I will preface this post with the acknowledgement that I am an older gamer, dating back to those MMO beta days of Ultima Online and Meridian 59. I state this not to gain any status as I very much suspect that anyone still playing this game likely has a similar story. (Or you'd be playing WoW)
I'll also state that while I played Horizons back when Tulga owned it, it was for a short while, and have since returned as I craved the novelty of playing as a dragon. I'm slowly attempting to catch up with all that has happened to this game and its current state, as well as that of the developers.

I fully acknowledge that any player who has just started the game (albeit a returning, older player) and comes barging in, pointing out everything that is wrong and suggesting ways to fix it has that cliche look of "The New Guy" in the workplace who will soon learn "Things don't work that way here" and settle down. I also acknowledge this person is typically very irritating, so I will attempt to present myself in such a manner as to not be very irritating. *smirk* (Despite that some may already believe I've failed.)

If you aren't interested in reading why Istaria should generate additional revenue or the differences between user-centric and user-driven design, please scroll down until you see the next bit of text in this color. I realize this became very long.

From all that I have learned thus far, and that which I can see asked by the players I question how the basic mechanics of business can seemingly be lost. As heartless and cold as it may seem, profit, or at the very least, compensation is required for effort.

I see many statements, demands, and requests for changes in this game. I would ask that you now understand the difference between the concepts of "user-centric" and "user-driven". Essentially, the first, and last panels of the following comic:



The distinction between "experiences" and "design" are very important if only so they do not get confused.

A user-centric experience is one in which all is provided for you. You could think of linear style game play as user-centric. Meanwhile a user-driven experience would be something closer to a sandbox or "open" game play, where their decisions make more effects on the world. Both of these are wonderful, and have their places. This will not be discussed here.

The manner in which users are incorporated into design is incredibly important. Attempting to provide user-driven design in any manner would be analogous to letting the tourist in the depths of a cruise ship playing shuffleboard decide which direction to sail, how fast, and when to stop. Users are here for the ride, to be pampered, and to enjoy the ride or get off the ship. Anything else is permitting the inmates to run the asylum. This isn't to imply that user-feedback should be discouraged, but it should be understood that the captain, the first-mate and the ship's crew from the bridge to the engine room all have a much better understanding of the priorities and capabilities of the vessel if only through the insight gained by being "behind the curtain".
User-centric design focuses on the ultimate goals of the user, not "what seems like a good idea at the moment". This ensures the ship makes it to port on time and does not hit sandbars or rocks, even though several tourists would like to go closer to shore as we pass a beach so they can get in some surfing. Additionally, funds generated by the guests' patronage will first go to the crew's wages and ship maintenance before it goes to purchasing new shuffleboards...or anything else for that matter.

Tired of the analogies? I sure hope not; they're my bread & butter.

I'm surprised, given that which I've read, that Istaria still exists. It feels a bit like a player-run server. I'd be curious how much finagling with operating costs (such as reduction of servers which I'm sure is why many servers were closed) were used to keep the system running. I also question how much has been pure benevolence from many employees. (Countless unpaid hours and charitable donations to the company coffers) Given my experiences in the world of business regarding technology I can only attempt to postulate how Mr. Rick Simmons and his team were able to attempt to revive this product after reclaiming it from those who were clearly leeching it to death.

But one thing must be made very clear if the game is to progress:
A company can only operate within the bounds of its generated profit.

In English? Venture capitalists aside: the amount of changes to the game, and the speed at which they are implemented, will be dependent upon the profits generated by the game. Ok, sorry. That wasn't nearly as boiled down as it should have been; let me try that again.

Istaria makes more money = Istaria gets much better, much faster

That's better.

So, provided the present company isn't interested in simply watching the game languish, as the previous owners did, who simply would have pocketed any additional cash generated, Istaria generating additional funds, channeled back into the company would permit the hiring of additional developers to get more of these suggestions people make implemented faster. These improvements generate additional player base, which, in turn produce additional funds, or at the very least someone else with whom you could converse in the game.

Will changing nothing kill the game? At this point I believe it's been proven that the number of subscribers presently in the game (what few there appear to be, relatively speaking) is sufficient to provide operating costs for at least maintaining the hardware required to run the servers. I don't doubt that reductions in subscriptions would simply cause part-time employees to dwindle. There is, of course, a breaking point, but the steadfast wallets of the 'veteran players' are as much to blame for the game being alive to this day as the steadfast resolve and dedicated efforts of the employees working on this game today.

But clearly more is desired. I read it in all the posts of these forums. Requests of serious fixes for serious problems, and smaller issues that would be a lower priority. The less revenue generated, the longer these will take to be implemented.

