Why are the PSO boards dead.

[Pumpkin-King]

PSO 1,2, and 4 boards are pretty much dead. I wish they were more active! Or if there were some other active ones out there...

[Ryna]

At this point, Episode 1 and 2 is over five years old. The Gamecube version is going through its last big hurrah before the official servers die. There are barely enough people left playing on the XBox and Blue Burst servers to make them notable. People have either moved on to private servers or have picked up other games to hold their interest.

[Mewone]

Oh, there are other active boards out there...you simply have to look. PSO isn't quite gone for good yet; the death of the official servers will hopefully be a small rebirth, at least.

[Splash]

Perhaps a "small rebirth" but it is still inevitable that it is nowhere near as active as 5 years ago.

[Mewone]

Of course not, but at least the remaining players can play safely now. It would certainly be nice to have so many players in one place again.

[FallenAngelV]

http://www.pso-world.com/viewforum.php?forum=20

There's your reason.

[Pumpkin-King]

But PSO is so fun...

[Drakorn]

To me, i think 3 years of game play is very good as i been on PSO since 2003 it nearly been 4 years for me and never ever said that i hate it cause its a very good game; there are odd times when i don't play it as i either bought a new game or thought of plsying on a different game, but i think this site will be still up with pso information.

[DC_PLAYER]

i still se people buying a dreamcast just to play pso or pso ver.2 , at this time private servers are a solution, but it is not dead, very far from that i think.....

[Callous]

Not being able to talk about the private servers is a major blockage to life picking up on these forums. It would no doubt provide a tremendous boost.

I assume that PSOW owners are concerned that Sega might cut them from the flow of information if they allowed talk about private servers. I don't see many exclusives on PSOW that originate from official information not avaliable to anyone with a browser, so I don't think there's much to lose, but ok.

As for legality issues, maybe a midway solution could be to allow people to talk about everything they experience on the private servers, meetup threads and so on, without allowing people to post actual links to the servers. I don't think that could pose any kind of legal issue for PSOW.

If things continue this way, it would really be pruedent to rename this site PSUW once all official PSO servers have gone offline, as there really would be very little reason for PSO players to go here outside of getting offline information.



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Callous on 2007-03-05 09:03 ]</font>

[Mewone]

It is due to their agreement with Gamespy, not with their "flow of information". There is a large portion of information on this site that is incorrect anyway, and very little of it likely came from Sega. However, remain patient for now.

[Callous]

I see, Mewone. Thanks for clearing that up http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_smile.gif If PSOW was to allow private server talk, I believe it could lead to another golden age of PSO.



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Callous on 2007-03-05 09:08 ]</font>

[Anuminus]

Sega and Sonic Team DO NOT support their former customers, and waiting for them to "acknowledge" private servers is ridiculous. Online PSO should be experienced by everyone who wants to as Sega does not care about us. Playing online is a great experience, and PSO is mean't to be enjoyed. All I have to say.

[Ketchup345]

On 2007-03-05 08:56, Mewone wrote:
It is due to their agreement with Gamespy, not with their "flow of information". There is a large portion of information on this site that is incorrect anyway, and very little of it likely came from Sega. However, remain patient for now.
If you see any info that is wrong, please post about it in Site Related so that it can be fixed as soon as possible.

As said above, we get very, very little info from Sega/ST, the majority of our info is from users, so it does need to be corrected every once in a while.

About renaming the site PSUW:
PSU-World.com currently redirects to our homepage.

You are allowed to talk about in-game experiences online on the other servers. You just can't name or ask for the names of private servers (names also includes links of course).

[Out_Kast]

The boards aren't 'dead' as such.
There's still a couple of people around.

But I blame PSU.
Not that it isn't a good game. It's just much more popular than PSO at the moment.
http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_wacko.gif

[Mewone]

On 2007-03-05 13:24, Ketchup345 wrote: If you see any info that is wrong, please post about it in Site Related so that it can be fixed as soon as possible.

As said above, we get very, very little info from Sega/ST, the majority of our info is from users, so it does need to be corrected every once in a while.

I would, but I'm more focused on slowly compiling my own site. >.>

[Pumpkin-King]

You are allowed to talk about in-game experiences online on the other servers. You just can't name or ask for the names of private servers (names also includes links of course).

Okay so we are aloud to talk about free servers/are experiances as long as we don't mention any names or codes?

[Ketchup345]

On 2007-03-05 13:42, Mewone wrote:
I would, but I'm more focused on slowly compiling my own site. >.>While making your own site, it would be nice to at least point out just a few corrections that need to be made. The mods here are generally too busy with other things to go searching for errors, so we only update what we see as being wrong and what we are told is wrong. Without normal members posting about what needs to be fixed, this site can not grow to be as good as it can be.


