Discussion: One game, one global server access
By
0verload,
Posted on: 2011-03-14 17:12 in News, Events and Announcement Discussion
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And placing EU accounts over banned and perma-inactive accounts would have minimized it more so.
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Originally Posted by Snow Globe
It was to minimize the amount of accounts affected, just like this change was intended to do.
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Now @Eskimo-Spy
I'm not evil.
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How are you to determine if an account is permanently inactive? I know the developers aren't psychic. There are different levels of banning, so if you tag all banned accounts you risk getting accounts that have gotten a wrist slap (72 hour ban).|
Originally Posted by Eskimo_Spy
And placing EU accounts over banned and perma-inactive accounts would have minimized it more so.
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And what if even banning those accounts didn't get "your" name back? What then? Continue to whittle it down to who has subscribed longest or who has had the name longest? I'm pretty sure the game doesn't hold the info of when was the last name change.
Triumph: White Succubus: 50 Ill/Emp/PF Snow Globe: 50 Ice/FF/Ice Strobe: 50 PB Shi Otomi: 50 Ninja/Ninjistu/GW Stalker My other characters
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Me.|
Originally Posted by Eskimo_Spy
But I'd love to know the percentage of EU players that have been inconvenienced due to inactive accounts some to the extent that they're thinking of packing it in altogether.
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Just set my account to not renew and I've never done that in nigh on six years. In all that time, EU players have had to put up with losing our support, our community co-ordinators, EU specific events, any form of publicity or marketing, our test server and finally a piece of our online identity. This isn't a ragequit, it's just the straw that broke the camel's back.
I was overjoyed at the news of GSA, but it's been so badly handled and communicated, favouring ease of application over customer satisfaction that what should have been a joyous occasion has instead become another opportunity to remind EU players of how little their loyalty is worth. Maybe I'm an idealist and business is business but I would have thought that in a game this old, rewarding and retaining loyal customers was more important than hoping that some old, inactive players might just possibly come back some day. It seems I was mistaken.
(Oh and just to note, cancelling an NA account brings up a questionairre asking for feedback and reasons for leaving. Cancelling an EU one does not. I think that speaks volumes.)
@Dante EU - Union Roleplayer and Altisis Victim
The Militia: Union RP Supergroup - www.themilitia.org.uk
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Okay, just for a sanity check, what if the player with your EU Global Name IS an active subscriber?
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Originally Posted by Dante
Maybe I'm an idealist and business is business but I would have thought that in a game this old, rewarding and retaining loyal customers was more important than hoping that some old, inactive players might just possibly come back some day.
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Triumph: White Succubus: 50 Ill/Emp/PF Snow Globe: 50 Ice/FF/Ice Strobe: 50 PB Shi Otomi: 50 Ninja/Ninjistu/GW Stalker My other characters
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If the name is in use by an active subscriber then I'll accept it, find a different name and deal with it. But the way things are now, an inactive NA account trumps any EU account regardless of status. And that's not really equitable. Easy, but not necessarily fair to loyal customers.|
Originally Posted by Snow Globe
Okay, just for a sanity check, what if the player with your EU Global Name IS an active subscriber?
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I'm mostly sane these days. I think.
@Dante EU - Union Roleplayer and Altisis Victim
The Militia: Union RP Supergroup - www.themilitia.org.uk
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Likewise Dante, I hit 75months on the 12th, and for the first time Iv'e not even logged on to check.|
Originally Posted by Dante
Me.
Just set my account to not renew and I've never done that in nigh on six years. In all that time, EU players have had to put up with losing our support, our community co-ordinators, EU specific events, any form of publicity or marketing, our test server and finally a piece of our online identity. This isn't a ragequit, it's just the straw that broke the camel's back. I was overjoyed at the news of GSA, but it's been so badly handled and communicated, favouring ease of application over customer satisfaction that what should have been a joyous occasion has instead become another opportunity to remind EU players of how little their loyalty is worth. Maybe I'm an idealist and business is business but I would have thought that in a game this old, rewarding and retaining loyal customers was more important than hoping that some old, inactive players might just possibly come back some day. It seems I was mistaken. (Oh and just to note, cancelling an NA account brings up a questionairre asking for feedback and reasons for leaving. Cancelling an EU one does not. I think that speaks volumes.) |
My enthusiasm for the game has definitely took a nosedive and for the first time I am actively seeking a new game to at the least half the time I would normally spend playing CoX.
