Yet another DDOS shuts them down...

Slapshot1188

I have lost track of how many attacks this makes but per Caspien they are under yet another DDOS attack.  Their forums appear to be down due to this.

Caspian ☁Today at 2:30 PM

And... someone's DoS'ing us again....

Caspian ☁Today at 3:01 PM

There's millions of hits coming in every 5 minutes for a few different IP addresses. It's confirmed to be a DDoS.

Caspian ☁Today at 3:04 PM

@Aika Merigold (EU) Cloudflare doesn't solve this problem. Ultimately, defending against a DDoS requires several different tactics. Because they are just using rolling IP addresses, as soon as we auto-ban an IP address and they get no ACK, they just spoof a different IP address.

Caspian ☁Today at 3:07 PM

Yay! Someone just trying to get us to pay money for nothing!

Sigh...  I don't much care for the guy but whoever is doing this should be caught and prosecuted. (if in fact it is happening, the last time it was self-inflicted from what I recall)

This is just the start IMHO... this is just someone messing with his Domain Selection event. Wait until the game starts...

Albatroes

At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if they are DDOS'ing themselves to delay the inevitable as much as they can.

GeezerGamer

What would be the point?

COE itself has been one big denial of services attack on it's backer base.

Slapshot1188

---

Caspian ☁Today at 4:20 PM

@here Hail Elyrians, Earlier today at approximately 11:22pm PDT / 6:22pm UTC we came under fire from a DDoS attack by one or more individuals. In order to minimize the escalating hosting fees we receive during such an attack, we've temporarily taken the website down. In addition, we are now in contact with Amazon, and will be submitting our anonymous logging data to national and international authorities. Attacking a United States corporation, resulting in the loss of revenue, and interrupting international commerce is a violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) - cited in 18 U.S.C §1030. We will be submitting what information we gather to national and international agencies, and we will be pushing for criminal prosecution. As soon as we're able to bring the website back online with any stability, we will let you know.

Elsabolts

If one supports the game they should be willing to get the virus. simple

GeezerGamer

This whole thing smells fishy to me. Who would bother to DDOS this nothing-burger? I suppose a pissed off backer maybe.

MadFrenchie

GeezerGamer said:

This whole thing smells fishy to me.

The DDoS attack?  Or, just...  CoE?

Mendel

Slapshot1188 said:

---

Caspian ☁Today at 4:20 PM

@here Hail Elyrians, Earlier today at approximately 11:22pm PDT / 6:22pm UTC we came under fire from a DDoS attack by one or more individuals. In order to minimize the escalating hosting fees we receive during such an attack, we've temporarily taken the website down. In addition, we are now in contact with Amazon, and will be submitting our anonymous logging data to national and international authorities. Attacking a United States corporation, resulting in the loss of revenue, and interrupting international commerce is a violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) - cited in 18 U.S.C §1030. We will be submitting what information we gather to national and international agencies, and we will be pushing for criminal prosecution. As soon as we're able to bring the website back online with any stability, we will let you know.

This resulted in loss of revenue???  Since when is begging considered international commerce?

A DDoS is a serious thing, even if COE pushes the definition of 'Service' somewhat.  Despite my dislike of SBS, I hope they manage to control the DDoS attack.

GeezerGamer

MadFrenchie said:

GeezerGamer said:

This whole thing smells fishy to me.

The DDoS attack?  Or, just...  CoE?

Yes.

I mean, COE is, and will forever remain, non-existent. So someone trying to hurt them or shut them down is already inevitable, it's not like they are actually developing a real game. Waiting for Caspian to suffocate himself should prove more entertaining than actually giving him a "legitimate excuse". So why do it?

To me, this looks like when the owner of a failing small business burns his place down...........Yeah.

Kyleran

As COE is a mere blip on the gaming landscape, its likely the person (s) responsible are associated with the game's community in some manner, especially as they regularly time their attacks at the start of key events. 

Kyleran

Apparently they've resolved their DDOS issues, I see on their forums the Kingdom of Vornair has declared their selection, taking the northernmost  province on Luna, the NA East server.

