News: Resolved - PS2 Region

[p0intman]

I'm sort of the peanut gallery in this, but I went and read the EQ2Wire post about it (http://eq2wire.com/2012/02/22/20-thi...alaplaya-deal/) and at the end were two parts that threw me for a loop.

UPDATE: Alaplaya reserves the right to DELETE accounts and character data (Part 6) after 90 days of inactivity. Will this apply to SOE games?

UPDATE: In violation of German and EU privacy laws, Alaplaya publishes the real names on accounts which are past-due.

Just... wut? Its a meme, but really...



Did the people at the table on this just have the dumb? I expected an SOE fuckup, just not this early and not on this horrible scale.

Originally Posted by Wakken

this article must be seen by the powers.

I know that for sure its in Smed's inbox, he replied to me last night... twice. I sent that this morning.

The responses pretty much boil down to the fact that he's aware of the problem and that they're looking at a bunch of options. Stuff Higby and Co. already said.

If the track record says anything, I expect something of the following

[Lunarchild]

Originally Posted by p0intman

I'm sort of the peanut gallery in this, but I went and read the EQ2Wire post about it (http://eq2wire.com/2012/02/22/20-thi...alaplaya-deal/) and at the end were two parts that threw me for a loop.

UPDATE: Alaplaya reserves the right to DELETE accounts and character data (Part 6) after 90 days of inactivity. Will this apply to SOE games?

UPDATE: In violation of German and EU privacy laws, Alaplaya publishes the real names on accounts which are past-due.

Hrmm, in fact, I think someone in Germany should contact the authorities. Because that's just wrong.

[texico]

Originally Posted by p0intman

I expected an SOE fuckup, just not this early and not on this horrible scale.

Really? I was absolutely expecting it after the way they treated PlanetSide1

[MuNrOe]

!!!!!

[Raymac]

Originally Posted by Duddy

Forgive any potential accusations, this wasn't my intent, but the approach you appear to be adopting just seems somewhat dismissive and defeatist.

Likewise I understand the positives for such a move, which is why I would support making us use a different account for US play as somewhat of a a barrier to it so that not everyone does it. But I can't accept the seemingly current plan in light of what it does to various communities.

But yeah, agreeing to disagree to a certain degree. :P

I think you are right that my view is a bit defeatist. I'm pessimistic that the contract will be changed just because of the very nature of exclusivity.

As much as I've banged the ping drum in this thread, I would be happy to see families, err, guilds be able to stay and play together. The bonds we forge make the gaming experience exponentially more enjoyable, especially in a game like Planetside.

[MartinasBuddy]

my hate against soe was fading slowely... NOW IM FULL OF RAGE AGAIN. THE RIGHT MOOD TO PLAY PS2. I HATE YOU ALL.

[MuNrOe]

Way to piss off your customers SOE.

Why is SOE trying to controll where people play and with who they play with ?

Whats this mean for people who play outside the US or EU ?

I see where this is going.

SOE Management Has An Awsome Idea

The Rest of the Worlds Response =

[p0intman]

Originally Posted by texico

Really? I was absolutely expecting it after the way they treated PlanetSide1

I was expecting it to happen post launch. Really, how many other ways can you fuck up launching an FPS? It cant be many.

[XLynxX]

Originally Posted by BlazingSun

I think those guys who get upset about the "region lock" are reading too much into the contract between SOE and ProSiebenSat1. I think this is more of a contract clause than an actual statement of them somehow enforcing a "region lock".

It's not a question of reading into it to much tbh. It clearly states U.S players cannot play on European server(s), and the exact same vice versa. I don't exactly know how you can't read into that without knowing exactly what it's stating haha .

Also, a region lock won't be a difficult thing to enforce. IP restrictions will do most and if you proxy you're IP you'll just lag out more than a North Korean trying to get onto a pro-democracy website. It's made even easier if they are going to use seperate launchers and account holders so that SOE don't even deal with EU accounts .

[Wakken]

Really SOE... if this goes through I'm not sure if I want to play with you anymore. I've been through this crap before, and I dont want to go through it again. The disaster with Dark age of camelot and Warhammer online has made me avoid this kind of bs. Planetside 2 may be a good game, but I just dont want to go through this crap again. Sorry.

I really dont understand why companies have to go around and do this crap. It seldom ends well and the community just get pissed anyways. I know this for a fact, because I've been through the EXACT thing before. It doesnt end well! If you want something done right SOE, do it yourself! Dont hand over half the community to some company that are incompetent. No one even knows them, and those who does say they're rubbish at what they do.

I just... I dont even know anymore... I'm getting tired of the gaming industry. If you absolutely have to get another company to baby sit half your community, why dont you pick a GOOD ONE?!

You guys who played Daoc and WAR knows have bad it actually can get. Its not pretty

[sylphaen]

Originally Posted by Raymac

[...] so I'm taking the view of, we all better start to learn to accept it and move on.

That solution of accepting and moving on has been receiving a lot of good press these last few months.

What about receiving less bullets to bite as users ? Bend-over drills get irritating after a while.

[Wargrim]

Let me begin by saying hello to the PSU forumites, because this is my first post here. I have been lurking the forums since the Planetside 2 Beta was announced, but i only registered just now to add my voice to the big pile of concern that is displayed in this thread.

I read the thread, and the FAQ about the SoE - ProSieben deal yesterday evening, but decided to sleep over it first, to see if there would be a response to the concerns already raised, and to not let my first post over here develop into a rant.

