We are open for business

[Cairenn]

There have been a number of questions lately about our status: "Why is there no content yet?"; "Where are all the mods?"; "But Sigil said that ... "; "You are evil people that support RMT"; "You are owned and operated by IGE" and so on.

In answer to those questions and comments, I offer the following:

a) "Why is there no content yet?" "Where are all the mods?"

The game isn't live yet. Give it time.

We have been providing custom interface hosting and support for multiple games for over 5 years now. You guys know us, you know you can trust us to make sure that anything you download from our sites is safe. You know that we run clean sites where we don't allow inappropriate behaviour. No flaming is allowed. No trolling. No spam threads of "go here to get this drug at cheap cheap wholesale prices" or anything else of the sort. No mods that make it so that you see everyone as "nude". Nothing that any parent would want to hide from their child. We build communities. Communities of mature, responsible people that want to increase their enjoyment of their leisure time. We aren't flamevault. We don't don't allow the (admittedly stereo-typical, but I'm using it deliberately because I know you'll get the meaning) "b.net kiddie" mentality.

b) "But Sigil said that ..."

Where? Show me where they've said it? Yes, comments were made, I won't deny it. You know damn well by now that I'm not a liar. But they aren't there now. What does that tell you? Is there anything posted anywhere publicly that says that if you associate with us, either as a mod author or an end user, you will be in trouble with Sigil? That you will lose your account? No, there is not.

c) "You are evil people that support RMT"

Are we? When have you ever, in the five plus years that we've been running our sites, seen links to RMT? Powerlevelling services? Account selling? Our rules clearly state that we will not allow such things on our sites. Our rules clearly state that anyone that posts such crap will be banned from our sites. Any time such a thread is posted, we delete it as quickly as we become aware of it. So tell me how it is that we support RMT? We're as strongly against it as any of the rest of you.

d) "You are owned and operated by IGE"

That is an incorrect statement. We are neither owned nor run by IGE. We are a part of the Zam network of sites, which includes the Allakhazam sites. We are operated by the same people we have always been run by - myself, Dolby & Kudane. We don't support the 3rd party gold sellers any more than they (Sigil or Sony or Blizzard or [insert gaming company of your choice here]) do. Anyone that posts links to gold sellers, power levelling or item selling sites gets banned from our sites, same as always. We are still members of Sony's and Blizzard's fan site programs.

Let me repeat myself:

We aren't, and never have been, owned or operated by IGE. Yes, OGaming and our sites and Thottbott merged with Allakhazam's to form the Zam network. But nothing has changed on our site and nothing ever will. We are still the same people that opened the EQInterface site five plus years ago. Dolby, Kudane and myself were running the site then. We're still the same people running the sites now. We still have total and complete control over the sites. We still refuse to support the 3rd party gold/item/account selling/power leveling services. We still ban anyone that posts links to any of that crap on our sites.

How many other sites do you go to that run Google Ads to pay for their costs? And how many of those Google Ads are links to RMT? Or links to hacks and exploit sites?

Now tell me, when have you ever seen any of that on our sites? Never, that's when. And tell me, when will you ever see any of that on our sites? Again, never. Yet we are such horrible people because we are owned by someone that is owned by someone that owns IGE, right?



We are now owned by the Zam network. They are owned by another company. The parent company of that company also owns IGE. We've never denied that. But what everyone is doing is the same as if the following were to occur:

Me: Kentucky Fried Chicken, I am boycotting you.
Kentucky Fried Chicken: Why?
Me: Because Pizza Hut delivered my pizza late.
KFC: Huh?
Me: Pizza Hut delivered my pizza late, so I'm boycotting you.
KFC: WTF? What on earth does Pizza Hut delivering your pizza late have to do with us?
Me: Pizza Hut is owned by Pepsi
KFC: Ooookay .... and?
Me: You are owned by Pepsi
KFC: Ooookay ... and?
Me: You are owned by Pepsi, Pizza Hut is owned by Pepsi, so I am boycotting you because Pizza Hut delivered my pizza late.
KFC: But that doesn't make sense, one has nothing to do with the other.
Me: Doesn't matter, I'm boycotting you because you are owned by Pepsi the same as Pizza Hut is. And not only that, I'm going to boycott every other company that is owned by Pepsi. And I'm going to boycott Pepsi. And I'm going to find out every person on your board of directors and boycott them. And I'm going to boycott every company they have anything to do with. And I'll find out who is on the board of directors of those companies, and boycott all of them, too!
KFC: ???

or

Me: Kraft Foods, I am never again buying any of your products
Kraft Foods: Why?
Me: Because of the Morris Phillips company
Kraft Foods: Huh?
[repeat above conversation]

How far down the line do you go with the blame game? Until you can't buy any product from any company anywhere in the world because they have a 15-times removed association with someone that does something you don't like? Until you are at the point that you starve to death because all the companies are sooner or later at some stage of doing business involved with someone else that is involved in something you don't like?

