SOE does it again. EQ fans/board riot.

Cade

I have heard the stories of how SOE have always been bad at doing their PR and managing their games, be it modwise or otherwise, ye ol fans of Star Wars Online can speak of such things. Now another case appears to be blowing up thanks to the powers that be lying and backstabbing a forum and it's staff.

These things never end well.

It has gotten so bad they have one thread there outting staff in game, listing "crimes" they did in game and contact info.

Crazy stuff.

Couscous

So what exactly is going on?

LupintheThird

Given the name of the site in question, "EQ2 Flames," I would expect nothing less than Drama Central.

Also, you could use a bit more backstory - I have no clue what's going on here.

Arikado

I don't think there is a way to "riot" on the internet. Perhaps flood someone with angry emails or forum postings.

Also, I'm pretty sure most of the EQ users that are causing these "disturbances" are beyond reasoning.

rayofash

One time, there was this group of people on the internet, and they complained about stuff... Crazy!

Arikado

Well lets look at the Star Wars Online ordeal.
People got pissed off and crowded a server and kept crashing it so then people got banned or something.
Then nothing...

It's like WoW. A large group of people can "protest" but nothing will come of it without proper dialogue. There was some shit a while back with Shaman players (me being one of them) and people flooded the forums with mindless bullshit and guess what Blizzard didn't acknowledge any of it other than banning people from the forums. On top of that, people started making really shitty machinma of Shaman dying or losing pathetically in duels. Whatever, it was stupid.

The best anyone can do for ANY subscription service when they aren't getting what they want is to stop paying and stop using that product.

Drunk_caterpillar

I still think randomly teleporting people into deep space is my favourite solution to conflict.

FaceballMcDougal

I once KS'd Ragefire and the drama got so crazy that there was a BBC article about it and they changed the cleric epic quest as a result.

Man those were fun times

Cade

titmouse wrote: »

So what exactly is going on?

Okay

It starts with this email to the admin there:

It has always been the goal of our Influencers Program to embrace people who represent a diverse range of opinions about SOE and our games. The expectation we have for each Influencer is that they will provide open and honest feedback that we can consider or act on as a company. It is understandable that decisions made by SOE will not always be to the liking of every Influencer, and that constructive feedback from participants will enable us to better relate with our communities over the long term.

Your passion and enthusiasm for EverQuest II have always been appreciated, but your own activities in the last few months have led us to the conclusion that it is time for your participation in this program to end. You have been all but silent through the many channels of communication provided by the Influencers program; eliminating any benefit that your voice might bring to our attention in the service of the community.

At the very same time you have actively encouraged many ‘sensational’ issues to come to the attention of your community at EQ2Flames, even when those issues lacked merit. Additionally, you have abused your personal access to members of our development teams, with no regard to the harm it might cause them in the process.

For these reasons, we are ending your participation in our Influencers program. We appreciate the feedback you have given us when you chose to do so; but it is time for this relationship to end.

Please remember that any private information you were exposed to as a member of the Influencers Program is still protected by the non-disclosure agreement you signed when first joining the program.

Craig Dalrymple
Senior Community Relations Manager
Sony Online Entertainment

Needless to say the Admin of said board does not agree with much of what is said there and gets angry, he then in the thread shoots back saying how the devs and other staff promised exclusive reviews among other things. It more or less rolls down from there with the admin and other staff members of the board spilling more information including stuff that is suppose to be hush hush.

It's amusing to read if you ever followed any of the SOE drama, it's like revisiting events that happened again and again.

vsove

Ahh, SOE.

