The FFR Lo-Down
by Tass on Nov.13, 2009, under Flash, Flash Flash Revolution, Game
EDIT: There is now an FFR-specific forum located here.
This is an overview of what went down in the secret world of FFR over the past 2 years. Not going to go into all of the specifics, but hopefully it will make people understand what happened and why the site is the way it is now. This is all from my perspective, and may not be 100% accurate… so if Synth or Jason want to let me know of something wrong in what I’m saying, please do.
FFR started to come into its own in the middle of 2006, with a few things all happening: Jason came on board and I graduated college. Jason started to improve the chats and create the profile system, which jumped our Alexa ranking from all the added pageviews. I was spending even more time on the site and took over management of the game/community. Things were good through the end of 2006 and into 2007; tons of new songs, a new crowd was coming to the site for the social networking, and we were starting to get noticed for potential business deals. In May 2007, I moved to LA and put Synth to an ultimatum… start paying me, since I’m already working on the site full-time or I’m going to have to find a real job, leaving little time for the site. He agreed to put me on salary starting in August 2007. It was also right around this time that the widgets were created, a suggestion from one of those potential business deal people. And for about 8 months, widgets were making us rock stars.
In January 2008, the core FFR team moved out to LA to work on a project in associated with Vagrant Records, known to all of you as the MFA. This was one of the best times in my life… since I wasn’t doing any coding work on the MFA, I would go over almost daily and hang out with Synth, playing Rock Band or Wii. We partied with bands and got all sorts of hook-ups to concerts. Was fantastic to spend all that quality time with all of these people who I had known for years, yet either never met or met only once or twice. The problems started when everyone left LA.
Now let me preface with this… Since 2006, Synth has mentioned to me at least 10-15 different potential business deals. From multiple different high CPM ad networks wanting to supply us with ads to the MFA to going to Japan and creating our own skinned SM for some conference. This is the part that blows my mind: out of all of these deals, some of which were in the works for a year, the ONLY one that ever materialized was the MFA. Not one other deal was sealed. I also was only ever included in about 2-3 of them, and those only on the outskirts… despite having a very shiny business degree from a highly respected university. You’d think that that (plus, y’know, the fact that I was on payroll and #3 in the company) would have been reason to include me. Oh yeah… we were also in and out of talk with Konami for over a year.
Ok… now, even with all of these deals falling through, we were still top7000 Alexa and pulling in huge traffic. So our ad revenue was keeping us ok (from what I know… I’ve never known specifics about FFRs financials) plus money from Vagrant for the MFA. The fatal flaw, to me, was that after we finished the MFA and the guys left LA, Synth kept them on payroll. Now, I like BemaniRuler, Plaguefox, Summerschool, Maldon, and Xelius… but the fact remains, they were doing little work for the company after the MFA was finished, yet were still expecting their salary. Granted, Isak and Xelius were being paid before this, part time, for php and flash work… but not full time. All Synth had to do was tell them, “Guys, the project is over. So I can’t keep you on payroll anymore.” Which is a perfectly reasonable thing to do. But, instead, Synth just stopped talking to any of them. I doubt Synth has talked to any of those 5 guys more than 3-4 times in the past 18+ months. Naturally, they were all very upset at this and came to me, since I actually would talk to them and could actually get ahold of Synth. And they did come to me, often, for a few months. But what could I do? I passed the info along to Synth and I listen to their issues… but I was powerless to help. Eventually, they realized the lost cause and stopped trying to get to Synth through me. Even Jason started to get the silent treatment and was forced to come to me. I really feel for those guys, especially since it eventually happened to me too.
At some point after this, Synth was unable to pay me. I was not happy, but I also didn’t want to start looking for a new job. I had some savings, so I tapped into that for a few months, and eventually he started to pay me again. And I made it very clear that I did expect to be re-paid at some point for those lost wages. Also that if he stopped paying me again and started to ignore me like he did to others, I’d leave.
In early 2008, many users really started to get excited over the idea of a new t-shirt design. So I held a contest to create a design… which turned into the OMW shirt. Now, Synth couldn’t (didn’t want to?) pay for these, so he kept putting it off. After a while, I just really wanted to make the community happy, so I offered to front the money for the shirts, under the understanding that I’d be paid back off of the initial wave of shirt sales. Deep down, I knew this was a bad idea, but I had to get those shirts made. Needless to say, I’ve never seen a penny off of those shirts.