On 2007-03-05 13:58, Pumpkin-King wrote:
Okay so we are aloud to talk about free servers/are experiances as long as we don't mention any names or codes?Yes, as long as it is kept general.
Ryna said on 9-9-2006 (http://www.pso-world.com/viewtopic.php?topic=119188&forum=4):
Just to clarify, we only allow discussion about private servers in a very general sense. We may reconsider that position once most of the PSO servers have shutdown or Sonic Team voices its approval for private servers. Talking about the details or linking to private servers is still considered a rules violations.



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Ketchup345 on 2007-03-05 14:17 ]</font>

[Pumpkin-King]

Okay thankyou.

[Ryno]

On 2007-03-05 05:30, Drakorn wrote:
To me, i think 3 years of game play is very good as i been on PSO since 2003 it nearly been 4 years for me and never ever said that i hate it cause its a very good game; there are odd times when i don't play it as i either bought a new game or thought of plsying on a different game, but i think this site will be still up with pso information.



http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_smile.gif

[Callous]

On 2007-03-05 13:24, Ketchup345 wrote:
You are allowed to talk about in-game experiences online on the other servers. You just can't name or ask for the names of private servers (names also includes links of course).

That's a start, and really good to have clarified :)

[Mewone]

On 2007-03-05 14:12, Ketchup345 wrote:
While making your own site, it would be nice to at least point out just a few corrections that need to be made. The mods here are generally too busy with other things to go searching for errors, so we only update what we see as being wrong and what we are told is wrong. Without normal members posting about what needs to be fixed, this site can not grow to be as good as it can be.

Too busy making posters feel paranoid that they may be doing something wrong by even thinking about a free server. Just like a certain moderator was too busy crying and handing out warnings over me posting a PM that never stated it was intended to be secret in the first place.

Actually, that's my first suggestion for a "correction". Change this rule's text:

"Do not post messages from Private Email/Private Mail/Private Logs if they are meant to be private."

-to this:

"Do not post messages from Private Email/Private Mail/Private Logs. Ever. You will be banned."

That way, when a mod sends a user a warning, and said user mocks it in the rants forum -thinking it was some half-assed, mechanical warning (and not a life-threatening, top secret message)- the mod can legitimately say that "This was definitely not one of those cases" when handing that user another warning.

Maybe if I felt I were contributing to something that wouldn't utterly insult my efforts, I'd try to help. After all, PSO-World would most certainly not accept game information from someone who plays on a free server. Don't mock me. http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_smile.gif

[Anuminus]

There is a stereotype about free servers and the people that play on them, but really we're just regular PSO players like everyone else who would like to play with each other. All we want is for people to not be sheltered and misled to believe that free servers are bad and full of hackers. Some people don't even know that they exist.

I can fully understand if there are restrictions from Gamespy that do not allow the posting of links to free servers, but as Mewone said, personal messages should be personal, and freedom of speech should be allowed on this subject. Sega does not care about free servers. Let me repeat myself, Sega does not care about free servers.

I do have one question (if it is allowed), Is Gamespy the one who is not allowing the posting of free servers, or is it the beliefs of the moderators? This changes my opinion of these boards a lot. Whether the mods are willingly stopping discussion and expansion of this great game, or whether the owners of this server do not allow such discussion interests me greatly.

This game is not dead, google is your friend. (I would laugh/cry if I got banned for linking google XD)

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Anuminus on 2007-03-06 00:55 ]</font>

[Ketchup345]

On 2007-03-05 23:41, Mewone wrote:
Too busy making posters feel paranoid that they may be doing something wrong by even thinking about a free server. Just like a certain moderator was too busy crying and handing out warnings over me posting a PM that never stated it was intended to be secret in the first place.

Actually, that's my first suggestion for a "correction". Change this rule's text:

"Do not post messages from Private Email/Private Mail/Private Logs if they are meant to be private."

-to this:

"Do not post messages from Private Email/Private Mail/Private Logs. Ever. You will be banned."

That way, when a mod sends a user a warning, and said user mocks it in the rants forum -thinking it was some half-assed, mechanical warning (and not a life-threatening, top secret message)- the mod can legitimately say that "This was definitely not one of those cases" when handing that user another warning.

Maybe if I felt I were contributing to something that wouldn't utterly insult my efforts, I'd try to help. After all, PSO-World would most certainly not accept game information from someone who plays on a free server. Don't mock me. http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_smile.gif

Issues with moderators should be dealt with between you and the moderator and Tomeeboy. My interpretation of the rule on PMs was more of: unless both parties agree to having it posted, keep it private.

We would accept info from someone who played on a free server, as long as it involved the game and did not involve something only on a private server.
I believe though there have been a few threads that talk about how to play some quests on private servers, you can do forum searches for those. They often included no more than the quest name and a walkthrough. Once the thread stops talking about the quest itself, then it is in danger of a lock (and possible warnings). Do note that these will not be turned into official guides (until Sega says something about private servers?).



On 2007-03-06 00:46, Anuminus wrote:
There is a stereotype about free servers and the people that play on them, but really we're just regular PSO players like everyone else who would like to play with each other. All we want is for people to not be sheltered and misled to believe that free servers are bad and full of hackers. Some people don't even know that they exist.

