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As Blackingout has already mentioned, this is the type of constructive feedback many in the community are looking forward to, on this and other real or percieved issues with the overall product.
Unfortunately, posts such as the ones made by other Reps ("Thread locked" and "User Banned" types) confirm to many people that Reps should not have moderator/administrator privileges. Otherwise we can only wonder why we have a forum and what the actual function of a representitive is.
So it is good to see at least one Rep who acts as you do.
As for the website in question, I'm not going to debate the technicalities that exist either way. I will provide a link to a screenshot of their policy on copyright material.
As can be seen, it's fairly a boilerplate statement that most internet sites will have, and can be summed up as "We take no responsibility for users misusing the site/technology".
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j4...-copyright.jpg
The problem lies in the way the ads spread. The earlier versions from 2 weeks ago were first seen on sites with 'adult content' but have since spread to other sites.
It is also telling that, whilst denouncing some of those adult content sites as "not family safe" and " emulate/pirate website which contains illegal content", the company allows its ads to be displayed on those types of sites. I know it is not impossible for these 'google ads' to be selective on where they appear. Case in point is a major bank whose ads display on one site where Evony's ads also show, but doesn't display on any of these 'illegal sites'. I must admit that I haven't seen ad for other browser games on those sites either.
So perhaps this is one more thing that needs to be worked out with marketing, how does the company envision its own and the game's public image over reaching the widest target audience. If the company seriously wants to label certain sites illegal, then it mustn't allow itself affiliation with those sites.
Another point that needs to be clarified is the 'offensive' problem and 'conservative' solution.
I can't comment on what is littering the begginers/world chat, since I haven't bothered with those channels since the days of "Anyone no cheats?" and the war declarations (both of which have apparantly been adequately resolved).
I feel I am not alone in reading that to mean that the company hasn't fully grasped that the issue isn't the state of undress, but rather the relevance. As a few members have pointed out, the current ads are drawing in a seemingly large number of players who create 'two minute accounts', the result of which is servers that are littered with incomplete and unusable cities.
The rumour has it that these are supposed to default to flats after a certain period of inactivity, but in the mean time they're just a pointless waste of data. Some of them are so incomplete, they're not even worth raiding for their meagre resources. And this is all because the ads are sending the wrong message to the wrong type of player. And ultimately garnering the wrong type of publicity.
You may not be aware the 'impact' of the ads' spread across the internet has finally (last month) made it to the main stream media, in the form of a short peice in 'The Guardian' newspaper's online version. 5 minutes of further google searching shows that the ads have probably damaged the games reputation more than helped it...
Has Evony become the most despised game on the web?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology...-spam-internet
Criticism of iEvony - note the fake banner they're inviting people to download.
http://www.mmogrindhouse.com/game-ne...xt-spam-queen/
More negative press for upcomming projects, UGME's or others. Message seems to be 'If it looks like Evony...'-
http://www.mmogrindhouse.com/game-ne...-spam-my-lord/
Negative Gamer entries-
http://negativegamer.com/2009/07/11/...y-goes-all-in/
http://negativegamer.com/2009/07/11/...adverts-redux/
Coding Horror critiquing the 'evo'lution of Evony ads -
http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/001286.html
Apart from the Guardian, it is arguable that many of these sites are not mainstream, per se, and probably are in the niche catagory (and all a month behind), but when the general consensus is reflected elsewhere, it all starts to add up.
Last edited by Archangel; 08-03-2009 at 08:52 AM.
Reason: forgot links
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