An Interview With the Vampire
I had really meant to give it a rest for a daay on the whole Star Wars Galaxies thing. But I can't.
I found this Q&A session with Julio Torres this evening, after a pleasant couple of hours spent in WoW. The successrful retrieval of treasure from the holds of a couple of sunken galleons had left me in a charitable mood, and I could only think better of Mr Torres for fielding the questions of some Gamespy readers.
But, in the word of Napoleon Dynamite: "Gosh!"
Is there not a job that the man could do that would make him prouder when he went home at night? Something involving unlicensed surgery, or perhaps ticketing parked hearses? I admit that I'm never a big fan of marketing weasels, but the art of selling has its place in the world. The art of spin, however... I found his attempt to duck the question of refunds for long subscriptions, and his successful obfuscation regarding refunds for expansion buyers, a little mawkish. In the old English sense of mawkish: "maggoty".
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Martial Law Imposed
In other news, I was rubbernecking the car crash that is the official forum, when I spotted this one, from "Blackguard", an SOE community team member.
"Just a warning that we are not currently handing out suspensions. All bans at this time are going to be permanent"
An explanation of the many, many ways to get banned included the following items. Each is fair enough in its way (if a little naive in the world of internet game forums), but are also informative as regards the general tone of the forums right now.
"These Forums are provided to enable members to help each other in sharing their passion for the game. Please refrain from discussing personal matters, abusing any company or product, or, in general, from posting in a manner unrelated to the direct purposes expected in the Forums"
"Flaming people, products, or organizations is never acceptable"
"You may not... Use the official forums as a staging-ground for creating general unrest within the game "
It seems to have struck SOE that since (as Politburo Candidate-Member Torres said) disgruntled gamers with unwanted ten month subscriptions will not receive refunds, and since they have free access to the boards for that entire period, it will be easier to take them straight to the Lubyanka basement right now. And since there are no refunds for banned accounts, either, they will effectively charge the recipient for the bullet.
Is it not enough that the proletariat achieved the liquidation of the Creature Handlers as a class?