[cod] punkbuster boycott / protest

Mon Nov 28 13:21:27 EST 2005

Don't know if it works, but it reached the Dutch media already. A respected
dutch news website (WebWereld) posted this article today:

http://www.webwereld.nl/articles/38532

"Gamers dreigen met actie tegen ontwikkelaar Call of Duty

Maandag 28 november 2005, 14:39 - Een groep gamers dreigt in opstand te
komen tegen de makers van het spel Call of Duty uit protest over de slechte
ondersteuning.

De actie is een initiatief van 'server admins' die het online spelen van de
games Call of Duty (CoD) en Call of Duty 2 mogelijk maken. De
serverbeheerders klagen dat spelontwikkelaar Infinity Ward en uitgever
Activision vragen onbeantwoord laten en weinig ondersteuning geven.

"Dit is iets wat de CoD-gemeenschap heel sterk voelt sinds de lancering van
de eerste CoD in 2003", schrijft een van de leden op het forum van Infinity
Ward. "Ze vroegen ons enkele maanden geleden om CoD 2 te implementeren, maar
vragen van onze kant worden compleet genegeerd." De ontwikkelaar en uitgever
wordt nu gebrek aan belangstelling verweten.

Als er voor 16 december geen reactie komt op de noodkreet van de beheerders,
zullen de CoD-servers op 17 december een dag lang uit de lucht gaan,
waarschuwt de gemeenschap.  "

Translation thru Bablefish (for what is worth it ;) )

"Gamers threaten Call or Duty with action against developer 

Monday 28 November 2005, 14.39 - a group gamers threatens come in
insurrection against the makers of the game Call or Duty from protest
concerning the bad support. 

The action is an initiative of ' server admins ' that online playing the
games Call or Duty (CoD) and 2 possible make Call or Duty. The server
administrators complain that game developer Infinity Ward and editor
Activision lets questions give unanswered and little support. "this has been
something what CoD-gemeenschap have very strongly felt since the launching
of the first CoD in 2003,", writes of the members on the forum of Infinity
Ward. "they asked our some months suffered implement CoD 2, but ask of our
side are completely ignored." The developer and editor are now blamed lack
of interest. If there for 16 December no response comes on the noodkreet of
the administrators, CoD-servers on 17 December the day long from air go, the
community warns."

So maybe it won't work to shutdown the servers, but the media attention
will, maybe not this time, but they won't make the same mistake again.

I will support this even if it doesn't work, at least we will make a
statement.

Ploppy

www.xde.nl

-----Oorspronkelijk bericht-----
Van: Jim Mayes [mailto:jim.mayes at onemean.net] 
Verzonden: maandag 28 november 2005 14:41
Aan: cod at icculus.org
Onderwerp: RE: [cod] punkbuster boycott / protest

I believe the key is media attention here. I'm sure it is quite true that
money is the biggest factor for Activision/IW. And maybe it is a case of "we
already have their money". But, franchise games are purchased based on the
reputation of the games that precede them and the reputation of the
developers (leveraging reputation to do the job of marketing). Although many
of the people who will buy CoD2 have already bought it. many more may be
waiting to put a copy under the tree. If this action receives the right
attention from the media it could make people question that blind brand
loyalty that publishers seem to love to take advantage of. This
boycott/strike sends the message to game producers that players/admins
expect a quality product and expect some level of community support. It puts
developers on notice that the "grab the money and run" model isn't something
WE want to spend our money on. Will it be affective? Who knows, the real
question is, is it worth a try?

Just my take on it

  _____  

From: Mark J. DeFilippis [mailto:defilm at acm.org] 
Sent: Monday, November 28, 2005 7:09 AM
To: cod at icculus.org
Subject: Re: [cod] punkbuster boycott / protest

Having worked on Wall Street 20+ years now I can tell you it is all
about expected earnings.  ACTV is turning a deaf ear because this
is already money in the bank.  NEXT...

As much as I wish a server shutdown would help, it won't. With 3200
servers out there, I suspect it will make a small dent.

The saying goes "You need to hit them in the pocketbook", that is what
hurts.  There are a few ways to do this.

1. I belong to an investment club.  We hold ACTV stock.  I can say
we have had a good ride, but it is clear this ride is not likely to continue
based on this attitude change from ACTV.  It is time to sell.  Investment
clubs watch other investment clubs, not just companies.

