SOE Begins Restoration of Services

UPDATE, May 14, 7:15p.m. EDT: SOE has slowly begun restoration of their services.

SOE - Restoration Announcement
SOE - Welcome Back Program
SOE - Recent Updates

SAN DIEGO, May 14, 2011 - Sony Online Entertainment LLC (SOE) announced today that restoration of its game services will begin today. The phased restoration will include the return of nearly all of SOE's portfolio of online games, the reinstatement of SOE's game forums and websites, and added functionality to require players to reset their passwords.


For details on the hacker attack that has kept SOE down since May 2 and compromised the personal information of players, check out SOE's brief FAQ and all of our previous coverage. See this article for the May 12th news on the "Make Good" program details.

During the downtime you are welcome to join us in ZAM's IRC chat. Feldon of EQ2Wire also has set up a ZAM IRC java applet that you can use.


Game-specific May 11th updates:

EverQuest: Players with an active house will be credited one month of upkeep costs and the inactive period will be extended from 90 to 150 days.

EverQuest II: All houses requiring rent will have one month added free to help offset any costs incurred during this outage.

Free Realms: The Free Realms birthday event and the New Member Bonus Bonanza will be extended to give everyone a chance to participate in them. Don’t worry about your farms; they’ll be taken care of too!

Star Wars Galaxies: All Galactic Civil War point decay has been suspended and inactive citizen removal time temporarily increased by 14 days. Item and vendor expiration timers have also been increased by 14 days.

Vanguard: One day for each day lost will be added to every player's Upkeep Bank to help offset any costs incurred during this outage.

Comments

Post Comment
Outline of ID protection posted on Station site.
# May 12 2011 at 5:48 PM Rating: Decent
On Monday, May 2, Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) announced that it will provide complimentary enrollment in an identity theft protection program.

Following are the details of this program for Station Account holders in the United States only. For Station Account holders who live in another country or territory, SOE will implement a similar program and provide more information on these programs as arrangements are made.

SOE has made arrangements with Debix, Inc., one of the industry's most reputable identity protection firms, to offer AllClear ID PLUS at no cost to Station Account holders for 12 months from the time an account holder registers for the program.

Details, including how to sign up for the program, will be emailed to Station Account holders in the United States soon, and you will have until June 28, 2011 to sign-up and redeem your code. Additionally, Station Account holders will be required to reset their password prior to signing up for this program as an added security measure.

The details of the program include, but are not limited to:


•Cyber monitoring and surveillance of the Internet to detect exposure of an AllClear ID PLUS customer's personal information, including monitoring of criminal web sites and data recovered by law enforcement. If his/her personal information is found, the customer will be alerted by phone and/or email and will be provided advice and support regarding protective steps to take. The customer will also receive monthly identity status reports. Debix works with an alliance of cyber-crime experts from the government, academia and industry to provide these services.
•Priority access to licensed private investigators and identity restoration specialists. If an AllClear ID PLUS customer receives an alert, or otherwise suspects that he/she may be the victim of identity theft, the customer can speak directly, on a priority basis, with an on-staff licensed private investigator, who will conduct a comprehensive inquiry. In the case of an identity theft, the customer can work with an identity restoration specialist to contact creditors and others, and take necessary steps to restore the customer's identity.
•A $1 million identity theft insurance policy per user to provide additional protection in the event that an AllClear ID PLUS customer becomes a victim of identity theft. This insurance would provide financial relief of up to $1 million for covered identity restoration costs, legal defense expenses, and lost wages that occur within 12 months after the stolen identity event.

Additionally, these emails will be sent by Innovyx, our third party email distributor, and will contain 'soe.innovyx.net' or 'soe.sony.com' in the sender field.

We continue to work around the clock to have SOE's services restored, and will be providing you specific details shortly.



Something different
# May 12 2011 at 5:42 PM Rating: Decent
And now for something completely different..

Two of the most common ways to break into a web site are
SQL Injection and Cross Site Scripting. If these are the
problem, the fix requires visiting ever data entry field
on the web site and checking for some troublesome characters
being entered by the user.

The PSN and SOE web sites are pretty big so their would be
lots of fields to examine and fix.

