Save the NPCs Campaign

VETT SCALES L7 · Post by **VETT SCALES L7** » Wed Dec 08, 2004 5:52 pm

Manuel the White wrote:<center></center>

"If you, like, look around you when you're, like, in Avlis and stuff ... you'll see these, you know, dirty children and they sometimes just ... despawn right in front of you!

This one time, I was, like, walking through Mikona or somethin' ... and this one NPC kid, who I wouldn't touch with a gloved hand, just vanishes. I was like, 'OH ... MY ... GOD!' Think of the NPC children!

Sure, some NPCs are stinky or rude ... but, you know, if you're like, not willing to help or somethin' that just ... BAD, I guess.

Let me tell you, you can make lots of of money on the Internet thingy. I mean, like, I'm living proof! That's why I personally stand behind the NPC Campaign ... or whatever."

- JJ

YARR!!

Beary666 · Post by **Beary666** » Wed Dec 08, 2004 6:11 pm

Get a more...ermm... revealing pic and I am sure you'll get more responses

Post by **Orleron** » Wed Dec 08, 2004 6:56 pm

I don't recall a signup fee for paypal, unless they've changed something. There is no $20 charge from us. I can tell you that. It's $5 per month and nothing else.

Ben DeVeny · Post by **Ben DeVeny** » Wed Dec 08, 2004 8:01 pm

Crap
I know I am beginning to sound like a conspiracy theorist or something, but this is just exactly the kind of crap I was afraid of.

I know I did my part right. There was no double submission or second tries. Still I wound up paying 20 dollars for a 5 dollar gift. This is so exactly why I never use online banking or any other online payment service. Crap crap crap crap.
I am going to assume (for my own blood presures sake) that all 20 dollars went to Avlis and not to Paypal or some fekking pirate.
Im giving it one month. When it gets drawn again, Im checking the amount. If its 5, Im cool. If its not, Im stopping. This is gonna give me ulcers otherwise. I really hate the internet at times like this.

Thanks Orl for answering.

-Shen

Manuel the White · Post by **Manuel the White** » Wed Dec 08, 2004 8:17 pm

Ben DeVeny wrote: I am going to assume (for my own blood presures sake) that all 20 dollars went to Avlis and not to Paypal or some fekking pirate.
Im giving it one month. When it gets drawn again, Im checking the amount. If its 5, Im cool. If its not, Im stopping. This is gonna give me ulcers otherwise. I really hate the internet at times like this.

Thanks Orl for answering.

-Shen

I just checked our orders system and you were charged $5 dollars. If you log into your Paypal account and go to the order history area, you should see a description of anything you've been charged for. Also, opening the Paypal account itself is free.

- Manuel

Ben DeVeny · Post by **Ben DeVeny** » Wed Dec 08, 2004 8:27 pm

Manuel
I did open the PP account and I have checked the amount.
I am not sure what the dollar to danish crown conversion is at the moment, I took it to be 8 crowns to the dollar. Safe bet. That rounded nicely to 20 dollars. Ill just give it a month and see what happens. I hope this was a one shot thing. Thanks for your concerns. I think mostly I just am paranoid. That adds to the problem quite a bit. But the fact is, I DID get charged 4x more than I counted on.

Just because you are paranoid, does NOT mean that people are not out to get you.

-shen

Krator · Post by **Krator** » Wed Dec 08, 2004 8:38 pm

Ben DeVeny wrote: Just because you are paranoid, does NOT mean that people are not out to get you.

*listens to that song atm*

GHENGIZ.KHAN · Post by **GHENGIZ.KHAN** » Wed Dec 08, 2004 9:03 pm

Just because you are paranoid, does NOT mean that people are not out to get you.
-shen

I can confirm mister DeVeny that you are correct. I am here for you.

Lafferty · Post by **Lafferty** » Thu Dec 09, 2004 10:54 am

ave wrote:[...]I suggest that for every new player that wants to join to be NECESSARY that he joins the fanfiction site.[...]

*cough* EULA *cough*

No can do.

I know you distanced from your own suggestion but if a NWN PW does that Bioware/Atari is around to take care of it (happened before).

Isengrim · Post by **Isengrim** » Thu Dec 09, 2004 11:20 am

ave wrote:[...]I suggest that for every new player that wants to join to be NECESSARY that he joins the fanfiction site.[...]

