This is a direct quote from Robert Garriott which can be found in The Escapist magazine from April 25th, 2006. This may be why we probably wont ever see a change, look at this.
"I buy virtual gold all the time," he says, adding, "I have no problem with it. I'm a supporter. I understand that my position on this is different from our sole corporate perspective. But anyway, I participate in it."
Well it never says about games his company makes or what games, but just in general. He is a supporter of it though, which is for all games, including NCsoft games.
well "i participate in it" show he does it, be it NCSoft game or not (well, wouldn't you play a game from your company ?) every game has a EULA against buying the virtual currency.
so he's breaking the EULA of the games.
just like a police chief saying he doesn't respect speed limits when he's in a hurry... quite ironic.
Its more than sad...its absolutly disgusting.
For a business man to partake in the practice of the very thing that is eating away at his VERY OWN BUSINESS, and support it....well..no sorry, it is sad..you're right.
What was that about power and corruption? Seriously, for saying some smart things in the rest of the article, that's a strange stance. He doesn't seem to understand what the basic draw of MMORPGs is.
which is why players go to games like WoW etc in the long run. NCSofts sloppy policies against farmers is going to lose them a large part of the MMO market in the long run. Simply being occupied by the current cashflow is not the right attitude for a proffessional gaming company.
But it's their loss, and what could have been a great game is mediocre at best.
well, not getting into an argument about WoW, but even subtly hinting, that Blizzard might be driven in any way by any reason other than making cash, is simply ludicrous.
Blizzard and NCsoft is not on the market to make people happy. They are on the market to make money. Same goes for every other company.
for god sake: he is a manager. Managers care for profit in the 1st place.
That is silly to claim at best, that RMT is not COSTING them money.
NCSoft recently won a court case over a bot distributor / creator, their main argument was that the program is COSTING them more revenue than the program creates.
The systems put in place to enforce these bots aren't cheap.
What are you on about, UO has allowed goldsales since the very beginning. The stop for selling items for RL money first came far later.
And he's actually right, its inevitable, as long as something has value and people work for it then IT WILL HAVE REAL LIFE VALUE as well, regardless of how "virtual" it is.
As for WoW, thats BS, there's even more selling going on there and botting is pretty frequent too.
well, not getting into an argument about WoW, but even subtly hinting, that Blizzard might be driven in any way by any reason other than making cash, is simply ludicrous.
Blizzard and NCsoft is not on the market to make people happy. They are on the market to make money. Same goes for every other company.
Moneymaker Kitten
Doesn't change the fact that the customer support in lineage NA is among the worst in any online game on the market. If I ever bother to play another MMO, and I have the choice to chose between an NCSoft production, or some other known game producer, there isn't much doubt where I'll go.
The first year after prelude the GMs in lineage barely spoke english. Seems like they are catching on a bit now, but they still mostly use premade answers to every single problem, and half the time these answers don't even adress the problem that was petitioned.
I won't even get into the farmer problem, 98% of all farmer groups can be singled out in an instant because they are so blatantly obvious in their playstyle. Detecting [removed] is so easy that if they wanted, they could ban all the farmers in a week easily, and probably avoid banning any real players in the process.
Tracking adena that goes to adena sales is also very easy. It's not like the farmer actually cover up their transfers in any way.
NCSoft never cared, and never will, they are all about the current cashflow, and how to keep it as high as possible at any one point.
It's sad, and if I had realised this earlier, I probably never would have started playing in the first place. I guess I was naive that believed everything they told us.
>>Detecting [removed] is so easy that if they wanted, they could ban all the farmers
>>in a week easily, and probably avoid banning any real players in the process.
It's true, since NCSoft owns both server and client, a slight change in the protocol (unannounced) would reveal some 3rd party programs.
Since the thread now is going to be deleted it doesnt matter, but it's true.
Well, what kind of Customer Server problems do you have ?
All my customer servive tickets were answered by a real person with individual text within 24 hours.
If you base your "CS is bad"-argument on a petition of "ban all bots now !", well... maybe try a problem then, where the CS can actually do something that will truely help you ?
Doesn't change the fact that the customer support in lineage NA is among the worst in any online game on the market. If I ever bother to play another MMO, and I have the choice to chose between an NCSoft production, or some other known game producer, there isn't much doubt where I'll go.
