omg, this thread is long. I've only made it to page 10 so far, so forgive me if this has already been said, but I need to get it out before my head explodes from the long read.
Trying to rescue the IP from VUG is a lost cause. The only way it will be saved, is for it to be bought by the community, which will probably never happen for several reasons. (Primarily, VUG would never give away something of monetary value, especially when it still has profit potential, regardless of how small that potential is...)
That said, I believe the best hope for the continuation of Tribes would be:
1) Create a new game/universe based on Tribes, to be IP unencumbered.
2) Open source the game/universe, so that it is owned by the community, and allow any mods / story archs that people can come up with.
3) Run a decent community center website for the game, to be a central up-to-date repository which tracks all mods / patches / servers so that people can easily find what they are looking for.
As has been pointed out previously in this thread, the gaming industry is rapidly consolidating, and is no longer interested in anything other than the 'blockbuster' game. Therefore, I do not believe any game company is going to take any risk on creating a new cult classic, as Tribes was in its day.
Not only that, but Big Buisness has never been customer friendly. Once an organization becomes sufficiently large, it will undoubtably see it's customer base as meer numbers. It's what has happened to any industry (radio, music, film, games, etc..)
If you want the community to thrive, you have to start with fertile ground with good long term potential. And once a company like VUG/EA/etc, realizes they can make money from a story, they will become IP nazi's and erect a large defense network to protect that apparent value. Never mind that the value is only created as a result of the fans desire, and that locked away from the fans it's worth exactly nothing.
With that in mind, I believe the only way to create a thriving community is to remove the corporation from the equation. Creating a new universe in which to place a Tribes-like game is the only realistic long term answer to our problem. Sure, this will require a lot of effort, but it will also allow for things to expand in new directions.
And before you go all 'but VUG owns the IP to anything tribes related', keep in mind that there is no such thing as 'IP', only patents, copyrights, and trademarks. While they most certainly own the Trademark 'Starsiege:Tribes', and the copyright for the games source code, and art assets, they most certainly do not have a patent on 'sci-fi jetpack fps games'.
Recreating the basic essence of Tribes 1 in a new game that makes no direct reference to Tribes is completely legal. Otherwise every single fps would owe royalties to iD for creating the fps.
Making the game open source (including the engine) ensures that the source code is never 'lost' to any corporation, regardless of how good their intentions are (note: I have nothing but love for GG's, but even with GG's it's still posible the source could be 'lost'. And by lost, I mean that it wouldn't be legally available.)
Some would probably argue against this idea because of cheating. And while it would make creating cheats easier, it would also make patching the flaws easier. Once a cheat is found, a work around could be implemented as a stop-gap until a long term solution can be found. You could of course also run invite only servers, to allow you to keep track of player reputation.
Another benifit of open sourcing the game is creating fertile ground for growing the community. With anybody able to take the engine and create scripts/mods or new games using the same basic engine, you create a market, a market of ideas/concepts/art, but a market none the less. This is much like the after market mod community for cars, with many different vendors offering parts for customizing your ride.
Making customizeable gaming components will allow each gamer to enjoy their experience in their own unique ways, allowing many different individuals with different opinions/likes/dislikes to play the same game, and share in the same game world.
Also, running a community center is essential. TW is quite the nexus of Tribes space on the net, but a new game really needs it's own presence. TW could of course mirror anything, but creating a site that is extremely easy to navigate for quick updates to the game is key. I shouldn't have to spend more than 10 minutes to find out what I need to play the game on a particular server, or visit 3 different sites to download the necesary maps, only to find out I have a different version from the server....
Anyhow, back to page 10 I go!
(Oh, and if anybody wants to hire me to do what I can towards a new Tribes, I will be always and forever available.
)