Revamping the Zesty Directory

[Komitaji]

Rebranding

A "directory" seems too old a word to describe cutting-edge Web 3.0 based ad-platform such as Zesty. Currently this Zesty Directory is too passive and is not consumer-facing.

I propose we rebrand it into Zesty Store which sounds modern and has a nice ring to it. Zesty Store will be the one-stop destination for all things Zesty as far as end-user is concerned.

We could have a snappy, modern UI. I have prototyped how it could look based on Netflix's UI in the below video.

https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/104886334/177715210-5c69bbdd-d7f1-4319-919a-da7321415010.mov

Monetisation

Currently Zesty has only one monetisation channel. Creators create content. Advertisers bid for a slot and Zesty takes a small cut out of it. We could branch out a bit and with a Zesty Store, the following will be possible:

Ad-free Experience

Basically everything on Zesty Store has ads and there might be some people who would want to experience a content listed in Zesty Store but don't want to see ads. There are lots of such people and Zesty could charge them for an ad-free experience. Now the specifics is up for discussion.

Subscription

Zesty Store could have a subscription modal wherein people can subscribe for a fee for ad-free experiences in all or some of the games.

Zesty Tokens

Since all the games/content in Zesty Store has Zesty SDK within them, we could make Zesty Tokens as in-game currency for all Zesty things and the creators can then make content which would require the use of such tokens.

Incentives for better content

Zesty Store will have Featured, Top, Trending and such categories. This is great to have as we can then have a mark up on the minimum-price of the bid for ads on these contents. This achieves two things:

1. Creators have an incentive to create and make good content as the more popular they are, they can be guaranteed of a higher minimum bids.
2. Advertisers will have a clearer picture of where they'd want to advertise.

Taxonomy

For now, we could put the onus of classification of content on the creators. We could incentivise this as well - A content would be like a Tinder/Bumble profile where the most complete profile would be ranked higher so the users know everything they need to know and content creators need to classify them correctly.

[msub2]

My thoughts:

• I don't think offering a subscription model for an ad-free experience is a viable monetization route as things are right now. the vast majority of zesty ads are far less intrusive than your typical web2 browser game ads, they aren't making you sit through a 30 second ad video they're just there in one place. It's hard to imagine there's enough people that are annoyed at a single banner ad on the main menu of the game that they'll only be looking at for maybe a few seconds before getting on with the game.
• im also not the hugest fan of copying netflix's UI, I would prefer something more information-dense. Netflix's UI by design is meant to have you sitting there and scrolling
• Zesty Store doesn't really roll off the tongue as well as "Zesty Directory" does

[Komitaji]

The monetisation part is just the future possibilities that we can pursue. They are just nascent ideas recorded as a possibility. When ads on games in Web 2 were first introduced, they were not as intrusive as they are now as well. It's just evolution. Sure now it's staying in one place. But I can very well imagine a possibility where when it grows, there will be a lot of places, trying to aggressively set up ads, "plastered" rather. In any case, I am thinking too far ahead I guess.

The Netflix UI is not merely Netflix. That UI is how Apple Play Store / Google Play Store display the content as well. It's a tried and tested UI used by billions already. The dense information can be shown when an actual design is made. This is just a to give a feel of how that might look.

For the third point, I guess it is a preference. I have rarely heard a "directory" and it gives a yellowpages feeling while Zesty Store is immediately apparent but again personal preference :)

[limbofeather]

@Komitaji If you're not a fan of the "directory" name we can rename it. Just not sure how it's related to a store. Would it be a marketplace for digital assets sold in WebXR games? Also keep in mind that most of these games are not Zesty's.

I do like the idea of having a way for users to remove the ads from the games with a certain membership pass. On the in-game currency aspect, the Zesty token could help augment some of the game currency work that @Srile did for Construct Arcade, maybe we could make an interoperable currency across WebXR content.

Also agree on us needing a way for us to categorize the content according to some taxonomy/ontology, like the taxonomy laid out by IAB: https://iabtechlab.com/standards/content-taxonomy/