[Temar]

Dear community,

Today, we are pleased to announce that Limelight has become a registered company. There will be very few noticeable changes on your end as a result of this change, yet we are sure that some of you will have questions regarding this, so don't be afraid to post them as replies to this thread. Some of the most common questions we expect you'll have are already covered below.

Why?

There are several benefits to being registered as a limited company; one of our primary reasons is security. Cyber security is a very serious issue right now, and global authorities are clamping down on attacks and providing companies with new safeguards and unprecedented levels of protection. Gone are the days when someone can successfully attack us and get away scot-free - being a company means that, in the event of a serious attack, we can request assistance from the authorities to ensure the safety of your data and the continuation of your beloved CityRP 2 gamemode servers. We have already taken certain legal steps to ensure increased security for Limelight and your personal data. We have already proven ourselves very capable on our own in the past year, and none of this is likely to be an issue, but it is better to be prepared.

These changes allow us to improve our rate of development while ensuring the security of the gamemode and our assets.

It also gives us financial stability in how we manage funding for our servers, development, and general services. We now have new guidelines and procedures in place which we follow, ensuring that everything that we do is documented, official, and legal. If you have any concerns, please do not hesitate to contact a member of staff.



What's Going to Change?

Not much at your end. Certainly there will be a few administrative changes in the staff team, but you won't see any difference in how we moderate the servers, how the servers are run or what happens if you break a rule (don't worry, you won't go to prison if you break FearRP!).

The only major difference you as a player will see is the Donations section (and subsequently 'Donator' tag) being renamed. This will be changed to membership, but you'll still have the same perks and will retain any active donator statuses bought. Membership prices will not change; while money is what helps to drive development and allows us to keep the servers up, we’re not interested in driving prices higher. We want our gamemode to remain just as accessible, and we’re still absolutely against any pay-to-win systems.

Inside the staff team, things will be a little different. There will be more accountability than before, and staff will have to follow procedure more closely to ensure that we’re doing right by our players and customers.

A lot of this sounds very serious, but in practice, very little will change on the forums and servers. We’re still the same community, the same team, and we still host the same servers and gamemode; we’re just taking steps to ensure our continued security, and that we’re doing everything as officially and legally as possible. Again, if you have any concerns, please do not hesitate to contact a member of staff.

[PaulB]

Great to hear but what's your opinion on the US Server? Can we also get the expenditure reports for the last 2-3 months?

[Trident]

It's been a while since I have actually played on the servers but it is great watching Limelight grow like this.

[Faustie]

Hey PaulB, 

We've kept the US server up despite its player-base struggling for a couple of reasons. Firstly, we still have enough money to cover all of our assets and also encourage development, but it's true that the US server is a money drain right now. That said, a second dedicated server does provide us with excellent immediate redundancy in case there's a major issue with the EU box.

We've also noted the amount of players who have been campaigning for a more active US server, and who get upset when people recommend shutting it off. We still would like to bring CityRP 2 to a wider US audience, but of course, without the numbers and the people willing to get on there even with a low player-count, that'll be difficult.

We're constantly reviewing this sort of stuff, and we'll probably have a very in-depth review (which will include getting your opinions) of that soon, alongside the next expenditure reports - these were delayed as there was a surprising amount we had to sort out in regards to the above announcement. We've taken steps to further ensure the security and legal protection in quite a few areas, especially in development. Because of that, there's been little time left over to sort these individual reports.

[Arch.B]

That no means you can claim Tax back doesnt it?

[PaulB]

@Faustie I see, but I still do not understand why £200 a month is being pumped into a server which has less than 3 people a day actively on it as well as the US people saying US Server development is lacking which has been updated and fixed all the bugs, yet we still see no players on the server, I presume you track the server population soon I'll be doing my self using game tracker /w cron job. If it is possible mind showing us how many active players per week/month on the EU Rockford and US Rockford if it isn't a hassle,

[Faustie]

We'll publish some more stats information soon as we try and get more opinions on the US server, sure.

[sauce]

Damn... I guess this is now getting a bit serious.

I'm going to go ahead and presume this is registered in the UK?

[Raptor]

Another big step towards success

[Brax]

This is good news. A very good step in the right direction.

[Toxic]

Where can I send chocolates and alcoholic beverages to show my appreciation?

[Macklemore Enthusiast]

does this make admins employee's of limelight.
Give the admins health care man.

[Temar]

Empoyees is a Complicated thing
Due to all the requirements, min wage, pension, etc its not doable
we operate as voluteers or contractors

[Faustie]

Yes, everything has to be done legally. At the end of our financial year, we'll file accounts and so on. We're keeping a close eye on this and have set up a small staff section which takes care of all this. This section isn't necessarily tied to administration - some people there will be administrators, but not all. Vauld will be helping us out in this area and focusing exclusively on the business side of things, which should take some of the load off our backs and means that Temar and I can focus more on development.

This is still a very new change to us, but we're very happy at having gotten so far in under a year. We've made more progress than I'd thought possible, and we'll carry on working hard and trying new ideas, even if they fail. The US server may have been an idea that failed, if it doesn't pick up, but it was worth trying and if we were risk-averse then we would've have been able to make nearly the progress we have so far.

To answer a couple more concerns and provide some more information: the reason front-end development has been a little slow this month is due to a mix of exams, setting up this company change, and quite a lot of back-end work. Burnett has been working hard on making the servers more secure and our gameservers more efficient; Vol has been improving some code and some utilities staff use in-game; Temar and I have been pretty busy with this latest shift, but I've been working alongside Vol and the admins on quite a nice, but large, update that we're very determined to get right, hence the long time taken.

More information to come soon, but I want to ensure I don't say anything that isn't entirely true so as not to disappoint you guys, so I need to confer with my betters on the matter.

Edit: Forgot this. EvoRadio has been down because we want to ensure that we're running a legal radio station, rather than doing what is technically illegal by streaming licensed music. Barkles, our resident audio and production chap, is working hard in his spare time to organise the necessary changes. We'll either shift to more custom, home-brewed programming and alternative music in the down-time, or pay the necessary license fees. That will all depend on our income, but either way, EvoRadio will return in some form or another, in due time.

[Safira]

EXCITING