The Daily Grind: Have you been IP blocked?

I just wrote about this on my blog today. I tried registering with Gamigo so that I could try Black Prophecy and couldn't because of an IP block.

The fact that SWTOR is doing the same thing to Oceanic players simple reduces my desire to buy their game at all. The Secret World is out soon anyway, so I might just wait for that.

I would rather have a server for each timezone with low pings if it were possible to support it. But that's the problem mainly there's not enough effort or a publisher who isn't too greedy willing to take the risk of bringing foreign games over. Or maybe it's due to copyright laws that take a long time to carry out. Either way I think it would be worthwhile for someone to take over the business of bringing worthwhile games overseas if done right. But yeah there's a good reason these ip blocks exist so unless you want to be that publisher maybe you shouldn't complain.

Yeah...Perfect World really screwed up this Rusty Hearts CB launch. I understand that there might be some licensing issues but they could have at least told us that instead of putting up a FAQ saying "Yes. you can play from Europe" and then announce "oh..you know, your country might be IP blocked...doesn't matter what we stated before".

Yeah...let's let the players register for the game, activate cb keys, post on forums, download the game...and then tell them that they can't actually play the game from Half of Europe.

How does "you can order the physical game and play anywhere in the world with no IP restriction", constitute an IP ban from SWTOR?
Yes, there are no dedicated servers for Aus and Southamerica (ect.), but I've read of plenty who have ordered the game there, and there are nothing restricting them from playing the game. Just as there are nothing restricting EU players playing on US servers - or visa versa.

Im from eastern Europe. So i guess that means no Rusty Hearts for me... This typically doesn't happen with titles i actually want to play, but it's frustrating that someone is preventing you from even trying. In the case of Vindictus, the only reason i want it to come to Europe is so that i can play it once and say it's crap. It's just an urge i have, it wouldn't be that way if it was just available here from the start.

A year or so ago, a RL friend of mine tried to subscribe to Runescape, but Jagex rejected him citing "political reasons" which was lol. I even wanted to send you guys the info so you could make an article about it, but then i kind of didn't 'cause i thought nobody would care.

yeah almost every game I wanted to play had Ip block like Vindictus and Dragons nest and a few more games the only game company I say that has brains is Perfect world I never been IP blocked buy them so im happy I never needed to wait for EU release. But thanks to Nexon has no brain so when Vindictus comes to EU it will only last for maybe 1 month before they have to close it down cuz no one will be intressted in a 1 year old game that will be CBT for a month or 2 so there is no point in releasing it now when ever one lost interested in the game and that Tera online soon will be here. If if you want your game to be popular or get allot of players don´t make them lose interest with you stupid IP shit release the game in both US and EU at the same time if your smart but game company only care about cash and license is to damn expensive. But then again it is there lose not my problem if they have to close down for being stupid.

To be ultimately fair, SW:TOR is really bipolar, almost Jekyll and Dr Hyde about their public relations. this isn't a dig about any developer, just the way that Star Wars The Old Republic is being distributed by EA.

In this case, Dr Hyde is the Bioware developers, and Jekyll is the EA Marketing department that does these silly things like leave mutilated bodies of prostitutes around.

I can feel for Bioware, since they have very little control over the Monster that is EA, but they're tarnished under all of their actions, for good and bad, just like Warhammer Online is and was.

the IP blocking is entirely due to Origin, EA's Juggernaut Digital Distribution portal,

While other MMO companies and sites are more specific about IP blocks or not having Payment Gateways accept international credit cards or alternative forms of payment, Origins is more frequently charging more money for a digital copy than retail, wether that's supposed to be protecting the retail store distribution chain of international retailers, or just greedy, or lazy, it's still apparent.

if only Origins would stop leaving it's bloody corpses on the back doorstep, and blood drenched footprints leading to Bioware's door with a sheepish grin on it's face, i think that most international users would be less likely to blame Bioware for EA's malfeasance if they realised EA is the monster in the dark butchering their Public Relations profile.

@Ren54

What? Of course they are spending money on a network and servers. They have to run the game and have an internet connection.

Anyone thinking that SWTOR is IP blocking is incorrect. You may not be able to order from specific sites because of your region, but the game will not be IP blocked.

Great job on spreading misinformation, Massively. I'm so proud that you guys know how to read the millions of times that Bioware has stated that there is no IP blocking going on. Also, I'm glad you guys paid enough attention to see that a lot of the countries that were locked out of Origin actually got boxes to preorder. No, this article wasn't intentionally misleading to cause extra confusion and incite extra anger among those on the fence. Nope, not at all.

I usually like the articles that come through Massively, but sometimes you just get some real winners that like to pretend they are part of some ridiculously biased news conglomerate that only says things to stir up the bees nest.

(Inb4 comment deleted for posting critically of Massively and/or its staff)