So... bye players from countries not serviced in PayPal?
That would be too much Microsoft-like to me..

ave · Post by **ave** » Thu Dec 09, 2004 8:55 pm

Isengrim wrote:
ave wrote:[...]I suggest that for every new player that wants to join to be NECESSARY that he joins the fanfiction site.[...]

So... bye players from countries not serviced in PayPal?
That would be too much Microsoft-like to me..

....except of them!

So they are the lucky ones, they will be entering for free without the rest frawing upon them

Now why i am saying all this?
Cause i am tired. I am tired of the lag most of all. I keep waiting each patch after another hoping things will get better, but time passes and lag is always there. At least at the important times amd these are the times I play

I already avoid logging in on weekends. I also try to join on more "european hours" since i see less people on those. I have a strong computer , i have a DSL ,so i have done my part. But still no good. At the begining the feeling is very nice. You say : "Wow I play a massive multiplayer RPG!! I am there with many other players on the internet." But when time passes you need more things. Like getting from point A to point B in reasonable time. Or do action A or action B without fighting with the air that blows to the opposed direction of where you heading (aka lag)
Bioware will keep making new patches but i don't excpect too much from Bioware any more. After all the game is more than 2 years old. I think we better do something on our part to improve things here. I see no other way than this one. I know about EULA law. And i hated these pay to play servers but we need better servers and faster connections in Avlis. And this costs money. Perhaps there could be a trick to bupass EULA. Maybe convert Avlis into a company with bonds setting an overall amount of worth and somehow each one of us by being into the fanttic site to be considered as if he buys bonds so that would make it seem probably like a firm. Or maybe having Avlis issue a virtual program that would do some virtual things and that the updates of it would cost 5 per month and the recipients of that updates would be able also to take passwords for the game. I am sure many of you will have much better ideas i just can't resist to my crisis of sharing my idiotic thoughts with you.

PS Excuse me but i am desparate !

Manuel the White · Post by **Manuel the White** » Thu Dec 09, 2004 9:25 pm

</center>

"It seems that some among you doubt the seriousness of the terrible fate our precious NPCs face on a near daily basis. Specifically, I speak of the cruel and merciless phenomenon known as ILDS or Instant Lag Death Syndome. Through modern science and simple luck, we were able to capture an image of this terrible event in progress.

Notice above, little Timmy of South Shore. Imagine how scared the poor child was as he was dematerialized and erased from memory. Will he ever come back? It's too soon to say. Will the frightening memory stay with him? Let us pray it does not!

Please, do your part to help ( http://fanfic.avlis.org/ ). Let's put an end to ILDS once and for all. Extend a hand, and extend the hope."

- SS

KaiRal Windspar · Post by **KaiRal Windspar** » Fri Dec 10, 2004 1:16 am

Why is it always a feking Timmy what bites it?

~Tim, a new FanFic Member

loki70 · Post by **loki70** » Fri Dec 10, 2004 2:07 am

KaiRal Windspar wrote:Why is it always a feking Timmy what bites it?

Cause there are just so darned many of you, and you're all just so fekking lovable.

Post by **Orleron** » Fri Dec 10, 2004 4:12 am

ave, Avlis is an actual company called Blackparadox Enterprises, but that still does not give us the right to break the EULA without being sued. The idea on bonds is also underdeveloped and I dont' think you quite fully understand what you were suggesting there, either that or I don't.

I also think you might not understand exactly what the different parts of lag are. We can fix some lag by buying new computers, which is what we have done (just bought 3 of them and will set them up next week), but even if we had mainframe computers like that Blue-something that plays chess, it would STILL lag when there are over 30 people on a mod. There are things that just can't be fixed because of the way Bioware made the game. Simple as that. Unless Bio decides to give out the source code for their server application, they will never be fixed.

NWN was not designed to be a MMORPG, and no matter how hard we pound it, it's not going to ever be one. Donations and fanfic subscriptions get us as close as we can to this ideal, but don't ever believe that it will reach that level of lag-free-ness. We would have to create an entirely new game, but there are problems with that: 1) Unless we pay people to do this, they won't work on the new game because it takes time away from Avlis. 2) We don't have the money to pay them and there's some issues with getting that money. BIG money would be needed.

