Hard Light Productions Forums
General FreeSpace => FreeSpace Discussion => Topic started by: WMCoolmon on July 15, 2004, 05:53:54 pm
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Okay, the idea of a community money pool to buy the Freespace license has come up before. With Derek Smart's recent plan to buy the license and create his own game, this idea has gained a note of urgency, for me at least...
As a community, I think we have enough resources to create a competitive commercial game - although I'd hope that it'd remain open source.
Alternatively, we could decide to ask around and see if any current commercial companies would be interested in making a Freespace 3 - Volition, or possibly even Derek Smart's company.
Finally, having the license would mean that Freespace media, as long as it is not intellectual property of Volition, could be sold. To throw out an example - Inferno. Some of you might've seen the DVD covers posted awhile back for some of the mods hosted here. Having the license could make them a reality. These funds could go back towards anyone who donated for the rights, although that would be up to the mod owners themselves.
To this end, does anyone have any contact information that could be used to start talks with Interplay about the Freespace rights?
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Great minds think alike. :)
http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php/topic,25177.0.html
We've talked about it but no one has ever made a serious attempt at seeing how much people would pay.
EDIT : URL corrected
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Indeed, one right after the other.
I was just wishing I'd put up a poll like that, too. :D
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It might be intersting to actively seek out any other surviving freespace communities around. That way you'd might be able to, maybe, garner the support of another 1000 fans tops (and that's an optimistic estimate I'm afraid).
Anyway, I think any chances of the community acquiring the rights to FS are moot at best. We don't even know how much the IP rights are worth at this very moment. And you can be damned sure that the moment competition for the rights arrivesat the scene the price will go up. Which means we'd be outbid pretty quickly I believe. After all, we don't have any reserve to fall back on.
And if, by luck, the community does acquire the rights: then what? I'm sure some members would like to recoup some of their expences (with a good plan and contract that might be do-able) but the market for FS-stuff might not be as big as we think.
Space-sims have been in hibernation for years basically and the various space-sim communities are fragmented. However, with the rights we'd potentially be able to co-opt (read: sell to) the Wing Commander bunch over at the CiC (Though they'd probably be miffed at the thought of the FS-community have the actual rights to a game while they have to work with with they have).
Anyway, to end this -before I go in rant-mode- I'm not optimistic at all about Community chances.
But good luck anyway.
CI80
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I don't know about anyone else, but I think giving the license to V if they're willing to work on it would be nice. Of course, that's wishful thinking.
Otherwise, I say we just keep others from making FS3 and keep stopped at 2.
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We could give the license to [V] in return for those who donated getting the finished game more cheaply. That way everyone wins :)
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Originally posted by karajorma
We could give the license to [V] in return for those who donated getting the finished game more cheaply. That way everyone wins :)
no, HLP soldn't give away those rights should HLP acquire them.
What HLP should/could do is giving [V] a free licence to develop while HLP keeps the rights.
giving the rights away might lead to another situation in which the community could be forced to buy those same rights again. If the community is able to buy them in the first place that is.
I'm sure something could be worked out (after all Dave B and the old timers here know each other in a way of speaking) enabling Volition to develop a FS3 at any time they (and their publisher) want while HLP keeps ultimate control over what it payed for.
(something along the lines off:
HLP has the rights -> V gets the rights to make FS3 -> rights revert back to HLP pending the decision to make an expansion/sequel... It would be beneficial to V since it's unlikely they'd have to pay anything to get the right to use the licence, and it would be benefical to HLP since they wouldn't lose control over what they payed for)
Fans would still have to pay for the game but I doubt that's much of a problem.
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What HLP should/could do is giving [V] a free licence to develop while HLP keeps the rights.
:nod:
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That is of course what I meant to say. What I meant is that [V] develop the game without paying us a license fee.
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Originally posted by karajorma
That is of course what I meant to say. What I meant is that [V] develop the game without paying us a license fee.
ah, okido. Wasn't sure.
