It appears that I must now reverse my opinion of Cryptic and Star Trek Online. Since my last blog, it has come to light that Cryptic's main agenda is converting STO over to a hybrid Free-To-Play model.
I don't really have a problem with this, except that certain expectations were given on what Cryptic was working on during the "content drought" and those expectations are not entirely accurate.
I hesitate to use the word "lie". But it is pretty clear that subscriptions (such as mine) were maintained for months in the hopes that certain features and additional content would be added to the game in a short time frame, but the time frame continues to extend. And in fact, unknown to me, my paid subscription was helping to fund development toward a free-to-play game.
I might have discontinued my subscription had I but known that F2P development trumped everything else, or I might not. I could have saved up for future C-Store purchases, or not. But... regardless of the reasons why, Cryptic was not straight with us about this until Perfect World's CFO leaked that Star Trek Online would go free-to-play by the end of the year. The fact is that I made a bad decision to continue my subscription based on inaccurate information... and that the inaccurate information was at least partly intentional.
Look, all Cryptic had to say was that new features after Ground Combat 2.0 would be delayed until after the sale was complete. Or say nothing at all. I realize that they couldn't spill all the beans, but subscribers were deliberately strung along with empty assurances. Continuing to promise that specific new stuff (the Duty Officer System and the new Featured Episode series) was coming "soon" when they knew full well that what most subscribing players really wanted was NOT coming until after F2P launched... I call that misleading. Sure, they would have lost subscriptions temporarily... but not goodwill. Goodwill is what they will need when they re-launch STO as a free-to-play game and have to compete with other games for time and attention.
Well, now that I am in possession of the necessary information, I have in fact cancelled my subscription and I'm just waiting for the clock to run out. I wish I'd known two weeks ago what I know now. I could have saved myself $15. I have voted with my wallet to send the message that empty assurances have a price tag.
Will I come back when F2P launches? Probably. Will I renew my subscription? Maybe, if it's worth it. But the odds are worse than they might have been. Will I buy Cryptic Points for the C-Store? Less likely than before, actually, if the prices will be as high as they are for Champions Online.
Will I trust Cryptic's assurances from now on? Will the Engineering Report encourage me to keep hoping for "All Good Things"? Not a chance, friend. From now on my motto is: "It's in there, or it's vaporware."
Monday, September 12, 2011
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Media Monkey-Business
Can a Monkey Get a Copyright & Issue a Takedown?: "An anonymous reader writes 'Last week, the Daily Mail published a story about some monkeys in Indonesia who happened upon a camera and took some photos of themselves. The photos are quite cute. However, Techdirt noticed that the photos had copyright notices on them, and started a discussion over who actually held the copyright in question, noting that, if anyone did, the monkeys had the best claim, and certainly not the photographer. Yet, the news agency who claimed copyright issued a takedown to Techdirt! When presented with the point that it's unlikely the news agency could hold a legitimate copyright, the agency told Techdirt it didn't matter. Techdirt claims that using the photos for such a discussion is a clear case of fair use, an argument which has so far been ignored.'
Read more of this story at Slashdot."
Read more of this story at Slashdot."
PuTTY 0.61 Released
PuTTY 0.61 Released: "drmacinyasha writes 'Simon Tatham announced Tuesday the official release of PuTTY 0.61 after four years of development. It brings a number of bug fixes and improvements, such as GSSAPI SSH-2 authentication, significantly faster SSH key exchanges, and even support for Windows 7's jump lists. Downloads are available from the project's homepage.'
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
"
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
"
This Federation Is Not Ideal
Season 4 has launched at Star Trek Online, and it's not without problems. There are bugs, the Foundry had to be turned off, the PvE queues aren't working as expected, and so on.
But the biggest problem is not one of Cryptic's making. The biggest problem, in my mind, is the rotten behavior of many players on the STO forums.
I do understand and support the right of a customer to complain about something they don't like. But nothing gives anyone the right to be nasty about it.
Cryptic has been accused of lying about things, breaking promises, laziness, shoddy work, and on and on. Mean-spirited accusations without any proof of intent to dupe the poor customers and cheat them out of their money.
There is, unfortunately, a long history of disappointments associated with this game. That much is irrefutable. But the Dev Team under Daniel Stahl's leadership has made, in my opinion, heroic efforts to reach out to the community to try to make things better. Some people call this"spin" and dismiss it as insincere. I don't think so. All the indications I have seen are that Cryptic is trying diligently, with varying degrees of success, to improve the whole game for everybody. There are business realities that they are forced to deal with and there are technical challenges that are not as trivial as some players would like to make them out to be.
I think the Dev Team has over all displayed exemplary conduct under a great deal of stress. Unfortunately the same can not be said of many of the players on the forums. Their fingers are on the firing studs, just waiting for Cryptic to make a mistake so they can blast them. It's enough to tempt me to despair that the attitude of the forums will ever remain civil.
