Barriers to Fan Development of MO:RE

[BAD]

Were the circumstances like this Chacal? Were you accepting peoples money on behalf of the company?

[Chacal]

No, of course not. We're talking about running servers and monitoring the game.
Is there money involved? I thought it was a volunteer thing.

[Robert The Rebuilder]

There would not be any money toward the volunteer development team.

The money that BAD was referring to - I believe - are the funds that the MO:RE community would be paying Cyan (via PayPal) to keep MO:RE alive, i.e. maintaining the servers, addressing issues. At least, that was the money that I was referring to in my previous post.

Here's a quote from Cyan on where the funds for MO:RE would go:

We also need to mention that the roadmap below will most likely involve some minimal subscriber fees - something along the lines of $25 (US) for six months. (That number is subject to change.) We are not trying to make any money on this at this stage - but we do need to cover some of the costs.

[Chacal]

In that case, they can set up a system with a 3rd-party so that the cash flows in and is managed by whatever bean counters Cyan has left. Volunteers wouldn't have to manage any kind of money.

[BAD]

The point I am trying to get you all to realize is that Cyan does not have any bean counters available to maintain any kind of payment system (outsourced or not).

I think this whole issue could be cut short easily by simply writing up a proposal and submitting it to Chogon or Tony.

I commend everyones willingness to put their time and effort into building MORE, but it would be for nothing if Cyan can't maintain a way to keep it running after your work is done.

[Chacal]

True. We can only hope Cyan can find another lifesaver and not close its doors permanently. If only for sentimental reasons.

[J'Kla]

[rant]
I am left with the impression that Cyan just doesn't want to know.

They have no evidence of the actual level of community commitment we know because we have never been asked.

How much effort does it take to hold out a bucket for donations? We all know there are members of the community with disposable income that want to see the wheels turning.

It gives the impression that Cyan are terrified they will loose control if they don't have serious capital to back the project, when in reality the two times they nearly did loose control was when they committed to backers with serious capital.

They previously handed control to the community with UU, and besides some minor pirate shards that would probably evaporate in the glare of a seriously released project they seem loathe to trust us again.

The longer they wait the less chance we have of ever seeing any publicly available server. This will follow the inverse square law of the universe the further we get from MOUL the less chance there is of MORE or any following incarnation being a success.

I repeat how much effort will it take for Cyan to hold out a PayPal collecting bucket. Sure as hell PayPal will count the beans and inform them on a regular basis. If there's enough in the bucket then they use it if not then at least they will have a measure and there would probably still be enough for the community to purchase the rights to UU and from there we could launch our own beginning.

The argument that Cyan can't afford to investigate this just doesn't hold water. It costs them nothing because the finance comes from our end not theirs. It is us the fans who will be putting our hands in our pockets not Cyan.

The longer this goes on the more it looks like Cyan are only interested in the fan base for what they can get out of us next time they go grovelling to to big business.
[/rant]

Sorry but there can be only one barrier CYAN

[BAD]

That's my point exactly. We could do all of this work, and Cyan would most likely say no thanks.

The reason they can't research or hold out a bucket is the fact that they don't want to, they want to rebuild their business on their own. It seems to me they think the testing part of the company is the way to go.

[D'Lanor]

Unfortunately the bucket is currently in use. All hands and buckets are needed to drain the water from the sinking ship.

[J'Kla]

So would we be better off helping the boat sink.

It does look like the quicker it submerges the more chance we will have of salvaging our home.

We all know if Cyan were gone we would still revere Rand for his creative genius.

If Cyan do want to go the testing route why not let the community run with Uru, we have as sure as hell made it clear they have an editorial veto and a policing authority in GoMa that the community is willing to defer to on all aspects of story cannon.

It's not like we are trying to steal anything but I can't help feeling that Cyan have used the carrot and stick noting the one time they used the stick (and I believe that was under duress from GameTap) they removed UU. The carrot on the pole dangling from the string, the promise of MORE, is beginning to wane they have extended the stick in the hope that we will keep plodding.

If this persists I believe there will eventually be an open rebellion where some hothead makes an open shard in blind defiance.

Don't get me wrong I am not advocating this as an option, It would mean for civil war in our digital community.

If there is anyone that could point this out to Cyan it is probably GoMa.