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SOE Are Less Evil Than Activision-Blizzard
Dawnsinger
Member Posts: 212
It saddens me greatly to say, but it's true. SOE are actually less evil than Activision-Blizzard, although - to be fair - that's mainly because of Bobby Kotick.
Just you wait, they may seem to be just scraping the scum off the pool of darkness, but soon enough they will emerge from it, horned and wreathed in flames of RMT shops and premium features.
( By the way, SOE weren't all THAT evil to begin with, just amazingly incompetent. )
http://www.havenandhearth.com
The Best New Sandbox Game Out There.
Comments
SOE ruined my fave mmorpgs of all time and Blizzard only ruined one so SOE are still ahead.
I feel "evil" is an obscene exaggeration.
I'm not here to complete my forum PVP dailies.
Evil was Hitler. Evil was Saddam. Evil is Emperor Palpatine. A game company can make decisions you find disappointing. But as the the cliche, yes I think indeed Blizzard is way more "evil". SOE alas has Smed, who just is DUMB.
People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert
Seems to me as long as people will spend money there will be someone to take it. People can piss and moan all they want but as long as they are willing to be milked the milking machines will continue to operate. Fact is game companies along with everyone on earth likes to make money. I would sell the Brooklyn Bridge myself if I could find a buyer and with the number of folks here buying into whatever is being shoveled this might be the place to find one.
Is there some kind of reason you think Activision Blizzard is worse? Because, as far as I can tell, you didn't actually say why. I still dislike SoE more than Blizzard, by miles. So I am curious.
On one hand you are right SOE isn't evil (just incompetent) but I don't know what you guys get all up in arms about with Blizz right now they are selling fluff items which I could care less about. It's like buying clothes to me I have friends who wear 500 dollar jeans *shrug*. If they chose to spend all that money it's there right I don't just label the makers evil because they are serving a market that exists.
The bottom line is regardless of ones personal opinion of the practice as long as it serves a market those against RMT's are just wrong with statements like this, if the practice was not successful they wouldn't do it so again they are serving a market that has just as much a right to be served as you or I.
but yeah, to call this game Fantastic is like calling Twilight the Godfather of vampire movies....
For one, good and evil are relative and are based on opinion and/or emotion.
Second, the company is inanimate; it doesn't have emotion or intent.
Third, SOE and Blizzard aren't the only companies to have been driven into the dung pile as a result of The Peter Principle.
Well, SOE has a proven trackrecord of evilness.
Evil or not, the way they screwed up SWG is enough reason to be really really carefull when trying out there games and investing money, time and effort into their games. Because one day you may wake up and your character is mutilated and your game is completely changed.
Blizzard, I have had no evil or bad experiences with them yet. They brought WoW, it was fun for a while, got bored and moved on. They also brought Diablo, Warcraft and Starcraft. Always been a great experience for me.
But I guess that now they became so big as Activision Blizzard, that they may slowly go to the dark side ( for example these RMT pets don't look very good ).
For now, Blizzard can't really beat SOE in evilness, imho
If you are interested in subscription or PCU numbers for MMORPG's, check out my site :
http://mmodata.blogspot.be/
Favorite MMORPG's : DAoC pre ToA-NF, SWG Pre CU-NGE, EVE Online
Evil was Hitler. Evil was Saddam. Evil is Emperor Palpatine. A game company can make decisions you find disappointing. But as the the cliche, yes I think indeed Blizzard is way more "evil". SOE alas has Smed, who just is DUMB.
I could of swore Smed was Emperor Palpatine.
I see a lot of RMT talk as the reason Blizzard is "evil". Really people? You REALLY think that two pets that are cosmetic means Blizzard is worse than SoE? lets forget about their games completely. They sanction RMT via Live Gamer! Blizzard sells pets? Big deal. I can buy gold, items, and characters LEGALLY on EQ2, Vanguard, and maybe some more. And lets not forget about their TCG's that they have for each of their games...
I'll play Everquest 3 if they ever make it ... thats about it. I'll play Blizzards Diablo 3 and Starcraft II though.