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I think we should buy it, and if you donate, you get a right to the liscence. That means you can publish your mod work using the FS open stuff. I'd say that sounds pretty fair, right? And if you want to get the liscence, you donate money to a money pool, where we use it to do other items, or you negotiate with another member.
But I'm not sure about V developing the new game, I mean, it'd be great, but that would mean we would have an "official" game, therefore all the fan made projects would go out the window. That's my opinion, at least.
EDIT: As I posted in the other thread, I am willing to donate up to 2 or 3 hundred dollars to the cause. I have 100 ready to go RIGHT now, 100 on standbye, but the last 100 I'm pretty sure I have.
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So if Smart actually buys the FS franchise what will happen to the FS Open source project?
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He'll attempt to stick his his big bad legal penis into the SCP's proverbial behind.
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Of course, he can't touch it. FS2 is open source, he has nothing over it. The game is free, and we're making all new models. If anything, he'll spur the development of high-poly models, thereby we will have nothing in common with the original game. Either way, we win on that count :)
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Phew, thats good to hear.
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If you give Derek Smart the license to Freespace I will stab each and every one of you. That man should not be in the game industry. period.
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Good to see you around WW :)
Now if only Plasma were here he'd die of laughter.
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Originally posted by Unknown Target
Of course, he can't touch it. FS2 is open source, he has nothing over it. The game is free, and we're making all new models. If anything, he'll spur the development of high-poly models, thereby we will have nothing in common with the original game. Either way, we win on that count :)
I wouldn't be too sure of that. The high poly models, high quality textures and the shine and glow maps all constitute what are known as derivative works (i.e they're based on the original game) and therefore he could concievably try to stop them.
Of course by doing so he'd be taking a step that not even Microsoft have ever been stupid enough to contemplate as he'd basically kill any FS3 modding groups before they got started, damaging the credibilty of his own game further.
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Originally posted by WildWolf
If you give Derek Smart the license to Freespace I will stab each and every one of you. That man should not be in the game industry. period.
:nod: :nod:
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Originally posted by WildWolf
If you give Derek Smart the license to Freespace I will stab each and every one of you. That man should not be in the game industry. period.
:D
We are forever in your debt, kind sir.
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Originally posted by WildWolf
If you give Derek Smart the license to Freespace I will stab each and every one of you. That man should not be in the game industry. period.
We'd deserve to be frank. :D
How would [V] react to us giving you free rein at Freespace i.e we buy it you develop it? If that something THQ/V would be happy with or would they be reluctant to work with fans of the game?
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Originally posted by karajorma
We'd deserve to be frank. :D
How would [V] react to us giving you free rein at Freespace i.e we buy it you develop it? If that something THQ/V would be happy with or would they be reluctant to work with fans of the game?
More importantly, would THQ / V be willing to develop a new Freespace game if they had the license for free?
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Even more interesting, would :V:/THQ be willing to pitch in with a few bucks?
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Originally posted by kasperl
Even more interesting, would :V:/THQ be willing to pitch in with a few bucks?
Good point really, if V and THQ were willing to put forth the sizable contribution to get the rights - and the community put forth what they could, then gave their portion over to V and THQ for development.. well a lot more funding could be raised that way. Of course it pends V and THQs approval - but it's what we'd all like to see in the end.
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has someone even mailed THQ/V yet?
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Originally posted by Singh
has someone even mailed THQ/V yet?
I believe so, yes. I think everyone here would be interested in learning V's opinion on the whole situation.
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Originally posted by Singh
has someone even mailed THQ/V yet?
Sadly, V's been quite unresponsive to emails at all its listed addresses... for several months now, at the least.
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Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't [V] sell the FS licence in the first place?
And if they got it back do they even have a development team left?
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[V] never had the license. The license was held by the distributor Interplay.
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Originally posted by Setekh
Sadly, V's been quite unresponsive to emails at all its listed addresses... for several months now, at the least.
What about THQ? Is there a PR contact you could go via?
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It not THQ's fault that that they have no penises and the are all assholes, they are just extremely power-hungry bastards that don't know when to quit and need attention like three year old little boys that turn ou t to be bullies...
