The Plan to Monetize Arena Fighting, for Fun and Profit
This is a writeup of my plan for getting a net income from arena fights, assuming we get visitors (so not until we grow a lot more).
1. Cost to Watch
This part is simple - it's just charging a small fee for watching. However, the majority of seat would be free. The ones that would have a low price would be those with good views or mechanisms that can affect the fight (usually restricted to fortress members only). The control room could be available for viewing/controlling stuff from, but at a cost of a few diamond.
2. Ranking System
For each contestant, there will be a place on a wall for their stats (number of games played and ranking). The ranking will begin at 100, and then wins and losses will change this. The formula will be determined later, depending on how quickly we want it to change. Getting to different ranks will allow people to face different people, though - if there is anyone there in that range, people will be limited to a range of 100 either way (this can be adjusted when we finalize this).
3. Costs and Rewards of Entering
The main way that money will be earned is through this particular system. To enter a fight, there will be a slight cost. As the ranking goes up, the cost will also go up, with the lower-ranked person usually having to pay less (so that people can go from iron to diamond more easily). People will also be allowed some debt, but they will lose ranking if it gets too high (and can eventually be barred from playing). The winner will earn more than he put in and the loser will either earn nothing or only a little bit (loser earnings vary by ranking; my suggestion is starting off high, and then have it go down to zero or near zero). While they both earn some things, the total amount that goes back to them will be less than what they paid. Where does that extra amount go? To us, of course!
A Sample Earning Plan*
Format: rank #, cost | winner earnings | loser earnings
<101, 1 stack of food that we don't have or 2 iron | 2 of (1 iron, 1 stack of food) | 1 iron or 0.5 stack of food
101-200, 3 stacks of food that we don't have or 5 iron or 32 redstone/lapis or 1 gold | 2 of (3 stacks of food, 6 iron, 20 redstone/lapis, 1 gold) | 2 of (1 food stack, 3 iron)
200-500, 10 stacks of food, 32 iron, 1 stack of redstone/lapis/coal blocks, 10 gold, 1 diamond | 3 of (1/5 of what was given total, rounded up) | 2 of (1/8 of what was given total, rounded down)
>500, an inventory of food, 16 iron blocks, 5 stacks of redstone/lapis/coal blocks, 64 gold, 7 diamond | 4 of (1/6 of what was given total, rounded up) | 3 of (1/10 of what was given total, rounded down)
*Numbers may change