U.S. servers severed from rest of world... Is it just me, or

[Suenia]

Well, I was not too long ago considering finally upgrading my DC PSO to version 2 now that the price has come down, but if this is permanent, there's no way in hell I'm paying cash out of my own pocket for this now.

I'm astonished nobody's mentioned it yet, but Sega recently saw fit to cut off U.S. servers access to the rest of the world on the Dreamcast PSO. I've confirmed that it affects both ver.1 and ver.2 users, and I can only guess that Euro servers have been severed off from Japan as well.

I would like to believe that this is only temporary, but not only have I heard no mention of it from Sega on their PSO site or on the "Information" booth in the actual game (as though they ever used it), but, well, it only makes sense. Recently, countless Japanese players have been playing in the U.S. instead of their home servers, and not because they wanted to play with U.S. players. U.S. and European players have been doing the same to Japan's and eachother's regional servers. I certainly never saw large groups of French and Spanish players hanging out in major Japanese blocks a year ago, that's for sure. All this overseas activity costs Sega money, and I believe that's why they wanted to cut it off completely.

I don't know about you guys, but I am severely pissed. When I was most into PSO, early last year, the biggest reason I had to go online was to meet and play with my Japanese friends. It was a challenge attempting to communicate, but it was a unique experience in bridging the cultural gap and the language barrier through use of the word select and our knowledge of eachother's languages. I learned more about Japanese, and just before they cut off access to the JPN network I tested what I'd learned from the year of Japanese classes I just completed by playing a successful game with a JPN player who didn't speak any English, without having to resort to the Word Select more than about 10% of the time.

And yet, now I'm not even sure I can MAIL that person anymore. I'm still searching my Guild Card list in the hopes that I'll be able to at least contact the remaining Japanese people I know who still come on, even though I won't be able to play with them. ;P There are also a couple of people in England whom I know I won't be able to meet online anymore. For a good 1/3rd of my contact list, I may have no way to contact them ever again even if they are online.

What's more, the word select is almost completely worthless now. One of the major selling points of the original version of the game has been completely abandoned. Back in my heyday, one of my best memories I had was of a non-passworded game played on a European server, where throughout the course of the existance of the team, one player of each major language setting joined the game and played for awhile. Seven players total, and among us there were something like 5 different languages, and yet we had a great time. I was translating German into simple English for a Japanese person, at one point. That was the reason I loved playing on European servers the most, where people of every language would hang out. You don't get that kind of exposure in America.

I may not pay for the service I'm getting now, but I am certain that if I were, I would very likely refuse to spend my hard-earned money on it anymore. I may get the Gamecube version of PSO after all, but after this, my faith in Sega to regulate a playable online environment has been shaken once again. I would not buy the GC version at all if I had confirmation that Sega would be likely to do this again during my span of participation in their online community. If any of you with a Dreamcast PSO ver.2 are equally angry about this attempt by Sega to cut bandwidth, I encourage you to write them and tell them you may discontinue your online use of the game as a result of their choice. I want do so myself, but my complaint is not worth as much as a ver.1 user. Sega may not get enough money from DC PSO game sales to be worth upholding this selling point, but they still get a steady no-strings-attached flow of cash from its remaining users, who opt to continue paying the price of playing online.


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Suenia on 2002-07-21 02:41 ]</font>


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Suenia on 2002-08-02 11:13 ]</font>

[Ambrai]

While irritating, its not unexpected. Please take this objectivly, but the Japanese are, by culture, racists. To explain.. The Japanese culture is driven to support only the Japanese. Did you know that less than 3 years ago an American distributer of Rice was arrested for attempting to sell foriegn rice in Japan? Basically they have a 'we protect our own' mentality, and I fully support this. If America took this standpoint, we could take care of the starving people on OUR streets, and not some other country.

But aside from that, it's possible that enough Japanese players had a bad experiance with American players that Sega Corp decided to cut the lines between them. And its also possible that they just removed the routers to save bandwith for a product they are not getting anymore income from. All speculation mind you.

[Suenia]

Hmm, I wasn't expecting to a get a reply so quickly. ^_^

Please pardon my rantiness tonight. When you add up the price of keyboard, memory cards, game, etc., not to mention the possibility of getting the Gamecube version, it's nothing to sneeze at, so I tend to get huffy. I realize that something like this happening is an eventual inevitability, since nobody plays online games forever, but you hope to get what you're promised even if it becomes less desirable over time.