Since they lost personal information (PII), maybe they are going to
encrypt PII going forward (many other companies do this).
That would be a lot of coding to implement. The hardest part
is keeping the encryption keys safe.

A few weeks ago the security company named RSA got hacked.
If they can get hacked, Sony shouldn't feel so bad.
I hope Sony follows RSA's lead and publishes a full disclosure
of how the hackers got in. This lets other companies learn from
Sony's mistakes. At RSA the hackers got in by sending employees
in HR an e-mail with a viral attachment. One person opened the
attachment and let the hackers in.

To "make it right" I vote for quad exp lasting as long as the
the system is down.

Something different
# May 12 2011 at 5:59 PM Rating: Good
*
94 posts
You had me up until this part.
Quote:

To "make it right" I vote for quad exp lasting as long as the
the system is down.


Nope, nothing different.

People want free days, double xp, Station cash, etc. etc. and SOE gives them it...and more.

Now MF want QUAD XP.

How about STFU and just play the game....when in fact, it does come back online.

****~! Reading posts in here is going to make me go out and purchase Ayn Rand books and turn republican... I can almost see what they are talking about.
Something different
# May 12 2011 at 6:43 PM Rating: Decent
I don't agree with the quad thing. Double for the down days OR like i said before a weekend and a 10 click potion for each toon to make up for the XP loss. Don't need the cash or armor whatever it was they said. I just would like the time I lost replaced in some fashion as far as XP loss. I play every day almost for a couple hours and a good amount on weekends. As the saying goes. You can't replace a second once it is gone. So being now 2 weeks offline I have lost god knows how many AAs and probably a LV on my main and a couple on some alts. The only way that this could be caught up is one of the 2 things I put above. People want to boo hoo about all of us "wanting" and while I agree some of what I saw was all but stupid BS. I however don't think what I am putting out there is really unreasonable. The extra month is appreciated as well as the days offset for the down amount. But in the big picture lets now forget the main issue. SOE ****** up. Being a former IT I know there is no such thing as complete security But if what has been shown is true about the lax nature of them then they got the black eye they deserve and should pay in every fashion for it. (and yes that includes paying the BBB to "fix" their ****** score after how many thousand people file complaints against them.) At least the things I put up won't cost them anything on the monetary end. (though neither do most of the other things people wanted.)
Something different
# May 13 2011 at 5:00 AM Rating: Decent
Scholar
*
131 posts
Quote:
make up for the XP loss


what XP loss?

your toon lost levels?
your toon lost AA?

there is no clock or race that your losing with the servers down

THERE IS NO XP LOSS!
EQOA
# May 12 2011 at 5:42 PM Rating: Decent
What about EQOA for the PS2? Remember that game that Sony pretty much abandoned once Frontiers was released?
Did Zam give up on the updates?
# May 12 2011 at 5:29 PM Rating: Good
*
94 posts
This had been posted on the soe.com website for a while now...

May 12, 2011
We thank you for your patience as we continue to work around the clock to restore our game services. We know this has been a frustrating time for you and appreciate your understanding as we work to confirm the security of our network.

In light of the recent outage of Sony Online Entertainment's game services due to April's cyber-attack, we are committed to compensating our loyal player base for the inconvenience caused by the data breach and lost game time while we improve our security measures.

We are currently in the process of an extensive upgrade to our network to further protect your information from future attacks. It will likely be at least a few more days before we restore our services, and when we come back online, here is what you can expect for each of our game services.

First and foremost, all impacted players will receive 30 days of game time added to the end of the current billing cycle in addition to one day for each day the system is down. Additionally, many games are offering a variety of in-game items and special events to welcome players back once our services resume (per the outline below). This is true for both PC and PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system based products.
•DC Universe™ Online: Batman™ and Two-Face™ Inspired Masks and 30 Marks of Distinction
•Free Realms®: Free daily items (7 to collect)
•Clone Wars Adventures™: Count Dooku v2 Outfit
•EverQuest®: A series of events, including Double XP, Double Rare Mob Spawns and Double Faction Gains
•EverQuest II and EverQuest II Extended: A series of events, including Double XP, Double Guild XP, Loot Bonanza, and City Festivals
•Vanguard: Saga of Heroes®: A series of Double XP events
•Star Wars Galaxies™: Bounty Hunter Statue, a miniature model of Boba Fett's ship, the Slave I™
•Magic: The Gathering - Tactics™: Four of each of these spells: "Ivory Mask", "Duress" and "Angelheart Vial", plus 500 Station Cash
•PoxNora®: Limited edition Carrionling, Welcome Back 5K Gold Award Tournaments and two Draft Tournaments, plus 500 Station Cash


