Means about AO, for the bottom of his heart

[Chrisax]

This is a reply from the bottom of the heart of Means, to a player who was wondering about the future of AO and the fact it was not mentioned in a a recent q3 online games survey.

I thought it was nice enough to be posted separately.

Dec 12th, 2008, 10:35:50

I don't like it when people speak about our game as if it is a used car in need of repair...and they are uncertain whether purchasing spare parts will be financially "worth it". AO has been running for SEVEN YEARS. People have met in our game, married and had children together. Some of these children are old enough now to be sick of their parents telling that story.

I wholly reject the idea that I have spent years of my life working on something thats survival depends on a q3 report. If I had a nickel for ever post where someone claims the "end of our virtual world is nigh!" I would already have melted them down into a giant nickel statue of myself pointing at the sky like an astronaut.

This game is funded by an ample number of subscribers and an additional revenue stream from advertising viewed by our glorious Fr00b population. Money is not an issue. The game is now fully staffed by previous players with a passion for this product...and a real love for AO that goes beyond the normal sense of responsibility that comes with "a job". Relatives of mine designed the containment structures for nuclear power plants used all over the world. Relatives of mine helped design the Canada Arm on the space shuttle and some of the first fluid exchange coolant systems for satellites. THIS is what I have chosen to do.

When the stars burn out and I find I lack the strength to continue...one of YOU wil pick up the flag and carry it forward. This really isn't a corporate product anymore...it belongs to all of us. Where it goes it up to us.

AO will survive.

__________________
This "Means" Cake
Game Director

http://forums.anarchy-online.com/showth ... p?t=542900

[Alphacenta]

Yeah, it's pretty much the AO equivalent of the "I have a dream" speech.

[noobas]

AO ftw.

What the heck is a Q3 report?

[Grind42]

This is a reply from the bottom of the heart of Means, to a player who was wondering about the future of AO and the fact it was not mentioned in a a recent q3 online games survey.

Dec 12th, 2008, 10:35:50
This game is funded by an ample number of subscribers and an additional revenue stream from advertising viewed by our glorious Fr00b population.

__________________
This "Means" Cake
Game Director

http://forums.anarchy-online.com/showth ... p?t=542900

All our bank toons

And no idea what a Q3 report is & i could have a number of guesses

Next Friday with Means: What is a Q3 report?

My guess : Q3 is an Advertising Revenue Report adjudicated by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) or a similar Bureau, for the budget spent or earned on advertising. It probably takes in a companies gross earnings & expenditure.
Im not sure if this a global requirement but whatever a Q3 is, its going to be a financial report.

[noobas]

Meh.

My point is that none of the paying members of AO give two Sh*t's about Q3.

All they care about is when will they make a thong with frills, when the next supple is going to drop, and is FC going to remove the TL5 lock on QL250 imps or what?

[Grind42]

Lol Noobas thats thinking with blinkers on, you think FC will carry on improving the game & making changes if they dont make money^^ Good coders cost big $$$$. FC is just happy so many came back to OA after AoC disaster or my bet is they would have closed there doors.

So yes Q3 is important to us & FC, there was a stage when thie financials came out last month when alot of people where talking about the future of FC. Make no mistake they lost a crapload on AoC one reason Means is collaborating & putting many new things in motion imo & thats to get people back to AO with new content.

[Mud]

i liked AoC for 2 weeks or so!

[noobas]

I agree grind, I'm not saying finances don't matter, I just mean that, to the regular dude who logs his thong wearing trox, he's not thinking about finances, he just wants to play.

Good observation though about AoC and drawing people back into AO. it must have cost them an arm and leg to launch AoC, and now what is it's status? Is it cancelled, or do people still play?

Videogame industry is a really competitive field, but one reason why FC should be doing well is that the average age of player of AO is in the 25-45 range, which would mean that likely they are a working person, with at least enough disposable income to blow a few hundred bucks a year on vice maintenance.

[Mud]

peeps still play AoC, not many, but some do

[noobas]

can you quantify "some"

according to AOC page on wikipedia, over 500,000 people signed up to test the beta version...

500k people is a LOT of people. Soooooo, I'm guessing of those 500,000 people most of them if not all and the friends they told about it played it, in which case thats 500000 people getting 1 month free. how many are still paying and playing.

Weird that the director of AoC resigned so quickly after launch.

controversy!

DRAMA!

YAY!

[Bredin]

AoC populations have dropped drastically since launch. I've got toons on the Tyranny server (just cancelled accnt btw) and the population there is actually decent. It is pretty much known as the most populated server. Funcom has started server merges recently because the populations are so low.