The first year after prelude the GMs in lineage barely spoke english. Seems like they are catching on a bit now, but they still mostly use premade answers to every single problem, and half the time these answers don't even adress the problem that was petitioned.
I won't even get into the farmer problem, 98% of all farmer groups can be singled out in an instant because they are so blatantly obvious in their playstyle. Detecting walker/wind is so easy that if they wanted, they could ban all the farmers in a week easily, and probably avoid banning any real players in the process.
Tracking adena that goes to adena sales is also very easy. It's not like the farmer actually cover up their transfers in any way.
NCSoft never cared, and never will, they are all about the current cashflow, and how to keep it as high as possible at any one point.
It's sad, and if I had realised this earlier, I probably never would have started playing in the first place. I guess I was naive that believed everything they told us.
You have got to be kidding or high. Anyone who has played a SOE game (everquest, SWG......Etc) knows what bad public relations is. This is nothing compared to those games. Try playing a game that the contect is so bugged that you cant even level (SWG) Farmers are everywhere. If you dont like them then PK them....might get some good drops every now and then. NC has SOE beat 3 to 1 at least.
You have got to be kidding or high. Anyone who has played a SOE game (everquest, SWG......Etc) knows what bad public relations is. This is nothing compared to those games. Try playing a game that the contect is so bugged that you cant even level (SWG) Farmers are everywhere. If you dont like them then PK them....might get some good drops every now and then. NC has SOE beat 3 to 1 at least.
pk them... funny one...
pk'ing them doesn't gain you drops, it causes them to forcelog, and you'll be stuck with karma. Sounds like fun to me.
Stanmire and Pop please edit your posts. Do not talk about the other stuff in this thread. Please be respectfull to the original poster.
And if I don't? delete my post? Ban my forum account? Ban my lineage 2 game account? Honestly, I couldn't care less.
If you do not a good discussion is deleted becuase you brought up the other stuff. If you do not care about yourself fine. But the original poster said LEAVE the talk of the other stuff out of this thread. Please respect what the original poster is asking for.
Keep in mind guys that he may very well we talking about a game that allows you to purchuse online currency. He didnt say "Oh i love buying teh adenas! ! ? !"
Coming from me however, and my play style, it is very frustrating to see that some NC employee's disagree with most legit players in L2. Every day I seem to be pushed closer to believing that this game really was created/tweeked to be a "Buy your in-game assests" game, which makes it harder for me to justify wasteing my time here.
Well i've had a lot of fun playing L2 the past 1.5 years but i am 100% sure that i will not play another NCsoft game in the future when i decide to quit L2. The non existant support & general lack of caring about their NA subscribers is not the type of business i will be willing to hand my money over to in the future.
The quote in that interview is actually attributed to Richard Garriott, not Robert Garriott. Richard was expressing his personal views and the statement is not a reflection of NCsoft's company policy on the matter. NCsoft in no way supports or endorses any violation of the User Agreement.
The quote in that interview is actually attributed to Richard Garriott, not Robert Garriott. Richard was expressing his personal views and the statement is not a reflection of NCsoft's company policy on the matter. NCsoft in no way supports or endorses any violation of the User Agreement.
what are they, brothers or something? it doesn't matter. The dude is a cheater. Was his account banned BTW? lol
The quote in that interview is actually attributed to Richard Garriott, not Robert Garriott. Richard was expressing his personal views and the statement is not a reflection of NCsoft's company policy on the matter. NCsoft in no way supports or endorses any violation of the User Agreement.
Thats exactly what im talking about. He wasn't speaking for the company, and isn't defending people who break EULA's. That story doesnt comment on L2 at all, so theres no reason to bash him on a personal level. It's just something that i, and many of us, disagree with.
No, it is not hopeless. He said 'virtual gold,' not 'adena.' That means he is NOT referring to Lineage or Lineage II.
Further, if you look close at your log-in screen recently, you see two servers that are usually 'light;' Kain and another one that I don't pay much attention to. It has been that way for over a week now, and I think it means that NCsoft is doing something on those servers to clear out folks violating the rules. I have noticed less folks with curious names in the areas I hunt.