For our lifetime subscribers, we'll grant in-game currency; specifically 20,000 coins for Free Realms, 7,500 Galactic Credits for Clone Wars Adventures and 10 Marks of Distinction for DC Universe Online (in addition to the items listed above).

And finally, our Station Access subscribers will receive 500 Station Cash, in addition to the subscription time and items listed above.

Additionally, we announced today that SOE will provide its U.S.-based Station Account holders with complimentary enrollment in an identity theft protection program through Debix, one of the industry's most reputable identity protection firms. For Station Account holders who live outside the U.S., SOE will be offering similar programs, if and as available, and will provide details as they're confirmed for each country or territory.

We continue to work around the clock to restore SOE's services and thank you for your continued patience as we complete our investigation of this criminal attack.

Thank you,
Sony Online Entertainment
Did Zam give up on the updates?
# May 12 2011 at 7:03 PM Rating: Excellent
Empress of News
Avatar
***
2,350 posts
It's updated now, was getting kiddos in bed when that came out. Smiley: nod
____________________________
Author Website | Instagram | Pinterest

Did Zam give up on the updates?
# May 13 2011 at 2:57 PM Rating: Decent
Scholar
*
131 posts
eep!! future gamers in the making!!

er I mean, thank you for your efforts in keeping us up to date , it is much appreciated =D
May 12th Update
# May 12 2011 at 5:21 PM Rating: Decent
We thank you for your patience as we continue to work around the clock to restore our game services. We know this has been a frustrating time for you and appreciate your understanding as we work to confirm the security of our network.

In light of the recent outage of Sony Online Entertainment's game services due to April's cyber-attack, we are committed to compensating our loyal player base for the inconvenience caused by the data breach and lost game time while we improve our security measures.

We are currently in the process of an extensive upgrade to our network to further protect your information from future attacks. It will likely be at least a few more days before we restore our services, and when we come back online, here is what you can expect for each of our game services.

First and foremost, all impacted players will receive 30 days of game time added to the end of the current billing cycle in addition to one day for each day the system is down. Additionally, many games are offering a variety of in-game items and special events to welcome players back once our services resume (per the outline below). This is true for both PC and PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system based products.

* DC Universeâ„¢ Online: Batmanâ„¢ and Two-Faceâ„¢ Inspired Masks and 30 Marks of Distinction
* Free Realms®: Free daily items (7 to collect)
* Clone Wars Adventuresâ„¢: Count Dooku v2 Outfit
* EverQuest®: A series of events, including Double XP, Double Rare Mob Spawns and Double Faction Gains
* EverQuest II and EverQuest II Extended: A series of events, including Double XP, Double Guild XP, Loot Bonanza, and City Festivals
* Vanguard: Saga of Heroes®: A series of Double XP events
* Star Wars Galaxiesâ„¢: Bounty Hunter Statue, a miniature model of Boba Fett's ship, the Slave Iâ„¢
* Magic: The Gathering - Tacticsâ„¢: Four of each of these spells: "Ivory Mask", "Duress" and "Angelheart Vial", plus 500 Station Cash
* PoxNora®: Limited edition Carrionling, Welcome Back 5K Gold Award Tournaments and two Draft Tournaments, plus 500 Station Cash

May 12th Update
# May 12 2011 at 5:34 PM Rating: Decent
Avatar
37 posts
Is this a quote from somewhere or is this your post .. if yours , then who are you?
May 12th Update
# May 12 2011 at 6:09 PM Rating: Decent
Scholar
Avatar
*
187 posts
Taladega wrote:
Is this a quote from somewhere or is this your post .. if yours , then who are you?


https://www.soe.com/securityupdate/recentupdates.vm (Hit F5 to refresh page)
May 12th Update
# May 12 2011 at 5:27 PM Rating: Default
* EverQuest®: A series of events, including Double XP, Double Rare Mob Spawns and Double Faction Gains

Faction Gains? WTH is faction gains? haha Give me LOOT or Free XP to my character. :D
May 12th Update
# May 12 2011 at 5:57 PM Rating: Decent
22 posts
Faction gains refers to where you'd need to do faction grinding to unlock stuff that requires faction of at a certain level.