(sorry, just a little passionate about the Legacy that FreeSpace has left so many dependent gamers)
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I've got $500 to put toward a general fund to buy it.
If bought, I say declare it public domain so no one could ever claim to own Freespace again.
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Buying the license is not easy- you need to have backing, and the funds to do so- we're talking in the tens of thousands in some cases.
If, by some chance, we were to be able to raise an amount close to what this Derek guy can, then it's go into a bid process, i.e. what else we can offer and how much.
I hate to say it, but the majority of FS fans, including those here, are broke.
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That may be the point. Get Interplay to raise the price to something 'ole DS wasn't willing to pay, and they sink with the ship or we get them. Not that we could do that easily, but it just may be worth the attempt. He's talking about picking something up on the cheap so there might not be as much money involved as we think.
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Could someone (preferably the admins) e-mail THQ about it?
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Originally posted by Unknown Target
Could someone (preferably the admins) e-mail THQ about it?
If THQ hasn't done anything about it yet, they won't.
Besides, THQ is more concerned about adventure-based snowboarding games IIRC.
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Originally posted by Crazy_Ivan80
It might be intersting to actively seek out any other surviving freespace communities around. That way you'd might be able to, maybe, garner the support of another 1000 fans tops (and that's an optimistic estimate I'm afraid).
Anyway, I think any chances of the community acquiring the rights to FS are moot at best. We don't even know how much the IP rights are worth at this very moment. And you can be damned sure that the moment competition for the rights arrivesat the scene the price will go up. Which means we'd be outbid pretty quickly I believe. After all, we don't have any reserve to fall back on.
And if, by luck, the community does acquire the rights: then what? I'm sure some members would like to recoup some of their expences (with a good plan and contract that might be do-able) but the market for FS-stuff might not be as big as we think.
Space-sims have been in hibernation for years basically and the various space-sim communities are fragmented. However, with the rights we'd potentially be able to co-opt (read: sell to) the Wing Commander bunch over at the CiC (Though they'd probably be miffed at the thought of the FS-community have the actual rights to a game while they have to work with with they have).
Anyway, to end this -before I go in rant-mode- I'm not optimistic at all about Community chances.
But good luck anyway.
CI80
Meaning someone else will acquire the licence and do something with it, right?:D
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I think we're getting a little ahead of ourselves. Before we give the license away we have to buy it. Yet we don't even know the price. Does anybody have any idea what price range the license would fall into? $10,000? $100,000?
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A lot more than we could probably raise.
We're really just clinging onto little strings of hope, here........
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this may be the man we have to talk to:
INTERPLAY PRODUCTIONS, INC.
17922 Fitch Avenue
Irvine, California 92714
Attention: Brian Fargo
Edit: Well, apparently he isnt part of interplayu anymore... : /
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Originally posted by aldo_14
A lot more than we could probably raise.
We're really just clinging onto little strings of hope, here........
well, one of us could take a loan, buy the darn thing, and then repay it by having FS2 priced at 10$ and sell it off en-masse packed with SCP, Inferno, Derelict and other mods.
With the power this community holds, we won't have a problem with marketing or finding a customer base....and after the loan is repayed, it can go back to free :D
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Originally posted by Singh
well, one of us could take a loan, buy the darn thing, and then repay it by having FS2 priced at 10$ and sell it off en-masse packed with SCP, Inferno, Derelict and other mods.
With the power this community holds, we won't have a problem with marketing or finding a customer base....and after the loan is repayed, it can go back to free :D
what would be nice, would be if Interplay could get, say, a massive tax rebate or something for giving the license to us gratis, and then having the game - bundled with the best mods - re-released online as charityware.
Not likely, though.
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How about this? We make a deal with Interplay or w/e. We get the liscence, we give him 30 percent of the profit on all FS-based or FS-engine based games for 3 or 4 years?
Or is that illegal?
