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Rant/Funding Idea
As of late, I'm sure almost everyone who plays Trench Wars has noticed that a funding problem has become evident. For those who aren't in the know, Sonera, the Finland-based company who up until recently has hosted Trench Wars, pulled the plug. Rather than let the zone simply die off due to the fact that it was no longer hosted on a free server, Priit found a server in the United States that could sufficiently handle the same traffic that the Sonera servers did. This, of course, came at a fairly hefty price. If my information is correct, it costs Priit roughly $1000 a month to run the server.
Another debacle that is created is the fact that TW continues to grow. The more it grows, the more bandwidth the server has to handle. For those who are unaware, bandwidth costs money. Increasing bandwidth results in increasing costs.
I began playing Trench Wars in the summer of 2001, and for a year and a half I've been enjoying this game and everything associated with it. I've met great people and had some very fun/entertaining times. Think about it - we're all playing a game that is the equivalent of glorifed online asteroids/galaga. There are other games out where with full 3-d environments, massive online arenas where virtual avatars representing individuals socialize and interact with each other. Yet our small community continues to religiously play a game involving 2 dimension spaceships, shitty graphics, and a simplified IRC chat system. Yet despite all the huge advances in the online gaming genre over the past 5 years, so many of us continue to play this game. For the love of all that is holy, WHY?
I'd like to believe that I know why. The community. If any of you have ever lived in a small town, you will understand me when I say that the two things are comparative. Everyone knows each other. Gossip/Rumors are commonplace. Cliques are formed. The same can't be said for a game such as Everquest/Asheron's Call simply because there are tens of thousands of people playing it. We are a small, concentrated community. We all visit the same general forums. In fact, when you think about it, the Trench Wars community is extremely unique when compared to other online games. While in a game like Everquest there is always some new weapon to obtain or some new quest to complete, in Subspace there aren't always things going on. The game is limited by its simplicity - the fact that games are only played when there are two willing teams. This creates down-time between events, and I feel it is this down-time that makes the TW community as a whole shine. Examples range from the seriousness of Current World Affairs to the light-heartedness of the Pallies movies and various Trench Wars internet Radios. This same down-time is why people will sit back and talk about their favorite childhood cartoon with other players, or new basing strategies with their squadmates. Trench Wars is the game that has brought us all together to form the close-knit community that we are today.
That is why I believe a yearly fee should be charged in order to play on TW, or even perhaps the SSCU server.
Due to the new funding circumstances, it seems only plausible. I sincerely hope you didn't stop reading after the aforementioned paragraph so you could reply with "SCREW THAT! I'LL QUIT BEFORE I'LL PAY!" Hear me out.
Priit is currently paying roughly $1000 a month so we can continue to enjoy this game. While the donations are a good idea (a pat on the back to those who have donated thus far), it isn't the solution. I believe that a yearly fee would solve the funding situation. After all, it isn't fair that we force Priit to pay for our entertainment.
For those who don't want to strangle me yet, I'll elaborate on the numbers:
Lets say that the yearly fee is $15/year. Assuming that the total player base of TW is 1000 (and i could be way off here, if anyone has any kind of concrete number concerning this it would be apperciated), that results in a revenue of $15000 being generated. So let me lay this out. If the server costs $1000/month right now, that dictates that the cost is $12000 for an entire year. Not only would the $15 a year more than cover this, but the additional income would also cover any potential changes/upgrades in the servers/other vital hardware. Well, either that or DoCk> ends up with a brand new moped (kidding).
Now allow me to preach to those of you who maintain the platform of "If I ever had to pay for this game I'd quit right away." I guarantee you that most of you wouldn't. How many of you paid for the Subspace CD when it was released by VIE? I believe the CD cost about $30 at the time. $30 - that's 2 years worth of playing this game if a yearly fee of $15 was in place. Furthermore, even those of you who are 12 with no job could certainly scrape up $15 in 365 days. This game has provided myself with so much entertainment over the past 4 years - I would certainly be willing to shell out $15 a year. Keep in mind that the majority of online games cost by the month.
