Originally Posted by
LordEntrails
I really don't understand most of your statements. I'll try to reply to those that I do.
If the free demo doesn't give you the sense of running a game that you want/need. Then either join a game through one of the groups and play as a player for free (FG College and other Discord groups are available, plus the forums). Yes you are going to be limited to some rulesets more than others, but its possible to get in to a free game and get the full player experience. If that still isn't adequate, then buy a license from the FG Store. You can also buy all the books etc and then if it doesn't work for you, get a full refund within 30 days.
Otherwise it sounds like you are saying; hey, give me everything for free and I'll use it for however long it takes me to decide if I want to buy it and if so then I will pay for it. I don't know any products that do anything like that. When I bought a new car I had 24 hours. When I buy clothes I don't get forever to evaluate them. When I buy a video game I have a limited return policy (often only for defects).
I'm sorry for my bad assumptions. I assume I have made more than one, but its because I really just don't understand what you are trying to get at.
I will agree that criticism is good. Hence one of the reasons I suspect SW is so adamant about keeping their community open to all respectful discourse. And even though they often don't comment, I do know the decisions makers do read most of the forums, and they are always glad of all feedback, positive or negative. But because I really don't understand most of your feedback (except the desire to have a public development plan) I don't see how they can use it constructively. Note, that's me. I've often been proven to be less insightful or understanding than the SW leadership.
I have no idea why paid GMing is even a factor here. Maybe that's what you want to get into or something and somehow think the FG license model should accommodate that differently than the Ultimate license does. FG has nothing to do with my revenue stream, not sure what you are referring to there. If you mean the revenue stream for SmiteWorks, not sure that's your decision to influence other than as one of a hundred thousand customers.
IMO, FG has a generous refund policy for those who feel a free demo of everything except networking (FGU) or everything except content creation (FGC) is not adequate for you.