I've been studying Japan for about a year now, and there's a LOT I don't know... but what you're saying strikes me as the sort of thing they'd called "nationalist" as opposed to "racist," whether its true or not... You're right; the average working man in Japan is probably motivated by the idea that he is benefitting his company and his country, so what you say seems quite possible... I won't know how racist Japan is until I visit the country, but I get a lot of conflicting impressions about their attitude towards outsiders in the U.S. Do they like us or not?... I guess it's a mixed bag...

I wouldn't be surprised if there were people writing in and complaining about the U.S. players. However... it sure is hyppocritical, to sell a game as worldwide and then submit to such complaints. Besides which, I've seen just as many lame Japanese players out there as lame American ones. And if so many are complaining, why do they play on U.S. ships? I really don't know... it doesn't make any sense....

So... Any speculations are welcome, because I certainly have no clue myself. : Even if few people care what happens, it really is vexing to not know what the heck is going on.



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Suenia on 2002-07-21 02:59 ]</font>

[Ambrai]

Well from what I have heard from word of mouth from many friends IN Japan currently is this...

Your more than welcome to visit Japan, just don't stay and pollute the bloodlines.

If your Black, don't go.... I find this very very funny because they love to dress like American Gansta Rap stars.

Do remember that Japan, in whole, is a tiny ass island, and they have enough problems with the massive population. As stated in history, the main reason they entered into wars outside the country was for expansionism.

[Fallen-Angel]

Well, us EU can goto any other ship, US and JP. Its just US thats had the links taken away...

[BrokenHope]

This is only really affecting US players, when they first sign in JP and EU players can pick any ship, but as soon as they go onto the US ship they are stuck and have to disconnect and log back on if they want to pick a different ship.

[Ouroboros]

I haven't played in half a year, but from what I remember, the US servers had this problem (albeit temporarily) a lot.

Don't suppose it'll make you feel much better, but when I decided to go into the US ship (from the EU servers) and became stuck, I couldn't search for people on the EU or JP servers using guild cards. But when I disconnected and rejoined the EU / JP servers, I could search and find them again. In other words, you won't be able to search for people on EU / JP ships while you're stuck on the US ship.

[Defend]

Hang on, what's happening? Can US people not select JP or EU ships at all, even from the login screen?

[BrokenHope]

On 2002-07-21 06:33, Defend wrote:
Hang on, what's happening? Can US people not select JP or EU ships at all, even from the login screen?



No they can't Defend, but jp and EU people can from the log on screen unless they choose to goto a US ship then they become stuck untill they d/c and relogon

[TeamPhalanx]

No need to panic, people; something similar to this has happened before.

That said, I'll be really pissed off if this is premanent since I recently lost my s-rank needle thanks to an ob lilly and the server d/cing me.

Bah, it's not like there are many US players on anyway. Too many damn cheap v1 people on Miranda 07 http://www.pso-world.com/psoworld/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_razz.gif

[HC82]

I remeber doing a guild card search for Japanese players and I just bypassed the fact that the US servers won't allow you to go to the JP servers. I warped straight to the Japanese server via guild card.

Harrassment might be an issue for it being locked. Of course it goes both ways.

I've met mostly really nice Japanese players myself.



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: HC82 on 2002-07-21 07:12 ]</font>

[neko-chan]

It happened to me in RL: if you go to Shinjuku, many clubs have a sign that says: "No gajin" (No foreign people allowed).

They think in this way, not all the JP ppl, but some of them.

[SnAPPUrU-nyan-ko]

If it stops some of the lobby FSOD/RSOD and NOLing, I doubt the links will go back up =>__<=.

[saffaya]

Hey .. will you all chill out ?
Every week-end there is a good 30% chances that this happens.
You have to wait till monday in the Us, when the guy at Sega they couldn't pay for week-ends hours is back to work, and restarts what is needed.

How can this thread deviate to the Japanese being racists ? Gee ..

[saffaya]

Please take this objectivly, but the Japanese are, by culture, racists. To explain.. The Japanese culture is driven to support only the Japanese. Did you know that less than 3 years ago an American distributer of Rice was arrested for attempting to sell foriegn rice in Japan?


You make it sound like that there is no foreign product sold in japan.
Or that no foreign company is making money there.

I'll spare you the speech on how 'free trade' is an american myth.