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Oh? You have friends at Interplay willing to make a deal with us? If so, get them here... :doubt:
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Originally posted by Unknown Target
How about this? We make a deal with Interplay or w/e. We get the liscence, we give him 30 percent of the profit on all FS-based or FS-engine based games for 3 or 4 years?
Or is that illegal?
I doubt it's strictly illegal, but Interplay isn't going to be around in 3 or 4 years. They're liquidating, they're disappearing from the face of the Earth. They need cash, NOW. Not later, now. We need the money, upfront and in cash.
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Originally posted by Eishtmo
I doubt it's strictly illegal, but Interplay isn't going to be around in 3 or 4 years. They're liquidating, they're disappearing from the face of the Earth. They need cash, NOW. Not later, now. We need the money, upfront and in cash.
All the more reason to make a deal where we pay them later :p
I agree though. They won't be interested in a buy now, pay later deal when they have a cash deal from DS on the table and are desperately low on funds.
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Uh, has anybody even considered the, you know, rather necessary step of how we're gonna raise the funds? Someone posted a few links to the proper government forms to file for this sorta thing, and that was basically ****ing it. You're all getting ahead of yourselves- **** how much money you say you would give, **** how to negotiate with Interplay, fu- okay, don't **** with what we're gonna do with the license if we ever get it, that's important, but seriously- someone else ****ing help out with setting this thing up. We need webspace, we need a reliable, trustworthy proxy who'll pool the money gathered both at HLP and by symps elsewhere, we need it, like, this ****ing weekend.
I've already offered to help fill out the forms. I'm not the best person to do it, but I'll give it a shot. If someone else offers in the next couple hours, they are totally welcome to that job. That's step one almost outta the way.
Now, someone needs to set up somewhere to put this money, and a way everyone with a credit/debit card/paypal account can get to it. It's gotta be absolutely secure and trustworthy, else nobody, especially not I, will send any money to it. There should be a mechanism to relatively painlessly return funds to those who donated them should the effort fail. While it's possible that just setting up an online bank account and letting Steak have exclusive withdrawal access would do the job, ideally no single person should be able to, say, siphon off funds- even if we know they wouldn't do that, there's lots of people who don't, and the attempt to raise enough cash will founder on them.
Someone needs to set up a webpage with a submission interface for it- simple as humanly possible, designed like a standard Web order form so nobody'll get confused, needs fields for the relevant amount/pay type/info stuff, name, whether they want the donation to be anonymous, **** like that. Someone with, y'know, PHP experience, which'd probably mean Styxx if he's willing.
Someone else needs to give the page all those nice things like 'special thanks' listings and regular insults and Derek flames to get the hate crowd (by far the largest interested group) going. This could really be anyone who's remotely personable and has at least the IQ of a concussed squirrel, which most likely means someone like aldo or Shrike or Setekh or whoever- if nobody is interested (which I doubt) I'll do it on a weekly basis unless I get shipped out to Morocco or wherever this year, but ideally someone else should. I'll check with an0n to see if all this **** can get hosted on a Nodewars page, he's probably got more capability to deal with a large influx than anybody else.
Once we've got that settled, and the account is working and getting its inital donations, then everyone can settle back and worry about all this other stuff- it'll be a while before there's a need to act again on that front. But first things ****ing first. Until then, any other talk on the subject will probably strictly counterproductive. That means you too, Stealth.
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Originally posted by Stryke 9
Uh, has anybody even considered the, you know, rather necessary step of how we're gonna raise the funds? Someone posted a few links to the proper government forms to file for this sorta thing, and that was basically ****ing it. You're all getting ahead of yourselves- **** how much money you say you would give, **** how to negotiate with Interplay, fu- okay, don't **** with what we're gonna do with the license if we ever get it, that's important, but seriously- someone else ****ing help out with setting this thing up. We need webspace, we need a reliable, trustworthy proxy who'll pool the money gathered both at HLP and by symps elsewhere, we need it, like, this ****ing weekend.
I've already offered to help fill out the forms. I'm not the best person to do it, but I'll give it a shot. If someone else offers in the next couple hours, they are totally welcome to that job. That's step one almost outta the way.
