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Thread: Asian domination of "Free" MMO's: Liscencing getting out of hand..

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    Marios's Mustache Wax Reputation: 10

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    Default Asian domination of "Free" MMO's: Liscencing getting out of hand..

    This is getting ridiculous.

    Anyone who follows foriegn the foreign MMO scene, even a little; will know what I am talking about.


    Before you had the problem with company's releasing international versions of MMO's and leaving them for dead. With little to no support, bad servers, and no community; these games were just outdated versions of it's original korean/asian counterpart, left for dead and with little to no one to take care of it.

    Oh sure, now we are starting to see liscencing of these games contracted out to people within our own actual continent.

    Yay! Now we are starting to see the game thing that's happening with the Asian MMO franchise.

    Greedy companies are restricting the playerbase in the liscence contract so that only players from that continent can play? Why?

    So they can make more money selling the game to companys from the OTHER countries/continents.

    I mean... if everyone can just play on the American based version or Europe based version then they will make less money.

    Yeah so let's make the equivalent of anti immigrant laws and restrict the playerbase per continent/country so more companies HAVE to buy the liscence in order for said a country/continents player base to play a certain title.

    The internet is one place where you can actually get a taste of another country's cultral and it so happens that MMO's are the one place where you can find a wide range of people from different backgrounds and places.

    Yes, of course this is a rant, but; this practice is bad for us as the player and for everyone in whole.

    Not only do we suffer because we have to wait for a company from our own continent to buy the liscence to a game, but we are forced to play with the people from our same region; keeping us more ignorant on the culture/background/lifestyle of those from a different region.

    I've probably learned more about how other cultures work via the internet and talking to friends from other continents in games and game related chatrooms/forums than I did anywhere else. It's one of the reasons I love online gaming.

    Of course if there are players, they will play, and where there are companies they will buy but from now on I am not going to play any games who restrict those from a different region. Those are the games that are usualy trash and end up being canceled in anyway.

    ---
    I would like Im not the only one who is getting annoyed with this.

    Good example of how out of hand it can get...
    *Dance Online
    *Super Dance Online
    *Audition

    Same game, three diferent names (Even though it's not as bad with IP blocks as some other companies are starting to get.)... a good example of how bland the MMO industry will start to get.

    It may seem like it's too early to complain but it's not. Within the past year tons of companies started springing up flaunting liscences to quite a few MMO's. It's bad when you see a listing for a new game and it turns out being the same game with a different name.

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    Murxidon's Maid Reputation: 23
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    Quote Originally Posted by Xeris View Post
    So you would rather have a game that is foriegn to the programmers who are "Updating" maintain it? How many games do you know of that have shut down or gone to hell that were liscenced games. I can name quite a few.

    The games ARE crap. The companies have programmers who didn't make the game, so have half of a clue on what they are doing compared to those who infact did make it. I have played most of these games so I don't NEED to tell myself anything. These games usually are crap.

    The updates you end up getting in these games end up being the updates that it's original counterpart had months before.
    That's how things work. Of course the patch comes out in the original language first. They get the kinks out. Then translate it for the other versions. It takes long but thats just how it is. And for some games like Granado Espada even Japan has to wait for the patch.

    And about the whole foreign to the programmer thing. You realize that the people that license the game do not make the main patches. Those come from the original developer. The main reason why those licensed games shut down is because the suck and no one plays them. Other games that shut down were not really even out yet. They were just running a test/ preview version to work out bugs and to try to get someone to license it.

    Why are you so worked up about this if the games suck anyway? I like the ones that I play. Most of the ones I like do not shut down or were not ever really released yet. Infinity Online for example.

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    that for example SEA version gets to start out with version 1 and gets updated over a year to version 2, doesnt mean that the NA version released over a year from the SEA version will start out with version 1 and gets updated to version 2 over a year too

    its plausible, but that doesnt mean it allways will get that way


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    Marios's Mustache Wax Reputation: 10

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    For the record.. It irritates me because i've seen many good games, with a lot of potential, get destroyed due to liscencing.

    Another major factor I forgot to throw in.
    A lot of these companies liscence these games and take poor care of them.

    I've seen quite a few games with a lot of potential go down because of this.
    A company takes on too many games under their plate and a lot of them die off.

    One that royally pissed me off was Epoch. It was what I thought a online mech game SHOULD be. But because E-Games had soo many titles to take care of, it never got support.


    Also, in addition to that.


    Quote Originally Posted by TheOneDude
    And about the whole foreign to the programmer thing. You realize that the people that license the game do not make the main patches. Those come from the original developer. The main reason why those licensed games shut down is because the suck and no one plays them. Other games that shut down were not really even out yet. They were just running a test/ preview version to work out bugs and to try to get someone to license it.
    A lot of the games I have seen shut down or go to hell had nothing to do with testing or preview. They were games that were released and had no support as I stated above. A lot of these games had bugs or server issues that made it impossible to play a lot of times so it never built a steady player base.

    When you have to go over mountains to get a game working the average person can't climb, the game won't get no where.

    Example:
    I don't think i've ever got an E-Games game working without doing 2 hours worth of trouble shooting.

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    Murxidon's Maid Reputation: 23
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    Oh I get it. You are just mad because you have to wait. I know what you mean. I have been waiting for a English version of Dungeon N Fighter for years. I have heard various rumors about a version that is being developed.

    Grand Chase just now got a US release and the Sequel is out in Korea. But on the bright side we started with Season 2 (unlike the SEA version) so US don't always get screwed over. Just gotta live with it. You can't expect them to do a worldwide simultaneous release. It would be nice to have something like that. But it would also be stupid for the developer. They would be rolling a game out 2 years late because they wanted to translate it for everyone.