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: saffaya on 2002-07-21 08:49 ]</font>

[Defend]

Ah I see hehe.. doesn't this happen fairly commonly? How long has this one been going?

Doesn't bother me too much.. but would suck yes. Ambrai's comments are scary...

[saffaya]

It happened to me in RL: if you go to Shinjuku, many clubs have a sign that says: "No gajin" (No foreign people allowed).

They think in this way, not all the JP ppl, but some of them.


Remember that the PKer, CKer, moron player types of PSO also exist in real life.
Plus cultural differences makes that being foreigner gives them a 80% chance you'll misbehave in that club.
It's not a good excuse, just an explanation.
They did only start to put these signs after experiencing troubles.

[Wewt]

I'm surprised people are that angry over this, it's not like it hasn't happened before. Count yourself lucky you wasn't around last year on v2 when there were constant BSODs...

[neko-chan]

On 2002-07-21 08:56, saffaya wrote:

It's not a good excuse, just an explanation.
They did only start to put these signs after experiencing troubles.



Yeah... but this doesn't happen in Italy (where I live), USA, UK, France (as far as I remember, I'm talking about places I've been).

Why this happens in Japan?

And (another example) why when I sit down in a JP train (or undergound) no one wants to sit near me, even if the train is fully crowded? I'm always clean, well dressed and I'm not scary...

Maybe "racist" is a wrong word but in some JP heads there's something against foreigners.

[Wewt]

All Oriental cultures as whole are like that. They like to keep to themselves, of course there are exceptions.

[saffaya]

Yeah... but this doesn't happen in Italy (where I live), USA, UK, France (as far as I remember, I'm talking about places I've been).
Why this happens in Japan?


These countries you list are all occidental.
Plus the fact that Japan is an island with a very homogenic population/culture.


And (another example) why when I sit down in a JP train (or undergound) no one wants to sit near me, even if the train is fully crowded? I'm always clean, well dressed and I'm not scary...


... dunno what to say. Never experienced such a thing. Never noticed anything.
Even had females sitting near me.(I'm male and not especially attractive).


Maybe "racist" is a wrong word but in some JP heads there's something against foreigners.


Yes. It's part of old-fashionned mindset still alive in Japan.
But that's not the only way in which it shows. There are a lot of fathers who don't really want their daughters to do a lot of studies or have a professionnal career for example.

[Strider_Gren]

On 2002-07-21 03:06, Ambrai wrote:

If your Black, don't go.... I find this very very funny because they love to dress like American Gansta Rap stars.



What if youare Russian or Swedish, perhaps even Afganistanese? Damn culturally racist tiny people!


EDIT: I'm just ranting, pay me no mind


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Strider_Gren on 2002-07-21 11:18 ]</font>

[Shadow_Blade]

I think the japanese are all still made about WW2 and the A-bomb. It's just like in 50 years if someone asked you if you were mad at Afganistan for what they have done.

It's human nature.

[Wewt]

On 2002-07-21 11:19, Shadow_Blade wrote:
I think the japanese are all still made about WW2 and the A-bomb. It's just like in 50 years if someone asked you if you were mad at Afganistan for what they have done.

It's human nature.


Or...most cultures like to keep to themselves.

[Parn]

About the server thing, it's just a netsplit. Happens to IRC networks all the time.

People really need to slow down a bit... this isn't the first time the US server has been "cut off" so to speak. It's not an intentional thing.

[drspock]

Regarding these comments about nationlism, I think some of you hit the head on the nail. Japan, yes, is a very nationalist country. It's this mentality that allows them to be a production powerhouse, and also allows for bragging rights (I'm sure we've all heard American vs. Japanese product jokes).

In regard to visiting there, Japan is very hospitible. Tourists are treated nicely, because we bring in revenue.

A good friend of mine visited Japan recently, he is black. His comments about Japan were on the whole great, aside from his sensations that while Japan loves tourists, the longer you stay, the more awkward you feel.

It's interesting that one comment about intermingling of bloodlines in Japan. The Japanese are not happy when say a white business man comes to Japan and trys to court or marry a Japanese women. It's a lot like the Italian/Sicilian culture. They do not want outside blood in the family, or worse, a child or grandchild not of pure blood (sounds like a vampire flick).

Odd though that here in the states, local Japanese women are often pressured by family to marry a white male, under the assumption that he will be a better provider.

Worlds apart, no?