Now, someone needs to set up somewhere to put this money, and a way everyone with a credit/debit card/paypal account can get to it. It's gotta be absolutely secure and trustworthy, else nobody, especially not I, will send any money to it. There should be a mechanism to relatively painlessly return funds to those who donated them should the effort fail. While it's possible that just setting up an online bank account and letting Steak have exclusive withdrawal access would do the job, ideally no single person should be able to, say, siphon off funds- even if we know they wouldn't do that, there's lots of people who don't, and the attempt to raise enough cash will founder on them.
Someone needs to set up a webpage with a submission interface for it- simple as humanly possible, designed like a standard Web order form so nobody'll get confused, needs fields for the relevant amount/pay type/info stuff, name, whether they want the donation to be anonymous, **** like that. Someone with, y'know, PHP experience, which'd probably mean Styxx if he's willing.
Someone else needs to give the page all those nice things like 'special thanks' listings and regular insults and Derek flames to get the hate crowd (by far the largest interested group) going. This could really be anyone who's remotely personable and has at least the IQ of a concussed squirrel, which most likely means someone like aldo or Shrike or Setekh or whoever- if nobody is interested (which I doubt) I'll do it on a weekly basis unless I get shipped out to Morocco or wherever this year, but ideally someone else should. I'll check with an0n to see if all this **** can get hosted on a Nodewars page, he's probably got more capability to deal with a large influx than anybody else.
Once we've got that settled, and the account is working and getting its inital donations, then everyone can settle back and worry about all this other stuff- it'll be a while before there's a need to act again on that front. But first things ****ing first. Until then, any other talk on the subject will probably strictly counterproductive. That means you too, Stealth.
[/size]
On IRC, there was discussion of Tiara webcamming for a fee.
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Which I am aware of. It'd certainly be amusing, and, well, a far better idea than me doing it, at least.
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Am I the only one who thinks we don't even have nearly enough money to buy the licence?
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er... this may be a very stupid question, but i'll ask anyways... why don't you just ask interplay? or ask someone who would know.
another very stupid question, is the original dev team still working for [V]?
see, before we even go through all the trouble of setting up the money part, we need to ask all the stupid questions. I mean, we have to make sure that it's possible before we proceed, not just wing it when we get there.
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Originally posted by Triple Ace
Am I the only one who thinks we don't even have nearly enough money to buy the licence?
You're not. As much as the idea appeals to me, the odds of it happening are slim to none. There are a lot of reasons, of course. The first is most of us are dirt poor. I can pony up $500, but most people here are still getting allowances from mom and dad. There's no way they could even come up with even a fraction of that.
Second: We don't know how much we need in the first place. Not even a solid ballpark figure. And with all the hoopla over this, an estimate made, say, a week ago is horribly out of date, as its value has likely shifted greatly with all the sudden interest. How much is it worth to us? How much is worth to Interplay? We have no idea, and no one here has yet to step and do it. (Don't look at me, my own issues with phones aside, I'm not much for doing this kind of thing at all.)
Third: Having documents around is nice and all, but let's be honest, we need a lawyer to do most of this, including the negotiating. Anyone know a lawyer? Anyone know how much retaining one costs?
IF everyone on this board donates some money, IF we find a lawyer who will do the work on the cheap, IF we know we can come up with a competive bid, we MIGHT be able to do it.
We could also grow a fifth leg and turn into Shivans. It probably won't happen. The most we can do is make our opinions known, well known, push ahead with all our normal projects and hope. You never know.
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It's not so easy to contact Interplay these days. They got kicked out of their offices recently, for one.
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Eish: Actually, Zarathud's a lawyer. That's why Bob just called him in. And while it's possible (if not probable) that HLPers don't have enough money between them, there's a lot of people out there who loathe Derek Smart and would be willing to give $5-$10 to piss him off, and a fair number of Freespace fans that wouldn't be exactly spontaneously orgasming at the thought of him touching the title and would likely donate some amount more. Get support from some larger group with more clout (like Penny Arcade, to take the extreme example), and that could be a whole hell of a lot of small sums pouring in, which could add up.
