Boxed Version of PS

[aircows]

I don\'t know if there was previous discussion of this or not (if there was I couldn\'t find it).  But what would be the advantages/disadvantages of making a boxed version of Planeshift?  It would probably cause some upfront costs (CDs, printing, duplication), but if you charged like $20-$30 for it, I assume that the project could generate a little funding so that they may put it towards other things related to the project (new server, a mac to help the mac-client development, etc).  Obviously you wouldn\'t start charging to get connected into the game, and there would still the downloadable version of the client.  It would also be a nice option for those of us that don\'t have broadband (me).

[elscouta]

I have heard a discussion about this but i don\'t remember really the end. Only that a dev (Vengeance?) warned that publisher can trap a \"weak\" community (understand who can\'t do a trial).

Whatever, i don\'t think this is the time to do such a thing. Even CB won\'t have a public large enough to start to release Planeshift boxes.

[aircows]

I\'m talking more big picture, like when the majority of features are implemented and when the game becomes like 99% playable.

[elscouta]

Yes, could be. The only problem is as i said to find a publisher reliable since i don\'t think PS dev team will once have the infrastructure to do such a thing.

[Grakrim]

I wouldn\'t mind paying 10 or 20 dollars for a nice PS CD with a printed manual (hell, I\'d even pay $50 for it).  But there\'s no real need for it, they\'ve went without money this long with donated servers and such...

[LastAndroid]

I don\'t think a boxed version would work just yet. The CD and manual would be out dated too quick. But in the future it may work.

However something like T-shirts or posters (maybe maps?) would be easier to have made.

[KwartzTheKran]

if somebody paypals me the cost of pnp + cd i will copy it for free for ppl.

[Grakrim]

Well, at a later point when PS is considered \"ready for prime time\", it would work, LastAndroid, no of course not now.  But the CDs are always out of date on MMORPGs, I remember I got SWG the day it came out and there was already a patch for it...  The manual would be fairly static, since UI and the core skills and abilities won\'t tend to change beyond a certain point.

[aircows]

T-shirts and posters, now there is a good idea.  I\'d definitly pick up a PS t-shirt if one were made available.

elscouta, i do see your point on the publisher thing.  but if PS had one person that was part of the PS team (obviously not the devs, they\'ve got way to much else to worry about) do the publishing (printing, duplicating), then you could probably pull it off.

[Monketh]

More importantly: any manual could contain numerous fanfics, official history, small bits and ads about guilds...

Posters would be cool, and T-shirts as well.  

[AendarCallenlasse]

This is definently not a realistic idea to me.  PS is and always will be a free game.  If you charged people to buy it in the store then it is no longer a free game.  And the PS team has actually refused donaations because they don\'t need the money.  If you don\'t have broadband go and get DAP or something and spend a week dling it.

[DepthBlade]

It isn\'t neccesary to start paying for the game like  even if it was just a 1 time payment, but if it had to happen I would purchase the game thats if it came to my town

[LastAndroid]

Originally posted by AendarCallenlasse  And the PS team has actually refused donaations because they don\'t need the money. [/COLOR]

You could always take donations to pay for servers. I wouldn\'t mind paying a few $ to have a fast US server.

Or you could always sell stuff at cost. It would help promote PS and give people something in the real world.

[DepthBlade]

See when I started playing this the first question i asked was is this game going to stay free or ever go p2p and I was pounded with the answer ITS FREE ITS FREE! Now you people are starting to bring money into the equation! If this game goes p2p, boy ill be...

[Kiva]

Originally posted by LastAndroid
You could always take donations to pay for servers. I wouldn\'t mind paying a few $ to have a fast US server.

Heck, why don\'t we just all pay $10 every month so they can actually keep the server that you want to buy for them? Eh?

People, it\'s been said so many times. If you want to make T-Shirts, talk to one of the top devs. It\'s probably easily done. If you want to donate money to something useful, give them to the guys working on CrystalSpace. They need it, and they\'re willing to accept it. The reason why PlaneShift is, and stays, free, is because they don\'t have any money, they don\'t use any money and they don\'t get any money. As soon as you start breaking one of those things, everything will cost money, and everyone will be pissed, and unhappy.

So stop talking about money!


P.S. If you\'re really serious about wanting to depart with your money, for gods sake, PM me and I\'ll give you my PayPal account. Then I\'ll donate it all to CrystalSpace for you. Geez...