Zam.com Q&AFollow

Wow, those are some extreme lengths to go to, just to avoid something that isn't going to affect you. I guess paranoid delusions come in all forms.

well I think most of these people are going to extremes. alla made a good move and they can do nothing but whine about it.

I think everyone whining needs to muzzle themselves and either leave or stay and watch them get basically owned when they realize alla has as was said NOT turned on us.

What's funny is that people don't understand the idea of a parent company. The company that owns IGE could also own Merck and create the cure for cancer. Would you not support the cure for cancer because the company that owns it also owns IGE? It's a parent company. They own things. Hell, Phillip-Morris owns Kraft and Marlboro! Buy our Easy-Mac, smoke our cigarettes.

/cancels Premium membership

hey Alla, remember this little gem of yours?
http://www.vanguardsoh.com/forums/sh...&postcount=260

edit: since the link won't work..

Allakhazam
Member


Join Date: 2005 Mar While we do not have a Vanguard site at this time, we have every intention of launching one. The reason we don't have on yet is that we don't really consider ourselves a news site, but instead try to post actual game play information, so we usually don't launch sites before the NDA lifts on the games, (though with Vanguard we may make an exception to that).

I can assure you that Allakhazam.com never has had and never will have any association with IGE. No amount of money will change that. We are players ourselves and disagree with everything they stand for. I've turned down their advances so many times in so many ways over the years that I think they have finally give up on us.

So I can assure you there will be at least on major Vanguard site that will have nothing to do with IGE or any other similar company.

Maybe you should have added "Unless they give me enough money of course"

/bye

Edited, Fri May 5 04:01:39 2006 by Boozeguy

Edited, Fri May 5 04:03:02 2006 by Boozeguy

Edited, Fri May 5 03:59:38 2006 by Boozeguy

Wow. I don't really know what else to say but, wow. Sad sad panda.

I've been a strong supporter of Allakhazam since about Kunark's release. I even have a Alla shirt I got at the Velious Release Party in Vegas oh so long ago. I wore it with pride, even if it was yellow (I don't like yellow).

I paid for premium subscriptions, even when I wasn't playing anything. I don't tend to post, but I enjoyed using this site.

When WoW came out, I tried Thottbot. Hated it and stuck with Alla. When I heard TB was connected to IGE, well just another reason not to go there.

I encouraged all my guildies and other players on the official forums NOT to go to TB, but try out Alla's instead.

Lesson learned I suppose.

I've turned off my auto-renewal like so many others. It's very sad really, but unless something substantial comes out to indicate to ME that this is really worth it, it's going to stay off. I just don't have it in me to support gold/gil selling companies, or any related companies no matter how distant. I've also gotten rid of the WoWreader. I loved that little bugger, made keeping track of my alts so handy. But I'd rather not have my game-play data out there for possible use in gold selling schemes.

I'd like to say I'm leaving and never coming back, but /shrug. I'm sure I'll be around until I find a new site. Probably won't be as good, but if doesn't have any connection to IGE it'll have my support. And hey, my premium subscription isn't up till August. I suppose to optimistic - that gives you 3 months to win me & my money back Alla. But don't hold your breath.

/sigh

I usually try to "stick up for the little guy" myself, but like you say, some rare things are really black and white and this seems to be one of those issues. Theres really nothing positive worth defending the minority on this issue for. You dont have to be a "bastion of moral superiority" to dislike cheating, you could just be maybe... someone who enjoys playing videogames in their leisure time and dislike supporting activities that destroy those games. It is true that theres "2 sides to every story", but that doesnt mean that both sides have merit. Sometimes theres a right side and a wrong side.

This is very disappointing.

My EQ server, Prexus, had a great message board run by Twygg.

One day, Twygg made a post about how the site was about to really improve, and how the new sponsor, IGE, would have very limited visibility. Our server immediately set up a new web site, and Twygg lost his years of reputation built up with most on the board (I give him both credit for the good and condemnation for the IGE sell). The whole server moved to the new board.

The old one is now a ghost town. Compare if you like, the old is 'prexus.com' and the new is 'prexuseq.com'.

When you go to prexuseq.com, the very first text you see says the motto: "The official Prexus message board that won't sell out."

I'm very proud of the server for rejecting IGE.

I'd steered a friend who bought and Alla membership and I'd been meaning to get one too. Plans cancelled.

The quote above of Alla saying he would *never* have any association with IGE no matter how much money nails the issue.

It's scummy.

"Bhodi if I was truly a sellout, I would have just sold the site and run off and sat on a beach and enjoyed the profits."

Being half a sellout isn't ok.

"That would have actually been the easy thing to do. Instead I cared enough about it to insist that I be the one to run it and develop it. It is the fact that I care about this community and what happens to it that I am still sitting here and posting about this. A more cold blooded type would have just run off laughing into the sunset."

A less cold blooded type would have not done the deal. But that's not on your list of options.

"I don't like Marlboros, but I still buy oreos."

And you're exactly wrong to say that people should not make those links. A huge problem is not making them.

I won't buy DirecTV, because Rupert Murdoch owns them, because of my view of Fox News. Some do make the connections.

Sorry, but you are now supporting IGE by being owner by them, helping them get visibility with players.

I cancelled PC Gamer in part because they were taking IGE ads. Now, they and another major gaming magazine cancelled IGE ads at great expense to themselves. Now, I'll resubscribe. You should follow their example. This is just lousy.

Who can suggest a new EQ/WoW site to replace Alla for all we players who refuse to support IGE?