There are two examples I can think of off the top of my head. One is for wizards, mages and druids needing to do faction in Oceangreen Hills zones to unlock Twincast rk 2. Two would be to work on whatever faction in Katta is needed to buy pure power sources.

It's not going to be of tremendous use for everyone, but there are times where this could be good for certain players.
May 12th Update
# May 12 2011 at 9:23 PM Rating: Decent
*
60 posts
Just to be clear.

In order to buy pure powersources in Katta, you need faction AND flags from completing raid events. As an example: to purchase a Metal or Death Orb, you need faction and need to beat Two Gods in Solteris. If you have not beaten any events in Solteris you will not be able to purchase any Pure Orbs no matter what your faction is.





Edited, May 12th 2011 11:23pm by Bariag
I hope SOE is included in this
# May 12 2011 at 5:19 PM Rating: Decent
http://www.ibtimes.com/art/services/print.php?articleid=144952

Thursday, May 12, 2011 6:45 PM EDT

Playstation Network close to restoration: Sony

Sony Japan told customers today that it is moving closer to restoring services to its beleaguered Playstation Network which has been suffering from an outage for nearly a month.

On a Japanese corporate message board, the company said it was "sorry indeed" for the "continued failure" of its gaming network, but explained that it was moving through its restoration process.

"We preparing to resume the service as soon as possible in Japan are now doing the verification stage to ensure the safety and security," Sony said.

The company went on to say that it is migrating files to new servers that facilitate early detection of cyber-attacks and secure data management.

"For those of you committed to safety, but waited for some time now, humbly we thank you for understanding," the note read.

For weeks Sony has been in the crosshairs on digital vigilantes, forcing the company to shut down several services and issue public apologies and reparations to customers affected.

In April Sony was forced to take down the massive Playstation gaming network after attackers infiltrated and acquired personal data on nearly 80 million customers -- one of the largest security breaches in history.

Then, on May 9, Sony learned SOE, which runs games such as DC Universe Online, had also been attacked, affecting an additional 24 million accounts.

The origins spur from a lawsuit brought against a hardware hacker George Hotz, who for months have been posting exploits of the Playstation 3 system onto his personal website. In perusing Hotz and those who gained access to his information, Sony teamed with Internet Service Providers, Paypal and even YouTube to gain access to the IP addresses of users who viewed the content.

That move became a rallying cry for hackers to organize and take aim at the Japanese giant, decrying what it saw to be gross violations of digital privacy.


One group, calling it self Anonymous, said that the move was "just the beginning" and that it would "not forgive" the company for its "privacy invasion."

"Where the judicial system has failed, Anonymous will persevere, by standing up for the rights of everyone, not just those who dared to challenge these corporations," the group said on April 14, calling its members to action.

It went on to launch several denial of service attacks to Sony properties, flooding its servers with requests in attempts to overload them, before moving on to what it says would be "other ways of getting Sony's attention."

It has roundly denied the more serious data-breaches that involved the loss of personal data and nearly 10 million credit cards, but Sony is saying its investigations point the finger squarely at the group.

"When Sony Online Entertainment discovered this past Sunday afternoon that data from its servers had been stolen, it also discovered that the intruders had planted a file on one of those servers named 'Anonymous' with the words 'We are Legion,'" Sony wrote in a letter to Congress.

The group insists it was the result of someone seeking to frame them, but new reports suggest that while the attack may not have been centrally planned, other members of the group may have acted on their own whim, infiltrating and stealing the data.