2. While I am at work this week it is time to pay a visit to my friends that
have been very helpful for so many years.  As equity analysts specializing
in various industries, I will put my two cents in about ACTV to these
friends.  Since I am expensive, I do not work for any one brokerage, I
have 4 brokerage clients however, and they have been so wonderful
to me in the past, it is time to repay based on where I think ACTV is
heading financially. Reality is they are moving more to consoles.
A crowded market that will become more crowded. I
have my business reasons why I don't think ACTV will do well there.
(Perhaps History will repeat itself. Consoles is where ACTV started
and I recall the time when they were on the brink of bankruptcy).

3. To hit them in the pocketbook, you need exposure, and to try
to dissuade people from buying their products.  As a buggy PC game
developer, they are entering a market where "they don't send out updates"
for console systems.  One way is to start a web site that states the
situation, poor support, etc, and massively link that site to push it's
Google rating up.

We should also see about recouping some of our money.  I pre-purchased
COD2 with the understanding that COD2 was a sequel in the series
and COD2 would have basic A/C as it's original COD did.  I am not an
attorney, but this is what I believe is class actionable. I want the money
back for my three copies of COD2 as ACTV did it on the cheap and
did not add A/C.  It can clearly be shown this is a financial decision.

Know an attorney that is in the business, or is among us?  We should
take this off-line and consider this.

On the exposure:

I will donate "Activisionsucks.com", and the webspace and bandwidth,
and we need as many sites to link to it as possible. Once in place
I will submit to all the webcrawler bots.

The goal: Boycott all Activation products and get the word out about their
lack of support.  We owe it to other consumers out there as this is IMHO
large scale fraud. I certainly feel defrauded. Had I known there was not
going
to be basic A/C, I would never have purchased the game. I believe the bulk
of
people that pre-ordered the game that are unhappy are in the same position.
This is the group I believe is class actionable.  We need an attorney
amongst
us.

Once it is up, we will let all the rags know about it. They won't turn away
ACTV's money, but if we do it right, it is news, and any press is good press
as any business man knows.  Of course I mention the site to my equity
research
friends..., and if you know any, so should you.

There is no liable or slander. These have several legal requirements. One is
that
the statements made are not fact.  That is not going to be the case. We
tell it like it is... The facts are what they are.

Mark

At 12:25 AM 11/27/2005, you wrote:

FYI, in case you didn't see it...

http://www.iwnation.com/Forums/index.php?showtopic=17450

> There comes a time when a little revolution can do an awful lot more good
than meekly submitting to the will of others, especially if you feel you
have a genuine greivance.
> 
> That time is NOW my friends.
> What do i mean?
> 
> I propose that if you are happy with following Statement you post your
acceptance in this thread and get as many others as possible to sign up
including League/Ladder players & admins, Clan members, server
admins/providers and just about every COD/UO/COD2 player you can ask.
> 
> "We request here and now that either Activision or Infinty Ward make an
offcial announcement regarding their future support for the Call of Duty
series of games on or before 16th December 2005.
> 
> The statement should include the following:
> 
> 1. When will you include an Anti-Cheat system for COD2?
> 2. When you you release your 1st patch for COD2?
> 3. What will it include?
> 4. What other plans have you for the support of the Call of Duty Games?
> 5. What will you do to ensure this situation does not arise again?
> 
> Failure to comply with this very simple request will result in the
following action:
> 
> We will actively encourage ALL
> Clans, Leagues, Ladders, Players, Admins and server providers to enforce a
series of 24hr mass server shutdowns of all Call of duty games at a time of
our choosing.
> 
> Don't take this lightly, word spreads, people won't buy a broken toy.
> This has never been done before and do you really want to go down as the
first and only companies to have it's client/fan base take such drastic
measures in order to simply be given some regular information about a
product, the choice is yours alone.
> 
> WE WILL NOT BE IGNORED ANY LONGER.
> 
> TALK TO US AND HELP US, TO HELP YOU MAKE THE CALL OF DUTY SERIES BETTER
ONLINE GAMES.
> 
> DESPERATE TIMES CALL FOR DESPERATE MEASURES, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
> 
> To my knowledge, should this action take place it will be the first and
only time such drastic measures have been taken by any gaming community
anywhere in the world.
> I don't want us to make history but it may come done to it.
> 
> SHAME ON YOU AV AND IW FOR LETTING IT GET THIS FAR.... 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---
Mark J. DeFilippis, Ph. D EE          defilm at acm.org
                                      defilm at ieee.org

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