Returning to the cruise ship analogy: The previous owners put the ship in dry-dock and fired most of the crew. It's no surprise so many people left; a cruise ship is intended to cruise. The skeleton crew cleaned the bathrooms and the captain pocketed the profit.
Virtrium had some sweeping changes four years ago. Bringing back servers, changing billing, ticket systems: The ship was back in the water and new paint being applied. While new guests have gotten on-board, the funds generated are still only enough to maintain the hull and hire a minimal crew to keep things operational and sand out what rough patches they can. The funds required for replacing the shuffleboard or swimming pool are going to come in at a trickle. This won't happen for a long while, and quite frankly, when tourists have their pick of cruise ships these days, they're going to go to the one with the new shuffleboard, the swimming pool and the rock wall, even if it costs more.

This ends tape one. To continue, please eject the tape, turn it over, break it in half, and insert tape two for further torture.

So now that I've made my argument as to why Istaria should generate additional revenue (provided it goes back into development) while simultaneously creating dissent against me from anyone who plays this game freely or has oodles of free time, I'll explain the real purpose of this post.

Istaria doesn't need to be told to generate revenue. I don't know what their game plan is, or if they've already decided they just like the game, and plan on charging just enough to keep a small crew working on slow changes and anyone without tons of free time can look elsewhere. Nostalgia is a powerful motivator.
That said, it should be apparent at this point that the fact that this is in the suggestion forum is a joke in itself. (And might wind up getting moved to 'General')

I'm really interested in hearing how you all would suggest Istaria generate more money.

Pretend you're Virtrium. If you don't have grand plans for Istaria, or ambition of any sort, pretend you do for a bit. We're not here to talk about the status quo; most people here clearly want more things changed faster, and if they're not interested in paying for it, we need to find ways to generate cash to do so. That said, since none of us are interested in paying double what we pay now for subscriptions, some alternative suggestions are in order.

We also need to maintain...well, the idea of an economy. The groundwork is there, even if the economy itself doesn't exist, so keep this in mind when making suggestions.

I'll go first.

I'm going to shoot down real world 'fluff' for the moment. Yes, this is cute, but requires manufacturing costs that will result in little profit due to such a small player-base with divergent preferences regarding the purchase of such things. The overhead would probably result in a net loss unless someone "knows a guy". Or...has...someone with a lot of free time on their hands and feels like getting paid slave wages to make unique game-based plushes. Maybe in China.

That aside, this opens a very broad discussion on appealing to other demographics, specifically different "player archetypes". I could wrack my brain considering every different individual, personality type and socioeconomic possibility and attempt to pander scenarios to each, but I suspect everyone who has read this far will weigh in with their own viewpoint and achieve a bit of the same goal.

I am the casual gamer. I work 50+ hours a week, and when I come home I have responsibilities that take more of my time. I once did nothing but play video games, but now I can hardly enjoy them. I do not have time to grind...because I do not have time. That said, since most can agree that grinding isn't fun, I'm simply not going to do it. I understand that grinding is designed to obtain reasonable revenue from individuals with a time-based subscription plan. (If I charge you monthly, I want it to take longer for you to hit end-game because it's in my best interests) However, if I can go out and spend $50 on a game that's fun, and doesn't involve grinding I'm going to do that rather than spend what, to me, seems like $10 a month to work...which isn't want I want to do with my free time.
I've a fair amount of disposable income. I play a few other free-to-play games, and they've gotten hundreds of dollars out of me in very short periods of time, when many other 'grinding/subscription'-based MMOs got a year at most. I can assure you that I am a rising demographic, as all those of us who played games when we were young have grown up, gotten jobs, and have this disposable income. This is why the games that permit buying "elements" of the game have become so popular. World of Warcraft shows both sides of this coin, as you can buy gold/characters as much as you can grind them up yourselves, so obviously people exist out there who find either side of this appealing.
Before anyone starts raging, I'm not suggesting giving players the ability to purchase craftable objects. I wouldn't even start with fluff, such as shoulder pets. It requires too much coding on the parts of the developers. I'd start with simple concepts that are easy to implement, and both highly desirable and consumable. Going back to appealing to the casual gamer, as I don't have the time to dedicate to the game that others do, XP boosters would be something I'd wish to pay for. A flat application against an account of an XP multiplier would be the easiest element to implement. Some games call this a 'booster' pack. Regardless, this would be an example of a consumable, non-permanent bonus to players willing to spend money to make up for their lack of time, who still want to have fun playing the game.

Short of this...the only other way I could enjoy this game would be paying someone to grind my crafting up for me, so it's better Istaria gets my money than some online company. At least that way I could learn and enjoy the game.

I've now spent the time I intended to play a bit today typing this up on the forums, so I'll stop now to listen to the suggestions of others. I thank you for your time, and dearly hope for some creative ideas behind generating additional revenue for Istaria to promote growth. Remember, it doesn't necessarily need be an option you'd pursue, but rather an option that you wouldn't mind being possible to others.

Thank you very much.