I can fully understand if there are restrictions from Gamespy that do not allow the posting of links to free servers, but as Mewone said, personal messages should be personal, and freedom of speech should be allowed on this subject. Sega does not care about free servers. Let me repeat myself, Sega does not care about free servers.

I do have one question (if it is allowed), Is Gamespy the one who is not allowing the posting of free servers, or is it the beliefs of the moderators? This changes my opinion of these boards a lot. Whether the mods are willingly stopping discussion and expansion of this great game, or whether the owners of this server do not allow such discussion interests me greatly.

This game is not dead, google is your friend. (I would laugh/cry if I got banned for linking google XD)
I don't think this site is trying to make people believe that private servers are bad. There may be a stereotype, but not everyone feels that private servers are bad. Specifics about private servers are just against our policy.

Your comments about the personal messages are true, they should be kept private unless both parties say that they can be released.

I believe it is Gamespy/IGN that does not allow us to post anything more than generalizations about free servers. Until Sega actually specifically says that private servers are fine, I think they fall under the "technically illegal, just not enforced" area, which Gamespy/IGN prevents us from keeping posted. You can PM Tomeeboy or Ryna for more info on who exactly makes us enforce that specific rule. Ok, I found a post by Ryna saying it is Gamespy that does not allow it.

[CM_vs_HP]

I dont understand why people complain about the information here.
Most of it is reliable or was taken directly from the ripped gc files.drop chart and ennemy stats anyone?


as for the private server...
time have changed and now with the new possibility ahead
to be able to enjoy this great game without fear and with a **** load of amazing players..
PSO get a good ending.



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: CM_vs_HP on 2007-03-06 07:56 ]</font>

[Ryna]

Any guides added within the last couple of years should be fairly accurate. Some of the oldest guides on the site are out-of-date and may contain information that is contradictory/no longer true. I've never taken the time to go through and weed out those guides.

When updating site information, we don't care about the in-game actions of the person submitting the information. We only care about their actions and attitude on the forum. Also, the information has to be accurate.

In regards to private servers, our hosting arrangement with Gamespy states that there cannot be discussions about illegal activities. The powers-that-be view private servers as being illegal. As such, we had to implement a fairly strong private server policy. Anyone caught posting guides, linking to, or making veiled references to private server websites will be disciplined and the offending posts edited/deleted. That policy will probably only change if Sonic Team makes a statement that endorses private servers - which is highly unlikely.



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Ryna on 2007-03-06 07:22 ]</font>

[otana_uk]

If a lot of Japanese players were to start using the private servers, then ST might take notice. But I doubt they even know they exist. People having been hacking and creating their own genesis roms of sonic the hedgehog for years. There are even level editors avaliable now. Some of them are really good and even include elements cut from the original game that were still in the code. Recently in an inteview, Yuji Naka said he had no idea such things even existed.

PSO will never be as important for the people who made it, as it is for the fans. For ST it is just a product to put food on their tables. Don't expect anything.

[Mewone]

I have better things to do than help to improve this site's database so that even more players will be referred here, only to be trapped in ignorance of the free server by posting on these boards.

Oh, and I'm already talking to the moderator on the issue (Ryna), and I get nothing in response but mechanical responses like the one you just gave me. Is the posting of a mechanical-sounding message saying that I was warned (and then mocking it, hahaha) a violation of Gamespy policy as well? Because apparently it is a "very serious violation of the rules". Seriously, there were lives at stake! I find the way that the mods here mindlessly hand out warns and bans -without considering that the reason they've done so was a very small, non-threatening offense- to be pathetic. I find it even more sad that in order to bring this type of thing to light, I have to post about it in public to avoid a mindless response of "It is a against the rules. I am right." Then again, I'll still get that, even here. But this way, the average poster can see it more clearly for what it is.

Is spying on members' Private Messages against the rules? Or should we all be expected to send PMs in code these days, to prevent moderators from reading them? How often do you see postal workers ripping open citizens' mail because they suspect there may be something illegal inside? It's the same concept, but that will never be considered because "rules are rules," no matter how ridiculous they are.

I genuinely think it is as Anuminus has suggested...it's not entirely the agreement with Gamespy; the people with power here hate the private server just as much. It's evident from the way his question was evaded by simply stating Gamespy policy -just another response that may as well have been automated. When ST goes down, how many of you will go to play on the private server? What are your feelings on it?

...or are you going to feed me some line about how that doesn't matter, or to make a new topic to which you will never respond directly?

[Ryna]

I've already explained how the private server rule came into being. If we were to allow discussion of private servers, we would be in violation of our hosting agreement.

You're trying to create the illusion of moderator bias where it simply doesn't exist.

For the record, moderators have never and will never have the ability to read private messages.

Anyways, since this thread has gone off-topic into matters involving personal affairs, I am going to lock this thread.