So after we start paying, will we get to know who Spiderweb is ?

[fadebait]

That link is great, but it still doesn't say exactly who Spiderweb is. It's a little disconcerting for players who are used to dealing with visible companies. For example take Turbine, they have a website with a business address and clearly visible ways to contact them.

Quite. And may I remind those of you who are a bit younger that a buisness address and contact details on your website (along with some other information) is a legal requirement of doing buisness in the UK over the internet.

I'm intensely suspicious of any company that goes to such lengths as SW/WG/etc have gone to hide themselves.

Credit card details for some of us would more than pay for the setup costs, if it came to that.

[rosarot]

Just curious.

I understand the secrecy about Spiderweb until now but after we have started paying, will they reveal themselves ?

What would be the point of staying secret after they started making money with Ryzom ?

According to the new EULA and whois information, Ryzom no longer belongs to Spiderweb (if it ever had). The new owner is Winch Gate. You should address your concerns to them.

[sosolid]

Who the hell is Winchgate Property Limited?

No, honestly. We have a RESIDENTIAL address for a company supposed to be hosting an MMORPG...that isn't only odd, it's suspicious.

I will bet you anything "Maria Elia" is not employed with SW. The worst part...

IT IS IN CYRPUS...WTF?

Firstly, somebody needs to call that phone number, and I'm telling you now, I'll consider it. But it won't be my ass when this whole pawnsy scheme ends up at my door with a Glock...

Honest opinion from Jiyuu the Holy Oracle of Arispotle: Maria Elia is hosting http://www.ryzom.com/ and is being paid a truckload of money because she jumped on the bandwagon in guess where...CYPRUS!!! She must be silenced.

Two words: EPIC FAIL!!!

[helomax]

I'll be giving Spiderweb (whatever) a chance by staying with the game. My character is between 50-85 in levels so there is lots of content to explore. Better, I can think of a number of other things to do before or after reaching 250 in any category.

The classless system suits me. And the ability to create spells, combat abilities and crafting recipes offset the grindy (I don't like grind games as a rule) nature of the game to keep it fun.

The world is more complete and lifelike than any other game I've ever tried. The backstory is interesting. I haven't even participated in PvP yet. The playerbase is generally more pleasant than other MMOs.

The price they are going to charge is lower than most as well.

Playing from the US does incur a bit of lag - Mobs are closer than they appear and hit me after I've killed them. And foraging is frustrating at times - "There are some materials nearby" must be some kind of French dev joke. Overall, I can't think of another game I'd rather play though.

Sure, I'd like to see a long range plan and events once in a while, but when it comes down to it players will always use up content faster than it can be created so you either make your own or game hop.

Ryzom ,for all new and not so newplayers is TOPS. but after 5 or 6 masters, ( i have 13 ).it does get BORING. We need new content and loads of Events.Iam glad to see that a lot of the bugs will be fixed in next patch,but for me ,the game has a long way to go before i decide to resub .

[kalindra]

A lot of bugs HAVE been squashed in the LAST patch (monday). One event has already happened, more will most probably come.

If the goal was simply to steal our money, they probably wouldn't go through the trouble of giving us any updates (patches) WITHOUT making us pay first. And paying Maria Elia a fatload of cash would be a financial suicide considering they AREN'T making any income on the stuff they already have put in the game (Christmas event, server side and client side patch, tryker event, etc...)

If anything, they are probably trying to SAVE some cash by getting bargains on website hosting. Throwing money by the windows would be stupid at the moment.

Call that number if you will, you can't blame a company for trying to get business partners.

[catfud]

I really don't care who these people are, as long as the patches keep coming and things keep getting fixed rather than broken, they can have my dollar.

[kalindra]

I don't know about Spiderweb, but I found some information related to Winch Gate Property Limited on the web. Gotta love Google Maps.

Found out that the Maria Elia from Winch Gate is also part of MeritServus Secretaries Limited's management team, and although the address on the whois doesn't match to their contact info, it's really close by (on the map) and the phone number is the same.

When you look at the services offered by MeritServus, the reason why Spiderweb would be interested in doing Business with them seems very, very simple, and logic. MeritServus can probably help them solve the last bureaucratic details for billing to go live as well.

domain: ryzom.com
reg_created: 1999-11-08 12:11:03
expires: 2010-11-08 17:11:03
created: 2000-07-22 06:29:02
changed: 2008-08-11 22:26:32
transfer-prohibited: yes
ns0: a.dns.gandi.net
ns1: b.dns.gandi.net
ns2: c.dns.gandi.net
owner-c:
nic-hdl: ME1214-GANDI
owner-name: Winch Gate Property Limited
organisation: Winch Gate Property Limited
person: Maria Elia
address: 3 Chrysanthou Mylona Street
zipcode: CY 3030
city: Limassol
country: Cyprus
phone: +357.25857700
fax: ''
email: winchgate(at)ryzom(dot)com
lastupdated: 2008-08-11 19:53:43

[katriell]

I wonder if helomax is related to helbreat. They're on my ignore list for similar reasons.

[dazman76]

helbreat

Now *there's* a blast from the past I wonder if he's lurking and watching? It wouldn't surprise me, what with all us "inactive members" hanging around here again.

[seawe]

When you look at the services offered by MeritServus, the reason why Spiderweb would be interested in doing Business with them seems very, very simple, and logic. MeritServus can probably help them solve the last bureaucratic details for billing to go live as well.

possibly they are the folks who have fronted the monies to get Ryzom going again, and requested that the site and maybe game be put in their name untill they are reimbursed...

It would still be nice if we were kept more in the info loop; can't really see what the downside to keeping us informed would be.