Some time ago, a drama broke out on Reddit related to the creation of fansites built on WordPress, based on duplicating schemes to obtain fansite items. The topic “Enough with these low-quality generic corrupt fansites” attracted a lot of curious Reddit users, but the greatest activity was manifested by accounts newly created that day attacking individual sites and people associated with the fansite community.

Many allegations were made, though none were supported by any facts or evidence. The author of the topic deleted the account quickly after the drama was created, and the thread itself did not bring anything new to the fansite program. Although the discussion looked more like a frivolous plot to insult and throw accusations at as many people as possible, there is no denying that rumors of corruption in the fansite programme have been circulating for years.

Enough with these low-quality generic corrupt fansites
by inTibiaMMO

So let’s take a look at how true these theories are.

The Evil WordPress

One of the primary objections of “community representatives” has become the creation of fansites on a popular platform dedicated to website development: WordPress. This allegedly confirmed the thesis of the low quality of the content presented there, and the inadequate ease of building the fansite in the context of the profits that administrators make.

Well, as many fansites, as many themes and tools. Some sites serve as calculators for players to make the game easier, others are a source of general knowledge, while still others are dedicated to a specific topic, such as bosses, decorations, and fanfic. While creating tools requires programming knowledge, presenting content based on articles and images is an uncomplicated process from a technical point of view. WordPress is an absolutely sufficient tool for presenting such content. Perhaps many players take a purely practical approach and consider as valuable the sites whose tools they use, but the fansite programme aims to present Tibia players from many different points of view so that everyone finds the topic that interests them the most. Whether it will be a skilling calculator or an article about the undiscovered secrets of the game – their usefulness is a debatable and individual issue, and quality should be determined not by our own preferences, but by the form of preparation, time input, research, usefulness and many other factors.

Now that we know that we can create valuable and quality content for many players not only in the form of tools but also in the form of text and images, let’s not discredit a platform like WordPress.

WordPress is enough to show you inspiring images and articles.
WordPress is enough to tell you stories those fictional as well as mysterious.
WordPress is enough to give you knowledge.

Making Money from Fansites: Myth or Truth?

An indisputable fact is that every website must be paid. These prices vary depending on the service provider, country, and currency, but everyone has to pay for a fansite. For what exactly?

• For the domain,
• For the server on which the site is located,
• For the SSL certificate.

Depending on the requirements of the site, these costs vary, but even the cheapest variant is the price the site administrator must pay for pursuing his ideas and passions.

And what does he get in return?

1. The opportunity to advertise your project on the official Tibia.com website (as a participant in the fansite programme),
2. In the case of PROMOTED fansites, it is a 4x non-transferable package of 1500 TC. Additionally, promoted fansites are often created by a much larger number of people than 4, which means that not everyone gets rewarded. This privilege does not apply to less active fansites that have SUPPORTED status!
3. Finally, a very controversial issue is still the fansite item, which the admin and his selected people receive for their contribution to the promotion of Tibia.

Since the last point is generating the most outrage from the community and becoming the loudest argument against the creation of new fansites – it is worth considering whether it is rational. An admin can get a fansite in most cases just once. While these items often cost a fortune in the past, they are now priced as the equivalent of a single piece of equipment for mid- and high-level players. So is it worth it, given the annual fees for the website, to create such a project “for the item”? The answer is obvious – NO.
Another argument against is the potential possibility of spreading the item to the admin’s friends in order to monetize it. We learned from CM Rejana that this is not feasible:

“We’ve been keeping track of who receives fansite items since November 2011, no matter which way they are given out. The admins cannot give out any fansite items without us knowing about it, since we send these out manually, and not the admins themselves.”

It is impossible to generate a noticeable profit by, for example, sending items to friends and/or 8 lvl characters. Each person receiving such an item must make a real contribution to the site, which should be documented and submitted to CMs before receiving the item.

Fansite Items

We have already mentioned that the prices of such items have decreased. This happened due to the annual Fansite Items Lottery organized on the occasion of Fansite Appreciation Day. Just a few years ago, some items reached amounts of 60k TC! Now after only 2 such lotteries, their prices dropped to 3-10k TC, but finding an interested buyer is hard. It is much easier to monetize regular items of equipment that can be obtained in the game and have practical use because each fansite item is only a decoration. It has no other function in the game. These prices will also decrease from year to year. Soon fansite items will simply become worthless from the point of view of the average player.

So, is there any basis for claiming that an administrator who incurs annual costs of creating the website earns money from selling Fansite Items and fansite itself? Given the above – there is no rational reason to believe these days day, that creating fansites in any way was profitable for the administrator. Perhaps this bad fame came from the past when there were a lot of myths around fansites, or from the prices of items they reached at a certain point), but this is not reflected in the current possibilities offered by the program.

Admins Win Contests?

This is another of the issues raised by the fansite scandal, which has become almost a legend in the eyes of the community. Is there even a grain of truth in this rumor?
One can say so – because admins or crew members of fansites as people involved in the fansite community often participate in contests and happen to win. However, it is worth emphasizing that this is about participation in contests organized by other fansites that work independently of these admins. Not those organized by themselves. Admins of fansites are often up to date with such events, are aware of them and, above all, are willing to participate in the contests. Contrary to appearances, the group of players participating in contests is relatively small, and the group publishing quality work is even smaller. For this reason, it happens that in the TOP 3 of the contests, the nicknames of the winners over the years are repeated. This fact repeated by players not involved in contests over time turns into a theory that contests are won over and over again by the same, specific people. However, the facts are that the number of people interested in contests does not increase significantly from year to year, so it is natural that the “old-timers” win.
It is up to the community and their willingness to take on the challenges to determine how many players will take part in the contests, as they are open to everyone. Everyone has a chance to win prizes, as long as their work is competitive against others. The topics of the contests are very diverse, so we are not limited by our abilities either. Although some contests are based on artistic abilities, there are contests for decorations, writing stories, poems, articles, raffles, and in-game activities. There is something for everyone.

Conclusions

According to the Tibia community, there are better fansites and worse ones, those visited more often, and those visited occasionally. Those that interest them more and those that might not exist for them. Each, however, is the result of someone’s work, which he or she does not do solely for himself or herself, but also for the reader – not making a profit, and in most cases paying a fee. Therefore, it is worth having respect for this type of activity. We hope we were able to somewhat rationalize the drama that took place on Reddit and dispel your doubts about the issues raised there.