That's interesting and brings a new perspective to the debate.
I didn't realize the cost of living in the us was quite that high currently.
In England, the governmental minimum wage is about £14000 a year, ---- which
given current exchange rate is probably something like $21000.
A wage of £20000, ----- or about $32000 is considdered a good starting wage,
and what many teachers, computer programmers and other professional jobs
will be earning when they first qualify (I have various friends in this
state currently).
I now appreciate the financial situation quite a bit more.
I do wonder though, if making an accessible rpg game similar to Sryth, and
using the finances from such a game to fund developement of other accessible
games would be a viable decision for a programmer.
My estimates of the Sryth Gm's income were conservative at best, and there
are certainly more subscribing players now.
Also, as I said, I think he's got considderably greedy with forced donations
as time has continued.
Beware the grue!
Dark.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Thomas Ward" <thomasward1...@gmail.com>
To: "Gamers Discussion list" <gamers@audyssey.org>
Sent: Monday, November 09, 2009 1:08 AM
Subject: Re: [Audyssey] free games was Piracy
Hi Dark,
Well, I don't know Draconis's or 7-128's financial overhead, but it would
be interesting to add to the debate if they would be willing to share or
release such information here. All I do know is that game's specifically
created for the blind generally don't do well, and the income made off of
them isn't enough to make a living. As a result most of us have jobs
outside the games we create for fun.
Now, as for a game like Sryth it has a large appeal that is not specific
to just blind players. As a result Michael has a sizable subscriber base
including both blind and sighted players alike. Given that it is a game
accessible to the blind and sighted gamers anyone can likely make a living
off that type of game as long as there are people willing to pay for a
subscription and give donations. Granted in the USA thirty to fourty
thousand a year is not considered very good money, but you can live on it
if you are careful with your money, aren't a big spender, and manage it
well. It is certainly better money than the average person gets running
the checkout counter for a store, stocking shelves, or a hundred other
entry level jobs here in the USA.
To answer your questions more directly a blind game developer probably
could make it if he or she did design a very good online based RPG game
that would be available to both blind and sighted players alike. Obviously
the game would need to be maintained in order to keep the customers coming
back, but maintaining it would be much less work than writing it in the
first place. He could work on other accessible games in his free time tha
would of course add to his over all income, and still be making a living
at it. I've thought about doing this myself, but I'm not really sure I'm
up to the task of writing a good roll playing game as compelling as Final
Fantacy or even as good as Sryth. For me it is a creativity block rather
than a technical block.
Smile.
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