That's a lot per vampire!
Originally shared by Olivia Hill
People told me to make a game about the things I deal with. So I made a game about how expensive it is to be a millennial, how health care is broken. Also, about monsters.
#iHunt The #TRPG, releasing 2019. 13/??
Right? You wonder about the business model being sustainable. Maybe they're just burning through VC funds, putting stakes in everyone's hands in the hope that it will get them (ahem) market penetration, but then they'll re-gear to be like, $50 a vamp, once series B funding comes through.
ReplyDeleteOf course, that's going to leave a lot of gig workers with stocks of holy water, and vengeful cults on their heels, but no way to make a living from it. Typical.
I was wondering about the business model myself. Clearly there’s no or minimal benefits, and one wonders what the success rate is.
ReplyDeleteEvil cultists are also an interesting question — legally they’re human, and may have no distinguishing features on the body. Law enforcement becomes an issue.
Tony Lower-Basch The business model revolves around bit coins. It's really quite simple:
ReplyDelete1) get coins
2) get coins bit by vampires
3) bit coins are now immortal, so they come back whenever they're spent!
Isaac Kuo: That is somewhere near the median in a histogram of “how sensible is this startup business plan?”
ReplyDeleteSo! There's a few things that aren't explicit in this one, but that's super intentional.
ReplyDeleteIn the books, the rate for experienced hunters is somewhere in the range of about $5,000 per vampire. It goes up much higher. But starting out? The rates are a joke.
Clients don't always pay.
Ultimately hunters have to foot the bill for their own healthcare costs. There's another app in the stories (and will be in the game) that's essentially underground doctors who make on-demand housecalls at all hours of the night. Their app partners with iHunt to just take their fees out of your pay (at a premium of course.)
It's not actually sustainable financially. However, it doesn't necessarily have to be. While it's funded through VC and other weirdness, profitability isn't its only agenda. Imagine the kinds of powerful and wealthy people (and monsters) who would want monsters dead. If you're a vampire and it's against vampire law to kill your own kind, it might look more tempting to do it through a layer of obfuscation in the form of an app. You know, the way Uber gets to deny that it employs anyone.
... So a lot like the D&D adventurer economy. First level is all goblins and silver pieces, and 20th level is dragons and platinum.
ReplyDeleteAlso: Do people sometimes not pay an uber bill? How does that even work?
[ You can tell me to go do research. That's ok. ]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ya7mwQYeICQ
ReplyDeleteWilliam Nichols Uber doesn't work that way because Uber acts as an intermediary where you're paying Uber then at the end of the month, Uber pays the driver. With #iHunt, basically pay processes when you review the hunter, or after 48 hours pass. If 48 hours pass, they get full pay. But before then, you can leave a shitty review and they get stiffed some of the pay. With #iHunt the hunters have less recourse than Uber drivers, because frankly they're doing something illegal so it's not like there are any authorities they can run to. Even if there were authorities to turn to, it's a company made by murderers, where everyone is complicit in murder. So who's to say they won't kill you, too?
ReplyDeletePerfect. That's the level I can understand. Thanks. :-)
ReplyDeleteI wonder if there's an a la carte menu of what you get paid for. $4K b for the vamp, $1K for no property damage.
ReplyDeleteMischa Krilov Sometimes there are bonuses and bumps. Like if you don't get noticed, or if you capture the target alive, or you do it within a shorter time frame. Depends on the client.
ReplyDelete