Westley
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Posts
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Joined
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Quote:Good to know that some things never change, winky.Originally Posted by Golden Girl
I'm pretty sure I know my own intentions better than anyone else
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Apparently according to Zwill, I can post until my paid time has elapsed. Yay?
So, I would like to state that anyone that has made use of this thread to insult either me, or the Unleashed forums, shame on you. It is not only low, it is immature and goes against the spirit of the City of Heroes name. I will not comment further or acknowledge any more of those posts. Second:
Quote:Originally Posted by UberGuy
No, that's an oversimplification of something that, yes, is not very complicated, but by oversimplifying it you're creating a kind of strawman position.
Look, I want to play their game, because I like their game. I don't want the terms playing their games to allow them to do things I don't want them to have the right to do. Giving up your protections on the basis that no one is currently abusing that access is just asking later people to take advantage of the protections you gave away.
I understand fully that, say, for NCSoft to use these EULA terms to install a keylogger, find my banking login, and steal money from my bank account is clearly illegal. The EULA would not even begin to protect them if they did something like that. On the other hand, using their malware/bot detector or some diagnostic tool to find every piece of software I have installed on my PC or my browsing history is not illegal, but it's an invasion of my privacy.
Even if they do nothing overtly illegal with information gleaned from my PC, they could potentially sell it to folks who desperately want to try to monetize such personal data. Zwil tells us they would never do such a thing, and I take his word for that, but the EULA does not disallow it, so someone later on could change NCSoft's direction regarding it. Such data, once obtained, is theirs forever. Even if they don't sell it, it might be stored on an unsecure server and then stolen by hackers, to be sprayed all over the internet. See Sony's recent joys.
To which some posters here will probably be all like "oh, NOES! Not a list of installed software!" And for most people, that's probably a fair (if IMO naive) response. Preserving privacy is often about a lot of "what if" scenarios, and its very easy to dismiss the whole bag if you think none of those "what ifs" happen to apply to you. I like to err on the side of safety, and greater privacy. Maybe I don't know what the "what ifs" that apply to me actually all are. Maybe there are other people out there with more applicable "what ifs" than me. If I don't give away my right to privacy, I don't have to think of everything, and if my privacy is invaded, I can fall back on "hey, I never gave you permission to do that!"
I think people who live in wealthy, safe countries are often complacent about their privacy (among other things) and waive control of it too readily. There's a notion often trotted out that you have to live in a cave with no electricty to try and be smart about this stuff, but that's not true at all. But keeping on top of it takes effort, and people are lazy. Giving up our protections is convenient, unfortunately.
Because, as I've explained, I mostly trust them to not do what's overtly illegal, but not everything that is both legal and permitted under the EULA is something I want to grant them permission to do. Something doesn't have to be illegal or somehow overtly evil for me to not want them to do it. This EULA grants them permission to perform extraordinary, non-illegal invasions of privacy. If they later change their minds about how they use this permission, they're protected by the EULA unless they actually do violate a law.
I don't want to give them such permission, but I want to play the game. Because I want to play their game, I don't want to have to choose to not play the game in order to avoid granting them this permission. Therefore, I find it preferable to have a less onerous EULA than to stop playing the game. Is that really so hard to grasp?
If this type of privacy discussion is foreign to folks reading this, do some searching about user user website tracking and the debates around it. There are people who object to the notion of companies like Google (and many others) tracking uniquely identifiable individuals across the websites they visit. Bear in mind, these systems don't directly identify the users; they say "user X went to foo.org and bar.com", not "user X is John Smith". But it turns out that determined people are really good at using that sort of data to figure out that user X is John Smith. There's enough concern about this sort of thing that laws are being enacted around being able to opt out of this sort of tracking in the EU, and laws like that are at least being discussed in the US.
Now, in light of people not wanting their website visitation patterns to be tracked by third parties, even if the tracking data cannot (directly) identify the person being tracked, do you really think it's that big a stretch that people would not want to permit a service provider open access to their computer's memory and storage?
UberGuy, you are now my official ambassador in this thread. Godspeed. -
...and this is why.
