The future of Dream17
Posted in Dream17 by Squirminator2k at 10/07/07 2:45am CEST
Wow. 120GB of data transfer in a day. That's big. That's bloody big. Mostly it's caused by our "mirror" links from Team 17 websites - something I've now politely asked that the company remove from their websites for the time being - but there's probably some file-leeching going on too. I know for a fact that some of our images are being leeched by an Italian filesharing website. That annoys me to no end.
I had a bit of a crisis when SupSuper informed me that the downloads had been taken down again. I had perhaps deluded myself into thinking that demand for our files wasn't that high, or perhaps I was convinced that Dream17 isn't as popular as it actually is. But the high demand for files is, frankly, insane. I began to question whether or not Dream17 was worth continuing, whether or not I could
afford to keep the website alive when it generates no profit at all. I began to consider closing it down.
But, as my Stepmom pointed out earlier, there is something is does generate for me - pride. Enjoyment. Happiness. I've loved every moment I've spent working on Dream17 these page three and a half years. There's something to be said for being responsible for keeping these old games alive and available for new generations. Dream17 is probably one of my proudest achievements, and it's expanded from something I was working on myself to a joint effort between so many people across the world. It's astounding. It is, against all odds,
popular.
And it's worth keeping alive.
Earlier in the year, I was offered hosting on a bloody slick high-speed server. It's expensive, but it would theoretically be enough to keep the website alive. I'm now trying to get back in touch with the friend who made the offer to see if it's still on the table. It's not cheap though.
I have previously, in similar circumstances, found myself asking, urging, pleading visitors to click on the PayPal donate button to the left-hand side. I'd be very appreciative if you would consider doing this again, but this time I'm not begging. I will remind you that the button is there, but I'm not going to push the matter. I will do what I can to keep the website alive and if you wish to be a part of that then by all means I will accept whatever little you decide to donate. But I'm not going to hold the website ransom. If we can get the downloads up sooner rather than later we will, and once I have enough money - be it from my own pocket or otherwise - I will be moving to a better server with a higher bandwidth allocation.
I can only apologise for the constant buggering about. If we can get this sorted, we will. If I can pay for a server with higher bandwidth, I will. I'll not let this site die if I can help it. Just you watch.
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