Down time
# May 12 2011 at 4:57 PM Rating: Decent
All I know is that Sony I HOPE is doing all they can I beleive that they are!!! but come on new fire walls what ever does not take this long dump all credit cards info and have players enter new infor come on dont be foolish
Welcome to Coffee Talk
# May 12 2011 at 4:54 PM Rating: Default
*
63 posts
If SOE sold EQ to another Game Developer, lets say Blizzard.
Would the game get better or worse?

Discuss amongst yourselves...
Welcome to Coffee Talk
# May 12 2011 at 5:31 PM Rating: Default
If Blizzard were to just outright buy out the game, they would first update the graphics to what is current. Not to blizzards current WoW look but to more cleaner and crisp look.

Bottom line actually is if SOE would expense the money to upgrade the graphics again for the game they would see a bump in the player base.
Welcome to Coffee Talk
# May 12 2011 at 5:22 PM Rating: Default
Blizzard run EQ?! What a joke! They would run it into the ground harder than Sony ever has. Although, if Blizzard ran it at least they would advertise the GD game!
Entertaining choice of banner ad...
# May 12 2011 at 4:09 PM Rating: Decent
LOL, I like how every time I check to see if anyone has said anything new or entertaining here, I see an ad for a free trial of Rift at the top and sometimes a second ad for the game on the right.
Fanfare 2011
# May 12 2011 at 4:04 PM Rating: Decent
17 posts
So any bets on how poor the attendance at Fanfare will be this July ?
Open A cancel Service Server
# May 12 2011 at 3:45 PM Rating: Default
If this goes much longer it would be great for SOE to open a "Cancel Service Server" or maybe even a "let me suspend service server". Yes several days for corrective action with the FBI and the big IT security giants is required but anything beyond that is just suspect as to real intentions. Free days tacked on in some futire are not the same as the fact that the ACCOUNT holders are still paying for this fix instead of the managers and shareholders.
YOUR GAME SUCKS!!
# May 12 2011 at 3:43 PM Rating: Decent
i am sitting here staring at the screen after roasting in the sun all day painting a deck breathing fumes and dont know what to do,so i figured id start a fight).
us EQ1 guys have it harder because we need 3 hours minimum to accomplish anything unlike the WoW clone games like EQ2 Rift D&DOL LOTROL (no clerics?wtf?)where you can kill a mob in a minute, cant speak to SWG but Xwing and Tie Fighter were killer games.is there a game out there thats EQ like?
im thinking
# May 12 2011 at 2:57 PM Rating: Default
about 18 more days untill the servers are back. like forreal/anybody thinking that sony will put the servers back before then is crazy.
im thinking
# May 12 2011 at 3:09 PM Rating: Default
How here is a post with a realistic goal!

Haha :D
I don't have a house.
# May 12 2011 at 2:50 PM Rating: Good
***
1,308 posts
It's like giving a dieting man a triple Whopper with cheese and a large blueberry shake. It's worthless to me.

Unlike this delicious triple Whopper and blueberry shake I'm having right now, which are totally delicious.
I don't have a house.
# May 12 2011 at 3:56 PM Rating: Decent
I just came back after a long break.Have 15 of 17 expacs.No house in them expacs.So I'm going to guess this LOL house upkeep is a way to slap me yet again.But maybe think about everyone you have affected with this not just the players with all 17 expacs ok?

It's going be ok..I forgive you.

I don't have a house.
# May 12 2011 at 4:02 PM Rating: Decent
I assume they are going to expand on these freebies well be getting, if the services will take a full month to come back online, I have all 17 expansions but no house (whats the point, but for the heck of it i may get one)

Can you say, /claim is going to be popular!
well
# May 12 2011 at 2:31 PM Rating: Decent
We are all angry and need to vent. With that in mind, blah blah, I am mad as h311 at S-offline-E. I'm mad at the hackers. I'm mad at the cat who forgets where the litter-box is. I'm mad at the economy. I'm mad at the cost of a gallon of gas.

On a side note, with all the effort we've all put into guarding Thurgadin recently--who all thinks that without all of us at the PQ's that the city has become a new war-zone between angry ghost-giants and the Order of Rime? With no one there to help the dwarves out, surely the city has fallen by now?