There are badges in game for showing loyalty, vet rewards for showing loyalty but I'm beginning to wonder if the Devs know exactly what loyalty means and how much it is valued in game that's 7 years old.
New shiny games are starting to look a hell of a lot more appealing than they did before GSA.
I think the not knowing whether or not a trial account has replaced your global name hurts the most, I may have missed the point somewhere but I still fail to see how loosing 3,4,5,6 + year vets benefits the game rather than deleting trial accounts, and until I get an explanation to why then I'm afraid I am going to treat the the game and the devs (and that includes the community mods) with the same respect that has been showed to me.
Too many 50's to list here's a few you may know.
Slazenger, Area51, Area53, Area54, Erruption, Mind Plague, Thresher, Sheath, Broadside, Debt
They can't delete accounts without screwing up the database so they mark them as Trials, Banned, Inactive, etc.
Which is why they had to rename clashing EU Account names, the problem is that all accounts still hold their @globals even if they are as above. (Trials, Banned, Inactive, etc.)
Yes I know this time around trial globals got purged, but new trials are still getting active globals, IMO trial accounts should get a generic "@Trial xxxxxx" global and no global rename token until they subscribe...
They should of purged banned accounts globals and flagged inactive account globals as replaceable, heck they can still put this right after the merger.
Set a one time inactive timeout like /chantimeout is for global chat channels, and free up all globals inactive longer than this timeout, simultaneously repurge trials and issue global rename tokens to everyone, that way anyone who reactivated or is active keeps their global and everyone els then gets a chance to change theirs if required.
If my NA original @global counterpart was on an active account we could then have a one on one chat over who had the global name, we may even come to an ingame trade agreement over it...
As it is, as an EU veteran I lost my @global to a dead/inactive NA account.
So I currently feel globally @NCShafted
(FYI that is not my current game global.)
Nuff Said...
Coolio Wolfus leader of Coolio�s Crusaders on Union.
Tekna Logik leader of Tekna�s Tormentors on Defiant.
Creator of: Coolio's Tech Beacon Replacements
AE arc 402506, 'The Rise and Demise or Otherwise of Tekna Logik...'.
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I understand the frustration of the EU-side here, I honestly do, but I can't see them making any changes. The way the system is and has been has led to the long-term effects whereby @Global is taken, and now it may clash with EU merge @Globals. I do not foresee them deleting or changing accounts that are "inactive" or even "banned". I have one account that is "banned" (because I meant to add CoH to CoV Account rather than a new account) and it has sat there all along.|
Originally Posted by Coolio
>Text<
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I didn't log into the game luckily enough to create a @Global that some poor person would have rather enjoyed - I understand this. I advocate they cleanse @Globals for permanent banned accounts (very few I surmise) which in all honesty won't have an effect on the grander scale.
Trial accounts, perhaps they could cleanse @Globals for them and begin a system of @TA_<globalname> to fix that (after all TAs are not going to appreciate the bigger picture in the TA timeslot) but I can't see them deleting their accounts. Namely because the likelihood of a new, or original player, choosing the same Global may create confusion or clashes or may technically be impossible. I'm not an expert in this system but there must be a reason banned accounts are not even deleted.
Purging inactive accounts is as creating a black hole in a very gradual MMPORG social system, even two players that changed their name completely I still take time to register. Doing the above would be kicking the hornets nest because, again it is down to damage mitigation, would they rather have a collision on the cost of the least percentile or would they rather have a monstrous task of the larger percentile complaining. I fore-see that those seeking the opportunity would change their global (I am already seeing drastically flippant global name changes) and create a bigger hole whereby everyone wants to log-on and get that @global but again I reiterate: too late; they weren't available; beat to the chance, etc.
EDIT: I forgot to mention that whilst purging inactive/banned/etc accounts is a good idea, I somewhat disbelieve it will have the effect we all hope for.
The final conclusion is that rather the smaller percentile of EU being "shafted" so to speak; you have basically everyone going nuts.
I am not against you nor any EU players in this predicament, but I just can't see it happening - sorry.
