Evony legal fighting fund

Don't you mean you need to justify your own claims? Isn't that how libel works? You say something, they say it's untrue, you need to prove it is true. It's not their claims under the spotlight, it's yours.

 

Can't believe I'm the first to say to Bruce -

 

I am utterly stunned by Bruce's attitude and responses in this thread.

First he attacks something he has no experience of.

He hasn't played Evony. He's basing everything he knows from 3rd hand information, and yet still thinks he's perfectly correct in everything he says about Evony, even though he has no 1st hand evidence in any of his comments.

This alone, is batshit crazy.

Then, despite masses of advice from people who know more about it than he does, he still goes ahead with lighting the bonfire which he just poured petrol on 10 seconds ago.

...then when the inferno ignites and he's running around on fire...he asks the very community which he regularly condemned and called a 'cabal' for money to help him...then complains when people ask what the money is for!

Ye gads.

Does he completely lack any ability to look at what he's doing from a rational perspective?

Maybe he should be using his money to pay for some kind of life coach or something along those lines. He clearly needs it.

These comments also show more of his lack of knowledge:

He's clearly:

1: Never experienced and then analysed the core economy of many online rpg games.
2: Never been on popular video game forums.
3: Played an online rpg game.

Because if he had, then he would not be saying what I quoted above. Masses of Western developed online rpg's allow all 3 of those things to happen.

...but thats besides the point.

I don't quite know where this will all end up Bruce, but I just hope that your family doesn't suffer due to your poor judgement.

 

No, increasingly truth has very little relationship to what happens in libel trials.

 

You very obviously know nothing about Evony, or any of the issues in this case.

 

THANK YOU BRUCE, YOU HAVE SUBMITTED: STOCK REPLY NO. 1345

 

I've noticed that you've now decided that you need a Facebook group to talk about Evony. Do you mind me asking if your legal team have made any comment on you doing this? I would have thought that putting your comments on an even bigger platform, with legal action already underway, wouldn't be looked upon very favourably if you eventually lose your case.

One thing I should point out, the description of Evony on your Facebook group says "Whilst advertised as being "free" to play it can actually be one of the most expensive games in the world to play."

This is a business model called 'freemium' - any half decent games marketer should be able to explain the concept to you. Lots of companies that you might never have heard of uses freemium models, companies like Disney (Club Penguin - aimed at young kids) and EA (Tiger Woods online, and Need for Speed). Rough estimates suggest that for 90% of players the core experience is free - but those that want to spend money on upgrades can. If they choose to spend a record amount, then yes, technically it could be classed as the most expensive game in the world. (In much the same way as carrots are the most calorific meal in the world - if you eat enough of them.)

Maybe you should add EA and Disney to your list of targets?

 

I've played the game, in the browser window. I have to say that I was getting quite into it until I ran out of the ability to speak. For a (modest?) fee, I could have bought the ability to say another 50 posts to the general community.

I didn't.

Instead, I shut down the browser and stopped playing it. I had been playing Evony for about three hours up until that point. Was I enjoying myself? Yes. Did I think it was a good game? Not much of a game, but it was fun up until I pulled the plug.

The issue here is that everyone has a choice. It's been quoted here that 10m people enjoy Evony, and I suppose I could count myself as one of them, but I left. I didn't leave because I thought they were up to no good, I left because I didn't want to spend any money on in-game items. This is a technique that started in Asian markets where NOONE pays for software. They instead go with the idea of micropayments. I don't see what's wrong with that business model myself, but I'm sure Bruce will enlighten me and put me (and everyone else on TGE) in their place.

Bruce, please listen to us. We are trying to help. You are going in the wrong direction, fighting the wrong battles and those are just windmills on the horizon.

 

Bruce, There's been a lot of good advice in this thread, most of which you've been rude about or ignored. What does your wife think about all this? There's a real possibility that you could lose your shirt here. Are you not bothered about that?

 

E

But what, specifically, are you asking for money for now?

 

Are we all just being massively trolled here? What sort of ADD-riddled maniac runs screaming from a libel suit and then sets up a Facebook group to pimp out his libelous comments?


"Whilst advertised as being "free" to play it can actually be one of the most expensive games in the world to play."

.. eh.. unless Derren Brown is on the programming team and it's magically initiating PayPal requests behind my back, the only way a game can become 'expensive' is if I let it. Not those Commie Nazis in China (shurely some mishtake?), Me.

I bet I can make Eve be the 'most expensive game in the world' by going to Shattered Crystal and buying a thousand trillion ISK's worth of Game Time codes.

Doesn't make SC or CCP a bunch of fraudulent scoundrels, it makes me a previously-rich moron.

 

I've read every. single. post. that you've made on TCE for...well...since I joined years ago (including any links to documents).

Yes, I've read everything you've written about Evony, and I'd actually played it before you started to write about your issues you have with them...which actually means I know more about it than you.

Just to mention their microtranaction model for a moment: Just because they take a different model with microtransactions and decided to market it with airbrushed vajayjay, doesn't mean that theyre coming to eat our children.