19 more to go.

Slapshot1188

Kyleran said:

As COE is a mere blip on the gaming landscape, its likely the person (s) responsible are associated with the game's community in some manner, especially as they regularly time their attacks at the start of key events. 

It does seem oddly timed though doesn't it? 

If they really wanted to damage the event why not wait until next week when the website plays an important role?   If people couldn't make their selections and lost their chosen spots I imagine the outcry would be insane...

So why would someone do a DDOS today?

Very strange timing...

WBadger

Slapshot1188 said:

Kyleran said:

As COE is a mere blip on the gaming landscape, its likely the person (s) responsible are associated with the game's community in some manner, especially as they regularly time their attacks at the start of key events. 

It does seem oddly timed though doesn't it? 

If they really wanted to damage the event why not wait until next week when the website plays an important role?   If people couldn't make their selections and lost their chosen spots I imagine the outcry would be insane...

So why would someone do a DDOS today?

Very strange timing...

I could think of a reason.  You even posted it April 26.

Former moderator makes a thread simply asking for better communication.  Someone who is liked by the community to a certain extent, and is immediately shut down by Caspian who essentially says "We're going to talk where we want to talk.  If you guys want universal communication, kick rocks."  Former staff member treated like crap, community treated like crap, staff is constantly thrown under the bus, delays after delays after delays, etc..   Caspian is making more people irate then he is making happy in his echo chamber, and unfortunately it's not that farfetched for someone to lose the plot.  I don't condone it, but the communication thread is just recent enough for someone to do something out of heat of passion.

I still hope that person is prosecuted to the fullest extent possible.  The best way to punish a company is to take your business to their competitors.  This kind of stuff isn't the way to get Caspian the wake up call he needs.

Slapshot1188

WBadger said:

Slapshot1188 said:

Kyleran said:

As COE is a mere blip on the gaming landscape, its likely the person (s) responsible are associated with the game's community in some manner, especially as they regularly time their attacks at the start of key events. 

It does seem oddly timed though doesn't it? 

If they really wanted to damage the event why not wait until next week when the website plays an important role?   If people couldn't make their selections and lost their chosen spots I imagine the outcry would be insane...

So why would someone do a DDOS today?

Very strange timing...

I could think of a reason.  You even posted it April 26.

Former moderator makes a thread simply asking for better communication.  Someone who is liked by the community to a certain extent, and is immediately shut down by Caspian who essentially says "We're going to talk where we want to talk.  If you guys want universal communication, kick rocks."  Former staff member treated like crap, community treated like crap, staff is constantly thrown under the bus, delays after delays after delays, etc..   Caspian is making more people irate then he is making happy in his echo chamber, and unfortunately it's not that farfetched for someone to lose the plot.  I don't condone it, but the communication thread is just recent enough for someone to do something out of heat of passion.

I still hope that person is prosecuted to the fullest extent possible.  The best way to punish a company is to take your business to their competitors.  This kind of stuff isn't the way to get Caspian the wake up call he needs.

Maybe.  

But in any case, totally and unequivocally hope that whoever did this is caught and prosecuted.

Slapshot1188

WBadger said:

Former moderator makes a thread simply asking for better communication.  Someone who is liked by the community to a certain extent, and is immediately shut down by Caspian who essentially says "We're going to talk where we want to talk.  If you guys want universal communication, kick rocks."  

Funny you should say that:

