There’s a long, detailed discussion of our rationale to charge money for Episode 2 on our blog. Feel free to read it here.

A “too long; didn’t read” summary is below:

– Forumwarz costs a substantial amount of money to run. We must pay for bandwidth, hosting, backups, PayPal payments, banking transfers, legal fees, accounting fees, domain names, SSL certificates and other expenses. These amounts tend to climb as Forumwarz becomes more popular.

– Forumwarz costs money to develop. We purchase artwork, stock photography, and commercial software to create the game universe. We also find it necessary to advertise in order to spread the word to players like you!

– Coding Forumwarz is a full-time job for one developer, and a part-time job for one writer and one project manager. Without any provisions for income, it would be impossible to afford such Maslowian necessities as food, shelter, medicine, clothing and basic sanitation — much less internet access.

– We provide Episode 1 for free, as well as unlimited end-game play. We figure by the time you’ve completed Ep 1, you’ve played for at least 10 hours and have decided whether you like it or not. This is similar to the shareware model of software, and we believe we’re offering an excellent value for the cost.

– Although we have ads on Forumwarz, they unfortunately don’t even come close to covering our costs.

– Episode 2 is awesome, offers many hours of fun gameplay, and it’s easily worth the cost of a couple of domestic beers (plus tip). Just ask anyone who’s played through it!

Whether you decide to get Episode 2 or not, we appreciate your support and hope you enjoy playing Forumwarz!