Discussion The Present and Future of "PiratesAhoy!"?

[PiratesAhoy! Community]

Ahoy there mateys!

The time has come to have look where we stand; and where we go from here.


Past:
This website was started in 2003 by @Keith and @William to tie in with the Pirates of the Caribbean game by Akella.
Ever since, @Keith has been the owner and webmaster, paying all the bills and taking care of all the software updates.

There were other PotC websites too, such as KeepToTheCode (the official fan site) and POTCfandom (the... UNofficial one then...?).
These are already dead; with a lot of content having been apparently 'lost to the ages'.


Present:
@Keith hasn't been active in many years and would very much like to pass on this responsibility to a new generation.
William is no longer involved at all.
The website bills are paid until the end of the year; which means we have basically until then to figure out what's next.

In addition to this website, we also have:
A Discord Server; originally started by @Captain Murphy and now actively used by Storm Engine developers as well as anyone else who feels like it
A new Facebook Group that does seem somewhat small and quiet still; but does have a bunch of active members.

Effectively, this means we're one community spread out over several independent places.
There are very few members who are active in more than one of them; let alone all three.


Future:
As Doc Brown (from Back to the Future) would say: "The future isn't written yet."
But a lot does depend on what we want; and what is practical/sensible.

If we do nothing, this website goes the way of the dodo; just like all other PotC fansites seem to have done.

So first question is: is this place worth maintaining?
What makes this here worthwhile?
And if you do think this place is worthwhile, what would you yourself be willing to do to keep things alive?

If we're to ensure our future, someone would have to take over from @Keith.
Do you care who that might be? Who would you want it to be? Would you be interested yourself?
We're certainly open to suggestions.

If we continue with a new captain officially in charge, that's the perfect opportunity for change.
Which begs the question: what would you want to see changed?
What would you NOT want to see changed?

And then there's the practical aspects too:
The forum software is definitely outdated.
We already went down a few times in the past year because of that.
So that would need addressing. And while that should be affordable, it wouldn't be free.
And it also would require at least 1 person actively doing the work to make this happen.



Current Developments:
This section is mainly intended to collect some thoughts.
We'll convert it into a proper news article of its own later.

Spoiler

While the world of pirate gaming has seemed quite dormant for quite some time, things are definitely picking up again this year.
In no small part thanks to the work by @Armada, @Volodymyr, @kb31, @cooodesloth and @mitrokosta!


Sea Dogs (Storm Engine)
We have a new subforum for even this old game: Sea Dogs
This includes two versions of @Hosehead's famous modpack; as well as information on file formats and modeling plugins by @kimov .


Pirates of the Caribbean (Storm 2.0 Engine)
@Grey Roger is continuing as always with semi-monthly ZIP updates; with fixes and new updates.
@Jack Rackham, @Bartolomeu o Portugues and @pedrwyth have all been expanding on the Free Play Careers lately; and @BathtabPirate is finally extending that old Devlin Opera storyline too.
As extra bonus, @Levis is back in these waters, also doing cool new stuff again.

In the meantime, @Pieter Boelen tried to get in contact with various legal parties about this game:
Need Help - Where to find PoTC now?
So far still not able to get a promising response; or often didn't even get through at all.
This suggests more and more that this game indeed has been abandoned, which suggests in turn we could actually do what we want with it.
For example, making a STANDALONE release; rather than a mod that requires the original (unfindable) base game.

@Armada mentioned that as long as a Steam WEB PAGE is okay, they're not too picky about what is allowed to be posted on there.
So what would happen if "New Horizons" were posted to Steam itself?
Either for free; or perhaps even for a fee (that we store for safekeeping for a year in case Disney gets fussy so we can give it right to them; in return for them actually finally talking to us).

@Hammie is working on getting PotC (eventually with NH) working on the very latest Post-TEHO version of the Storm Engine:
Engine upgrade for New Horizons and Pirates of the Caribbean
@Mirsaneli is still working on fixing the bugs with the Maelstrom implementation of the game and mod:
About Maelstrom engine

Need Help - Updating the Russian Translation (HELP NEEDED!!!)
WIP - Spanish translation (help would also be welcome)


Age of Pirates: Caribbean Tales (Storm 2.5/Maelstrom Engine)
This works with @ChezJfrey's Maelstrom engine.
At the moment, there are no plans to get this game running

The main recommended mods are:
Mod Release - Age of Pirates: Caribbean Tales - Historical Immersion Supermod
And Mod Release - Dialog Camera, Quests Fix, Larger Text, Time Fix, and Other Patches by @Cerez


Age of Pirates 2: City of Abandoned Ships (Storm 2.8/Maelstrom Engine)
This works with @ChezJfrey's Maelstrom engine.
@Hammie is working on getting this running also on the Post-TEHO version of the Storm Engine.

