I tried, I really really did !

[Uriah Heep]

To become positive and upbeat. After reading the post SD Town Hall stuff, the interview with Jeremy, and stuff, heck, I started to put pom poms in my sig...

Then came the bannings, and the stone silence. Other than a quip, here and there, nothing...

Come on guys/girls, lay out some news, some info. What, specifically what and why, are we done? is there more? Banned only one user account when they had 10? This strays from protocol, is it the new rule of banning?

When Drac went thru the last time, there were information posts made. From where and why, and promises of more to come, "We like fire".

We can't get any communication about the future of UO, KR, is SA still coming? Makes me think of Collective Soul, heheh, cause all we hear are 'Hints, Allegations, and Things Left Unsaid."

So talk to us, Devs, and not as a reply to a long post days old that will be buried in obscurity. Use that button marked "Post new Thread" and comunicate. After all, it's been days now, and there isnt even anything new or newsworthy, on the Herald.

Show us skeptics, there is some substance happening, both now and later. Enough smoke and mirrors, enough!

 

[Bullet]

They got us all excited on a FOF that they could not say much till after the town hall meeting. What have we heard of since then? Plants and bannings. They have kept us wondering about SA for what? Over A YEAR! and still they say nothing. And KR hasnt had a patch since when? They seem to forget we are their CUSTOMERS now dont they and keep us in the dark. Uriah I too am very unsure of where this game is going but I can only guess its not good.

 

[Jhym]

Hm let's see... they banned a lot of dupers and those associated with them. They posted a comment about it. They said the next part of the storyline is coming in publish 54.

Are you asking them to spend half their day writing glowing missives of all the things they are doing for us, or would you rather they spend that time actually finishing them?

Jeremy and Bob should probably give us a bit more info now and then, but for the most part they tell us stuff when they know about it. They know better than to promise all sorts of things, past teams have done that to their extreme derision and detriment.

However, I will say it would be a helpful thing for Bob and all to put up a "general timeline" of what they expect to finish and do over the next few years. Not milestones, but general ideas on what's going on and what we can expect.

Things aren't perfect, but they're certainly not horrible either. I'd rather they be a little tight-lipped about things and not lie to us, rather than they constantly drop hints and information that never end up happening or are outright mistruths.

 

[Bullet]

Are you asking them to spend half their day writing glowing missives of all the things they are doing for us, or would you rather they spend that time actually finishing them?

Actually i reaaly only want 2 very important questions answered.

1 Is SA ever going to be released or are expansions done and over with?

2 Is Kr done and over with?

I think we as customers deserve an update on these 2 very important questions!

 

[Uriah Heep]

Are you asking them to spend half their day writing glowing missives of all the things they are doing for us, or would you rather they spend that time actually finishing them?
----------------------------------------------

Shouldn't be an either/or. Should be both. But, I (and quite a few of us) would settle for either one, on a regular basis LOL

 

[Uriah Heep]

But, as an afterthought, writing the glowing missives shouldnt detract from getting the things they are working on finished. Since Bob/Cal or whoever, and Jeremy, are community coordinators and work as liaison between corp and us, and NOT as programmers, their communications with us shouldnt affect programming speed at all
When your community rep is only here for a couple of posts a day...and hardly ever has anything new to say, you have to wonder what other jobs they are working?

And this isnt personal towards Jeremy, she's merely the press agent, and can only say what's on the "allowed" list. As with most of our problems, the root of the evil lies higher up the food chain.

 

[JC the Builder]

Then came the bannings, and the stone silence. Other than a quip, here and there, nothing...

Jeremy has posted quite a few times in response to the bannings. There is not a lot she can say without violating privacy rules.

 

[HD2300]

LOL

 

[o2bavr6]

Jeremy has posted quite a few times in response to the bannings. There is not a lot she can say without violating privacy rules.

I don't think I quite understand the "privacy rules".

EA owns the game.
EA makes the rules.
EA says they can ban you without question.

Yet EA can't tell you about something because of privacy rules?

Don't the terms and service agreements basically take all the rights of the players away?

How could there be privacy rules if they can do what they want?

I would prefer if they told me "It's none of my business" or "I don't want you to know" or I'm too busy to tell you.

But to hide behind the Privacy Rules is a load of ...........

