BasinWear™!

[Bolty]

I'm sitting here in front of a sweet BasinWear™ mug, courtesy of the Amazon Basin's new store. Unlike THIS here web site, which desperately begs for money with no promise of ANYTHING in return, the Basin has opened up a neat new store where you can help the site out and get swag in trade. By not using one of the many Internet rip-off front end shops that will take everything a website makes for these sales, the Basin is handling this themselves - which means that a cool mug costs only $5!

Anyhow, if you're a Basinite or just like to help great fansites that aren't Borg (*cough* you know who *cough*), buy some swag over at Basinwear™. Must I mention that the site has made great contributions to Diablo II strategy and discovery?

-Bolty

[LavCat]

But they don't have cracked thongs.

[WarLocke]

But they don't have cracked thongs.

Dangit, beaten.

So, where's the Lounge store? I want my "Bolty got to hobnob with Blizzard, and all I got was this stupid t-shirt" t-shirt! B)

[Bolty]

So, where's the Lounge store?

I'd love to have an equivalent. But there's some problems.

1) I don't have the time to become a distribution center,
2) Online rip-off "shops" like the legendary CafePress take 90% of the money users pay for an item, so the website sees almost nothing (note: read the fine print),
3) As a result, users have to pay $20 for a stinking mug, and that's ridiculous,
4) (this is the biggest reason, actually) The Lurker Lounge has no logos/prints of its own - all its artwork comes from Blizzard (which obviously can't be used for anything that makes money). I'm no artist; I couldn't draw my way out of a paper bag (I'm aware that makes no sense, too).

I actually have a very cool Lurker Lounge mug made and given to me by a very special Lurker, but it could never be sold massively because of reason #4 - Blizzard images.

-Bolty

[Assur]

Hi

I certainly would like to purchase LL stuff! Apart from that certain feeling of being exclusive, I would be happy in knowing the profits would be going to a good cause <_<

On the other hand looking at the trouble penny-arcade.com, a really good site, had in getting a online- store running, it could be troublesome :o

good hunting

[WarLocke]

Yeah, those are some good reasons. :(

I'd buy a plain black "Lurker Lounge" shirt (just the title, like the one at the top of each forum page, maybe gold-rimmed or gilded or something), but maybe I'm just strange.

Ooh, another random idea. How about a LANDRU shirt?

"LANDRU
called me
a c.heater."

(Not available from Eaglewerks)

I don't think BOSTIC would mind...

Or heck, random Diablo related things:

"Where do BMN's keep their Dreamflanges?"

"I trudged through Hell and all I got was this Cracked Sash."

"I (heart) Adria."

I know, noone would know what the heck they meant, but it's no worse than a "Do you have stairs in your house?" shirt. :P

[Drasca]

BLING! ok, bad joke now. Just couldn't resist...

[WarLocke]

EDIT: Bolty, here's an example of the amazing merchandising you can profit from:



B)

[Nightwind]

but if you could get a cracked sash in D1 (wher ehell has 4 levels) it would be very valuable, because it would be the only one of it's kind....

[swirly]

4) (this is the biggest reason, actually) The Lurker Lounge has no logos/prints of its own - all its artwork comes from Blizzard (which obviously can't be used for anything that makes money). I'm no artist; I couldn't draw my way out of a paper bag (I'm aware that makes no sense, too).

To me this just screams contest. The lounge has many many creative members so I say leverage that and see what they can create. Of course all submissions become property of the lounge or whatever. The winner could get the usual text bit under their name, a meantion on the selling page, or just the knowledge that they did it. : )

This still leaves #1 as a rather big problem though. Still, the contest could be fun even if no store comes into existance to use the results.

[Occhidiangela]

And I am guessing Ducky can make a line of LL Jewelry. :)

Suggested Tag Lines for tshirts and mugs:

1. "If You Ain't Legit, You Ain't sh**"

2. "Putting the 'git' back into legit!"

3. "Putting the 'leg' back into legit!"

4. "A cheater only cheats himself."

5. "I'm not cracked, my sash is!"

6. "That's not a thong, thats a crack sash!"

7. "Write like a wanker, get flamed like a wanker."

8. "Home of the Pete conspiracy"

9. "The Friendliest Flamers in Sanctuary"

10. "Scions of Bolty"

11. "Rhydd's Rangers"

12. "The Lurker Lounge: where just laughing is always an option"

13. "MPQ this, pal!"

14. "The Lurker Lounge: no two twink minimum here!"

15. "Lurk or Lounge, your choice -- just spell it right!"

There are better ones I am sure.

Let's here it folks! :lol:

[Bolty]

"Lurker Lounge: The Best Web Site With a Porno-Sounding Name!"

-Bolty

[Kartoffelsalat]

But they don't have cracked thongs.

I hear there's one in the Mongolian Pr0n. ;)

[DeeBye]

4) (this is the biggest reason, actually) The Lurker Lounge has no logos/prints of its own - all its artwork comes from Blizzard (which obviously can't be used for anything that makes money).&nbsp; I'm no artist; I couldn't draw my way out of a paper bag (I'm aware that makes no sense, too).

-Bolty

Is it time to change this? An official Lurker Lounge™ logo might be in order. C'mon, all the cool sites have one :)

Actually, I propose two logos. One small "LL" logo, as well as the full "Lurker Lounge" logo.

The font is the easy part. It's a freeware font called "Abadon". The colours and design are the tricky part. Does the Lurker Lounge even HAVE a colour scheme? Or is it just the general browns, reds, and yellows like in the forums?

A simple graphic might be cool too. Maybe a stylized Diablo silhouette or something similar?

[Occhidiangela]

Simple amd distinctive is the key, with a little elegance tossed in.

See the Green Bay Packers, Dallas Cowboys helmet logos for "best logo" examples, as well as the Rolling stones tongue.

How one does LL could be a huge addition to the site. :)

[TPJ]

Thanks for the plug, Bolty. It was the least you could do since I sent you that 1337 ITAM. Heh.

Anyway, it is a lot of trouble - as Bolty mentioned. I run this thing out of my house/garage. My wife is gonna chop off my testicles and place them in a jar on the mantle if I keep spending all my 'home' time packing orders up and taking them to the post office. Ugh.

Eventually, though, I hope to start selling generic (read: Non-Amazon Basin) game gear. Cool game slogans and such (inside joes, etc.) on hats and t-shirts. Obviously, the site will have to start generating a little more income for me to be able to do that. Seriously, even if some of the LL'ers like the 'got dex?' shirt, are they gonna want to wear it with the Amazon Basin URL on the back?

Thanks again folks.

[Occhidiangela]

A "Got dex?" beer mug sounds good! :)

Or perhaps a thong that asks "Got dix?" :unsure: Maybe that's "over the top" in terms of bad taste.

On further review, strike that last, bad idea. :blink:

[WarLocke]

Man, I need to practice thise whole Photoshop thing. :unsure:

[Bolty]

The colours and design are the tricky part.&nbsp; Does the Lurker Lounge even HAVE a colour scheme?&nbsp; Or is it just the general browns, reds, and yellows like in the forums?

The colors of the site were all based off of the images used in the site. So, I took the Blizzard images and backgrounds used in the top part of the page as a basis for the rest of the page. Most of the time, it works, but I'm no fashion expert. Picking color schemes actually takes more time than coding the layout for me, and is often a trial-and-error process.

-Bolty

[DeeBye]

I've been manipulating this image for so long that I can't even tell if it still bears any resemblance whatsoever to Diablo's head.



Or does it just look like some guy with really large arms and short legs? I could poke some holes in to show the eyes (and perhaps nostrils), but I'm trying to make this is simple as possible.