Edited, Fri May 5 04:50:14 2006 by Petoffen

Edited, Fri May 5 05:01:40 2006 by Petoffen

Request to Allakhazam Administrators

1. Please make a locked thread with the posts from the administrators on this topic. Reading all of the statements that you have made in a single place would have helped make the situation much clearer. If I want to ***** or ask new questions I'll come here and do it. Also it is quite hard to track you position on some of the finer points over 15 pages of over 700 posts.

2. Even better I think you should try and formulate a specific page explaining the overall deal in detail and looking at the issues raised by the community and trying to address them. I think you need to answer specific detailed issues and concerns of the community. You have to address concerns that our personal data will be shared because you belong to the same legal entity, Alla will be financing IGE, RMT will be forced upon Alla by the parent company etc etc There are a lot of these issues raised in the thread. You are not stupid - pull them out - respond to them - and make it easy to find and read - god knows i hope you addressed these when you signed the contract and have legally binding agreements with your parent co that this will not happen.

It is clear you have done a fantastic job here up to now. You need to re-assure your community. It seems you have spent a long time sorting out this deal and clearly you put a great deal of thought into it. I am sure you and your staff wrestled with the same issues the community are raising. You must take and clearly state your position to the people !

My personal opinion is there is insufficient information to draw a conclusion at this point, but I am seriously concerned and I hope Alla can provide a clear picture in a single page addressing the issues to gain my trust and respect back.

To a certain extent unless you take the sort of action I have proposed above, I may yet leave Alla because I actually think you are being less than clear over the situation and are quite possibly masking the truth. The odd post in a 700+ post forum doesn’t cut it for me - I am sorry. Something as big and ugly as this issue can be deserves better attention and better respect to the community.

Huh? No. Patriotism is one form of xenophobia. But that's for another discussion.



First, there's a different between integrity and morality. Second, things are not that black and white. Do you blame an ethical senator for being part of a corrupt system or do you applaud them for trying to change the system from within?

You pick your battles. If I had cancer, I'd probably have more invested in my own well-being to make that choice. But turning off the renewal, posting and even changing an avatar are minor, trivial things to do. No one is picketing outside of Alla's home or writing to their Congressman or starting a lawsuit or overturning cars and setting trashcans on fire.

If writing a post in a thread explictly about a topic is "over reacting", exactly what is the appropriate response? To just leave without voicing an opinion? What if you're one of the "wait and see" people? Should you just wait and see silently because talking about it in the thread designed to talk about it is taking things too far?

No one who has voiced a negative opinion has ridden anyone's *** for saying they're not going to leave. It's a select few of the people who are saying "I'm behind you 100%" who are trying to shame the unhappy or disappointed into silence by pretending that voicing an opinion in the appropriate place is still inappropriate if you disagree with it.

Apparently not you.

The reason there is so much "wahhh wahhh wahhh" as you so eloquently put it is because most of the community equate RMT as bad for their MMO of choice. I myself have been through a couple of MMO's where gold buying lazy freaks just ruined the economy and as a consequence ruined the game for the rest of us.

No matter how you slice it, gold buying ruins all games. I have heard arguments stating that it is ok to buy gold as it saves someone the time and effort in acquiring it themselves. Bullcrap. Goldbuying is cheating, plain and simple. It bypasses the in game mechanics, its against several TOS agreements of the reputable MMO's out there and it's the lazy person's way to pixelated glory.

Will I be cancelling my premium membership? Yes. I cannot abide anything that supports the RMT whether it be through information, money, in game currency or whatnot. Alla has, in my opinion, sold out the community he has attempted to protect and serve in the past. I don't care if the site is now owned by a parent company associated with IGE, in my eyes, it's guilt by association. Aren't there laws on the books which hold you somewhat accountable if a crime is committed by someone you are with at the time of the criminal act? I think that may apply here, but even more so as Alla has knowingly and willingly made a pact with the devil (I may be a bit extreme here, but I don't care, thats how I feel) and he most assuredly knew at the time there would be a negative reaction to the buyout.

Will this site be bigger and better now with all the sudden infusion of money, which I may add was acquired by the gold buying/selling masses, it will now receive? Probably, but I don't care, as stated, I am going to cancel my premium account.

In closing, I would like to state that this site is now, in my opinion, a RMT site and I hope it dies the slow lingering money bleeding death that Thottbot is currently experiencing.

Whats funny is that people DO very well understand the concept of "parent company" here. The parent company in this instance does not own a company that makes the cure for cancer, they are somewhat more sinister.

The Phillip Morris owning Kraft issue is also well known. You do know there is a boycott by many people on Kraft Products around the globe in the same way there is with Nestle products?

Tobacco is big business. Selling gold to MMOG players is also big business. Have you read up on the figures involved with IGE in paying Yantis off?

Personally, as a long time member of this site and a lurker for many years I am sorely disappointed that Alla would sell out in this way.

Alla, you can chalk it up as "it's ok I made sure I would have complete control" etc but please be ready for when that egg lands on your face, because frankly you don't mean anything to them at the end of the day. What does mean something to them is the years of information provided to build this site BY the users FOR the users.

It was interesting to sit and watch what happened to Microwave and L2Orphus, how his site was bombarded with hits to make it go down. Then suddenly, Microwave posted how he was unable to continue with the site because of school commitments. L2 wasn't *that* big, but suddenly out of nowhere the site had so many hits that he couldn't afford to continue with the bandwidth costs. I even made a donation to that cause. Then suddenly the site was scattered with good ole gold selling ads.

I also remember the hullaballoo over on VN boards when a gold selling ad was seen here on Allakhazam. Funny innit how eventually, money talks and everyone sells out.

Good luck with your new venture, I suspect the community will still be around (even if it isn't here on the Zam/IGE network) and will help soothe your wounds when the corporate machine bursts your utopian bubble.



Edited, Fri May 5 10:48:10 2006 by Mulene