Will you be writing about Blizzard/Activision being the devil? Because, if I want to change the name, race or visual features of my characters, or move them from one account or server to another...I have to pay money.

Or maybe you could go after TellTale because if I want to play Episode 2 of the Sam & Max, I have to pay money. So, to continue playing the game or to gain more content and features...I have to pay money.

Going after these Western companies too are we?

In fact, thinking about it, your actions could almost be seen as racist.

Considering that I've just thought that, you can bet your ass that Evony's well funded law team have thought it too. They'll be looking for ammunition to come at you with for all sort of purposes (including things like establishing your character - and I've no doubt they'll be copying and pasting many, many of the comments in this public section to do just that). You given them so, so much ammunition that for me it's gone beyond the "point and laugh at Bruce" joke that it was a year or two ago.

...Anyways, back to what I was mentioning before the transaction model:

I could write about what you've done wrong, why its wrong, the factual evidence against what youve been saying, the bizarre nature of why you chase Evony for certain things but not all the companies in the world doing the exact same things, and what you could possibly do to try to fix things...

...but as you have proven so many times, you will never listen. You will never learn. You will never, ever take any advice if it means you having to realise that you will need to hold your hand up and apologise for making a mistake.

So, given all that, then why should any of us on TCE bother giving you any advice other than a quick 2 seconds worth of google and then posting a picture like this?

 

Someone from a University?!!! OMG!!!

 

Mods - can we just move this thread to a private folder?

Seems like it's just generating noise for Bruce / Evony which isn't really related to TCE and will probably reflect badly on us.

 

Dear Bruce,

Please shut the fuck up. This was originally slightly entertaining, but your cretinous replies are tedious, evade direct questions and are now fucking annoying.

Nobody gives a shit about supporting your court case, (infact I'm tempted to just send some cash to Ebony in aid of them!). This isn't going to become another 'Mobigames' style case (because you are a twat) and if you think it is then you are more deluded then ever.

No wonder you were kicked out of the industry years ago. I've never read your blog, and I don't care to. I don't even know why I bother reading the public forums - at least in the private areas I don't have to read your bullshit - hence, I shall now stop reading the public forums.

Good night.

 

I have been following this thread with some interest and most of the time with some serious amusement and I thought I might just add something.

Surely if a legal business chooses a business model and markets a product then as long as they are not doing something fraudulent or illegal then they should be left alone.

I too played Evony some 3 or so months ago, took my one account past the 7 days limit and then stopped playing as the game didn't maintain my interest any more.

Not once did they force me to buy anything and not once did they try to "magically" steal money from my PayPal account. Unless things have drastically changed since then (and I recently checked the site again so I doubt it) then what right does anybody have to go after them.

They are a business (whether you like it or not) and there aim is to make money, they are not forcing people to pay for their services and you can play the game without having to pay an extra penny. So what if they are Chinese registered and who cares if they have tried to hide that fact (or so it is claimed) they have never forced any of their users to pay money across.

Personally I have experienced some of the users on Evony and the nature of the game is such that many of the players get emotionally attached to their outposts so badly that they end up back-stabbing their original "guild"/"alliance" members to prevent being wiped out. This game seems to have the tendency to bring out some of the worst characteristics of some players but not all are that bad.

So maybe you should be focussing on the players and not the business, after all it is the players who are forking out the money to pay for things. Instead of attacking the company in a public forum and begging for money (even if you aren't, the post title tends to lean in that direction) maybe you should make anti-evony and try to take players away from them ... probably be better use of your time and effort then getting flamed on these forums.


I don't really know you and this post is not intended to flame the fire or personally attack you hence me not using any personal insults or similar comments ... I would appreciate if you do the same and refrain from trying to attack me personally.

In any event, good luck with your endeavour (no matter how misguided some of us may feel it is), I will be focussing my time on more constructive things ... like spending time with my wife and working on my projects.

Good luck to you mate.

 

If I was Evony, I'd definitely consider suing Bruce. That bit implying they're anti-Semitic is beyond the pale on its own.

 

His ignorance regarding how the whole thing works reminds me of the parents who freaked out about the fact that you can watch porn on the Wii when using it to browse the net.

 

Noooo Puppy ... don't do that ... now we are going to get another rant about having to take action against WoW in order to save our children from being sacrificed to the Dark Gods.

BTW, Eve Online, Cities of Villains/Cities of Heroes, Warhammer Online and most of the other games all have free trial account ... but we all knew that already.


Furthermore, I was offered a further 14 days free a few months after cancelling my Warhammer Online account ... I played the 14 days and would you believe it, I didn't re-activate my account after that.

These are businesses and as a business man yourself (Bruce) I would think you would understand that businesses are there to make money.


On another note about the software downloaded doing stuff on your machine, why would anyone want to download software for a game that can be played in a browser. I am not sure if this has changed since I last looked at it but surely if you are dumb enough to download software for a game from a company that you don't know spit about ... then you deserve to have your details stolen or whatever the software does.


Anyway, this thread has probably gone on long enough ... I am off to get coffee.