Apologies for the wall of text that is about to follow.

RadarX has indicated that well written and insult - free feedback has a higher chance of being shown to higher ranking members of SoE, so i will have a try at it.


************************************************** *********

To those at SoE with the power to decide about region locks.

I, like many others, have been following the development of Planetside 2 with great anticipation and excitement. The quality of interaction between the development team and the Planetside Community has been outstanding. Many of the news about the game have only increased my feeling that it will become a great game, that goes far beyond what any other FPS has done in the past. Both in terms of gameplay, look, and business model, everything that was announced so far did look really good and promising.

However, your recently released FAQ regarding your partnership with ProSiebenSat.1 Games Group has left me with great concern.

I understand the need for regional servers. I understand that by having ProSiebenSat.1 Games Group manage European players, you aim to improve localized support for Europe. I also understand that the deal is signed and in effect.

The source of my concern is that the FAQ is written in a way that can be interpreted as "European players will under no circumstances be able to play on North American servers, and North American players will under no circumstances be able to play on European servers."

I urge you to clarify the issue as fast as possible.

Please confirm that European players will be able to register an account with SoE and play on North American servers if they choose to do so.
Please confirm that North American players will be able to register an account with ProSiebenSat.1 Games Group and play on European servers if they choose to do so.
Please confirm whether or not European players will be able to participate in the upcoming Planetside 2 Beta.

Why is regional locking such a big deal?

I have been playing online games for years now, and formed friendships with people from all over the world. Members of my gaming friends group come from the USA, Canada, Great Britain, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Danmark, Sweden, Finland and many more countrys. We are roughly half based in North America, half in Europe. Not being able to play Planetside 2 together would be a huge disappointment to me.

Because over those years, i came to realize, that who i play with is of much greater importance to me than what game i play. My gaming time is limited, so i try to get the most out of it. If given the choice of playing an excellent game with complete strangers, or a game that is mediocre with my friends, i will choose the second.

Those friendships, those bonds that you find in international gaming communities took years to form. My friends and i have played many online games together, we have shared victory and defeat, we have laughed together, we have raged together, we went through frustration and fun, we have shared our experiences and have gotten so much more out of all the games we played than it would ever have been possible without each other.

I was looking forward to introducing my friends to Planetside 2, to continue to play together, to fight as a group on a much larger stage than any other FPS offered us so far. Regional locks would make that impossible.

So please SoE, make it possible for international gamer communitys, for friends across the atlantic, for those with relatives on different continents, for those who move around due to their job or other reasons, to enjoy Planetside 2 to its full potential.

Please allow me to recommend Planetside 2 to my gaming friends as a game that we all should pick up and play together. Please allow others im my position to do the same. This is the year 2012, enforcing regional locks can only harm the adoption of Planetside 2 by many, many FPS fans around the world that are used to playing together with people from all over the world. I know you want Planetside 2 to be a success, to draw in as many players as possible. So do i. Do not allow the outstandig work of your development team to be undermined by such an unnecessary decision. Do not enforce region locks, give players a choice.


************************************************** *********


As others have stated already, this does not just effect existing PS1 Outfits, but also all international gaming communities with an interest in PS2. I only played PS1 for some weeks or month during the Reserves Program, and one of the reasons it did not offer enough long term appeal for me was the fact that back then, i did not have an established group of gaming friends to play the game with. Now that i have, i am not supposed to play PS2 with them?

Some people have stated, that PS2 has no competition to fear, because it is the only MMOFPS worth that name. But imho, that is not correct. PS2 is clearly aiming beyond the traditional MMO - Audience, and trying to attract fans of modern FPS games. It is in direct competition with heavyweights like Battlefield. It will never have the advertizing power of Battlefield or CoD, so it needs to rely on word of mouth, at least in part, to even reach a large enough audience. Let's face it: Whenever you speak with someone about Planetside 1, the first reaction is usually "Planet - what?". Hardly anyone knows it. Even less know what is so special about it. Who could be better at spreading the word than international gaming communities, that spread across borders and oceans?

I do not know what SoE is getting from the deal, but i know what Pro7 is getting out of it. As you probably know, it is primarily a German TV channel group. Over the last years, they have been pushing massively into the games market, or Browser Games market to be more precise. There, their strategy has been the same as for many other German Browser Games companies: Quantity over Quality. Make a lot of similar, cheap to produce browser games, so that if one fails, the others still bring enough profit. The deal with SoE means that they are expanding their portfolio, expanding into "real" MMOs and tripple A titles. In principle, this is a good move. If, and that is a big if, they are able to satisfy the needs of the very different audience of said titles. Personally, i do not think they have the experience necessary for that. I have the impression that they are expanding faster and are drawing more players than they can manage and keep up a high level of support for. I am willing to give them the benefit of doubt and prove me wrong.

I am ready to jump through some hoops in order to play PS2 with my friends. If i have to keep 2 seperate installs, i will do that. That is what terrabyte - sized harddrives are there for, right? I am ready to use proxie servers, VPN or whatever. But if SoE takes a hard stance, and bans me if i admit circumventing regional locking, that is also no option. And i very much doubt i can convince my friends that jumping through those hoops is worth it.

[Wakken]

While I do understand why most of you have region lock concerns, my biggest concern is ProSieben's way to treat their customers. I dont like it. One bit.

[PoisonTaco]

Very good post Wargrim.

[Pillow]

Originally Posted by PoisonTaco

Very good post Wargrim.

+1 i agree