Quote of the week:
That quote deserves to go into the Customer Relations Hall of Fame.
The more I see and hear about Hellgate’s online crap - the less and less I care about it entirely.
Let me be the first (I think) to say:
Fuck Hellgate.
/salute Tom
Cheers, mate.
Me and my friends LAN it up once a month. As few as 5 show, to as large as 20.
Yeah, we too, care.
You joke me!
Awesome quote, but I’m kind of siding with Ivan here.
People play MMO (and MMO-like games) on LAN? Really? Does WoW or Guild Wars have LAN support?
So your LAN setup doesn’t have internet connectivity? Assuming you aren’t looking to pirate the game, what’s the downside? Lag, maybe?
Now if you meant that official representatives shouldn’t say inflammatory stuff like “who the fuck cares”, I’ve got your back there.
Forget that, he called my computer stupid. Them’s fighting words.
I don’t know if this is the case, but what if he wants to buy 5 copies of the game for his lan setup, but doesn’t want to have to create account and password information that he as to provide to each player? It’s an additional hassle, especially if he rotates players (has new players come and go every week) which means he’d likely need to change passwords after every get together.
It’s not conducive to “party” gaming.
I thought I explained it pretty well in the linked front page entry, stusser (yeah, yeah, I know: “There’s a front page on Qt3?”).
Also, given their financial model, it’s pretty much a given that you can’t play this on a LAN unless everyone owns a copy of the game. That’s part of what you lose when you don’t support LAN play (EA and Ubisoft continue to flip the bird at those of us who play games on a LAN by requiring unique CD keys, which is a subset of this entire argument). Titan Quest and Diablo were a big hit around here because it heartily embraced LAN play without requiring multiple copies of the game. It’s pretty cheap that Hellgate wants to be in the same genre, but doesn’t support the same ways of playing.
But, yeah, stusser, it’s also bad community relations for the tone as well. There’s the casual disregard with his ‘Who the fuck cares?’ comment, and I think the profanity is pretty clumsy as well. I talk that way around my friends, but I’d probably reign it in if I was speaking on behalf of a gaming developer. At least he’s not using some goofy online name, which seems to be pretty fashionable among community relations folks. :)
-TomI care about LAN too. When I Lan with freinds sure we occasionally end up hopping into an MMO and running around, other times it’s an FPS, and some times it’s our own little private LAN MMO shard. It’s about being in hte same room with a bunch of people you know and being able to see how they react that ability to lean over and slap a guy on the back for their first time slaying the dragon. The ability to lean over and point out that they still haven’t put the new spell of destruction on the qbar. The joking and friendly bantat that occompanies a bunch of people in a room all doing a similar task. If Hellgate London won’t support a LAN then we won’t support Hellgate London.
PS at first I was thinking that was a joke quote but finding out that it’s real well that just nailed their coffin shut, burried it, covered it in cement, and built a building over it.
Edit: If they stick to this I’m sure free shards and no CD ‘fixs’ will be available shortly. ( if this comment is inapprpriate for these boards then feel free to remove it )
But it’s illegal to share one copy of most games for LAN play. If you have 5 guys playing, you’re obligated to buy 5 copies of the game. Everybody does it, and it’s a bummer, etc, but that’s still piracy.
Stusser: ha ha ha ha ha!
Also, you’re wrong. Looking at my desktop now: Call of Duty 2, Supreme Commander, SWAT 4, Rise of Legends, Unreal Tournament 2004, Civ IV, Dawn of War, Titan Quest. Which ones of those are illegal? And by “illegal”, I presume you must have found some legal precedent that establishes EULA’s are legally binding. Could you link me to that, please? I must have missed it. :)
-Tom
P.S. As for C&C3 and BFME2, because I was doing reviews, EA kindly provided me with the $600 worth of CD-keys a normal person would have had to spend to play it on a six-computer LAN. But that hasn’t bought me off! Because check this out: “Fuck EA for their attitudes toward LAN gaming!”.
I support the LANs
How many console games let you play 6 other playersd on a lan with just one copy?
Tom, you know this is a two-edged sword. How dumb are you going to feel when I show your columns to people at my next LAN party and 10 of us are reading them at once but I only paid for…wait, hang on, I can make this work…
If you choose to believe that software licenses are inherently invalid and unenforceable that’s up to you, but given past precedent it’s a pretty naive stance. I’m not making a moral judgment, I was just surprised to see it on such a vehemently anti-piracy forum.
Wait, don’t freak out, you can get out from under the covers and open the curtains. Cancel the one-way to central america and put those gold coins back in the bank. No need to worry about the black helicopters closing in a couple of dudes geeking out to titan quest in the basement. They tend to focus on businesses installing 1000 copies of Office from one key.
Well put. This is a frustrating example of the supposed “connection” betwen devs and players. Lacking is the overall word.
Guild Wars has NO OFFLINE support what-so-ever. You HAVE to be connected to their servers to play.
I can’t even play from work, because those ports are blocked.