Rgds Phil.
>And so the NTT series began, as a test bed for what I hoped would become
the
>RaceLive! network. My wife thought I was nuts. I tried to explain to her
>that the world was full of enthusiastic people like me who had invested
>hundreds, if not thousands of dollars in the perfect sim racing setup who
>would not hesitate to pay a nominal licensing fee and perhaps a small
>monthly activity fee to be part of a truly professionally-executed
>structured racing program. I pointed out the level of activity that NROS
>enjoyed and argued that the road-racing community needed something
>comparable.
>Well, it appears that perhaps my wife was right. My conclusion at this
point
>is that there are just too few online road racing enthusiasts out there to
>sustain even the smallest of businesses. Even granddaddy VROC, with it's
>roughly 500 drivers who have joined the Paddock, appears to lack sufficient
>volume to sustain a small business. So it's with great sadness that I
>announce the conclusion of the NTT series. [...]
Now there is more of a "value proposition" which needs to be met. The
service must be reliable (in terms of line drops and packet flow). The
service must have depth - different kinds of event formats. The service must
provide an even playing field - there's only a handful of Remco's and WW's
out there, and ain't many people can beat 'em. The service needs to be there
24x7 - players should be able to play when they want, how they want. And the
service needs to have some form of payback to justify a monthly
subscription. Put this package together, and an online community can have a
chance to grow around it and grow and thrive.
The downside, I suppose, is that a venture of this size takes a pretty
serious investment and a pretty specific skill set to make work. There are
not a whole lot of people out there who really truly understand what makes
online stuff work.
NTT was a great idea and it showed the potential that is there (as does
VROC). And given where I work, I can't hardly argue with your vision. ;-)
But like the song says, "The times they are a changin' ..." ... even online.
-MSM
__________________________________________________________________________
Mark S. Miller "Be regular and orderly in your life,
Director of Design that you may be *** and original
Motorsport Simulations in your work."
http://www.racesimcentral.net/
