ooc: The Unofficial Guide to Creating a Storefront

[Questers]

Good guide. I approve.

[Huntaer]

A very good guide over all. Some comments from my part as I've been in the business since I started in Nov. 2004.

4. What Not to Do

#4, Sell Real Life Products: In NationStates, it is a widely accepted rule that any nation can make anything that exists in real life. That means that serious players will not take people seriously if you sell things like AK-47's, or Porsche Boxsters. This applies to any product, and it also applies if you just change the name.

True, however there's a few rule of thumbs we can have in this case. Lets say a nation just started out and finds him/herself in a 200 foot pile of bird shit and is being slammed by other n00bs ICly or started a war he/she cannot fight because they picked on the wrong person. Or they RP realistically and take proper casualties and equipment damage as a part of the story line. Maybe their production lines can get the job done to get more weapons and vehicles out, but it ain't fast enough. That's where the store fronts come in. They produce the RL product for them (though the nation can create in of themselves) and then helps the speed of production and the nation attacking/being attacked can defend themselves at a quicker rate and can very well turn the tide of the war.

#6, Picture Spam: This isn't much better then a one liner. All it usually is is a bunch of illustrated one liners. You may get a couple of customers, but it will never last.

Picture Spam: I don't know about you, but I like to know what a product looks like so I include a picture for a product wherever possible when I put up the stats. The stats might be great, but what if it looked like a damn POS? It's like those date site issues you sometimes hear about. "Hot girl looking for a good time," doesn't tell you much about what the girl looks like. It might list everything else about the girl, likes dislikes and so on but if you don't have a pic then you risk having a bad blind date with the picture above . Much can be said about purchasing a product on NS. Might be bad ethics ICly, but there's no IC rule that says you can't gyp your customers if you don't like them ICly.

#8, Spam: This has been done quite a few times. You have 3 or four products, so you make a new thread for all of them. If you have multiple products in the same category, put them in one storefront, it just makes everyone happier.

Spam: Too true, I ran into this problem myself when I first started out and made a new thread for every original Star Destroyer or Tie Fighter I developed. What I ended up doing on jolt to prevent a complete list or spam is I created one thread for the products or ships produced. For my nation, I created a Product Research thread, and for the Store Front I created a Star Forge Store Front Product Reference thread so that I can have individual stats up (stats for the Constitution Class and a Imperial Star Destroyer on the same page? HERESY!) in individual posts. It would appear though that is now unnecessary though due to the spoiler feature on the new NS forums. I might have to test that out to see if it's any better. Then my switch from jolt to NS will be complete.

#11, Make the Customer Add Up the Bill: Many storefronts state that you "need to do the math". If Wal-Mart had you add up your total in real life, it would be a disaster. It complicates it for the customer, and the store, and if the customer does it wrong, then the store may end up blaming them.

This is an interesting fact. It's true, but I make people do it because I generally don't have the time to add it all up myself if they make a giant purchase. However, I do round numbers to get a simple guestimate so that I know people are in the general ballpark. I MIGHT hire someone to do it for me and they get a small percentage of the products made from that point onward...

[United Gordonopia]

A very good guide over all. Some comments from my part as I've been in the business since I started in Nov. 2004.

4. What Not to Do

#4, Sell Real Life Products: In NationStates, it is a widely accepted rule that any nation can make anything that exists in real life. That means that serious players will not take people seriously if you sell things like AK-47's, or Porsche Boxsters. This applies to any product, and it also applies if you just change the name.

True, however there's a few rule of thumbs we can have in this case. Lets say a nation just started out and finds him/herself in a 200 foot pile of bird shit and is being slammed by other n00bs ICly or started a war he/she cannot fight because they picked on the wrong person. Or they RP realistically and take proper casualties and equipment damage as a part of the story line. Maybe their production lines can get the job done to get more weapons and vehicles out, but it ain't fast enough. That's where the store fronts come in. They produce the RL product for them (though the nation can create in of themselves) and then helps the speed of production and the nation attacking/being attacked can defend themselves at a quicker rate and can very well turn the tide of the war.

#6, Picture Spam: This isn't much better then a one liner. All it usually is is a bunch of illustrated one liners. You may get a couple of customers, but it will never last.