[TeamPhalanx]

On 2002-07-21 12:00, drspock wrote:
They do not want outside blood in the family, or worse, a child or grandchild not of pure blood (sounds like a vampire flick)....


Dumpeal's rule!

[VulpesMundi]

On 2002-07-21 08:47, Defend wrote:
Ah I see hehe.. doesn't this happen fairly commonly? How long has this one been going?


Approximately three days as of this post. This is certainly the longest stretch the network has been fubar. Last time the network split like this it was actually the JP server that got isolated. If any of you are frequent c-mode players you'll remember that this was when the official c-mode block was moved from Miranda:11+ to Io:11+. Give it time. It'll be worked out. Though I must admit I'm ansy to get back to the JP servers so I can go to Io:11, amoung other places.

[Kent]

Or maybe Sega just decided to quarintine the spread of infectious hackers...

[neko-chan]

On 2002-07-21 10:54, saffaya wrote:

These countries you list are all occidental.
Plus the fact that Japan is an island with a very homogenic population/culture.


Yes. But Japan is the most "western" of asian countries. And Tokyo is the most "western" of JP cities.

And, beside this, in France, Italy, UK, etc... all the people are the same. In France I know some people had problems with immigrates from North Africa. But I strongly doubt to find in Paris any "Africans not allowed" sign on bars or pubs. This for your principle of "egalite'", right?

In the same way "No gajin" can't happen in Italy (where I live). It's against our constitution. You can't forbid access to a public places to anyone (if it's a private club, ok, but in any way you can't discriminate the race, religion, personal believes, etc).

My gf is Japanese. If we go to the pub here (in Italy) and we find a sing saying "No Japanese allowed" I simply call the police and send them to the pub, right?

Why I can't have the same rights in Japan?

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: beatneko on 2002-07-21 14:20 ]</font>

[Rotis]

On 2002-07-21 14:12, beatneko wrote:
And, beside this, in France, Italy, UK, etc... all the people are the same. In France I know some people had problems with immigrates from North Africa. But I strongly doubt to find in Paris any "Africans not allowed" sign on bars or pubs. This for your principle of "egalite'", right?

Makes me think of the old "No Irish Need Apply" stuff.

I've never been to Japan--I have zero interest in going there--but I've known people who have... they've all said that everyone was very polite to them but never actually friendly.

You know that if we put up signs saying "No Japanese Allowed" (or "No <insert specific race here> Allowed") here in the United States, people would throw a massive fit. Flimsy excuses of "oh, but we're just being nationalistic!" wouldn't cut it.

[Ambrai]

You make it sound like that there is no foreign product sold in japan.
Or that no foreign company is making money there.

I'll spare you the speech on how 'free trade' is an american myth.




Go do some homework on the Japanese laws for Import/Export trades. Japan does not allow imports of goods that it can grow/manufacture in the country. This puts a large vice on the flow of imports into Japan. Yet we allow Japanese computers, Japanese cars, Japanese housewares ect ect ect.

[Zio]

I remember a long time ago JP players would go into open US games and steal weapons from players when they died. Happened to me once. I have met a friendly JP player who has BA with me once and a while. Usually Japanese players I have met online are polite. I guess cheating on US ships is a problem, but also many cheaters bought the import version to cheat since theyre are many codes that do not work with the US version.

[Drayma]

I always ask if I can join a japanese game before piping down. Sometimes another japanese player joins and will pk me right before darkfalls dies so I don't get the exp pts. Then the other players feel sorry for me and want to give me stuff, lol.

Yea maybe its best to keep the servers seperate and I will buy a Xbox instead of a cube.

[saffaya]

And, beside this, in France, Italy, UK, etc... all the people are the same.

?? Sorry ? all people are the same ?
What do you mean ?


In France I know some people had problems with immigrates from North Africa. But I strongly doubt to find in Paris any "Africans not allowed" sign on bars or pubs. This for your principle of "egalite'", right?


Right. Though it's hard to tell that to the big guys at the club's entrance when they don't want to let you in.


In the same way "No gajin" can't happen in Italy (where I live).


As you know, Gaijin means foreigner.
Not white, not black, or any other blend.
As such, 'no Gaijin' doesnt prevent a part of Japan's own population of entering the club.
In France (for example), since we have about all blends, any specifications (black, arabic, asaitic etc ...
) would turn against legit citizens automatically.


Why I can't have the same rights in Japan?


