No way to say no! (12/8)

[Woody]

So yeah, if you read it like it SHOULD be read, there is NO WAY for you to tell them no, and you end up buying the game regardless.

The way I see it, that' pretty much falls in line with oh... say... switching the "yes" and "no" button on that stupid pop-up screen. It also kinda pushes that corporate whoring we're seeing to a new level.

Sure, why not have the in-game merchants pimping LoE? **rolls his eyes**

I played the game in beta and was unimpressed. There was nothing new or innovative about it. The graphics, due to my tastes, didn't stand up to judgement either.

And, now, because of SOE's "spam and scam" approach to marketing their mediocre, genre-wannabe, I refuse to buy it or play it again. The game is blacklisted. In other words, don't count on seeing any LoE strips here at GU any time soon.

It's really rather sad that SOE is responsible for EQ, EQ:OA, SWG, Planetside, and now LoE... and of those titles I refuse to draw strips for all but two, and there doesn't seem to be a point to doing Planetside jokes. The three people still playing that game don't really read GU, I don't think.

Anyway, I couldn't pass up yet another dig at LoE marketting in game. My drawing hand simply wouldn't allow it.

[Ciarin]

lolimm

[Grimlok]

Great comic. I had to go to the archives to look at it but still great. I like the way you worded it makes sony sound like a bad used car salesman.

[Filan Fyretracker]

id love to see more PS comics, but im probally the only regular PS player that reads these forums. based on what i see in game of the people most are of the traditional FPS crowd and probally dont think of game Communities beyond their clan.

[Kweil]

I love it. How long before there is a Coca-Cola vendor in every city?

[Ciarin]

Jolt cola for haste.

[green_iris]

lol =)
Was cool to see an erudite. I think they look a lot nicer portrayed in your comics than in the game though. I could never bring myself too like the huge heads.

[El Cuchillo]

I think this makes me glad that I didn't bother reinstalling EQ... strikes me as really scummy that they'd pull something like that.

Oh well, PS is the only MMOG I'm even remotely interested in right now. I get to kill people without having my focus be on the leveling treadmill... kind of a shame that there's not too much humor in it. Though there's still plenty of players. ;)

[Bruttal]

Hay woody i play on the markov server (PS) i check your comics every day. i started viewing your comics when i was addticed to Eq (berttox) and well i still get a laugh out of all your comics even the DOAC ones and i never played that game a day in my life, but i would like to see more planetside comics. the loadstar would be a good start =)

[Dragonel]

You know, a week ago, when I started reading GU again, I *reeeeeally* wanted to get back into everquest.

Somehow, this LoE thing has completely destroyed any such desire. Weee!

[Realmreaver]

I tried to play SWG really did but couldn't get back into it... Back into EQ now rather flustered cause there really no online RPG I like now... WOW, your my only hope =)

[DogEye]

oh i just LOVED that patch that they made JUST to tell you about how you should order lords of everquest... then they let me see that pop up one more time... and then let me see it every time i went back to see if the sever was unconjested enought to let me in(sever must have crashed recently) if i got spamed the advertisment i must have not been there to fully appersiate soe's persistince on the matter.... lol sorry bout the rant, great comic woody

[Aeria]

*Stares at the dead horse* Yeah ok Sony are whores...more Planetside comics please. Sony please learn a lesson here..no one likes your ingame advertisements..btw LoE sucks arse.

[Ciarin]

LOL

[Reymi_VZ]

I am so sick of it all I took myself to the next stage where in game advertising is the status quo. 8) This is my new sig with EQTasteful and Subtle Advertising

http://home.iprimus.com.au/theab/purplesigadd.jpg

PS. HI

[Sumus_Legio]

Lol very funny Rey, By the way Im one of the three that still play PlanetSide! Yay me! I stopped playing EQ a while ago when LoY came out, SOE was whoreing it then but not as bad.

[Lirren]

When does LoE finally come out? I'll be so freaking glad to see the last of all this advertising. Fennin's been having kittens for the last few days, so I've been spending a lot of time locking up and getting 1017 errors when I try to get back in. The GM in chat just kept saying to re-boot and re-run the patch. *rolls eyes*

[Sentack]

I think there was a Something Awful article about how EQ could sell out and make millions by doing so. Something exactly in line with what Reymi has posted, a picture of your character all decaled up like a stock car. One had to admit, this advertiseing spamming is the first logical step in that direction. Spamz r us!

Sentack

[Shrineerune]

I believe it is not improper to refer to the entire campaign as "Negative Option Marketing" which is frowned upon by many consumer advocate groups.

Definition of Negative Option Marketing?

In general terms, negative option marketing, or NOM, reverses the traditional buyer/seller relationship. Under a NOM scheme, customers are offered new products or services and are required to reject expressly those new offerings to avoid being charged for them. Although it is not legally defined, the term is often applied to situations where some kind of a contractual or similar relationship already exists between the buyer and the seller. This definition differentiates NOM from the conventional marketing of unsolicited goods where customers are sent products "out of the blue."

