Gamespy boycott

CollateralDamage

<div class="IPBDescription">Is it time for one?</div>I hadn't cared much about Gamespy (except disliking their horrible server browser), but recent events made me reconsider my opinion.

In this now locked <a href="http://www.natural-selection.org/cgi-bin/ikonboard/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=1;t=4588;st=10" target="_blank">thread</a> I found this shocking <a href="http://forums.seriouscommunity.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=14562" target="_blank">revelation</a> [btw, how to display the link as a word instead of an URL?]

Obviously Gamespy is trying to sabotage gaming communities and establish an Evil Empire™. Already their new advertisement policies are highly annoying, that server browser thing is getting worse and worse, and even the Fileplanet login system is a mess of third-party cookies I dread to explore deeper.

Do you think it is now time to boycott them and stop using their "service" altogether, before it is too late?

eXceptional

WOW. I never heard of that and its just amazing how low GameSpy is.
I always hated GameSpy <!--emo&:(--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/sad.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':('><!--endemo--> ever since they took over mplayer.com .. it was a sad day for me, and for gamers all over the world. those ########! <!--emo&:angry:--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mad.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':angry:'><!--endemo-->

Sgt_Vejita

if i have to tell the truth as i must, i really dont like Gamespy...

it's a lot like the normal HL join server sys....except if you dont pay those pesky 20 bucks you have to deal with commercials...and its a lot easier to join when "ingame" cause you dont have to enter the game (ect. if its like 19/20 filled room and you want the last spot, you might lose it while entering the game  <!--emo&???--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/confused.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt='???'><!--endemo--> ).

And then they say, hey if you want the new update goto our good pals Fileplanet...allready there a dread thought went into my mind...my past memories of the system that file planet used....it was horrible..

So i rushed all the way to the download server only to find that the fastest dl server had a 84 min wait on it...nooo...then i thought...i wonder the price for being member (this is their plan to gain members) but alas...i forgot all about the stuff...(i diddent join).

Therefor BYPASS FILEPLANET FOREVER, this includes GAMESPY!

<!--emo&:asrifle:--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/asrifle.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':asrifle:'><!--endemo--> + <!--emo&:bob:--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/bob.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':bob:'><!--endemo--> + Gamespy-Fileplanet =  <!--emo&:D--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':D'><!--endemo-->

Sgt_X

<!--emo&:)--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':)'><!--endemo-->

Tzar already <a href="http://www.natural-selection.org/cgi-bin/ikonboard/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=10;t=4210" target="_blank">beat you</a>, and he's planning a war. He seems to be inspired by a little bit of <a href="http://www.natural-selection.org/cgi-bin/ikonboard/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=10;t=4194;st=10" target="_blank">creative writing</a> i posted. Any way have fun with your protesting.  <!--emo&:)--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':)'><!--endemo-->

Legionnaired

I will never use fileplanet again!

Sgt_X

Your loss, File Planet has a lot of obscure files and between major updates it's not that bad.

Novakoala

I never use FilePlanet if I can't help it anyway - it takes too long (and there is no way that I am paying them, even more so now). Once I went there to get a Half-Life patch (can't remember which one) and the queue was 3 hours long.

This is shocking... someone should complain to GameSpy (just to see what they think happened). I'd be willing to take part in a boycott... if someone can direct me to another general news site that isn't PlanetHL, please tell me. GameSpy shouldn't be allowed to behave like this. We should spread the word, tell other communities. Why does this sort of thing happen so damn often? It's sick.

<rebellious glaze forms over eyes, raises hand in a fist>

Um... Natural Selection is totally independent from GameSpy, right?

P.S.-> Try clicking the 'http://' button to display a URL as a word.

Belgarion

Ah-HA!! From day one i never used gamespy because it is one of the 5 (or somethinglike that) evils of the computer world.  1. Micro$haft 2. AOL 3... uhh.. GameSpy? ^_^ 4. Intel (why pay 500 extra for a cpu?) 5.... i'm sure there are others that i can't think of. they will come to me eventually.  But of course, Natural-Selection is definetly not one of the great evils.

