Web Monetization logo

Web Monetization

Get paid in real time when people play your games!
Coil subscribers visit your game, play it, and Coil sends you micropayments as they play.
Web Monetization is an open browser API that you can use in JavaScript.

This category was introduced in 2019 together with Coil, and this year we are
partnering up with the Grant for the Web program, but the rules stay the same.

Participating is optional, and it is as simple as adding a single meta tag,
and offers unlimited possibilities. You will be able to receive payments when people
play your games, give back to supportive players with additional content or expanding
game mechanics, and help other devs make money from Coil by playing their games too.

Experts

Nathan Lie

Nathan Lie

Nathan is a Software Engineer at Coil who considers himself a gamer first and an engineer second. He's been working with and on applications using Web Monetization for the past year, and is eager to see the intersections between Web Monetization and game design this year!

@feraltc | coil.com

Yuriy Dybskiy

Yuriy Dybskiy

Yuriy is a founder of Puma Browser – mobile browser focused on seamless payments and data privacy. Previously worked at Lyft, Facebook, Meteor, Cloudant and a few startups as Developer Advocate ⁄ Engineer. Grew up in πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦πŸ‡―πŸ‡΅πŸ‡¨πŸ‡¦. Lives in SF now, enjoys tennis, moto rides, park walks and games.

@html5cat | pumabrowser.com

Anselm Hook

Anselm Hook

Anselm Hook does early stage product R&D. Work includes CTO of TokenIQ.io, R&D at 6d.io, R&D at Mozilla and Xerox Parc. He is currently building a web payments startup.

@anselm | hook.org

Prizes

Nintendo Switch

Nintendo Switch

One Nintendo Switch gaming console.

Coil

Coil membership

Coil membership plans for six months each for every participant.


Proto.io

1 × Proto.io account

One Proto.io account with Startup plan for 12 months.

Grant for the Web js13kGames Coil

Rules

The rules for the Web Monetization category are exactly the same as Desktop/Mobile/Server, with one extra - include the meta tag in your website's <head>:

<meta name="monetization" content="$ilp.uphold.com/paymentpointer">

To get your unique payment pointer, register on the Coil's website and then visit Settings where you'll be able to create your own wallet with Uphold - this will allow you to receive instant payments.

Details

Size limit

All the official rules for the Desktop/Mobile/Server categories apply, including #3. The meta tag is mandatory to be included in the Web Monetization category and is counted within the size limit. Fortunately, it's only a couple of characters, so shouldn't take too much out of the total size limit.

Submitting to Web Monetization versus other categories

You can pick and chose any (or all) of the now four categories: Desktop, Mobile, Server, Web Monetization. You can also submit your game to the WebXR and Web Monetization categories. Remember that the WebXR category is treated separately from the classic Desktop/Mobile/Server ones.

The 100+20 rule

To fully utilize the platform and offer unique experience to the paying subscribers, the best way is to add extra content to your entry for them. All participants and experts will have the chance to become one. It can be as simple as adding more points to the final score, or more advanced like bonus items, levels, or game types.

Detecting a subscriber

To detect if the player is a subscriber you can check the document.monetization object and query its state: if(document.monetization && document.monetization.state === 'started') { /* hello subscriber */ }.
Remember that this may take some time to start, so if you need the information on page load as soon as it's available you can use the event instead: document.monetization.addEventListener('monetizationstart',function(){ /* hello */ });.
See the Docs for more details.

Playing web monetized games

From the player point of view, to be recognized as the subscriber and see the extra content you have to have a FirefoxChromeBraveEdge extension or use the Puma Browser, which have Web Monetization API enabled by default.

Games on the Coil website

There's a vibrant community gathered around Coil already, so all the games that will be shared there will have the chance to be played and paid accordingly to the number of plays by all their subscribers.

Nintendo Switch

This gaming console is sponsored by the Grant for the Web program. Given the specificity of shipping hardware worldwide, and issues it may cause given various customs services around the world, this prize is not guaranteed. We will do our best to ship you the prize, but you might have to pay extra taxes or other costs of importing such device to your country.

Questions?

If you have any questions about this category feel free to contact us via e-mail: contact@js13kgames.com.
Other options include visiting our profiles on Twitter or Facebook, or joining our Slack channel.