This definition of the practice was found on the Canadian Strategis Business and Consumer site (http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/epic/internet/inoca-bc.nsf/vwGeneratedInterE/ca00058e.html).

I think "spam" really covers the in game messages though. I've found those particularly annoying and they have interfered with my game play.

Your comic is right on!

[TalonNYC]

All I can say is I'm gonna be PermaPissed if I click the wrong button and get billed for another copy of the game when I already bought and registered it.

What's next, pimping out Firiona Vie?

Oh, wait, they already did that with the little plastic dolls. . .

[Inara]

That too cute Reymi. But dont give SOE and ideas. :) SoE is scary enough when you think about the millions of dollars they make a month of the players in EQ alone....

[blueriver]

I saw Reymi's pic and had the sudden inexplicable image of my crush merc dual wielding Mentos...

[Jem Rdan]

oh i just LOVED that patch that they made JUST to tell you about how you should order lords of everquest... then they let me see that pop up one more time... and then let me see it every time i went back to see if the sever was unconjested enought to let me in(sever must have crashed recently) if i got spamed the advertisment i must have not been there to fully appersiate soe's persistince on the matter.... lol sorry bout the rant, great comic woody


IIRC, that was just a side benefit to the patch.

They were getting rid of the plat-dupe vendor, I think.

[shaizan]

There are more than three regular PS players that read /gu, Woody. I started reading your stuff a long time ago. The occassional PS joke would be neat. I assure you there are plenty of whines flames and issues in the PS official forum that could provide for some insight.

Filan is right, however, many of the PSers are traditional FPS people that don't see much community outside their own clan. For me I'd not be playing PS if not for it's elements that set it apart from games like Quake, UT2k3 etc.

[Hiddenprince]

I got tired of seeing the pop up ad even when i was on test. its sad that they have pimp out LOE just to get people to buy it lol.

[Karimi]

LOE : A revolution in the way games are whored.

[Coffee]

If they're trying to get people to buy LoE their efforts are having the opposite effect. On the other hand if they're trying to dupe folks into accidentally buying it...

[Kaylen]

Well, seeing as how EverQuest has somewhere around 400,000+ counts (as far as I'm aware - I have no real idea of the exact amount), and most of those people aren't RTS fans.. lies and trickery are probably the only way they're going to break even.

[DarkWyndre]

Well,

I didn't see a single systemwide yesterday; however, it was sunday... let's see today.

[Iilolian]

Hey... if you don't like Sony spam... switch to Venril Sathir, run by Ubisoft.

Better GMs, and you'd never hear from Sony again, even if you WANTED to :wink:

[Iiliani Seadream]

I just press Escape to get past the LoE pop-up screen, I certainly hope they take that as a No, not a Yes, or I think I have bought about 50 copies by now

[Tulewin and Garrbut]

Hehehe I wouldnt put anything past Sony, if they had a grandmother they'd probably have sold her by now.
For the popups on the server select screen, a guildie posted something about that (go Quanter) :
-------
Go to your eqclient.ini file in your everquest folder.

Find LoEPopUpLastView=1070191038
Change it to LoEPopUpLastView=9970191038
-------
Clever mage...

Personally I didnt do it. I like clicking the NO button. Closest I can get to telling Sony to go away..

[ykkir]

of course it could be something else entirely, they could be extremely paranoid about the EQ 2 beta and actually be pimping that out to people. Even though it's not likely, it's a different way to look at it.

[Kat]

Or maybe they actually want EQ-2 to get tested really well?

Wouldn't that be a switch.

[Mordican]

hehe... for those that still play Planetside... I believe Woddy was being sarcastic :)

[Bisuketto]

If a merchant ever asked me that you could count on me hitting auto attack.

[Tenolein]

LoL Bisuketto. I accidentally did that when I was doing some fletching in Kelethin.

Back on topic, I agree with ya'll. Sony ALMOST had me buying it JUST for the chance to get into the beta for EQ2. Not no more. =)

[Filan Fyretracker]

i wouldnt be suprised if even the GMs dont like doing the spamming in game, i know one thing about CS jobs and when a company wants you to push one of their other products you dont really have a choice.(/scowls at protection "plans" when he used to work at staples)

[Cerrena]

I believe it is not improper to refer to the entire campaign as "Negative Option Marketing" which is frowned upon by many consumer advocate groups.


Funny, I had thought about pointing this out too. The interesting thing about NOM in Canada is that when it was tried to sell more cable stations to cable subscriber, their was a huge consumer revolt. So significant in fact that national legislation was passed to ensure the cable companies could never do it again.

[Zeal]

Reminds me of the AOL Parody someone made...

"Is our service doing ok?"