If all 2000 people who play Avlis suddently started giving $5 per month, that would be 10k per month, and sure, I would be able to quit my job and work for Avlis full time quite comfortably. I would love that. However, even with 10k per month, I would still not have enough money to pay people like Papillon and PlasmaJohn to code a new engine and server for us. Believe me, if I had the money there are several people on the team that I would hire full time and give them real jobs.

But alas, that's just now how it works right now. Maybe someday.

analgesia · Post by **analgesia** » Fri Dec 10, 2004 4:19 am

I keep laughing everytime I check the boards and see the pleading "SS". Too funny.

P.S. I'm holding out until the Avlis-a-ton pledge drive, PBS-style .

Beary666 · Post by **Beary666** » Fri Dec 10, 2004 3:26 pm

Is Blackparadox Enterprises a partnership business or is it incorporated?

Beary666 · Post by **Beary666** » Fri Dec 10, 2004 3:37 pm

Ave, the bond thing really wouldn't work. If Blackparadox Enterprises issued bonds, it would have to pay interest on those bonds. I don't know the financial standing of the company, but if it is a small business on the side, I don't think it will have a lot of credbility and would be considered a relatively risky investment. As a result the interest rate on th bond would be fairly high.
Well this is what I think with my current, limited knowledge of bonds.

Post by **Orleron** » Fri Dec 10, 2004 4:06 pm

Yeah, we'd have like a tripple Z rating on our bonds. They'd have to invent a rating for us because we're so small and have almost no credit. We'd be paying like 20% interest, which is a great bond, heh. But um, why do we want to go into debt? It'd be another thing if the money was raised to get cash to do a gaming company, but that's not what is going on atm.

@Beary: Yes, we are an LLC incorporated in the state of Delaware.

Zyndro · Post by **Zyndro** » Sun Dec 12, 2004 6:24 pm

Bleh, I tried to do it but Paypall won't let me. I couldn't remember my password for my old account, so I closed it completely. Then I created a new account with my same email adress that I used on the old one. It let me do that since the old one is closed. However, it won't let me use my credit card because "that card is used by another account." In other words, it won't let me subscribe or pay. Some pal...

There are other online retailing services available, like CCnow. Some of them don't have all the problems Paypal does.

Post by **Orleron** » Sun Dec 12, 2004 6:43 pm

# The following products and services cannot be sold via CCNow:

* Firearms
* Alcoholic beverages
* Explosives
* Live animals
* Prescription drugs or other controlled substances
* Fireworks or pyrotechnic devices or supplies
* Hazardous materials, combustibles, corrosives
* Web site access
* Web site memberships
* Internet access or E-mail services
* Web site design
* Web site promotion

snip

Katroine · Post by **Katroine** » Mon Dec 13, 2004 3:22 pm

Zyndro wrote:Bleh, I tried to do it but Paypall won't let me. I couldn't remember my password for my old account, so I closed it completely. Then I created a new account with my same email adress that I used on the old one. It let me do that since the old one is closed. However, it won't let me use my credit card because "that card is used by another account." In other words, it won't let me subscribe or pay. Some pal...

There are other online retailing services available, like CCnow. Some of them don't have all the problems Paypal does.

That happened to me too, as I used an old work e-mail when I signed up. I had to keep contacting customer service via e-mail until it was fixed. Pain in the butt but doable.

WrathOG777 · Post by **WrathOG777** » Mon Dec 20, 2004 10:04 pm

paypal just pissed me the fuck off and I closed the damn account.

I have never had such a hastle trying to pay for something on-line ever. I will figure out something.

WrathOG777 · Post by **WrathOG777** » Mon Dec 20, 2004 10:11 pm

If I went to my bank and tryed to get them to do the monthly recuring payment to blackparadox enterprises, llc direct, what information do I need to get them to do that? Just that name?

Kit · Post by **Kit** » Tue Dec 21, 2004 10:18 pm

Please head over if you can to check out the latest, Chapter 6 of Orleron's Circles of Slavery. Those who thought Andrinor was a nice guy are in for a shock. Keep those submissions coming. Post on the site, or send to kit@avlis.org

Coming soon: Dalliances With Dala, a forbidden romance by Tor Varson

~Kit