Rubies not Ruined
Interviews

Recently a portion of the original developers behind Rubies of Eventide have brought the game back to life after its cancellation in January, for free. This has aroused the suspicion of a broad audience as this has never been successfully attempted before in the history of MMORPG's. We were very interested in the reason as to why this happened, and how it is going to work. Apparently, Rubies of Eventide is going to run on a donation based model, and it appears that this is working well so far – the call for donations has brought over $1,000 in the first few weeks, of an announced first goal of $1,500. These $1,500 will be used to operate a Rubies server dedicated to the large Role-Playing Community of the game. A second donation drive is gearing towards providing a PvP dedicated server, and is currently at $151.

If you donate $50 or more, you can upgrade to a so called "Gentry Account". This gives you access to 2 additional character slots, 3 unique magic items and access to a zone only available to Gentry players.

To get a clear picture of the whole thing, we have asked Jeff Grubb, current leader programmer and brain behind Rubies of Eventide to answer our questionnaire. You can read his answers below. If you are interested in playing Rubies of Eventide (it's free, what would you possibly have to loose), check their official website for download locations and how to create an account.

Marian (mr): Hello, would you tell our readership who you are and what you do at Rubies of Eventide?

Jeff: My name is Jeff Grubb (aka Scapegoat) and I am a part owner of Mnemosyne, the new company that runs "Rubies of Eventide". I am currently the lead programmer and IT professional for the game. When I'm not going crazy trying to set up more hardware for the servers to run, I work on new features for future updates.

mr: First of all, would you try to describe Rubies of Eventide for those who never saw or played it please?

Jeff: Rubies of Eventide is a game that has its roots planted firmly in older style DnD pen and paper type role-playing games. The world is vast with many outside world and dungeons to explore. Our character creation is the most customized you'll find with hundreds of Race/Class/Skill combinations to choose from to fine tune your unique characters.

mr: After the rather dramatic closing of Rubies in January - why did you decide to bring it back as a free game?

Jeff: After the game officially closed in January of this year, it had called out to me almost daily. It seemed as if the world that I thought we had created had actually been there all along, and we were able to build an interface to this whole other existence. And during the time the game wasn't running, it seemed as it if were calling to me and may other people.. like it needed to be up again.

We decided to make it free because it should be available to everyone who wants to play. I think monthly costs suck, honestly. However, some sort of income is necessary to pay for the maintenance and development of new content. I just think there's got to be a better way… which is why Rubies is donation-driven and run like a co-op. It's risky what we're doing because this model has never been applied to a mmorpg before, but our community has really pulled together their resources and opened some doors for Rubies which would have otherwise been impossible.

mr: We have seen a lot of big games being cancelled in the past months, like Mythica (Microsoft, story) and Warhammer Online (Games Workshop, story). With that in mind, why are you so confident that Rubies will survive without paying subscribers?

Jeff: Oh that's easy. It will survive because our hardcore players wont let it die. It will survive because we have a lot of really energized people that genuinely want this project to succeed. And since we don't have any serious overhead right now besides the very basic operating costs, who's to say this game wont be around for years to come? As long as I keep breathing on this earth, I will do everything I can to keep the game running for all that wish to enjoy it as much as I have.

mr: Would you go back to a subscription based model, or is providing Rubies of Eventide for free a definite decision?

Jeff: There are operating costs associated with running a game such as this. Assuming we can fund this frugally on a donation model, we may never go back to a subscription-based model again.

mr: Do you have any plans to improve Rubies in the future, are there any new features or races planned for example?

Jeff: Of course! We work daily on improving the game. Marc, the original lead designer of ROE and one of my partners, works around the clock crunching numbers and working on new design concepts for the game. Julia, my partner, girlfriend, artist, musician, and business manager, also works tirelessly on ways to improve the customer service, community, and game-play. I do what I can to make these ideas come to life. In the next patch for example there is a ton of new artwork going into the game, and our long anticipated Soul Point system will emerge as well. The Soul Points are used for players above level 51 to advance their characters so you can imagine how highly-anticipated this patch is for our veteran players.

mr: With the now limited resources, what audience will you focus on? I think it has been stated that you brought back Rubies mainly for old subscribers, does that mean Rubies is not open for new people, or will new arrivals be treated just like any of the "old timers"?

Jeff: We're focused on bringing a "good" game to fruition.

Rubies of Eventide is open to all players that wish to get away from the typical mmorpg experience. Assuming they are kind and respectful of the game and its other players, they are treated the same as the ‘old timers'. We've never had a problem with new players feeling unwelcome. There is none of the usual noob-bashing hazing ritual nonsense in Rubies compared to some of the mainstream massively-multiplayer games.

Our audience has always been strategy-oriented role players. People who are looking for a complex game with a lot of delicate intricacies to explore, not some mass-market game with glitzy graphics, gore, and shallow content.

mr: Your GM and support staff now consists of volunteers, how will you handle that? Are there any time frames in which it is more likely to meet GM's in the game?

Jeff: Our GM staff is made up of some of our most dedicated players. They volunteer whatever time they can to help new players get oriented with our game. They have all put in a yeoman's effort to help police the community and make new players feel welcome. There are also many players who do the same but are not on the GM staff. Any time a person comes into the game they can expect their questions to be answered by GMs, mentors, or fellow players. All they have to do is ask for help.

mr: Have you thought about developing a commercial sequel to Rubies?

Jeff: The story behind "Rubies of Eventide" is only the first part of a trilogy by Marc Howe.
Originally, the intent was to roll out these games in sequence as separate games. Right now, it may be more realistic to combine all three stories into one game or release the continued story content in the form of commercially available expansions.

mr: Anything you'd like to add for those who are not yet convinced?

Jeff: Our game has always been a cozy place to meet some really intelligent, creative, and interesting people. You can also meet some really strange and interesting creatures in our world – And then kill them. If you still have any doubts on whether you will like our game or not, there's only one way to find out. Our game is free to download, and free to play and enjoy. What have you got to lose? Besides soiling your armor when faced with some really nasty creatures. ;)

Thanks a lot for taking the time Jeff, we hope Rubies flourish and stay with us for a long time to come.