Belg

CollateralDamage

<!--QuoteBegin--></span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td><b>Quote</b> </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE"><!--QuoteEBegin-->P.S.-> Try clicking the 'http://' button to display a URL as a word.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span id='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Hey, thanks! That taught me the syntax of the {URL} tag. Of course, true men write every iB tag themselves, who knows which Evil Corporation™ has hidden malicious scams in JavaScript buttons? [/paranoia]

Anyway... I don't know any alternative to PHL. And that's exactly the problem! Gamespy doesn't *want* any alternative to exist. We should just stop visiting PHL to show them our disapproval. I think I will; there's only a handful of mods which interest me anyway, and I don't need these Gamespy minions to keep me updated about them, I have my own bookmarks to follow.

Viva la revolution!

Battousaix

PHL?? wha that?

Arriba ppl, Revolution is at hand..... join the marines, see your insides <!--emo&:D--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':D'><!--endemo-->

Comprox

Heck, I don't like GameSpy at all either, but they provide a free service (even though it sucks, it is free still). And since a large fanbase of users use sits like PHL, it would be just stupid not to send information about your mod to attract new viewers.

With their new fileplanet download system, I can not download ANYTHING (all I get is javascript errors), and I hate them to heck and back for it. But, when something gets released such as NS, I am sure it will be mirror'ed at many other places, so I have no worries.

Greedo

I wonder if you people understand anything about how the world works.  Seriously.  Do you greedy little kids not know that bandwidth costs money?  Do you not know that by giving you free downloads, they're doing you a favor?  Do you not know that forcing you to wait in line helps keep download speeds fast and reliable?  Do you not know that without gamespy hosting, many mods (especially HL mods) would never have happened?  Seriously, everyone who ####### about Fileplanet and Gamespy are crabby little 'gimme gimme' whiners who expect to get everything they want when they want.  If you naive wankers don't want to realize that that is not how the world works, then don't expect a warm welcome when you leave your parents' home for one of your own.

MonsieurEvil

/me hands Greedo a cool, damp hand towel for the back of his neck.

<!--emo&:p--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':p'><!--endemo-->

Carbon14

Oooo is that a hole in the anti swearing department or do mods have special powers. Either way, I must agree with Greedo, it is free and it works, but I still don't use them when I have the oppertunity.

Battousaix

b4, like when cs betas where out there..... at fileplanet u had to click on the link for the dl and pray..... u would click all the day to get the dl...... and now u have to wait in line to get the file...... its almost the same thing............
i use when i cant get the file in any other place.......

ICha0sI

gamespy owns j00 all so shut up....jk but i dont see anyhting wrong with it

Legionnaired

Greedo, The free DL is nice, many other sites do it too. The thing is, everyone and their mother that hosts a decent game site offers free DL's. Why? The double edged sword to the way the world works. If they dont offer free Downloads, somebody else will, and then they dont get any advertising money because no-one wants to pay for their downloads.

Sooo, what ends up happening is who can score the most people, and, in effect, the most advertising. If they have to use up some bandwidth in the proces, so be it, they make money from the ads.

Now, Fileplanet makes me mad for numerous reasons. Firstly, they, in my opinion, offer a crappy service! Not only do we have to wait for an average of 30 minutes to download something I can download for free, right now, with comparable speeds, elsewhere!

So, besides that, there's this whole thing about the Serious Sam deal. Now, if fileplanet decides to host all these forums, great, thanks for the free service! The ystill get payed some ad money. Now, they _are_ hosting it out of their own pockets, so it is <i>their</i> servers. And, they have complete dominion over what does and does not go onto them. I respect that. If they dont want someone using their forums, then it's OK for them to pull the plug!

But THAT's not what I have the problem with. The problem I have is with the underhanded tactics they used to scilence
people who spoke out against them. If they don't want the forums on their servers, thats fine. But sneakily deactivating administrative accounts behind the backs of the people they signed the contract with in the first place is not only contemptable, it is cowardly.

If you don't like someone, you tell them you don't like them. Fileplanet tried to suppress people who spoke against them, and did it in such a way that the rest of the internet gaming community would never hear about it. Capitalisticly, sure, it's a smart move.

I guess I'm just hung up on the First Amendment.

But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong.

