Right now my site network gets almost 10k uv per month, nearlly all traffic is hard core gamers, some of which are my friends, alliances, people I love (and people I love to hate). And I do spend alot of time each week working on new parts of the site and adding more features.
If i was to run my own game, (based on the current affiliate clicks and commissions that I earn through promoting other existing RPG's), then even if it was a common script, I can still expect to get a few players involved. (this will mean dropping affiliate links to promote my own game, and I might even make less money then I am now, or just maybe I can start to earn enough so that the server finally starts to cover its own costs).
I know there are many casino gaming scripts that i can install, and thats not something that I want my userbase to play. flash games, and all that sound like a good idea, but after playing around with them, this too is not something suitable for my site users. I have even looked into using some of the various travian clone engines and decided against using them for various reasons.
So there must be some good gaming scripts available somwhere, or at least something with a non mafia type theme....
As for security, everything has security issues. This is why the last time I ran a forum, i used Vbulletin, because its a company that has updates constantly to REDUCE the security issues with strong community support, and because its a common, yet professional piece of software, I never had an issue that couldnt be found on google.
So why cant I expect the same thing from a game engine / game script? Why do I have to even think about security issues with a gaming script? Buying a proper gaming script to me means that any time an issue is found, the engine should be patched, and updates available for say 12months to all purchasers.
When (or if) I do make the game 100% by myself, the graphics alone will cost $300-$500 and will take up to 3 months for my artist to complete. The time to work on the project would possibly take 6months as most of my time at the moment goes into improving my current sites and adding features to that. To start the project, and be unable to finish it for whatever reasons, would be a total waste of valuable $$$, to finally finish it the project, and find that I cant recover the costs, or find that running an RPG is not for me, then thats a total waste of $$$.
This is why I am looking for a product that I can have running quickly and run for a few months, where I can then make the decision if its worth investing the time and costs involved in creating my own custom RPG.
Until I find what I am looking for, I will just stick to advertising for other peoples RPG's