Some time in late 2007 or early 2008, Synth got a job, as a network admin for a hosting company. He still kept me on payroll to oversee the site. It was at this point that he became completely inactive around the site. After a year or so of this, I strongly suggested we look to sell the site, because he either didn’t want to, or couldn’t, maintain the site in the manner which it needed. As expected, this produced nothing of value. I wanted to reach back out to Konami, since they were itching to buy us in early 2007… but Synth claims they never responded. I have my doubts he contacted him. In early 2009, I was in San Fran for a conference, and met some people who might have been interested in buying the site, funding us, or putting us in contact with other people who would. They wanted a big meeting, and I needed Synth for this, since a) I don’t own FFR or even have any equity stake whatsoever and b) I don’t know the numbers about the site’s traffic that were needed. Synth never got back to me with anything of value for the meeting. We were looking at the potential for 6-figures of funding, and he couldn’t be bothered to even return my phone calls about it.
I don’t have the exact numbers, but I don’t think Synth has reached out to me a single time in the past year. Every single conversation we’ve had (not many, and most very brief) has been initiated by me. Kind of an odd dichotomy between a boss and employee, right? I haven’t talked to him a single time since July. Nor have I been paid since the end of July, and every payment to me this year has either been late, been paid after multiple reminders to pay me, or both. After my walkthrough business became profitable, I stopped bothering to remind Synth to pay me… so he did. Which led to the events in this thread where I finally left the site in September.
One other tidbit that you guys all likely didn’t know… Jason was never paid for any of the work he did on FFR. Some of his bills were paid by the company (internet, cable, phone I think), but that’s it. Jason didn’t stop handling t-shirt orders or subscription activations until Synth cancelled the credit card that was being billed for Jason’s stuff. To me, that’s perfectly reasonable: Stop paying a few of my bills and I stop doing the work on the site that I was doing.
I’m sure I missed stuff out of all of this… so feel free to post questions or comments, and I’ll either update this post with more stuff or respond in the comments. But I hope that now you guys can all see where I came from and why I needed to leave the site. All told, Synth owes me over $10,000.
-Tass
edit: Oh yeah, I forgot. You guys all know about not getting your t-shirts and subbies activated… but it took Spook months to see any money from his album sales, and the other 2 albums were only ever sent 1 payment. Money is definitely owed to all 3 of those guys as well. Not much, since the albums never sold well… but it’s the principle.
edit2: Synth, if you somehow do actually read this… I’d love to talk to you. Despite the business failings, you’re a great guy to talk to. And, y’know, I’d like to hear your side of things.
382 Comments for this entry
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January 4th, 2010 on 6:45 pm[...] to do with it. I haven’t worked for FFR in months. If you weren’t aware of that, read this earlier blog post. Share and [...]
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February 9th, 2010 on 7:27 pm[...] player of FFR for the last few years. Since the closure of the site Holy shit. I had no idea. The FFR Lo-Down | Tasselfoot miss u s0 bad Fett's Vette [...]
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February 10th, 2010 on 8:37 pm[...] about FFR anymore… but the fact that I’m still getting about 5 comments a day on my FFR Lo-Down post, I felt I needed to do something for those fans aching for a place to call home. So I decided [...]
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June 9th, 2010 on 10:01 am
Yo, the FFR site got bought, that screen shot is showing they own the site. Whoever it is, I see a WoW icon on the desktop, it’s not Synth. FFR is gone now.
June 10th, 2010 on 8:56 am
I’ve been a long standing player of FFR since it pretty much started off, it was like my own little virtual dance studio and I was actually coming up with my own SIM files for the game to a multitude of new songs. It sucks that the site is no longer running.
To Synth: Dude, you seriously should not have jerked your friends/co-workers around like that, it’s not good for your company. If you really wanted the site to go father than it did you really should have paid more attention, if not for the hard working people who helped you make the site the best that it was but, for the hundreds of thousands of people who played and were top ranking players like a few of my friends. That was just harsh, all the work and time they had put into playing your sweet game, all of that went to hell when the site died.
June 10th, 2010 on 3:56 pm
but but ffr was my favorite
June 13th, 2010 on 11:55 am
interesting to hear some background info on the whole deal, i appreciate you doing this Tass and not leaving us all to wonder what had happened to the wonderful world that was FFR and its community. too bad it had to end like this, Synth (imo) should have at least took a more professional way to shut the project down than just ignoring you guys. (popular question i know) but any chance that there is talk of re-opening the site in some way? leme know!