And, y'know, it's worth a shot anyway, just to see what we can do. This community'd turn awful grim with the idea that maybe everyone coulda changed things but didn't if Smart gets the license and nobody does anything.
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*This post has been edited by me because everybody is a paranoid monkey!*
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erm...you've just committed a federal offense...
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Yeah, I advice that Tin Can you should edit that post/remove
But I can't force only admins can do that
and well we talking about Derek Smart here
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Kidding guys. :rolleyes:
Of all the people you should know that. ;)
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then indicate that with at least a smiley, in a court, out of context, it does not look like a joke, in fact, even if intended as such, courts don't take litely to such kind of jokes...
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Originally posted by Stryke 9
Eish: Actually, Zarathud's a lawyer. That's why Bob just called him in. And while it's possible (if not probable) that HLPers don't have enough money between them, there's a lot of people out there who loathe Derek Smart and would be willing to give $5-$10 to piss him off, and a fair number of Freespace fans that wouldn't be exactly spontaneously orgasming at the thought of him touching the title and would likely donate some amount more. Get support from some larger group with more clout (like Penny Arcade, to take the extreme example), and that could be a whole hell of a lot of small sums pouring in, which could add up.
And, y'know, it's worth a shot anyway, just to see what we can do. This community'd turn awful grim with the idea that maybe everyone coulda changed things but didn't if Smart gets the license and nobody does anything.
Well that's part of the problem solved, but what about the rest? And what do we do with all that money if we fail to get the license? Do we give it back? How do we keep track of it all? There's a lot that has to be done for something like this, and I'm not sure we'll ever be able to do it all at all or even in time to make a bid. It's a long shot, a worthy one, yes, but a long one. If this is going to go forward, we need to start doing it, now. We may not get another chance.
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Originally posted by JarC
then indicate that with at least a smiley, in a court, out of context, it does not look like a joke, in fact, even if intended as such, courts don't take litely to such kind of jokes...
We can't tell emotion or a hint of joking in your voice, so please use the smilies :)
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How many of htese threads are there?
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Originally posted by .::Tin Can::.
If we dont aquire the license, we can always use the money we raised to assasinate Derek Smart so it never happens.
I'll do it for free. :lol:
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Originally posted by Inquisitor
How many of htese threads are there?
Too many....
Kidding guys.
but we are talking about Derek Smart here
maybe he don't understant that joke
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Sooo...any progres on this?
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Not really, no. I think Steak's going to be handling de monies, which does complicate the return issue a lot, and Lonestar's offered to handle basically everything else if we get a hold of Interplay, which we need to do anyway... but nobody's done it. It's tough, 'cos nobody really knows where they're based anymore.
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Well, just to clear things up, I seriously give you guys more credit than to think I was really implying we should hire a hitman to take him out. Cmon. Common sense. Ding ding! :rolleyes:
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Lol. We're talking about Derek Smart here, his ego would tell him we'd actually waste the money on killing him :D
Anyway, Stryke, we need a list of the people who donated, and how much they donated, so if we need to, we can do money returns.
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Didnt they mention we needed something to donate TO? Something to fork our funds over to? God knows I dont want it going somewhere insecure.
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I can pay up to 100$ CDN to help the FS community for a major upgrade of the game (could become FS3!).
I don't have any problems giving my money to you guys. YOu already did great jobs on campaigns and SCP. I'm pretty sure you could make FS3 on a new engine.
;)
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First: We're not making a fan-made FS3.
Second: Make it a paypal account.
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UT: The plan is, yes, Paypal account and a database of donators and how much they gave. Among other things. There's a thread about it at Hard Light.
