I remember walking into an old arcade just before they all closed down. In the corner there was a single machine that still took quarters. The first thing that made my jaw drop was the image of Ryu shaking hands with Cyclops. It was 2001, and I was late to the party.
If you look around today, all you see is ads. You can’t escape them. They read your emails and spam you while you sleep. But it was not quite so in 2001. Back then we all thought there could be a better way, and a better world. A digital world which would offer anyone a chance to join a community 100% FREE of charge, with no strings attached, and NO ads! There would not even be a need for donations, because members would donate servers and bandwidth space out of the goodness of their hearts!
But it was not so. In 2002 after MONTHS of begging the general community for help with server bandwidth, not a SINGLE person (from hundreds of thousands) would offer help. And only when all those who loved SFO put together their fivers, was this community able to continue with the VIP program.
Despite relative success, the VIP program has never fully covered the operational costs of SFO. At the community’s height, we had 15,000 active users daily. If ads were put up, they would generate a minimum of $15 per day. Over 16 years, such small numbers would have added up to a sum worthy of a mortgage, and we would have had all 20 new chars by now.
The VIP program has always accounted for 1 in 5000 users. These few Patriots are the ones who carried the burden of SFO’s operational costs for over 16 years, without ever asking for anything in return. Some of these members felt under appreciated, and felt like their selfless dedication was not receiving the much deserved recognition and perks.
We can’t change the past, but we can still change the future. On March 13, 2017, the old SFO and it’s old ways have brought us towards yet another death of a dream (when ALL combined donations for 2017 would only add up to a tenner). It was the 3rd time this community was almost forced to close it’s doors over the last 16 years. And if a few ads, and a few extra perks can stimulate this community towards a bright new future, who can ever argue with that? And if 1 in 5000 players chooses to support a dream, why shouldn’t their support entitle them to exclusive VIP content? After all, their selfless dedication is what made the dream come true, as 5000 others simply stood by.
If you don’t agree with the recent SFO changes, please rest assured that this was the only way. We tried it all, in fact, we tried it for 16 years. But repeating the mistakes of past will only (and inevitably) will force them to repeat once more.
If the “old ways” is what you seek. If the old SFO with it’s 3.5+ year wait times for every char was good enough, than that SFO can still exist since NONE of the new 2.0 features are mandatory, and NONE of the old/free unbroken 1.9 features will ever be taken out.
But if you want more, if you are tired of empty promises and uncertainty of future events. If you dream of transparency of what’s being worked on, and for promises to be replaced with hard-coded release date count-down timers … then welcome, into the new 2.0 age of SFO … an age full of Dreams!
And as the old saying goes: Dreams Don’t Die! … Here’s to another 16 years …