With SoE I expect crappy games from every title other than "Everquest" with Blizzard I feel like pretty much every title is quality (Even though I hate wow, I know its good for 12 million people.) So its a meh either way... cant wait to play some ladder matches in march though at the SCII launch.
[EDIT]
I'll play EQ3 assuming every MMO until it's release is fail. Oh how i'd like to find a good MMO for a couple years =(
Earthrise, Secret World (The one im hoping for), FF14, maybe even Mortal Online?oh man I hope they dont all flop.
"Sometimes people say stuff they don''t mean, but more often then that they don''t say things they do mean"
Evil is a strong word, greedy would be a better one. I'm not against RMTs that offer fluff, but 10 dollars for a tiny non-combat pet? That's just insane.
Evil is a strong word, greedy would be a better one. I'm not against RMTs that offer fluff, but 10 dollars for a tiny non-combat pet? That's just insane.
Cost doesn't really matter though, because if you feel that it is too much, which you do, then you don't buy it. It is not needed. I also think it is crazy to spend 10 bucks for it. But you need to remember that some people are paying 500+ dollars for Spectral Tigers... At least it is a stable, controlled cost. Look at the loot cards from SWG. They can be pretty damned expensive because they are supply and demand, and the players control the cost.
SOE is not evil. they just like developing stuff the devs think up. so SOE is just lazy and bullheaded. Blizz wouldn't call it evil just smart and devious.
Evil is a strong word, greedy would be a better one. I'm not against RMTs that offer fluff, but 10 dollars for a tiny non-combat pet? That's just insane.
Cost doesn't really matter though, because if you feel that it is too much, which you do, then you don't buy it. It is not needed. I also think it is crazy to spend 10 bucks for it. But you need to remember that some people are paying 500+ dollars for Spectral Tigers... At least it is a stable, controlled cost. Look at the loot cards from SWG. They can be pretty damned expensive because they are supply and demand, and the players control the cost.
True. I know they will make some good money off this with achievements that rely on how many non-combat pets you have. I have always seen RMT+p2p systems as greedy and unethical (of course this is opinion), still to me 10 dollars is pushing the envelope even if those items are not required. 3-5 dollars a pet sounds a bit more justifiable to me, but it's not about what I think or what you think, this is the problem with developers anymore.
I don't think many people have really ever said SOE was -evil- just, as someone said, highly incompetent. And I mean HIGHLY.
Though through that virtue of being just that stupid they show just how evil they actually are. I am using the same logic that Dr. Farnsworth used to describe stupidity. At least evil has an excuse, being that stupid doesn't. Although I would define Smed as pure evil within the definitions of the gaming industry. Say what you will about RMT and the like, but SOE already did that.
Not only did SOE do that, but they did it after explicitly stating that they WOULDN'T introduce any form of RMT. It was the same exact pattern followed after what they did with SWG. They explicitly stated there would be no major overhauls then bam! CU then NGE! The worst part of both instances (and more) is that SOE blatantly lied and then after the fact actually thought that the community -liked- what was done! How do you have that many just blind, stubborn and altogether incompetent people in management? It boggles the mind.
I would be really surprised if Blizzard came out with any kind of cash shop. I'm not saying they wouldn't do it, but rather I would be surprised. The only point of a cash shop is to get more money from die hard fans. Blizzard is in a situation where they can do almost anything they want to the game, but pressures have been building within the community for awhile now. WoW makes Blizzard an insane amount of money annually so they have no -need- to introduce a cash shop. Bearing in mind the old mantra of 'those with money always want more' you still have to consider the community. The mmo community at large has proven it does NOT like an RMT system thrown in WITH (aka in addition to) a subscription fee.
So Blizzard has one of two options - introduce a cash shop and do two things: one, increase animosity within their current community and two, risk losing a lot more money than they would make by furthering the state of critical mass in that community. Option two: continue to add paid for serves (which are, in fact, RMT services without the official store) and not add an official cash shop.
The basic flaw with this whole line of thought though is that Blizzard already has a pretty high level of RMT going on. All those paid for services coupled with the trading card game. As it stands they have no reason to introduce an official system of a cash shop to give the community at large a single construct to build hate on. As I said before, I will be very surprised if Blizzard introduces a cash shop.