The ERAS2 mod is still being worked on at Buccaneer's Reef, which now has a Discord too.
On our own end, @GHOSTMD mentioned that Mod Release - Gentlemen Of Fortune 2.0 is the best base mod to use.
However, there is also the Mod Release - Gentlemen of Fortune 1.2 Maelstrom refined Mod by @Mirsaneli which some people even prefer.


Sea Dogs: To Each His Own (Storm/Maelstrom Engine)
This currently has an open beta with accessible PROGRAM folder too for modding purposes.
As soon as possible, this will also be upgraded to run on the latest Open Source version of the Storm Engine.

There is also an open request from the developers for help correcting spelling and grammar in the game:
Need Help - OFFICIAL REQUEST: Correcting Spelling and Grammar in "SD: To Each His Own"
Furthermore, @JTem is very seriously attempting to get a full Spanish translation finished and made officially available through Steam.


Sea Dogs: [unknown future project]
Details aren't yet available, but certainly there will be new things in store:
Notice - Sea Dogs franchise is getting a big announcement this summer! 2021
And on our Discord, @mitrokosta already mentioned there will be more stories in the future; with other characters known from the existing games.


Save the Pirate! (Mobile)
@Volodymyr and his commercial development Mauris started out making
New for PC: "Save the Pirate!"


Corsairs Legacy (Unity)
Corsairs Legacy Teaser
Notice - Official Announcement of Corsairs Legacy


Hearts of Oak: Conquest of the Seas (CryEngine>Unity)
Everybody knows this project is on hold indefinitely.
But we're still in contact with various of the developers.
And who knows... maybe one day, something like this could be rebooted.

For now at least, @Tempesta is posting videos of the original soundtrack composed by members of our community for the project.
They're being posted to our YouTube channel on a weekly basis. basis: https://www.youtube.com/user/PiratesAhoyCommunity


New Horizons Remastered (Unity)
@Armada started on this, with assistance of @Captain Murphy, as a simpler replacement for the Hearts of Oak project.
This is effectively abandoned now.
The original demo uses many paid assets, so it cannot be made Open Source.
It is also quite outdated by now.

This isn't a big loss though; @Armada himself continued on with Buccaneers!
And effectively Corsairs Legacy is now doing what New Horizons Remastered was originally meant to accomplish.
This time by a bigger team; with an actual budget (albeit a small and very tight one...).


Buccaneers! (Unity)
After completing his game development studies, @Armada and his friends started a commercial Indie game studio of their own: Skyward Digital.
Their first game, RPG Merchant, was not very successful as it had barely been marketed at all.
You can still buy it though for 9 euro's and support their efforts that way.

In the meantime, they moved onto bigger and better things.
With the experience of Hearts of Oak and New Horizons Remastered under his belt, @Armada is creating an actual commercial pirate game now.
It's got a very stylized art style, which helps keep the system requirements down so as many people can play it.

Buccaneers! Launches 23 September on PC and VR


Salty Sea Dogs
@Captain Murphy and @Flannery joined forces to make commercial Indie pirate games together.
Unfortunately their efforts got derailed when the Captain's house got visited by a Hurricane a few years ago.
Thankfully, he's slowly but surely getting back on his feet; with intentions of continuing where they left off.
Starting with an upgrade of their first project for the Unicorn Preservation Society in Dundee:
https://saltyseadogs.itch.io/hms-unicorn-virtual-museum


Other Unity Projects
Both @Eddy (Edwards Zaitsev; from Seaward.ru) and @Foamy both have interesting projects brewing.
One is more piratey than the other; and both are not ready yet to be announced publicly.
But the projects exist.


Ahoy!
@AhoyTyler from our Discord is making some pretty amazing progress on the Unreal Engine.
http://piratesahoy.net/threads/ahoy...action-adventure-game-on-unreal-engine.33159/


Unforted Stuff
http://www.piratesahoy.net/threads/45-minute-interview-with-wait-who-now.33224/
http://www.piratesahoy.net/threads/interview-of-yuri-rogach.33076/
http://www.piratesahoy.net/threads/...-for-piratesahoy-becoming-of-legal-age.33051/


Pretty sure there is still stuff missing here.
To be extended...

 

[DH27]

Hi!
Thanks for the post and the active communication about these matters. I would like to share my opinion about the questions that you posed.
I have been a registered member of this forum since 2015, but I have been active before as well. As the Sea Dogs games are still enjoying a large
community, not only in the Russian speaking parts of the world, I would be very sad to see this forum gone. New Horizons is still being worked
on and there are countless great mods for the other sea dogs games as well, all of which are only to be found on this forum. If this forum were
to be closed, the pirate game community would lose huge amounts of mods, work and information about the sea dogs games that couldn't possibly
be recovered again.

A couple of years ago, a Port Royale 2 fan-website which I frequently visited closed down as well, and I was very sad that all the knowledge of that site
was lost. I wouldn't want to happen to this site as well.

