i have not been to your website, but i did read most of the posts on this thread and wanted to make a few comments.

i agree that for a lot of people, download = free. you're not going to get away from that very easily. rand miller *may* be able to do it with mudpie, but he's banking on a reputation! also, remember what happened with stephen king's e-book last year? he stopped publishing chapters halfway through because he lost his inspiration. and people who had already started reading the book (and were paying for it incrementally) were left in the lurch. the same thing has happened with numerous fan projects (although those are usually free anyway.) why should i pay money now for an installment of a game that's not even finished yet? from my perspective, i'll wait... if it does get finished, and people rave about it, i can get my hands on it then. if the project's abandoned, i have not spent my money and invested my time in something anticlimactic.

this "shopping cart abandonment" is not just your problem -- it's a very common problem in ecommerce. that's why so many of the original internet retailers have gone under. people will click around your site for hours but when it comes time to pay money, they opt out. most internet shoppers prefer to buy through amazon or another established name than they do through someone they've never heard of before. so even if the game looks nice and sounds promising, i think you'll find few people who want to spend the money online and risk getting something sub-par... or worse, risk being scammed.

someone asked a question about whether adventure gamers would be willing to buy GK4 if they promised not to trade it or lend it out. if that's what it took to get another GK game made i think yes, absolutely, the majority of us would sign a contract saying the game would never leave our hands. in fact, i know people who have gone out and bought copies of MOE for the sole purpose of showing Sierra that there is a market for more KQ games. BUT, those are games with reputations. adventure games become popular through word of mouth. we're not the most outgoing bunch (heh, or would that be the most adventurous?) for the most part, i think we like the security of playing games in a similar format to games we have played in the past. we have no qualms about replaying beloved games over and over. and we're not willing to put out money for something that, in our minds, should be free (remember, download = free), is not completed yet, and has not been endorsed by our peers.

and if i really want to spend that much time downloading something over my dial-up modem (which i don't), i would rather download an entire fan-made game that i don't have to pay for. but in general, i'd probably be more inclined to grab one of my favorites off the shelf and play it again.

all this said (and i'm sorry the response got so long, but there were many threads to respond to!), i am going to take a look at your website when i get the chance!

-emily

Hi there Heavycat,
Good luck on your game. I have a few comments, both about your posts, and then, a few about the games. It's a longish post.

Asking for input.
In my humble opinion, when you ask for input, this is what you do, you ask for input - shorter is better, and try not to be too "strident" (your words). If you went to the right source, and asked in the right way, people will reply with a full range of replies - not all of which you were looking for. People will say you are crazy, that they hate the game, that they don't understand it, that they will never pay for it, etc.

Then, what you do is say "thank you very much for your comments", and offline, read them, and see if they apply in your situation. As a common courtesy, and, if you ever plan to ask for comments again, get back on the forum and post a reply. Summarize the comments, objectively, unemotionally, and conclude with some changes you are making (if you are making any), based on the comments. People like to think that their comments were helpful, and that you made decisions based on their comments.

You don't need to justify your decisions to us, it's your game. However, the other important caveat is that you should not "yell" at us, even if you didn't mean to (I'm sure you didn't). Just because we did not download or buy the game does not mean that we: won't play games with women protagonists, won't play games with complicated stories, won't download games (some will, some won't). All it means is that, for whatever reason, some of us are not playing your game.

Other things you should not do when asking for input (my opinion)
- don't denigrate other games or game publisher, even if those big name publishers are scum. The adventure gamers on this forum love adventure games, and they play a lot of them.

- don't denigrate Microsoft. I know it's tempting, but stay on track.

- don't tell us how hard you are working. We won't buy the game because we feel sorry for you and your team, we will buy the game because we like it. Again, stay on track.

A few game related comments
- getting them hooked on the story and the game. It's a game, you don't have much time to get people interested. I agree with other posters - 20 minutes max. You can't make gameplayers different from what they were.

- your site. Yup, it looks like a kid's game, actually it looks like those Japanese cartoon/comics. I assume that was your intent. Also, your protagonists are kids, unless you demonstrate otherwise, most people will think this is a kids game. So, I assume you want to appeal to a younger demographic, (kids, maybe teens). I don't know if they play adventure games. This is after all, gameboomers, most of us are "boomers", so we can't help you there. Even if you personally don't want the game market divided into kids and adult games, that division exists, in my opinion, most adults will not play kids games.

