Runes of Magic addresses account hacks

@Dril

Even if you agree with the hacker on the list of problems, how can you even come close to agreeing with his or her actions?

You know what you do with a company that has practices toy don't like? You stop giving them your business. Maybe you convince your friends to leave, too.

What you DON'T do is attack their systems and compromise the information of other customers. Even if you had legitimate complaints you have just made it that much harder for me to take them seriously or see you as anything other than a criminal.

@Dril

Because such a paltry action as "not giving them your money" is meaningless when someone else is going to step up and give them money anyway. He could, supposedly, take the entire system down, inconveniencing everyone who plays RoM.

Nothing happens by everyone just going "oh well I won't give them my money, that'll show 'em." They don't give a shit. Hacking their servers does, however, make them notice.

@Dril

If I don't like how Walmart does business, I don't go and burn down the store with customers inside to "make them notice". I shop at a different retailer instead. Will others still shop at Walmart? Sure. That is the choice we all have and the choice we should be free to make.

The person who did this to RoM is neither freedom fighter nor hero.

@Tanek

That's a good comparison. A better one might be swiping random people's wallets when they're in the checkout line, but that'd probably be hard to pull off a few thousand times.

@Nyan

Enjoy the forum censorship, stolen account information and generally bad customer service.

@Nyan
Damn I forgot about that !!
That was the game I was waiting for, but this tiny detail might change my mind about buying it.

@Zuljundwumn Lol. My advice? Take the +100ms and go with En Masse on NA servers.

@Dril Personally, I've never noticed anything beyond Frogster's delay in responding to support tickets(which can include many tickets that don't need a response or are false claims).

I'm not sticking up for Frogster as much as I am for all companies by saying this recent rising tide against them seems mainly a fad. What company nowadays doesn't provide -- at times -- less than stellar customer support?

While I agree Frogster has room to tighten up it's operation, so does a lot of companies. I hardly think Frogster stands out in this department as being as bad as recent claims make it look. They are the -- involved -- publisher of one of the most popular free-to-play MMOs out there.

This is a good wake up call for all the other game companies out there, though. I hope they all improve not only their CS, but also their ease of accessibility. http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/12/14/the-soapbox-accessibility-and-customer-service/

@Utakata
It's a way of bringing attention to a problem, although it's not always done the right way.

In his case, a company that censors and screws over their customers, the company is in the wrong, but in no way does that excuse his actions.

What bothers me the most in all of this is the action of the company in response. They locked 2100 accounts, and no possibility of fixing until the issue is fixed, that means some people will have their account locked for AT LEAST a month. Also, the whole forum censhorship, that just pisses me off. Turbine did it for a while and it went to hell quickly.

@Seffrid
>Hacking other players' accounts information and posting it on a public forum is a criminal act, pure and simple, and has no justification whatsoever in any discontent that may be felt over the way the developer acts.

The only part that is criminal, and that's ambiguous, is the hacking part. Post non-private information (account name and password) isn't. Posting IRL names and addresses, that's illegal, and people do it all the time too.

> If people don't like the way a developer runs a game, its website or its forums then they have the option not to play the game or visit the website or forum.
That's not a good way to do that either. Can the company become better for the customers? Yes. Can they stop censoring? They sure can. Will they do it? Why would they do that? Only the players can force an answer to the questions, and it's by fighting for change that you get change.

Analogy: African-Americans used to be forced to ride at the back of buses and couldn't ride in the front. They had the choice to either take the bus and abide by those rules or not use the bus at all, people got fed up, they fought for change, and change happened.

Fight for what you believe is better for everyone(without doing it stupidly like the hacker did).

@hami83
I'm pretty sure the point of the account hacking is to make everyone blatantly aware that their information is not secure. Considering the attention this has received, I would say that has worked. Personally, whatever happens to Frogster at this point they've completely brought on themselves after the shitty way they've run their business over the years, but I do disagree with the "collateral damage" approach he's taking. A better way to leave a message, assuming he has the control he claims to have, would be to add an item to everyone's inventory across the board on a server or two to indicate that "yeah these morons are not taking care of your data".

@Sente

It does make sense. Hit Frogster where it hurts, their wallet, and nothing does that better than killing any trust customers might have that Frogster can keep their information safe.

Think of how many people might refuse to buy Frogster cash points if they're afraid that next time credit card details might be stolen.