Fury
It's occurrs to me that if the shoe were on the other foot and it was the NA players that were getting shafted, the EU community would be just as outraged and demanding a fairer system as they are now.
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Not sure if you are serious or sarcastic, but I hope you are serious, because I for one am an NA player but I am on the side of the EU players in this, they are getting shafted.|
Originally Posted by Mechafang
It's occurrs to me that if the shoe were on the other foot and it was the NA players that were getting shafted, the EU community would be just as outraged and demanding a fairer system as they are now.
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I think it should look at active accounts first. Six months inactive (or maybe a bit more, what's a military average tour of duty? While soldiers can play MMOs overseas now, not all choose to)
Second, if an account is active (or not inactive for the above), then look at veteran status.
It's not perfect, but it's the most fair to both sides. I do not think I'm better and more deserving of my @global than someone from England or France because I'm American, but the current system NCSoft has for this merger tells me I am better and more deserving. It needs to be fixed so that the oldest active account is the "better and more deserving" person, not based on where they live.
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Trial accounts should not have conflicted with any EU Global Name.|
Originally Posted by Slazenger
I think the not knowing whether or not a trial account has replaced your global name hurts the most, I may have missed the point somewhere but I still fail to see how loosing 3,4,5,6 + year vets benefits the game rather than deleting trial accounts, and until I get an explanation to why then I'm afraid I am going to treat the the game and the devs (and that includes the community mods) with the same respect that has been showed to me.
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Originally Posted by Zwillinger
For those asking about conflicts with Trial global handle names: All trials global handles will be renamed to "Trial-[RANDOM STRING] once the global auth merge has completed.
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Originally Posted by Coolio
Yes I know this time around trial globals got purged, but new trials are still getting active globals, IMO trial accounts should get a generic "@Trial xxxxxx" global and no global rename token until they subscribe...
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Originally Posted by Coolio
Set a one time inactive timeout like /chantimeout is for global chat channels, and free up all globals inactive longer than this timeout, simultaneously repurge trials and issue global rename tokens to everyone, that way anyone who reactivated or is active keeps their global and everyone els then gets a chance to change theirs if required.
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Originally Posted by Coolio
If my NA original @global counterpart was on an active account we could then have a one on one chat over who had the global name, we may even come to an ingame trade agreement over it...
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Originally Posted by Coolio
As it is, as an EU veteran I lost my @global to a dead/inactive NA account.
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Originally Posted by Anarchist_Kitten
I think it should look at active accounts first. Six months inactive (or maybe a bit more, what's a military average tour of duty? While soldiers can play MMOs overseas now, not all choose to)
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Originally Posted by Anarchist_Kitten
I do not think I'm better and more deserving of my @global than someone from England or France because I'm American, but the current system NCSoft has for this merger tells me I am better and more deserving.
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It likely wasn't financially possible to maintain a separate server list and continue keeping the game open. It is likely that the amount of EU subscribers is a small percentage of the NA subscribers. So they chose this route instead of following Lineage's lead and shutting down the whole continent (Lineage 1's NA servers are shutting down for good next month). So instead of not having the European population at all, some EU players had their names changed.
So while I might feel for those EU players affected by this change, it IS better than the alternative.
Triumph: White Succubus: 50 Ill/Emp/PF Snow Globe: 50 Ice/FF/Ice Strobe: 50 PB Shi Otomi: 50 Ninja/Ninjistu/GW Stalker My other characters
It's pretty much all speculation as we don't know how many inactive accounts have gotten preference over active accounts. For all we know there may have been fewer global name changes if both sides had been changed (doubtful since that'd double the amount of collisions) but then again I'm sure there has been plenty of global names left to dust over the past 7 years. Sure there'd be plenty of NA players who'd have kept there globals none the wiser and and more so EU side.
However it's done now, sure the global merge was a big undertaking and so the simplest option over global names was taken. EU players affected can only hope they have sometime in the future to rectify this. Although I would get up too much hope.
Now @Eskimo-Spy
I'm not evil.