 

[Eslake]

Are you asking them to spend half their day writing glowing missives of all the things they are doing for us, or would you rather they spend that time actually finishing them?

Half a day? Try THE FULL DAY! It is Jeremy's JOB to talk to us.


And yes, the Privacy Policy is a load of horse dung.
There is no such thing, or they couldn't burn houses for all to see.

 

[Belmarduk]

LOL

This donkey has stopped pulling the cart and is ignoring the carrot now - Lets see what the coachman will do now. This donkey is not moving another step until it gets atleast 5 ripe carrots to eat

 

[Berym]

Half a day? Try THE FULL DAY! It is Jeremy's JOB to talk to us.


And yes, the Privacy Policy is a load of horse dung.
There is no such thing, or they couldn't burn houses for all to see.

Actually it's Jeremy's job to be a liason between the game and the community. She has other things to do, I'm sure, than trawl through the Stratics forums.

Privacy is something that the corporate world takes very very seriously. Speaking as someone who's spent a long time working in customer support, service and client interaction, privacy is often one of the first tenents of the job.

The Public world has views on privacy that are very lax. Let me be open and tell you that without doubt the Private sector sees such things very differently.

 

[Satanatra]

Why dont you just got and PLAY the game instead of worrying bout the posts? I think you might find UO much more enjoyable that way.

IMHO, people need to play more/post less/stop complaining.

 

[o2bavr6]

Actually it's Jeremy's job to be a liason between the game and the community. She has other things to do, I'm sure, than trawl through the Stratics forums.

Privacy is something that the corporate world takes very very seriously. Speaking as someone who's spent a long time working in customer support, service and client interaction, privacy is often one of the first tenents of the job.

The Public world has views on privacy that are very lax. Let me be open and tell you that without doubt the Private sector sees such things very differently.

Well I've been in the Corporate World for the last 15 years.

I look at the EA terms of service like being in the military. They can do what they want when they want. The terms of service say so, so to say that there is "Privacy Rules" is just not true.

Now it may just be an EA policy to not inform people on the details behind the banning, and that is fine. They should just say "it's our policy not to discuss these matters", but to say it violates their Privacy Rules just shows that they think we are all stupid sheep and that they have no resect for our thoughts or concerns.

 

[Uvtha]

This donkey has stopped pulling the cart and is ignoring the carrot now - Lets see what the coachman will do now. This donkey is not moving another step until it gets atleast 5 ripe carrots to eat

Donkey is still movin, 12 bucks a month worth at a time!

 

[Zofinur]

people need to play more/post less/stop complaining.

u didnt actually did suggest to the banned, did u?
How would i be able to play this game without an account?
Just ignore what happened, making a new one after 9 years and starting from scratch again?
With the risk to be banned soon again?

 

[Beldon]

u didnt actually did suggest to the banned, did u?
How would i be able to play this game without an account?
Just ignore what happened, making a new one after 9 years and starting from scratch again?
With the risk to be banned soon again?

You were not banned you were permanently PKed. Sorry, couldn't resist the joke.

 

[Berym]

Well I've been in the Corporate World for the last 15 years.

I look at the EA terms of service like being in the military. They can do what they want when they want. The terms of service say so, so to say that there is "Privacy Rules" is just not true.

Now it may just be an EA policy to not inform people on the details behind the banning, and that is fine. They should just say "it's our policy not to discuss these matters", but to say it violates their Privacy Rules just shows that they think we are all stupid sheep and that they have no resect for our thoughts or concerns.

For someone who's been in the Corporate world for fifteen years you seem to have a strange understanding of Privacy Laws.

There is undoubtedly a company policy that they must adhere to, but it goes well beyond merely singular corporate regulation, unless the US has vastly different Privacy Laws to Australia.

EA ToS is not EA's privacy policy nor the privacy laws of the USA. EA's ToS is an agreement which has not been tested in court as to how concrete it is in its nature - indeed, the entire matter of online gaming and such is untried, and it is something that sooner or later, as more entertainment moves online, that will have to be resolved.

There are laws and regulations regarding - at least in Australia - the divulging of private information. Corporate policy is in place to prevent breach of those laws and regulations, which then opens the company to litigation.

 

[galefan2004]

I really really think they shouldn't have to communicate any information on their intent to ban accounts.

