[littl3chocobo]

oh, and they are at least open beta if not open fully, alpha does /not/ have open registration and generally does not do legit monthlies, donation-thank-yous maybe but not monthlies thugh the coding is for sure beta XD

[Taiki]

They are a remake of Terrasus which I completely missed. I'm pretty sure it was open for less than 6 months though. I thought that Syndrone was fully open but when you go to their homepage, right above the log in fields it says they are in Open Alpha. I don't know if they just haven't taken that out or what...

There was another site that was supposed to open alongside Syndrone called Undergrin but I dunno what's going on with that one.

[littl3chocobo]

rose knows about terresus so ask her about that but i have never heard of undergrin

[Arikana]

I'm still kinda curious as to when Malthea will be open and what it'll be like. Though I feel like the longer they prolong opening (even if just for alpha/beta testing) the more harm it could do if their site doesn't live up to the hype. It a dangerous road to have taken but if they can make it truly awesome, it'll be worth it. If not, then they'll have wasted a lot of time on a site that people have list interest in.

I'm only saying this cause I find the generation that first came into customizable avatar forum communities is slowly fizzling out of them. The next generation simply doesn't have the same attention span to stay connected for too long unless it's truly worth it to.

Just two cents from me.

[Taiki]

I don't think Malthea is ever going to open sadly. They haven't posted any new updates in almost a year. I was really looking forward to it too. I miss going to an active site.

And that's a good point about the new generation of users. I think people expect A LOT more out of new sites nowadays. Before a site could open with just the basics and people would still use it, now everyone wants to know where all the games are just at opening. As avatar sites come and go, people expect a lot out of sites they join now. They want ALL of their favorite features to make it worth sticking to a specific one.

[Espy]

Undergrin used all its donation funds, somehow. With that kind of management already, I'm not exactly expecting it to open anytime soon, nor do I really want to join.

[Taiki]

That kind of annoys me when the people who start sites like that won't use their own money to build it and rely on donations..? Why should I donate to something that isn't even built? I would rather see the owners invest their own money into the site so they're more likely to keep it going. If they get the whole site funded on donations, I feel like they're more likely to abandon it because they didn't have to sacrifice anything to get it going... but that could just be me. Like... if a teenager is given a car for free, they're probably more likely to not take care of it as opposed to if they had to work for a few years to earn enough money to buy one. *shrug* If I started an avatar site, I would build at least the necessities first and open it for beta testing before accepting ANY kind of monetary contributions.

Though I think I saw on their blog that you had to donate to even get access to their beta? And that was a year and a half ago and no beta. Sites can do what they want but I wouldn't give them my hard earned money in those situations. I gave some money to Malthea years ago when they were doing that and even they haven't opened.

[littl3chocobo]

pay-to-play before there is a play? dude, that is /bullshit/ X_X;;

[Espy]

@Taiki: I think it was that paying would get you CBT access and items...? But really, I'm glad I didn't spend however much that was. Bleh.

[Yokuutsu]

Well, since you mentioned paying for something before there's anything there, donating and all....ever heard of kickstart? A lot of people use that and it's about the same thing (except I think things actually come of it lol)

[littl3chocobo]

actually no, that is not the same ^^;;; that is to get things off the ground and i may be mistaken but if the goal is not reached the contributors get their money back, it is also a way to get something in return since you are usually offered some sort of return for a contribution should it make it

[Arikana]

Originally Posted by Taiki

I don't think Malthea is ever going to open sadly. They haven't posted any new updates in almost a year. I was really looking forward to it too. I miss going to an active site.

And that's a good point about the new generation of users. I think people expect A LOT more out of new sites nowadays. Before a site could open with just the basics and people would still use it, now everyone wants to know where all the games are just at opening. As avatar sites come and go, people expect a lot out of sites they join now. They want ALL of their favorite features to make it worth sticking to a specific one.

Damn, they're not going to open anymore? But I was so looking forward to it once I'd finally heard of it. I wonder what happened to them. Maybe realization of how much work it'd take has kicked in?

[Terezi]

These sites also depend a lot on donations for funds, if people do not have the funds to donate it makes it harder for sites. Lazy or unmotivated staff are too, though I don't think sites like this, ernya, solia or gaia are gonna go down anytime soon.

[Yokuutsu]

Well, I don't know much about kickstart, but they don't have to give anything out for donation levels, I don't think, but most give something or another from what I've seen....but some I've seen are for horrible things like a book that tells a guy to rape pretty much it seemed like.

but off topic!

I think Lunae is never coming back though supposedly it's going to.

[Taiki]

@ Yokuutsu, I've ran a Kickstarter. Usually successful ones have at least a prototype of what they want made and just need funds to get it mass produced. Often when people ask for money for something not started they won't get funded. People like that often use IndieGoGo because they have an option to still receive the funds even if the goal is not met. I usually only fund webcomics and the comics are already made, they just need money to get the actual books printed. xD So still, I probably wouldn't give money to a Kickstarter campaign if they didn't at least have a working model of whatever it was. I wonder if an avatar site has ever tried to start using an actual Kickstarter and offered items as the reward tiers?

I completely missed Lunae too, and Royal Creed. xD I haven't really been active on any avi sites for a year and a half and I completely missed the life spans of like 3 of them.

@ Arikana, Malthea could still open, I just think it's unlikely. But like someone said, they'd have to have an amazing site to live up to their hype or people will probably be disappointed.

@ Terezi, you're right, they do depend on donations. And sadly the days of where you could get donations simply for items I think are gone. Gaia goes the way of making games in which you have to pay to get some features which is where they make their money. Just like most mobile games or FB games now adays. People like items but I think they get more fulfillment from playing actual games.

[Arikana]

Yeah, at this point I don't think they will be able to live up to their built up hype. With all the time they've had in working on it, anything short of perfect would be a disappointment.

You said you got regular updates from them? If yes, before those stopped, how often were updates sent out?