- no music. I want sound and music in a game, even a game I download. If I didn't want both sight and sound, I'd read a book or a graphic novel. I'll settle for a reasonably simple soundtrack, and some simple sounds, but I want audio.

- demo. I can't tell if you are doing a demo, If you aren't, I think you should.

- size of downloads. I got a bit confused. You are asking people to download 5MB and 10MB files, multiple times? Yikes! I have broadband, so it's not a problem for me, but if you aren't targeting the broadband market, those downloads had better be small. If I misunderstood, and the downloads are smaller, my apologies.

- Independent games. There are people who make independent games, not a lot, but they exist. Did you go to the Independent games festival that was part of the Game Developers Conference 2002? Here's the link - http://www.igf.com/ . Incidentally, the winner made an amazing little adventure game - I can't speak highly enough about it (Bad Milk), and they made it in their spare time, for not much money. I'll post some other info about it later, gameboomers.

What happened to the online versions of the first 2 episodes? I was going to try the second one yesterday but it disappeared. The nice thing about the online versions was that they required no download or installation.

Can you have more than one episode installed at once? Would you need to uninstall a played episode before installing the next episode.

How do saved games work? Do you need a saved game from the end of version 1 before you can play version 2 or 3? With the entire game, would you need a save from the end of Volume 1 before you could play later volumes?

We've taken the first two episodes down for the time being in order to better promote episode 3, which, as a "puzzle" episode, is more representative of the adventure portions of LadyStar.

The nice thing about the online versions was that they required no download or installation.

Well, technically, the online versions were even more of a download than the .zip files, you're just downloading one location at a time instead of all at once, and the data is not compressed either.

Can you have more than one episode installed at once?

Yes. The episodes will synchronize with one another and the main game menu.

Would you need to uninstall a played episode before installing the next episode.

No. You can if you need to, however, if you want to save disk space. The Windows version episodes each come with InstallShield and uninstall programs.

How do saved games work?

Due to the way inventory and point scoring works, it is not possible to save games in mid-episode. You can, however, start the game at the beginning of any episode without a "saved game" from a previous episode.

Once again, just a few posts up, you said-
"The response to LadyStar has been nothing short of incredible."

If so, as I asked before, where and who are these people? If they really think it is so incredible, why are they NOT supporting your efforts? If this response is from gamers that truly want your product, have any of them bothered to register? If so, you should be in wonderful fiscal condition, and maybe this thread wouldn't exist.

I sincerely am not trying to be nasty, Scott, I am attempting to understand just what you are really looking for.

I agree with Granny. I did go to the site and found it to be a "cutsie", it would not appeal to me at all. It says very little.

I can appreciate the frustration "Heavycat" feels,
with a lack of sales and a huge investment. I think he should take 3 steps backward, rethink his position. It appears that he is reaching out for constructive suggestions on how to get the sales up, however he seems to be venting.

Scott, I just saw a pre-order for the CD at Chips & Bits, which said "coming soon". Is the timetable still a year away?

Hi Scott,

First I must apologize for not writing sooner. We had some email contact a while back, and I think I owe you an email.

I've been looking over all you've done, and think it is remarkable what you have accomplished. You went into this with a very professional attitude, and created a product that is clever and fun, with involved story lines. You have a real dedication to your mission of providing quality entertainment for girls.

The adventure game market is a tough one... that is certain!! Casual gamers are more likely to buy card games, for instance. And these are much faster and easier to develop.

I've tried to keep my development costs to a minimum as I learned by pretty well doing everything myself. The graphics on some of my early work make me cringe now! I certainly made many mistakes.

I've spent most of the last year working on the new game at:

http://www.pharosgames.com/cherokee/

and I feel if this one doesn't do well enough for me to make a living at it, it may be my last game. So I can definitely empathize with you.

There is a book called "The Tipping Point" that may interest you. Did you know that Hush Puppies, for instance, nearly went out of business? They "caught on" with a small group of kids in New York, and this spread until the brand was well established.

It might be that way with LadyStar. It needs to catch on with young girls. I would say even 7 year olds could play these games, and the artwork and characters would really appeal to them. You just need this to really catch on with a particular group of young girls, and when they start telling their friends, it will spread!

Good luck!

