An Open Letter to the PBW Community

[geoschmo]

It is my sad duty to inform you that the Space Empire Play By web site, PBW as it’s known by it’s loyal fans, will not be returning. At least not any time in the foreseeable future, and not ever in it’s current form. The server suffered a hard drive failure and due to poor planning and lack of diligence on my part, the backup plan was not sufficiently robust to recover the lost data.

If there is a bright side to this it is that the number of people seriously affected will be small. While we still have a dedicated core of game owners and players using the site regularly, time has taken it’s toll on our user base. For a site like this to last nearly a decade is extraordinary, but it is true that nothing lasts forever. While I always said I’d keep the site running as long as people wanted it and were using it, perhaps that was never a realistic commitment.

For those of you with active games currently on the site, we would love to be able to assist you in transitioning your games to PBEM or another format. Unfortunately, having lost all the user and game data, we are unable to render any such assistance. You can continue your game via email from your most recent turn if you can make contact with your game owner and the other players. If you are unable to contact your game owner, or if he does not have the game password, unfortunately your game has come to a premature and abrupt end as well.

My heartfelt thanks go out to all the PBW Admins over the years who helped me keep things running a smoothly as they did. You did what you did for the love of the game, asking nothing in return but the opportunity to play, and to be a part of building and maintaining this community.

Thanks to all the loyal game owners and players. Without you, this truly could not have happened. Again, I apologize for how this ended, but hopefully the effort put into providing you with this site for all these years will temper your feelings of disappointment.

Thanks to Malfador Machinations for creating such an addictive game. And thanks to all the folks at Shrapnel Games for supporting the game and the PBW site for all these years, even after your relationship with Malfador came to an end.

And a special thanks to the Admiral for starting this journey all those years ago. Though you haven’t been involved in the site for some time, you’ve always been a part of it. Your help and encouragement were crucial in keeping it going as long as it did, and your guidance has helped me in my career beyond PBW as well.

Sincerely,

Geoschmo