Avlis Gets an Upgrade!

[Belasco]

Orl and Silk have been the fathers and hosts of Avlis since its inception. Avlis as an MMORPG was their dream come to life in many ways nearly 8 years ago, but as happens, their lives moved on. With the addition of a third child and a significant move Orl found himself with little to no time for Avlis; while Silk was put in the increasingly awkward position of dangerously overloading the electrics at his house to try and keep the servers running.

Some months ago a group of Avlis community members foresaw some of the coming problems and put their heads together about what to do to best save Avlis. Negotiations started then and today we are proud to announce Avlis has officially become the charge of FOIG, Inc., a non-profit corporation run by a Board of Directors consisting of (in alphabetical order):
Alexandru
Belasco
Darkfire
krackq
Plasma John
spool32
Tindertwiggy
TripleAught

FOIG, Inc. will handle the financial and real world aspects of Avlis from here on. FOIG will be responsible for the forums, the servers, donations, Worldforge, and everything else Avlis. We are organized primarily around the idea of transparency and legally incorporated as a non-profit as an initial demonstration to the community that we are not interested in profit or in funding other projects with the generosity demonstrated every month.

I'm sure you've got a lot of questions, not the least of which is wondering what, if anything will change. Honestly, there are only a couple of new things:

Firstly, we have acquired, through a very generous donation, a completely new server environment to run Avlis. It promises to be a significant upgrade, both in terms of raw performance and of features. There may be a few bumps as we get things up and running, but we’ll post about anything we’re able to anticipate so you can schedule around them. Thankfully, we don’t foresee any major down time.

Secondly, to realize our goal of complete financial transparency we will institute a policy change:

From now on, within the first week of every month there will be a post showing how much money has come in through donations (a grand total, it will not be broken down or associated with any names). The expenses to keep Avlis running will be listed, as well. This includes internet access, forum bandwidth charges, license fees for the intellectual property, and electricity usage by kWh. Copies of receipts and bills will be available for anyone who requests the information. A detailed explanation of any and all spending beyond normal monthly expenses will be included. A wish list will be posted as well, so everyone knows what we’re saving up for and why. Transparency FTW!

So, there are probably more than a few of you wondering what this change in management means. In two words: not much.

Aside from the changes mentioned above, Avlis will remain the place we have all come to know and love. We don't want to change things! Alexandru remains the world leader, and NH4 the head DM. We will not be asking for or expecting any changes to the Team's structure - FOIG is focused entirely on the financial and technical aspects of running the game servers, and generating enough donations to do so for as long as possible, as transparently as possible. The people who came together to form FOIG, Inc. are in it for the long haul, and we hope the changes we have decided to implement will help breathe new life into this rich and wonderful community.

We welcome comments and questions from everyone. Thanks for coming along with us on the next phase of Avlis life!

Belasco
For FOIG, Inc.

[GrayKing]

*stands and claps and claps and claps*



We will of course, support this venture. *salutes the board*

Best Regards, James

[Eef]

I love the name

[Xaila]

Firstly - awesome name!

Secondly, just a few questions -

I'm assuming this group covers the A2 related stuff also, since that's part of the IP? Will the A2 server be moving also?

Also, what kind of new hardware is it? Just curious

[Belasco]

I started a questions thread:
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=110339

Bring it on, guys

[Lycanthropy]

I hate the name, but can appreciate it on an ironic level.

Pleasing news!

[Marleh]

I'd use the phrase "tongue in cheek" to describe the name, so long as no one refers to the purity test thread.

This is exciting news, congratulations!

Whoever donated those systems, thank you, thank you thankyou thankyouthankyou!!!

[Zar'roc]

w00t w00t!!! GO AVLIS!!! glad to here about all this and I'm sure we're going to miss silk and orl. good luck to them and god bless, oh also, good luck to, well FOIG lol

[g1asgow]

Congratulations to one and all.

[BeyondInfinity]

Cool... Awesome

[KinX]

heh not too fond of the name myself but this is most awesome news. Most awesome indeed.

[Ninjar]

So I can still make fun of Darkfire now, right?

[Belasco]

So I can still make fun of Darkfire now, right?

He's still totally fair game...though he also still has a DM wand he can pummel you with



Just something to keep in mind

[Melakin Skywieder]

So I can still make fun of Darkfire now, right?

He's still totally fair game...though he also still has a DM wand he can pummel you with



Just something to keep in mind

Can you say Nwal'maer...sure I knew you could

[Cassandros]

A big step for the Avlis community but I know those 'Directors' are all good people and will strive to improve the amazing community we already have.

[plap33]

Thanks for all that you do Avlis uberlords.

[freestyler]

Sweet ,all in safe hands and a better server to boot

[diermace]

Thanks for putting my mind at rest, I was worried Avlis would die and leave a big hole in my life, now i can relax and enjoy playing with all the great friends i have made, more power to this great game

[TripleAught]

Yay!

[Arond]

Very cool news. Thanks to everyone involved in this effort in supporting the Avlis we know and love.

[Raen]

WaaHOO!

[Ambrosia]

Yay! Raen sightning!

[Plethora]

*applaudes*

Wonderful news!
Thanks to all involved for keeping Avlis alive

Kudos

[Darkfire]

*swoons*

Pleth sighting!

*crosses fingers and hopes those become more frequent*

[Buddha]

Hurray for FOIG, Inc! Hurray for Raen! Hurray for Pleth!