Quote:This is a gross violation of my privacy and civil rights, and I will not subject myself to this. [edited]. I'm posting this so that whoever in NCSoft may see it that may change this. If you take this out, I may continue to subscribe in the future. But as it stands, I'm done. I've been paying for the past seven years almost, and for the last two or three without even playing most of the time. [edited]You consent to the foregoing monitoring and acknowledge that NCsoft may conduct such monitoring, including but not limited to monitoring in-Game communications and Message Boards provided by NCsoft as well as third-party Message Boards and the like. You also acknowledge that NCsoft may take any action, or no action whatsoever, based on such monitoring, including but not limited to action under Section 5, and that NCsoft has no obligation to explain any decision to take any action, or no action whatsoever, based on such monitoring. (d) NCSOFT HAS THE RIGHT, BUT NO OBLIGATION, TO MONITOR OPERATION OF ANY SERVICE, CONTENT OR SOFTWARE AT ANY TIME AND IN ANY MATTER, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO MONITORING COMMUNICATIONS AND COMMUNICATIONS INTERFACES, STORAGE DEVICES, RANDOM ACCESS MEMORY OR CPU PROCESSES RELATED TO HARDWARE YOU USE WITH THE GAME. SUCH MONITORING MAY ALSO INCLUDE, BUT IS NOT LIMITED TO, MONITORING FOR THE PURPOSES OF DETECTING SOFTWARE UNDER SECTION 8(c) or 8(e). YOU CONSENT TO THE FOREGOING MONITORING AND ACKNOWLEDGE THAT NCSOFT MAY, AT ANY TIME, AND IN ANY MANNER, COMMUNICATE ANY INFORMATION BETWEEN HARDWARE YOU USE WITH THE GAME AND ANY MECHANISM NCSOFT MAY CHOOSE FOR SUCH COMMUNICATIONS. YOU ALSO ACKNOWLEDGE THAT AS A RESULT OF SUCH MONITORING NCSOFT MAY IN ITS SOLE AND ABSOLUTE DISCRETION TAKE ANY ACTION, OR NO ACTION WHATSOEVER, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO: (i) CHANGING ANY PORTION OF THE SERVICE, CONTENT OR SOFTWARE; (ii) SEEKING RECOURSE AGAINST YOU BY WAY OF ANY PROCEEDING NCSOFT DEEMS APPROPRIATE UNDER THE CIRCUMSTANCES; AND/OR (iii) DETERMINING THAT YOU ARE NOT IN COMPLIANCE WITH ALL PROVISIONS OF THIS AGREEMENT AND TERMINATING YOUR ACCOUNT UNDER SECTION 3(b) OR SECTION 3(c). NCSOFT HAS THE RIGHT, BUT NO OBLIGATION, TO PROVIDE YOU WITH NOTICE BEFORE SUCH TERMINATION.
Edited: With the permission of the OP, edited so that it did not violate the Forum Rules. -Z -
Posting in an epic thread.
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I am extremely disappointed to find out that you will have to pick things that you don't want to advance in the tiers.
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Quote:But, as I said before, they don't care about any of that.Originally Posted by Golden Girl
That's fine - but it means they'll be locked out of non-Incanrate content too
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Quote:You give WAY too much credit to the "new shiny". I know of at least four old players personally that just want to play the game just like they did back in 2004 and don't care about all the "new shinies". They will most likely cancel and play for free, exactly the same way that they've been playing in the past.Originally Posted by Golden Girl
The VIP benefits are too big
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I have a substantial concern that if Vets can make use of their old "Vet Rewards" credit to basically "buy off" all the restrictions placed on the Premium accounts... that we'll see a large migration of former paying customers cancelling and going free to play.
Hopefully enough new "Free" players will come in and perform micro-transactions that will cover that difference, but I have my doubts. -
Next question: Does the fact that you will be able to "buy off" the restrictions placed on Premium accounts using your already earned "Vet Rewards" change any of your minds either way?
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Quote:SHHHHHHHHHH! DON'T TAINT MY DATA DAMMIT!Originally Posted by NarfMann
You had to know that by saying this the majority of the responses would be "I'm going to maintain the status quo" right? I'm thinking this was the object of your research; to prove that people will be contrary just to be contrary.
Btw, I'm going to maintain the status quo.
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First thing's first, if you're NOT, don't post here. What's the point of a bunch of people saying "I'm going to maintain the status quo"?
What I'm more interested in, is who will be playing the game that USED to pay (note the lack of an "L" there) that will still be playing, but not paying after Freedom hits?
And most importantly: WHY?
