SWGEmu half-year financial report (first half of 2014)

[zabrakwith]

I remember when all that population stuff went down on SOE's forums. It was funny and sad all at the same time.

I've been with SWGEMU from the very beginning and will see it though (to hopefully a release of their own server). The project has surpassed my expectations, especially with those few first years which were a bit of a rocky road. The contributors (devs, QA, mods, testers, etc) have done an outstanding job and we all owe them a million thanks.

As for the financial bit- I think as a finished product gets closer more people will come back. There are a lot of lurkers. A lot of people either:
A- Don't want to test
or
B- Don't want to spend so much time into a play server that's going to get wiped

I wouldn't ever worry about support, JTL or not. The daily population is very healthy for an pre-released play server. In fact, I think it is more populated than Shadowfire was for most of it's history. I never have problems finding people, even in the most remote places and cities.

The only thing I think about sometimes is when is the project truly ever going to be "done"? There will always be bugs. There will always be something to work on. I started following EMU without kids. Now I have one old enough to play with me on the server! I would be completely fine with a release without JTL or jedi implemented, just like when SOEs servers went live. I just don't want to be a grandpa by the time things are "done"

[Dak2099]

I'm a newcomer to SWG Emu (played less than a month), but would gladly pay a subscription to this version. I used to love this game like many others of you here. If people are willing to pay a fee to enjoy other MMORPGs out there why not this one? I cancelled my subscription to another Star Wars game because I didn't think it matched up to this one.

My monthly donation to the Emu team is well earned in my opinion, without the players donations, how do they expect to get game improvements, how do they expect to ever get JTL released? Any suggestions?

The game improvements are a long winding road, why walk when you can all chip in to buy a speeder and get there a lot quicker?

[eci1]

I'm a web developer working on an SWG EMU fan site. In fact I've been a fan of SWG since beta over a decade ago. Even rode it through the NGE virus, and play EMU today. On my site, I periodically update a linked graphic on the home page that shows the monthly contribution totals as a percent of costs. Many in this thread have said players should pay. I feel so strongly about that that I do two things besides showing that graphic.

SWG-EMU is on my billpay schedule with automatic monthly payments. The second is I'm often campaigning in the game and within the guild with the phrase, if you've played this game for more than a month, you should contribute. I've even pointed out, "How greedy are we if we can accept the product of the dev team to our pleasure, then not reciprocate. Does anyone really think it's ok to enjoy the game and allow the volunteer devs to also cough up the cash and time to run the servers?"

Clearly there are such people, and I don't want to know them. But I keep trying with that message because I believe that there are many who just aren't aware. I, and my guildies, are seeking to change that.

[Tetnikruune]

I saw those numbers, and I can believe it...even at the height, Chilastra never seemed to be all that populated. Unlike Sony and Blizzard, you guys at least seem to listen to the majority of the fanbase and make plans accordingly. My wife just told me that you are making CH happen, so kudos there. It's been long awaited, and part of why I gave it up for a while.

If somebody reading this is trying to decide whether or not to donate, then consider this: We have been forced to give so much to big companies like SOE, Blizzard, NCSoft, and the like for games that promised much and failed to deliver, but still charged us $15-$20 a month to figure out that this polished turd would never deliver, and was just roping us in for another ride on the corporate baloney pole. Isn't a homegrown, fan-oriented service like SWGEMU that asks for nothing but our patience (since it's all VOLUNTEER) and the occasional donation of a UNSPECIFIED amount worth a little of our charity?

In short, YES! If communities like this fail to support themselves, where will you be down the road when no new communities like this spring up? Riding the baloney pole, that's where.

I'm off to chip in $10 bucks. You guys should give what you can... $1.00 is still 0.83 (after paypal fees) in the right direction.

-Dan


P.S. Guys, Put a Donate button at the top of the home page, I'm too lazy to hunt for it! (I found it at the top of the Forums page!)

[makednoce]

If somebody reading this is trying to decide whether or not to donate, then consider this: We have been forced to give so much to big companies like SOE, Blizzard, NCSoft, and the like for games that promised much and failed to deliver, but still charged us $15-$20 a month to figure out that this polished turd would never deliver, and was just roping us in for another ride on the corporate baloney pole. Isn't a homegrown, fan-oriented service like SWGEMU that asks for nothing but our patience (since it's all VOLUNTEER) and the occasional donation of a UNSPECIFIED amount worth a little of our charity?

Big companies don't care about player base, they only care about money and profit. This project what we have here is unique and we should all be proud of it, not just the devs but the players also.

[Merigold]

I just don't want to be a grandpa by the time things are "done"

I'm already in grandma mode, if and when my son gets busy (he's 34 for crying out loud), and would really like to live long enough to see the permanent server/game. That's why I donate on a monthly basis thinking that this will help speed up things a bit, lol. Also watching my diet to ensure I'm going to live a long and happy life playing SWG into my dotage.

[sumion]

I'm already in grandma mode, if and when my son gets busy (he's 34 for crying out loud), and would really like to live long enough to see the permanent server/game. That's why I donate on a monthly basis thinking that this will help speed up things a bit, lol. Also watching my diet to ensure I'm going to live a long and happy life playing SWG into my dotage.

You are awesome.