Hello there, Codr! I'm Rarity, and I just want to thank you and everyone else's work here on PokeGen. It's a tool I've used sparingly to help me enjoy Pokemon White/Black better. While I never liked PokeGen, I have to give you respect in that you offer a program that updates right out of the box and it is pretty. I've always prefered Pokesav over PokeGen because I feel PokeGen is too bogged down by having all its features hidden in menus, which makes it compact, but just a little on the difficult side, not to mention PokeSav offers a bunch of more features, that given extensive work on, could have made it far better than PokeGen, but alas PokeSav is not being updated and hasn't in forever. I notice you made this thread just mere seconds after the release of Pokemon White 2 hit the scene, which I think is not coincidence. Look around, what other alternatives to Pokemon Editing are there? Certainly not PokeSav, which leaves PokeGen as the defacto choice for Pokemon editors.
It is simply too big a hole to leave opened, so why not profiteer from it? Sounds reasonable. My boyfriend is a programmer, so I know all the hard work that goes into something, but I can't help but feel this is too much like taking advantage of a community. Cheathappens is a pretty good example of whats wrong with people who make software to help them and people who sell software that help them. But Pokegen isn't something that is made using CheatEngine, it required a lot more than that, and while it is possible you borrowed inspiration from PokeSav, it doesn't matter.
The point is this thread is to serve as a reminder. Any time you offer something on the net for free, you have no obligation to the users to update your software, or add features that people would want to use. If you are to charge people for software, now you have an issue on your hands, that can ultimately cause you a lot of frustration and headache, for you and your community.
You see, when you expect people to pay money, you have to give them reason to. And as seen with Guild Wars 2, even something that is "One-Time only payment", people expect LARGE Updates frequently. a small little list of upcoming changes (You may as well just Bold the "Black and White 2" support, because that's the part you want to hook people on) is hardly going to satiate anyone with a purse/wallet.
People who pay you for your software (even if it's a "One-Time payment") are going to expect more from you and your software. Features you haven't had That PokeSav has (which is older than dirt, I remind you) can no longer be considered justifiable (I.E "It's a lot of work by one+ People". "I don't plan to release those features." "Deal with it."). You can't say that to paying customers anymore, and you can't simply "Turn off" people complaining on your forums when their hard earned money didn't go where they wanted it to go.
As someone who is a moderator on the official forums of one of the biggest Indie games on the market, I know what even a small change to things can do, and I also know how it can devastate a community, and turn moderators into bad guys.
Think about it, and the new things you now have to deal with. PayPal Fraud, PayPal refunds, "I.E I paid X Dollars and didn't get the software". You will have to hire a team just to deal with this, and you can expect to do it alone. The number of Pokesav users is in the hundreds of thousands. With no other alternative, they will use your software. You are expected to provide a service to them if you charge them, so it's important you do so gracefully and hire a team of competent individuals to deal with PayPal and users who didn't get the product they paid for.
So I urge you, Codr, To rethink charging for your software for now. Let people get the bare basics for Black and White 2 Support, and later, introduce a premium version. People come to expect of you a great program they can use for their kids, or even themselves to help enjoy the game better. Other features you wish to tack on your software to jusify a price tag only turn to hurt people. PokeGen has been a program people have preferred over PokeSav for a long time now, and its most likely not because of its features its Lacking, but the fact that it is a reliable product that takes care of bugs when they appear, rather than having to work around them.
Let me once again encourage you to offer a free Basic tool, and offer a premium tool for those passionate about their Pokemon alterations. Your hard work deserves payment, but not by taking advantage of a community dying for a way to edit their Pokemon White/Black 2 Data.
Love, R ♥
