, then I may pick up the idea myself sometime in the future when I can get a little money together to start it off. I'm useless at making websites though, so the only problem for me would be getting all that set up. Like I said though, i'd much rather a trusted member of the community went ahead with it, someone we know won't run off with the money

Not that I would ever dream of doing such a thing, but I am a fairly new member and the bounties would be much more succesful if a major GP2X developer or contributer did it.

Yea it could work, there is a system like this for Ubuntu Linux here

[offtopic] My 1st post, awaiting payday to order my GP2X! Can't wait! [/offtopic]

 

[Paradox]

its been suggested before but nobody has really followed through with the idea, some long time guru here would probably be the best to hold on to the money anyway

 

[Vynx]

its been suggested before but nobody has really followed through with the idea, some long time guru here would probably be the best to hold on to the money anyway

I agree - we just need one of those long time gurus to take notice h34r:

The bounty could work in two ways;

1. Each project has a seperate bounty which anyone can contribute to
2. Each project is ordered by priority, from most votes to least for the top 4, for example;

Flash Support - 40% donations

Full PDF viewer - 30% of donations

N64 Emulator - 20% of donations

Text Adventure Engine - 10% of donations

This would make sure every project gets support depending on how popular each one is - or both could types of donations could be accepted - single donation to a project, or a distributed donation.

 

[Dzz]

its been suggested before but nobody has really followed through with the idea, some long time guru here would probably be the best to hold on to the money anyway

I agree - we just need one of those long time gurus to take notice h34r:

You don't need to wait for that... it's much more likely that you will get an escrow volunteer of the type you seek if there is an actual list of people willing to donate money. So set up your threads and when people start committing to give cash I imagine somebody will step forward.

I have some doubts about the number of contributions but I'd love to be wrong. I haven't seen anybody express that they have money ready to contribute.

 

[OrR]

I like the general idea, it worked well for DS Wifi for example. However, I don't really see one big project that everyone could agree on. On the other hand, if donations are split for many small things, it would probably be pretty uesless.
Is anyone working on an awesome media player that supports lots of formats? That would be a useful thing.

 

[Vynx]

its been suggested before but nobody has really followed through with the idea, some long time guru here would probably be the best to hold on to the money anyway

I agree - we just need one of those long time gurus to take notice h34r:

You don't need to wait for that... it's much more likely that you will get an escrow volunteer of the type you seek if there is an actual list of people willing to donate money. So set up your threads and when people start committing to give cash I imagine somebody will step forward.

I have some doubts about the number of contributions but I'd love to be wrong. I haven't seen anybody express that they have money ready to contribute.

Well, i've seen one or two mentions on the board of money, but I think it'd get wider acceptance if users didn't have to go through the song and dance of setting up threads and sending money directly, whether developers trust them, so on, so forth - a unified front should in theory produce good results, especially considering donation size could be as little as $5 upwards. It wouldn't just be one person donating, it'd be many, and that money would just mount up over time.

I like the general idea, it worked well for DS Wifi for example. However, I don't really see one big project that everyone could agree on. On the other hand, if donations are split for many small things, it would probably be pretty uesless.
Is anyone working on an awesome media player that supports lots of formats? That would be a useful thing.

It'd be open to forum debate - a thread would be started, and all the popular ideas would then be up for vote by the community - the top 3 or 4 then having their own bounty pot. If several is too many, then just one at a time could be done in order of popularity - whatever works best.

 

[Dzz]

Well, i've seen one or two mentions on the board of money, but I think it'd get wider acceptance if users didn't have to go through the song and dance of setting up threads and sending money directly, whether developers trust them, so on, so forth - a unified front should in theory produce good results, especially considering donation size could be as little as $5 upwards. It wouldn't just be one person donating, it'd be many, and that money would just mount up over time.

I understand the idea. What I'm saying is that getting somebody trusted to hold the money is neither the first thing nor the most difficult that's required. What's required is organization (a description of the bounty projects, the list of contributors, and so on). Anybody can get that organized and when there are actually commitments to give money then there is a need for escrow (could even be delayed by a short period, in the meantime people can just publicly commit to give particular sums of money, to prove that it's worth bothering with escrow).

This organizational task could be as simple as threads on this forum or as elaborate as an external web site. Anybody could take on this task, it requires no particular skills or resources. As the person to advocate this in the first place, I'd say you're an ideal candidate.

 

[Vynx]

Well, i've seen one or two mentions on the board of money, but I think it'd get wider acceptance if users didn't have to go through the song and dance of setting up threads and sending money directly, whether developers trust them, so on, so forth - a unified front should in theory produce good results, especially considering donation size could be as little as $5 upwards. It wouldn't just be one person donating, it'd be many, and that money would just mount up over time.

