SeedInvest Campaign - Discussions with Richard Garriott / Lord British

"Is an Alert Warranted here ?"
If I'm not mistaken, we must reach the goal amount before we actually have any investment in our game through seed invest ...


We must first reach the goal amount!
~Time Lord~

 

Thus... The incentive of the perks...
If the Seed Invest goal isn't reached...
Then we got some swag out of the deal...

 

Which is my first indicator that they aren't going under...
Offer golden swag for a game that's on it's way out?
Here's the lines guys...

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Look between them...

 

Whatever the case, I think that Portalarium should stand ready with some new bundles or Add-On Store deals just in case the deadline comes and the seed invest goal hasn't been reached. Which would mean we all get back some big SOTA $ burring a hole in our pockets. But it's still "Quite Early" and I do expect those minimum seed invest goals to be reached There's 2 more months to go on that seed invest availability and since they began "letter numbering them", we could possibly expect a continuation of further "lesser worth shares" being offered ?'

I'd also be ready to pony up for opportunity as well !'

~TL~

 

The fact that it's B preferred stock is almost a dead ringer that common stock will be issued at a later date.
I'm buying as much as I can...

 

"The Black Rock Must Be Ours @Duke Ezekiel Cooper !"
I'm right behind you on that note !'

 

Yup,

It's a personal decision but I have a lot of faith in the team. We all know what the worst case scenario could be. But the best case scenario, long term, compensates for a risk I am comfortable taking. I expect to significantly increase exposure by the deadline.

Make no mistake, I am investing in the company not for the perks. But the perks will likely determine how deep I go!

 

See... I'm gonna part with some of my own tactics here and I probably shouldn't... But I'm going to...
And then everybody can say whatever they want about the BMC...
What I'm about to write is to the community from the BMC...

Not only do I run a virtual business in the game, but I do business outside the game to.
Now I know a lot of people do the same, and I'm not trying to one-up those folks,
but it's been my experience, that when you run a company,
you don't sell B preferred stock when you have a reputation on the line that is of the magnitude of Richard Garriott's if your company is going under.
That's a long lasting effect that travels with your name if your just doing it to generate money before you close your doors.

That would be like the BMC offering players in the game a stake in our treasury and then shut the guild down.
We'd be ruined and so would Ezekiel Cooper...

You also have to look at what the "A" stockholders are doing...
Seen any sellouts? You seen Dallas Snell, Starr long, or any of the other "A" stockholders heading for the hills?

These are all indicators...

Another indicator, is the language of the agreement between "B" stock and the "A" stock holders.
Those "A" stock holders have gone to great lengths to protect their interest and to make sure that "B" Stock holders understand where they fit in the scheme of things.
Don't you think that if they were going under or was gonna "Keelhaul" that they would give more incentives to buy the "B" stock?

Psychology plays a HUGE role in how companies, both virtual and physical, tend to their business.

The BMC is a virtual company that genuinely view the community as it's customers... So it's only natural that we are geared to serve our customers.
Likewise...
Portalarium views the players, right now, as it's investors and what has made this game possible...
They are serving their investors before they offer common stock to their customers.

Take it for what you will...
But I'm right... I know it in my heart...

 

I have one very tiny complaint about the charts. The two Use of Proceeds charts of should be color coded the same. The inconsistency is irking my anal side.

 

Why is that difficult to understand? I would hope that people carefully consider all their investments. If I have an extra $1000 to invest, I'm going to put it where I feel I will get the best return and that really doesn't have anything to do with how much I pledged to this project previously. And let's be honest, most people who would be willing to spend $500+ probably already have most of what they need in the game. Do they really need a gold house or gold armor? So it really comes down to the financial return of the investment.

If people feel comfortable investing in Portalarium, by all means, I hope they do it. I want this game to succeed. For me personally, I scrutinize any possible investment and would hold Portalarium to the same standards as any other company that I would consider investing in.

