Stratics, essentially the official Ultima Online forum community (that isn’t actually the official Ultima Online forum community), has been  up for sale for a few days now. The current bid for ownership of the site is now $5,650 (it was $5,500 a week ago).

Rather than see the site fall into the hands of someone who may not have any particular interest in Ultima Online, a number of the current staff — administrators, moderators, and the like — have put together a plan (and now an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign) to purchase the site:

Stratics.com is the oldest continuously-running gaming website and community forum in existence, holding a special place in the hearts of gamers the world over. Originally created in 1997 as a forum and game reference site for players of Ultima Online (one of the first MMORPGs ever created), the site has provided a free and open space for the community to interact and exchange knowledge, ideas and opinions for 18 years – almost as long as there has been an Internet. The gaming content hosted by Stratics represents hundreds of thousands of volunteer hours put in by fans of games like UO, WoW, EQ, DAoC, and others. It serves as a historical record not only of UO, but of MMOs and online gaming everywhere.

This site is now up for public auction, and likely to be purchased as a portfolio asset by anonymous 3^rd-party investors with no direct interest in UO or the long-standing community who use the forums.

In the interest of preserving the site’s content, community and history, the current senior operational team at Stratics have created a project to bring the site back into the community’s hands as a permanent, not-for-profit entity.

In order to succeed, this project must be funded.

We appeal to you — the UO Community and gamer-geeks everywhere — to help us purchase Stratics and keep it in the hands of those who play, live and love Ultima Online.

Should this campaign be unsuccessful and result in a purchase by an investment-driven buyer with no connection to the community, there is the very real possibility that the community would abandon the site, and/or the historical content be lost forever if the site did not ultimately meet the investors’ financial goals.

Please help us save Stratics and ensure its long-term stability by contributing today. The auction ends on December 26.

Currently, a little over 10% of the $10,500 goal has been raised, and then after only 17 hours. That’s…not bad, all things considered.

There’s some discussion about the pros and cons of having the Stratics staff take over ownership of the site here; those of you who are more connected to the community may get more out of that than an outsider like me.