Pay for Play?

[PlasmaJohn]

A touchy subject for sure, I'm hoping it doesn't devolve into a flamewar though. I'd like to get a ServerOp/Builder perspective on this. I'd like to start a similar thread on Avlis' R&R forum for a player perspective.

For a variety of reasons, but mostly the screwy licensing relationship between Bioware, WotC/Hasbro and Infogrames, I doubt this would ever be possible with the NWN (or any other TSR) content and probably not the Aurora engine[1]. With a carefully coded engine and enough bandwidth I could see a server instance that can handle 1,000 concurrent players easily.

Because of some of the past friction between Bioware and the other two, Bioware is developing their own setting and rules and I have my hopes that they'll be less hostile to the idea of PW's asking their players for a fee (especially if they realize that they can get a cut of the action).

While I believe that altruism has its place in the world, running a PW well needs a certain level of resources and dedication. Consider yourselves blessed if you have a solid volunteer staff. Perhaps I'm wrong but I think the total pool of talented volunteers is limited and if not their bodies, then their free time.

Please understand that I do not subscribe to the Gatesian theory that all code must be paid for.

What's your general opinion?

Would this be a viable means of defraying your costs and possibly compensating your staff?[2]

Do you think it would cause a general revolt among the playerbase?

How would/should this affect CoPaP? (paid vs. free, revenue sharing, etc.)

Again, I apologize if this turns into a bloodbath
John

[1] As if anybody would want it anyway, it just isn't tuned for efficiency, high-availability or high-volume. But that's another rant.

[2] Ok, I did the math: US$10/month across 1,000 players (it could happen) would gross roughly US$120k. After taxes and kickbacks to Bioware that would net maybe US$3-50k. Enough to keep the servers running I suppose. Perhaps you'd be able to hire scripters and builders on a contract basis.

[Orleron]

Like you said. I think this is impossible to do with NWN. To have anything like this occur, you either need to A) Wait for Bioware to do it and hope it works or B) Write your own MMORPG where you make your own rules about paying.

As far as NWN is concerned, running Avlis is NOT free. Yes, it's free to play, but we are only running because our players donate enough money every month to keep us afloat. Our business class cable connection and electricity for 3 computers at 24/7 alone is US$220 to US$300 per month. On average, we do get enough to cover this every month. That's average. Meaning some months we get more and some months we get ZIPPO.

That's part of the reason why we've done things like making our fan fiction pay site, which has nothing to do with the NWN game itself, and gives the players no in game benefit, but it does give them a way to contribute $5 per month via paypal without needing to remember to send a check every so often. (http://www.fanfic.avlis.org). We also sell Avlis merchandise online at http://www.cafepress.com. The merchandise sales don't make us any money at all really, and the fanfic site makes us enough to cover the internet connection every month.

But my point is, that running these things DOES take some expense out of your pocket, and I cannot see any reason why a playerbase would be upset for wanting to play on a server running a non-NWN game that asks for a few bucks a month to keep them going.