The free online language gaming events we’ve been running since April of 2023 have been going great and I don’t intend for those to go away. But it has become clear to me that we can offer a better service and achieve better results for our language learners if we create a paid-for series of events as well. Let me explain my reasons why. And if you like my reasoning, you can contact me at [email protected] and sign up to join!
1. More Frequent Events
As most language learners would agree, more frequency in terms of exposure to the language, and more repetition, is a very necessary if you want to retain what you have learned. Through collecting payments from our players, we could lock in weekly game events for their TL and ensure the availability of our hosts and native speakers. Imagine…we could keep everyone motivated and learning together for months if not years.
2. More Reliable And Engaged Players
I believe that when the events are free, some people will not take them very seriously. They see the events as more of a party, where it is okay to show up late or not to show up at all. They see it as a game (which it is!), but we know it is more than that. We’re depending on a group of committed learners to develop that synergy, which improves everyone’s learning, and those friendships, which keep everyone motivated to stick with the program over time. So having some “skin in the game” (meaning the players have all paid some money) will help make sure they attend and engage more seriously.
3. Re-Investment
We can use part of the money to improve the games, game events, and related resources like the study guides, which often require professional translation and editing.
4. Paying Our Hosts
Last, but certainly not least, we can use the money received to compensate the hosts and I for our time and talent spent organizing these games and teaching players. When our expertise, professionalism, and patient teaching is rewarded monetarily, we’ll be able to keep up our consistent performance and dedication, pouring our knowledge into you for as long as you game with us.
The Call To Action!!!
Okay, now, it’s your turn! If you like the idea above, I want you to contact me at [email protected]! It doesn’t matter what your TL is. I will start keeping lists of people for different TLs who are willing to do a paid-for plan. Once we get at least 4 people signed up to play for a given TL, we can begin. In your email, tell me your TL and which plan you’d like to do:
- Plan A: 50 Saturdays (about 1 year) @ 500usd (10usd/game)
- Plan B: 20 Saturdays (about 5 months) @ 250usd (12.5usd/game)
- Plan C: 12 Saturdays (about 3 months) @ 200usd (16.7usd/game)
- Plan D: 4 Saturdays (about 1 month) @ 100usd (25usd/game)
- Plan E: 1 Saturday @ 30usd (30usd/game)
Also, in your email, we can discuss any questions you may have. : )
What You Can Expect…Value Delivered!!!
- Every game will last for one hour
- Every game will have an excellent host who is familiar with the game
- Every game will have a native or high-level speaker of your TL present
- You will be sent reminders for every game in advance, at predictable, set times
- Your progress will be tracked on our homepage leaderboard, and you’ll be able to receive prizes just like any other player
- I’ll support you on X, where many of our players are, and we can retweet our posts about our games and progress
- If you experience a lapse in quality of service from me or one of our hosts, I will issue you a refund for that game
Game Time – Probably Around 9am East Coast Time (USA) On Saturdays
We have already established Saturday mornings east coast time (USA) as a good time to do our games. This enables most people a pretty fair chance to join the games regardless of where they live in the world. Roughly speaking, this would be morning in the the Americas; afternoon for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa; and evenings for Asia.
It is very likely that Saturday will be the day we do (because that day works very well for me to be a host as well as a back up host), but the exact time can be a little bit flexible depending on who is in the group and what they need. Obviously, we will have to set as regular a time as possible, though, which will work for all the players and the hosts. That said, based on experience, the time will likely be around 9am east coast time (USA).
Other days and times are definitely possible! They will just require a little discussion and time to set up. You can email me your ideas or requests at [email protected].
Turkish! Turkish! Turkish!
What?! You thought this blog article was over? Hell no! I just wanna say one more thing: we have a native Turkish speaker and gamemaster named Sinan, who is a freakin’ awesome dude. And he is locked and loaded for us. He’s standing by, ready to take action! So if anybody wants to do any of these paid-for plans for Turkish, we could potentially get started very soon. Let me know! [email protected].