Picture Spam: I don't know about you, but I like to know what a product looks like so I include a picture for a product wherever possible when I put up the stats. The stats might be great, but what if it looked like a damn POS? It's like those date site issues you sometimes hear about. "Hot girl looking for a good time," doesn't tell you much about what the girl looks like. It might list everything else about the girl, likes dislikes and so on but if you don't have a pic then you risk having a bad blind date with the picture above . Much can be said about purchasing a product on NS. Might be bad ethics ICly, but there's no IC rule that says you can't gyp your customers if you don't like them ICly.

#8, Spam: This has been done quite a few times. You have 3 or four products, so you make a new thread for all of them. If you have multiple products in the same category, put them in one storefront, it just makes everyone happier.

Spam: Too true, I ran into this problem myself when I first started out and made a new thread for every original Star Destroyer or Tie Fighter I developed. What I ended up doing on jolt to prevent a complete list or spam is I created one thread for the products or ships produced. For my nation, I created a Product Research thread, and for the Store Front I created a Star Forge Store Front Product Reference thread so that I can have individual stats up (stats for the Constitution Class and a Imperial Star Destroyer on the same page? HERESY!) in individual posts. It would appear though that is now unnecessary though due to the spoiler feature on the new NS forums. I might have to test that out to see if it's any better. Then my switch from jolt to NS will be complete.

#11, Make the Customer Add Up the Bill: Many storefronts state that you "need to do the math". If Wal-Mart had you add up your total in real life, it would be a disaster. It complicates it for the customer, and the store, and if the customer does it wrong, then the store may end up blaming them.

This is an interesting fact. It's true, but I make people do it because I generally don't have the time to add it all up myself if they make a giant purchase. However, I do round numbers to get a simple guestimate so that I know people are in the general ballpark. I MIGHT hire someone to do it for me and they get a small percentage of the products made from that point onward...

Most things that you've mentioned have already been discussed on previous pages. About the picture spam, I didn't say don;t post pictures. If you read it, it says picture spam is "like an illustrated one liner". You see them a lot. It refers to "stores" which have a bunch of pictures and a line or two of detail.

[Astholm]

Feedback on this is appreciated:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=25256

(my alternate account for a nation's vehicle manufacturer)

[Lelouche]

I found this guide very useful, and figured the only OOC thread would be a great place to ask this question

What would be the best way and place to go about Opening my Nation, for foreign investment?

IE I haven't seen a thread I can emulate. and my goal is to have other nations, jumpstart and build the economy of my tiny (yet fiscally sound) Economically conservative nation

I used the calculators you linked for determining Economic figures...and the results were consistent among the three that actually worked.

The results were promising...but could be better, (rping obvisiously won't change those results, and I wonder how that is compensated for on forum and RP)

in short I'm new, and need hand holding

[United Gordonopia]

I found this guide very useful, and figured the only OOC thread would be a great place to ask this question

What would be the best way and place to go about Opening my Nation, for foreign investment?

IE I haven't seen a thread I can emulate. and my goal is to have other nations, jumpstart and build the economy of my tiny (yet fiscally sound) Economically conservative nation

I used the calculators you linked for determining Economic figures...and the results were consistent among the three that actually worked.

The results were promising...but could be better, (rping obvisiously won't change those results, and I wonder how that is compensated for on forum and RP)

in short I'm new, and need hand holding

The best way would be to open a thread welcoming foreign companies into your nation, if that's what you want. Or you can open a general trade thread in which you list products you want, and companies will give offers to supply them.

[Niur]

Gordonopia, Would you be kind enough to inspect my store-front to see if it is aduaquate?
(please excuse my poor spelling, my fingers hurt as I have been working on NaNoWriMo all today.)

[Concordeia]

I need some help guys. I've posted an energy products storefront but I have received only one customer so far. I've built a second revamped one but I still haven't gotten any takers. Any idea why?

http://forum.nationstates.net/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=29409

[Grittonia]

I need some help guys. I've posted an energy products storefront but I have received only one customer so far. I've built a second revamped one but I still haven't gotten any takers. Any idea why?

http://forum.nationstates.net/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=29409

I think, but I'm more into the military and service storefronts but still, that people can make that themselfs in their country. Maybe if you would also sell oil, uranium and windturbines and that kind of things, people might think 'Mmmmm maybe I'll take that too'.