That's not the problem.
The problem are the stupid foreigners that made fuss and mess in these clubs before you could go there.
What the 'no gaijin sign' removed ? sure.
But that won't get you pass the big guys at the entrance when they say NO to you.

[Mazarin]

Simple, simple stuff.

I'm not saying this as a whole, blanket statement. C'mon, I live here too, you know. There are plenty of acceptions to this. It's just easier than writing a huge, pinpoint list than can just be lazily generalized. So here goes:

American's are assholes.

Where are *most* of the cheat devices set up? The US. Where are *most* of the game hack codes and such made for console, as well as PC games created? The US. And when you play online, weather it's Bualdur's, Diablo, or PSO, where are most of the theiving, annoying gamers from? The US.

Not saying that England, Germany, and Japan hasn't spawned their share of people who deserve an inoperable tumor @ the base of their skulls...

But on a note larger than any videogame expance, here in the US, we have it easy(relative to the rest of the world) And yet, we continue to bitch about our "hardships." "I was too stupid to realize that this fresh coffee I just spilled on me would be hot, so I sued," and other typical crap the US has allowed to become acceptable. Other people, countries, and such, find it insulting that we squander our freedoms(which we still piss and moan that we still aren't free) that they don't have. Some willing to become so vengefull of what we have, and what we decide to do with it, they crash airborn vehicles into populated landmarks.

Granted, I've gone WAY beyond the realms of MORPG's, people across the world are still racist/jealous/what have you, about Americans.

But to me, there's no wonder why the rest of the world hates US.

[neko-chan]

On 2002-07-22 00:59, saffaya wrote:
That's not the problem.

Pardon me but it is. Even if this kind of behavior is "accepted" in Japan, their constitution (as France one, Italy one, USA one and so on) *does* state that people are equal, despite their race, religion, etc...

So, the "no Gajin" sign is simply outlaw.

This behavior is totally racist and break the law.

I feel offended every time I see this sign. and I don't care the reason why they put this sign (other foreigners doing the mess? well... it's their problem, not mine).

[BWS-1]

On 2002-07-21 10:31, WWWWWWWWWWWW wrote:
All Oriental cultures as whole are like that. They like to keep to themselves, of course there are exceptions.



True, remember how Bruce Lee fought for his right to teaach foreigners (mostly americans) his way of fighting? If it wouldn't have been of him, I'd probably still be doing lame box or poor wresling techniques ...

Now geneticly talking, preserving the bloodline within the contry has it's advantages, the genetical strengh are boosted, but so are the weaknesses, like dogs, a pur bread of dog will probably run faster, but a bastard kind will most likely resist sicknesses better then the pur ''o-loook-at-me-I'm-unique'' bread of dog. Mixing races rises every aspects of the genes, staying in one bloodline will surely rise some aspect faster then if you mix, but it will rise weaknesses, and that is why I'll be laughing hard if I hear that after bombing of let say, bacterial bombs, all of japan as been decimated from this plag ... I'd be like, IN YOUR FACE! NOW HOW IMPORTANT WAS THAT FOR YOU TO STAY ... ''PUR'' YOU END UP DEAD! HAHA THAT'LL TEACH YALL TO THINK YOU ARE THE BEST ... sorry about that but, the more I look at it, the more I'm thinking that the japanese people are the next ''we want to create the best race'' people since Hitler's reign ... I do respect japanese people, but if they don't respect us, just because we are not, japanese, that is plain stupid and stubburness ... and I don'T see then, why they sould deserve respect.

[child]

The racist, pure-bloodlined, Japanese nationalists fixed the servers last night... http://www.pso-world.com/psoworld/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_razz.gif

[Ian D]

On 2002-07-22 12:39, child wrote:
The racist, pure-bloodlined, Japanese nationalists fixed the servers last night... http://www.pso-world.com/psoworld/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_razz.gif



Ownage.

[BaronLaw]

Racism is more prominent in Asia than in the USA in that there are less protections against prejudicial practices than in America. Although I cannot speak to Japan, China had some serious turmoil concerning black male students on campus mingling with Chinese girls. Riots actually erupted and one campus promulgated regulations on black males visiting Chinese women on university grounds. Interestingly enough, similar outrage isn't apparent when white men seek the company of Chinese girls.

