I think Dan does read or peruse this area time to time. Either that or he has mystic powers to accomodate some of the ideas and desires over time that have been mentioned. Most likely , as many have stated, the game is or could be cycling down--paid with real life stuff and a vastly creative game with loads of things going on simulataneously---probably not easy to come up with creative, cool, and balanced stuff all the time to assauge the masses.
I play online xbox games and many have varieties of ways they could improve. Sometimes there are future versions, sometimes expansion sets. This is basically a text game, and in such it has still managed to keep a core following for such a long span of time. It continues to put out novel things and attempts to appeal to new people and old as well. In the USA we can barely elect a president who gets more than half the people to consent to his approval due to everyone having different opinions and desires.
I am still a Dan advocate and choose to believe he puts in effort for all of us. A bi monthly response email would be useful and perhaps not too time consuming, but then again I don't know his real life schedule. I have a family , a job, and kids, and manage to do other stuff. But then i can take or leave many things on a daily or weekly basis. Too many people seem to think Dan has 24/7 to answer emails, program code, do his day job, AND create new and continuing intricate solutions to a base of diametrically oposing player views and styles.
Kudos to Dan for keeping this thing going. I say dream big or go home. If there was no hope, people should let it go and move on. I say that as no attack on anyone, but more as a statement of futility, if you believe such is the case. I believe its fun, and just hope it can mutate and keep going
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