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Awesome. Mebbe the admins should merge these two threads :)
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Hot damn I sure hope you guys aquire the license... I just got 100 bucks after 5 hours of manual labor outside... friggin Texas heat... :sigh:
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There's a lot more to this than I think many of you are thinking. This isn't a matter of everyone pitching in the cash and then running to the store. This is a very, very serious legal matter. For example: IF we manage to win the bid, who actually owns it? A single person? A group of people? Everyone who pitched in? I've seen enough drama online over little **** like icons and avatars, imagine the fight over the license itself! Would the person or group lord it over the rest of us? If everyone who dontates owns it, how do they make decisions on what to do with it? Can any of them make such decisions in the first place? What if we fail? What happens to the cash then?
There are so many legal issues here, we'd drown quickly if we don't get these kinds of things answered as soon as possible. Drown in lawsuits. No one deserves that fate (not even Derek Smart).
I purpose that we establish a group of people (small, no more than 10) that will represent all those who donate to the board. These people then need to be legally bound to rules of conduct reguarding a) The use of the license if accquired b) Negotiating limits c) What do do with the cash if the attempt fails.
From there, the group will attempt to negotiate with Interplay to obtain the license. There are going to be lawyers involved, so we'll need at least one, possibly more. Lawyers trained for this kind of **** would be prefered. They will write the contract that binds the group to the rules (which we have to decide on well in advance) and create the agreement anyone who donates must agree to before sending the cash.
From there, we can go after the the license. Our biggest problems right now are time and money. We don't know how much of either we have or need. We certainly need to move fast, but we must move carefully. Cash wise, we need to make sure that we know how we're collecting them and what the rules are for when (if) the cash starts to roll in.
Beyond that, we need to do serious, powerful adverstising. Asking for people to donate to this kind of thing is going to be the worst part, as people rarely want to give up cash, even to a cause that is just. I'm sure, unfortuantly, we can't claim this is all to crush Derek Smart. First because it's legally wrong I'm sure, and secondly because it wouldn't be why we're doing it. If those who donate justify it thusly, that's their own decision, but we likely cannot encourage this thinking.
There's a lot to do, so if we're going to try for this, let's get to it already.
Oh, and Tin Can, I knew it was a joke, but Derek Smart is such an ass he'd threaten to sue you for such a remark. I doubt he would follow through, but he could. Edit it out while you still can.
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We could just say the HLP admins get it, but make them sign a document saying they had to allow free reign to use it to those who donated (this is for everyone else's sake, I'm sure the HLP admins wouldn't make a big fuss).
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I was going to avoid participating in this conversation, but I just changed my mind.
You guys will never buy the FS license. You cannot possibly raise enough money amongst yourselves to buy it. We're talking hundreds of thousands of dollars. Sure, Interplay is in the crapshoot, maybe they'll be looking to liquidate assets at a cheaper price, but I wouldn't count on it being cheap enough. Even if it's in the tens of thousands, it's a dream. Forget about all the other issues - you cannot pay for it so those issues are irrelevant.
I don't mean to be an a-hole, but the fact is this is a pipe dream, and quite frankly spending your time pursuing it is a waste.
I mean, has anyone even contact Interplay yet to see if they're even selling? Or what price they're looking to sell at?
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Originally posted by WildWolf
I was going to avoid participating in this conversation, but I just changed my mind.
You guys will never buy the FS license. You cannot possibly raise enough money amongst yourselves to buy it. We're talking hundreds of thousands of dollars. Sure, Interplay is in the crapshoot, maybe they'll be looking to liquidate assets at a cheaper price, but I wouldn't count on it being cheap enough. Even if it's in the tens of thousands, it's a dream. Forget about all the other issues - you cannot pay for it so those issues are irrelevant.
I don't mean to be an a-hole, but the fact is this is a pipe dream, and quite frankly spending your time pursuing it is a waste.
I mean, has anyone even contact Interplay yet to see if they're even selling? Or what price they're looking to sell at?
careful, that's a bunch of reality to cram into one post.
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WildWolf: Sure, the chances are pretty much non-existant, but as Stryke pointed out, there are a lot of people willing to pitch in. And if it doesn't work, we'll all be down a few bucks, and some will be down a mighty amount of hours. On the other hand, if the administration is solid, there isn't much to loose.
Really, what do we have to loose?
