I saw some discussion that got me thinking
Gravity's action isn't normal and servers are closing left and right. 4 or 5 in total so far and existing ones are taking down their websites and turning off new account registration
Gravity also banned every twitch streamer which means there won't be new players coming into the community for the servers that stick around
Looks kind of dim for the scene
a beginning of highly anonymous private servers.
If Activision-Blizzard couldn't shut WoW private servers down, then i highly doubt Gravity f*** Interactive would be able to.
There will be casualties and can't say what all servers will come out of this fiasco, but at the end people will find a way to host servers that are out of reach from Gravity.
All this is going to accomplish is fewer number of pv servers.
Fewer public private servers, more "I just tell my friends about it" private servers.
Quote from: xtarinos on May 06, 2022, 06:26 AM
If Activision-Blizzard couldn't shut WoW private servers down, then i highly doubt Gravity f*** Interactive would be able to.
There will be casualties and can't say what all servers will come out of this fiasco, but at the end people will find a way to host servers that are out of reach from Gravity.
All this is going to accomplish is fewer number of pv servers.
they managed to shut nostalrius down before classic wow launch and i can somehow see them trying to take down warmane when classic reach wrath of the lich king anytime soon
Quote from: AlizaApron on May 06, 2022, 05:27 AM
Gravity's action isn't normal and servers are closing left and right. 4 or 5 in total so far and existing ones are taking down their websites and turning off new account registration
I specifically registered to say that I'm in shock. I am old and I remember the struggle with private servers 20 years ago. 20 Years!!!
but then nothing happened, but now this state is close to defeat.
How quickly the famous private servers with hundreds of live players have buried everything that has been accumulated for years or even over the decades, without trying to fight. Perhaps they wouldn't have had to fight, and this letter was an act of fright. And everyone succumbed to this fright instantly. shock.
Quote from: LOONOOR on May 06, 2022, 07:49 AM
they managed to shut nostalrius down before classic wow launch and i can somehow see them trying to take down warmane when classic reach wrath of the lich king anytime soon
Nostalrius shut down in 2016. 6 years down the line WoW private servers still exist.
This whole situation is similar to piracy. Nothing got popular torrent websites down, not until streaming became affordable.
If there is a demand, people will find a way. If Gravity wants to fix this issue, offer people a better version of the game that pv servers have been doing.
Quote from: Oreki on May 06, 2022, 08:57 AM
Guys, you are just looking for something to talk about. Nothing can really happen to private servers unless owners get intimidated from empty words and close their own servers by themselves. That's all what it is.
Well, I'd prefer to wait and see how the lawsuits will go.
I'm surprised how fast some veteran server owners succumbed to fear now though.
Quote from: Playtester on May 06, 2022, 09:38 AM
Well, I'd prefer to wait and see how the lawsuits will go.
I'm surprised how fast some veteran server owners succumbed to fear now though.
99% that there will be no trial, this bluff has occurred before, years ago. Counterclaims are also money and additional expenses for Gravity, whose financial affairs are already not brilliant.
The Talonians turned out to be the most timid. They just cut all the ends instantly. Well, that's their right. but I would like them to fight more for themselves and their community.
In any case, I will continue to play ro, as a last resort I will download my own server emulator and will play on it alone, hahaha
Quote from: Oreki on May 06, 2022, 10:12 AM
There will be no lawsuits to see how they go.
So what do you consider this: https://dockets.justia.com/docket/california/cacdce/2:2022cv02763/850478
You think this will go nowhere?
I'm curious, I'm not really a law expert. But others said it's an actual lawsuit.
I don't think it's the end. Probably a pause for any sort of development on current private servers.
Quote from: OldPoring on May 06, 2022, 10:03 AM
but I would like them to fight more for themselves and their community.
With what ammunition? As far as I can see it's depressingly open-and-shut. Private servers are near-universally BETTER, but the copyright holder holds all cards.
Some kind of legal loophole, a server hosted in a country that has no regard for copyright or intellectual property laws, that's one idea I suppose...
But in the first place the connection-quality would probably suffer for users, even if you COULD find a server in the donkey-end of nowhere, and in the second place there's always the continued risk of personal, individual liability.
Definitely not the end in my opinion.
New servers will eventually rise up to take the place where the older ones have fallen. Trying to fight private servers by forcefully shutting them all down is the same as playing a never-ending game of whack-a-mole.
As was mentioned earlier, the best way to deal with private servers would be to just to offer a better service than them. Of course, that is not in Gravity's interest at all, just like it isn't in people's interest to play on a grossly p2w server overran with bots and ruled by incompetent administration as they refuse to comply to EU data protection laws.