Will they never learn? It appears the answer to this question is; no, no they won't.

dmit

Arikado wrote: »

I don't think there is a way to "riot" on the internet. Perhaps flood someone with angry emails or forum postings.

http://www.netdisaster.com/go.php?mode=manif&url=http://everquest2.station.sony.com/

Henroid

The OP lacks any details or summary of event. Bring us up to speed, this sounds like an ongoing problem or situation and I'm not going to track all the info down by myself, because it may or may not be a big deal. From that quote above it sounds like someone in charge was booting someone out of some sort of special service or club. Boo hoo?

powersurge

MONK NERF NEVAR FORGET! :P

With that said however has there ever been a MMO without some sort of cheating/dev bs drama?

august

What the fuck is an Influencer and how in the fuck could anyone get worked up over it.

Sirson

This thread fails so hard to deliver.

Sanders

Henroid wrote: »

The OP lacks any details or summary of event. Bring us up to speed, this sounds like an ongoing problem or situation and I'm not going to track all the info down by myself, because it may or may not be a big deal. From that quote above it sounds like someone in charge was booting someone out of some sort of special service or club. Boo hoo?

That is what it sounds like to me. I got fired from a job before for what I thought was a bullshit reason, I didn't go and try to send a bunch of people from the internet after them.

Besidees, nothing will ever beat the Star Wars Galaxy issue

(for those unaware of what that is, trying to recall from memory, but basically some guy hacked money into the game and it started going around. Anybody who touched it whatever from picking it up, trading for it, being given it, ect was banned from the game. Some players started protesting in main areas because alt accounts or friends were being banned for a stupid reason and they were either banned or warped to a far far away area that was a high level and almost impossible to get back to without dying. The bad thing was even people who were not protesting, just walking through the area, were being sent away. The person who hacked the currency was walking around a free man the whole time, even though lots of people knew it was him.)

Digito

Maybe I'm just jaded, but so far this doesn't sound like a very big deal at all.

Then again I was there for the disaster that was the NGE on Star Wars Galaxies, so my idea of a big deal probably differs from some. (Especially when you consider that they flat out removed one of the professions/classes my character was from the game.)

Matt!

One of the better online riots to happen was the first one that ever occurred to my knowledge: The clash at the gates of Lord Britishs' castle. Lots of players were pissed so they all got buck naked and massed at the gates to Richard Garriotts castle. They then proceeded to steal from each other and get killed by the guards. The problem lied with the fact that you could instantly ressurect for a stat/skill penalty, so people did it repeatedly.

Keep in mind the average modem speed at the time of this game was a dial up 28k modem.

Shit got hairy. They even wrote an article about it in Next Generation magazine. Gariott said he was glad that people took Ultima Seriously enough to organize in the channels of the game to get thier voiced heard. They slowly got thier shit in gear, and Ultima was awesome.

About two years later they turned it into total shit.

Matt!

Digito wrote: »

Maybe I'm just jaded, but so far this doesn't sound like a very big deal at all.

Then again I was there for the disaster that was the NGE on Star Wars Galaxies, so my idea of a big deal probably differs from some. (Especially when you consider that they flat out removed one of the professions/classes my character was from the game.)

So what happened to your character when you logged in? did it turn into something else?

Cynic Jester

That forum sure is raking in traffic from somewhere. I figured I'd read the thread for lulz and giggles, but it keeps dying on me.

whitey9

Sirson wrote: »

This thread fails so hard to deliver.

Djiem

So far, this thread is pretty boring.
I didn't see any SOE doing it again, or fans rioting.

Why is the OP hell-bent on not letting us know what the fuck is going on here?

august

So as far as I can tell a dude who runs a forum called fucking "EQ2Flames" gets kicked out of some program for being a dick (surprise!), then proceeds to prove SOE right.

And this is SOE's fault how, exactly?

HarshLanguage

So some dude was part of an SOE program to get feedback from EQ2 players under NDA, didn't provide any feedback, stirred up the rabble on a disgruntled-player message board, got mad when they kicked him out of the program, and then broke his NDA and started crying about how SOE was treating him?

edit: hi5 august

august

heyo

KingMole

Yeah... I'm not seeing SOE being in the wrong here.

Despite what SOE did to SWG, the EQ2 SOE seems to be steadily improving EQ2.

Jelloblimp

So using google I found this site that explains what is going on:

(...)
Community Influencers are just that — people whose opinions of SOE games are influential within the community. EQ2Flames is one of the best places on the web for getting to know the EQ2 community, and is generally full of information you won’t find anywhere else. When I started on my recent guild search and (thought) I had exhausted the possibilities on my home server, EQ2Flames was the first and only place I went. And I got results I could never have gotten on the official forums. EQ2Flames is the community site everyone should read.
(...)

Some other guy mentions:

Actually I’m surprised they didn’t do it sooner. The last infraction that I am aware of was posting that the senior producer of EQ2 was leaving before the official announcement. Sensational and in poor taste if you ask me. What ever happened to having some respect?

I don't think the eq2flames admin is all that innocent as he makes out to be.

august

If you run a site called EQ2Flames.com you should probably get busted on Dateline. Then go to prison.

And after reading that I still don't understand how any community could transform the event into drama. Then again, I don't MMORPG. It's like reading the alien language of an inbred tribe of primitive madmen.

Akoot

Anyone remember Planetside?

-SPI-

People who play an MMO are complaining about things? I'm shocked good sir, shocked!

Cynic Jester

Akoot wrote: »

Anyone remember Planetside?

Raaaaaaaargh, Hulk smash SOE.

Houk

Yeah, can anyone post something that clarifies how SOE did anything wrong and how these forum people aren't total asswipes?

Pheezer

As shit as SOE is, you pretty much get what you deserve when you sign up for EQ2. Also that guy really is a dick and I'm not surprised they kicked him out.

Way to side with a dick.

Akoot

The game is working great, the community is going strong, balance is fine... Lets add some giant mechs!

Archonex

Drunk_caterpillar wrote: »

I still think randomly teleporting people into deep space is my favourite solution to conflict.

It definitely doesn't top out what they did after they got into trouble for deep-spacing players. The next time a protest formed at Bestine, due to lag on that particular server, an admin spawned in a regiment of stormtroopers to gun down the protesters since they refused to disperse. Was a big topic on the forums about it back in the day.

Lewisham

Pheezer wrote: »

Way to side with a dick.

I don't think you understand. This is the Internet. You side with whoever isn't the big corporation.

Houk

Haha, the guy's first response is awesome.

You, Grimwell, pretended to seek out better relations with me and this site while at the same time actively soliciting devs to stop posting on this site and to post on yours instead.

You pretended to be want to be friends, acting cordially, while at the same time intentionally undermining my efforts to try and help you gain better relations with the majority of your player base. You Sir, are a double dealer and on a massive power trip.

You lack my respect and should feel shame.

He can't be serious. I mean, that can't be a serious response from an adult in a position of authority and responsibility, can it? The guy sounds like a walking punchline.

Cynic Jester

So after battling through timeouts, I'm not disappointed. That thread is full of lulz. Epic lulz one might say.

august

Lewisham wrote: »

Pheezer wrote: »

Way to side with a dick.

I don't think you understand. This is the Internet. You side with whoever isn't the big corporation.

Or small corporation.
Or anyone you can steal from.
Or basically anyone who isn't you.

Cyrixd

Akoot wrote: »

Anyone remember Planetside?

I was hoping no one would bring this up... come on now, don't let them see you cry...

Seg

Archonex wrote: »

Drunk_caterpillar wrote: »

I still think randomly teleporting people into deep space is my favourite solution to conflict.

It definitely doesn't top out what they did after they got into trouble for deep-spacing players. The next time a protest formed at Bestine, due to lag on that particular server, an admin spawned in a regiment of stormtroopers to gun down the protesters since they refused to disperse. Was a big topic on the forums about it back in the day.

Doing shit on a server does nothing but annoy other players.

While the Stormtroopers probably killed a few innocent bystanders, I am sure that The Empire had good reasons for what it did.