Therefore, with your questions

And if you do think this place is worthwhile, what would you yourself be willing to do to keep things alive?

and

Do you care who that might be? Who would you want it to be? Would you be interested yourself?

in mind, I would be very interested in keeping this forum alive myself. Of course, this is only of relevance, if no other, better qualified forum member,
would be interested, but due to my work background (part of my job is building websites), I believe that I have the required skills to keep the forum alive
and I am more than welcome to pay the forum fees and actively work on modernizing the forum.

Lastly, as a more general suggestion, with the amount of pirate games picking up again in the last couple of months and years, I believe it might be
beneficial to open this forum also for these other games (especially the indie games with little resources) and try to make the forum the number one
community place for pirate games.

 

[Hammie]

I would be very sad to see this site go down, and will do anything I can to keep it running.

I can help maintain the forum, though I would prefer not to do so time-wise, but I can help pay for the upkeep.

Discord has been great for talking with other members, but the forums are much better at organizing information, making announcements and keeping information around. The forums are also a great source of information to many of our lurkers and probably the main source of entry for our Discord.

As for who we can trust with this, I think the piratesahoy.net domain name is probably the most important and valuable piece of property, and should only be given to a forum member we can all implicitly trust. The actual hosting, maintenance, etc. could be handled by other people, as they could not really "run away" with those.

 

[PiratesAhoy! Community]

Current Developments:
This section is mainly intended to collect some thoughts.
We'll convert it into a proper news article of its own later.

Obviously not quite finished yet; but for anyone interested in getting a better picture of things, there's a bunch added now in that "spoiler" section.
If anyone has anything to add, by all means: feel free.

 

[The Nameless Pirate]

If we do nothing, this website goes the way of the dodo; just like all other PotC fansites seem to have done.

So first question is: is this place worth maintaining?
What makes this here worthwhile?
And if you do think this place is worthwhile, what would you yourself be willing to do to keep things alive?

As other people have said, both now and in the past, I also believe that PA! is worth keeping alive.
For one so many projects have come up, and not just related to the Storm Engine.
I would be a shame if it went away now.

As for what I will do, well at the very least I will continue to check how things go, help where I can.

If we're to ensure our future, someone would have to take over from @Keith.
Do you care who that might be? Who would you want it to be? Would you be interested yourself?
We're certainly open to suggestions.

I have someone in mind, though I am not entirely sure if I should share this as of now.

 

[PiratesAhoy! Community]

I have someone in mind, though I am not entirely sure if I should share this as of now.

There is one "obvious" candidate.
But 'obvious' does not necessarily mean 'only' or 'best'.

This particular person knows nothing of running a large website (other than through old-school HTML, FTP; and a lot of manual labour).
Basic familiarity with the XenForo Admin Control Panel doesn't count.

Thanks for the post and the active communication about these matters. I would like to share my opinion about the questions that you posed.
I have been a registered member of this forum since 2015, but I have been active before as well. As the Sea Dogs games are still enjoying a large
community, not only in the Russian speaking parts of the world, I would be very sad to see this forum gone. New Horizons is still being worked
on and there are countless great mods for the other sea dogs games as well, all of which are only to be found on this forum. If this forum were
to be closed, the pirate game community would lose huge amounts of mods, work and information about the sea dogs games that couldn't possibly
be recovered again.

Thank you very much for the kind words!

A couple of years ago, a Port Royale 2 fan-website which I frequently visited closed down as well, and I was very sad that all the knowledge of that site
was lost. I wouldn't want to happen to this site as well.

Agreed; it would be quite a shame.
Letting this site die would really only be a "last resort".
Pulling together and breathing new life into everything would be much preferred!

I would be very interested in keeping this forum alive myself. Of course, this is only of relevance, if no other, better qualified forum member,
would be interested, but due to my work background (part of my job is building websites), I believe that I have the required skills to keep the forum alive
and I am more than welcome to pay the forum fees and actively work on modernizing the forum.

That is truly a very generous offer!
And one that, one way or another, we will very likely want to make use of.

In addition to skills and fees though, another big question would be time.
Mostly everyone here has a regular day job on the side I believe; and hopefully also something of a personal/social life.

There are a LOT of things that could be done with this place;
but we wouldn't want to put too much strain on you (or whoever owns/runs the website).

We always say "real life comes first" as this is mainly a place for us to have fun together.
It's not meant to be stressful for the contributors.
Unless we decide to, and manage to, make this place a LOT more serious (read: professional/economically viable) than we have done in the past.
Which could definitely be a path worth exploring.

Lastly, as a more general suggestion, with the amount of pirate games picking up again in the last couple of months and years, I believe it might be
beneficial to open this forum also for these other games (especially the indie games with little resources) and try to make the forum the number one
community place for pirate games.

That's definitely something we want to support! Whichever way we can.

Technically this forum and community have always been open to any other pirate games;
but ultimately it still ends up mostly centred around the Storm Engine games (and especially that 2003 PotC).

We used to even have open discussion about any and all other games too; not just pirate ones.
For some reason though, that has been Archived: Alternative Game
I'm honestly not sure what was the reason for that. Right now, it doesn't make sense to me.

