Talks with NCSoft take over a year?

[ImpousVileTerror]

It would be nice if the Homecoming Team could let us know what might help their bargaining position.  

Not directly, obviously.  I mean, the regulation about streaming was almost certainly related to the negotiations, but to my knowledge, Homecoming made a -point- about -not- discussing that; even replying to every other portion of a player post, except for the portion which mentioned ncsoft.

 

So . . . yeah . . . if an imaginary pixie suddenly fluttered in to my lap and told me that the Homecoming Team could really use X, Y, or Z from the community to strengthen their position, I'd start believing in faeries.

[Peacemoon]

18 minutes ago, ImpousVileTerror said:

So . . . yeah . . . if an imaginary pixie suddenly fluttered in to my lap and told me that the Homecoming Team could really use X, Y, or Z from the community to strengthen their position, I'd start believing in faeries.

X, Y and Z might miraculously appear as well 😉

[ImpousVileTerror]

So the next time someone asks you "Do you believe in faeries?"

The correct response is "Not yet, but I'm ready to learn how."

[Frostbiter]

1 hour ago, ImpousVileTerror said:

So the next time someone asks you "Do you believe in faeries?"

The correct response is "Not yet, but I'm ready to learn how."

It's fairly simple. You just set out some bread, milk and honey on a plate in the woods. Then you wait all night for them to appear. If you can catch one, they owe you a wish. If you're unsure about the quality of your bread, milk or honey, they've been know to really go for a good pizza. 

Edited June 27, 2020 by Frostbiter

[Zep]

/IMO

/Grain_of_Salt

/Soapbox_stand_on

 

NCSoft has gained and is likely to gain more community good will through this project. This has value. 

 

So long as this does not lose money or cause reputational harm or become a PITA for the corporation (someone else making money with your product is losing money to a corp) NCSoft is in a plus situation even if negotiations are dragged out forever not getting yes is in this case not the same as getting no.  

 

/soapbox_end

[SuperPlyx]

7 minutes ago, Zep said:

NCSoft is in a plus situation even if negotiations are dragged out forever not getting yes is in this case not the same as getting no.  

Which is why I think there should be a deadline...At some point you have to move and build with what you have.

[BurtHutt]

I'm betting they can't discuss matters as it could jeopardize any deal....assuming they're still talking. Also, there is this little pandemic thing going on that MAY have shifted priorities.

[Abraxus]

Some of the potential benefits if a deal was reached:

1. Be able to openly advertise far and wide!  Keep in mind that word of the existence of these servers has pretty much been person to person over the web.  But, practically every day, folks arrive saying they loved this game, and only JUST found out this was here.  Imagine how many more would come home with an active advertising campaign, and how many who have never heard of it, but might want to try!

 

2.  Video streaming would likely be encouraged again.  Something many are chomping at the bit to do.

 

3.  Once the legal stuff is settled, the Devs can concentrate on doing what I'm sure they have on the back burner, pending deal approval.  Things they want to do, but really can't dive into until the long-term legality is established, and there is nothing standing in the way to do what they really wanna do! 

 

Obviously, this is a lot of conjecture, based on information publicly available, with a heavy dash of extrapolation.  But, it's probably not too far off the mark, given what we know.  And, there are likely more benefits that I can't even imagine at this point, but will come to light soon after the deal is done, should that be the case.  So, there is a lot to hope for here.  But, be patient.  The world has become an insane version of itself in the last few months.  So, between that, and the slow nature of these things in the first place, patience is the name of the game here.  But, I feel strongly it will be richly rewarded when (notice the optimism) this thing is done.

[Ukase]

11 hours ago, Hyperstrike said:

It isn't.  As part of the contingent that was attempting to purchase it before closure, I don't think we can expect to see it EVER sold.
Their asking price was outrageous, and even when attempts were made to get into that ballpark, they clammed up and stopped negotiating.

I don't recall ever hearing that NCSoft stopped negotiating. I did hear they were asking a fortune. 

And, given that the code is in the wind, the code is now worthless, because whomever would buy it would have to play legal whack-a-mole to protect the IP, which would be more trouble than the game is worth, as is. 

The game *could* increase in value, if a dev team were hired and developed new content - and a lot of it. As it stands, the volunteer HC team, and teams on other private servers may make small contributions, but even still, the game has no value without a skilled full-time development team to make the game worth playing for a lot more people. 

But, even if someone were crazy enough to buy it, and developed more iTrials, added on to the incarnate power system, added a few new co-op and red-side and blue zones, with another half dozen or so task forces and another 40 story arcs distributed through all levels, only a small percentage would be willing to pay to play it with these other private servers not charging anything. 

That's all just my opinion, though. I don't know anything. 

[Hyperstrike]

42 minutes ago, Ukase said:

I don't recall ever hearing that NCSoft stopped negotiating. I did hear they were asking a fortune. 

Oh yes.  They were...

They were also asking for a series of legally sketchy agreements in regards to assumption of liability.

This, likely, has to do with the character DB that was jettisoned.

 

 

[Latex]

Is there any examples of this happening with other projects where leaked/stolen code was used to operate a private server then that server became a completely separate and legal entity?

 

I'm not sure on the story of Runescape but I see it brought up at times when it comes to discussions about private MMO servers.