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Already answered this a page ago, but here it is again for you...|
Originally Posted by Snow Globe
How do you know it is dead or inactive? I'm positive that I could set myself up in game to appear to be inactive/offline for a few months (or longer). Unless someone actually stumbled on me I would, for all intents, appear to be gone from the game. Heck I could even hide from everyone on the live servers and be on the test server. Given the lack of people on it most of the time, I could go weeks/months without seeing anyone but still be an active subscriber. You can't go by forum access either, as a lot of players don't come here either.
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| Quote REDACTED by Moderator Request. |
@Coolio is not available as of the territory merge. Because: @Coolio is in use on an inactive account.
Nuff Said...
Coolio Wolfus leader of Coolio�s Crusaders on Union.
Tekna Logik leader of Tekna�s Tormentors on Defiant.
Creator of: Coolio's Tech Beacon Replacements
AE arc 402506, 'The Rise and Demise or Otherwise of Tekna Logik...'.
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While I sympathize for your situation, the policy was clear before they put it in place. Ideally, they should have checked global names and made sure that duplicate names were not possible from the time the EU servers launched. I don't think that hindsight is going to help you. The best thing to do going forward is to make sure it doesn't happen again.|
Originally Posted by Coolio
Confirmation from a support GM that I lost my global to an inactive NA account!
@Coolio is not available as of the territory merge. Because: @Coolio is in use on an inactive account. |
I also note that GM Lloyd didn't say the account was banned (and wasn't likely to) or only recently inactive (again, they don't give details like that due to privacy concerns).
What you are asking for isn't likely to happen. I'm not saying that it will never happen, just that it is unlikely at this point. It would take a while to design, test, and notify people before such a change could occur. Given everything else going on (work on Issue 21 and beyond), doing that will be difficult.
Triumph: White Succubus: 50 Ill/Emp/PF Snow Globe: 50 Ice/FF/Ice Strobe: 50 PB Shi Otomi: 50 Ninja/Ninjistu/GW Stalker My other characters
Well, I've reached the point where I'm done talking about it now.
The global list merge has been done, and the EU players got screwed over without any decent reason why.
Am I pleased about the list merge? Hell yeah, been asking for it for a looooooong time. It's a great idea and lots of people wanted it and kudos to the devs for actually doing it.
Do I like the way it was dealt with? Hell no. Too many people, ALL of whom are in the EU got shafted by the list merge and forced into losing their globals, a lot of whom had to lose it unnecesarily.
The devs/mods/marketing people showed an amazking lack of loyalty to people who have been playing this game for years, preferring to take the easier option, either because it suited them because it made their lives easier or because they didn't want to upset players who might return, rather than looking after the players who have stayed and paid their wages.
It's left a very bad taste in my mouth. Customer loyalty should be a cornerstone for any sensible business. Look after the customer you definitely have rather than the the customers you might possibly get.
The players gave numerous ways of making this less painful for the people who's globals clashed and they seem to have ignored most of them after a good start. The fact that Coolio has shown actual proof of this just makes it worse.
It's a shame, because this game is well know for having one of the best communities and now we have players leaving because of it, long term players like Dante and Slazenger. That's just wrong. 
Ah well, as usual, we have to get on with it and deal with it. Such is the life of the EU players. So much for bringing the communities into alignment.
We built this city on Rock and Roll!
Finally had time to log in and game a little again - and found out that my @Global had vanished after the server combine - disappointing of course, but that is how it went.
And I've been asked to direct my input here - so hereby:
What annoys me is that there is no comparison made in terms of HOW LONG a global name has been in use, but perhaps this isnt tracked? I'm a customer since Issue 1 and have used that particular handle for years and years.
If someone has had the registered longer than me, no problem I yield, if someone has been using it shorter than me, he/she should be getting a new name. And that's really all there is to it - let the veteran time count for something 
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they got the date you created your account and vet rewards accordingly..... |
Originally Posted by Rhinoxx
What annoys me is that there is no comparison made in terms of HOW LONG a global name has been in use, but perhaps this isnt tracked?
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/agree
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A simple fix to this would be after the reactivation week to issue all active accounts a global rename token and simultaneously purge any (NA) globals that are on inactive accounts (and trials) that were NOT activated during the reactivation period.
They will not change any full accounts. There is a reason that the last time the name purge happened that it only affected accounts lower than level 6. It was to minimize the amount of accounts affected, just like this change was intended to do.
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