Caspian ☁Today at 9:04 PM

As to holding us accountable, where should I start.... 1. Name one other company that's built multiple worlds simultaneously the size of our continents. There are none. That's not an excuse, it just means we're in unfamiliar territory. There's no references to base things on. We're learning as we go. 2. Understand that we're not a large corporation. We're a small team of less than 20 people. The next time you want to hold us accountable, remember that it's very easy to be derailed when there's no redundancy 3. I'm not making excuses for not having the maps done today - but also understand that NOTHING YOU DO to hold us accountable will get it done faster. It also won't change our future plans, or cause us to be more cautious because most of the reasons for delay are outside our hands. Save for not announcing anything until it's already done - there's nothing we can do. And nobody wants us to keep everything secret until we're already done. 4. If you want to hold us accountable - stop spending money. Refuse to upgrade, don't buy any more promo items, and as a crowd-funded company we'll eventually run out of money. And boy will that teach us to hit our milestones. With no more milestones to hit, we certainly won't have that problem anymore. 5. Finally, the best way to ensure the devs don't want to come into Discord is to be shit-talking the studio when we're coming in. Again, your "holding us accountable" is just a sugar-coated way of saying you're complaining about something that neither you, nor us, has any control over, nor can we work any faster than we are. In the absence of any real way to address your gripes, it's just going to result in nobody bothering to come by.

Caspian ☁Today at 9:05 PM

As an aside, nowhere on our ToS does it say you have freedom of speech here. This isn't a public website or Discord. It's private. Respect our desires to remain constructive, or go find another Discord. Simple.


-------------------------
I have read what preceded that and I really do not see any cause for such a response.  Maybe I missed something but it just seems like Caspien again taking out his self-frustration on other people.

Then the Community Manager chimes in:

 

Serpentius?Today at 9:12 PM

Gosh, to have all the answers, must feel good

I think they need to stay off Discord until they get everything straightened out.  Right now it looks like they are overwhelmed by the pressure, underwater, and striking out at the very people that donated $6M to fund them.  It's crazy.

WBadger

Slapshot1188 said:

WBadger said:

Former moderator makes a thread simply asking for better communication.  Someone who is liked by the community to a certain extent, and is immediately shut down by Caspian who essentially says "We're going to talk where we want to talk.  If you guys want universal communication, kick rocks."  

Funny you should say that:

I think they need to stay off Discord until they get everything straightened out.  Right now it looks like they are overwhelmed by the pressure, underwater, and striking out at the very people that donated $6M to fund them.  It's crazy.

I would say they should go a step further and tell Caspian to become a hermit and stop talking to the public.  He makes everything worse.  For everyone.  He makes the public angry at the company because he promised horrid deadlines.  He makes the public angry at the team because he tells them that it's the teams fault for missing them.  He adds absolutely nothing positive to the community interaction, just all negativity. 

For example, really?  He's going to argue that it's not their fault because of landmass?  They didn't need to try to build them simultaneously.  It's him opening his gaping blackhole of a maw and telling everyone that they'll have it done in the blink of an eye that put them into that unnecessary crunch.  Even still, there's multiple games that have continents that are the same size or even larger: ultima online and entropia universe being two figures that come to mind from the getgo.

And here's the line that really gets me:  "5. Finally, the best way to ensure the devs don't want to come into Discord is to be shit-talking the studio when we're coming in. Again, your "holding us accountable" is just a sugar-coated way of saying you're complaining about something that neither you, nor us, has any control over, nor can we work any faster than we are. In the absence of any real way to address your gripes, it's just going to result in nobody bothering to come by."

They can shit talk the studio all they want.  SBS and Caspian have done absolutely nothing to absolve themselves of criticism.  In fact they do the opposite of giving more reasons to be criticized.  If I put money towards having a chair built, and the builder hasn't even started on it in years; it is my god-given right to criticize him for it.  God, he is such a sensitive snowflake that one person saying "YOU'RE NOT DOING ANYTHING," warrants him launching tear-filled posts of "IS NOT MY FAULT.  WAAAAAH." 

On one hand it's all really funny but on the other hand it's such a frustrating thing to witness because it sets such a dangerous precedence for other studios who will go the crowdfunding route.  The major studios that have had successful campaigns have something to show for it.  Even Star Citizen has a somewhat playable pre-alpha demo for people to play around in its  own barebones state. 

 On the off chance that he pops into his mmorpg account to see the posts complaining about him:  stop talking Caspian.  Your public interactions is detrimental to your own company and project's health.

Ungood

GeezerGamer said:

This whole thing smells fishy to me. Who would bother to DDOS this nothing-burger? I suppose a pissed off backer maybe.