RO in general, I doubt it'll die. jRO and kRO still exists. Whole different story outside those places though.
I kinda get why they'd go after private servers more seriously, but going after content creators as well? What are they trying to do? Having RO Content creators is one way to get players invested in this game, regardless of whether or not it's for officials or private servers. Going after said people will only hurt the growth of the game, no matter how small it is.
Combine those with the fact that iRO isn't ran by competent people and the numerous issues plaguing the game in general (bots, s*** economy, the mess that is renewal and 3rd/4th jobs) and you have a recipe for disaster.
God knows what will happen to RO outside Korea and Japan now.
Quote from: OldPoring on May 06, 2022, 08:23 AM
How quickly the famous private servers with hundreds of live players have buried everything that has been accumulated for years or even over the decades, without trying to fight. Perhaps they wouldn't have had to fight, and this letter was an act of fright. And everyone succumbed to this fright instantly. shock.
Heh, not all of them (https://blog.rebirth.ro/2022/05/07/self-audit-in-progress/)...
Quote from: Playtester on May 06, 2022, 09:38 AM
Well, I'd prefer to wait and see how the lawsuits will go.
I'm surprised how fast some veteran server owners succumbed to fear now though.
Not all have acted out of fear, some are acting out of caution, and I think that's fair.
Quote from: Kokkoro on May 07, 2022, 04:54 AM
RO in general, I doubt it'll die. jRO and kRO still exists. Whole different story outside those places though.
I kinda get why they'd go after private servers more seriously, but going after content creators as well? What are they trying to do? Having RO Content creators is one way to get players invested in this game, regardless of whether or not it's for officials or private servers. Going after said people will only hurt the growth of the game, no matter how small it is.
Combine those with the fact that iRO isn't ran by competent people and the numerous issues plaguing the game in general (bots, s*** economy, the mess that is renewal and 3rd/4th jobs) and you have a recipe for disaster.
God knows what will happen to RO outside Korea and Japan now.
Yeah, I honestly feel that this move will hurt Gravity more than they gain from it, at least in terms of new player influx. Streamers are the main way to get people to even KNOW about your game these days, especially if it's an old game and not a brand new release.
The problem is any server that takes players from big servers will become a target. Plus this scene already had a problem with new players and now that streaming is banned the withering will accelerate... sad stuff
Quote from: OldPoring on May 06, 2022, 08:23 AM
I specifically registered to say that I'm in shock. I am old and I remember the struggle with private servers 20 years ago. 20 Years!!!
but then nothing happened, but now this state is close to defeat.
How quickly the famous private servers with hundreds of live players have buried everything that has been accumulated for years or even over the decades, without trying to fight. Perhaps they wouldn't have had to fight, and this letter was an act of fright. And everyone succumbed to this fright instantly. shock.
You do realise, that law suits cost insane anounts of money for the defendant? Also there is a criminal component not to be underestimated. No jail time ofc, but serious fines and heavy costs for lawyers.
Out of what funds would you suggest private servers (especially no donations or no p2w servers) take this money?
For these with a paywall, the gained money would be impounded anyway. So there is serious risk, if one gets sued however unlikely that may be
There are whole existences hanging in the balance. Maybe Jobs and family too. Because some employers or family members might not look kindly on someone beeing sued for this kind of infringement.
However frustrating this may be, try put yourself in their shoes.
Quote from: Wosi2 on May 07, 2022, 06:00 AM
You do realise, that law suits cost insane anounts of money for the defendant? Also there is a criminal component not to be underestimated. No jail time ofc, but serious fines and heavy costs for lawyers.
they provide an opportunity to get acquainted with the game based on the emulator. Then at least you need to sue the developers of the Athena and Hercules emulators as counterfeit software.
I am not suggesting that they sue, but it was possible just wait for a court decision, if one would take place. and the solution would be to close the server and no more. And after that it was possible to close the server.
To turn to the experience of the past, at the peak of the popularity of the game 2005-2010, there were also attempts to fight with server emulators, but it didn't end with anything terrible for server owners. if then everyone was so timid, we would not have any private server.
The emulator is self written and may be a grey area in some countrys. But as it is copyying essentials of the game I doubt it.
But the clients that are used and provided are defenitly no grey area. So there is no need to await the result. If your getting sued, you will lose the case if you are providing the client on your website.
But even if you would win the case against all odds it is still a major problem you have to deal with. So I understand why they close up or go into hiding until this hopefully blows over.
