ArgentumRegio and the future.

Recently I posted a news item to alert our PLAYERs and DMs that I am uncertain of my ability to finance the server into the future. My finances have changed, they were prior to this very thin and now, pretty much non-existent. Moving forward, the server is a luxury that I cannot continue to be the sole supporter of in a financial sense.

Some of our fine user-base have kindly stepped up and offered hosting - which I have NOT declined but neither have I accepted. The reasons for not yet accepting this offer of hosting are several:

1) I have the present server paid up for a time. When that lapses (or nearly so) I will have to evaluate my options and proceed from there.

2) I have advertised all over the internet for the last five years using the IP of the server - if hosting changes, five years of advertising effort will have been rendered pointless.

3) Hosting in the present configuration is fully under our control - we are able to do as we please with the server, it is a dedicated server, in other words, the whole machine is our toy. Erin has been able to configure it for particular robustness and to ensure that we, not miscreants with contagious toys (dancing around using certain keywords I don't want to use here) do not get control of the machine. Note : there have been attempts on the machine, thanks to Erin, they failed. Hosting on a virtual server offers us less control of the machine, and only a fraction of the capacity we have now... where we control not only a whole machine (CPU, gigs of memory, hard drive space to spare), but also nothing else but what we choose runs on it - it is not a shared machine as is the case with virtual hosting.

Again, if we cannot find a way to finance a continuation of our present hosting situation, we will evaluate options at that time and will keep you all posted.

Things GM_ODA is working on to try and help finance the server - includes building a couple web sites with superb search engine placement to turn advertising. I'm hoping to have this first site ready in the next week or two, but there is no telling what if anything this may do to impact our server situation.

Honestly, this server includes more features than most any other server out there, all this and stability too. If you want to help and you are as penurious as am I, then at least help us promote the server! Go (regularly) to [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] and POST on the NWN boards in the section for PWs and help us tell the world how good the server is - this may help bring more PLAYERs. Never underestimate the power of PLAYER TESTIMONY. Growth is a good thing, and YOU can help - so get off your sim-butts and post dammit. It is the LEAST you can do in support of this amazing server. Donate if you can, otherwise, help get the word out about how cool the server is - understand, where hosting is concerned, I'm about $4000 into this project at this point, plus ten years of personal designing, coding, promoting. Erin is now five years of brain-time invested in this project. I'm getting weary, and now life throws a wrench/spanner in my personal gearworks, so step up and, in your own way, help us shoulder the wheel some.

Be well. Game on.
GM_ODA