<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<META content="MSHTML 6.00.2800.1479" name=GENERATOR>
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=#ffffff>
<DIV><SPAN class=921494216-16022005><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>Yeah,
limit the ranking to the official EA noobfest servers. That'll do a lot of
good.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=921494216-16022005><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=921494216-16022005><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>If
they lock down earning ranks to EA servers only, do they expect private server
admins to honor those ranks in their config files? Hell no!</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=921494216-16022005><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=921494216-16022005><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>They
should require that the private servers register with them to provide the
ranking/stats connection. Register on EA, hell even a small monthly fee for
'maintaince' of their ranking backend would be perfectly fine especially with
some of us larger gaming groups.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=921494216-16022005><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=921494216-16022005><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>It's
not even like the official EA servers are well moderated........I had high
hopes, but all of the news to late is souring that. :(</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
<DIV class=OutlookMessageHeader dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Tahoma
size=2>-----Original Message-----<BR><B>From:</B> Steven Hartland
[mailto:killing@multiplay.co.uk]<BR><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, February 16, 2005
10:32 AM<BR><B>To:</B> bf1942@icculus.org<BR><B>Subject:</B> Re: [bf1942] How
could DICE agree to this??<BR><BR></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I must say this is concerning. Ranked players is
one thing, but</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>only </FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2>enabling rank
</FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2>building on official services is a sure fire
way</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>to kill </FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2>the
community very quickly.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>From reading this I would suggest the
following changes:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>1. Ranking on all servers or at least
"registered" servers.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>2. The ability to turn off racking totally in the
server config.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>3. The ability to enable all weapons in the
server config.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>4. The ability to limit the max rank in the
server config.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>With the above all quality servers can gain
people rank</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>and things like public servers can be a level
playing</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>field, with experienced players only benefiting
purely</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>from better play and not also getting an unfair
advantage</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>making the game inaccessible to the new
players.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> Steve / K</FONT></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=jon@ecgnetwork.com href="mailto:jon@ecgnetwork.com">Jon Wolberg</A>
</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Did anyone else see this interview? A
former customer of mine showed it to me.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><A
href="http://www.realityfriends.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=573">http://www.realityfriends.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=573</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><!--StartFragment --><FONT face=Arial> </FONT><FONT
face=Arial><FONT class=nf size=2>All this sounds great, but a few more
details have come out that are of concern: <BR>1. Higher ranks get access to
exclusive 'unlock' weapons <BR>2. Higher ranks are the default choice for
'commander' <BR>3. Only EA servers (offical and those rented from EA) will
be 'ranking' servers (eg: players can only earn rank when playing on EA
servers) <BR>4. Ranks will still be visible on unranked servers and
therefore ranked players can get access to the unlocked weapons on unranked
servers (and potentially a factor in determining who is commander) <BR>5.
Unranked servers can 'turn off' unlockable weapons, but cant universally
unlock them for all players <BR><BR>As you can imagine this creates a series
of issues: <BR>1. Inbalance between players with access to unlocked weapons
and those without (especially for casual gamers or those late to the game)
<BR>- plus will regular players on unranked (nonEA) servers get have to hand
over 'commander mode' to anyone who has a rank (which he carried over from
the EA servers) <BR><BR>2. Inbalance between EA servers and private servers
(such as the ECGN public servers or those rented from ECGN) <BR>- Are the
'unranked' servers going to become 'ghost towns'? <BR><BR><BR>Personally I
think giving ranks anything more than bragging rights is a mistake (eg:
special weapons). And I think only providing them on EA servers and EA
rented servers is blackmail. They did this with Americas Army and it
didnt work out that well.<BR><BR>thoughts?</FONT> </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial
size=2>Jon</FONT></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE><BR>================================================<BR>This
e.mail is private and confidential between Multiplay (UK) Ltd. and the person
or entity to whom it is addressed. In the event of misdirection, the recipient
is prohibited from using, copying, printing or otherwise disseminating it or
any information contained in it. <BR><BR>In the event of misdirection,
illegible or incomplete transmission please telephone (023) 8024 3137<BR>or
return the E.mail to postmaster@multiplay.co.uk. </BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>