Greedo, don't take this the wrong way, I'm not instulting you, I just disagree with you.

HBNayr

Capitalism is based on natural selection (the concept), so if you hate them, stop going there and tell your friends why.  If enough people stop using it, it either has to adapt, or die out.

Sorry, I just had to throw that metaphor in there.

-Ryan!


"I'm not even a citizen of Great Britain.  I'm a subject.  A bleedin' subject."
-Ian McKellan

CollateralDamage

For one, just because we live in a capitalistic world does not mean that we must forget all ethics and make money our idol. What Gamespy did with Serious Sam was just wrong; I don't condone it, and I don't want to have anything to do with Gamespy. I don't care what trinkets they offer; I don't like them, and from now on I'll rather wait a few extra minutes for my download than using their services.

I also fear their strategy is Microsoftian; they plan to destroy all other free download opportunities, and once they are the only one left, they can charge what they want.

On a side note, why does bandwidth have to cost so much in the first place? It's just a cable which is lying around anyway.

On a second side note, I can deal with flames alright, but when a forum moderator who locks other threads when they get flammatory bursts into a formerly civil thread to *start* the flaming and name calling, I am mildly surprised by the double standards of this forum.

Sgt_X

<!--QuoteBegin--CollateralDamage+Aug. 05 2002,18:28--></span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td><b>Quote</b> (CollateralDamage @ Aug. 05 2002,18:28)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE"><!--QuoteEBegin-->On a side note, why does bandwidth have to cost so much in the first place? It's just a cable which is lying around anyway.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span id='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Well you have to maintan it and have equipment pump the info through it ect.

Personaly though I think our current money system is horrible and is sapping the races potential, but hey it's either going to change after we nearly all die cause money grabbing corps and governments never get off planet colonies going or it will change at least to some amount to get us on a more stable footing.

Novakoala

There should be more to the world than grabbing money. GameSpy is doing that: they provide a service from which they make money. The Seriously forums is a consequence of that: Gamespy trying to remove competition so that they make more money.

Very Microsoft. GameSpy wants to have a monopoly.

If you want an alternative to PHL (for general news, anyway) then try <a href="http://www.halflife.org/" target="_blank">Halflife.Org</a>. It's okay. And it doesn't have any ads.

Sono

I don't use gamespy anymore as a game browser. The HL ingame is fine.
I h8 Gamespy Arcade, I used Gamespy 3d.

I don't really like FP. I dl there if theres no big line. Cause I can be quite sure the dl won't break at 60% i.e., that never happened. Compared with other mirrors where it might happen quite often that dl break off after about 60% and the mirror doesn't support resume. But if there is a line of about 20 mins I try to find another mirror (I don't have a flat, I pay on time base <!--emo&:(--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/sad.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':('><!--endemo--> ).
I have to admit, the login system is crap, it just takes time, I don't like it. <!--emo&:angry:--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mad.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':angry:'><!--endemo--> At least FP is working together with DAP.
I think if you are a low bandwith user like me (64K) FP is quite better than if you are a high-bandwith user (like DSL or cable) as I think that some of my DL break off as it takes just too long to dl, so the sever canceles and doesn't let me reconnect. (Don't know if this is possible, but sometimes I try to dl something, it breaks off, I ask a friend who has DSL, it works.)

But I think all those www.planet(game).com sites are not too bad. You get good infos there, mod reviews and all the stuff. And I don't really suffer from the ads. If you suffer from Popup ads like that online casino crap, grab some software like web-washer which blocks popups.

lazygamer

I believe the grabbing money thing is ok, the problem is when everyone(corps) seems to lose ethics, honor, and morals. NO ONE at a friggin company ever sits down and thinks about these future corruption risks. They don't discuss it and think up ethics and codes of conduct which all employees must swear by and remember NOW while they're still "good", cuz if they never knew they(morals etc.) exsisted, they shall never realize them when they're big and corrupt.

Ok Fileplanet is great for four things.

1)A tremendous library of gaming files, more then anywhere else.
2)56kers can get the most optimal D/L rates for those loooong downloads.
3)It's probably very easy to get your mod files hosted on Fileplanet.
4)Alot of these vast file libraries have very little wait.