I used to play EQ2 until the forums became so moderated. Dont get me wrong, I think moderation of forums is a good thing. But the community was already at pretty much a perfect tone. People said what they wanted, but it was nothing like the WoW forums. Things were more civilized and the forums were a great place to hang out at work. Then it became pointless to even bother. Even some posts that pointed out the weaknesses of classes ( pretty important info for those rolling that class) were gotten rid of. These days, there isnt much other than the discussion of available loot and what AA path is the most beneficial.


I think they were justified in removing his access. I also think LFG was justified in breaking the story. Just because something has a negative consequence, doesnt mean that it wasnt the right thing to do.

SOE has to deal with the consequences of thier actions, just as LFG does.
 

I think you possibly haven't been to EQ2Flames.com (note correct name of the site -- it is not EQFlames.com). It is a popular community site which is not devoted to breaking NDAs -- in fact, the person in question, LFG, vows that he has never broken and NDA nor plans to, and has been as vigilant as possible in deleting NDA-protected information -- until now, that is.

Take a look at the site before you write about it.
 

I never said it was a site about breaking NDAs. But the guy calling himself "LFG" clearly states in the interview that he was posting scoops, provided to him by "whistleblowing" SOE employees. For example the story of test server players being transfered to real servers, or certain people leaving SOE. What I am saying is that he was using his contacts with SOE employees gained through the influencer program to get those stories and publish them. Which is in my eyes totally equivalent to what the betaleaks people do. In both cases the game company offers some people priviledged access and information, only to see those people turn around and post it on a public web site to the detriment of the company.
 

Oh, that. Well, I have no idea if that information was protected by NDA or by his Community Influencer agreement, since I have seen neither. He says it was not, and that SOE employees had non-NDA-protected information, relevant to the EQ2 community, that they wanted to share.

I call THAT journalism. And I VERY much appreciated that. SOMEONE has to keep devs honest. SOE really has to convince the players that every single player is equal in their eyes. When some players are more equal than others, well, they need to be called on that.
 

According to LFG, the people giving him the information were asking him to post it.

Are the people feeding him information wrong? Maybe. Is LFG wrong? No, I dont think so.

There are confirmed reports of alot of unethical behavior on the part of SOE. Other parties are behaving unethically, and that deserves public attention. The SOE employees asking for info to be divulged are breaking thier employment contract, but in my opinion, they are doing the right thing also. But again, doing the right thing can have negative consequences. Not everything is black and white. All parties in this case fall into a very grey area.
 

I think all companies have a tendancy to go overboard protecting themselves. And usually there is some ego involved. The only time I was ever suspended from a forum was on the wow forums when I quite calmly pointed out that a blue post was no better than the "trolls" she was attacking, and that since she was blue there was a higher expectation of behavior. All the bad posts remained I got a 3 day ban. I'm sure because I pricked her already bruised ego.

And SOE has a bad history of trieing to control and whitewash all information about themselves on the internet.
 

With due respect; You might as well comment in full, because you already blew any semblance to objectivity.

Objective and neutral: "I have no objective comment because I know this guy and he's a friend."

Loaded: "I have no comment to the rubbish LFG is spouting"

You chose your side right there, so dive in! Bound to be interesting at any rate.
 

Wow, scandals over SOE jerking players around over the Test server. How EQ 1 of them. How surprising. Some things never change. I remember Jeff Butler coming in to "clean up" the EQ 1 Test server and ruining perhaps the best game community I've experienced. He also pissed off loyal employees. Deja vu.

Long live Emperor Noodles and the Furious Foodstuffs
 

In terms of drama, this story is pretty boring. I'm at the point where I feel any developer scandal that doesn't involve hookers, wife swapping or drug use just isn't worth my time to read or comment about )

Oh, and SOE is slime. It's always important to mention that.
 

SOE brought it on themselves. Don't treat a minority of players as special "influencers".

First of all, it alienates the general player base. It directly builds resentment and soon players feel that their feedback and ideas won't be heard unless it's from an "influencer".

Secondly, it turns into this garbage, where an "influencer" somehow actually believes he/she should be calling the shots. And when their little ideas get shot down, or they start abusing their status, we get the LFG scandal.

I have no argument against developers soliciting community feedback, but they better be damn careful in what feedback system they choose to use. Influencer programs and EVE's soon-to-be player government are nothing but disasters waiting to happen.

Developers can't claim on one hand that their most prized possession, a game client, is in the hands of the enemy, and then turn around and hire that enemy to "influence" them.
 

I agree with Grimmtooth that you pretty much blew your objectivity in the first sentence. If you want to ride the journalistic integrity line and interview gold sellers fine but to then switch over and make posts like this... It's your blog and you can do what you want with it at the end of the day but still. I'm pretty disappointed.
 

funny I thought in the opening sentence he anounced why he couldn't be objective? Strange to bash him for openly letting you know why he wasn't.

this isn't the New York Times guys.
 

tobold, your blogging started to slide down to emotional rants , first the over reaction from anonymous's comment about rmt then angry posts.

just cool down and start to write with the usual style. ccc = cool calm collected.

dont do the green tobold 'me smash me no want you in me blog' again. sounds ranty and childish

be good
 

@sam: Maybe I'm misreading the intent, but I gathered that Tobold was refraining from commenting because he wanted to maintain the semblance of objectivity. But when you start out saying that Grimmwell is "totally upright and honest" and LFG is spouting "nonsense and insults" then that pretty much blows it. The lines are drawn.

So why not flesh it out instead of, well, cop out like that? If I personally have nothing to say on a subject - I SAY NOTHING.

The funny thing is the second paragraph. Good job keeping the focus in the right place, Tobald :)
 

You misunderstood. What I was saying was that I can't write anything objective, and as not everyone likes "new angry Tobold" I kept my totally subjective comments as short as possible.