[Crookfur]

I need some help guys. I've posted an energy products storefront but I have received only one customer so far. I've built a second revamped one but I still haven't gotten any takers. Any idea why?

http://forum.nationstates.net/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=29409

its only been about a day and sundays are historically a quiet day on GEAT so things will improve

You have also had the misfortune of starting a resource thread in the midst of a resurgent "oil" bandwagonfest which is really not going to help.

Whilst technically accurate (as far as I can tell with my tired and flu ridden head) your store front really doesn't scream "YOU NEED THIS STUFF"! Which unfortunatly is a big issue as people tend to assume that they have all the boring resource and energy infrastructure they might possibly need so you need somethign spectacular to grab them by the lapels or something that is really going to blind those people actually interested in RPing that side of thier nation with lots of wonderful science.

just a few of my random thoughts.

[United Gordonopia]

I need some help guys. I've posted an energy products storefront but I have received only one customer so far. I've built a second revamped one but I still haven't gotten any takers. Any idea why?

http://forum.nationstates.net/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=29409

Adding on, resources tend to be a niche storefront. Few resource stores survive, but that doesn't mean yours won't. There's a lot of hype about oil right now, so until that dies down, don't expect to much business.

[Concordeia]

Thanks for the advice and comments guys, I really appreciate it.

[Cipherlocke]

Nice Guide! I appreciate it.

[United Gordonopia]

Nice Guide! I appreciate it.

Thanks. It's always good to get compliments.

[Novalands]

What program do people use to create guns, tanks, ships, etc? I know theres pimp my gun but what is else?

[Grittonia]

What program do people use to create guns, tanks, ships, etc? I know theres pimp my gun but what is else?

Paint, Paint.net, Gimp, Photoshop.
Sweat and Tears and Inspiration.

[Crookfur]

There is also biggun (of you can find it), springsharp, the CB spread sheet, the lanz odermat equation (and various small programs and spreadheets that it it easier to play with), facehard, JBM trajectory calcs (or Quickload), various kinetic energy calcs and most importantly http://www.onlineconversion.com/ . Some might even use the likes of the X-plane editor

Or did you mean for just pictures?

[Novalands]

Things like these:
(These belong to "Imperial State Corporation")


And thanks for the help.

[Zinaire]

Things like that are done in Paint.

[Bluth Corporation]

I don't think expecting customers to do their own math is terribly unreasonable. Any good/serious customer would have added up the prices anyway to make sure they could actually afford it, so all you're doing is asking them to show the work they should have already done anyway.

[Serbian_Soviet_Union]

I don't think expecting customers to do their own math is terribly unreasonable. Any good/serious customer would have added up the prices anyway to make sure they could actually afford it, so all you're doing is asking them to show the work they should have already done anyway.

I second that. Also a serious storefront would only accept orders if the order is done in "In Character" and properly rp'ed. A serious customer would also specify the location for the delivery aswell.

[Almaniania]

...
I recently opened up a storefront at a partner's request, and I feel compared to this, it's gonna die.
I am thankful another nation pointed me here. It seems like I have a good concept, but it isn't going anywhere...

Back to the drawing board.

[Duroland]

Hi, I'm quite new and maybe I missed something somewhere, so...

I already set up a storefront (not very successful, currently).
What I need to know is:
- how do I keep track of money earned (and spent) through RP? Should I keep my own records and "mix" them with the figures provided by the likes of NSEconomy?
- Ho do I deal with long-term contracts (e.g. $1million per year for 10 years)? Is there a rule somewhere (where?) saying how long (in RL terms) one RP year is?

Thanks

[Crookfur]

Well it is a nice storefront if covering a product group that people sadly tend not to think about.

In regard to your questions:

1. Yeah you really need to keep your own records if you want to keep any. Some of us are terribly lazy and don't really bother which can sometimes be an issue. Generally speaking from what I can gather it is assumed that any money you make is already covered by your nations economy stats, if you use them.

2. Due to the fact that on NS time is essentially fluid this is a difficult one, there have been many attempts at codifying it but nothing ever sticks. People tend to use 1 time scale for the likes of storefront transactions and by necessity a very different one for other RPs. At one time the rule of 1 NS year= 1RL day was common for storefront RP but it can be argued that is possibly too short. Some use a month, some use a week it varies hugely depending on what is needed or feel right. For contracts etc I tend to leave the actual time scale up to each customer but it is something worth agreeing OOCly with customers, possibly on a case by case basis.

[Duroland]

Thank you so much! All very clear.