How would we change this?
Adding new subforums is easily done; but what do/don't we add subforums for?
I've asked @Armada and @Volodymyr if they want ones for Buccaneers! and Corsairs Legacy; but so far they declined.
Maybe we should do it anyway? They're both very definitely worthwhile projects; and there IS enough to talk about, I'd say.
Plus, grouping various news posts together makes things easier to find back.

I would be very sad to see this site go down, and will do anything I can to keep it running.

Thank you truly very kindly to you too!

Certainly right now, with everything you are doing on the Storm Engine Source Code, you are already doing QUITE a lot.
Any more help is always welcome of course, but for you as well: we'd hate to spread you too thin.

I can help maintain the forum, though I would prefer not to do so time-wise

Agreed.
We appreciate your willingness; but indeed it doesn't seem wise for you to do that; on top of everything else.

Discord has been great for talking with other members, but the forums are much better at organizing information, making announcements and keeping information around. The forums are also a great source of information to many of our lurkers and probably the main source of entry for our Discord.

Agreed again.
Discord does have its uses; mainly as real-time chatbox.
But more often than not, I much prefer the forum; and wished people on Discord/Facebook would just move over here already.

As for who we can trust with this, I think the piratesahoy.net domain name is probably the most important and valuable piece of property, and should only be given to a forum member we can all implicitly trust. The actual hosting, maintenance, etc. could be handled by other people, as they could not really "run away" with those.

That's an interesting point! Hadn't thought about it that way yet, but that makes sense.

Except... what would stop other people from "running away" with the hosting/maintenance?
I've downloaded the entire contents of the PA! main FTP server twice before.
Would the person who owns the domain have to keep doing that periodically as backup?
If the craziest of the crazy might happen, would that even be enough to get a new server running with all our content still intact and operational?


P.S: "I" in this message is @Pieter Boelen (as you had probably guessed); while with "we" I try to speak for "PiratesAhoy!" as a separate entity.
It's confusing; but I want to try to be as clear as possible on what is "OFFICIAL"; and what is just my opinion.
That is also why I'm restraining myself from saying too much about my own personal preferences.
I'll do that later with my normal account. But first I want to hear from as many people as possible; without influencing your thoughts too much in advance.

Hopefully that makes sense to you...

 

[BathtubPirate]

My two cents:

As for PotC, I've recently seen several of the key modders still being active and even doing work (Free 2 Play background profession quests) as well as several "regular players" either asking questions about New Horizons or coming from the stockgame and just discovering PA and NH. I think that's proof enough things are still going.

Basically every forum I know has its golden age behind it, but especially for a forum about fairly older games, things seem to be good enough around here.

The forum needs to stay because it's an accessible, public platform where everyone from the "regular player guy" to the most innovative modder meets and connects. Without a forum, things will probably slip into obscurity when there are just a few insiders in a discord chat left.

I also think the forum is and should be the main platform, with discord and facebook being more extensions or supplements.

 

[DH27]

How would we change this?
Adding new subforums is easily done; but what do/don't we add subforums for?
I've asked @Armada and @Volodymyr if they want ones for Buccaneers! and Corsairs Legacy; but so far they declined.
Maybe we should do it anyway? They're both very definitely worthwhile projects; and there IS enough to talk about, I'd say.
Plus, grouping various news posts together makes things easier to find back.

In my opinion it will only make sense to open new subforums for these games (and also many others) as soon as the games are released to the public and players are actively playing them.
This is because only if a game is released, threads about gameplay mechanics, story elements and help needed will start to pop up. Until a game is released, the threads would mostly be about
personal wishes for the game and I could definitely see that as something that would add even more stress to the developers.

Except... what would stop other people from "running away" with the hosting/maintenance?
I've downloaded the entire contents of the PA! main FTP server twice before.
Would the person who owns the domain have to keep doing that periodically as backup?
If the craziest of the crazy might happen, would that even be enough to get a new server running with all our content still intact and operational?

I would suggest a decentralized solution where periodic backups are always shared to a couple of members, so that if the worst happens, somebody always has a backup on hand and the website
can easily be restored.

As for the domain rights, this is going to be a bit more tricky, because a centralized as well as a decentralized solution both have their disadvantages. Sharing the access to the domain with just
another or two other members would be a major risk for the domain rights to be transferred unnoticed and everything being gone in a matter of minutes. On the other hand, a centralized solution
also poses a risk, as if something happens to the rights holder, the website could also be at risk due to nobody else being able to get a grip on the domain.

A solution to this might be to buy another piratesahoy-Domain. The fees for running another domain are very small, but having a backup domain could be beneficial if the worst happens. This
would allow the website to get running again in a matter of hours with only the Google Search results going bad.

 

[PiratesAhoy! Community]

My two cents:

As for PotC, I've recently seen several of the key modders still being active and even doing work (Free 2 Play background profession quests) as well as several "regular players" either asking questions about New Horizons or coming from the stockgame and just discovering PA and NH. I think that's proof enough things are still going.

