The birth of RGB Classic Games

[DOSGuy]

Yes, we've changed!

People seemed to like it when I added a couple of Win9x games for April Fool's Day last year, and a lot of the DOS and Win16 games on the site eventually converted to Win9x, so it seemed like it was finally time to change the site.

What do you think of the new name? The new logo?

By the way, try switching to ProSilver in your User Control Panel. The new logo looks really awesome with that style. If people like it, I'll make ProSilver the default style.

[leilei]

Cool! I was afraid of it being called COMPOSITE classic games.

[ThreeHeadedMonkey]

I like the new name and site logo (although I must admit, at first I felt the urge to check if it wasn't April Fools again). RGB Classic Games sounds a lot better to me than 20th Century Games. :-)

Also, thanks for suggesting I change the board style. It does look better this way.

[DOSGuy]

I had been thinking about writing 20th Century Games in big stone letters in a rip off... I mean, homage to 20th Century Fox, but 20th Century is too limiting. There are already a few games from the 21st Century on the site anyway.

Personally, I like the sound of RGB Classics, but that could mean anything, so I decided that the word "games" still had to be in the title somewhere.

[DOSGuy]

The site has been running a surplus for a while, so we don't really need advertisements any more. Rather than let the contracts expire and go ad-free, I've been a bit more aggressive about acquiring advertisers lately, ever since we adopted Samira. If advertisers are willing to give us money, I say we use it to do some good.

RGB is a non-profit co-operative. As a co-op, we all should have a say in how site revenues are spent. I still reserve the right to make unilateral decisions, and I've decided that all of the money the RGB makes in January will be donated to relief for Haiti. The Government of Canada will match RGB's donation, so we get to give double!

I had been thinking about sponsoring another child through World Vision, but I also think that we should do something charitable that relates to gaming. I had an idea that we should set aside $1000 or so for an RGB Classic Games Scholarship to help someone go to college or university to study video game design. I would welcome volunteers to determine the criteria for choosing a winner and to judge applications. I think we ought to accept applications from any country, so long as the candidates can prove that they are attending school at an accredited post-secondary institution.

We don't have a ton of money to throw around, but there's no reason not to think big when we're brainstorming.

[ThreeHeadedMonkey]

I wouldn't presume to tell you what to do with the site revenue, but those all sound like excellent ideas.

[leilei]

Retro game sites are really hard to market even without profit in mind. My own site gets like a maximum of 4 poll votes on its site and 0 members lol.

[DOSGuy]

I've decided that all of the money the RGB makes in January will be donated to relief for Haiti. The Government of Canada will match RGB's donation, so we get to give double!

I didn't know that the Canadian government was only matching donations until February 12 and I missed the deadline. Fortunately, World Vision had a spring campaign in which donations were tripled thanks to a match from the World Food Programme and the Government of Canada. We donated $1350, which was tripled to $4050!

Unfortunately, $1051 of those dollars were from a sponsorship deal where the advertiser sent $1000 USD. I returned the money and asked for the equivalent amount of money in Canadian funds ($1051 CDN), at which point he decided that he had had enough of me and cancelled the deal. I donated the $1051 anyway, hoping that the deal could be saved, but apparently not converting the money myself offended him beyond all repair. Bummer.

Total January revenues were assumed to be $1349.95, and I donated the last nickel myself.

[ThreeHeadedMonkey]

Ouch, that sucks about the 1000 dollars. I hope it isn't too much of a financial blow.