    E-games is just a shitty company. They only care about one game. All the rest die. Goes from 6 to 5 to 3. Soon to be none.

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    Marios's Mustache Wax Reputation: 10

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    Well my reason of posting was fueled by the liscencing thing with Infinity Online but Ive been ranting on about this subject for a while.
    I've seen it happen to Europeans a lot, but like most warm-blooded mamals, I did not care about that factor because it didn't effect me.
    But i've always had a problem with the liscencing of games.


    It's just now that i've been made aware that the liscencing thing is happening a lot more to Europeans and Americans than I thought and the waiting is yet another additional problem. Plus like I mentioned; I like playing with other players from different countries. Half of the people I chat with online are either from Germany or Australia.

    Now if games would sell the liscence to companies and allow them to modify it at will and not have to fly cross continent every few months to discuss changes they want implemented, then I would be happier.


    Companies are making too many sacrifices on our behalf to make more money, and that's not cool for us players in the first place.


    P.S
    Im glad there are people who actually discuss things in a civilized manner instead of making pointless flames.

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    E-Games did had SP altho the f2p-cash system wasnt the best, the game play was very fun..

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    Cloud's Hair Spray Reputation: 10

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    totally agree

    it also makes games die faster because because of the split player bases. look at domo for example, it doesnt have a very huge population (i think) but yet they made euro domo and usa domo splitting the already small player base. in a few years one of it might die because of too few players resulting in too few $$ for the publisher to keep up servers/support. if they made 1 big global server the game would last much longer

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    nice rant lol but for the millionth time can u idiots just read my post...

    Companies cannot do SHIT about making a game with an ipblock its down to the contract they get before getting the game. think about it ffs lets take cabal for example they have like 4 servers for each diff continent now if the companies were being greedy wouldnt they keep everyone in one server so that they can get their money easier.... or would they give up the opportunity and let other companies buy the license and start hosting the game too. >_>

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    Quote Originally Posted by Xeris View Post
    I only blame the developers for making it a contractual agreement to IP ban non native players I totally agree. If these companies would take less on their plate; Im sure the world would be a better place... but all in all im for the indie developers who make and run the games themselves. Think of it like homemade and storebrought.

    At least you go for Europe/N.A. While a lot of Asian players get left out sometimes, they still have a billion other asian only games to play.. Not to mention these games are probably first in the line up to get updates for those games anyways, seeing they originated from there.

    I do blame publishers though. I absolutely hate E-Games and hope everyone there burns in hell. Acclaim is cool though.

    Even if they bring slow updates thehy contantly keep in touch with players (So it seems.) and do a lot to stay active in the community.
    This is how international business pretty much is. You notice that it's not only the MMORPG industry that's following this trend.

    While I do agree that we, as the players, are receiving all the consequences of their actions, I do have a few things in their defense.

    Most of these publishers are not "big time" companies, thus managing games for a certain region is sometimes the best they could do. Even if the developers were to allow them international contracts, chances are, the MAIN region(where the publisher is located) will get all the attention while the other regions get nothing.

    It comes back down to money though. You said that these companies are greedy, but that's pretty much business. If you start worrying too much about others, you end up screwing yourself over. If they have a chance to create several licenses for their game, they probably would take it. If the game fails in one region, then that means it's not internationally oriented or ready.

    With regards to updates/development time. These things are being passed from one company to another. They're both/all under different management etc...so naturally it's going to be a bumpy ride. The person who does all the coding and bug fixing is the developers back in Asia, if they send a patch over that has bugs, they'll have to take it back and fix it, which will cause more discontent and anger. They want to make sure everything is okay before even releasing it to the publishers.

    This is something that's common and works both ways in the business world. The only thing I can see feasible for both devs and publishers here would be a N.A./Europe licensing package. Anything bigger than that is asking for too much.

    Quote Originally Posted by leathel View Post
    nice rant lol but for the millionth time can u idiots just read my post...

    Companies cannot do SHIT about making a game with an ipblock its down to the contract they get before getting the game. think about it ffs lets take cabal for example they have like 4 servers for each diff continent now if the companies were being greedy wouldnt they keep everyone in one server so that they can get their money easier.... or would they give up the opportunity and let other companies buy the license and start hosting the game too. >_>
    I think you missed a point in his original rant :P, unless you weren't addressing the OP.

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    Wow it is very rare to see an intelligent and actually a better dicussion


    Anyway, this is so true. I now never, ever try an MMO that has been licensed from another country at the very beginning. I have seen too many MMOs with HORRIBLE support or just at any point, the game coiuld be taken away. Big example for being taken away because of greed is Space Cowboy, I only played that game for a bit but the game just suddenly shut because another had licensed.

    It is also very unappealing to see multiple versions of the same game, I don't mean localized versions by the same company such as Lineage 2 where everywhere except the newest one were all owned by NcSoft or World of Warcraft owned throughout by Blizzard but games like you said, Dance or Tale of Pirates or even Voyage Century with various versions.

    Did I mention the support? I did? Well I will bring it back it up, I cannot stand a game with horrible support, despite how well the gameplay might be; for example, Lineage 2 has the best gameplay I ever played because of its PvP but the support lately has been getting to me and so I have canceled my subscription.

    Greed is taking over; of course, everyone wants to make money but the ways they do it seem to backfire on them.

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    Snakes Big Toe Reputation: 10
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    Quote Originally Posted by ErickDamon View Post
    I wonder what it would be like if more people took the David Perry 2 Moons approach.
    i dont get it, david perry did almost little to nothing over the content of 2moons, so much for being 'directed' by david perry and boasting of its difference to Korean Dekaron, the game is an exact translation of the korean dekaron disregarding what the NPC's say in the quest log, the entire game is exactly the same. About what he did for the game financially/externally etc, i have no idea.

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