DAoC + Time

[Haki]

When will DAoC shut down ?
GoA can't hold it up forever, but anyway, people are paying, so they must hold it up ?
Must they wait to they're 0 players left ?

 

[Saggy]

Must they wait to they're 0 players left ?

I dont think there is anything stopping them to shut the servers for good tonight if they feel like it

It will probably go like this:

Shocking news - we are signing out!

That's right folks, our Dark Age of Camelot servers are going down for good in two months. We wont charge anyone with "active" account after that day so dont worry if you have 6 months billing plan. Hope you had fun, we sure did!

 

[Chimaira]

Go US then. its alive and kickin..

Actually dont. Less EURO slan the better :<

 

[Saggy]

Go US then. its alive and kickin..

Euro is alive and kicking too and who knows, maybe US-servers get the "boot-patch" before Euro-servers

 

[Motowntheta]

Euro is alive and kicking too and who knows, maybe US-servers get the "boot-patch" before Euro-servers

Probably not

 

[Shadoo]

bah i doubt that would happen for a very long time even if goa pulled out im sure someone would take control, i mean camelot is good enuff to attract the right kind of attention

 

[Cavex ElSaviour]

afaik they will keep going untill they are making a loss instead of a profit. and after that a dodgy gamecompany will take it over providing crap service so there will be less cost, all the way untill mythic stops patching

 

[Flimgoblin]

My first reaction to seeing them opening a new set of servers for spanish players and taking over the italian servers was to assume that they were _obviously_ shutting down next week.

I mean it's obvious!

(and for the curious - Ultima Online is still going... as is Everquest the original)

 

[Zedenz]

Yet ANOTHER daoc is dead thread. Just delete them now please, we've read enough of them, they all say the same thing too.

DAoC is clearly still very much alive.

 

[judas]

Yet ANOTHER daoc is dead thread. Just delete them now please, we've read enough of them, they all say the same thing too.

DAoC is clearly still very much alive.

try reading the thread first!

 

[Zedenz]

try reading the thread first!

Yah I did, another prophet of doom just on another level

 

[Awarkle]

well all you need to do is work out expenditure vs income.

How much does it take to run a daoc cluster a couple of servers linked (i would say the following

Registration server / Login

Hibernia Server
Midgard Server
Albion Server

Frontiers Server
Housing Server (might be three but i doubt it no mobs or rvr just consignment merchant searches)
Toa Server (asuming they have a single server for toa chances are its 3 hib,mid,alb)

probbly a server that handles all backup data for the whole building including the cluster backup (probbly quite large)

+ terminals for office staff and customer support peeps

OK you need building to house it in

Leasing high speed T1 or T3 probbly multiple lines + routers and hardware to handle on minimum 3500 people logging in (for a single server cluster Ie say Prydwen)

From that you need

Support peeps who monitor and maintain the servers aka tech monkeys
Customer service peeps that handle Right now queeries.

The gms themselves probbly within a room with a few terminals a lead gm + minions

Office support staff aka secretaries office juniors lackys that do the running aorund photocopieing ect.

Managment in cushy offices drinking cofee that noone knows what they do but generally whine at everyone if they dont look busy.

+ im sure GOA pay license fee to mythic for hosting the game

OK currently server population across all realms stands at around 15000 peeps (rough guide)

we pay around 15 euros i think a month so basically on a monthly income of 225,000 euros so on a yearly basis its
2,700,000 euros a year that goa make from subs alone.

Now basically when you minius the cost of running the game against the amount you make from subscribers as long as its in a + number then the game will remain if it starts getting towards a negative number then managment will close servers / merge them sack gms reduce the support staff.

When your down to 1 manager 1 techy 1 gm 1 cofee lady and 1 minion in a shed with 1 server then its time to pull the plug until that happens goa will run the game ok they might not make massive profits like they used to when their were more people but simple way to solve that is increase the price of the game to be comparable with other games although personally if they ran it cheaper than other games might be more incentive to play

people 1 person leaving a game to play wow doesnt make much of an impact hell 100 people leaving the game dont make an impact probbaly 2,000 peeps might be noticed but ignored when its around 5,000 people thats when they will notice and tbh i dont think its 5000 peeps across all servers i would say prydwen hib lost around 20 to 50 peeps max and thats not technically too wow.

But they probbly had the same number of new people start, stop saying doom and gloom your forgetting that Daoc going to have italian server support soon + spanish and they are probbly larger markets to look at than the UK or France.

Anywho enough economics stop whining go and f**k off too wow dont come back and stop trolling boards going OMG DOACS DEAD. Rvr is steady raids are still being done when we down to prydwen to 20 peeps online then ill worry and look for a new game but as it stands the game is fine catacombs might draw more people in as long as its marketted better than toa.

edit ***

forgot to add that goa probbly pay taxes and if i remember cost of living in france is lower but general VAT and similar are much higher.

 

[old.Whoodoo]

Another depressing view, Ill be psychiatrists all over rub their hands in financial glee when they read stuff like this.

The glass is always half full.

 

[Gear]

I think that the original poster has been misread by some of you. I don't think this is a 'daoc is dead' thread, just a genuine question from someone regarding mmorpg life-span.

However some nice replies showed up. UO is still alive (that's 8 years now if I remember correctly) and yes, it all comes down to money making. If your costs exceed your income, you pull the plug. But i'm sure that even if goa decides to do so, someone else will take over with a reduced number of servers (let's not forget that clustering now is an option supported by mythic, so won't be a problem or figuring something out) and continue as long as there is money to be made.

 

[old.Whoodoo]

From that side of things, Im sure servers will end up being merged, clustered or whatever, as long as theres subs coming in, this game should live as UO and AO have done.

 

[Ctuchik]

When will DAoC shut down ?

Never

GoA can't hold it up forever,

yes they can..

but anyway, people are paying,

yes

so they must hold it up ?

no

Must they wait to they're 0 players left ?

no, only until they aint making any money..



Question: what was the acualy point of this topic?

 

[Roadie]

if daoc is dead.....how come these forums are so active?1?1 0o00o0o

 

[Dreami]

Less EURO slan the better :<

Haha good one.. You're one slan too many

 

[Airalith]

lets face it DAoC rox, one thing that would stop it going under (not that i think it will) would be a little thing called adverts, I watch alot of TV, listen to the radio and buy gaming mag's.... not seen a single advert in my life. Only thing ive heard was maybe sum troll being in a wanadoo advert or sumint. I mean come on, city of hero's and wow got like 5 pages in every mag i pick up, its a joke. who the hell does the DAoC adverts? they should be shot, at least in the UK.

My idea, spend a shit load of cash on catacombs release advertising everywhere! sell leet cheap box sets with all the games/expansions and try to get new blood into mmorpg's, wow has basically brought alot of attention the the whole genre and we should take advantage of that....

Veva la camelot, Nerf teh French

 

[Hansmoleman]

The glass is always half full.

The glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

 

[Saggy]

no, only until they aint making any money..

You sure? What stops them to shut the servers now?

Question: what was the acualy point of this topic?

Thread starter wanted to know how long GOA have to keep the servers up. Note: the question wasn't when or why GOA will shut the servers.

Like I said I believe GOA can shut the servers when they feel like it (GOA owns the accounts, we are just paying to play).