@Nausical Since I was referenced here, I will try and respond to your concerns one by one.
@Maven A lot of the arguments for, seem to be centered on how small of a team it is and how basically only Grummz is working full time.
But as a Firefall fan myself, I don't see that as particularly comforting.
This is so because it is a simple fact. One of the major gripes of individuals that come on here, and are skeptical of Mark and his intentions, is that the game isn't being built fast enough.
The first point they throw out is that Mark has got the money from the funding, so why don't we have X, Y and Z already?
Well, there is no project in the world that has become a reality just because there was a capital base. You need the manpower to execute the job. And right now, Mark is trying to manage resources by maintaining a part time team to produce content and keep the project on track. And when you have individuals using up time off their regular day jobs to work on a passion project, giving them a bit of leeway is the least we can do.
I am not super well versed on the happenings of early Firefall development, but I can't help but remember all the weird side projects and mismanagement that lead to Grummz being voted out of the FF company to begin with. That coupled with his inability to take criticism at the time, getting mad at memers and fans alike, has me skeptical of his desire to pull this off.
Neither am I. I was, for the most part a forum lurker, joined well into beta, .6 or .7 I believe, and never really got much time to put into the game. But yes, nobody here denies that there was mismanagement when it came to the development of firefall. Even the most diehard supporter of Mark, or he himself, would never deny that several mistakes were made in the development process. And yet you give yourself an answer to a certain degree here. The phrase 'at the time' is significant. The hardcore skeptics, those that badmouth him to this day, years after Firefall failed, constantly harp on about what he was. They refuse to accept that one can learn lessons from past mistakes, and that they can try and change things, do things better. Everyone bangs 'The Bus' drum. Noone is willing to accept that if it were not for WCC completely failing on the project, 'The Bus' could have been a massive success. They also conveniently ignore the fact that 'The Bus' was never paid for, due to the complete failure on WCC's part.
Were mistakes made? Yes. Can you learn from it and change for the better? Yes.
Are you wrong to mistrust Mark? No. Nobody would blame you. All we, those of us who back Mark and this project, ask, is that you come here with an open mind and make your own opinions, instead of standing outside the fence and echoing the 'Reddit post said so' crowd. The fact that you are here and inquiring about what makes this tick, shows that you are reasonable, and that's all that is needed.
To me and I suspect a lot of other people, it looks like he is coasting on his "I was a wow dev" clout and sees Em8er as just another revenue stream.
Well, I can assure you that to most of us here in the community, the only credentials that matter is that this is a man who had a vision to create a one-of-a-kind MMO, and would have pulled it off too, if it weren't for The9. Granted, there are fans of all his games in here, but what keeps us here is his desire to not let that dream of his fade into obscurity simply because he failed once.
What I am saying is: "They'll abandon it once the cash flow starts to recede, giving it up to another red-bean crazed pseudo-company." Or they get a better opportunity.
Ah, the travails of running a business. It's maddening how you can have all the ideas, all the market knowledge, all the money you need, and yet one simple mistake can rip the entire project off its foundations and grind it to dust. Hindsight is always 20/20, foresight on the other hand is a potent mix of research, market knowledge amd crossing your fingers and hoping for the best. Firefall unfortunately got the wrong end of the stick when it came to that last bit.
Was the decision to bring The9 into the fold the wrong one? Today we can say a hearty yes. Back then, it was a choice they made to keep the project running. Did anyone expect The9 would force the game in the direction they did? I doubt it. But, that they did, is a fact. And that turned all of Firefall on its head.
Mark has, on several occasions, spoken of his distaste of modern corporate business approach ruining games and destabilizing established gaming behemoths. He is quite vocal of this, be it on discord or on twitter.
Having experienced it first hand, he wants to keep the game away from these 'suits'.
He has taken the first few steps in this regard by establishing a crowdfunding system for the game, where the game is backed entirely by the community. And on top of it, he has broken the crowdfunding into multiple milestones. Each milestone will have its own feature set. If and when the community funds it, said feature sets will be worked on. If the community loses faith in the team, the milestone will not be funded and development stops. Thus he is trying to avoid the common pitfall that games like Star Citizen are going through.
I can only say that everything that has been said and done so far gives me faith that Mark has the drive, desire and the right intentions. He wants his pet project to be real, as much as, and maybe even more, than any of us here. While it may be just a game for us, Mark's credibility probably depends on him pulling this off.
How can we be sure our love for Firefall is not being exploited?
When it comes to getting support for the game, I'll admit, maybe our love for Firefall is indeed a factor. But isn't that what drives us all? To see that game we loved back up and running? Firefall was, and remains, special to this day. That's a void that can never be filled. But we can try and get the next best thing in Em-8ER.
I'll be honest, I've never interacted with Mark during his Red5 days, so I can't be a judge of what he was.
But today, I can tell you that I am constantly in touch with Mark Kern who is passionate about this project, passionate about what he does. He wants this game to be real. He is putting in every effort possible to make this a success. He is learning new skills, reaching out to people, doing the hard yards to get this game on its feet.
And you don't have to take my word for it. He interacts with the community on a daily basis. And the community has a big say in the feature set for the game. He wants to build this game for the community and for himself.
I'd ask that you join the discord server and interact with him and the community to understand what drives us. He also is more than happy to answer questions, even about Red5. There are several who have come in being skeptical, accusative or with the intention of taking jabs at the community. Several have stayed behind to watch what happens.
There is genuine desire here. But staying aloof will not help you see it. Being skeptical is good. Being open-minded is even better.
If there is anything that helps dis-spell this distrust in Grummz, like a video, an open letter, a better explanation of the FF timeline, etc, that would be very much appreciated.
I'd suggest reading this:
https://forums.em8er.com/threads/whats-the-motivation-here.1171/#post-34518
I admit I have rambled on quite a bit. And I may not have put my thoughts out well enough. Being on the phone does not help matters. Hopefully I have given you an idea of what drives us and keeps us here despite the failures of firefall.
And I hope you would be a willing participant in the community. Noone here demands that you believe. We can only present what we see and hear on an everyday basis. It remains up to you to make your opinions and take decisions.
