[Lonestar]

Ok we know the rights ar eup for grabs, and we know of people here are talking about helping out making FS3 a reality. Moreover we don't want to see anyone get the rights, especially some (i won't name names for obvious reasons).

Therefore, would it be a good idea to have a donation drive specifically geared to raising money to buy the license? If so, who can we trust to handle this transaction?

The way i see it is we got on the backburner as far as ideas go, and i want to see how far this particular idea can go personally as i myself would invest $10,000 USD a year if this came to fruition. Obviously i cant handle such a great undertaking alone so investing money in this is not the key. The key is to generate the support of the community here, and make them put their money where their mouth is.
This would be a huge deal guys. No community i know of has bought a license and developed a game for the mass audience. if they have they didnt do it well (explains why i never heard of it) and i think we all collectively could do much better.

So we need to put some things together.

Who will organize this?
Who will watch the cash and make the transactions?
Who will be responsible for coordinating the staff managers?
Who will be responsible for ensuring the quality of the game?

This is just a few questions. Again, its a HUGE undertaking. We could just buy the license collectively and sit on it until we find the right people to develope it and sell it to them for the same or higher price and divide the money amongst the parties who invested.

Many options.....

[Stealth]

for one, i say don't get caught up in the excitement... "who's going to organize" what?  it's not as easy as going up to Interplay with a few thousand in hand and saying "I want the Freespace title rights!!!"

...

There is no competition.  For now, this "Derek Smart" guy, if he's up for it, has got everything necessary, he's got the cash, he's got the inside contact that can get him the rights, he's got everything but motive (as far as i'm concerned)...  Perhaps rather than thinking "We can beat him!" It'd be more profitable for all of us to join him... or ASK him if we could buy the rights from him... i'm sure he'd be more than happy to make a small profit.
You're blowing this out of proportion.  it's a proposed idea on his part... it might not even go through for all we know.

I say we sit it out for a little bit, and see what happens, and take matters from there...

[Bobboau]

I'd trust Setekh with my hard earned cash.
I'd be willing to do anything I could, should I be called upon to do so.

[Bobboau]

we've pissed him off, he is going to do anything and everything he can to piss us off

[Stealth]

we've pissed this Derek guy off and now because of that he's going to do everything he can to spite us?

...

this guy owns a game company, doesn't he?  i'd hope he'd be a little more mature than you estimate him as, and not hold a grudge because we don't agree with him.

either way, i think it's best to sit back and keep a close eye on what happens, rather than jumping to battle stations because of a few words posted on a forum

[WMCoolmon]

Just because we buy the rights doesn't mean Derek Smart can't have his game. It just means he'd have to make an effective sales pitch to us, first.

[Rictor]

Originally posted by Bobboau
we've pissed him off, he is going to do anything and everything he can to piss us off

yeah, we pissed him off by not bowing to his greatness, which is what he expects. C'mon, you know as well as I do that the best way to pick a fight with someone like him is just to be born.

[Bobboau]

that doesn't change the fact that he has lots of money and we don't.

[Stealth]

we're not going to get money by "all pitching in"... there's no amount that we as a tight-knit community can get without him beating.  now don't say "where's your spirit" or "you're not a team player"... no the only difference with me is i look at things the way they are, sure it's good to be an optimist, but only to a point.  we cannot pull enough money together to buy the rights to the game.  and even if we can, what do we do when we have it?  We all just "make" the game?  of course not, there's a lot more involved.  Marketing will costs thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars... money we don't have.

and you say "no, the game will just be for the community".  well then why do we want the name.  ask yourself that.  i'm sure all of us would be more than willing to see a game that should be Freespace 3 but is entitled HLP Freespace Sim 1 or something.  is all this just for the name "Freespace 3"?  or is it (god forbid) on the minds of everyone to market it and make a fortune.  because with the funds we have on hand, that's not going to happen.

[Stryke 9]

Bob: So we find out how many other people like FreeSpace and don't like Smart, to the extent that they're reluctantly willing to part with their pocket change in order to further said preferences. There's a (somewhat remote, but still present) possibility that that's sufficient numbers to scrape by- sure, you're not gonna see a lot of three-four figure offers anyone actually carries through on, but tenner donations can add up. Get a postive mention at Penny Arcade, and there'd be a fair shot.

[Bobboau]

assumeing we could get the funds it would take us at least a few months to put it together, by wich time he'd already have bought the rights.

[Rictor]

I think other developers/publishers are going to want a piece of the action now. So, if we don't get it, at least there is the possbibilty that he won't either, and that a competent developer will.

[Stryke 9]

Bob: Not necessarily.

And, ****, what's your plan? Just sit around and hope he doesn't actually try and legislate your mods out of existence? How much more expensive would it be to fight him for those in court than to give a few bucks to a pool which, in case of failure, returns the goods?

Any plan's ****ing flawed. There never is and never has been much hope for anything good to ever happen. Still, sometimes it does. But not often to anyone who just sits by and hopes for a fairy godmother to come down and help them 'cause they're terminally idle.



Rictor: Uh, why now as opposed to "then"? Now they'd have to up the ante on an existing offer, making it more expensive, and now they've seen some fans react badly to a prospective buyer (they'll be quicker to overlook Smart's behavior). It never was much of a promising sale title.

[Kamikaze]

Originally posted by Stealth

this guy owns a game company, doesn't he?  i'd hope he'd be a little more mature than you estimate him as, and not hold a grudge because we don't agree with him.

I'm sorry, but Derek Smart isn't that mature from what I've seen. Read a bit about his history (and look at his Avault signature too).

[Bobboau]

hey, I didn't say we shouldn't try, I'm willing to put thousands into this.
I'm just realistic,
it's best to expect the worst and be suprised than the oposite.

though there is one bright side, he seems to have a FREAKING HUGE hate comunity

[Rictor]

Stryke, put the mod/SCP/whatever files on a server in India, pay 5 bucks a month for unlimited bandwidth and watch his lawyers look on in helplessness.

I don't think judicial problems are the real threat here. And yes, I do agree, sitting around doing nothing is not going to accomplish much. But its been like what, 6 hours? Give it a day or two.

[ChronoReverse]

@stealth

I'm perfectly willing to retain a calm outlook at this but given Mr. Smart's history, I fear it may be a hopeless one.

If FS3 is indeed made by him, I do plan to check out review beforehand before getting it though.  It may be that it won't have a fate like the previous games from Mr. Smart, but sicne he claims to get it out in 18 months and doesn't seem to give a hoot about anyone from this forum of fans, I can't help but feel that it will be a slim chance.

[Stryke 9]

He's not going to sue the fund, Rictor. Get the difficulties straight. The problem is that people aren't likely to trust the word of a bunch of wierdo gamers they've never met or even necessarily heard of. Setting up a legal charity or finding an independent base for the pool solves that- nobody gets worried about their money getting up and walking away rather than being used for its stated purpose, that doesn't actually end up happening, and it's tax-deductible. That means more money for the fund.

Bob: Best not to speak of the worst, though. I'm not expecting much, either. But it's not exactly the sorta thing to dwell on, if you wanna get far.

[Bobboau]

well I was just saying that if this got started we could probly count on a bunch of "this'll show that damned Smart" people.

[Rictor]

I was talking about his suing the mods/SCP, not the fund. When or if a fund is established, he can't touch it. Yes, the fund has be look legit, but I don't see what that has to do with anything, I agree as I already mentioned.