I think we all have loads of ideas, but that's not what concerns me...what concerns me is that none of us have any incentive to cooperate on it. For every one of us posting here, there's at least 10 more who either can't or won't post - so there's a boatload of potential developers who'd love to have a server to work on. Even if you split it up, there's a ton of developers who want to make a Zelda clone and have lots of ideas...there's a ton of developers who want to make a Megaman clone and have lots of ideas...there's a ton of developers who want to make a racing game and have lots of ideas...there's a ton of developers who want to make a 3d server, a RPG, a platformer, a FPS, a River City Ransom clone, you name it. But for any given server there can only be one owner. And everyone else has to accept the fact that the one owner can shoot down their ideas and preempt their work without notice, reason, etc. That's point 1.
Point 2 - all these people make their own servers, with themselves as Owner And Final Say.
Point 3 - all these servers start hunting for staff. 90% tank because there aren't enough scripters willing to work under these conditions.
Point 4 - the remaining 10% fight tooth and nail to make the limited number of Graalians active play on THEIR server instead of their RIVAL's server.
Point 5 - we wind up with a few dozen servers that - if tied together - make a single decent world.
I dunno about you guys, but I'm not thrilled with the prospect of developing in such an environment. Don't get me wrong, I bought butcher paper just to organize the ideas I got for the platformer MMORPG I got in mind, and I'm convinced it'll be awesome if I can pull it off, but I can't pull it off. It requires too much more than Graal can give - not in terms of what Stefan can script, because that man can script anything - not in terms of what Unixmad can host, because he can host with the best of 'em - but in terms of what the community can support, and Another Playerworld With One Quest And Custom Ganis ain't it. Time was we saw that and said "Shoot, here, have another quest, have some baddies, I developed a castle and a playerhouse, and a town, and I've got some plot ideas, take, take!", now we're all "...I could do it better", and we all start from square one, spending three months to get to the point where we have the exact same thing, Another Playerworld With One Quest And New Custom Ganis That Nobody Else Can Have.
Sorry if I'm ranting, it infuriates me what Graal's become. It's not because it went pay, it's not because PWs blossomed outside of Classic, it's because Graal got as far as hosting PWs on an evenhanded basis and stopped. It got into new territory and went no further. It's the only game on the market where you can toss the serverop a few bucks and have your own world hosted, yet it uses guild-marketing to get developers. Seriously, "Looking for experienced NATs to build best server ever!~"? This is ridiculous... |