I wonder sometimes how many of the people playing STO really get Star Trek. Do they understand that it represents certain ethics and ideals? How many episodes were about "Doing the Right Thing"? About taking the time and making the effort to understand others? To try to make peace before firing a full spread of Photon Torpedoes?
I see this as not just a problem for Cryptic and for STO, but for our whole culture. Where are the ideals? Where is the love for our fellow man? Why are we so quick to lash out when something interferes with our self-gratification? Why so quick to assume the worst about others? Where is the patience? The kindness?
The ugliness is on the surface and raw. But there are points of light, people out there who are willing to help each other and to do what's right. They're underappreciated, to be sure. They aren't as obvious as the others lashing out. But STO, and the world, could use a lot more of them and a lot less bitterness and selfishness.
But the biggest problem is not one of Cryptic's making. The biggest problem, in my mind, is the rotten behavior of many players on the STO forums.
I do understand and support the right of a customer to complain about something they don't like. But nothing gives anyone the right to be nasty about it.
Cryptic has been accused of lying about things, breaking promises, laziness, shoddy work, and on and on. Mean-spirited accusations without any proof of intent to dupe the poor customers and cheat them out of their money.
There is, unfortunately, a long history of disappointments associated with this game. That much is irrefutable. But the Dev Team under Daniel Stahl's leadership has made, in my opinion, heroic efforts to reach out to the community to try to make things better. Some people call this"spin" and dismiss it as insincere. I don't think so. All the indications I have seen are that Cryptic is trying diligently, with varying degrees of success, to improve the whole game for everybody. There are business realities that they are forced to deal with and there are technical challenges that are not as trivial as some players would like to make them out to be.
I think the Dev Team has over all displayed exemplary conduct under a great deal of stress. Unfortunately the same can not be said of many of the players on the forums. Their fingers are on the firing studs, just waiting for Cryptic to make a mistake so they can blast them. It's enough to tempt me to despair that the attitude of the forums will ever remain civil.
I wonder sometimes how many of the people playing STO really get Star Trek. Do they understand that it represents certain ethics and ideals? How many episodes were about "Doing the Right Thing"? About taking the time and making the effort to understand others? To try to make peace before firing a full spread of Photon Torpedoes?
I see this as not just a problem for Cryptic and for STO, but for our whole culture. Where are the ideals? Where is the love for our fellow man? Why are we so quick to lash out when something interferes with our self-gratification? Why so quick to assume the worst about others? Where is the patience? The kindness?
The ugliness is on the surface and raw. But there are points of light, people out there who are willing to help each other and to do what's right. They're underappreciated, to be sure. They aren't as obvious as the others lashing out. But STO, and the world, could use a lot more of them and a lot less bitterness and selfishness.
Monday, June 13, 2011
"52" Reasons Why DC's Reboot May Fail
In case you hadn't heard, DC Comics has decided to "reboot" their entire line of comics to a whole new volume of issue #1's. 52 of them, to be exact.
When I first heard of it, I tried to be optimistic. Since then, bits and pieces of information have trickled out, including teasers of cover art. What I see leaves me unimpressed and underwhelmed. None of the descriptions of the 52 titles that will survive the reboot leave me with any desire to obtain even digital copies... Digital distribution being one of the reasons stated for the shakeup. (Or is that "shake-down"? I'm not sure yet...)
Action Comics might as well have been titled "Superman: Year One" as it literally is about Supe's first year on the job in Metropolis. According to rumor, he'll lose most of his power in the process, and he'll be "younger, angrier, and more of a social activist". Right. Don't know what they're going to do when they have to "catch up" with the timeline they'll establish in the new "Superman" title. Oh, and forget what you know about Superman... history has been changed so that Clark and Lois aren't married.
A large portion of the 52 titles have been given to the "Batman Family", which should be a clear signal that DC is aiming to make their lineup darker and edgier. A look at the revealed cover art and tidbits about the rest of the lineup seems to confirm that hypothesis. In some cases, it seems as if DC has decided to take the worst of the DC-verse and comics trends in general. A lot of the decisions leave me scratching my head. Like, did they really need a magic-oriented "Dark Justice League"? Did they really tape an S-shield onto Superboy's back? Did they really allow Liefield to draw any of these titles?
One hopes that this move by DC turns out to be nothing more than another "event" like Infinite Crisis and that, sooner or later, something more like the old status quo re-emerges.
When I first heard of it, I tried to be optimistic. Since then, bits and pieces of information have trickled out, including teasers of cover art. What I see leaves me unimpressed and underwhelmed. None of the descriptions of the 52 titles that will survive the reboot leave me with any desire to obtain even digital copies... Digital distribution being one of the reasons stated for the shakeup. (Or is that "shake-down"? I'm not sure yet...)
Action Comics might as well have been titled "Superman: Year One" as it literally is about Supe's first year on the job in Metropolis. According to rumor, he'll lose most of his power in the process, and he'll be "younger, angrier, and more of a social activist". Right. Don't know what they're going to do when they have to "catch up" with the timeline they'll establish in the new "Superman" title. Oh, and forget what you know about Superman... history has been changed so that Clark and Lois aren't married.