The quote in that interview is actually attributed to Richard Garriott, not Robert Garriott. Richard was expressing his personal views and the statement is not a reflection of NCsoft's company policy on the matter. NCsoft in no way supports or endorses any violation of the User Agreement.
mystral are you kidding me ? dont you see that this issue is KILLING THIS GAME! it must be fixed even if it requires re writeing the eula ( but you already have rights to termanate some ones account at your will ) just fix it start seirous weekley bannings
This is where the problem resides Mistryl. There's an old saying that puts this all in prospective.
"As goes the Shepherd, so goes the flock"
If he believes it's allright to buy gold, there is the company policy at NCNA, period. You can not devorce your' opinions from your' companies policy, they are one in the same. He is the head of NCNA and his word is law. If he doesn't care about it, then no one below him will eather. Thats why we have the huge, massive problem we do today.
No, it is not hopeless. He said 'virtual gold,' not 'adena.' That means he is NOT referring to Lineage or Lineage II.
Further, if you look close at your log-in screen recently, you see two servers that are usually 'light;' Kain and another one that I don't pay much attention to. It has been that way for over a week now, and I think it means that NCsoft is doing something on those servers to clear out folks violating the rules. I have noticed less folks with curious names in the areas I hunt.
I think these are hopeful signs.
Adena isn't made of Iron,Steel or Bronze,
Last time I checked, it was made of Yellow Shiny GOLD .
Believe it or not, Adena is nothing but Warm and Shiny GOLD . Virtual or not.
The Light status you see are mostly due to massive disconnections occuring these last few days.
But I wish you were right
The quote in that interview is actually attributed to Richard Garriott, not Robert Garriott. Richard was expressing his personal views and the statement is not a reflection of NCsoft's company policy on the matter. NCsoft in no way supports or endorses any violation of the User Agreement.
He is still employed by NC Austin so hence, NC Austin accepts his stance on this issue and in turn this means that NC Austin accepts the matter as well. In the end, deriving that it indeed DOES reflect NCsofts company policy on the matter.
There does seem to be some confusion on the Garriott brothers. Richard Garriott, to whom the quote is credited, is not the CEO, president, nor head of NCsoft. Richard is the Executive Producer of the upcoming game Tabula Rasa. Robert Garriott is the CEO of NCsoft North America, and he did not make the statement in the interview.
I hope that clears that up a little. Again, that statement does not reflect company policy, and we remain committed to finding and taking action against players who violate the User Agreement.
The quote in that interview is actually attributed to Richard Garriott, not Robert Garriott. Richard was expressing his personal views and the statement is not a reflection of NCsoft's company policy on the matter. NCsoft in no way supports or endorses any violation of the User Agreement.
Thats exactly what im talking about. He wasn't speaking for the company, and isn't defending people who break EULA's. That story doesnt comment on L2 at all, so theres no reason to bash him on a personal level. It's just something that i, and many of us, disagree with.
I hear what your saying Durgy. But its a little thing called guilt by association. No matter how you wrap it up (i.e. represnting the company or not, or speaking personally or off the record), his name is associated with the game and it will stick. That is simply the kind of PR you don't want.
So it was Richard who said it, and does he not hold a postion in NCsoft. Did Robert get him the job, does Robert know Richards views, Will Robert be dealing with Richard directly, Does Robert know that Richard MAYBE taking bribes from adena farmers to allow this to continue. If Richard in a postion to do this after all he see's nothing wrong with buy ingame gold, so in his eye's he maybe tending out a service that players like him want. I hope not and I hope Richard will look into his brothers antics more closely.
No one can even say that he's involved in L2 at all because...
He is the head of NCNA and his word is law.
There does seem to be some confusion on the Garriott brothers. Richard Garriott, to whom the quote is credited, is not the CEO, president, nor head of NCsoft. Richard is the Executive Producer of the upcoming game Tabula Rasa. Robert Garriott is the CEO of NCsoft North America, and he did not make the statement in the interview.
I hope that clears that up a little. Again, that statement does not reflect company policy, and we remain committed to finding and taking action against players who violate the User Agreement.
I'm not defending the people who break the specific L2 EULA. I'm defending someone elses right to an opinion, just for [censored] and giggles. People on this board tend to blow apart one specific person (Ash, Mystril, Tisrin, Rust) on a rotating basis. What starts this kind of attack is exactly what we are asking for, responses from them. Lay off a bit and realize that 1 personal opinion from an NCSoft employee (working on an independent game from this one) does not set some kind of secondary company policy.
