Is it possible?

[luerim12]

I've pondered this.  A long time.  Actually, well before the announcement.  If I suddenly won the lottery, what would I like to do?

The question I've got is this:  If you offer NCSoft enough money, would they sell it?  What is the property worth to them?  It's worth a lot to us in keeping it going, and we could (as a not-for-profit communal effort) keep it going, and I'm fairly certain not-for-profits just have to pay back the "loans" that got them going and manage low profit interests.    Expenses are acquiring the property, server fees (using standard free to play with goodies rates are in this low key enviro).

Frankly, a lawyer to rewrite the terms of service, an accountant, both or either on spec, and with the craptastic job market, can't argue the potential for a newb with verve. 

I'm thinking Kickstarter.   Not saying it'd be a cheap Kickstarter campaign.   (Nobody bought Tabula Rasa, after all.) But there's a lot of what's already been done with in-game fan-made movies.  Still on YouTube, so NCSoft would have a difficult (cf. Lawyer) time really arguing that one.  If after Tax Returns this community cannot get the game, the Kickstarter has a default:  We donate residuals to charity.  Follow the "pay it on" and give 10% to other efforts We as donators vote on democratically, maybe financially based on what we donate giving more weight.  That way we don't lose.  We are defeated, but we come back.  We still get a say.

Set aside real, actual profit to charities for the same sorts the hero-side are defending (cf. Accountant, as the particulars really do need a something close to zero balance sheet) and use things to try to manage odd new content... (Not profit, but can't trust some peeps.)

Ponder, respond.  I'm interested in thoughts, more interested in responses. 

[Victoria Victrix]

Kickstarter is a non-starter right from the beginning.  This has been covered numerous times in the Save Paragon City forum but I will sum up.

First, and most important, Kickstarter is ONLY for use by new projects which have a business plan in place, personnel lined up, and all the ducks in a row.  And only for NEW projects.  Acquiring CoH is a violation of Kickstarter rules.

Secondly, the most money collected by Kickstarter is about 1 million, which is about 1/10 of what you would need to get the IP and code, get the studio up and running, get servers rented and loaded, and get the game rebooted.

[Starsman]

First, and most important, Kickstarter is ONLY for use by new projects which have a business plan in place, personnel lined up, and all the ducks in a row.  And only for NEW projects.  Acquiring CoH is a violation of Kickstarter rules.

Actually... Kickstarter rules are ambiguous enough to allow a "project to aquire and reboot the game" as a valid thing.

Secondly, the most money collected by Kickstarter is about 1 million, which is about 1/10 of what you would need to get the IP and code, get the studio up and running, get servers rented and loaded, and get the game rebooted.

Highest kickstarter pledge was the ePaper Pebble watch for the iPhone at over 10 million. Close second is the Ouya Android based video game console at over 8.5 million. You can find the most founded kickstarters by category here.

These are exceptions, though, so I think it's still extremely unlikely to work out. And even if the money came up, there is no evidence in sight (that I'm aware of) that NCSoft would actually sell.

[srmalloy]

These are exceptions, though, so I think it's still extremely unlikely to work out. And even if the money came up, there is no evidence in sight (that I'm aware of) that NCSoft would actually sell.

My suspicions are that it would take having a signed contract in hand with NCSoft nailing down an agreement to sell the IP and game state (i.e., all the development code, the most recent server backups, all the game account data) for a fixed price before you would be able to get a Kickstarter campaign going -- and your goal line would have to include not only the cost of buying the game from NCSoft, but the cost of setting up a new server farm and connectivity, as well as enough extra to at least start paying salaries to enough staff to maintain the game while you reassembled a development team.