BaronLaw

[Mag_Launcher]

Drayma... The GC version is gonna have connections to the JP servers as well, no need to worry about that... Oh, by the way, if you mean you want to AVOID JP servers, then you won't be able to avoid them in the Xbox version, so please, buy the Gamecube version instead, at least you KNOW you're getting more stuff in the GC version. (Hey, you can't switch systems just because someone said something bad about one on a board, right?)

[VariantXL]

Um.... it was only temporary.... dont be too angry. I dont know the reason exactly for the US server being completely isolated from the other 2 regions, but it and previous happenings do raise a question of why all the weird crap happens on the US servers and yet not on the EU and JP servers.

[Dangerous55]

I am not suprised, the Japanese have always hated us. Even when we let them rebuild there country, and didnt let Uncle Joe gobble it up and turn it into "Japan: Now part of the USSR". Or how about when we protected their country for over 50 years, they seem to forget all that stuff. And you just know that when they talk to us there just saying, "Oh, hello Money, how are you doing, welcome to Japan Money."

[rbf2000]

On 2002-07-22 23:49, Dangerous55 wrote:
Or how about when we protected their country for over 50 years, they seem to forget all that stuff.
Well, that's because we won't let them have an army, airforce, and we will never let them have a navy again. So we had to protect them. I could understand being a bit bitter about that.

[Dangerous55]

On 2002-07-22 23:56, rbf2000 wrote:

On 2002-07-22 23:49, Dangerous55 wrote:
Or how about when we protected their country for over 50 years, they seem to forget all that stuff.
Well, that's because we won't let them have an army, airforce, and we will never let them have a navy again. So we had to protect them. I could understand being a bit bitter about that.




They have an airforce and an army, is not impressive though.

I think they would rather never have a navy then be Communist and in economic collapse.

[Suenia]

Wow. This has turned into quite a topic.

First, let me thank you people for putting up with my excessive rantage. ^_^ It was a bit pre-emptive, I suppose, but I got rather frustrating when I couldn't find ANY post or news item explaining this mess. The post here was to find out what the heck was going on, and I got a little overzealous.

As far as the people who say it was overreacting because it's happened many times before, well, I /haven't/ been online on PSO for awhile, and it didn't happen once in all the time that I actually was playing. I had started to assume it was a permanent thing when I failed to find anyone online who would tell me it had happened before, and it had gone on for something like 7-8 days. I know for sure it was well over three days, and while IRC has similar netsplits, they tend to take something like 5 minutes to a few hours to fix, not a whole week.

So anyway, I overreacted a bit, but understand why I was upset. It's certainly a weird server problem, at any rate, if it was unintentional...

*****

Anyway... as far as the ongoing cultural discussion... racism is alive in every country known to man, last I heard, it just varies in degrees. I'm sure it varies a lot within Japan, too. I'm hoping Tokyo is one of the better parts, because that's likely where I will be going.

Without responding to anyone in particular, I wanted to say what I know from my first year of studies as an International Studies major. Since this has been my main focus for the past year, I have a lot to say since I find it very interesting, but there's also a lot I don't know yet, and probably won't know until I spend a good 1-3 years in Japan. But, I'll try to keep it to what I know for sure. ^_^

Racism... hmm... Japan is descended from an isolationist culture that opened up its borders originally under the threat of violence, and from there on it was a matter of making the best of the situation until the country started to become screwed over itself... then a whole ton of awful stuff happened, and WWII came around. Then, after the occupation, we met an extreme paradox between the pride of the Japanese culture and the shame of what their government had come to. I'm sure plenty of Japanese people have a LOT of conflict among them over what parts of their country they are proud of, too, and naturally, it's always the youngest of the bunch who are most ready to cling to new ways. In this case that often includes Western ideas.

And remember, emulating our ideas of politics and rights isn't always the same as emulating our culture, though there is obviously overlap, since human beings as a general rule are rather preoccupied with symbols. In any case, it's pretty obvious there's much more of a discrepancy of opinions on foreigners now than there was a few generations ago. Also, being foreigners, a lot of us think racism is the cause for certain stances among the Japanese people, but sometimes its just a result of differences in what they view as best for them as a country and as individuals. Japan has a population problem, sure, but it's a lot more complicated than having too many people. It's also that they have too many old people, due to a huge drop in the marriage and birth rates, and not enough young people are supporting extended families anymore. You think we have social security problems? Japan has it really bad, and it's happening right now rather than 10 years down the line.

