This Page covers the forum shop.
For other variations, please refer to Store (disambiguation).
The Store was a feature of the web site, beginning in 2006, mostly closed in 2007, and supplanted by the identically-named Store in 2009. It allowed members of the CES forum to earn rewards performing various forum tasks, and to redeem those rewards for various perks and virtual goods.
History
Between February 21, 2006, and March 2, 2006, the forum expanded its features by using a number of modifications to the Simple Machines Forum software. On February 28, the forum launched its "Shop" using the modification SMFShop by DanSoft Australia.
The Shop was beta-tested by TK Seya, and used a rewards currency called "Celbos," named after the Free United Club of Kids fiat currency. Celbos could be used to purchase collectible digital items, username and profile cosmetics, and consumable items that forum members could use to "attack" each other.
Even though they were called Celbos, many staff and members referred to them as Points instead. Some club members who were also forum members were confused by calling them Celbos, thinking the balance shown on the forum was like a bank account of the same currency used by the club.
Within a few weeks, the Shop was renamed the "Store." The intent was to expand its inventory, and eventually combine it with The Arsenal, so that Celbos could be used to purchase physical merchandise such as DVDs of the studio's productions. However, this needed to be carefully planned so it could be profitable, since the studio could not exchange Celbos for United States currency. One idea was to allow users to purchase subscription plans using dollars that would give them a certain number of Celbos in exchange. However, the forum had no capability of directly selling subscriptions at this time.
On May 16, 2006, Ted Phillips posted some ideas for improving the forum, which included using Celbos to download content, such as videos that were produced by the studio. On May 31, the site started developing its Downloads section, which led to migrating the forum software to vBulletin.
On June 6, 2006, the Forum relaunched with a new Store, using the vBulletin add-on vBPlaza by GSCCC, Inc, as well as the planned Downloads integration. The Celbos currency was officially renamed to "Points" at this time. Additional uses for Points were added, such as using them as credits to play Flash games in the forum's brand new Arcade, as well as new ways to earn Points, such as by referring new members.
Within a few weeks, however, several members figured out ways to game this system in order to earn massive numbers of Points. On top of that, it was clear that renaming "Points" to "Celbos" actually created more confusion than it resolved, so they were renamed back to "Celbos."
During February 2007, a security vulnerability was discovered in vBPlaza, which had not received patches from its developer in several months. As a result, the Store was disabled. In order to keep other parts of the site functioning, such as Downloads, another method of managing Celbos was devised involving a hidden "stock market" system, which launched on March 10, 2007.
While the studio intended to reopen the Store using a more modern version of vBPlaza, by this time, it was heavily invested in developing its own vBulletin add-ons, and in writing content for The Vault.
On February 26, 2009, the web site used its product VaultWiki to launch another Store, based on The Arsenal, selling physical products. While it could easily be extended to sell virtual products and cosmetics like the previous store, this did not occur.
On April 26, 2009, Ted Phillips announced that the Store's defunct vBPlaza functionality was being permanently removed; however, Celbos that members had already earned remained linked to their accounts for hypothetical future use.
The Shop was beta-tested by TK Seya, and used a rewards currency called "Celbos," named after the Free United Club of Kids fiat currency. Celbos could be used to purchase collectible digital items, username and profile cosmetics, and consumable items that forum members could use to "attack" each other.
Even though they were called Celbos, many staff and members referred to them as Points instead. Some club members who were also forum members were confused by calling them Celbos, thinking the balance shown on the forum was like a bank account of the same currency used by the club.
Within a few weeks, the Shop was renamed the "Store." The intent was to expand its inventory, and eventually combine it with The Arsenal, so that Celbos could be used to purchase physical merchandise such as DVDs of the studio's productions. However, this needed to be carefully planned so it could be profitable, since the studio could not exchange Celbos for United States currency. One idea was to allow users to purchase subscription plans using dollars that would give them a certain number of Celbos in exchange. However, the forum had no capability of directly selling subscriptions at this time.
On May 16, 2006, Ted Phillips posted some ideas for improving the forum, which included using Celbos to download content, such as videos that were produced by the studio. On May 31, the site started developing its Downloads section, which led to migrating the forum software to vBulletin.
On June 6, 2006, the Forum relaunched with a new Store, using the vBulletin add-on vBPlaza by GSCCC, Inc, as well as the planned Downloads integration. The Celbos currency was officially renamed to "Points" at this time. Additional uses for Points were added, such as using them as credits to play Flash games in the forum's brand new Arcade, as well as new ways to earn Points, such as by referring new members.
Within a few weeks, however, several members figured out ways to game this system in order to earn massive numbers of Points. On top of that, it was clear that renaming "Points" to "Celbos" actually created more confusion than it resolved, so they were renamed back to "Celbos."
During February 2007, a security vulnerability was discovered in vBPlaza, which had not received patches from its developer in several months. As a result, the Store was disabled. In order to keep other parts of the site functioning, such as Downloads, another method of managing Celbos was devised involving a hidden "stock market" system, which launched on March 10, 2007.
While the studio intended to reopen the Store using a more modern version of vBPlaza, by this time, it was heavily invested in developing its own vBulletin add-ons, and in writing content for The Vault.
On February 26, 2009, the web site used its product VaultWiki to launch another Store, based on The Arsenal, selling physical products. While it could easily be extended to sell virtual products and cosmetics like the previous store, this did not occur.
On April 26, 2009, Ted Phillips announced that the Store's defunct vBPlaza functionality was being permanently removed; however, Celbos that members had already earned remained linked to their accounts for hypothetical future use.
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