Basically every forum I know has its golden age behind it, but especially for a forum about fairly older games, things seem to be good enough around here.

The forum needs to stay because it's an accessible, public platform where everyone from the "regular player guy" to the most innovative modder meets and connects. Without a forum, things will probably slip into obscurity when there are just a few insiders in a discord chat left.

I also think the forum is and should be the main platform, with discord and facebook being more extensions or supplements.

Very well said!
All of that sounds perfectly true.

Certainly activity has actually been picking up again this year; and it would be great to see that continue into the coming years as well.

And fully agreed on the forum remaining the main part of the community.
It's just so much more flexible than those other options.

In my opinion it will only make sense to open new subforums for these games (and also many others) as soon as the games are released to the public and players are actively playing them.
This is because only if a game is released, threads about gameplay mechanics, story elements and help needed will start to pop up. Until a game is released, the threads would mostly be about
personal wishes for the game and I could definitely see that as something that would add even more stress to the developers.

That's a fair point indeed.
Was thinking of having at least all news grouped together, easy to find back.
But we can also sort that out by adding new categories for the Front Page articles.

I would suggest a decentralized solution where periodic backups are always shared to a couple of members, so that if the worst happens, somebody always has a backup on hand and the website
can easily be restored.

Good idea.

Can those backups be made just by downloading every file from the main server FTP?
Or does it have to be done through some sort of host web interface?

As for the domain rights, this is going to be a bit more tricky, because a centralized as well as a decentralized solution both have their disadvantages. Sharing the access to the domain with just
another or two other members would be a major risk for the domain rights to be transferred unnoticed and everything being gone in a matter of minutes.

When you say "everything", I assume you just mean the public link to everything; right?
Technically the site would then still be accessible; with some sort of inconvenient URL that probably nobody can remember.

A solution to this might be to buy another piratesahoy-Domain. The fees for running another domain are very small, but having a backup domain could be beneficial if the worst happens. This
would allow the website to get running again in a matter of hours with only the Google Search results going bad.

Interesting idea!
I think we've had some other domains in the past.
There was a "pyratesahoy" for a while; and for a short period @Keith was very proud of having a "piratesahoy.COM".

We've had site outages already in the past year that lasted maybe a week or so; mainly because @Pieter Boelen didn't know how to fix them.
Annoyingly, some of those outages were caused by server overload; because suddenly we were HOT NEWS (specifically when PC Gamer featured us in a very glowing article of theirs last year).
Bit counterproductive that way. Finally we DO get attention; and we immediately become unavailable...

It seems the Google Search Results is some of the most valuable "things" in existence these days.
Just look at this madness: Why Movie Franchises Have Such Confusing Titles: Origins | Cracked.com
The world has become quite the strange place...

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Time for me to pitch in as myself, I suppose.
I've got an annoying tendency to write too long messages, so I hope you will accept my humble apologies for that in advance.

@Keith gave me all the login details for the server already.
All that's left are the billing information; and the domain name transfer.
I already created an account at name.com a while ago; and then I took a big step back to think this through some more.

My life has been madness and mayhem for far too many years now.
Lots of stress from family, friends, work; and owning that sailboat of mine.
I am always willing to support good things (such as PiratesAhoy!) wherever I can;
but at the same time I have to be quite careful with my health.

Unfortunate things have happened in this community in the past; and people exist who have seemed to hold serious grudges against us because of that.
And especially grudges against me as a person, even though those do not seem to make sense to me.
I have a (possibly irrational) fear that if I were to take over ownership officially, I would start "the job" with a target already painted on my back.

At the same time, when I look around me, I see this world becoming a stranger and stranger place.
People get vilified, "cancelled" and fired from their jobs for things they might've written 10 years ago or more.
The smallest things are blown way out of proportion; and "outrage culture"seems very real.
At the same time, lawmakers have strange ideas; where it seems website owners might be held personally responsible for what other users say on their website.

I've already been held personally responsible for other members' actions and lack thereof; and for decisions the entire staff made as a group.
Even though I myself was not even officially in charge here.
Now imagine if I WERE in charge. They'd actually have grounds then to throw some sort of "legal case" in my face.

I've already spent quite some time and effort searching and asking people in the know.
Turns out, if the worst should come to happen, I can expect basically zero personal protection.
Legal insurance doesn't cover such things.
You might imagine this potential hanging over my head would make PA! far less of a "relaxing spare time" thing; and more an extra source of stress.

This is why I continued investigating on how to create a "legal entity" that isn't myself.
This would then have to be a Private Limited Company (profit); or a Foundation (non-profit).
Starting one of those is definitely possible; but The Netherlands aren't the cheapest country to do it in.
It would all have to be pretty official; with specific board members; and an accountant to sort out all the finances for the inevitable taxes.