Clearly, this game and the community that surrounds it is why so many of us continue to play today. Trench Wars is definately an addicting zone as I'm sure a large number of you would attest to. VIE left Subspace to die, and a handful of players (you know who you are) have kept it alive for the past few years. I say it's about time we give them a hand.
Big ups to DoCk>,
Pearlus Jammus
Another debacle that is created is the fact that TW continues to grow. The more it grows, the more bandwidth the server has to handle. For those who are unaware, bandwidth costs money. Increasing bandwidth results in increasing costs.
I began playing Trench Wars in the summer of 2001, and for a year and a half I've been enjoying this game and everything associated with it. I've met great people and had some very fun/entertaining times. Think about it - we're all playing a game that is the equivalent of glorifed online asteroids/galaga. There are other games out where with full 3-d environments, massive online arenas where virtual avatars representing individuals socialize and interact with each other. Yet our small community continues to religiously play a game involving 2 dimension spaceships, shitty graphics, and a simplified IRC chat system. Yet despite all the huge advances in the online gaming genre over the past 5 years, so many of us continue to play this game. For the love of all that is holy, WHY?
I'd like to believe that I know why. The community. If any of you have ever lived in a small town, you will understand me when I say that the two things are comparative. Everyone knows each other. Gossip/Rumors are commonplace. Cliques are formed. The same can't be said for a game such as Everquest/Asheron's Call simply because there are tens of thousands of people playing it. We are a small, concentrated community. We all visit the same general forums. In fact, when you think about it, the Trench Wars community is extremely unique when compared to other online games. While in a game like Everquest there is always some new weapon to obtain or some new quest to complete, in Subspace there aren't always things going on. The game is limited by its simplicity - the fact that games are only played when there are two willing teams. This creates down-time between events, and I feel it is this down-time that makes the TW community as a whole shine. Examples range from the seriousness of Current World Affairs to the light-heartedness of the Pallies movies and various Trench Wars internet Radios. This same down-time is why people will sit back and talk about their favorite childhood cartoon with other players, or new basing strategies with their squadmates. Trench Wars is the game that has brought us all together to form the close-knit community that we are today.
That is why I believe a yearly fee should be charged in order to play on TW, or even perhaps the SSCU server.
Due to the new funding circumstances, it seems only plausible. I sincerely hope you didn't stop reading after the aforementioned paragraph so you could reply with "SCREW THAT! I'LL QUIT BEFORE I'LL PAY!" Hear me out.
Priit is currently paying roughly $1000 a month so we can continue to enjoy this game. While the donations are a good idea (a pat on the back to those who have donated thus far), it isn't the solution. I believe that a yearly fee would solve the funding situation. After all, it isn't fair that we force Priit to pay for our entertainment.
For those who don't want to strangle me yet, I'll elaborate on the numbers:
Lets say that the yearly fee is $15/year. Assuming that the total player base of TW is 1000 (and i could be way off here, if anyone has any kind of concrete number concerning this it would be apperciated), that results in a revenue of $15000 being generated. So let me lay this out. If the server costs $1000/month right now, that dictates that the cost is $12000 for an entire year. Not only would the $15 a year more than cover this, but the additional income would also cover any potential changes/upgrades in the servers/other vital hardware. Well, either that or DoCk> ends up with a brand new moped (kidding).
Now allow me to preach to those of you who maintain the platform of "If I ever had to pay for this game I'd quit right away." I guarantee you that most of you wouldn't. How many of you paid for the Subspace CD when it was released by VIE? I believe the CD cost about $30 at the time. $30 - that's 2 years worth of playing this game if a yearly fee of $15 was in place. Furthermore, even those of you who are 12 with no job could certainly scrape up $15 in 365 days. This game has provided myself with so much entertainment over the past 4 years - I would certainly be willing to shell out $15 a year. Keep in mind that the majority of online games cost by the month.
Clearly, this game and the community that surrounds it is why so many of us continue to play today. Trench Wars is definately an addicting zone as I'm sure a large number of you would attest to. VIE left Subspace to die, and a handful of players (you know who you are) have kept it alive for the past few years. I say it's about time we give them a hand.
Big ups to DoCk>,
Pearlus Jammus
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