I'm glad the OP found the artical and brought it up, but it doesnt mean anything other then the fact that (Richard) makes more money then most of us do apperently lol
He would be entitled to do whatever he wants in a game that allows for that kind of action in the EULA, but in L2, is subject to the same rules we are.
I agree with the folks who commented that this one guy's comments do not set policy. However, it would be intriguing to know how many of the self-righteous posters in this thread ever: (a) participated in the boss exploit trick with pets or bd's; (b) spread adena around a siege ground; (c) set up scam shops; (d) killed shops with necro exploit; (e) bought adena; (f) used bots; (g) dragged bosses into towns; (h) used gate-hopping to pk people; or (i) used any of the other many goofy tricks/scams/exploits that have popped up periodically on this game.
Hmm, well thats interesting...but who cares? I mean seriously...thats what he does. If NCsoft really felt that way they would either 1.) Open their own adena store, it would whipe out farmers because NCsoft can make that stuff for free, I mean what farmer could compete with that...they don't even have to staff anyone to do it... Or 2.) They would change the EULA to say that buying and selling of in game currency and items is fine...
So he said it! More than half of MMO players support these activities...thats why it exists... If your brother who makes games but different games then you make liked to buy currency, well then does that mean you like to buy currency too? C'mon ppl, yes it is shocking...but really it means NOTHING!
Hmm, well thats interesting...but who cares? I mean seriously...thats what he does. If NCsoft really felt that way they would either 1.) Open their own adena store, it would whipe out farmers because NCsoft can make that stuff for free, I mean what farmer could compete with that...they don't even have to staff anyone to do it... Or 2.) They would change the EULA to say that buying and selling of in game currency and items is fine...
So he said it! More than half of MMO players support these activities...thats why it exists... If your brother who makes games but different games then you make liked to buy currency, well then does that mean you like to buy currency too? C'mon ppl, yes it is shocking...but really it means NOTHING!
you see lagdgsfdg and wtgweaf and his 5o outher friends hitting the gaurd in guldin for hours on end ? see the +20 bot grps in every cata ?
thats the side effect of buying currencey people with his mindset and yours are the reason there even here, and its no where near 50%
and you know what it means it means your a cheeter and should be banned
well the problem you have is with the bots and not the opinion of an individual. I say stop trying to confuse the two to be one and the same. One doesn't affect the other in any way.
the problem isint with the bots..the problem is with the game not putting a realistic cap on the economy..if there were a cap on the economy then what would the bots have, they would have nothing. they will see soon enough when enough real players leave the servers that the only remaining players will be bots selling to bots. do you think the bots will support L2..heck no as long as they made enuf money. then L2 will do just like EA has always done and say, it was great goodbye we will be shutting our servers down permanently, oh were you in the middle of trying to subclass a bot infested spawn? so sorry for the 55,000 hours and countless cigarettes you went through but we made our money, don't care and im sure you will find a new online game..oh by the way we have a new online game coming out, please check it out, here is a free gametime code, please go get hooked, give me my money and..the big corporations of gaming companies give less than a [censored] about the time you spend in the game and the monthly contribution you make towards it. With the CEO supporting bots you know he is getting kickbacks and of course the CEO won't get banned..If someone took a screenie of someone purchasing adena the EULA person would be banned. But not anymore, we gotta raise the economy, make it impossible for you to get a-grade, much less s-grade, unless you support the bots. they can fix the economy, but why, they are about to shut down, gotta make that adena..
lol about to shut down ? i dont think so there are 4 milion of us na's there not gonna give up o thoes proffits thats why we have power we control the money theay get if we desided to stop that then theay will either have to shut down or change
Of course the real name of NCSoft NA is Destination Software. The name was changed for Lineage. Richard started it and got his brother Robert to run it for him. Robert ran Orgin. He left when EA bought it. Rich stayed.
Robert makes the money, Richard does the games.
Thinking someone that pays $50+++ for a game isnt going to pay another $20 for enough money to get anything they need up to level 50 is just plain stupid.
NCSoft is just jealous they aren't making the money.
"If you hate the game so much that you would rather pay someone to play it than playing it yourself, why don't you find a game that actually suits you?"