Julius, don't try to hate on Richard. He's a valued member of this community

No, I most certainly am not...

I never liked the name warlight, so i like the name change. I do agree that a name like "wartactick" is a name that gives a better reflection of the game, but I think warzone will attract a lot more new players.

I have been playing this because i like the game, and do really not care what the game is called. So i hope the people that cry about a name will leave and i welcome the new players that will make this a great game for a lot of people.

So I think Fizzer has makes a great decision to change to warzone.com, all those new players will contribute on more open games, more people to meet and probably more players that are making maps, etc.

What i do wish to be seen changed however is that the coingames become more separated, so it will be more closed off for the people that are not permitted(by law)/dont want to play coin games. It could also scare off a part of the new players.
More option for the coin games and a (voluntarily)forummod that removes/relokate post that go off topic would also be nice.

No, I most certainly am not...

True.

But you are very right, this will realistically do nothing.

I think people are complaining cos he didn't consult us first.

Fizzer no longer gives a bloody damn about how we as a community feel. He will never listen to us.

I do care about how the community feels. I've read every post in both of these threads. I'd like to hear more from those of you who are upset or say you're quitting over this. Why does the name matter?

My guiding principle when building WarLight has been, "What would I want if I was a player?". That principle has been what's avoided all the pay-to-win features that most of the other free games are doing. And if I was a player, I wouldn't care at all about the name, and this is why I am surprised there's such an outcry over it. Help me understand.

He is just going to turn this into a "click here to play for money" game.

It's true that my primary goal right now is to make the game profitable. I wish this wasn't true, I wish I could just continue adding features and customization to the game forever and never have to worry about revenue or profits. That's the stuff I enjoy doing. I don't enjoy working on payment or advertising systems.

In fact, WarLight was ran that way for its first 3 years. It did not make even one cent of revenue, and I paid the hosting fees out of my own money. I wish I could have continued doing that forever, but it was simply not sustainable. As the site grew, the cost grew, and today it costs over $1,000 per month just to keep the servers online.

Eventually, we plan on doing a lot of marketing and promotion of the game. This is something that's been sorely missing in WarLight's past, and it's one of the reasons that it's still a niche game and is not well known. When doing marketing, it's important to have an easy-to-hear and easy-to-remember name, and after talking it over a lot and testing the names on lots of people we eventually decided that a name change was necessary before we should do any big marketing pushes.

It's just that Fizzer no longer gives a bloody damn about how we as a community feel.
He will never listen to us. He is just going to turn this into a "click here to play for money" game.

To claim, that Fizzer doesn't care about the community, is pure hogwash, as it'd be his downfall.
Also, what is wrong with "click here to play for money", as long as it's not pay2win/..?
No one is forcing you to play for money.

Change feels unusual and hurts, but is necessary.
(I prefer the current name (WarLight))

Edited 1/30/2015 06:17:48

We who have played this game for years shouldnt be utterly ignored and tossed aside.
This is a great game and its called WARLIGHT fuck 'warzone' sounds chessy and lame as fuck in all honesty

And if I was a player, I wouldn't care at all about the name

You ARE a player, and all players should be valued. We like the old name because it has a nice ring to it. I introduced a mate to it two days ago and he was like:

Me: "Hey, I play this cool game called WarLight. Want to try it at lunch (we have no blocking at school)?

Him: "Ok"

I mean, WarLight has a REALLY cool name. It sounds like its gonna have neon stuff and be a mix of TRON and Risk. THAT IS A GOOD MIX.

Also, I have selfish reasons not to want WarLight to get too popular: If it gets too popular, the school's glacial internet will run EVEN slower.

This thread has good chances to win the silliest thread of 2015 slammy award.

I posted this same thing in the other thread, but this thread is more where it should go. If you saw it there already, ignore it here.

I understand what Fizzer has been saying. Every single time I have tried to tell someone about how much I love this game Warlight, the conversation goes like this:
"War-what?"
"Warlight: like the word war, then light, like a light bulb."
"Oh, ok."
"Also, it's warlight.net."
"Oh, got it. [blankly stares at me like they have no idea what I'm talking about]"
"Do you have a pen and paper, I'll just write it down for you."
"Ok, thanks..."
They never understand me the first time and then after that little discussion, they aren't nearly as excited to try the game as they were just minutes ago. My (very brief) background in sales taught me that closing needs to be quick and painless. You can get a person super pumped about anything, but then if there's a long and/or confusing procedure between when they want it and when they can get it, they are likely to just give up. Warzone.com is a much easier name to understand the first time it's said. Also, there are potential new people to pick up with the name. Fizzer claims we'll be the top search result. If that's so, people searching for warzone 2100 and that out of print board game might stumble upon us.

But I also like what Braak said a while back. You don't have to ask EVERYONE to get good feedback, Fizzer. You can ask a few trusted people for some different perspectives and let's not forget some additional researching power. However, like others have said, this is your game. You made it, you do what you want with it. War Zone is a boring, generic sounding name. But I didn't join or stay for 2 years because I liked the name "Warlight."

And people, why is Fizzer wanting to make more money a bad thing? How many hours of work has he put into this site for FREE?? He has certainly worked at least full time hours for years, and what does he have to show for it? A strong community of people who love his game and yell and bitch at him everytime he makes the most superficial of changes that don't even affect the actual game play! Large parts of this discussion remind me of what happens every time Facebook changes. I didn't stay here for 2 years because of the "community," either. You can find other strong communities all over the web with any group of people you share a common interest with.

The reason I stayed here for 2 years is because I like the game play. I keep playing, because unlike so many games, Warlight doesn't have micropurchases. You aren't forced to pay to keep going. You can't even pay for any sort of advantage. Fizzer himself has no in game advantage over someone who just joined today. That is not common in today's post-Farmville era of gaming. I'm not much of a gamer, but I can't think of any other completely free games that have been around for over 5 years.

Keep up the good work, Fizzer!

Kevin J Luker

I'm really confused... You guys still know that after the name change warlight.net will still work for you? It'll just redirect you to whatever the new domain will be. Much bigger sites have done it (thatguywiththeglusses.com for example). I could understand critique of sth that actually influences the game, but a name change? I don't quite understand how it changes the gaming experience for anyone on the site.

Signed!!

I don't like the new name at all, but we will get used to it like Fizzer said. I mean warlight is not a great name, let's be honest, but we've loved the game = loved the name. Same with this name hopefully. It will have no other problem except us not liking it. Maybe a little minor inconvenience but that will be fixed after a while. Fizzer wouldn't be changing it if he didn't think it would improve the game. Especially if typing warlight still comes up!

Not signed. Support Fizzer.

I think the new name is just as good as the old, obtaining that .com is more important for us to help our numbers grow.

Not signed. Support Fizzer.

I understand why a new name of the game is needed. It's all about marketing and getting new players. I enjoy destroying noobs so that's not a bad idea. But "warzone" sounds poor and shitty to me.

The only Pedtition I'd sign is one that stops people trying to get people to sign petitions online.

This would have to be done offline of course.

I'd imagine the online petition for banning offline petitions would recieve swifter support.

Personally I don't care about the name so much, it could be WarPron for what its worth. It's not the worst issue around warlight.
But if the following statement is true:

My guiding principle when building WarLight has been, "What would I want if I was a player?"

why not let the players participate by making official votes on various topics?

My initial reaction to hearing about the man change was that our was a bad idea, not be because I love the name warlight so much, but because I thought it he has built up brand equity, so the change would harm the attempt to get more players.

Now that Fizzer has explained his reasoning a bit more fully, I think I overestimated the level of equity he has in the name. Names are relatively immaterial; what matters is the game itself, which isn't changing.