RapidShare interested in buying Subspace o.O

[Exalt]

I just want to draw the attention for all those people who want an "improved client" to support the existing (open source) projects being undertaken to do this, after serveral years they are getting close to being playable and fun.

STF (unplayable, but fun to try) http://www.ssforum.net/index.php?showtopic=22855

screenshot:
http://sourceforge.net/dbimage.php?id=210306

Discretion (playable) http://www.ssforum.net/index.php?showtopic=22856

screenshot (very old, its vastly improved):
http://ss-discretion.sourceforge.net/images/ss.png

http://ss-discretion.sourceforge.net/

I dont understand this... whats the point of them making discretion and all the other stuff.... why even waste time on this? They have continuum for a reason. All they did was clone continuum, but what for?

[Hakaku]

I dont understand this... whats the point of them making discretion and all the other stuff.... why even waste time on this? They have continuum for a reason. All they did was clone continuum, but what for?

What for? Because Continuum is unsupported, it hasn't received any notable updates since 2003. The recent version, 0.40 was only a minor update that had been probably completed for several years already according to Polix, and it took a hell of a lot of effort to get him to release it. The point of Discretion (among all other clients which were developped) is the same as Continuum was to SubSpace, it's to be able to provide a better game client, one that's more powerful and flexible at the same time, improving on security and graphics, provide cross-platform compatibility, while still keeping the old subspace feel to it. In other words, it's to supercede what currently exists.

The current rate of the game's demise is directly linked to the fact that no development is being done. Even Furcadia, an MMO older than SubSpace, can still boast of an average of 4k+ users online, in part because it's still supported and actively developped.

[Exalt]

What for? Because Continuum is unsupported, it hasn't received any notable updates since 2003. The recent version, 0.40 was only a minor update that had been probably completed for several years already according to Polix, and it took a hell of a lot of effort to get him to release it. The point of Discretion (among all other clients which were developped) is the same as Continuum was to SubSpace, it's to be able to provide a better game client, one that's more powerful and flexible at the same time, improving on security and graphics, provide cross-platform compatibility, while still keeping the old subspace feel to it. In other words, it's to supercede what currently exists.

The current rate of the game's demise is directly linked to the fact that no development is being done. Even Furcadia, an MMO older than SubSpace, can still boast of an average of 4k+ users online, in part because it's still supported and actively developped.

Have fun trying to get all of the community to switch over. The other problems lie in bots, servers, web development, leagues, etc. Unless you switch over that too, you won't have a community, and it becomes useless.

[Hakaku]

Have fun trying to get all of the community to switch over. The other problems lie in bots, servers, web development, leagues, etc. Unless you switch over that too, you won't have a community, and it becomes useless.

Bots, servers, web development, leagues and all that have nothing to do with a game client. A Game client is what you use to connect to the server. Continuum can connect to SubSpace servers, also known as Subgame. It can also connect to ASSS servers. Discretion is the same thing, it would allow you to connect to a server and play against other players; it even allows you to play against Continuum users in its current state.

As such, basically nothing has to be changed in order to use Discretion in the future. At the moment, it only supports the open-sourced ASSS servers, but it's possible that it could eventually support subgame servers as well, we never know.

The process to change clients will occur in the same way as it did with SubSpace to Continuum, first you start off allowing both clients, and then eventually make it mandatory for all users to connect to the zone with Discretion only.

[Exalt]

Bots, servers, web development, leagues and all that have nothing to do with a game client. A Game client is what you use to connect to the server. Continuum can connect to SubSpace servers, also known as Subgame. It can also connect to ASSS servers. Discretion is the same thing, it would allow you to connect to a server and play against other players; it even allows you to play against Continuum users in its current state.

As such, basically nothing has to be changed in order to use Discretion in the future. At the moment, it only supports the open-sourced ASSS servers, but it's possible that it could eventually support subgame servers as well, we never know.

The process to change clients will occur in the same way as it did with SubSpace to Continuum, first you start off allowing both clients, and then eventually make it mandatory for all users to connect to the zone with Discretion only.

I just don't see it happening, and so naturally I am skeptical about it. I realize a lot of effort might have been put into this project, but I don't see it going anywhere at all. If it does, great, but I doubt it. Seems like an awfully big waste of time considering you could make the game BETTER instead of cloning it exactly. The graphics suck, and adding a few pixels to 2d spaceships won't change that.

[Jeenyuss]

polix needs to get on that shit and get a feel for them to sense whether or not they're being genuine. more than likely, they're not, but this opportunity is way too big for us to just pass up.

[Hakaku]

I just don't see it happening, and so naturally I am skeptical about it. I realize a lot of effort might have been put into this project, but I don't see it going anywhere at all. If it does, great, but I doubt it. Seems like an awfully big waste of time considering you could make the game BETTER instead of cloning it exactly. The graphics suck, and adding a few pixels to 2d spaceships won't change that.