They are both money hungry companies, name a non independent company that isn't with a straight face. Acti-Blizz is in the spot light so they seem more "evil". It just so happens the majority think Acti-Blizz games are better than SOE's.
Can we agree on "sleazy"?
Give me liberty or give me lasers
I don't like SOE. I remember how they ruined Everquest...
Every expansion up until Luclin was good.. SOE takes over and we get 1 expansion every 4 months with useless features. Even if you look at EQ1 and EQ2 they are doing the same shit. I bet their other titles do that too.
Content that should really be patched in isn't, they charge you 30 bucks for them to put in a minimap feature, or maybe you get unfinished zones with NPCs who dont even drop any items at all (or gold).
SOE are a bunch of idiots. If they can release a new EQ without all the expansions, and not try to copy WoW, I will respect them again. Until then, they are a bunch of morons who just ruin MMORPGs.
Blizzard isn't that bad, they just cater their content to carebears which is why I hate them. No alternative for skilled players or people from PvP MMORPGs.
Not sure how either of those companies are evil, exactly.
SOE has made -horrible- games, yes, but that just makes them a poor business. Blizzard created a very successful MMO and manages it poorly.
So...unless there's something I'm missing here, neither of these groups is 'evil'.
Why do you say Blizzard manages it poorly?
Why do you say Blizzard manages it poorly?
If anything they handle it exceptionally, I do not think this could be disputed. They are at the top for a reason and poor management definitely is not it.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
So a company is big bad and evil when they make an MMO that doesn't have every feature down to player housing, cybering, etc? Oh wait still doesn't stop players from doing all that crap. Go back to playing board games, if you feel you are wronged in some way. Since at least one of the two companies had enough common sense to use lower end graphics to capture more customer base.
What makes you think MMO's are a democracy to begin with, ha. That's funny.
When did you start playing "old school" MMO's. World Of Warcraft?
Anything said by Bobby Kotick is pretty much pure, undistilled, consumer hating evil:-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Kotick#Controversy
http://www.bingegamer.net/2009/bobby-kotick-is-the-devil/
http://www.havenandhearth.com
The Best New Sandbox Game Out There.
The Bad Behavior
Industry sources say, though, that other gaming companies don't feel quite so positively toward Kotick – in particular, that such a cash-flush company is leaving it up to the others to shoulder the collective cost of piracy protection and first-amendment lobbying via their Entertainment Software Association dues. That is a point of contention.
Activision was the largest publisher to defect not only from last year's E3, but from the ESA – the trade body that represents the interests of all game developers. And while this year, the publisher returned to E3, it still won't rejoin the ESA: "We have our own issues that are not the industry's issues," Kotick has said.
But Activision is part of the industry – so as much smaller publishers manage their pricey ESA dues to support pro-industry lobbying and public awareness campaigns, Activision, one of the world's wealthiest, is sitting out its share. And that decision is viewed in a poor light by other companies.
Also worrying is Kotick's pattern of levying lawsuits against the defiant. Activision dropped gamer-darling Brütal Legend, from its publishing slate in the Vivendi merger because the eagerly-anticipated title, plus other Sierra games, "lacked the potential to be exploited every year on every platform," as Kotick said at the time.
But when EA picked up the game, Activision sued – a move an EA spokesperson now-famously likened to "a husband abandoning his family and then suing after his wife meets a better looking guy." ("Hey, if Activision liked it, then they should have put a ring on it," chimed in creator Tim Schafer.)
Under Kotick's stewardship, Activision seems to be developing a propensity for the sort of legal challenge that makes it look like a bully. There's also the imbroglio over turntable games, when Activision bought embattled developer 7 Studios — who'd been working on Scratch: The Ultimate DJ for Genius Products. Genius now alleges Activision levied its legal muscle and some "unsavory business practices" to delay a possible rival to its own turntable-equipped DJ Hero. Activision mantains its involvement with 7 Studios provides the developer with much-needed financing, and that Scratch had fallen behind in production well before its acquisition.
http://www.havenandhearth.com
The Best New Sandbox Game Out There.