-JN
@zzH0L3s
# May 12 2011 at 1:59 PM Rating: Decent
Sony by now knows how long its going to take
They just not telling because youll be hanging on everyday waiting for servers to be up
Now sony is being AZZHxLes about it , making people wait every friccen day
like they having a god trip over making everyone wait for an answer when everything is going to be up
Did i see something new?
# May 12 2011 at 1:24 PM Rating: Decent
Avatar
14 posts
At this link I think they actualy point to a password change(if you try to log in).I assume will need to be done for all acounts. is this "some" progress on thier end? or just an old link or something? Link is still a redirect.
https://auth.station.sony.com/login?service=https%3A%2F%2Fhelp.station.sony.com%2Fci%2Fpta%2Flogin%2Fredirect%2Fchat%2Fchat_launch%2Fp_li%2F&theme=station&locale=en_US
Sylver Gryphon Brotherhood
# May 12 2011 at 1:18 PM Rating: Decent
Scholar
**
428 posts
And a hearty "Hip,Hip" and a "Howdy Do" to all of my fellow guildmates whom I haven't talked to or seen for the last few weeks...
wait a second...
# May 12 2011 at 1:16 PM Rating: Decent
22 posts
maybe soe is upgrading the hardware? all new cpus? more memory? maybe switching to ssd? better cooling system? more bandwith? what ya doin soe?
Sheep
# May 12 2011 at 1:12 PM Rating: Decent
The reason they aren't giving you a date in which the servers will be up and running is quite simple sheep.Every day you are waiting with baited breath scanning for info is another day you havn't started playing another mmo.Period.The servers will not be up till the end of may at the earliest.Period.That is if there are no set backs.Which,lets face it folks,this is sony.The last thing they want is for you to know it will be a month before you can get your fix.You might do what I did.Found other things to occupy your time.I don't even miss EQ anymore.Will I come back later on and play again? Meh....
Sheep
# May 12 2011 at 2:54 PM Rating: Decent
We are sheep, and the game will be back and I will play.

I wonder if this thread will get to 2000 + before the servers come up!
Sheep
# May 12 2011 at 2:49 PM Rating: Decent
Scholar
*
131 posts
ya , it has nothing what so ever to do with the fact that it would be near impossible to make an accurate time estimate , and of course when they blow that times estimate , everyone will of course be SOO understanding.
Sheep
# May 12 2011 at 1:47 PM Rating: Decent
You DO miss EQ or you wouldn't have posted, fellow sheep! Ewe and I both know we're coming back when it's ready, so the tough guy routine doesn't fly!!...out..
Sheep
# May 12 2011 at 3:25 PM Rating: Decent
Ok you are probably right.I will be back.But for now I downloaded Rift.Simple,mindless but fun.

P.S. Thank you SO much sony for paying the rent on my fake home I never use.Your generosity is Christ like.(fart noise)
secure?
# May 12 2011 at 1:10 PM Rating: Decent
22 posts
how long does it actually take to install a secure program? then apply the update? distribute the update to consumers? shouldnt really take this long! can still rung the servers and apply updates in background then updates are active next time the consumer logs in right? if im wrong or leaving anything out, explain so i can have more reason for slapping myself for buying that w.o.w. thats still laughing at me
secure?
# May 12 2011 at 9:17 PM Rating: Decent
17 posts
Commission a new data centre with new servers, set them up with the latest Apache software, install and configure the firewalls, copy the data over, make program patches to incorporate all the new stuff, test said patches work, have the security company start pentesting the new facility, fix up the problems, hold a immeasurable number of meetings have the auditors look at the results of the pentests, get a second white hat and a second black hat to try hacking, hire a CSO, have the CSO sign off, Have the VP sign off, Have the CEO sign off...


