SWGEmu Finance Update June 2023

[Jay Forerunner]

Walt and Mickey would not like that

Would be nice to Jedi Mind Trick the rat, but I doubt that's a task anyone is equipped to actually accomplish.

[Twieker]

That is something we could take into consideration.

How much does an unban cost?

[jonasthekill]

That is something we could take into consideration.

Wallet warriors, UNITE! For real though, this could be a good way to generate some donations but might turn off a lot of those who play and can’t win the auction against others 😂

[Celthon]

Wallet warriors, UNITE! For real though, this could be a good way to generate some donations but might turn off a lot of those who play and can’t win the auction against others 

You'll have cries of 'Pay to Win' then.

[tuahad]

The main reason is I can't afford to the reason why I play a free to play game is because I can't play anything else I can't buy a computer smart enough to play anything other than this game that's 20 years old my rent is $1,200 a month and I barely make $250 a week maybe 300 sometimes my girlfriend my wife makes about that too maybe 300 if we're lucky so we're scraping man

[JiHaD]

Thank you for the transparency. Hopefully more people consider donating to the project.

[Lolindir]

The main reason is I can't afford to the reason why I play a free to play game is because I can't play anything else I can't buy a computer smart enough to play anything other than this game that's 20 years old my rent is $1,200 a month and I barely make $250 a week maybe 300 sometimes my girlfriend my wife makes about that too maybe 300 if we're lucky so we're scraping man

Don't feel like you have to defend anything. We are not here to out people who have financial challenges.

Its a reminder. Some can't afford, others don't want to and others again actually just forget, as we can see with this reminder. It did help us

[makednoce]

Whatever it changes, it will be bad, both for the project and the game.

Adding a reminder once per week will help the project.

You are doing an awesome changes for the game and the future server ideas forum is active.

The best people to make balance between players and the game is the dev team.

Personally, don't like adding changes if players suggest via donation or voting or any other system. It will ruin you all and your project.

As lordkator said, "the server will shut down", and it will be for the better if players refuse to donate.

[Jay Forerunner]

The main reason is I can't afford to the reason why I play a free to play game is because I can't play anything else I can't buy a computer smart enough to play anything other than this game that's 20 years old my rent is $1,200 a month and I barely make $250 a week maybe 300 sometimes my girlfriend my wife makes about that too maybe 300 if we're lucky so we're scraping man

Another victim of the non-sustainable modern society...my heart goes out to you, yet I fear this will become increasingly normal as the years go by...

[Praxi34]

Thanks for the transparency. I have been watching the donations bar rarely hit 100% so i thought this was coming. I do a monthly direct debit.

It is possible we could do a fundraiser? Such as go fund me, project etc (no nothing on legality here so excuse my ignorance). It could be goal orientated (such as ensuring 1.0 goes onto a stable server for x amount of years) etc.

The end game content can come once 1.0 is complete and we shouldn't deviate from that 1.0. We all know (and from other servers) that content can be added and have a more immersive end game. But with TEST servers, we know things will be wiped so people pop in and out and do not want to dedicate too much time to it.

Im going to increase my direct debit and try and give what i can extra. I know its tough for everyone currently

As well as the percentage on the donation bar could we put the total amount needed per month as 0/$3200 (for example) so we can quickly see what we need to meet? We could also click the bar and see a breakdown of current costs per month.

Also another idea, could we go back to quarterly or monthly finance updates? Could give the community confidence if we are heading in the right direction, and if not try and donate before its too late.

Just a few ideas.

We are soo close...lets get over the finish line!!!

Big up the team x

[quasi]

Thanks for the update.

For me personally, and I am sure others feel the same way. Ive been following this for a LONG time and very much intend to donate when actively playing.
I just don't have any desire to play yet until 1.0, when I know the time I put in doesn't get server wiped. Its hard for me to pay for something when I am not playing it yet.
Anyways I hope things continue to progress for you all, Ive been looking forward to playing for a very long time just like everyone else.

Thanks for all that you do here everybody! It is appreciated.

[Jay Forerunner]

Plus, on top of the people not getting too invested with the whole "no telling when everything would get wiped" idea, now it's doubly compounded by the uncertainty for whether or not the entire game outright would get shut down, temporarily or permanently. Because the cruel reality is that passion and enthusiasm will not magically spawn resources, especially given the fact we are not yet existing in a post-scarcity chapter of existence. Post-scarcity, y'all would have until the literal end of time and the Theoretical Heat Death of the Universe (or even the shorter-term Theoretical Heat Death of the Earth) to make this project complete. That's not the reality we must adapt to.

And of course, if I didn't already say this, there is no shortage of ways to pass the time, so I don't blame people for losing interest in a game that's decades old and is little more than a curiosity or a brief glimpse into what life was like from a time long ago. Which is why I suggested some kind of "museum mode". Because as far as community goes, it's extremely niche (even though it's passionate). To visualize this duality, we actually have some data: each person's forum profile will count "x hours within the past 30 days" of being online (I presume that's only for Finalizer, and does not count my time in Nova for example). You'll notice a huge fraction say "inactive" (meaning, 0 activity in-game at all), while the other fraction would clock in hundreds and hundreds of hours. Even with the forum as a microcosm, this is the best sample data an outsider like myself can access in terms of how many people care, and how many people *seriously* care. The other data point is in the launcher, unlike most MMOs that give a vague "light" or "heavy" traffic, here we see some hard numbers, consistently in the range of about 300. (As of me writing this now, it's at 260, which is around the back half of weekday office hours among the USA, which I presume is the primary geographical region of the demographic - the secondary would be around Europe, which is about prime time for them. Weekend numbers would illustrate a "best-case" projection.) The question is that how many of those are bots or alts, and how many are actual human players. (This same question is projected to the forum numbers as well: how many of them are just doing AFK macro tasks, and how many are actively engaging with the game? Because both count towards that data metric.)

I'm not going to sugarcoat it, money in the traditional capitalistic sense could very likely be a no-win situation. Because without befriending the rat, your only option is donation from volunteers (or the staff paying out of pocket, and I don't know if those elite handful can both sustain their real-world bills and the cost of a whole niche MMO), but if you do befriend the rat, chances are you'd have to sell your souls in the process (or, they could, regardless, perform the loathed "cease and desist"). There was a group that was all about preservation and display of games new and old, and that group got itself legally registered as a charity. Has anyone thought about that angle before?

At least Jamie's house in-game has close to a year's worth of maintenance on it, just in case I do find myself enjoying a very long break.

[lordkator]

FYI hours online includes all our servers so someone playing exclusively on Nova would get time also.

[alexriddle89]

Not sure what the solution would be If I'm honest, but I could get behind a subscription model. I'm sure player counts would drastically dip, but if the fee was low and nominal enough (below the original SOE monthly sub) I'm sure many would step up to the plate to support the people/services that keep this game alive. I of course would PREFER it to stay free/donation based, but unless more people step up to contribute I don't see how it can.

For the record, I don't even spend a lot of time in-game and my monthly donations are rooted in wanting to reward the time and effort gone into keeping this game up and running. Not trying to guilt anyone as I know some genuinely can't afford to contribute, but if you CAN afford to, I hope you consider it.

[Celthon]

An idea for people who ask if a subscription model would be an option to raise funds -- pretend there is a subscription already...whatever amount you feel comfortable with, set it up as a 'recurring/monthly donation'. Then just tell yourself you're paying a monthly subscription -- but as far as there actually being a subscription I am pretty sure that cannot happen as explained in other parts of the forums...legal stuff dealing with the use of the code, etc. I don't pretend to know much about all of that, but it's what I have seen posted in several threads on the forum.