Never Underestimate the persistence and antics of a butthurt crybaby. 

MadFrenchie

parrotpholk said:

Kyleran said:

As COE is a mere blip on the gaming landscape, its likely the person (s) responsible are associated with the game's community in some manner, especially as they regularly time their attacks at the start of key events. 

Or one of the employees he is constant rolling that bus over......stranger things have happened.

It'd be tough to reach for one's wallet to purchase such an attack with the bus parked on top of them.

Lokero

Slapshot1188 said:

Caspian ☁Today at 9:04 PM

As to holding us accountable, where should I start.... 1. Name one other company that's built multiple worlds simultaneously the size of our continents. There are none. That's not an excuse, it just means we're in unfamiliar territory. There's no references to base things on. We're learning as we go. 2. Understand that we're not a large corporation. We're a small team of less than 20 people. The next time you want to hold us accountable, remember that it's very easy to be derailed when there's no redundancy 3. I'm not making excuses for not having the maps done today - but also understand that NOTHING YOU DO to hold us accountable will get it done faster. It also won't change our future plans, or cause us to be more cautious because most of the reasons for delay are outside our hands. Save for not announcing anything until it's already done - there's nothing we can do. And nobody wants us to keep everything secret until we're already done. 4. If you want to hold us accountable - stop spending money. Refuse to upgrade, don't buy any more promo items, and as a crowd-funded company we'll eventually run out of money. And boy will that teach us to hit our milestones. With no more milestones to hit, we certainly won't have that problem anymore. 5. Finally, the best way to ensure the devs don't want to come into Discord is to be shit-talking the studio when we're coming in. Again, your "holding us accountable" is just a sugar-coated way of saying you're complaining about something that neither you, nor us, has any control over, nor can we work any faster than we are. In the absence of any real way to address your gripes, it's just going to result in nobody bothering to come by.

It starts off like he's being humble and he goes so far as recommending people not spend money if they are unhappy but always he falls back to the "nothing is my fault" mentality.

So close to being a respectable post, but:

because most of the reasons for delay are outside our hands.

complaining about something that neither you, nor us, has any control over,

Who is responsible for their work and in control and causing all these delays exactly if not them?  Yeah, unexpected things happen during development, but they are still the ones in control... or so you'd think.  Maybe Caspien is answering to some secret malevolent overlord entity.

Ungood

Lokero said:

Slapshot1188 said:

Caspian ☁Today at 9:04 PM

As to holding us accountable, where should I start.... 1. Name one other company that's built multiple worlds simultaneously the size of our continents. There are none. That's not an excuse, it just means we're in unfamiliar territory. There's no references to base things on. We're learning as we go. 2. Understand that we're not a large corporation. We're a small team of less than 20 people. The next time you want to hold us accountable, remember that it's very easy to be derailed when there's no redundancy 3. I'm not making excuses for not having the maps done today - but also understand that NOTHING YOU DO to hold us accountable will get it done faster. It also won't change our future plans, or cause us to be more cautious because most of the reasons for delay are outside our hands. Save for not announcing anything until it's already done - there's nothing we can do. And nobody wants us to keep everything secret until we're already done. 4. If you want to hold us accountable - stop spending money. Refuse to upgrade, don't buy any more promo items, and as a crowd-funded company we'll eventually run out of money. And boy will that teach us to hit our milestones. With no more milestones to hit, we certainly won't have that problem anymore. 5. Finally, the best way to ensure the devs don't want to come into Discord is to be shit-talking the studio when we're coming in. Again, your "holding us accountable" is just a sugar-coated way of saying you're complaining about something that neither you, nor us, has any control over, nor can we work any faster than we are. In the absence of any real way to address your gripes, it's just going to result in nobody bothering to come by.

It starts off like he's being humble and he goes so far as recommending people not spend money if they are unhappy but always he falls back to the "nothing is my fault" mentality.