About 8 weeks.
secure?
# May 12 2011 at 1:20 PM Rating: Decent
Scholar
**
344 posts
Its also possible that the game's code might need to be modified to work with the new login software. Then there is testing to see if it works right and is not exploitable or hackable. They might even be taking this opportunity to improve the login server so it doesnt crash so often.
For those blaming the hackers...
# May 12 2011 at 12:54 PM Rating: Decent
Scholar
**
344 posts
The servers are not down because hackers crashed them. They are down because it was revealed that they are not secure. If anonymous (or whoever) had not crashed the server (for 1 day) then the servers still would have been un-secure, except sony wouldnt have known. Now dont get me wrong, Im not defending what they did - it is a crime. But the fact that the servers are down for a month is entirely sony's fault, not the hackers. The hackers are not keeping the servers down. Sony is, and for good reason. Because they found that they were negligent.
For those blaming the hackers...
# May 12 2011 at 2:51 PM Rating: Decent
Scholar
*
131 posts
I see. And your reports with actual facts is... where?
culture of hate
# May 12 2011 at 12:53 PM Rating: Decent
*
167 posts
SOE/Sony constantly exhibits an attitude of arrogant superiority, whereby they believe it is best for them to remain aloof, silent, stoic and secretive. In "their" culture, perhaps, anything less appears like weakness.

In "our" culture however, we expect some acknowledgement and information.

America created Facebook, the Internet, telephones, cell phones, email, Twitter, radio, television, Youtube and on and on. Our entire culture is one of constant communication.

Their refusal to even acknowledge that is an insult.







Edited, May 12th 2011 2:55pm by realgrumpy
culture of hate
# May 13 2011 at 8:14 AM Rating: Decent
So if this is how your thought process works, you continue to do business with them why exactly?
culture of hate
# May 12 2011 at 3:02 PM Rating: Decent

This made me laugh....

realgrumpy wrote:
SOE/Sony constantly exhibits an attitude of arrogant superiority

followed by...

America created Facebook, the Internet, telephones, cell phones, email, Twitter, radio, television, Youtube and on and on.

Popcorn and black kettles anyone?







Edited, May 12th 2011 2:55pm by realgrumpy

culture of hate
# May 12 2011 at 1:00 PM Rating: Decent
18 posts
I agree with much of what you said.

The main question for me and many people here (based on the posts I'm seeing) is whether as a result of such poor treatment by the company, should I/anyone cancel their accounts.

I make a difference between a company being directly rude to me and indirectly rude. If I personally contact SOE about some issue, and their customer service is terrible in the sense that the individual I speak to is personally rude or disrespectful to me in any way, that is grounds for discontinuing being a customer with them.

However, having extremely poor communication skills in a situation like this I think is indirectly rude at most. Is it worth canceling an account over continued, ridiculous, indirect rudeness like this?

It's a very close call in my opinion. For me, I've tried every mmorpg (of all kinds) worth trying I could possibly find worth. 3d, 2d isometric, text only, roguelike, and so on. I've tried so ridiculously many. EQ is the best by far in my opinion. If I quit this, I won't want to play any other mmo's. Because of this, this indirect rudeness won't be enough for me to cancel my subscription with them. They will have to be directly rude to me.

Any replies to this post disputing my definitions of direct, indirect, rude, whatever are irrelevant to me. Whatever distinctions such a reply would make may matter to the poster, but not to me. These are my definitions in my contexts, and cannot be disputed.
culture of hate
# May 12 2011 at 4:45 PM Rating: Decent
JBonesJ wrote:


I make a difference between a company being directly rude to me and indirectly rude. If I personally contact SOE about some issue, and their customer service is terrible in the sense that the individual I speak to is personally rude or disrespectful to me in any way, that is grounds for discontinuing being a customer with them.

However, having extremely poor communication skills in a situation like this I think is indirectly rude at most. Is it worth canceling an account over continued, ridiculous, indirect rudeness like this?

It's a very close call in my opinion. For me, I've tried every mmorpg (of all kinds) worth trying I could possibly find worth. 3d, 2d isometric, text only, roguelike, and so on. I've tried so ridiculously many. EQ is the best by far in my opinion. If I quit this, I won't want to play any other mmo's. Because of this, this indirect rudeness won't be enough for me to cancel my subscription with them. They will have to be directly rude to me.

Any replies to this post disputing my definitions of direct, indirect, rude, whatever are irrelevant to me. Whatever distinctions such a reply would make may matter to the poster, but not to me. These are my definitions in my contexts, and cannot be disputed.