Edited June 27, 2020 by Latex

[ImpousVileTerror]

I don't think so, @Latex.  I can't think of any significant examples off the top of my head which might apply here, and even Jimmy just said:  "it's not well-trodden territory."  (paraphrased)

https://forums.homecomingservers.com/topic/20452-talks-with-ncsoft-take-over-a-year/page/2/?tab=comments#comment-232609

[Sir Myshkin]

17 hours ago, Coyote said:

Or maybe tribbles.

[Luminara]

19 hours ago, Redlynne said:

I've never cared for relying on the heat death of the universe as a deadline ...

 

God, Becky, you're, like, such a drama queen.  The planet will be gone in 3.5-4 billion years, so they'd have to come to a decision before then.  Like, no wonder Todd dumped you for Rachel.

[Greycat]

5 hours ago, Luminara said:

 

God, Becky, you're, like, such a drama queen.  The planet will be gone in 3.5-4 billion years, so they'd have to come to a decision before then.  Like, no wonder Todd dumped you for Rachel.

Not if we move it! We've got an asteroid field and other planets to mine, I'm sure we can work out some sort of shell, engines, navigation... Eh, who needs a moon anyway.

[Ironblade]

22 hours ago, SuperPlyx said:

Which is why I think there should be a deadline...At some point you have to move and build with what you have.

No.  Because, literally, we have nothing.  If the negotiations fail, it is extremely likely that NCSoft will shut this server down - as well as the other well-known ones.  Ignore the people who are going to say that NCSoft isn't going to spend millions playing C&D Letter whack-a-mole.  They only need to whack about 5 moles and that's it.  Can a thousand people run rogue servers out of their basement?  Sure and no one cares.  Their only concern would be a big server (like this one, which costs $4800 per month to operate).

[Hyperstrike]

18 hours ago, ImpousVileTerror said:

I don't think so, @Latex.  I can't think of any significant examples off the top of my head which might apply here, and even Jimmy just said:  "it's not well-trodden territory."  (paraphrased)

https://forums.homecomingservers.com/topic/20452-talks-with-ncsoft-take-over-a-year/page/2/?tab=comments#comment-232609

I'd be iffy to say it was "trodden" at all.
More like someone activated Fly and welded the button in the on position, targeted a rocket bound for outer space, then did the same thing to the F key.

We're....way out there...

[MunkiLord]

On 6/26/2020 at 9:16 PM, Ukase said:

And, given that the code is in the wind, the code is now worthless, because whomever would buy it would have to play legal whack-a-mole to protect the IP, which would be more trouble than the game is worth, as is. 

I don't think that's true. All the IP holder would have to do is sue the biggest rogue server and likely the individuals running it, currently this one, and any server of any significant size would fold.

[DR_Mechano]

On 6/26/2020 at 3:35 PM, Hyperstrike said:

It isn't.  As part of the contingent that was attempting to purchase it before closure, I don't think we can expect to see it EVER sold.
Their asking price was outrageous, and even when attempts were made to get into that ballpark, they clammed up and stopped negotiating.

This stems mainly from NCsoft being Korean. As a Korean company if someone buys your failed IP and then goes on to have a success with it, no matter how mild, it's considered a failing of the company that original owned the IP (which it is, lets be honest) and a black mark against it. so most Korean companies will make a token gesture at selling the IP with the understanding nobody will actually buy it. NCsoft were clearly worried someone WOULD buy the IP so they asked for an outrageous asking price then when it turned out people were more than willing to pay it (especially western companies who could see the Marvel revival on the horizon and probably there was word about the buyout from Disney floating around at that time) they panicked and shut down all negotiation.

[golstat2003]

On 6/26/2020 at 5:23 PM, SuperPlyx said:

My question is has a hard deadline ever been discussed? If you can not get some sort deal/agreement by XX date then we move on. These talks, which I support, have already hampered a couple of things.There has to be a point when you say enough and move on. And I am not saying we are near that point but I am curious when you think that date may be.

I know "talks"  have been tried a couple times before and nothing ever came from them.

There is no hard deadline. They own the IP. They can take as long as they want.

[golstat2003]

On 6/26/2020 at 8:03 PM, SuperPlyx said:

Which is why I think there should be a deadline...At some point you have to move and build with what you have.

Well no, at that point what HC has stays as is. Or you get a C&D.

[SuperPlyx]

1 hour ago, golstat2003 said:

There is no hard deadline. They own the IP. They can take as long as they want.

Umm,the deadline I was referring to was for the HC team. It takes 2 to negotiate.

 

So many keep saying it's in NCS best interest to just drag the talks out. But is it in HC best interest? And if a C&D is all it will take to close HC then go ahead and turn it off now, 

[golstat2003]

8 hours ago, SuperPlyx said:

Umm,the deadline I was referring to was for the HC team. It takes 2 to negotiate.

 

So many keep saying it's in NCS best interest to just drag the talks out. But is it in HC best interest? And if a C&D is all it will take to close HC then go ahead and turn it off now, 

Yeahhhh no. Let them continue to negotiate. Nothing wrong with that.

[Frostbiter]

No news in this case is indeed good news. Carry on carrying on.

[Coyote]

9 hours ago, SuperPlyx said:

Umm,the deadline I was referring to was for the HC team. It takes 2 to negotiate.

 

So many keep saying it's in NCS best interest to just drag the talks out. But is it in HC best interest? And if a C&D is all it will take to close HC then go ahead and turn it off now, 

 

If worthless negotiations keep NCS from issuing C&D orders, then wouldn't it be in HC's best interests to drag them on and off for another two or three centuries?