Kathy

We have had numerous registrations. The problem isn't that we're completely without customers, it is that the registrations are not keeping pace with the demonstrated interest in the site and the episodes. As the number of downloads increases, and the amount of traffic on the site increases, registration levels remain about the same, which leads me to believe that there remains a significant group of people who are downloading as much as they can, but waiting to register for some unexplained reason. It should not be this difficult to sell a $17 product.

It appears that he is reaching out for constructive suggestions on how to get the sales up

Well, as you mentioned, it can be somewhat frustrating, but whether or not I or anyone else is frustrated is secondary. I spent many a day frustrated before this game would even run properly.

If nothing else, it is clear that LadyStar does not appeal to adventure game fans, even though it is an adventure game. Our choice to do artwork in an anime style has led people to believe that our game is only suitable for young children, which makes it even more unlikely that any real attention will be paid to the story or the characters, or the puzzles.

Apparently it is not enough that it be an adventure game, but also that it have a particular kind of story and characters, which was the basis for my original comment about subdividing the market.

Players and potential customers, when presented with something new and unfamiliar, it seems, have little patience for exposition and introductions, and so have not given LadyStar any time at all to do what all stories must do.

And so, it will never be known by many players whether LadyStar is or is not a story only for young children (it isn't), because in order to know that for sure, the story must be told, and that cannot happen in the first third of the first episode.

Every single feature of our game (and web site) now, from the characters to the story, to the interface, etc., and even the title; has been criticized as a negative at one point or another. Were we to act on every suggestion we've received, the only alternative would be to scrap the game and web site, and start over, which isn't practical, nor is it fair to our existing customers.

saw a pre-order for the CD at Chips & Bits

Chips & Bits is not authorized to offer the LadyStar CD-ROM for sale (mainly because there is no LadyStar CD-ROM right now). I have seen that offer as well, and I haven't the foggiest idea what it is they think they are selling. If anyone is planning to purchase LadyStar on CD-ROM, please order from Heavy Cat Multimedia's web site at www.ladystar.net There are no other companies (other than the CafePress merchandise) authorized to sell anything related to LadyStar at this time.

The LadyStar CD-ROM cannot be published until all of the episodes have been released, so it will be at least a year before we can begin shipping it. In the meantime, we may offer a pre-order of the CD-ROM which would include registration of the electronic version.

I appreciate everyone's comments.

Hi Kathy,

I've been looking over all you've done, and think it is remarkable what you have accomplished.

Thanks very much. I appreciate the compliment.

You have a real dedication to your mission of providing quality entertainment for girls.

Well, girls are one of the four groups we originally thought LadyStar might appeal to. Anime fans (who won't need any explanation as to what bishoujo sentai is) will probably appreciate LadyStar too. Perhaps casual game players could also think of LadyStar as an introductory adventure game. We'll see.

I would say even 7 year olds could play these games, and the artwork and characters would really appeal to them.

That's quite possible. I think 7-year olds may need help with the reading level at some points, but you're probably right. I really do appreciate the encouraging comments, and ometedou (Japanese for congratulations) on the new game!

It sounds like they're taking a wait and see attitude. It's hard to judge a book when you've only read part of the introduction. Most game demos plunge you into the midst of the game to give you an idea of the gameplay. LadyStar doesn't seem to be so much about the gameplay as about the story. And how would you make a good demo of a story?
If I want to decide whether to read a book or not, I don't read the first chapter. I look at reviews and see if it's the sort of thing I'd like. And there aren't any reviews for LadyStar. The part of the game with the most meat in the story isn't out yet. We're still in the introductory part. When more of the story is revealed in future episodes and you start getting into the really interesting stuff, then we'll see some reviews. But right now there's no real word of mouth from fellow gamers on what the whole game (and the quality of the whole story) is like.

I think someone else posted that if you want to do a serial-type story, you have to have some hook that makes people want to see the next episode. It doesn't seem to be there yet. Maybe by the time you finish the free volume it will be there and you'll get more registrations.

Quote:

If nothing else, it is clear that LadyStar does not appeal to adventure game fans, even though it is an adventure game. Our choice to do artwork in an anime style has led people to believe that our game is only suitable for young children, which makes it even more unlikely that any real attention will be paid to the story or the characters, or the puzzles.

How many anime fans are also adventure gamers?
Are most adventure gamers not anime fans?

