[SOLVED] Bitcoin's chicken and egg problem

[HostFat]

Will some Wonder-Nerd please figure out how to gamble bitcoins in the beginning of each counter strike match!?

Better yet, lets get this goin on TF2!

Someone should open a website like http://betsofbitco.in but completely dedicated to gaming.
It should be more like a community.
Here there will be bettors, players and developers ( these ones will develop plug-ins to add betting system directly in-game as you suggested )

[ahbritto]

I don't quite catch it - why does a forum need a currency at all ...?

The forum provides a convenient way to trade goods.

An alternative is to use PayPal which has high fees for small purchases.  Or the members would somehow need to find a common payment mechanism for each purchase.  Many payment mechanisms are not open to minors.  Even Bitcoin has minimum fees for small transactions and confirmation delays when using the standard client.  Now, members have a convenient currency for all transactions and, if still want to, they can choose to use another payment mechanism.

... how does a forum user with more mBTC become more reliable?

If someone is asking about purchasing something and they have no balance, then their questions are less likely to be sincere. They certainly can't make an immediate purchase.

If they have balance, they are more likely to be participating in commerce with other forum members.

If someone is selling something and the amount they are charging is not a significant portion of their balance, they may be less likely to rip customers off.  At least customers can tell that the seller is not relatively poor.

[istar]

The forum has way to many subforums. Reaching critical mass is nr1. This spreads their users out very thin.
For that its better to start with as few as possible.

[kangasbros]

Now when I look at it, there is a little over 1500 registered users. So it seems that they gained users via the 1BTC reward, but the growth has diminished after that.

A better strategy would be: offer 0.5 BTC for first 1000 registrations, 0.25 BTC for next 1000, 0.125 for next etc. And maybe offer a double if the user is migrating from a competiting site.

[Rassah]

Now when I look at it, there is a little over 1500 registered users. So it seems that they gained users via the 1BTC reward, but the growth has diminished after that.

A better strategy would be: offer 0.5 BTC for first 1000 registrations, 0.25 BTC for next 1000, 0.125 for next etc. And maybe offer a double if the user is migrating from a competiting site.

^^ Mining for users? 

[HostFat]

Anyway I really like the way they have integrated Bitcoin with their board.
I hope to see more mods for every board ( eBullettin / SMF /Invision Power Board / phpbb / ... ) that can be easily added with few clicks.

Is the new Mt.Gox e-Commerce feature a big step forward on this direction?

[ThomasV]

Now when I look at it, there is a little over 1500 registered users. So it seems that they gained users via the 1BTC reward, but the growth has diminished after that.

look again.
FYI, ogrr has been around since end of october.

[dunand]

The forum has way to many subforums. Reaching critical mass is nr1. This spreads their users out very thin.
For that its better to start with as few as possible.

I had the same remark after visiting the forum the first time. I don't really understand why they make subforums for geographic regions ?

[Gabi]

It has been explained in page 2.

[Superior]

Hey guys, thanks for all the support.

It surely makes sense to inactivate some of the sub-forums until we reach a higher need for them, it's something we will discuss.

All feedback and criticism is highly appreciated!

[ThomasV]

to show that the growth is not slowing down, I made this little graph.
It reflects the number of registered users reported in this thread: https://ogrr.com/viewtopic.php?f=385&t=540

[HostFat]

All feedback and criticism is highly appreciated!

Are you going to add automatic funds?

[Superior]

All feedback and criticism is highly appreciated!

Are you going to add automatic funds?

It's on the way but I cannot give you an ETA on that today.

I saw that you were in our IRC-channel earlier today, I missed you by an hour, you can contact me (Superior) or jesse on the boards with any questions you might have.

[acoindr]

@Superior - is there anything the Bitcoin community can do to help you? There is obvious interest in seeing ogrr.com succeed.

[HostFat]

I saw that you were in our IRC-channel earlier today, I missed you by an hour, you can contact me (Superior) or jesse on the boards with any questions you might have.

You have already replied
Anyway, as Acoindr said I really hope that you will find the right help to have the automatic-funds done.
I'm not personally interested in this kind of market, but I think that it's another big step forward to have Bitcoin commonly used.

[triplehelix]

if any of you guys are on reddit, you can go vote up a blog post about it that talks about bitcoin as well:

http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/qm6hu/ogrrcom_bitcoinbased_cashout_community/

[RandyFolds]

I guess I just don't get this whole concept. By showing that you have two internet-nickels to rub together, it somehow makes you a more serious buyer/contributor?

[evoorhees]

I guess I just don't get this whole concept. By showing that you have two internet-nickels to rub together, it somehow makes you a more serious buyer/contributor?

Just as in real life, wealth is an indicator of status and success. Not a guarantee, mind you, just an indicator.

It's pretty simple - by showing that you have money to spend, you'll be taken more seriously by people you trade with. I think it's a very clever feature of Ogrr

[RandyFolds]

I guess I just don't get this whole concept. By showing that you have two internet-nickels to rub together, it somehow makes you a more serious buyer/contributor?

Just as in real life, wealth is an indicator of status and success. Not a guarantee, mind you, just an indicator.

It's pretty simple - by showing that you have money to spend, you'll be taken more seriously by people you trade with. I think it's a very clever feature of Ogrr

But the money is trifling amounts, like, fractions of cents...which is why it's ok. If it was anything more, it'd be a bank and a destroyer-of-anonymity to some extent.

[acoindr]

I guess I just don't get this whole concept. By showing that you have two internet-nickels to rub together, it somehow makes you a more serious buyer/contributor?

Just as in real life, wealth is an indicator of status and success. Not a guarantee, mind you, just an indicator.

It's pretty simple - by showing that you have money to spend, you'll be taken more seriously by people you trade with. I think it's a very clever feature of Ogrr

But the money is trifling amounts, like, fractions of cents...which is why it's ok. If it was anything more, it'd be a bank and a destroyer-of-anonymity to some extent.

You're obviously not a gamer. Gamers like scores  

The higher the better. And there is always the option to go after significant money, as mentioned earlier in this thread.

Once new users get exposed to Bitcoin they may explore more and actually become bitcoiners.