Consider this a public service for Paragon Studios marketing research team... what would make you want to play the game, but not enough to pay a monthly fee, when you have done so in the past? Is it related to how much you will still be able to do for free, or is it something else?
For your reference, in case you haven't seen it, here is a side by side comparison of the options. -
Quote:While I appreciate what you are doing, and think it's quite cute and comical, I don't think the Golden Girl's attitude will ever be changed, no matter what tactic is employed. She will never admit to any sort of wrongness or error in judgement or even phrasing, and will choose to ignore certain statements and selectively snip and repost others to avoid ever being shown to be wrong.Originally Posted by Flarstux
Are you?
It is actually quite infuriating, and is why I have given up on that track entirely. -
If you try to conclusively figure out humans using pure logic, you will fail miserably. Take my word as an autistic that thinks logically 90% of the time.
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Quote:Because some people take this game more seriously and personally than you do? The same could be said about virtually any hobby.Originally Posted by MajorPrankster
It just does not make any logical sense to me to get as worked up as some posters and players seem to over changes and what-not in the game.
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I don't hate City of Heroes. I love it. I started it back on launch date, and loved the concept, loved the world, love everything about it. I spent years of my life dedicated to it as my first and only MMO.
Then things started to change, I felt for the worse. I started seeing a change in the game, from a fun casual game with a fantastic storyline, to a grindfest like every other MMO out there who's stories never moved, never advanced.
That's when I stopped playing actively, but kept paying my subscription fee.
Why? Two things:
- I loved the COMMUNITY, so much so that I even started my own forum for those that can't or won't post on the official boards anymore and,
- Because I still held out the glimmer of hope, that my prayers would be answered, that the course would be reversed, that the Dev team would go back to the "old ways" of actively talking directly to the playerbase, discussing things, and joking around with the lot of us. That the existing storylines would be moved forward, so that us heroes would feel as if we were making a dent in the world.
/Fire Blast Defenders will cause me to play again, for a while. But yes, I am bitter and still paying, and this is why.
My relationship with this game and its community outlasted my first marriage and three moves across the country. I hope that the Dev team gives me reason to make it last longer.
Hope. -
The Philotic Knight was originally envisioned as and intended as a Force Fields/Fire Blast Defender. He was orginally a pyrokinetic that primarily used his gifts for defense, and only offense when needed. Then I found out when I opened the game over five years ago that this was not an option. I had to settle for "second best" with Electricity as a thematic cousin.
I also made this avatar over two years ago:
Now, I finally get what I want. And it will bring me back to the game.... at least for a while.
So, you all will be stuck with me again for a bit. Get comfy.
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Quote:So, any official word on if any of these things will be looked at? Because the new proliferation will bring me back to the game for a little while, but the only way that CoX will be keeping me on as a paying customer in the future is if I have the knowledge that all the stories that I've been fighting through for the last five years will actually have some sort of progress.Originally Posted by Zwillinger
First off,
This is a great conversation. The Lore/Stories are an important and vital part of CoH and a huge reason that many are so invested.
So in reading this I'm seeing requests for continuation of the story of Malta and the Shadow Shard story lines.
What other stories do you feel need to be further explored?
If I feel as if I'm making no real progress, no real "dent" in the world... what's the point of me fighting? -
You can play the game in first person mode right now... I'm confused.
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Quote:Then answer your damn PMs!Originally Posted by RadDidIt
Westley never left. He just hid inside our hearts, causing massive internal bleeding, waiting for us to need him, once again.
The Chestbuster-sized hole in me is happy you are back.
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Quote:Nope. Just because something isn't in print doesn't mean that the copyright is up. Copyrights in America at least don't expire until 75 YEARS after the death of the original creator. So, eBay is your friend. Buy it used.Originally Posted by Arnabas
I have a bit of a legal question and this seems to be the best spot to ask.
As I mentioned earlier, I am reading DC Adventures (which is a bit frustrating... I feel that there is a decent game in there, but the book is just poorly written) and also flipping through my old Marvel rpg again. Given that the White Wolf Storyteller system is one of my favourite systems, I am curious about Aberrant. Given that the game is no longer in print, is it legal to download a PDF of it? I would happily buy it if it were available, but since it is not being sold anymore, I am wondering about the legality of obtaining it online.
Thoughts? -
Just roll a bubbler.
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Quote:In mother Russia, posts moderate YOU!Originally Posted by Zwillinger
Our reeducation program is second to none comrade!