I just wondered. I'm not specifically a fan of anime, though I do enjoy cartoon movies on occasion and some of my favorite games are animated ones (Monkey Island 1, Toonstruck, Discworld 1+2, Simon the Sorceror 1+2). But LadyStar doesn't really play like a game the way these games do.

I'm not saying it's bad that LadyStar is different. But it is different and some people who download will decide it isn't what they thought and that it isn't for them. This has less to do with the game using anime graphics than it does to do with how you interact with the game.

If I try to imagine the LadyStar characters in a game which played like Monkey Island, I come up with something very different from what I see in LadyStar.

Quote:

Apparently it is not enough that it be an adventure game, but also that it have a particular kind of story and characters, which was the basis for my original comment about subdividing the market.

You call it an adventure game, but it really seems more like an interactive storybook. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it means your potential customers may not be who you'd expect.

Quote:

Players and potential customers, when presented with something new and unfamiliar, it seems, have little patience for exposition and introductions, and so have not given LadyStar any time at all to do what all stories [b]must do.

[/b]

But you're marketing it as a game, not a story. People try it and it's not quite what they expect.

Quote:

Every single feature of our game (and web site) now, from the characters to the story, to the interface, etc., and even the title; has been criticized as a negative at one point or another. Were we to act on every suggestion we've received, the only alternative would be to scrap the game and web site, and start over, which isn't practical, nor is it fair to our existing customers.

I'm glad you have consideration for your existing customers. Your customer care service is better than with most game companies.

One thing I don't really understand is why you apparently never considered midi files for sounds. Midi files are tiny compared to mp3 or wav files and you wouldn't have to increase download size by much at all. And many webpages on the Net contain embedded midis which don't seem to cause problems with browsers. It may be too late to do anything about it now, but I'm curious as to why you chose not to use midis.

How many anime fans are also adventure gamers?

I suppose such a question could be answered by the number of sequels to Final Fantasy. Granted, it is a console RPG, but the basics of the RPG and the adventure game, namely story, characters, etc. are similar with the only real difference being the absence of combat in adventures.

Are most adventure gamers not anime fans?

Based on the responses here, I would say yes. So far, the animated appearance of the characters has been roundly criticized as a chief reason not to play the game, appeals citing similar characters in numerous other successful and popular adventure games notwithstanding.

I'm not saying it's bad that LadyStar is different. But it is different and some people who download will decide it isn't what they thought and that it isn't for them. This has less to do with the game using anime graphics than it does to do with how you interact with the game.

So by changing the description of the game from "adventure game" to "interactive storybook" somehow the game will suddenly match expectations and become better than it is now? Somehow I think the words "interactive storybook" would irrevocably consign LadyStar to the "FOR KIDS ONLY" category of games and further limit what little appeal it may have had to adventure game fans.

I can say that the recent falloff in registrations has prompted some serious discussion of making LadyStar into a "Visual Novel" or something similar. It would take a great deal of pressure off the development schedule not to have to include puzzles, inventory and multiple-path interactive maps in an attempt to appeal to adventure game fans who would rather play something else.

Unless fans of adventure games begin to evaluate games on their own merits instead of comparing them (always unfavorably) to what has come before, the game industry will continue to churn out dozens of uninspired clones for which players will be expected to pay top dollar.

It is flatly unfair to compare LadyStar on a one-to-one basis with many other adventure games by companies like LucasArts, Sierra, or even Her Interactive. All of these companies can bring immense resources: millions of dollars, nationwide distribution and teams of dozens of salaried professionals to bear on the development and marketing of their games.

In such an environment, the sale of even a single copy of a game like LadyStar is a profoundly remarkable event. We have not only accomplished that, but many other things as well. Unfortunately, it seems, that is not enough.

If I try to imagine the LadyStar characters in a game which played like Monkey Island, I come up with something very different from what I see in LadyStar.

If I try to imagine LadyStar with the development budget, equipment and marketing staff of LucasArts, so do I.

See, game developers are left in a nearly impossible situation. The game-buying public will accept nothing less than a Waterworld-esque screaming typhoon-level expenditure of money to produce a game which will almost certainly not break even. 390 of the 400 games released every year at retail lose money.

Meanwhile, independent developers, unable to expend such resources and able only to aspire to a moderate success because their game not only doesn't compare to the big-money clones, but can't, are similarly unable to break even.

So the game-buying public is left with either no games, or $60.00 sequels and clones.

I'm glad you have consideration for your existing customers. Your customer care service is better than with most game companies.