In other words, there are quite some heavy pros and cons to weigh against each other.
I am a hopeless idealist who, more than anything, wants to somehow structurally make this world a better place.
PiratesAhoy! is the biggest thing in this world where I might have a significant influence.
And so I am definitely willing to take some serious risks; if the potential rewards are similarly significant.

But this is something I cannot do alone.
I don't even know if it could be done at all.
It is certainly a completely different scope than "just having fun with computer games".

That said, I do also see massive potential. I am a big dreamer; and I can fantasize all sorts of scenarios where we could have significant impact on the world.
We're the most varied, international group of people working together that I have ever had the fortune to be a part of (and my day jobs have been pretty international too!).
My experience here at PiratesAhoy! has been that your age doesn't matter; your gender doesn't matter; your skill level doesn't matter; and so on.
Everybody is welcome. We appreciate big contributions; and we welcome small ones too.
We are willing to help each other; without expecting or asking anything in return.

In my belief, that is a very, very beautiful and quite unique thing.
One that could be seen as a sort of "healing force" for all the hurt that I see around me all the time in this world.
If we can make this place truly live up to that view of mine, that's something that would be worth just about anything to me.

In my imagination, we could set up active collaborations between different game developers,
training, research and historical institutes, ship operators, yacht owners, gamers and even entertainment companies.
In my imagination, we could convince Disney to make fully operational sailing ships for future PotC movies that can be used for green shipping for many years afterwards.
In my imagination, we could crowdfund repairs for old-school sailing vessels that need maintenance.
In my imagination, we might even crowdfund existing efforts to make modern clean ships.
In my imagination, we could get young people excited again about the maritime world, both new and old,
creating a new generation of sailors who enjoy computer games as much as doing things in real life.
In my imagination, the sky is the limit.

But we don't live in my imagination.
We live in the real world.
And whatever might be possible (if anything at all), it is going to be very difficult; even with the full help and support of everyone here.
And it's going to take a lifetime worth of investment, at least on my part; with zero guarantees of success on even a single one of those imagined futures.

So tell me: What value might there be (if any at all) to all my deep considerations and nutty ramblings here?
Would you be willing to do something (within reason, of course) to support any of these bigger goals?
Would you even want someone with my sort of thoughts and ideas to be in charge here at all?

Any and all feedback would be appreciated.
I welcome everything you might have to say; even if you fully disagree with every single word I wrote here.
The only way I could ever have any success is if you can all feel fully free here to be yourself; and to openly speak your mind.
So whatever might come out of this (if anything at all), please share your truth.

If you made it all the way to the end of this novel, you have my gratitude already for even getting this far.
Thank you. Thank you all.

 

[DH27]

Can those backups be made just by downloading every file from the main server FTP?
Or does it have to be done through some sort of host web interface?

Normally, it doesn't have to be done through the host interface, depending on the website software, it can also either be done through the software or manually like you mentioned.
However, it's certainly easier to do through your webhost or the website software, if that's an option.

When you say "everything", I assume you just mean the public link to everything; right?
Technically the site would then still be accessible; with some sort of inconvenient URL that probably nobody can remember.

You would still be in possession of all locally saved files of the website, but getting the site up again would be very tricky and time consuming. Firstly, you would have to buy
a new domain (in the case that somebody with malicious intent hijacked this one) and then you would have to change every link in your backup to the new domain. Especially with
a manually created backup, this would take an insane amount of work. The last couple of websites that I built were based on Wordpress, with the big advantage being, that plugins
exist with whom you can create a full backup of your website automatically and change every link in one go as well. This is especially advantageous, when you want to migrate your website
to a new domain, as all the links are already updated then. I am not sure, how the plugin or addon situation is for XenForo, but the problem of domain hijacking could definitely be
mitigated by having a backup domain. Although I have to admit, I simply don't know how easy it would be to hijack the domain if somebody has access to the webhost and domain. Looking
at my webhost as an example, once you are in the webhost, I believe it would be fairly easy to change the domain holder data and e-mail-address linked to the domain and then transfer the
domain somewhere else with the transfer code that would be sent to the hijacker. It might be different for other webhosts, but it could pose a possible risk.

We've had site outages already in the past year that lasted maybe a week or so; mainly because @Pieter Boelen didn't know how to fix them.
Annoyingly, some of those outages were caused by server overload;

Was the forum software not able to tackle so many inquiries, or were the servers of your webhost overstrained?

It seems the Google Search Results is some of the most valuable "things" in existence these days.

While that is certainly true, with proper SEO, you can get back in the search results within a couple of months. Furthermore, Google offers a service to delete old and non exisiting links,
for example in the case that you would have to switch the domain.

This is why I continued investigating on how to create a "legal entity" that isn't myself.
This would then have to be a Private Limited Company (profit); or a Foundation (non-profit).