Women in Japan are meeting very little motivation to get married, so a lot of them want to come to work in America, but sometimes back home it seems to others like they're abandoning their families. Women in Japan may get much lower wages, but while they're unmarried, they're earning a good deal of money without anyone to support but themselves. In the grand scheme of things, a lot of them seem to believe they have it pretty good, and even better if they get to the U.S. where jobs pay better.

They can't always stay permanently, though. My first year Japanese teacher just recently had to return home because she couldn't renew her Visa, after being here as a professor for 15 years. She is in her 30s and still unmarried, and says that while no one even blinks here, in Japan people are astonished she's stayed unmarried for so long. Of course, it's none of my business, but I wonder how her life is back in Japan. It's hard to tell without asking - which you quickly learn is seen as more rude to Japanese people - but she struck me as being quite attached to the way she was doing things.

Well anyway, that's part of what I've drawn from my studies. Also, please don't mistake my bitching about video game companies as reflecting directly on the country. ^_^ Individual companies are only a portion of Japan, and companies tend to do stupid things when they don't know how to deal with their customers, so it's each customers right to voice their complaints. I'm not much of a fan of the idea of "sit down, pay your cash, shut up and play the game." Voting with your pocketbook is certainly important, but if no one says anything beforehand then oftentimes they learn about a mistake too late.

I'd think Sega would know a lot about this by now... it's too bad, I find the Dreamcast to be the best designed console I own. ;_; Ah, well, at least they're still around, doing what they do best... making the games, rather than marketing the consoles.



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Suenia on 2002-07-23 00:43 ]</font>

[HEP2O]

a lil bit on topic http://www.pso-world.com/psoworld/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_eek.gif

its happened before it was fixed in the end

at very start of ver2 server was like hell

it will be fixed just a matter of time

[amoralist]

Now that there's a GS for GC (already out), I'm wondering if the same ship seperation will occur in the future? And then there's that kid that hacked the XBox and found a flaw in networking. Where are we headed, I don't want to get separated from EU nor JP. Otherwise, we might as well switch to Evercrack.

[Last_Saiyan]

This is how it is guys, Asians in Asian countries keep to themselves..it's just a cultural thing that kept on since who knows when. I know it's a big shock to Westerners and especially Americans because of all the civil right movements and anti-racism that goes around but it's just how things are in other cultures and countries. It's not that bad and probably why there hasn't been any actions taken forward to get everybody to mingle the way people do in the US. I'm asian and when I visited Japan, the moment that they knew I wasn't Japanese it's kinda like "Hey, Japanese only here dude". But I'm not too bothered because that's the way alot of those folks were brought up...as long as they respect you and the worst is that they might talk smack about you but in a language that you won't understand anyways so no biggie..unless you know how to speak Japanese then they will find you amusing and even like you. One thing though, if you want the Japanese to like you...be a fighter, those people love mixed martial arts and if you are a fighter, it wont' even matter what race you are...they just dig the heck out of warriorship. Okay that's all I have for now.

[Dangerous55]

Meh, I am ok, I got no interest going to Japan. Thats what bugs me about some people, they want to move to Japan because they have anime and video games, thats all they think it is. Bugs the hell out of me.

[VariantXL]

Id doubt id want to live on an island that looks like its about to explode or sink under the sea in some occasions........ weather is just too crazy there.

[Davion]

That and the giant monsters roving about.

[TeamPhalanx]

Getting back on topic... Can US players now go on JPN/EU ships?

[VariantXL]

Yes. it only lasted like a day and a half

[OzzaJW88]

ship seperation shouldn`t happen on GC. Part of the reason EP1&2 is delayed is to investigate the hacking devices, and put up a stronger resistance in the programming. I think hacking will break through, but if we can get the majority of people to stay legit(prepare them before it hits), then we have a good chance of fading them out before it gets the the violent VKing,although i am a strong believer that ItemMod is the most devastating code to hit PSO, taking out the whole community,and earn your worth parts of the game.

And the ship seperation on DC was probably accidental,or a glitch, not taking away access because US hack, as most hacking clans are UK , and there are plenty of item modders in japan. Notice the notorious clan GUK is ganja UK,based in england.

[TeamPhalanx]

I wouldn't say most losers are UK based. US players seem to lead the way in terms of being lame.

[Ambrai]

In my personal opinion, being a loser has nothing to do with where you live http://www.pso-world.com/psoworld/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_wink.gif.

[Dangerous55]

On 2002-07-25 07:24, TeamPhalanx wrote:
I wouldn't say most losers are UK based. US players seem to lead the way in terms of being lame.




