Re: PBW server is back up.
 

*cry*

*curses geo's net provider*

pbw if fubar yet again -> Shrapnel, pls consider taking over the pbw site - this shrapnelgames.com site seems big enough to host a little measly pbw server http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

just an idea

Re: PBW server is back up.
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Aside from lately I think Shrapnel has gone down more than PBW has..

Re: PBW server is back up.
 

Shrapnel has considered it. We have discussed it. We are still discussing it.

The thing you have to remember is that companies, even good companies like Shrapnel, have to do things that make sense from a business perspective or they go out of business.

PBW is a free site. As much as those of us hardcore fans would like to think it could make money, it can't. There just aren't enough regular players that would be willing to pay for it.

We get donations, enough to offset the actual monetary expenses for hosting the site. But not anywhere near the amount neccasary to offset the man hour expenses for running the site. It's an all volunteer organization, a labor of love. If Shrapnel ends up hosting the site, it will have to be in such a way that it does not negativly affect their legitimate business.

Geoschmo

[ December 03, 2003, 16:34: Message edited by: geoschmo ]

Re: PBW server is back up.
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Maybe Shrapnel can bill you for all the hours they'd free up for you http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

Re: PBW server is back up.
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">PBW - IMO - is essential to the success of SE - just looking at how many postings the PBW site generates should tell anyone that - not to mention that the players who play PBW are probably the games biggest evangelists, most likely to buy the upgrades, good for cross selling, etc. etc. Heck I wouldn't even be playing SE if wasn't for PBW.

I don't know what the numbers are, but my guess based on # of forum Posts, would be that SE is shrapnel's cash cow and Shrapnel not putting resources behind one of SE's - and Shrapnel's - biggest marketing components is derelict.

It's absurd that Shrapnel supplying PBW resources is even an issue.

[ December 03, 2003, 17:30: Message edited by: rextorres ]

Re: PBW server is back up.
 

Geoschmo,
Can the PBW Website be hosted on a Windows 2000 server? I have a couple of those hooked up to a T3. May be we could rig up a mirror or a back up site.

Rimfire

[ December 03, 2003, 17:39: Message edited by: Rimfire ]

Re: PBW server is back up.
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Shrapnel and Malfador have supported PBW. They donated the free products that we gave away in the fund raisers we have had. In fact they offered me some more recently but I never got around to announcing another raffle. Malfador has gone out of their way to make patch changes that allowed PBW to work in the first place.

But I must say you are WAY over estimating the effect PBW has had on the Shrapnel or Malfador bottom line. They don't release actual sales figures, but they did announce at one point SE4 Gold had gone over half a million in sales didn't they? A little math should give you an idea of how many units sold that is.

PBW at it's absolute peak has had something like 500 Users a week, 300 a day. Maybe that sounds like a lot, but it's only a fraction of the toal number of SE4 buyers.

You are probably right that Space Empries is the biggest seller at Shrapnel, but it's still a niche game. And PBW is a niche in that niche. Shrapnel is not rolling in dough. Tim, Richard and whoever else is on staff could probably leave right now and make more working for someone else. In fact they may have regular jobs in addition to Shrapnel. Not sure about that. The point is they don't have a lot to give, so whatever they give has to show an actual, quantifiable return.

PBW can't do that, as much as us diehard fans would like to think it could.

Geoschmo

Re: PBW server is back up.
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">It can, it does actually. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif Send me an email. Let's talk about it.

Geoschmo

Re: PBW server is back up.
 

Battle.net is paid for by Blizzard and charges no money to use it... all you have to do is have the game. Battle.net makes them money specifically because a lot of people buy their games to play on Battle.net. PBW can become something similar for SE4/SE5.

Re: PBW server is back up.
 

I would say that 300 - 500 "hardcore" players is not insignificant based on the total announced sales of the product. Again this is all based on conjecture.

[ December 03, 2003, 18:37: Message edited by: rextorres ]