I do believe they should possibly share more information on the future of the game, but they aren't required to do so.

Things are kept secret for many reasons. Sometimes they don't want information to get out, and sometimes they simply don't know themselves. I would have to think that as a developer you would hope for the best and prepare for the worst, but many outside forces probably lead to all decisions that are made, so you probably have very little control over the actual future of the game. If EA decided UO drained its resources at any given time all they would have to do is tell the customers 30 days in advance that the game is going offline.

 

[galefan2004]

Are you asking them to spend half their day writing glowing missives of all the things they are doing for us, or would you rather they spend that time actually finishing them?

You are forgetting that, for some Stratics posters, if EA spent half the day writing up what would come next, people would complain about there not being enough, and claim that what was coming wasn't worth the developers time.

 

[galefan2004]

Why dont you just got and PLAY the game instead of worrying bout the posts? I think you might find UO much more enjoyable that way.

IMHO, people need to play more/post less/stop complaining.

I absolutely agree. Its like the people that are bored with the game are hoping for the next best thing in the game. If you are that bored with the game then take a break for awhile, and go try something else. If you really need the next best thing to keep you playing UO, then you probably shouldn't be playing UO because the next big thing isn't always going to happen when you want it to (or at all).

 

[galefan2004]

may just be an EA policy to not inform people on the details behind the banning, and that is fine. They should just say "it's our policy not to discuss these matters", but to say it violates their Privacy Rules just shows that they think we are all stupid sheep and that they have no resect for our thoughts or concerns.

They have NEVER shared information about bans for any reason. A lot of that is because they wish to protect the privacy of the people that were banned (privacy rules), and a lot of that is because bans are not necessarily final. They can say how many got banned they just can't go into who.

The TOS is a contract on both sides of the fence and lists limitations of the player and of EA. They can't do what they want when they want. If its in not in the TOS they can't do it at all. One example would be that the TOS lays the ground work for how they have to end the game if they chose to do so.

 

[galefan2004]

u didnt actually did suggest to the banned, did u?
How would i be able to play this game without an account?
Just ignore what happened, making a new one after 9 years and starting from scratch again?
With the risk to be banned soon again?

Lol. Its so utterly laughable how everyone that got banned was ABSOLUTELY not at all to blame. Stop beating a dead horse and move on. If you got banned it was because you either bought a duped item (come on it was runic hammers and barbed why the hell would you buy and not burn in immediately when they price alone or the stock on the vendor should let you know it was a dupe) or you tried out a dupe yourself. It says right in the TOS that simply trying a dupe is enough of a reason to ban you. I'm sure its all the fault of EA and they all suck though and only you are right. Get a grip, get a life, and move on, because they aren't going to undo your ban, so you probably shouldn't have been so stupid to begin with.

 

[galefan2004]

EA ToS is not EA's privacy policy nor the privacy laws of the USA. EA's ToS is an agreement which has not been tested in court as to how concrete it is in its nature - indeed, the entire matter of online gaming and such is untried, and it is something that sooner or later, as more entertainment moves online, that will have to be resolved.

Wrong. It has been. Its a mutually binding contract ON BOTH SIDES, and contracts have been tested in courts and made into contract law. The developers didn't right the TOS, the legal staff did, and they based it on contract law, so as a contract it has been tested in court, and has strict rules governing it.

There are laws and regulations regarding - at least in Australia - the divulging of private information. Corporate policy is in place to prevent breach of those laws and regulations, which then opens the company to litigation.

It is the same way in the US. Those laws would protect any PERSONAL information. A character name is not exactly personal information (because its out there for all the world to see), so EA extends it privacy rules to cover things like character names.

 

[Zofinur]

Answering the following accusation for myself; cannot speak for others!

it was because you either bought a duped item (come on it was runic hammers and barbed...)

No, i never even bought a single valorite, not even verite!
The last agapite i bought was when uo-auction2 was available and thats month if not years ago!
Definetly before there was houseburning (Note: This time it was house-deleting:; burning is quite some time ago)

or you tried out a dupe yourself

No! Definetly not! And they didnt say this!
They did say "multitudes of highly illegal items" in my possession!

But they refuse to give any details; so i assume it was checks (less than 60M in total on my account!) that i was paid wih during looooong years of playing & paying the game!