Gravity is suing some private servers

[Kisuka]

Haven't seen this kind of news in awhile. Thoughts?

http://renewal.playragnarok.com/news/newslist.aspx#n2224

[neethree]

I'd hate to be the poor sod at Gravity that has to wade through all that. Like having to clean sand off a beach 

I guess they will try to make examples of large servers and put the scare on everyone else. I figure emulators are fine from a legal standpoint, it's just the copyrighted assets/IP that's the trouble. I wonder if they have any recourse against non monetised servers.

Wonder why they're doing this now. They're about 15 years too late to tackle the swarms of pservs, lol. Maybe it's the last ditch attempt to save a sinking ship. Honestly I'm surprised they are still pulling a profit in 2022.

I have to say I like this quote though lol.

We encourage players to stay safe and to use official global Ragnarok Online services only, as it is unknown what standards of data protection which private servers may use and if user data will be properly safe.

Coming from the people who region banned the whole of Europe rather than comply with GDPR 

[Inochi]

Does anyone know server names that are getting sued?

[Shuchou]

I know the first ones they would go after are the ones that offer monthly subs and those hosting on Agies server file set like Kokoro and travels uses. Plus I am sure NFT servers are on that hunt list as well.

[ac195]

If only they spent the amount of money in legal action into actually developing their game properly huh? Crazy thought. Maybe listening to their players, not being a pay to win money grab bot friendly game.

I am curious as to how far their actions would actually go? There are so many private servers, not just in ragnarok. Time to take the link to my instagram off my server! lmao.

[neethree]

Im going to enjoy so much seeing them go after the p2w servers LMAO same when they go for Origins.

Origins is probably in one of the better places right now given they don't take donations in any form, they're not using the RO logo and their homepage doesn't even mention the word Ragnarok, hahah. Being a big server puts them in the spotlight though and especially sharing the name of one of Grav's official projects. Servers running Aegis would probably be at the top of their hit list but then again the playerbase is so tiny in comparison I don't know if they'd bother. I also wonder if heavily customised / highrate servers are in a better place since they're not really gonna be competing for potential players like lowrates/classics are. When you've got thousands of pservs to potentially sue, which handful do you choose to go after?

Wonder if it's some licensing thing where they need to show that they're defending their IP. Realistically there's no way they can even make a dent in private servers and they're probably s*** out of luck if the host isn't in the US/Korea.

[distilled1]

Didn't Gravity or Warpportal close down their official pre-renewal server?
If they did, they most likely can't even touch any of the pre-renewal private servers, legally, because it's a completely different game not being officially offered anymore.

It's like why Blizzard began offering their Classic WoW just so they can legally shut down any vanilla WoW private servers.

Unless I'm mistaken. I'd actually like to play an official version of Pre-renewal but I'm not into all that Ragnarok Zero crap.

[Playtester]

Well, legally they don't need to offer something to public to have copyright on it.
It's just that it does not make much sense to invest money into something that doesn't net you money in the long run.

None of those 5000 "I hate renewal" pre-renewal players will play on official renewal servers even if Gravity managed to shut down 100% of all private servers.
Not to mention all of those who play on private servers only because they want to play together with friends that live on a different continent.

It really just seems like a waste of time and money unless Gravity has big plans to make RO great again.

[OrdLordDaddy]

I find that so hilarious.

After banning all of Europe from WarpPortal.
Killing off Re:Start then Transcendence.

And then they wonder where all their players vanished to.

I absolutely never ever will play on the russian "euRO" server, it's horrible

The french hoster was already bad (as they didn't care for a porper english translation) but at the same time tolerable still, as one good thing they did was active bot hunting. That made the server worth it to play on, knowing that bots had little to no chance there. But nope, Gravity accepted the russian hosters higher bid over the year long french partner they've had.


WarpPortal was my home for Ragnarok and right now I would probably even return there if they lifted the Europe ban, regardless of having lost my original account due to that.


PServers can be nice but they all come with the same big problem: Corruption and Favourism.
No exception. To some degree you are always at the mercy of tyrants or their close friends.


Still, right now I'd choose every pserver over the official russian "euRO" server they are trying to force me onto.

[Herpderp]

They are desperate and using scare tactics. 
You really think now after decades, they suddenly care? Now that their finances are in the s***, they're suddenly willing to sue pserver owners? 

[OrdLordDaddy]

They are desperate and using scare tactics. 
You really think now after decades, they suddenly care? Now that their finances are in the s***, they're suddenly willing to sue pserver owners? 

Well, they are kind of proficient in taking offline their own servers though xD

[Sairek Ceareste]

I won't touch anything with a 100 foot pole that's "official", especially if it is hosted by WarpPortal. Not after getting banned from RE:Start because I "have a very bot-like name". 

Private server owners hosting from their home and volunteering their time without getting paid have more competent and caring staff than a company who is getting paid does. That speaks volumes to me.

Gravity doesn't understand that it's just like the Nintendo and piracy situation - if you want to offer something you need to be "better" than the competition. Nobody is going to pay money for a lesser experience when they can get a better, more authentic experience and service for free. Trying to sue private servers when they set their bar so low is like playing a doomed game of whack-a-mole.

[skyeang3l]

I wouldn't play another official server even if they banned every single private server in existence.
They don't even currently offer a classic server on iRO and their latest failed venture, iRO Transcendence, closed after only a year of being filled with bots, RMT, and cheaters.
Do they just want classic players to play Chaos? No thanks, I'll go back to FFXIV or WoW.

[jacobo_bobo]

I'm not sure why they posted those news now, when there have been private servers running for 20 years. It would be smarter to go after topsites, and even private server listing here on RMS, than it is to take down private servers. Though, I do expect it would be a DMCA notice instead of a straight lawsuit.

Either way they go at it.. people will still find a forum or community where private servers are advertised. Shutting down big servers will just push their communities to the next best private server. Rarely will they go to official servers.

Opening a private server literally takes a couple of hours of work.. and I imagine they will not be able to take down every server that pops up either.. as many measures can be taken to remain anonymous while hosting one.. especially in the web3 age, thanks to blockchain domains/hosting and crypto payments.

Their best bet is to really come up with a better product. Offer something that private servers are not offering or able to offer.

They need to focus their attention on what killed their official servers in the first place.. which are:

1. Easy to bot
2. No mechanism to ban computers, only accounts.
3. Pay to win
4. Rare GM interaction with players
5. Poor response to player suggestions
6. Inability to encrypt their sprites/files.

It's mind blowing that even after 20 years of private servers, they still have unencrypted grf and clients. If they were to encrypt their 3rd or even 4th job sprites before they released them, maybe people would of been forced to play official servers to enjoy those new classes.. but they failed at that too.

They could of also just focused their attention on their RO2 game... instead of continuing to expand the progression of a 20 years old game, where newbies need to play and/or pay for years in order to catch up and compete with veterans.

[Neffletics]

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