{YES} {YES}

[SDReeves]

I still haven't ordered LDON, and I get LOE spam and LDON spam, and NOTHING else, it seems. Just spammed yellow messages.

[Kaylen]

Oh, I never thought about what'd happen if you never got LDoN and your stone.. that'd suck.

"Argh! Giant!"

"Psst! Hey, buddy! You uh.. need to go get LDoN. This is that voice inside your mind, remember? In fact, this is your father. You must purchase LDoN. It is your destiny.

Also, have you thought about getting SWG?"

But.. if you just hail the person the voice tells you to hail, the voices should go away.

[copasnece]

Yeah, im not sure if im aloud to say this or not, but since i dont play EQ anymore i could careless.

I was a guide when LoY was about to come out (i was only a guide for like 2 weeks) and anyone who's been one, knows they have their own "special" forums n crap. Well anyway there was a huge thread under one of the forums talking about the in-game advertising of LoY, GMs & Guides were both extremely mad about it. But naturally the GMs do what their told (its their job) so they didn't say much.

So yeah from what i gather, they dont care for the advertising but you gotta do what you gotta do. *shrug*

[Ciarin]

I also pimped out protection plans and rewards cards at staples.

Sold more than double my quota!!!

For some reason...I could only sell it to guys........hmmmmm.........

[Satarus]

Go Ciarin, working your feminin charms on unsuspecting geeks.

[Ciarin]

My friends and I call it "mammary power".


LOL, hopefully Sony won't be able to harness it to use in their spam campaign......cause if they did all them horny guys would be lost to the darkside....

[Coffee]

Who says they haven't? (http://www.gucomics.com/archives/view.php?cdate=20020211)

[Ciarin]

They have much to learn in the ways of boobage....

[Bashadorf]

Ciarin i like your signature, Blood hound gang is awesome

[Ciarin]

word

[Raven00x]

anecdote to share on the mammary power thing; my office was talking to vendors a few weeks ago about a new conference table. These things can be either "expensive" or "hella expensive," so of course, people *really* want us to buy one. One vendor that we've never talked to before now sent in a saleswoman who was maybe a little underdressed. tight pants, shirt that was tight on top and opened at the bottom to show plenty of skin... It would've worked if it weren't for the fact that i am one of 2 males (and neither of us are in a position where we have great infulence over what's purchased...) in a 8 person office.

don't think they ever got a call back from us, which rather sucks as she was quite attractive.

[Ciarin]

lol

[Bashadorf]

I quit eq, for the simple fact that it whores everything around, eq2 and loe for example, maybe if enough of us get together we can hijack a boat and throw all of the tea into the boston harbor, also boobage is great

[Naelaen]

I think it must be due to the fact that I play in the mornings US time, but I've never seen advertising in the actual game, only at the beginning after I log in (no thanks, I'll order it when I damn good and ready).

SOE are trying to get into a new genre, and what better way to get it rolling than by attempting to tap into the player base of their flagship game. However, their continued hounding of players to buy their game must be getting on even the GMs' nerves by now, and the only reason it continues is because there are some management suits are looking at figures and want to see dollars rolling in.

[Bashadorf]

i logged onto eq earlier, no adverts, now that i think about it i havent see one for a few days now... oh by the way is infantry still going on? great game right there

[Quartz]

Venril Sathir rocks. No ads ever :->

[Espio]

I still haven't ordered LDON, and I get LOE spam and LDON spam, and NOTHING else, it seems. Just spammed yellow messages.
You can get rid of this text without buying LDoN. Just goto your hometown and find the person it tells you to talk to. Listen to her story, until you get "You have completed a step towards becoming a great adventurer!" or something. That will stop the yellow text spam.

*goes back into Lurk mode*

[xariyl]

Go to your eqclient.ini file in your everquest folder.

Find LoEPopUpLastView=1070191038
Change it to LoEPopUpLastView=9970191038


*hug* *hug* *hug* *hug* *hug*
Merry Christmas indeed! Thank you for that lovely post :)


X

[Atonic]

I also pimped out protection plans and rewards cards at staples.

Sold more than double my quota!!!

For some reason...I could only sell it to guys........hmmmmm.........

I used to date a girl who earned her living like that. She didn't really dance, though. And I never thought it was that exotic.

[Irkorea]

What makes me angry is that everything they say that is "new" and "innovating" about LoE is already in Warcraft 3

[yizuman]

Hey... if you don't like Sony spam... switch to Venril Sathir, run by Ubisoft.

Better GMs, and you'd never hear from Sony again, even if you WANTED to :wink:

Speaking of Ubisoft....

http://www.neowin.net/comments.php?category=gamers&id=15808

Yiz

[Iilolian]

Speaking of Ubisoft....



Lol... I never said they were perfect... just that they never tell us anything, including advertising :)

That link, while not showing Ubi in a particularly good light because they stuffed up again, does kinda confirm their policy of "lettem find out for themselves" :wink: