SOE Forums Locked downFollow

Everyone that cancled their subscription has been barred from posting in their forums. Apparently they have angered so many people that they have to lock down their forums to prevent them from posting. That's hillarious. It's like watching a train wreck in slo-motion.

Having an Everquest subscription to post would mean you must pay the monthly fee of your Everquest II account to post.

You must pay to post?

At the very top of the link in the station.com line is a button for "join free". I tried to click on that to test and see if it still functions, but I can't get it to work. It's possible my firewalls and POS computer at work aren't allowing it. I'll try again later from home.

I'm thinking of creating a new Yahoo email to create a new station.com account to see if I can post to the EQ2 boards...without paying and without having an Everquest II subscription.

I guess I didn't gather that in Moorgards post. Yet I can infer it with my previous post.


Charli, I'm a bit confused. Since you can still post to the SOE forum, I guess you have not cancelled your account?

Oh, so is anyone who disagrees with you trolling, or did you just pick me?

Edited, Fri May 6 19:05:46 2005 by OldBlueDragon

It is an offical message board for a video game. What do you expect.. all kinds of game companies do it. Bioware does it.. I have to use my never winter nights cd key to post on the offical boards.. I have to use my xbox live account to post on the microsoft xbox live forums.

If you are not a paying customer you have no rights to complain. Do it on a free message board.

I run and have run all kinds of gaming sites.. some pay some free.. if it is pay.. and you pay you get your posting rights.. if it is not and you post garbage then well you get to watch from the stands.

Clarification about the cancelled accounts...

I cancelled one of my Station Access Passes... I had two & my daughter had one.
My second one was cancelled on the May 5th but since the renewal date was May 1st (all my accounts are on the 1st) I was billed for the month of May. They DO NOT pro-rate their billing and they bill a month in advance.
I have until June 1st until that account dies. I am using that account to make "constructive criticisms" of the SWG: CU. I really don't care about the Exchange Server because they're not going to effect me in the least.

If I still want to buy Plat/Gold/Items/ETC. offline I still can.

All it takes is me paying whoever with my credit card. I then set up an offline seller in my Inn Room. I offer a __insert name__ for __insert amount__ and the whoever shows up and buys it.

This is NO different than the peopl in EQ1 offering a Water Flask for 50Kpp... everyone knew what that was all about and it's NOT a EULA violation. If it was it would be nearly impossible to prove!
Yeah, that guy really wanted that "SPECIAL" water flask... super curative powers and all!

Anyways, I digress.
Yes, my account is cancelled... Yes, I can still post on the page... and YES, I do troll in the SOE: SWG forums...

I seriously doubt you will see any game magazine actually post the truth about what is going on. Perhaps they'll print some of the letters to the editor but who really reads those?
SOE can controll those magazines just by offering to purchase a two-page color spread ad. Or, if they don't like the upcoming edition, they'll just make a discrete call to the marketing department and poof, there goes those negative comments.
When was the last time you've read a gamer mag that really trashed a game from a company that bought alot of ad space?

Only one I can think of was Master of Orion III. That game should have been called Master of Database. Absolute guano!

Ok, Elodarian, focus!!!

SONY is controlling it's boards which is their right. They own the forums, we rent access to their game servers... PEOPLE, read your EULA... You haven't bought the game you think you did. You're only leasing access.

The Best Little ***** House on Lucan De'Lere.....

Woot!

Well Oisin,

Would you buy stock in a company that made cigarettes? Some people wouldn't.

Anyway, I think this horse has been flogged enough. SOE wants you to have an active account to post on their forums. I don't see anything new in this.

As for the ES, I voted NO.. as in I won't be participating in it but I don't care if people send thousands twinking themselves up... as long as it's on another server. It'll be interesting to see how it really works out and whether or not you and I will be around to see how it turns out...

Gee or maybe a company that is part of SONY, a giant global corporation might engage in something... gee I don't know, market research perhaps? That might tell them what will and will not increase their profit margin?

I'm not saying that ES is a good idea, I would personally not participate, I'm not even saying it might not be a giant flop, but wouldn't you have to assume that a company such as SOE does SOME of its homework? I mean come on, this isn't some fly by night sweatshop of a gaming company.

You have to at least assume they are making an intelligent decision from their viewpoint. Otherwise, by assuming they are all morons, any argument you make is going to look foolish.

Personally I think that the IGE type companies aren't just going to fold up and die, they will either continue their work on the non-exchange servers, or they will find a new way to make money in the ES environment. Supposedly the IGE guy made millions selling plat on various games, again assuming that he or whoever took over is a moron and makes poor decisions is a bad place to start from.

Never assume your "enemy" is an idiot, it puts you at a disadvantage.

Just because you, and many others (including me) don't approve of the ES system, doesn't mean that SOE is foolish to go that route. It just means that some, like you, will quit over it, while others, like me, will wait and see. And still others, professionals with more money than time, will be attracted by a game they can "buy into" without worrying about getting ripped off. It may seem slimy or immoral to you, but it may be a very intelligent business decision for SOE. Its hard to say right now, but I personally assume they have done the research and have figured out how it will impact their bottom line. I assume they are intelligent, corporate business people, not some morons sitting around figuring out how to ***** the player base.

Actually if this works out ok for SoE, it's easy to see the idea spreading to other online games.

Plat/item/account buying is a menace that is not going away.
SoE had 2 choices, continue with the status quo or try something else.

I see Station Exchange as a bold, innovative move. They would've known full-well the extent of the back-lash they'd receive but decided something different just had to be done. So they had to wear the short-term onslaught of criticism and cancelled accounts for the longterm good of their games.

Always despised plat buying myself, but I'll support SoE giving this a try as a means to controlling it. Specially if they accompany the exchange servers with a *brutal* crackdown on regular servers, as they said they will.

The other aspect is their CS which they say is 40% given to issues around plat buying.

So if they can drasically reduce the plat selling on regular servers and improve CS, it's worth a try. And hey, if they pick up some extra income from commissions, that's all good, more money to invest in gaming development.

Lol, I'll repeat my point: A larger audience = a dumber audience.

You're proof.

Please come back to the forums when you can have an intelligent discussion (or maybe when you learn to read). For now, its time for this thread to end I think.

I've played a lot of games... including a lot of MMPOGs... I left EQ1 AND EQ2 for basically the same reason: SOE and their absolutely horrid relationship with their customers. No other game I have played has been written by a company so dedicated to ripping its customers off. I've never caught another software publisher lieing strait to my face. And with SOE is happens over and over and over again. They don't even attempt to hide it. They will lie right to you, and then say "whoops" later on.

I'm not playing any MMPOG right now because of this. (playing guildwars) I'll play vanguard when it comes out... but I will never again give any branch of the Sony corporation my money. I will not support their buisness practices. I could not think of a company more morally bankrupt than SOE... and I hold Sony to account for allowing SOE to behave like they do.