That's what most players said in regards to Continuum when it first appeared. When it comes to two-dimensional games though, there's really nothing much that can be changed when it comes to graphics, but don't be fooled that just because Discretion looks like Continuum, it doesn't mean that it's designed the same way. Discretion, once finished, will provide control and improvements over far more aspects than Continuum can, such as menus, transparency, animation, particles, ship rotations, amount of ships, download speeds, map size, tilesets, game settings, additional weapons, better server-control over configurability, etc. etc. And that's just the tip of the iceberg of possibilities. In other words, it's designed so that it can be configurable and expandable. Continuum lacks in this aspect, you're stuck with what you've got: a preconfigured package, just like a Mac (It's pretty at first, but you gotta put it to rest if you want to keep up with the times).

If you're really bothered by 2d graphics, then in regards to Doc Flabby's STF, it's focused on three-dimensional graphics.

[Money]

ur all idiots stfu, im not about to pay for this fucking game, which WILL happen if they buy it.

it will no longer be free and sure as fuck isnt worth paying for to play

[Ephemeral]

I've thought about the idea of buying/investing in SS, but I could never get past the justification, why? What’s the point, to simply save a game that I enjoy playing? There is no viable business model for this game. (Although I do admit I have previously justified the investment solely based upon being 'King' and being to exclude the asshole players.)

Additionally, Rapidshares business current model is not something that anyone would want to invest in. The legal threat is simply too great with file sharing, this drives the requirement constantly maintaining a large legal fund, regardless of whether the suits are viable or not, to simply exist. these type companies usual draw investor short-term, make a bug pop, then bail before the lawyers suck them dry.

So between the fact that SS has no real marketable attraction, and that the potential suitor is also not well placed, I simply cannot see any upside to this partnership.

Is there some ‘behind the scenes overlap’ with file sharing Rapidshare and the original SS developers file sharing involvement?

[Xog]

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I call fake e-mail. A CEO wouldn't even bother sending an email for this anyways. A CEO for a company like Rapidshare would most likely have over $100M. Who in their right mind with $100,000,000 would actually play subspace?

And besides, a CEO wouldn't be stupid enough to ask like this. He sounds like a total moron coming from someone with such power. If he was serious about this, he would talk to his associates and lawyers first and foremost rather than .. PoLiX... Let's get real here.

[TagMor]

Who in their right mind with $100,000,000 would actually play subspace?

a nerd.

And besides, a CEO wouldn't be stupid enough to ask like this. He sounds like a total moron coming from someone with such power. If he was serious about this, he would talk to his associates and lawyers first and foremost rather than .. PoLiX... Let's get real here.

From what I understand they want the existing community onboard.. That requires talking to the people who admin the community.
Agreed the letter doesnt sound as if it was written by someone with a business degree, but Rapidshare is an online company. Many of which have been created by people who are not professionals and they often continue on with a title of CEO.

[kthx]

Yeah, semi-legal warez website doesn't have an educated owner go figure!

[Ignominy]

Subspace is dying.Gotta try it.

Right.
Why wait until it's too late?

[L1 TW]

In some way "hiring" some expert Subspace staff to help us setting all up, coding extensions when we need them, and helping to keep our zones clean from cheaters and molesters."

Lol? Molesters?

Also, I agree, something doesnt feel right here. I think the hidden catch here, is they actually need us to follow them. By "us" I mean the community. Lets say they copy the game, put it on their website, and release it for download and/or P2P. Then what? The staff will need to create their own "batch" of zones to get started. Sure, its easy to recreate TW and EG pub/settings, but they will have no development community there for help. Its like starting from the stone age. They'll need to learn to create fire, how to use it, how to keep it from going out, inventing the wheel again, etc. Nobody really knows the in-depth problems/issues/fixes/etc except our vet-side community.

Think about everything they will actually have to recreate/steal from us. Bots, map making programs, billers, etc. Not only do they need to recreate/steal those, they also need to learn how to use it all. Their threat of "taking over" can be answered with a removal of everything downloadable/discussed about continuum (the technical/server help side). As far as "giving you a job" goes, I think they are trying to piss on your leg and tell you its raining. Think about it, whos going to run their new community? Who is going to mod that "100,000" player base? If you think about it, the amount of dev/staff that continuum has, (in each zone, on forums, every mod, smod, sysop, ER, ZH, devver) probably outweighs their rapidshare staff team; not to mention, we are all more experienced.

What it seems they want to do, is remake SS, make all of us follow them, and pretty much have us make everything for them while they sit there and do nothing. Pretty much, just like in the movies, where the bad guys have hundreds of scientists in the cellar, making a nuclear bomb, because the bad guy somehow convinced them it was for good. Then, after the scientists were done, they explained how they would destroy the earth, then killed off all the scientists? Yea, thats the direction this seems to be going in.

Long story short, I think -WE- are the ones who should be calling the shots here, because without us, its going to be a huge effort to start things up on their part.

My answer: Hell yes, go with it, BUT, dont let them manipulate you into doing what they want. We should make them agree to things on OUR terms. Its a 50/50 share, we should have 50% in the say of things. They bring the money, we bring the life. We want shit kept a certain way, they want their things...compromise.

I'm an ass and just quoted Chambah's post from here.

[soup]

Man this is so stupid. If you had millions to put into this game we'd afford some fulltime professional coders, and a massive commercial campaign. We'd get tons of new players.

Just wanted to know what if ... !!

I wouldn't invest millions, I would give a few grand.