WHAT HAS BEEN DONE TO FIND A SOLUTION?
During the last year, we have had discussion with quite a few possible partners. These include large Soccer websites, Internet providers, game developers, venture capitalist etc.
With Reality Game in mind, we had some ultimate requirements that none of these parties were prepared to meet.
Primarily, we wanted assurance that we could control what direction the game should take in terms of features. Typically, these companies have their own agendas and see SoccerSim as a means to reach some other goal ( ie. as many new subscribers as possible, or to use SoccerSim in some temporary advertising campaign ).
Also, few has been willing to commit the financial means necessary to provide a good base for development, meaning that we would ( again ) have to invest time into the project without an income.
We chose not to go with any of these partners, as we do not want to compromise the quality. We would rather work on something completely different than a crippled version of SoccerSim.
COMMUNITY DRIVEN SOLUTION
From day one, SoccerSim have always had a strong community, and we believe there is a good possibility that this community could lead on the future of SoccerSim. The way we see it - there is a game that wants to be played, there are players wanting to play, and there are developers willing to develop. It should be possible to find some solution!
We have been discussing the possibility of forming what is called a "Forening" in Danish. I believe the most accurate English translation would be "a society" or "association". This Forening would consist of SoccerSim players, and would be organised with an elected board of players that will be able to take decisions on behalf of the members. In its most beautiful form, this forening would be large enough to demand a small membership fee from its members and be able to fund the operation and development of SoccerSim.
In effect, what this means that a direct link between the players and developers are formed, instead of the usual commercial model, where a profit-making company sits in-between. Apart from the lower cost of playing ( the membership fee will be decided by the Forening itself ), there are numerous advantages to this approach. With SpriteFish being the owner of the SoccerSim technology, the Forening would be our customer. Although the final decision would be ours, the members of the Forening will have a strong voice when it comes to deciding what should be developed. As our only customer, and as an expert on SoccerSim, we would be stupid not to listen carefully to the wishes of the Forening.
The main problem with the Forening approach is the obvious danger of having a loosely coupled group of geographically spread and culturally diverse people running a smooth organization. This is a real danger, as we all know how a few silly people can spoil a lot for many.
NEXT page: We see four stages of building up the organization