Or does it just seem that way because we have numbers.

[amoralist]

Numbers suck.

Generalizations suck.

And as much as we'd like to say it, most of us have less manners than we should for online etiquitte (god damn my spelling). And usually, they'll only recognize the US players as some GS obsessed community. I wished some of them weren't so thick headed. Even before the GS problems broke out, I played with 3 other JP people using word select. 2 of them kept to themselves the whole time. ONly 1 of them wanted to communicate with me.

After the GS, sigh, everytime I asked if I could join a JP game, someone would say no US or sorry.

Thick-headed US players often make a very bad first impression for other people.

[Bortak]

On 2002-07-21 10:18, WWWWWWWWWWWW wrote:
I'm surprised people are that angry over this, it's not like it hasn't happened before. Count yourself lucky you wasn't around last year on v2 when there were constant BSODs...


Ah, yes, I remember the pain and suffering I had survived through, right around the time my hunters liscense ran out (I think I am going to renew it) I kept on getting BSOD and getting NOLed.
Everywhere you went there was PKing and stuff. Once we were all in a lobby and it transported like 20 of us to pioneer 2. We couldn't go down to a level, we were just stuck there.
Alot of stuff hapenned.

Everything possible on PSO has hapenned to me, I have lost tons of weapons, had my main character deleted 2 times(I think that is CKing), have been PKed tons of times, have had BSOD atleast 6 times, and I have been NOLed 4 times.
I had PSO before PKing ever started... Such peacefull times.. Hopefully there wont be so much hacking and stuff if I renew my hunter's liscense.

-Bortak

[Flame]

Frankly, its good that they have done this. 90% of all the Americans who play PSO right now a dirty, fsoding, pking, NOLing, scumbags. Its a wonder they didnt do this sooner. (btw, have you noticed its mostly only Americans that cheat? Just a thought.)

[Vic_Viper]

On 2002-07-21 12:28, VulpesMundi wrote:

Approximately three days as of this post. This is certainly the longest stretch the network has been fubar. Last time the network split like this it was actually the JP server that got isolated. If any of you are frequent c-mode players you'll remember that this was when the official c-mode block was moved from Miranda:11+ to Io:11+. Give it time. It'll be worked out. Though I must admit I'm ansy to get back to the JP servers so I can go to Io:11, amoung other places.

Actually that incident was planned to stop japanese players from stucking over 210(or more) players in Miranda 10 block. On the week SEGA took this action, the Miranda ship crashed like 3 or 4 times and on the latter two times they took whole US network down for maintenace. Actually they disabled the link for 3 days (a weekend) to stop JP players from crashing US network (obviously weaker and smaller than japanese one.)
This new split surely is related to the recent wave of FSODers and NOLers in Io Ship.
As import player, I preferable play in JP ships, asn had noticed a increase of foregner cheaters hanging on Io and Europa ships. This is my guess ... I also belive the link will be back after some days, as it takes down the japanese players right to go US and return to JP ships as they wish. Remember ... More than nacionalism/racism this is a matter of profit and they're paying, unlike most of V1 assholes with gameshark/xploder cheating online. Kudos to SEGA, which is finally taking adminstrative actions on the network. Too bad for people who got screwed by this ... http://www.pso-world.com/psoworld/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_frown.gif

Still ... If the link was already fixed, the problem is still here. Cheating's a sort of PSO "social" problem. LMAO http://www.pso-world.com/psoworld/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Vic_Viper on 2002-07-28 09:48 ]</font>

[Dangerous55]

On 2002-07-28 08:17, Flame wrote:
Frankly, its good that they have done this. 90% of all the Americans who play PSO right now a dirty, fsoding, pking, NOLing, scumbags. Its a wonder they didnt do this sooner. (btw, have you noticed its mostly only Americans that cheat? Just a thought.)




Uh, no. You do know, if your on the US server, doesnt mean your American. Think about it, where are the most English speaking people? The US server, British, Australian, Canadians will all go there, along with Latin and South America.

[SS_Death]

Er, I was on the US servers at the w/e and I'm in the UK. I think that it must have been a temporary problem as I was also able to go back to the EU ones whilst on the US ones.

[shinokou]

I think that US players are dirty, dirty people! We are horrible. NOt that anybody is innocent, but we have just piles and piles of evil, evil, evil people on our servers...