 

Well taken and well said @Duke Ezekiel Cooper ... thanks for sharing!

I think I went well passed that point when I only had a Founder Knight's pledge But it was between investing in this, or buying new golf clubs, but I'm never going to beat Tiger Woods because all us old men only shoot in the high 80's then I thought about buying a hobby car to work on, but then "Tool Time" went off the air which ended of my love affair with my Craftsmen Tool collection ... Now I'm retired in Thailand where I can play golf from sun up to sun down while sipping on margaritas, but it's the same as Texas is here which is sometimes like taking a walk on the surface of the Sun

So now I thank God for my air-con and my SOTA while living here in paradise still soaking down the margaritas
So it's not just a hobby for me, it's an Ultima adventure... "venture capitalist thing for me and what money I would have easily spent on a weekend tour to Los Vegas with the AARP" But I do feel strongly in the confidence I have with our Portalarium game programing all star team! Compared to most all other developers in gaming, these are the professors who have moved the industry for literally decades and setting the standards that all others after based their games on! ~TL~

 

@Sargon,

Yes... its not that complicated in that if all people wanted to do was give more funding to Portalarium, there are plenty of items on the add-on store right now that they could pay for. Buy a reliquary, lot deeds, homes, etc.

In order for this investment to be worth it, it has to offer some added benefit.

And the thing is that a lot of people probably already have spent according to their regular comfort limits, and are not, for instance, willing to put more money into the add-on store, so that something added is the only thing that would get them to invest in stock.

 

just looked back over the thread and this has been brought up a few times, please can we have an answer about whether any additional perks will be added between 1k and 10k?

 

I haven't read every post - but if this question hasn't been asked yet, I'll ask it: will the digital items (armor, sword, shield, etc.) for seedinvest be pattern-able? If they are, it may encourage more players to invest.

 

Just my two cents,while some folks seem to be encouraging people to invest,everyone needs to remember that you need to decide for yourself what to invest in or not invest in. I am not saying that this is a bad investment, I am saying that you need to decide for yourself your level of risk that you are comfortable with. you cannot trust your financial decisions based on the fact that anyone says they are throwing their money into something.

 

I am investing, but I would invest more (much more) if I received some kind of digital reward for my past (substantial) pledge investments via the Kickstarter. Perhaps a 'credit' for my account pledge toward digital rewards offered with the stock purchase. It would cost Port nothing and it would emotionally incentivize (and reward) me to buy more stock. Again, I am buying already, but I would more ....

 

I was thinking the same thing. I think the seedinvest is potentially a good idea for Port and the game - but I'm a little gun-shy about investing after spending so very much on my original pledge. If I could have predicted the future back when I pledged, I would have just waited until now and gotten a house, tax free deed and other items while possibly getting a return back to boot.

I believe it would be a really good idea for them to add an extra bonus for those who have already pledged. Throw the backers a bone or two and it may go a long way in the seedinvest campaign.

 

I like that this is a non-credit transaction. Otherwise I could have been tempted to go higher.

 

"I don't know if what I will offer in response is totally true or not"

But...
It's very possible that what's being asked for in adding additional "perk for past pledges" could be highly illegal if Portalarium did that, as the pledges and investing are two separate things. We must keep in mind that Portalarium is under strict legal guidelines about "even their comments" about the seed invest offer. They are bound by legal obligations, "NOT" to talk about particular things and refer everyone to only the information on the site itself. Portalarium can't even re-print that same information on the site, "nor can we investors here in the forums" because the forums themselves are associated with Portalarium.

Lord British spoke about this during the announcement on the telethon. I'll try and locate that video and queue it to when the announcement was made and place it in an edit here in this post.


The official Lord British announcement which better describes this begins at 7:03:20
https://www.seedinvest.com/portalarium/series.b
~Time Lord~

 

Ah, very true! I didn't think of that.. but then again, I'm not a Time Lord!