I’ve been thinking about a way to breathe new life into Boundless and generate funding for its future, and I’d like to propose the concept of Player-Laid Advertisement Blocks. Here’s the breakdown:
The Idea
What Are They?
Advertisement blocks that players can place in their builds, showing real-world ads (static images or videos).
How It Works:
Players place these blocks in high-traffic areas.
Active views from other players generate in-game rewards for the player who placed the block (credits, exclusive items, etc.).
Developers earn real-world cash by selling ad space to advertisers.
Why It’s Cool:
Players can theme the ad blocks to fit their builds (e.g., holograms for futuristic builds, posters for medieval ones). This keeps the game’s immersive feel intact while rewarding creative builds that attract traffic.
Preventing Exploitation
Views only count if the player watching is active (e.g., moving, crafting, or mining).
To stop abuse, players won’t be able to trap others in “ad mazes” or force them to view multiple ads. Systems can detect and disallow this behavior.
Benefits
For Developers: A steady funding stream to support the game’s development and advertising campaigns to attract new players.
For Players: Rewards for designing creative, high-traffic builds and a new way to engage with the game.
For Advertisers: Unique exposure to a passionate community.
Side Note:
The real-world funds generated from this system could also go toward advertising Boundless itself, bringing in more players and giving the game a much-needed boost!
I’d love to hear your thoughts—especially on how this could fit into the game and any other ideas to refine it further!
Just to add to this, I see enough ads everywhere else, I would much rather see development go in the direction of attracting new players not chasing them away with advertisements. These types of ads have been added in other games and players totally (and still) despise it.
I think a better way to get advertising involved would be have company’s pitch something to add to the game that people would enjoy using, such as Oortian sized Coke bottles, A Sprite bottle that pours out a bubbly fountain, Vending machines with different candy placeables, a Tesla steering wheel, any brand of product as a placeable you can find in a supermarket…etc etc.
I’m sorry but this is a terrible idea. There are so many problems with adverts, everything from being extremely annoying, to scammers using advert space, and to promoting over consumerism. Did I mention they are extremely annoying?
In my opinion adverts are a fundamental problem in todays world and I do everything possible to avoid and block as many of them as I can, Adverts try to sell you stuff that you don’t need and waste your time while doing so.
Ok, so you could have the option to switch off ads or designate certain planets as ad-free zones for those who prefer it. Personally, I don’t mind ads so much—they’re just background noise to me. I think it could actually be fun to find creative ways to make ads less intrusive and more immersive. For example, integrating them into the game world, like having them play on a ‘TV’ in a shop or as vibrant, neon-style building ads in a bustling cityscape, could even enhance the atmosphere. Done right, ads could feel like a natural part of the environment rather than a distraction.
Of course, there would need to be safeguards in place to prevent scam ads or anything harmful—maybe through moderation or a review system—so they wouldn’t ruin the experience for anyone.
Sure. Let’s inject capitalism into the game to try and help out Monumental. Why not. They can’t figure out what to do with the game so let’s prop up its corpse with capitalism hah.
At this point one would have to assume boundless has a DNR order. Seems that it just wants to live out its remaining time in peace without the false hope for survival.
I recall a time when there was a behind-the-scenes effort for the players to raise enough capital to purchase the IP from Wonderstruck. No actual fundraising effort started, but there were enough good faith efforts to raise at least 25k without going public with the idea. So with community support we could have exceeded 100k and would have taken over server costs. Unfortunately, the player base was 100x what it is now, so I doubt those kind of numbers could be raised these days. Not gunna @ anyone, but if those that matter at Monumental see this…give us a price
lol.