Stephen
2006-04-25 |
 |
100% no more ads :) |  |
We will be removing all ads for all players
*Summary
Detail
We will remove all advertising from gamestotal.com effective on 2006-05-31, this will effect all our games.
Why ?
Basically very very few players actually clicks on the ad itself, not to mention there have been a great number of times when the ad agency sneaks in a couple of gambling ads which we personally have told them multiple times that we do not want such ads. We did ask them specifically to put up community based ads (good ads) such as cancer awareness and other charity ads. Unfortunately `good` ads dont pay us very well, not to mention they dont pay us at all for any gambling ads they sneak in. Gambling or `bad` ads pays very well which is the reason why they keep on sneaking in `bad` ads and pay us rates for `good` ads. Some ad agency dont even pay us at all :**( The only reason why the ads are up, is mainly because I thought i would annoy players to donate which after serious consideration is a mistake on our end and shouldnt be the reason.
How are we gonna pay the bills now ?
Having taking out the ads, we are still thinking of ways to raise our warchest (bill paying funds). In the mean time I hope all players will help support us, by donating more.
Few words from Stephen
We constantly strive to improve our service and games to your satisfaction and enjoyment. There are many times when i wish that i was born to a better off family or home that i can afford to do more things compared to what i am capable off right now. To run a massive online game is hard enough yet the hardest part comes in the form of piles of bills. I`ve been running spacefed (old name for gamestotal.com) since 2003 and have personally seen many other online games getting bankrupted due to bills. Yep, bills are the killer. To those who havent worked, start thanking your lucky stars, those who have worked summer jobs will basically understand a bit, and those adults who is living by themselves or supporting their family will understand bills a little bit more. To those who wishes to start your own online game stuff, go buy a lotto ticket first (just kidding). I know that i am runting and grunting away here, it is early in the morning right now, i`ve been sick for over 4 weeks due to lack of sleep, a pile of bills is sitting in front of my (actually my desk is full of bills that i need a shovel to get anything) and i want a break... What i am saying is that, due to all this excuses i give, you guys have to hear me whine :)
Anyhow to those who is interested to setup an online game, please read on. For those who loves me very much, please read my grunting :) basically the below is a rough estimated calculations of the man power and cost implications of setting up a massive online game system in the US (i am using the US because most of the players are from US). Note this is just mere estimation i am pulling out of my hat :) just something to runt about...
Estimated based on:
O man power : 3 programmers, 1 graphics designer, 2 marketing guys, 2 clerks, 1 hr & accounts, 2 customer support, 1 editor, 2 writer, 1 manager (total = 15)
O hardware : 5 servers
O office : 15 Pcs, 1 local development server, 1 file server
O time taken to develop game : 1 year
Estimated cost (1st year running)
Hardware : $25,000
Development : $126,000
Salary : $270,000
Office : $17,000
Operations : $18,000 (includes rental, water, electricity)
Bandwidth : $24,000
Cost = $480,000 per annum or $40,000 per month
After looking at this, do you still feel like making a game ? Maybe i may have convinced you to ditch that idea and continue playing our game ? Who knows maybe that is our ploy after all ? The good news is, our operations are not located in the US and thankfully due to that reason we are able to minimize our bills. However we try to minimize our bills there is only that much we can do, so i hope all the players will continue to support us.
Life isnt easy, that is one thing that everyone tells you, well to the majority of the people out there anyway, life could be easy to a small handful of people, and i dont feel envious of those lucky fellas because thanks to this hard work i am able to have my own version of fun :) i know a number of the older players will say `here stephen goes again`, i just want to say it again that the greatest pleasure of all that i get from doing all this, is to see everyone having fun. It is the greatest gift of all, not being proud of what i have done but rather to make the lifes of people better, even by a little bit. There is so many things in this `real world` or reality that everyone wants to run away from, this ranges from bullies, bills, exams, your boss, your wire/husband, girlfriend/boyfriend and a ton others. Its a great feeling to know that i have managed to somehow help someone out there, by giving them something to look forward to, and something fun to be doing. Like for example a typical working adult, wakes up in the morning, goes to work, goes back home all tired out and stressed from getting stuck in the traffic just to see his/her place is a mess because he/she is too tired to clean things out. Turning down friend`s invitation to go out because you are just too tired. Now this is where we come in, you can now sit down, relax, make yourself a nice drink, play a bit of games (our games hopefully) send a few messages to friends in the game and call it a night. Next day while stuck in the traffic you can think of who you want to attack, what you wish to do, and not to mention how are you going to finish your current mission. This is the small things that many people cant see at all, is how the game have improved on your life, giving you something exciting and fun to think about while you are stuck in traffic or in other not-happy situations. I understand that sometimes you may feel down playing the game, especially when losing a lot of battles or planets but hey do remember that the most important thing is not how many planets you have or how many battles you win, its the battle itself not the outcome of it. Being able to fight, put up a good fight is the fun part (at least that is why i hope to remind everyone off). Not to mention you can complain about how many planets you lose to all your buddies :)
Ever since i am small, the truth is i did not live a happy childhood nor did i live a happy teenager life. Then again, i dont think i am really that happy with my whole life. What i am doing here, with this games, with this community we are trying to achive is basically to give everyone out there something that i couldnt have back then when i was young. Yes i do know that there isnt any internet back then, and even if there was, will there be such a place where we can make friends with people and all that ? I have personally made a lot of friends, met a number of really nice people on the net and through spacefed. It is something i hope everyone will cherish as well, for a long time to come.
A long time ago during my college period i ran a bbs. Bbs = a time before the internet. It is similar to spacefed, where you can chat, play multiplayer games with other people and a lot of other stuff like discussion boards, forums, and so on. There was this small annoying kid which always ask me for stuff back then. 13-14 year old kid that i recently met a couple of months back. He has grown up and still addresses me as sysop (system operator, or the guy who operates the system), it does bring back a lot of memories of how annoying he was.. Opps did i say that ? Lol, i mean to say all the blood and gore we had while fighting and killing each other in the games we were playing. It was such a great impact on his life that, he has turned technology into his life. His about 21 now working as an internet security consultant, you know the sort of company that advises banks and all the other big guys about getting hacked. Also known as highly paid white hackers. Dang, i know sometimes i wish i had followed his foot steps... Anyhow dont worry about it, because i wont be giving out on spacefed anytime in the near future.
Now i know that this game has touched a great number of people out there. I`ve seen many players coming back, really old players and saying that did you know i`ve played spacefed like 2 years ago , or something like that ? :) i am happy that they do drop by to pay us a visit every once a long while :) i am happy and do appreciate their gesture even if it is for a short visit.
Thanks for listening to my runting and grunting ya ? Sometimes i just feel really tired out and frustrated with something and i guess i just need someone to hear me out. Guess you are the unlucky person :)
If you feel that this game has touched you in some way, do email to us at info[a]gamestotal.com with the subject `Sf: Game Runting` and i`ll post it up some where on the site :) remember to change [a] to @ in the email part.
Edited by Stephen on 2006-04-26 |