I appreciate that. We do our best. To us, the fact that so many have purchased LadyStar over other games is a great inspiration for us to continue our work and to improve on it.

One thing I don't really understand is why you apparently never considered midi files for sounds. Midi files are tiny compared to mp3 or wav files and you wouldn't have to increase download size by much at all. And many webpages on the Net contain embedded midis which don't seem to cause problems with browsers. It may be too late to do anything about it now, but I'm curious as to why you chose not to use midis.

Midis would solve two of the noted problems, but not the third. All of our stock music is in the form of .wav format files, so in order to have MIDIs to include in the game, we would need to compose the music and transcribe it. While we have the equipment to do that, we don't have the man-hours to devote to it, as all of our time is taken with writing and graphics. "Oh, She's Just a Pest" for example, contains over 400 original files, over half of which (IIRC) are graphics.

Again, if we can find a way to include music in future episodes, and midis would be a good choice for the reasons you noted, we will do so. Thanks very much for the comments.

(Note: The third episode should be available to play on-line as early as tomorrow)

No. But we can compare it to "Passage: Path of Betrayal," which was created almost entirely by one very talented person on a minimal budget. "Passage" was played and enjoyed by many Gameboomers.

Have you played "Passage?" It shows what can be accomplished with a low budget game.


Quandary review at
http://www.quandaryland.com/jsp/dispArticle.jsp?index=402

I think "Passage" is more what Gameboomers are expecting in terms of gameplay with a low budget adventure game. We aren't comparing LadyStar to Escape from Monkey Island or Grim Fandango.

Even if you don't play "Passage" I hope you'll take a look at the Quandary review which will give you an idea of what the game is like. You've been insisting that we're comparing LadyStar to high budget games, and that simply isn't the case.

I don't expect you to label LadyStar as an "interactive storybook." I just used that description because I though it was obvious what I meant by it. That description might match expectations better but it wouldn't necessarily mean more purchases. But if you called LadyStar a "virtual novel" to begin with, you might have fewer downloads and your ratio of downloads to registrations would be different. That was something you asked about, wasn't it? Why so many downloads compared to so few registrations?

IMHO For LadyStar to be an adventure game, every episode would have to have puzzles of some sort, not just one episode out of three. Right now LadyStar seems to be leaning a lot more heavily toward being a "virtual novel" than an adventure game, no matter what you call it. You might cut out all puzzles and make it even less interactive, but even in its present state it's less of an adventure game than most adventure gamers are expecting and I think that's part of the problem.

I hope I haven't offended or depressed you with any of my comments. I certainly wish you luck with LadyStar and will be following its progress.

Now I want to start this response by saying I am not going to criticize another developer's work. I'm sure Passage is a fine game, and deserves all the praise it has obviously received.

"Passage" was played and enjoyed by many Gameboomers.

LadyStar, on the other hand, was not played by many Gameboomers, apparently. Those who have tried it, by and large, gave up somewhere between Jessica's house and the school according to their own comments: before even a second character could be introduced. They then went on to give up on the game completely, citing various reasons, including downloads, lack of music, anime characters, etc.

I think "Passage" is more what Gameboomers are expecting in terms of gameplay with a low budget adventure game.

Well, LadyStar isn't Passage. Now, should that, in and of itself, reflect negatively on LadyStar? I don't believe it should. LadyStar, in many respects, is entirely dissimilar to previous adventure games. It never occurred to us that this would be seen as a negative, given game-players' constant clamor for "something new."

I think the primary reason behind the initial interest in Passage has to do with its oft-mentioned similarity to the King's Quest series.

Additionally, were LadyStar to be more similar to Passage or King's Quest, it would likely be instantly labeled as a Passage or King's Quest ripoff, which would substitute for downloads/anime characters/lack of music/etc. as the reason not to play or purchase it.

IMHO For LadyStar to be an adventure game, every episode would have to have puzzles of some sort, not just one episode out of three.

Again, this unpublished checklist of what qualifies a game as an adventure game was unavailable to us during development. And again, so far we've been told that an adventure game must:

1) Not have cel-style illustrated characters
2) Not be a download
3) Have music and a soundtrack
4) Not have a "bunch of kids" as main characters
5) Not have a "giggly adolescent female" as a main character
6) Have puzzles in every episode
7) Be more like ____________ (insert favorite game)
8) Be available on CD-ROM
9) Have a storyline that is instantly and overwhelmingly
appealing in the first few pages.