So close to being a respectable post, but:

because most of the reasons for delay are outside our hands.

complaining about something that neither you, nor us, has any control over,

Who is responsible for their work and in control and causing all these delays exactly if not them?  Yeah, unexpected things happen during development, but they are still the ones in control... or so you'd think.  Maybe Caspien is answering to some secret malevolent overlord entity.
Not really, something go pear shaped, systems shutting down, and the like, are things they can't control, they at best can deal with them, but they are not in control of them, also, anything they use that is from an outside vendor is beyond their control as well. Technical issues, and even IP issues that could result from the building itself, or a host server, or a slew of other things, are beyond their control.

It's like, saying, when you are driving a car, you are in control of that car, however, if the tire blows out, not only did you have no control over the tire blowing out, you are now reacting to an uncontrolled event. Basically, you are no longer in control, you are left at the mercy of the events around you that were beyond your control, and just have to deal with them.

So, no, just because he is making a game, does not mean he is in control of shit going wrong. at best, he is in control of how he handles shit going wrong.

Wizardry

He does sound frustrated but this is what he signed on for with crowd funding.

Many of us have mentioned why we don't like crowd funding,one of them being accountability,he has NOTHING to lose.There is a chance he received some funding from somewhere so has to keep pushing forward,part of me thinks he is more worried about his ego at this point.

The mention of NO FREE speech because this is private is saying what?I think he used the term constructive feedback or something like that.However when you stat babbling PRIVATE it is more or less reading between the liens saying,screw the real law,we make our OWN rules in here.
So to me it sounds like he wants censorship,only positive pat on the backs,tell them how great everything is.

Personally i couldn't care less about any DDOS not sure why some are getting all antsy.I think he could also just calm down,probably should have just said,shit happens,we will deal with it but the way he went on in a tirade sort of sounds like the bubble is bursting like he wants to just quit.

Slapshot1188

My personal favorite was:

4. If you want to hold us accountable - stop spending money. Refuse to upgrade, don't buy any more promo items, and as a crowd-funded company we'll eventually run out of money. And boy will that teach us to hit our milestones. With no more milestones to hit, we certainly won't have that problem anymore. 

Just like with the silly MMORPG.COM and MASSIVELYOP stuff.   He will take his ball and go home...  Sorry, after you take $6M from people and that money is FAR more than you said you needed, you do not get to weasel out that easy.


Anyhow.. looks like the DDOSer is back and the site is down again:

Caspian ☁Today at 10:18 PM

Yep. Up to 2 million incoming packets again.

AnOldFart

Actually there is one person moaning on and on about crap, they are worried because they haven't got their time slot through yet blah blah blah. Even though they are only a count and so won't pick for 2 weeks.

Now don't get me wrong, Caspian missed his deadline again, but the only people affected were the Kings and they were fine with what is happening. 
He promises the map will be up for next week, I'm not holding my hopes up but we will see. 


As for the DDos, I believe its real, Caspian was massively pissed. I might have even been the first person to suggest he takes the site down on discord. 
Oh and the DDos attack is annoying but effects nothing this week, I would say its probably someone who wants to COE fail tbh. And yes they need prosecuting 

Slapshot1188

AnOldFart said:

Actually there is one person moaning on and on about crap, they are worried because they haven't got their time slot through yet blah blah blah. Even though they are only a count and so won't pick for 2 weeks.

Now don't get me wrong, Caspian missed his deadline again, but the only people affected were the Kings and they were fine with what is happening. 
He promises the map will be up for next week, I'm not holding my hopes up but we will see. 


As for the DDos, I believe its real, Caspian was massively pissed. I might have even been the first person to suggest he takes the site down on discord. 
Oh and the DDos attack is annoying but effects nothing this week, I would say its probably someone who wants to COE fail tbh. And yes they need prosecuting 

But as I said before,  if you really wanted to hurt them would you not have waited a week or so until the actual website was being used and people were picking their slots?  As you said, doing it now really is pointless...

AnOldFart

Seems they got one last week too, just wasn't advertised as much because nothing major was happening.

GeezerGamer

AnOldFart said:

Seems they got one last week too, just wasn't advertised as much because nothing major was happening.

Nothing major will ever be happening.