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So were we are getting about 300.000$? :p
sorry but that is not going happen just reality check
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have you heard about blender.org they rised 100.000 in aboud 2 months.
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All we would have to do is get everyone game junkie in ONE ROOM, and say "Derek Smart wants to buy the Freespace license. We need money. Will you donate?"
They would all say "yes" in gusto, and then create an angry mob. Seriously, I believe that Derek Smart created the flame war, correct?
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I realize I can't stop you from doing anything. If you want to try, you're going to try, and no amount of todd m. reality is going to change that. i'm just saying, that's the way it is. it's like when heorin addicts chase the dragon - you just end up addicted, living in a cardboard box, and begging some crackhead to spot you five bucks for a blow job so you can get your next fix.
that's no fun. am i rite?
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Some people might get their kicks from it...
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Warning: I am not a business type, so take the following with a grain of salt:
It is possible to form a non-profit corporation, which could hold the money that anyone was willing to contribute in a fund. If the deal never happens, we liquidate and everyone gets their money back (less whatever fees are incurred). If we do get the license, well, we have the license :) Obviously this doesn't address the issue with raising this kind of money. And overseas investors may cause a special problem, I don't know.
A couple people have pointed out the "free blender" campaign. That was done in the Netherlands, IIRC, so laws are probably different than in the US.
Just some things to consider.
Coincidently, my company (the one I work for -- I don't own it) just got bought for $435M in cash, which means my options should finally be worth something. Not much -- it'll probably be an extra couple months pay -- but this might be the right time for me to invest in something worthwhile ;) I can't commit to any kind of number yet, 'cause I haven't seen one.
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Well it seems [V] is talking with Interplay, after I saw the post in the Hard Light area...
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WildWolf : one of the suggestions was to use the money in partnership with a big name developer (maybe even [V]) in order to pursuade them to buy the licence themselves.
Let me put it this way, if the fans of a game raise $50,000 dollars to buy the rights to a game you know you must have a market for it. That would help remove one of the big stumbling blocks that is preventing other companies from buying the game (i.e the fear that cause FS2 didn't sell very well that there isn't a market for FS3).
So you see. Raising the entire amount needed to buy the license might not be important. Still if [V] are talking to Interplay we may not even need to do that :)
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The thing is, I can see both points of view.
Starting a riot will lead to multiple flame wars throughout the gaming community, that is neither healthy for HLP nor for the gaming community in General, I think that's what WW is trying to say.
As far as working with [V] etc would be concerned, that would be awesome if it DID happen, however, and this is not aimed at anyone in particular.....
IF [V] were to hold onto the licence or if a different company, say EgoSoft bought the license, we, as a community, will have to accept the fact that we have no more right to demand input into their FS3 than we do to demand input for Derek's version of FS3. That's ok, I've played lots of games I've had no input in, and enjoyed them ;) However, if [V] or the like DID develop FS3, I have a feeling they would be far more inclined to involve the community that Mr Smart is.
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Or we can wait around for the Ferrium project if FS3 never comes out or is announced. :nod:
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Originally posted by penguin
Warning: I am not a business type, so take the following with a grain of salt:
It is possible to form a non-profit corporation, which could hold the money that anyone was willing to contribute in a fund. If the deal never happens, we liquidate and everyone gets their money back (less whatever fees are incurred). If we do get the license, well, we have the license :) Obviously this doesn't address the issue with raising this kind of money. And overseas investors may cause a special problem, I don't know.
A couple people have pointed out the "free blender" campaign. That was done in the Netherlands, IIRC, so laws are probably different than in the US.
Just some things to consider.
Coincidently, my company (the one I work for -- I don't own it) just got bought for $435M in cash, which means my options should finally be worth something. Not much -- it'll probably be an extra couple months pay -- but this might be the right time for me to invest in something worthwhile ;) I can't commit to any kind of number yet, 'cause I haven't seen one.
Get me the details of that, and I'd be willing to get some adult to cover the signing for it. Non profit is pretty easy here, IIRC, just get me the details.