When our sites and the Allakhazam sites merged to form the Zam network, a condition of the sale/merger/whatever you want to call it is that we will not have anything to do with IGE and they will not have anything to do with us. Period. End of discussion. It was clearly stated by both of us that we will not allow RMT on our sites. It was clearly stated by both of us that we do not agree with RMT. That we will continue to ban people from our sites if they post ads for RMT. It was stated to the parent of our parent that there was to be total and complete separation between us and IGE and that we categorically will not have anything to do with IGE whatsoever, in any way, shape or form, that they go completely and utterly against everything we feel is right.

Now, also take into consideration the fact that Sigil is working hand in hand with Sony. Sony, who, by the way, sells gold/items/etc for rl cash in their Station Exchange.



With all of that being said, however ... we are talking with Sigil directly, as we have been for a while now. We work with and for the community. We always have and we always will. We would like to be able to resolve this to the benefit of everyone involved. It's a fun game. We've been enjoying the beta as well. We would like to be a part of the community. We want to have Sigil's blessing. If we can't have their blessing, at the very minimum we want to make sure that there will be no detriment to anyone that uses our sites. However, if it ultimately turns out to be in the best interest of the community, then yes, we will actually shut down the site. We serve the community. If the best interest of the community means we aren't part of it, then so be it. We will honour that best interest. We don't want it to come to that. We'd really rather be here, helping out, the way we've done for five plus years now. We'll see. We are proud of our reputation we've built within the gaming industry and community for over five years now. We are proud of the trust and respect we have earned with both the gaming companies and you our users. We aren't about to do anything to ruin that reputation, that trust and respect.

In the meantime, hang in there with us, please?

Thanks for taking the time to read all this.



/edit Since the time of my posting this, there have been public statements made by Sigil. When I initially wrote this, there were not. Just editing this to point it out before anyone decides to try to call me a liar.

[unluki]

"Let he who is without sin..." "He who lives in glass houses..." etc.

I appreciate your stand on this matter, and hope that Vanguard will see the light. I think you people run a great site, one of the best and most helpful sites of all! Keep up the great work!

[Pixi]

Nice writeup. I wouldn't worry too much about the doomsayers. They've been around since the birth of mankind and I doubt they're going away anytime soon hehe.

One thing, though, (just to be fair and all that) SOE doesn't actually sell gold and items to the users. As far as I know they only provide a medium in which the users can buy and sell amongst themselves without fear of being ripped off in the process. Whether that is good or bad is a discussion I leave to others hehe. Unless I got it all wrong, of course, which is a very real possibility.

Anyway -- I'm sure this community will come into its own before long, just as the other sites have. I can't wait to see what people come up with. Especially since this interface seems to be a LOT more customizable than what we usually see from the Big S.

[Chagas]

As a frequent visitor to <insertgame>Interface since it's inception, I can't believe that so many people are so... well, dumb, when it comes to the games. The same people saying "you'll get banned from Vanguard" are probably the same ones who would post threads about "mods being illegal in WoW and using any add-on will get you banned."

In all my time visiting, there has never been an advertisement for gold sellers or powerlevelers or anything.

Hope it all works out for ya'll.

Chagas

[Garick]

Would like to add my support, have never received anything other than great service from your websites.

Please keep up the great work and thankyou.

[Ventisly]

Does this affect your status with Sigil any? Maybe such a minor change unrelated to your website will show how silly the ban was in the first place.

Ventisly

[Cairenn]

Wev'e no idea. I'm sure a lot will depend on this as well.

Partial quote:

"SOE is in discussions with Sigil regarding the future of Vanguard and Sigil Games in Carlsbad. Talks are going well and first and foremost, our primary concern right now is what's best for Vanguard and its community. We want to ensure that this game and its community have a healthy future. The specifics that we work out over the coming days will all be with that single goal in mind."

What does that mean? It means that right now Vanguard is doing decently but not as well as we hoped. If you haven't read my last long post that outlined some of the things that went wrong during development, etc., please do. So the bottom line is that SOE is going to be getting more involved with Sigil and Vanguard - our relationship is going to become even tighter - much tighter. At this point I can't say much more than that.

Does this mean an acquisition? I can't say at this point.

Does this mean more or less people at Sigil? I can't say at this point.

Does this mean management changes at Sigil? I can't say at this point.

[Mother9987]

Well, anything that helps this site I'm all for. I love the look of this site. And at least at eq2interface I loved the modding community and the discussions and help...

But here... I know people come here, so say my almost 5k downloads... but they don't talk. It's like their dirty little secret. Get in, download, skip out and hope no one saw them or something.

Well, maybe with the news this site can grow to it's potential.

[Cairenn]

We shall see.

[Nitefang]

no sure how or if it may effect you here on this site, but I read this little gem this morning - thought I'd share


http://www.vanguardroleplayers.com/f...ead.html?t=4126