Dont get me wrong. I think this us a futule attampt of gravity. They will never be able to shut down all private servers. And even if they did, new ones would resurface better hidden.
But at the moment, I would not want to stick out and be the one that gets picket out to make an example of.
Profit and money is what motivates this greedy company. And I think they'll stop trying when they realize they are just throwing away their money and not recuperating anything back.
If their lawyer teams were treated as their servers and graded on profit margins, they will be on the chopping block soon...
Wow. Sad time for RO for sure right now, especially if you're a Pre-Renewal player.
If I actually had time to play, I'd be pretty pissed right now. I mean what options are even left at this point?
Warp Portal won't provide a Pre-renewal server, RetRO is gone, Origins is gone, Travels is gone, OathRO is gone. /wah
Dafuq? /wah
Quote from: distilled1 on May 08, 2022, 12:16 AM
Wow. Sad time for RO for sure right now, especially if you're a Pre-Renewal player.
If I actually had time to play, I'd be pretty pissed right now. I mean what options are even left at this point?
Warp Portal won't provide a Pre-renewal server, RetRO is gone, Origins is gone, Travels is gone, OathRO is gone. /wah
Dafuq? /wah
oRO is not down same with OR.
only retRO and Travels are gone, theyre discord is gone too and i cant access their site.
Quote from: distilled1 on May 08, 2022, 12:16 AM
Wow. Sad time for RO for sure right now, especially if you're a Pre-Renewal player.
If I actually had time to play, I'd be pretty pissed right now. I mean what options are even left at this point?
Warp Portal won't provide a Pre-renewal server, RetRO is gone, Origins is gone, Travels is gone, OathRO is gone. /wah
Dafuq? /wah
We're still here, we are just unlisted from RMS.
Just because a server is delisted from RMS doesn't mean it's shut down. Gravity knows RMS exists -- they've tried to take the site down before. There's no need to be on a potential hit list right now and many other people are being just as cautious right now.
Until this blows over, Oath will be trying to advertise through word of mouth instead. Unfortunately though with three (probably soon four) low rate servers closing up its doors within a week, people aren't exactly spoiled for choice on which servers to pick from anymore. I wouldn't blame people for quitting, or at least taking a long hiatus if they spent years on a low rate server only for it to shut down. /sob
With all the players we cater to on Oath, we really did not want to be in the spotlight while this whole thing is going on. I think it will blow over. I hope it will blow over. However, until then, I have to consider my duty and care to our players and staff who have put countless hours into the game. We may sacrifice some visibility, but we are doing it to mitigate risks. I prefer this course of action over pulling the plug on ten of thousands of hours of people's time or provoking the wrath of a company who hasn't given a s*** about these people we serve and only see them as dollar signs.
Quote from: Oathkeeper on May 08, 2022, 03:03 AM
I think it will blow over. I hope it will blow over. However, until then, I have to consider my duty and care to our players and staff who have put countless hours into the game.
Even if it does blow over, you (or anyone, really) risk being the next Nova if you come back into visibility again.
Yes, it all looks like the end, the death of private servers. At least for low-rated servers.
About a year renewed interest for a x1 pre renewal servers, I think it's completely killed now. You have thrown thousands of hours of grind into nowhere! This should act as a sobering up from continuing this kind activity.
Yes, new servers will arise, but now you need to choose a casual game on the server x50.
To just go in for an hour and run around in the world of Ragnorok, look at the animation of your favorite skills and character sprites, so as not to regret if you don't find a server at the next visit, but just register for the next one ))
A lot of shutdowns now /wah
Talon, Alfheim, Origins, Asgard Legends, Travels, Dreamer, Koko, Solace, Retro have closed
ya, they absolutely are a smoking gun. what are we supposed to do in the future, they havent done anything total admirable since they released el discastes and it still is a good map when you play it in Pre-Renewal.
I am pretty sure I know what youre getting at, that is pretty unique of a situation
Quote from: AlizaApron on May 07, 2022, 05:09 AM
The problem is any server that takes players from big servers will become a target. Plus this scene already had a problem with new players and now that streaming is banned the withering will accelerate... sad stuff
You mean those hundreds of EU players that migrated from iRO to Origins when they lost their accounts after the GDPR s***? Yeah totally makes p-servers evil! /heh
Quote from: Kompinho on May 14, 2022, 07:02 AM
You mean those hundreds of EU players that migrated from iRO to Origins when they lost their accounts after the GDPR s***? Yeah totally makes p-servers evil! /heh
Didnt say pservers were evil...