I understand the idea. What I'm saying is that getting somebody trusted to hold the money is neither the first thing nor the most difficult that's required. What's required is organization (a description of the bounty projects, the list of contributors, and so on). Anybody can get that organized and when there are actually commitments to give money then there is a need for escrow (could even be delayed by a short period, in the meantime people can just publicly commit to give particular sums of money, to prove that it's worth bothering with escrow).

This organizational task could be as simple as threads on this forum or as elaborate as an external web site. Anybody could take on this task, it requires no particular skills or resources. As the person to advocate this in the first place, I'd say you're an ideal candidate.

Well yes, I guess it could all be done via one big thread, and then smaller threads for things like voting for the most promising projects. If it can be done via the forum then I would be happy to give it a go - I certainly have the time, but I have two questions:

1: How would I go about setting up an Escrow agreement, and would I need a business Paypal account? I have a personal one, but I'm assuming i'd need one under the project name to make things clear.

 

[Hanz™]

Aren't there internet sites, that can be used for this sort of stuff?

 

[Dzz]

1: How would I go about setting up an Escrow agreement, and would I need a business Paypal account? I have a personal one, but I'm assuming i'd need one under the project name to make things clear.

Until there are more than a few dollars at stake I don't think the escrow mechanism is the most important thing. I agree with your initial assessment that a well-known and trusted person would be best to take on that task, unless there is some sort of escrow mechanism already developed somewhere to take care of it. Whatever name it's under, it boils down to trust -- when somebody contributes their $5 they want to make sure it will go to the right place or else be refunded if the bounty expires. However, that is not really a lot of work -- it's just a matter of having a paypal account set up that gets funds put into it, and makes occasional payments. I'm certain that a well-known figure would step forward to do this AFTER there's a bunch of people lined up with commitments to contribute to one project or another.

In my opinion, each potential bounty needs:

- a clear description of the conditions under which the bounty fund will be paid
- an expiration date when contributors will be refunded their money if the task is not satisfied
- a judge or judging process responsible for determining whether the conditions have been met
- a process for choosing a new judge or judging process if the old one fails (such as a judge disappearing)
- a contributor list (public accounting)

What's needed is for somebody to figure out the details and start setting up projects to see if there really is any money out there willing to go into escrow funds of this type.

An alternative to an escrow mechanism might be something based on an honor system -- if somebody pledges a certain amount of money, they give their real name, non-hotmail-or-gmail email address, physical address, and telephone number to somebody to be held secretly. If the goal is achieved and they pledge is not paid, that information is made public -- a public list of deadbeats with contact information. If you pay the information is never made public. Having your personal information held hostage in this way might be sufficient to convince people to cough up the $10 they pledged when the alternative is a permanent googleable stain on their reputation. The more I think about it, the more I think that this is preferable to the escrow and will result in a lot more participation.

Possibly the best idea is to make a new post asking "If we had a system like this, what projects would you be willing to put up money for and how much?" Even though that's non-binding it might give a sense for whether it's worth figuring out the details.

As an example, I personally would contribute $50 for a program that smoothly plays videos downloaded off of iTunes for the new video iPod (h.264 encoding I believe).

Just some thoughts. Like everything else in the world, all it needs is to be a workable concept and somebody willing to make it happen.

 

[skarmachild]

Hai thare!!

I cun makE hALO for GP3x and wORMS amagodin. you ned 2 send me paypal money tho since i am work for big time friend who ports console.

thanks.

ps: i als0 ned food stomps 4 pizza.

 

[Vynx]

1: How would I go about setting up an Escrow agreement, and would I need a business Paypal account? I have a personal one, but I'm assuming i'd need one under the project name to make things clear.

Until there are more than a few dollars at stake I don't think the escrow mechanism is the most important thing. I agree with your initial assessment that a well-known and trusted person would be best to take on that task, unless there is some sort of escrow mechanism already developed somewhere to take care of it. Whatever name it's under, it boils down to trust -- when somebody contributes their $5 they want to make sure it will go to the right place or else be refunded if the bounty expires. However, that is not really a lot of work -- it's just a matter of having a paypal account set up that gets funds put into it, and makes occasional payments. I'm certain that a well-known figure would step forward to do this AFTER there's a bunch of people lined up with commitments to contribute to one project or another.

