SOE hires IGE, Part II

Cuppycake over at Cuppytalk has a problem with what I had to say about SOE in my previous SOE hires IGE posting. Apparently I am not looking at the situation from a business point of view? I must admit; she caught me red handed. I am not looking at this as a business person, because I'm not.

Don't get me wrong here, I am a firm believer in game developers being a business first and a developer second. The companies that fail to adhere to this principal have fallen by the wayside, a great many vaporware titles being left in their wake. However, believing this principal, and talking about it, does not mean I look at developments within companies with a business eye.

I am a gamer. I am the customer. This is where I draw my opinion from. But, for a moment here, let me turn a more analytical eye to this.

Once again, the main issue, is the fact that SOE already operates Station Exchange servers. They are trying a new business model. Cuppy may applaud them for the effort, but I do not. As I've stated, it legitimizes a practice that directly effects the game and more importantly, it's community. As long as I know that a developer does not support RMT, I can dismiss the actions of the RMT participants. As soon as a developer starts dipping their hand into the RMT cookie jar, I as a paying subscriber, can no longer justify anything I achieve.

The next point of contention is that SOE didn't just hire this guy. They created a position for him! In the business world that usually means they hand picked the person well before the hiring. If that isn't a red flag, then I have a car you might be interested in buying.

The basics of this situation stink, and we all know what they say: if it stinks like fish; it's fish. SOE created a position for a former IGE big-wig. SOE has been exploring RMT business models for their games. If any players want to avoid developer-sanctioned RMT, avoid SOE games at all costs.

SOE hires IGE

David Christianson, former Vice President of Business Development for IGE, will now be the Vice President of Business Development & International Operations for Sony Online Entertainment. SOE's official press release states that "prior to joining SOE, Christensen served as Vice President of Business Development for IGE where he drove the company’s relationships with the massively multi-player publishing community."

This news is beyond interesting. SOE already runs Station Exchange servers, which basically legitimizes the practice of Gold Farming, Power Leveling, and Real Money Trade(RMT). The ramifications of such are heavily debated, but I have yet to find a non-SOE voice that actually believes services such as Station Exchange are good for a game and it's community.

This may seem like just a RMT issue to most people, but a little research into IGE will show a slew of unethical, and questionable business practices. It would not be surprising to wake up tomorrow, and see IGE being investigated on money laundering charges. Why would SOE even think about hiring a former IGE employee; let alone an employee so entrenched within the company? This hiring speaks volumes about the business politics of SOE and their money first mentality.

This strongly supports my opinion that SOE just wants your money. Everything they can charge you for; they will. They don't give a damn about you as a player, and I doubt they ever will. Sorry Grimwell, I had to say it.

Bye-bye Labels

I have removed the label section in my sidebar. It was getting a bit unwieldy to look at, so I removed it. If anyone absolutely can't live without it, let me know and I can bring it back. You can still click any label attached to any post to browse other articles with the same tag.

Turbine, Get Your Head Out of Your Ass

Turbine Inviting Over 1,000,000 Players to Play Lord of The Rings Online.

Lord of the Rings Online will never hit one million subscribers. It will never even get to the 500,000 mark. The game is not that great, and it definitely offers nothing new or exciting. These are all bold statements, but if Turbine can spew some, then so can I.

I have no idea where Turbine has gotten the idea that Lord of the Rings Online will be joining the Million Player club. Before beta even started, they were trumpeting the idea that they were going to hit the one million player mark. This misleading headline is just another notch on the pole of misleading quotes from Turbine. There is no evidence, either provided by Turbine or from any other source, that says there are a million interested players in the market looking for a new game. To hand out a million beta invites is nothing more than a spam rush on our already spam ridden e-mail accounts. Shame on Turbine.

The most popular MMORPG of all time, World of Warcraft, didn't even break the one million mark in beta. It was amazing that they hit 500,000 without the servers melting in a fiery cataclysmic event. WoW surprised most of us and went on to become a smashing success beyond anything we could have imagined. However, it was a Blizzard product, so a million+ copies being sold was not unrealistic. Can anyone name the last Turbine game that shipped a million copies?

Turbine is quickly transforming itself into a spin machine, drudging up emotions reserved for the likes of SOE. Turbine, get your collective head out of your collective ass.

I'm back!

My Internet connection has been down and out for the past few weeks so I have done very little. I did manage to get a good amount of time logged in the Lord of the Rings Online beta, but I was not impressed enough to play it more than an hour at a time. Nor, would my Internet connection let me play it for more than an hour at a time! I will have my impressions posted sometime next week (hopefully).

I have started back into World of Warcraft. My little brother uses my account most of the time, but I am sneaking back in here and there for a few minutes. He has upgrade the account to The Burning Crusade so I may try and level to 70 over the next few months.

Other than that I have just been busy with house projects, school work, and job searching.