June 14th, 2010 on 10:56 am
wtf man who cares juss open the site up quit bitching about money adn get on with the site tehres thousands of ppl who play it and your taking it away from all of them dont be a pussy juss cause this synth doesnt pay you take over or some shit man lots of ppl wanna play this game again juss cause he owes you money doesnt mean you top thu dam site shit i wanna play it and it was thu best game iv ever played till you guys fucked it up and shut it down
June 14th, 2010 on 10:57 am
or at least make something similiar to FFR that we can play till you guys figure shit out
June 15th, 2010 on 10:04 pm
go to this backdoor:http://ffr.lightdarkness.net/FFR/ its ffr… but its not the same… and go to options and set the controls
June 21st, 2010 on 7:03 pm
hey ijjsqts, that website you gave works but even after changing the controls, pressing the keys dont work.
June 22nd, 2010 on 4:58 am
To Synth: Dude,you suck. go to hell. FFR used to be my absolute favorite site! i would spend countless hours on that site! it was one of my favorite things to do. hell! i loved it move than breathing!! and thats saying something!
June 22nd, 2010 on 4:18 pm
WHAT BS!!! who cares about synth…. he wants to screw up and ruin FFR?!?!?!? then fine so be it… why dont you take the time just to open the site again so the hundreds of thousands of ppl can start playing ffr again? we could care less if new songs are put on every day or week… but WE WANNA PLAY!!! BEST COMPUTER GAME IN THE WORLD!!
June 22nd, 2010 on 8:23 pm
I still log in everyday to check if its up and working again. Just hoping someday soon something will happen. This sucks. . .
June 23rd, 2010 on 1:52 am
What’s up with the picture when I go to “www.flashflashrevolution.com” ? Teaser?
June 28th, 2010 on 5:07 pm
This makes me really sad. I used to love playing FFR, and have been playing it since 2005. Its one of my fav sites and now its all gone. re open the site so people can play again, I’m sure that would make your supporters very happy :]
June 30th, 2010 on 10:29 am
yea dude juss because some guy owes you money you took away a game that thousands of ppl play and shut it down because of that so whut if he owes you money eventually he will pay you back takes time you moron
July 3rd, 2010 on 3:44 pm
This sucks, I got all the stepmania simfiles from that website.
July 6th, 2010 on 9:24 am
I am offering $10 to fix it up.
July 6th, 2010 on 11:55 am
i know it sucks that you werent paid and i agree with your methods. sites need money in order for them to stay up. i appreciate the info i have been playing almost since u guys opened. yes i too like everyone else here been going through withdraws but until the whole money thing is solved i believe ffr will not be back up. (in my opinion you should get the numbers yourself go talk to konami and get them to buy it if that is still an option.) well best of luck to everything peace
July 8th, 2010 on 10:00 am
http://ffr.lightdarkness.net/FFR/ go to the Settings and Set the speed. It works, but I still miss the community
July 8th, 2010 on 11:01 am
I was sad that FFR was gone, it was a great site. I was one of the best at MP with a level 27. I had about 9 different accounts to beat everyone on any level.
July 13th, 2010 on 5:51 pm
Well i found the reason why. Tass you seem to be an amazing friend one which i would like to have more of. This bs about no monies paid out is just that.. bs. Sorry to hear about your misfortune but im guessing you make better decisions about business from now on. I have read the comments and seems to me that some ppl are idiots! It takes money,time,effort,to run a site and ffr grew so much one person couldnt handle it all..i.e tass. Those of you who scream foul words and demand that it be returned(ffr) get off your dead butts and pull that wallet out for a small donation. I’m sure there’s plenty of fans that are more than willing to give a little to fire up ffr. I do miss the game. Tass if you ever decide to try and give it a go again let me know ill help maintain , manage , build, repair. Whatever it takes. Thank you for the time you gave us with ffr.
July 13th, 2010 on 7:40 pm
What’s going on Tass? It is sad that FFR is down due to monetary concerns. You do have the option of suing for the money rightly earned. We have chatted for hours before on AIM believe it or not. I do not know FFRs actual worth on the internet, but if the comp any owes you 10k plus, you own part of that company legally. If you are able to prove it through some sort of contract, you may be able to win not only your share of cash in court, but you may also could be entitled to legal possession of a percentile of FFR. That said, you could also possibly sell your percentile to a third party with much more power and influence (such as Konami) and have them deal with Synth and FFR. It’s just a thought. I look forward to hearing from you.