In my opinion, each potential bounty needs:

- a clear description of the conditions under which the bounty fund will be paid
- an expiration date when contributors will be refunded their money if the task is not satisfied
- a judge or judging process responsible for determining whether the conditions have been met
- a process for choosing a new judge or judging process if the old one fails (such as a judge disappearing)
- a contributor list (public accounting)

What's needed is for somebody to figure out the details and start setting up projects to see if there really is any money out there willing to go into escrow funds of this type.

An alternative to an escrow mechanism might be something based on an honor system -- if somebody pledges a certain amount of money, they give their real name, non-hotmail-or-gmail email address, physical address, and telephone number to somebody to be held secretly. If the goal is achieved and they pledge is not paid, that information is made public -- a public list of deadbeats with contact information. If you pay the information is never made public. Having your personal information held hostage in this way might be sufficient to convince people to cough up the $10 they pledged when the alternative is a permanent googleable stain on their reputation. The more I think about it, the more I think that this is preferable to the escrow and will result in a lot more participation.

Possibly the best idea is to make a new post asking "If we had a system like this, what projects would you be willing to put up money for and how much?" Even though that's non-binding it might give a sense for whether it's worth figuring out the details.

As an example, I personally would contribute $50 for a program that smoothly plays videos downloaded off of iTunes for the new video iPod (h.264 encoding I believe).

Just some thoughts. Like everything else in the world, all it needs is to be a workable concept and somebody willing to make it happen.

Excellent idea - I'll throw a thread out there in the suggestions folder and see if anyone would be interested in it - if that gets support, then maybe someone will take on the project as well - but if nobody does then i'm willing to do it myself, but I consider this a last alternative as I havn't been here long, and I havn't earned everyone's trust. You make same valid points about pledges, and that's quite a good idea, i'll throw that into the thread too for some consideration. Thanks again

Neo Child you crack me up :lol:

That's exactly what we don't want happening - someone holding onto money then running off with it - that's why it's essential that a system is in place to protect everyone's investments. If I do end up taking on this project, what I could do is give my contact details to a guru on here and confirm it's me on the other end of the line - that way, there's a system of trust in place that would show people that i'm not about to start some sort of mass scam.

 

[aapje89]

Hai thare!!

I cun makE hALO for GP3x and wORMS amagodin. you ned 2 send me paypal money tho since i am work for big time friend who ports console.

thanks.

ps: i als0 ned food stomps 4 pizza.

you think thats funny? <_<

 

[Vynx]

Hai thare!!

I cun makE hALO for GP3x and wORMS amagodin. you ned 2 send me paypal money tho since i am work for big time friend who ports console.

thanks.

ps: i als0 ned food stomps 4 pizza.

you think thats funny? <_<

Don't worry aapje89, he's a friend of mine - his way of conveying concern through bad humour

Dzz, if this does happen and I end up taking on this project, would you be willing to take my contact details and confirm my identity by phone? It's just a security precaution that would give everyone some peace of mind.

 

[Draken]

Actually, that was a real person, who needed donations to buy the SDK so he could port Halo (or worms armageddon on his previous accounts)
Check out the LOL files

 

[skarmachild]

Hai thare!!

I cun makE hALO for GP3x and wORMS amagodin. you ned 2 send me paypal money tho since i am work for big time friend who ports console.

thanks.

ps: i als0 ned food stomps 4 pizza.

you think thats funny? <_<

What? I really do need pizza.

 

[Dzz]

Dzz, if this does happen and I end up taking on this project, would you be willing to take my contact details and confirm my identity by phone? It's just a security precaution that would give everyone some peace of mind.

Certainly. If it turns out that the best way forward with this involves me verifying that you're a real person and holding onto your contact information, I'm happy to do that.

 

[Vynx]

Dzz, if this does happen and I end up taking on this project, would you be willing to take my contact details and confirm my identity by phone? It's just a security precaution that would give everyone some peace of mind.

Certainly. If it turns out that the best way forward with this involves me verifying that you're a real person and holding onto your contact information, I'm happy to do that.

It just saves a lot of replies like "How can we trust you?" and "What if you spend the money on something else?", my only concern right now is trust, everything else doesn't really seem a problem. I think though, to start off with it would be best to stick to just one project, if that works then it can be fleshed out a little and have multiple bounties going - that way if something does go wrong (hate to sound a little cynical, but you've got to have everything covered in these situations) then the damage would be minimal - a small project to start off with would be a good idea.

 

[Ravnos]

Hai thare!!

I cun makE hALO for GP3x and wORMS amagodin. you ned 2 send me paypal money tho since i am work for big time friend who ports console.

thanks.

ps: i als0 ned food stomps 4 pizza.

you think thats funny? <_<

I thought it was hilarious. It's like Shake Your Fist Productions all over again! :lol: