Well, it's almost been a year since the launch of the Darkspace Connection website, eleven months to be exact, and I'm beginning to wonder something, will Darkspace survive long past the June 24th One-Year Anniversery since DSC's launch. In this article I'm going to be discussing some things about Darkspace and this website, my opinions, etc.

When I created the Darkspace Connection website back in last June of 2003, the game itself wasn't doing all that bad, Darkspace was in 1.480, waiting for the 1.481 patch, there was a somewhat decent number of people, and it was fun, which made me create the website. Back then, I DID have fun. And over the months the site's popularity increased over Darkspace and the Gamespy Network, reaching a record 7,000 hits in August of 2003, and a record 10,000 hits in March of 2004. Yes, the site has done well while the game has done well, but the game is beginning to decay.

When Darkspace v1.481 finally launched after a year of wait on March 2nd, 2004, there was much rejoicing in the Darkspace community and many players returned to have fun. Of course there were bugs and other issues, but most was ignored for the moment because it could always be fixed now that Faustus was working on Darkspace again. For about a month or two, Faustus was actively participiating in the forums somewhat, and everyone was happy for the meantime.

After March, however, it started to become more clear that alot of the bugs from 1.481 weren't getting fixed. Yet, the game still did somewhat decent. Not much, if anything, has been really going on in development as known to the public since March, and players were beginning to get very sick of it.

Through April there were some more free trials to encourage more people to play, even though there were alot of design flaws/bugs still that haven't been touched. And then Faustus announced that he was moving to Tulsa to work at 2015 games, but ensured the community that Darkspace wasn't going away and he was actively coding a remote resourcer so that the developers could finally help code Darkspace. So, Faustus moved, and then it went downhill from there. No one has really even seen Faustus more than once or twice on Darkspace since he moved, havent seen a single forum post since. And worst of all, still, near the end of May, there is still no remote resourcer.

From what I can see, there have been alot of free trials lately to desperately get more players to play, sort of like an anti-biotic, each dose getting less and less effective. And there is lack of staff forming. Things also took a turn for the worse a few days ago when the 'lead developer' Gideon announced his resignation and left Darkspace. So, what will happen to Darkspace? Will it get better? Who knows.

As for the Darkspace Connection, it will be staying for a long time to come, even after the game dies (if it does), I'll see if I can keep it up so former players can hang out in the forums and its chatroom.

-Baron Von Virtu / Darkspace Connection Site Director / May 22nd, 2004