..and so forth. The only solution to this checklist is to scrap the project.

even in its present state it's less of an adventure game than most adventure gamers are expecting and I think that's part of the problem.

To include so many puzzles, we would have no choice but to bury the story in sliders, mazes and confusion. The one puzzle we have included so far (the solution to which only involves finding two hidden features in background images) has served no other purpose than to a) frustrate players, and b) obstruct people from the story portions of the third episode. Most of the rest of the people have never seen the puzzle, because they gave up on the game two episodes back.

I hope I haven't offended or depressed you with any of my comments.

I'm not offended or depressed. I never expected LadyStar to necessarily appeal to everyone, but by the same token I didn't expect that we would have to start from our own one-yard line either. We seem to be carrying a lot more weight up the hill than should be expected of us, and I think most of that weight is in the form of disappointment in previous web-related episodic projects of one sort or another.

I certainly wish you luck with LadyStar and will be following its progress.

I must say I'm confused that so many people are planning to follow LadyStar's progress when they have already indicated their lack of interest in the game.

I do appreciate it, however, and hope you'll try all the episodes in the first volume.

Obviously the frustration level has risen on both sides of the equation...developer and consumer. In defense of the consumer (or gamer) they are not used to having to explain to a developer why they are not interested in a certain game. When it hits the market they read the reviews and ultimately explain with their dollars. They either buy it or they don't which is what I think most have been trying to say. And while gamers on this board have often expressed a longing for quality adventure games if you check back on the posts they weren't requesting "different". They were talking about well developed characters, an entertaining story line, challenging and well integrated puzzles and an immersive enviroment. That's what an adventure gamer looks for and that's what makes them an adventure gamer. When you start removing elements such as puzzles and sound you have now ventured out of their interest zone. Which is not to say you don't have a wonderful product. You just don't have a compelling adventure game product. Compare this with other genres. If you severely restricted the use of weapons and spells in an RPG game would you then try to convince the RPG gamer they should like it anyway since it's not a clone but different? Once you have eliminated expected elements in a genre, you are out of the genre. As you are with Lady Star.
But I understand your frustration also. You are wearing all the hats. Developer, publisher, marketing agent and retail agent and it is almost impossible to do it all well. If you had had the marketing research at your fingertips that the Biggies have you would have realized up front that if you were targeting the adventure player you had big holes in your design.
I think you should re-think about what Jenny has said in a previous post. Obviously, I don't blame you for not wanting to dismantle your game. But she has suggested searching for a different target audience and marketing it to them instead of trying to convince the adventure gamer to like a game that is simply not the type they normally buy.
Some of the posts have mentioned Passage and I can add another that was produced by a single family. "Cracking The Conspiracy". Most adventurers who played it liked it, for it had all the elements of an adventure game. The individuals that produced these two games knew exactly what to include.
And so if we are left with just the major companies who understamd and thus produce what we want to play, so be it. We are the consumer, and the burden lies with the developer to produce the type of game they can sell to whatever market they are targeting. The consumer will always dictate the preferences with his dollar, not the other way around.
But I do wish you the best as I would no matter what type of game you had developed for independent developers are as vital a part of the gaming world as independent publishers in the book publishing industry. These are the places where new and refreshing ideas are tested and allowed to surface. And it may be that at some point something truly innovative ( as you seem to be trying) will capture the fancy of a very large audience. But it takes time for the audience to develop. In the interim, good luck.

In reading this very lengthy thread for three days now, IMHO, it seems to me that not much has been resolved. The Ladystar website has been re-worked to make it easier to navigate but not much else. Comments have been made by the target market and the game producer has clarified their reasons for making the game as they did. For whatever reasons, the game seems to be not interesting enough for the majority of folks to pay for it and continue playing it.

It is impossible to please everyone in the marketplace, particularly in the world of cyberspace where individual preferences can be registered by everyone in a very short time. It is also very difficult to make the Internet a profitable venture regardless of the product or service being offered on it.

The folks at Ladystar need to make the game the way they want to and deliver it the way they see fit. If it succeeds, great. If not, then they need to design a new strategy or new product to offer or admit it's not working and move on. To continue out of strong personal feeling or sentiment is not productive business. Make no mistake, this is a business after all and Adam Smith's "invisible hand" of capitalism still reigns supreme.