In my opinion, creating a company just for the website wouldn't be sensible as the costs associated with that are quite high. While its perfectly sensible to try to secure yourself against
law suits, and a private limited company would certainly be the best way to do that (due to its nature that you can only lose your invested capital but nothing more), you would have
to bring some capital in order to even create it (the so-called nominal/share capital). Though, while I believe that in the Netherlands there isn't a fixed sum forced (in Austria its 35000 Euros),
creating a company with under 1000 Euros as nominal capital is from a practical viewpoint very risky, because already the creation has costs associated such as registration fees and the notary
attestation fees. However, these costs are at least one-off costs, the bigger problem are the yearly costs associated with the creation of the annual financial statement. These are recurring
at certainly more than 1000 Euros per year. With the other costs associated to the forum such as the domain fees and forum software costs, you would probably be out quite a hefty sum
of Euros per year. I don't know the exact situation with foundations, but it's certainly not much better. It might be even worse because with a foundation, you aren't a shareholder, rather
just a benefactor with a much weaker legal position compared to a shareholder and at least in Austria you would have to appoint a managing board of three or more persons for the foundation.

Would you be willing to do something (within reason, of course) to support any of these bigger goals?

If there is something that I can help with, I certainly will. The forum is a great place and such a huge amount of work of many, many years should not be lost.

Would you even want someone with my sort of thoughts and ideas to be in charge here at all?

To make this one short: definitely!

 

[JTem]

With the creation of such a legal figure, the much detested civil liability can be removed from our people.

Of course I would like to participate in it, the rest of the projects can be seen in the future... including those dreams that may not be so much.

I think we are in a crucial moment for this community, we can disappear or go ahead opening new paths, which one we will choose ... only time will tell.

 

[Mirsaneli]

Time for me to pitch in as myself, I suppose.
I've got an annoying tendency to write too long messages, so I hope you will accept my humble apologies for that in advance.

@Keith gave me all the login details for the server already.
All that's left are the billing information; and the domain name transfer.
I already created an account at name.com a while ago; and then I took a big step back to think this through some more.

My life has been madness and mayhem for far too many years now.
Lots of stress from family, friends, work; and owning that sailboat of mine.
I am always willing to support good things (such as PiratesAhoy!) wherever I can;
but at the same time I have to be quite careful with my health.

Unfortunate things have happened in this community in the past; and people exist who have seemed to hold serious grudges against us because of that.
And especially grudges against me as a person, even though those do not seem to make sense to me.
I have a (possibly irrational) fear that if I were to take over ownership officially, I would start "the job" with a target already painted on my back.

At the same time, when I look around me, I see this world becoming a stranger and stranger place.
People get vilified, "cancelled" and fired from their jobs for things they might've written 10 years ago or more.
The smallest things are blown way out of proportion; and "outrage culture"seems very real.
At the same time, lawmakers have strange ideas; where it seems website owners might be held personally responsible for what other users say on their website.

I've already been held personally responsible for other members' actions and lack thereof; and for decisions the entire staff made as a group.
Even though I myself was not even officially in charge here.
Now imagine if I WERE in charge. They'd actually have grounds then to throw some sort of "legal case" in my face.

I've already spent quite some time and effort searching and asking people in the know.
Turns out, if the worst should come to happen, I can expect basically zero personal protection.
Legal insurance doesn't cover such things.
You might imagine this potential hanging over my head would make PA! far less of a "relaxing spare time" thing; and more an extra source of stress.

This is why I continued investigating on how to create a "legal entity" that isn't myself.
This would then have to be a Private Limited Company (profit); or a Foundation (non-profit).
Starting one of those is definitely possible; but The Netherlands aren't the cheapest country to do it in.
It would all have to be pretty official; with specific board members; and an accountant to sort out all the finances for the inevitable taxes.

In other words, there are quite some heavy pros and cons to weigh against each other.
I am a hopeless idealist who, more than anything, wants to somehow structurally make this world a better place.
PiratesAhoy! is the biggest thing in this world where I might have a significant influence.
And so I am definitely willing to take some serious risks; if the potential rewards are similarly significant.

But this is something I cannot do alone.
I don't even know if it could be done at all.
It is certainly a completely different scope than "just having fun with computer games".

That said, I do also see massive potential. I am a big dreamer; and I can fantasize all sorts of scenarios where we could have significant impact on the world.
We're the most varied, international group of people working together that I have ever had the fortune to be a part of (and my day jobs have been pretty international too!).
My experience here at PiratesAhoy! has been that your age doesn't matter; your gender doesn't matter; your skill level doesn't matter; and so on.
Everybody is welcome. We appreciate big contributions; and we welcome small ones too.
We are willing to help each other; without expecting or asking anything in return.

In my belief, that is a very, very beautiful and quite unique thing.
One that could be seen as a sort of "healing force" for all the hurt that I see around me all the time in this world.
If we can make this place truly live up to that view of mine, that's something that would be worth just about anything to me.

