TOG - The Older Gamers

Zhul · 13th August 2006, 02:33 AM

The debacle that has come with EI taking possession of Horizons from Tulga has finally pushed me to my limit. It has been no secret that I have disliked the direction things have taken with EI’s acquisition of Horizons. The billing situation has been absolutely intolerable, especially since people are not even able to cancel their subscriptions with the current setup. Because of this I have been forced into canceling the card I use for online gaming.

The situation with the Horizons community has also taken a turn for the worse. After the previous moderation lockdown, people that criticized EI were openly flamed or had their posts altered or deleted by the forum’s volunteer moderators. One community member, in order to make sure his account was banned (and thus no longer billed) sent a threatening PM to one of the volunteer message board moderators (it basically said, "I hope you die a horrible death."). While this was an act of desperation on the part of the subscriber because they wanted out - the method used was completely uncalled for. In lieu of the threat, EI has once again locked the forums. Some people that have been outspoken against EI have discovered that their forum accounts have been banned with no explanation given.

Therefore, with the community tearing itself apart, forum moderators running out of control, and my being forced to cancel my credit card (to be absolutely certain I am not fraudulently billed by a group of shysters masquerading as a gaming company) I have had enough and am washing my hands at the whole thing. I have decided not to reenter the world of Istaria (active account or not) and to anyone from the Order of the Black Shadow that visits the forums, I apologize for not saying goodbye to you in-game.

Since I am in the process of buying a house and moving, I have decided to take a brief break from the MMO scene. I will be playing some of my poor, neglected single-player or limited multiplayer games until I am moved in and all set up (which will be sometime in September). For those interested, the games I will be playing are: Civilization IV, Rome: Total War (and the Barbarian Invasion expansion), Pirates!, Star Wars Battlefront, and Call of Duty.

Sente · 13th August 2006, 06:24 AM

Sorry to hear it taken such an ugly turn.

A break can be good at such times, in particular considering important real life events going on. Even if you are not playing, you always have the forums here to pop into

kiwiitis · 13th August 2006, 08:33 AM

Thanks for the heads up on the latest Zhul....Goes and rechecks visa!

RnR · 13th August 2006, 10:21 AM

What a nasty turn of events. This must be horrifying for the developers of Horizon, seeing all their work being used in such a way.

Anyways... Civ4 4tw!

Ingo · 14th August 2006, 08:41 AM

Sure ain't looking good. My one year sub doesn't run out until Jan 2007, but I've set reminders to check on the credit card situation In Dec to see if I need to cancel that card.

Which is all unfortunate since I've been playing more Horizons as it has almost no impact on my RSI problems.

Meh. It may be time to load up Baldur's gate and try to run it naked or something.

Laquette · 15th August 2006, 12:27 PM

Well, I'm willing to take a look at it. Who knows? Maybe EI can pull their head out of their butts and turn it around.

What server/shard/zone are we all on?

Zhul · 15th August 2006, 02:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Laquette

Well, I'm willing to take a look at it. Who knows? Maybe EI can pull their head out of their butts and turn it around.

What server/shard/zone are we all on?

Ijs and I were on Order, a few other folks were on Chaos. However, I have to advocate that you do not play this game! Your financial information is not safe with EI! Do not even try the 14 day free trial, because you still have to enter your financial information. IF (and only if) this clears up and Horizons is still running, then you might want to consider trying it out.

Honestly, unless someone buys it from EI there's no way in hell I will go back. EI is commiting a federal crime by not allowing users to cancel their subscriptions - and they have taken extensive measures toward strangling the community uprising it has caused.

You can find more information (a LOT of reading) here:
Discussion on EI's federal crimes.
Discussion on silencing of the community.
GU Comics issues a consumer warning.
GU Comics speaks for an outraged community.

FrankBuck · 15th August 2006, 06:25 PM

I never thought I would say this, but the last 14 days has made me very happy that I played on Unity.
GN has had loads of problems with Unity, but never anything remotely as abyssal as EII's billing problems. With GN we could at least cancel our subscription when we wanted.

I fear that Horizon, which is a great game, has no future. I really do not think that EII has the skill to manage this game, and it will slowly (or quick if they continue as they have started) die out.