-Cheers-
FFR user: 8Shade8
AIM: x8Shade8x
July 14th, 2010 on 1:13 am
Many of you who are saying “So what, put the site back up” obviously have no idea the money, time, and effort that would entail. Not just putting it up, but keeping it up too. The website was their job, not a civil service they did out of charity.
You guys could just get the PC ddr rip off, and use the normal keys to play it.
July 14th, 2010 on 11:54 am
look i understand about the money issue but if there is any way i could help to bring this site back up and running like in the good old days…if need be get another team to help run the site so u wont have to deal with the same past mistakes
July 14th, 2010 on 11:55 am
my email is jon21220@comcast.net please let me know if i can help
July 16th, 2010 on 3:19 am
Hey I loved the site just as much as many other people, but bad mouthing isn’t going to help anyone get it back. Running a site like FFR isn’t easy, it takes time, and resources. That I know from experiance, and one other thing it takes is cooperation from everyone, and donations from the user.
To Tass
If you ever want to get the site back up again you can always contact me, I’ll work for free when I can.
To everyone
Maybe if you offered to help instead of whine and bitch something could be done, why not go out and try to make your own website even.
July 19th, 2010 on 11:12 am
Wow this was definately a blow to have to read this. I had been playing FFR ever since I found it on a random google search and it took me to a little website that only contained the game, and about 15-20 songs, if that. Ever since then I was die hard into the game and stayed with it as it grew into its own social networking site. I would take breaks here and there but I always stuck with the game. It was a great community and a fantastic game. I wish Synth would realize how many people he just left in the dark and completely left this great revolution he created.
btw… I was getting close to being in the top 100 before it closed, so that was alot of work for nothing!
July 20th, 2010 on 4:21 am
I’m upset and pissed off and Synth. He’s a dick for shutting down the site. I used to play FFR every day during school and after school. I opened an account soon after you guys created the site.
I have one question. What are you going to do with every one’s profiles? Delete them?
Thanks.
July 20th, 2010 on 9:05 pm
I was always of fan of this site. I didn’t play it too much, but it was the best game to play on the internet. Please, somehow get this site up again. There are too many people who played too many hours on this site for it to just shut down. I don’t know what other site has this kind of stuff man! Stepmania you have to download which could easily have a virus. Idk how you gotta fix it, but…FIX IT!
July 21st, 2010 on 5:58 pm
I personally am frustrated and am sad over this whole ordeal, I sympathize for you Tass. I hope all of this is sorted out eventually. I wish you luck in all that you do in your future and hope you can get the money that is owed to you. This whole ordeal sounds very stressful and seems as though it could have been easily avoidable. (Had certain people pulled thier weight in their division). I have been a longtime member of FFR and will miss it greatly. Thank you so much for all of your hardwork and dedication to the site, you will be missed I’m sure.
~Sincerely,
~Doryspazz
P.S. -Hope all turns out well for you, Tass.
July 23rd, 2010 on 9:25 pm
I say you sue his @$$ off.
Or at least accept donations.
July 28th, 2010 on 8:44 pm
why dont you keep the website and then make ppl pay 1 Dollar a month xD if 4,000 ppl play then you $$$$ and then……yeah you got money =)
July 28th, 2010 on 11:36 pm
Im ot going to call everyone idiots since that won’t change anything. What it concerns the game (FFR) I believe that StepMania is a way to go (with one catch, sucks online), and what concerns me and a lot of people I keep in touch with is the SimFile-database. It was exceptional when it came to offering, since it had single simfiles which gave you at maximum a loss of 5 minutes if it sucked (instead of an archive at 2GB which take forever).
I do understand that it is a lot of work to keep a website online, up-to-date and bugfree, but I can promise you that you could easily sell the site in 20 minutes for a price above the expeces it has cost the last 2 years. Why? It has a community, a database and a game included (which frankly is VERY popular). It is good that you have posted this thread on this blog, but what it sounds like is that if you could get to your friend/co-worker/boss and tell him it he wants to make money in 20 minutes, then the size of his ear would have been greater than it is at the moment (+ you may keep contact with him afterwards since it then isn’t a great issue between you).
Even if you do not try what I have suggested i hope that someone you know will read this and push you through it.
Regards
ODECiF