Saturday, March 30

Marc Hochler at mhochler@ici.net wrote that he was working on an SC-like game to be played over e-mail. Those interested in testing the game were to mail to him.

Michael Goetz at michael.goetz@execnet.com wrote that Amanda Dalrymple (adal@atcon.com) had resigned as scinfo list administrator.

Goetz, who pays for the scinfo account, said he wasn't going to renew scinfo and that the account would run out in a few days. That means no one will soon have to worry about the bickering in scinfo.

Goetz wrote, "Personally, I doubt SC will ever return, and that is a shame."

Friday, March 29

Unsubscribers are being flamed unmercifully. Since March 7, when I first started keeping track, there's been an average of one person each day at scinfo trying to unsubscribe (Who knows how many through the correct address at maiser@earch.execnet.com . Though sending unsubscribe notices to scinfo is not the way you are suppose to get off the list, with so many people still doing it this way, you would hope that any new game would make it easier for everyone to get on or OFF a list.

Sunday, March 24

VGA Planets is the current topic. The game is played by email with a host receiving player's moves and sending them out.

The game is said to require more strategy than SC.

Wednesday, March 20

Starprobe, what is it?

I posted the following at scinfo:

"What can I say, my job involves investigative reporting.

"A little webcrawling has found the following: A new game called Starprobe is being built by Moshofsky/Plant Creative Services out of Portland, Oregon.

You can read what little they have posted at: http://wwwmoshplant.com:80/starprobe.html

Don't try to connect to moshplant.com, you can't get through.

They are members of International Interactive Communications Society, a worldwide association of multimedia professionals (http://www.teleport.com:80/~iicsor/index.html)

During my search, I found 105 web sites with common links to Stellar Crisis. The game lives if only in memory.

Also, Starprobe has its roots with NASA. Hmmmmm.

Mosh/Plant appears also to review books.

That's about all I could figure out.

Tuesday, March 19

John Haratyk AKA Desperado at jharatyk@cyberhighway.net wrote:

"Good News...:)

"An SC type game will soon be available on the net again!!!!

"Bad News.... :(

"It's probably 90 days away.

"Really Bad News... :((

"It will be a commercial venture..

"Good news... :)

"I believe the cost will be very reasonable and within almost everyone's reach.

"A little More good news.. :)

"In 30-60 days we will need about 10-20 Beta Testers.

"They will get to play free for as long as we are developing or enhancing the game, and they wish to continue participating. Hopefully, that will be years.

"Now for a request...

"Please don't flood this list or my mailbox with questions about the game or requests to participate in the testing. A separate mailbox is being set up now in a couple of days. I will post where to apply and what we are looking for in beta testers, as well as a few details about the game.

"And a comment...

"We didn't want to make this announcement until we were actually ready to begin beta testing, but... Our development schedule, as with all software development schedules, has slipped a bit, and we have been growing increasingly concerned about all the unsubscribe messages posted to this list." (scinfo)

Sunday, March 17

John Shuell (Rogue) at jshuell@rogues.com wrote that he had two gaming magazines ready to sponsor SC and had a server available with appropriate bandwidth when the game was unplugged.

"If anybody has or can develop a game similar to SC let me know.

Saturday, March 16

David Pratt (Swarm), at pratt@best.com wrote some encouraging words: "To all of you patient individuals, (and a few impatient ones as well) DON'T give up! Either SC will make it back soon, or a new strategy game will appear.

"The concept of SC is not a new one! There have been, and will always be, games to play in any given medium. The only thing that is unique to SC is the medium on which it runs.

"As I hope that Sylvan will return soon, he only has copyright on HIS code. Not HTML and not the concept. And, since only Chris has had access to Sylvan's code he is really the only person at risk if he is involved in one of those new programs.

"So, If you are interested in making a new game, just be sure that you do not *knowingly* use any of Sylvan's code. Again, I sincerely hope for a rebirth of SC, but if someone else releases a similar or superior game, I will play. So would you."

Tuesday, March 12

Kevin Binkley at kbinkley@zone.com wrote Amanda in response to her inquiry about a possible home for SC.

Kevin wrote: "We are dedicating to being the place on the Internet for Gaming... so yes, we are interested... How much resources would it take from our server?

How many users are there? How much data is transferred over the network daily? What are the legal requirements of a move? (I read your faq and web pages) What about getting Sylvan's permission?

Thanks for your inquiry. I hope we can help you, -Kevin

Saturday, March 9

Brad tried an imaginative, persuasive argument to convince others that the game should be switched to another server.

He was reminded that the game should be fixed so it runs more efficiently, that Sylvan is the only one who can fix the code (or move it) and nobody knows where to find Sylvan.

Mention was made that anyone fiddling with the code might sue for a portion of the copyright if the game were to become a commercial venture.

No mention was made that anyone working on the code or helping move the game could sign a waiver to such claims.

Concern also was expressed that someone could take Sylvan to court and tie up the copyright to the game for years.

A court would probably give injunctive relief if such a complaint was filed, allowing the game to be moved, sold or whatever until a court decision decided otherwise.

Courts often make quick decisions on baseless claims. Also, plaintiffs will file to get the quick headline, then do no follow-up, allowing the complaint to be dismissed later due to no activity. Any complaint filed costs both the defendant and the plaintiff. It takes money to sue. Still, as long as those the control the game feel there could be problems in moving the game (for a third time), then the game will remain off the air.

Think of it as a Cyberspace Catch 22.

The few messages now being sent,. Most center around the use of Doomsdays. Most agree that it wastes resources. Few use them other than to strike terror into a newbie.

Thursday, March 7

I post in scinfo my home page for those that want to keep up on the game without filling their mailboxes with spam.

Two people wrote that they visited the site. Their suggestions were taken to heart. Maybe there aren't 100s of people on the list. Amanda is the only one who knows for sure.

Wednesday, March 6

Jurgen van Nimwegen at: jurgenvn@worldaccess.nl asked whatever happened to the search for Sylvan conducted by Matt, the policeman?

Matt replied:

"Sorry gang but I have been working on a computer crime case and have not had much chance to work on finding Sylvan. I will get back on it as soon as I can."

Ronald E Kinion at: i9130989@unicorn.it.wsu.edu wrote that he did a check of Sylvan's permanent e-mail account (gnu.ai.mit.edu and found:

"It appears that Sylvan may (or may not) be around somewhere. The fact that he has logged in isn't actually news, but he also logged in just the other day which is significant since he usually only logs about ever week to two weeks or more.

I'm crossing my fingers, my toes, my hands, my...."