In my imagination, we could set up active collaborations between different game developers,
training, research and historical institutes, ship operators, yacht owners, gamers and even entertainment companies.
In my imagination, we could convince Disney to make fully operational sailing ships for future PotC movies that can be used for green shipping for many years afterwards.
In my imagination, we could crowdfund repairs for old-school sailing vessels that need maintenance.
In my imagination, we might even crowdfund existing efforts to make modern clean ships.
In my imagination, we could get young people excited again about the maritime world, both new and old,
creating a new generation of sailors who enjoy computer games as much as doing things in real life.
In my imagination, the sky is the limit.

But we don't live in my imagination.
We live in the real world.
And whatever might be possible (if anything at all), it is going to be very difficult; even with the full help and support of everyone here.
And it's going to take a lifetime worth of investment, at least on my part; with zero guarantees of success on even a single one of those imagined futures.

So tell me: What value might there be (if any at all) to all my deep considerations and nutty ramblings here?
Would you be willing to do something (within reason, of course) to support any of these bigger goals?
Would you even want someone with my sort of thoughts and ideas to be in charge here at all?

Any and all feedback would be appreciated.
I welcome everything you might have to say; even if you fully disagree with every single word I wrote here.
The only way I could ever have any success is if you can all feel fully free here to be yourself; and to openly speak your mind.
So whatever might come out of this (if anything at all), please share your truth.

If you made it all the way to the end of this novel, you have my gratitude already for even getting this far.
Thank you. Thank you all.

You are a good man, Pieter Boelen. And your intentions are noble. So don't be afraid of failing when you make the right steps. You need some old members onboard, so start collecting them. If you want to make great things, you need this place to be recognized as the home of the most popular pirate game mod and Moddb for sure prooves that New Horizons holds that title. You need to port it to the newer engine. Windows 11 is on the way, and less and less people use old hardware and software. You cannot wait another 5 years to make something from New Horizons. With popularizing NH, you could attract different enthusiasts and make great things. I know a man from my country who promotes green sailing or however they call it. Check it out

This guy even performed on Eurovision song contest in 2012

 

[Dat Scharger]

Well, this site has accompanied me through the world of pirate games since 2014 and I'm also willing to keep it running. As far as I know, this seems to be the largest site in existence that primarily covers pirate games.
During my time here, I have attempted to draw more attention to other, more obscure games by posting them on the forums, and will continue to do so because I wish the genre to be more popular. If the forums would be more populated, the effect would certainly get stronger.

In essence, losing this site would certainly feel like losing a long-time friend.

Unfortunately my means of actively supporting the site are limited, as I lack the programming skills.

But what I'm definitely able to do is to keep my eye open for new, upcoming, hopefully promising games and telling the public about them. Though I would prefer if I could make news postings on the starter page, because simply opening a thread won't do much.
Oh, and monthly donations, of course.

As our new captain... Pieter Boehlen, or CaptainMurphy.

 

[Adamski62]

Well, this site has accompanied me through the world of pirate games since 2014 and I'm also willing to keep it running. As far as I know, this seems to be the largest site in existence that primarily covers pirate games.
During my time here, I have attempted to draw more attention to other, more obscure games by posting them on the forums, and will continue to do so because I wish the genre to be more popular. If the forums would be more populated, the effect would certainly get stronger.

In essence, losing this site would certainly feel like losing a long-time friend.

Unfortunately my means of actively supporting the site are limited, as I lack the programming skills.

But what I'm definitely able to do is to keep my eye open for new, upcoming, hopefully promising games and telling the public about them. Though I would prefer if I could make news postings on the starter page, because simply opening a thread won't do much.
Oh, and monthly donations, of course.

As our new captain... Pieter Boehlen, or CaptainMurphy.

Pieter Boelen.

 

[Grey Roger]

Pieter Boelen.

Agreed. PA! has not had a leader in the past and @Pieter Boelen is the leader we didn't officially have. I support the idea of making it official.

 

[BathtubPirate]

I always sort of assumed Pieter was already running things here anyway.

 

[Adamski62]

I always sort of assumed Pieter was already running things here anyway.

He has really for a long time, he's always been open to our suggestions though. He may have some news for you later when he drops in.

 

[The Nameless Pirate]

Okay so I think I have a clear enough head to go into this.

For quite some time I thought of Pieter having this role. Assuming he wants it of course, which I won't go into because I can't. But perhaps he will comment on that himself.

As for the technical side of things I always believed that if there's a will there's a way.
There are some people here who know about running a website already, and if needed more people could learn more about this.
I for one am interested in this, regardless of the forum here.
So I guess it might work as another motive for it, if it will be needed.

 

[Adamski62]

Okay so I think I have a clear enough head to go into this.

For quite some time I thought of Pieter having this role. Assuming he wants it of course, which I won't go into because I can't. But perhaps he will comment on that himself.

As for the technical side of things I always believed that if there's a will there's a way.
There are some people here who know about running a website already, and if needed more people could learn more about this.
I for one am interested in this, regardless of the forum here.
So I guess it might work as another motive for it, if it will be needed.

I think he'd welcome all help offfered....can't expect him to do it all alone.