An Open Letter to the PBW Community

geoschmo · #1 January 20th, 2009, 09:43 PM

(Cross posted in the SEV forum at: http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showt...548#post668548)

It is my sad duty to inform you that the Space Empire Play By web site, PBW as it’s known by it’s loyal fans, will not be returning. At least not any time in the foreseeable future, and not ever in it’s current form. The server suffered a hard drive failure and due to poor planning and lack of diligence on my part, the backup plan was not sufficiently robust to recover the lost data.

If there is a bright side to this it is that the number of people seriously affected will be small. While we still have a dedicated core of game owners and players using the site regularly, time has taken it’s toll on our user base. For a site like this to last nearly a decade is extraordinary, but it is true that nothing lasts forever. While I always said I’d keep the site running as long as people wanted it and were using it, perhaps that was never a realistic commitment.

For those of you with active games currently on the site, we would love to be able to assist you in transitioning your games to PBEM or another format. Unfortunately, having lost all the user and game data, we are unable to render any such assistance. You can continue your game via email from your most recent turn if you can make contact with your game owner and the other players. If you are unable to contact your game owner, or if he does not have the game password, unfortunately your game has come to a premature and abrupt end as well.

My heartfelt thanks go out to all the PBW Admins over the years who helped me keep things running a smoothly as they did. You did what you did for the love of the game, asking nothing in return but the opportunity to play, and to be a part of building and maintaining this community.

Thanks to all the loyal game owners and players. Without you, this truly could not have happened. Again, I apologize for how this ended, but hopefully the effort put into providing you with this site for all these years will temper your feelings of disappointment.

Thanks to Malfador Machinations for creating such an addictive game. And thanks to all the folks at Shrapnel Games for supporting the game and the PBW site for all these years, even after your relationship with Malfador came to an end.

And a special thanks to the Admiral for starting this journey all those years ago. Though you haven’t been involved in the site for some time, you’ve always been a part of it. Your help and encouragement were crucial in keeping it going as long as it did, and your guidance has helped me in my career beyond PBW as well.

Sincerely,

Geoschmo

Kana · #2 January 21st, 2009, 01:37 AM

This truely sucks. The end of an era. If SEV was a good a game as SEIV or even SEIII, it would still have had the need to have a truely good backup, and 1000's of players that would want it.

Maybe SE6...

Cipher7071 · #3 January 21st, 2009, 02:43 PM

We should take the opportunity to learn from the pain of this event. One of my old professors, who once worked in the insurance industry used to tell us: "It's not if you're going to have a catastrophic failure, it's when." Still, most of us have lost code at one time or another by neglecting to heed that warning.

Back-up. Print off. Just do it.

Black_Knyght · #4 January 23rd, 2009, 03:42 PM

Maybe a coordinated effort should be organized to build a new equivalent to SE-PBW.

I'm betting the interest is out there, if only we can get it going.

Nicholas_Bostaph · #5 January 23rd, 2009, 09:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Black_Knyght

Maybe a coordinated effort should be organized to build a new equivalent to SE-PBW.

I'm betting the interest is out there, if only we can get it going.

I've been in contact with Geoschmo and have already begun development. I expect to beta test this coming week with a few games. Anyone interested in helping please email me.