<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=us-ascii">
<TITLE>Message</TITLE>
<META content="MSHTML 6.00.2900.2604" name=GENERATOR>
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=#ffffff>
<DIV><SPAN class=735500703-22022005><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>A real
powerplay by EA to clamp down on server rental profits. I remember
speaking to an EA marketing executive over a year ago when I worked for a large
GSP. They called and asked a bunch of questions about the industry in
general, I remember thinking there was a real dark cloud behind their
inquiry. I'm sure this will happen, regardless of whether it ruins the
game or not, it's an experiment they can't resist...</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr
style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV class=OutlookMessageHeader lang=en-us dir=ltr align=left><FONT
face=Tahoma size=2>-----Original Message-----<BR><B>From:</B> Jon Wolberg
[mailto:jon@ecgnetwork.com] <BR><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, February 16, 2005
10:44 AM<BR><B>To:</B> bf1942@icculus.org<BR><B>Subject:</B> [bf1942] How
could DICE agree to this??<BR><BR></FONT></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></BODY></HTML>