Unfuck Blizzard?

I’m not 100% sure but I think that the 2.0.5 patch removes from the TOS the point that made illegal playing from outside the US.

I hope it was recognized as a mistake.

If it’s true, thanks.

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WoW pre-exp launch: 8M worldwide, 2M in the US

Reporting this because they give us relevant infos:

more than 2 million players in North America, more than 1.5 million players in Europe, and more than 3.5 million players in China.

My previous considerations were both right and wrong:

if nothing changes we would see the subscriptions climbing at above 8 million just by the end of September.

If that’s true it would be a safe bet saying that the NA subscribers will climb above 2M BEFORE the launch of the expansion. Again, I doubt it. We’ll see if I’m wrong but I’m not so sure that the NA subscribers are even above 1.5M. That would disprove the data we have now, though. But that’s my suspect.

An average of the two and we are there.

What I can see now is that the growth is still rather constant. This would mean that by the end of 2007 WoW would reach 10M worldwide, but this without counting the effect of the expansion (and the competition, but I don’t think there are any real competitors yet).

It’s possible that the expansion alone will give the game another 1M in our market (US+EU) easily. That 1/3-1/4 growth is what I would expect. We’ll see.

Also interesting to consider that both US and EU market seem to grow at a similar pace. About half a million every year.

August 2005 – 1M in the US
January 2006 – 1M in the EU (with US probably at 1.5)
January 2007 – 2M in the US, 1.5M in the EU

Those being official numbers.

My suspect here is that the growth slowed down during the 2006. But the imminent launch of the expansion already gave these numbers a boost. The 2M in NA would already include some returning players that are getting ready for the expansion launch. So the point is: how many more subscribers, beside those already back, the expansion will bring to the game?

FUCK YOU Blizzard, dearly

If the news of the forced server splits below your ass wasn’t enough (my opinion is here), now we have this.

I still remember when Blizzard repeatedly promised to european players official support to play on the american servers. But “only after the european launch”.

Then the european launch arrived and Blizzard completely ignored questions about this issue if not repeating that they didn’t want european players on the american servers FOR THEIR OWN INTEREST. Because they were worried to provide a quality service and they didn’t want us to experience too much lag or receive support in a language we don’t understand. How cute.

Giving players the choice of course was above them.

With this last patch in preparation for The Burning Crusade they modified the TOS:

4. Limitations on Your Use of the Service.

A. You may only access the Service from within the territorial boundaries of the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand or Singapore. Any access to your Account, whether by you or anyone else, from any location outside those countries is a breach of this Agreement.

So if you are an european player playing on the american server from today you are considered in the same league of gold farmers, exploiters, cheaters or hackers. You are breaking the terms of service.

Fuck you Blizzard.

One day you won’t be anymore “king of the hill” and you’ll start to pay one by one for all these fucking stupid choices.

I don’t think that treating legit customers as criminals will payback. But till you are in a dominating position then you can afford just everything, even this shit.

P.S.
LOL. Someone remembers that in my proposed LFG tool I had suggested to use an animated demon eye to appear when the LFG flag is active? Well, after this last patch when you are flagged LFG (but only for the auto-join option) an animated demon eye appears near the mini map ;)

No, really.

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Grimwell sits on Blackguard’s chair

I just found out that Grimwell (“Craig Dalrymple” says Cosmik) is at SOE as the community manager for EQ2. Wow, big grats and good luck.

I like a lot reading these kinds of news because I like to see people succeed or move toward interesting perspectives, so I’ll keep registering movements in our community. Now if I was naughty I would link his previous call for independence ;p

His welcome message on EQ2 boards can be found here.

In-context I also relink and quote Lum:

Public relations people are normally great people (they kind of have to be, being that dealing with people is their job and all) but they are at direct cross-purposes from a free flow of information which is necessary if developers are to ever get honest feedback. Which is why the best community relations teams aren’t treated as PR adjuncts, but their own seperate fiefdom, where they act more as ombudsmen then salesmen.

That’s quite pertinent, ain’t it?

Btw, there was a lot of movement during the past year. Everyone found a good chair to sit on. This is positive, no?

Well, there’s Cosmik who’s looking for a new job.

The Pied Piper of Hamelin

I post and break my own rules again because I don’t like to leave things open and because I don’t want to push the flames any further in the place that produced all this.

I’m referring to the thread on F13, the first post from Mark Jacobs, my reply later on the thread, and all that happened afterwards.

Lum took offense and I should have imagined that before writing what I wrote. But my point wasn’t against Lum, his site, the bans and all the drama. My critics were about what happened AFTERWARDS. The U-turn in Mythic’s stance toward the community. The order from Mark Jacobs to Mythic’s staff to never post again on those forums. The delegitimization of the community that legitimated them in the first place. And then, along the years, the progressive, constant deterioration of that relationship with the community.

In fact I always PRAISED what Mythic *was* doing on ltm/SND as I always praised devs that are genuinely interested in a discussion and that keep in touch with the community. Those who know me also know that I always sided for a more open, sincere and constructive relationship and nothing changed in my stance.

I DO believe that ltm/SND was the real “Camelot Herald” but I also believe that the good feedback wasn’t malicious and it was also coming from that close relationship. Keeping in touch with the community, interpret its needs. I do believe that that process was positive both for Mythic, DAoC and the players. But as I said there was an U-turn at some point, that I identified with that post from Mark Jacobs I quoted and that then progressed along the years. Till today. Today Mythic is completely out of touch with the community and that is also one of the reasons why what is left of DAoC is only a very pale shade.

Why I went necroposting that quote? Because it was happening again. It was as new as it has always been.

My point is very simple: I don’t believe that Mark Jacobs is genuinely interested in a discussion.

That request to open a private forum for him was stupid and wrong on many levels. Mark Jacobs NEVER looked for an honest, passionate discussion. He NEVER participated in our communities. He NEVER gave a damn about anything if not “bullying” his community of choice tricking people to welcome him like a king by promising gifts, beta slots and “WAR swag”.

There are other devs that ARE part of our communities. Brad McQuaid has often used FoH’s forums in the last years to hype his game, Smed and in particular Scott Hartsman also participated in our discussions and today Scott is one of the most respected and esteemed out there BECAUSE of his attitude and sincerity in dealing with the community. The newly born GMG also had a strong presence on the forums and blogs. Raph Koster has always been everywhere and the one who THE MOST always looked for a real participation, who really wanted and encouraged that dialogue more than anyone else.

So what’s the difference between all these people (and I left out MANY) and Mark Jacobs? That ALL these peoples have demonstrated along the months and the years that their interest is GENUINE. That they share a passion and that they are interested in a real dialogue.

Mark Jacobs has NEVER given a damn about anything. If not appearing a few days ago on F13 after not having written ONE post in more than two years and abruptly asking them to open a private forum for him where he could do as he please and feel (along with his game) the center of the attention (actually he’s even confused about what he’s asking). When I saw a bunch of long time members of this community taking the “bait” I felt the need to say what I said.

In the meantime he flamed me back, trying to make believe that I registered on F13 just to troll him. Excuse me, my ideas may be considered shit, but I think I HAVE demonstrated along these years that my passion in these games is SINCERE and that I do love to talk about game design and that I DO look for that kind of constructive, collaborative dialogue MORE THAN ANYONE ELSE ON THE INTERNET. And sorry if I’m not modest in this case, but my passion is not questionable. With this site and my constant participation in the community I believe that AT LEAST I demonstrated that.

If Mark Jacobs was TRULY interested in a participation with the community then he would have done it before. There are hundreds of ways to look for and have that dialogue. From blogs that would fit exactly his selective mindset, as they allow you to discuss what you want to discuss, give credit to who you want to give credit and ignore who you want to ignore, to forums of all kinds.

Other devs are already encouraging that dialogue without any stupid dedicated private forum to bully. But the real point is that, private forum or not, Mark Jacobs couldn’t care less about that kind of involvement and participation. Because he thinks he is superior to all that. And because of that superiority he went asking for the “special treatment” that NO OTHER DEV has never even imagined to ask before.

As on a game forum it is valid the principle: “Who you are is secondary and what matters is that we are equals talking about games”.

So what you say and not the color of your name.

Asking to open a private forum devoted to you and where you decide who has the right to speak and who doesn’t, surely isn’t a good way to encourage an honest and unbiased discussion. It’s just an attempt to manipulate things as you please. Later in that thread (and in a MILLION of other occasions) we have demonstrated that we can have that meaningful, honest discussion about games without the need of any private forum or special policies. But of course Mark Jacobs deserted the thread at that point.

In the end I do HATE perpetuating drama and flames because it stresses and empties me to no end and I don’t take back any satisfaction. If Mark Jacobs is honestly interested discussing games and ideas then he is more then welcome to prove me wrong. I’m just forcing him to drop his mask.

(and my apologies to Lum because he was brought in a wrong discussion)

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Jeff Freeman in space

I swear, way too many unexpected things happened today and it was by far the worst day to stop posting. There’s enough material for what I usually write in a whole week. Restraining from writing has NEVER been so hard.

But, come on. At least this: Jeff Freeman works at Spacetime Studios. It’s sort of confirmed.

It was the very first thing I thought as he linked the lead designer blog, that by the way has a GREAT piece on server architecture that ties back to all I wrote about server travel, even recently with the “grid” idea for Fallout, communities and the TRUE impact those choices have. With a wonderful conclusion:

My point is to make it clear to other designers that the fundamental server architecture has an impact on the game in a very real, money-in-the-pocket, subscribers-on-the-line kind of way. Most architecture decisions are driven by cost-benefit analysis: what the programmers can do, how much money and time it will take for them to do it, etc. These are important considerations, but considerations generally made without much a consideration of game design. Game designers may accept the programmer recommended path without considering all the implications that structure has for their game.

That is SO true. Glad that at least someone is looking at it from the right perspective. FINALLY.

Anyway, I had this suspect that also Jeff Freeman worked there (or it would be hard to explain how he knew about this new blog), then I noticed that this guy lists Jeff Freeman under “Spacetime Dev Blogs” (listing Lietgardis as well, but I knew that already). Ehehehe……. OWN3D!

So. Senior designer. And, if I’m not wrong, “Lead System Designer”?

Good luck and everything. You seem to have a good team there ;)

P.S.
Who’s Brandon Reinhart? I tried googling and got lots of stuff. He even has an IMDB page! Filmography? Lol! He comes too from SOE/SWG and, gosh!, he worked on Duke Nukem Forever!