A large portion of the 52 titles have been given to the "Batman Family", which should be a clear signal that DC is aiming to make their lineup darker and edgier. A look at the revealed cover art and tidbits about the rest of the lineup seems to confirm that hypothesis. In some cases, it seems as if DC has decided to take the worst of the DC-verse and comics trends in general. A lot of the decisions leave me scratching my head. Like, did they really need a magic-oriented "Dark Justice League"? Did they really tape an S-shield onto Superboy's back? Did they really allow Liefield to draw any of these titles?
One hopes that this move by DC turns out to be nothing more than another "event" like Infinite Crisis and that, sooner or later, something more like the old status quo re-emerges.
Friday, June 10, 2011
Changes!
There are a lot of changes for the Federation Reborn fleet to be excited about!
First, we added another tab to our Fleet Bank repository (we're up to 4 now) for storing supplies (non-combat items). Okay, not too radical so far.
Two, I finally got a Fleet Forum up and running on a new provider. It's a relatively plain-looking InvisionFree board at the moment, but I hope to tweak some of the visuals when I can get around to it. The important things are: it's functional, it's easy to use, it's free, and the ad banners are tolerable (unlike the others I looked at). All fleet members (and visitors) are encouraged to join the new forum.
Still ho-hum for you?
The real excitement is the changes coming to STO in the very near future.
Scheduled on June 23 are the new Borg Deep Space Encounters, swiftly followed by a Q Boost Double XP Weekend starting June 24. Anybody want to join me for those?
It is entirely possible that Season 4 will hit Tribble for testing even before that. I'm seriously thinking about reloading test.
By the end of July, we should get Season 4 in all its' glory. Ground Combat 2.0 is rumored to be an awesome and game-changing experience and I am totally geeked about the possibilities with the new Duty Officer system.
Sometime after that, Cryptic will be rolling out new Featured Episodes (starring DS-9), Department Heads and First Officers, remastered STF's ("Into the Hive" is rumored to be next on Gozer's dev hit list), new Tutorials, lots of stuff on the Engineering Report I haven't even mentioned... basically enough new stuff to make me dance for joy like a Ferengi who just inherited a latinum mine.
First, we added another tab to our Fleet Bank repository (we're up to 4 now) for storing supplies (non-combat items). Okay, not too radical so far.
Two, I finally got a Fleet Forum up and running on a new provider. It's a relatively plain-looking InvisionFree board at the moment, but I hope to tweak some of the visuals when I can get around to it. The important things are: it's functional, it's easy to use, it's free, and the ad banners are tolerable (unlike the others I looked at). All fleet members (and visitors) are encouraged to join the new forum.
Still ho-hum for you?
The real excitement is the changes coming to STO in the very near future.
Scheduled on June 23 are the new Borg Deep Space Encounters, swiftly followed by a Q Boost Double XP Weekend starting June 24. Anybody want to join me for those?
It is entirely possible that Season 4 will hit Tribble for testing even before that. I'm seriously thinking about reloading test.
By the end of July, we should get Season 4 in all its' glory. Ground Combat 2.0 is rumored to be an awesome and game-changing experience and I am totally geeked about the possibilities with the new Duty Officer system.
Sometime after that, Cryptic will be rolling out new Featured Episodes (starring DS-9), Department Heads and First Officers, remastered STF's ("Into the Hive" is rumored to be next on Gozer's dev hit list), new Tutorials, lots of stuff on the Engineering Report I haven't even mentioned... basically enough new stuff to make me dance for joy like a Ferengi who just inherited a latinum mine.
I'm a Marvel... I'm a DC...
If you are a comic book fan (Marvel or DC) and you've never heard of "ItsJustSomeRandomGuy", you are missing out on some hilarious video shorts.
RandomGuy uses a large cast of action figures and the vocal talents of himself and his girlfriend to create outrageous parodies where the comic universes of Marvel and DC intersect. Many of them are humorous takes on movies based on Marvel and DC characters.
Anyway, there has been some recent activity on his YouTube channel, so I thought I'd share:
GL/KungFu parody
http://www.youtube.com/user/ItsJustSomeRandomGuy#p/u/2/dztvjZ4y9Ic
GL/X-Men:First Class
http://www.youtube.com/user/ItsJustSomeRandomGuy#p/u/0/reQL5TU9VFA
I especially liked Prof X channeling Obi Wan Kenobi...
RandomGuy uses a large cast of action figures and the vocal talents of himself and his girlfriend to create outrageous parodies where the comic universes of Marvel and DC intersect. Many of them are humorous takes on movies based on Marvel and DC characters.
Anyway, there has been some recent activity on his YouTube channel, so I thought I'd share:
GL/KungFu parody
http://www.youtube.com/user/ItsJustSomeRandomGuy#p/u/2/dztvjZ4y9Ic
GL/X-Men:First Class
http://www.youtube.com/user/ItsJustSomeRandomGuy#p/u/0/reQL5TU9VFA
I especially liked Prof X channeling Obi Wan Kenobi...
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