So to make sure I'm clear, if a customer service person is rude because they are having a bad day because they just got off a call with some a-hole that wants his Brick of Knowledge back cause he screwed up and thought it was a Vanadium Ore and destroyed it, you would discontinue using that companies services? Yet they can be completely negligent with their security(or lack there of) and you'll give them a free pass.

I too have have tried quite a few other games including Warhammer, LotRO, WOW, and a few others, and I also think EQ is the best. But I'm very frustrated with their poor handling of this situation and the fact that they aren't being very forthcoming with information is ridiculous. Not to mention the meager attempt to give "compensation" with housing upkeep credit...REALLY!?!?

Having played EQ since '03 with a few small breaks, I've been through a lot of ups and downs with them, as have many of you. I think this is a perfect storm for SOE and it may be just enough to bring down their entire array of MMO's, which will be a sad day indeed.
culture of hate
# May 12 2011 at 5:21 PM Rating: Decent
18 posts
I didn't include the fact that due to their negligence, they lost our credit card info. That just wasn't included in the "whether they are rude" analysis.

My take on that is that they screwed up once with my personal info, that is very crappy of them but still, they have a monopoly on the mmorpg's I want to play. They ***** up my personal information twice though and that would be too much.

So to recap: would have to be personally rude to me, or negligently not protect my personal information twice...in order for me to cancel.

I never suspected that SOE cared about me anymore than that. Also, I wouldn't judge the company's customer service based on the one time actions of just one man. I just don't take the time to write out the infinite number of parameters and exceptions everytime I make a general statement.

culture of hate
# May 12 2011 at 1:48 PM Rating: Decent
*
167 posts
I too have tried countless alternatives, and find only EQ fulfilling.

Your definitions are aligned much like chronic or acute pain or illness.

One is sharp, severe abrupt and short-lived. The other is on-going and wears you down.

For me, I would rather they are directly rude - then I can complain abot a particular person in the hopes of having them reprimanded. A chronic or indirect rudeness is cultural and systemic.

I have no way to combat indirect (or chronic) rudeness.

I suspect the latter causes more harm in the long run.

Never let 'em see you sweat
# May 12 2011 at 12:48 PM Rating: Decent
Remember that commercial of years past? Too late tho..they already saw us sweating! We should have been more non-chalant :)

Edited, May 12th 2011 2:51pm by Janabar
Optimism
# May 12 2011 at 12:38 PM Rating: Decent
To the pessimists that are not satisfied with receiving an update near the end of the day stating that the games will not be up, perhaps you should think more optimistically.

IMHO, giving us an update near the end of the day indicates that they are relatively close to bringing the games back online.

Another way to look at it, if they knew at the beginning of the day that there was absolutely no way they were going to have the games up that day then they would likely inform us. Giving us updates near the end of the day is a good sign.
Optimism
# May 12 2011 at 12:53 PM Rating: Decent
18 posts
Instead of leaving us to interpret actions which may or may not be vague signs, why not just have a daily update (same time each day) with basic info? This would communicate to their customers that they respect them enough to not leave them hanging trying to decipher their very unreliable clues.

Really, do you think that there has been a chance for the servers to come back up every day since the day the servers went down? That is kind of silly. Surely they knew on some or most of those days that the servers wouldn't be coming up. Communicating that (that the servers wouldn't be coming up that day/next few days/week) to the customers at the beginning of each day would be the proper and polite way for them to treat the customers.
Optimism
# May 12 2011 at 4:36 PM Rating: Decent
Here's another way to look at it. Imagine a scenario where they are close to getting the games up and running but at the beginning of the day decided to inform the customers that the games would not be ready. Later that day, the games are up and running and they change the announcement.

They aren't going to do that because they would be telling all their customers to go do something else that day (which is fine, we should all be finding other things to do) and it's something that may prove to be untrue at the end of the day. Those that read the announcement at the beginning of the day are likely going to be ticked when they discover that they were, essentially, lied to, which then creates even more bad blood which is something they are very likely trying to avoid.

Conclusion: end of the day updates mean they are close to getting the games up and running.

Only time will determine whether or not my optimism is misplaced. Nothing I have read by other posters has swayed me away from my personal perception of the end of day updates.
Post Comment

Free account required to post

You must log in or create an account to post messages.