Yoinks wrote: I'd also pay a share but given the size of the player base finding another 62 people willing to pay that much is going to be a struggle.

Sure

Asgardian wrote: Why should only supporters pay?

I had to make a start for some rough math. Of course such a kickstarter is not limited to a certain group of persons.

kostuek wrote: 10k seems a bit steep, eh? 85 Supporter x 20€/Year = 1700€/Year minus Server costs minus inflation minus the work needed. It will probably take like 10 years to get the money back and that's assuming constant user base, which is questionable at the current state.

My "offer" was not about an investment that would return any money. It was kind of a shared effort to free GI from Melderon and make further development possible at all. I know how to run such games, have the resources, and after all it is my hobby. That gives me the chance to "work for free" on such things. But of course I am not ready to make a 10k investment for a hobby. So the idea was if a group of people is keen enough to free GI and can bring up the money, I would jump in and improve and run the stuff. Kind of a idealistic one time pledge by those funders, exactly that.

@Sredna: All true, but not important for me as I act as a hobbyist. And no, GI can surely run from one machine hosting web and database. And it needs only enough regular supporters to run the machinery, which will be somewhere between 120 and 360 EUR per year, if you go crazy. Remember, GI has no sophisticated stats or reports, and is probably just some basic php5, html, JS and a sql database.

But as said yesterday, it was a try that did not receive the number of responses that would be needed to turn such an idealistic pledge based "Free GI" thing true.

"Uh, why should I give away X EUR?" You dont have to!

"What would I get for my money?" The honor to be part of the group of people who provided GI an alternative future

"Will I receive anything back from my money?" Yes, the joy to play a game that is in active development and maintenance

"I dislike this whole pledge money but get no return" Cool!

"Wouldnt it be better if an investor buys GI and runs it professionaly?" Sure thing! Just, I do not see one because the investment does not provide any true business case at all. So if there is no room for investments with returning money, that leaves no other chances than "Keep it as it is now" or "Make it more idealistic, not money-return driven"

Seriously, I cannot name those other games here for valid reasons and I respect this wish, but does one believe you can make serious money from such browser based games if you want to maintain AND improve the stuff? Not when you run it with serving a few hundreds gamers and an average supporter rate of less than 20% like it is today for GI. Such games are not made for the casual gamers that spend money on crazy items like in all those games they advertise for. Let's be real, please.

Cheers,
Pete

Hi Pete!

I appreciate you making this effort
I'm in of course

Regards,
Ewout

OK, I talked to the owner about this topic and here is the response from him.

He is not willing to get into any negotiations at this time due to his health. He is in the mid of trying to beat the illness he is having problem with and he is not well at the moment and is thus not willing to put the energy into this again.

Klomgo wrote: So long story short: I'm the next person to put in (at least) 185€!

Add me to the list as well.