An interesting development

[Grey_Fox]

Link

We have been made aware of racist abuse and other offensive topics in the chat areas of the lobbies for Total War and Total War:Barbarian Invasion online play. Since the lobbies are community areas to support the enjoyment of the games, we regard such comments as unacceptable and restricting other users from enjoying the services.

Since it is techically not possible to ban the offending users from the lobbies, we regret that we will be turning off the chat facility in the lobbies to ensure that this forum is not used further for indecent topics and users do not become offended by such behaviour. Please note that this board for arranging online battles will remain active at this stage.

We apologise for the inconvenience caused by this action but we hope that you will appreciate that our aim is to provide an enjoyable gaming environment for everyone.

I'd like to thank all the [This word has been edited out by Rob The Bastard as he deemed the word used to be profanity... a PM was sent to Grey_Fox asking that the word be removed but there was no response in the time frame allowed... I tell you there is nothing but work!, work!, work! around here. I return you to the regularly scheduled harangue]so online that made this possible, they have apparently achieved their aims of ruining TW online.

I'd also like to say that this would have been avoidable if CA had created a ban/ignore function that actually worked permanently, instead of breaking after either logging off or coming out from a game. This action is like burning down a house to kill one or two fleas.

[Alrowan]

CA's own incompetence finally led to thier downfall, MP TW has officially been destroyed

[AquaLurker]

Good job shogun, you just buried RTW MP for me...

If thats all CA is capable of... their incompetence is legendary.

1.)1.3 memory leak and lag in mp
2.) worthless AI
3.) shutting down lobby chat...
4.) patch 1.3 = downgrade of 1.2
5.) bad mp features
6.) bad PR


What next?

"Originally Posted by The Shogun

Because we the CA staff are bad progammers therefore we can't make MP RTW a smooth game, produce good AI, stop racist remarks in multipayer, excel at lagging there for we have to "convince" SEGA to buy us over.

We apologise for the inconvenience caused by these action to convenience our incompetence. But we hope that you will appreciate that our aim (though we don't really care) is to provide an "enjoyable" working environment for everyone in CA. Sorry for all those gamers who had bought our crap."



I would like to see them post that for once...

[Duke John]

This is stupid! How are people now supposed to give passwords to each other?

I know now that I won't buy the next TW unless CA seriously improves his act.

[Lord Adherbal]

long live Ensemble Studios & Blizzard Entertainment.

[Jochi Khan]

This is stupid! How are people now supposed to give passwords to each other?

That is just the 'tip of the iceberg'. So now we can no longer set up a game where we agree...which map...we attack or defend...who is playing with who...which players are going to be in which team...who shall we invite etc etc.
This attitude by CA is nothing short of rubbish.

Had they not ruined the lobby by going 'backwards' and undoing all the work that was put in to make it 'workable' a lot of these problems could have been sorted by the players. (the ban/ignore option worked before, why was it changed?)

I can only hope that they see the foolishness in their decision and reinstate the chat lobby.

What happened to their option to withdraw/invalidate the CD Key, which would have made it impossible for the troublemakers to log on to the Lobby?
Chatmonitor was there to witness who they are?

If nothing is done this will be goodbye to MP Total War. It will be impossible to play the game this way. Or are CA only concerned with the marketing and sales of their product?

Jochi

[Loinnreach]

Communication is possible with private message option and in hosted game. I'm wondering if this would be now disabled as well.


To CA:

You have heard a lot of suggestions, what to improve, what to add in upcoming TW - befor RTW was out.

People have paid for your product and now you are disabeling one option of it, becaus you have not listened to almost none of the suggestions when you have been developing RTW which might be a solution for this situation.

You have obligations toward customers who 'support' your products, to ensure them best possible quality for the product you are offering on the market.

Your actions are unresponsible.

As far I know as well, those who write such things in lobbies as they do, can be BANNED.

Why to 'punish' all MP players becaus of few?

Ensemble Studios & Blizzard Entertainment

You should check their community forums.

[hellenes]

You should check their community forums.

http://www.blizzard.com/patches/

Hellenes

[tibilicus]

Coming for a regualr MP player this is absolutly stupid. Although PM is still possible the whole idea of banning chat is absolutly stupid. They it is not possible for them to band single players, I say why not?
I will continue to play Mp as I love total war but to CA I have something to say. Not only has the GameSpy server been even more of a pain in the back side in recent weeks but this has really given me a good booting up it. If CA are trying to not only destroy the MP cominity but also lose customers then there going the right way about it.
Congratualtions on another job well done GameSpy/CA!

[The Shogun]

HI guys

So as most of you know the lobbies chat (for online gaming) is disabled, in-game chat is still enabled , the idea is battles are arranged on the forums, so you know who you're playing with. You then go to the lobbies to hook up and play. In-game chat is pretty much a necessity in the multiplyer games (especially larger battles). Therefore anyone in the lobbies will not be exposed to anything unpleasant. As forum identity is recorded any misbehaviour there can be properly reported and dealt with. We have taken this action due to racist and abusive behaviour in lobbies. Please bear in mind that the game has a 12 rating.

As for a better solution than just turning chat off, we are looking in to this now. It is counter productive to start flaming the boards and slating the developers. A small minority have made this action necessary. Racist behaviour is unacceptable on these boards and our lobbies and I ask that the community show a united front on this. We are working to improve this situation and will keep you informed of our progress. This a temporary measure only we are not trying to kill off online play, we are tying to save it.

Thank you.

[King Ragnar]

*shakes head in disgust*, its a joke now, crappy gamespy connection and no chat in the lobbies. My love for barbarian invasion will sffer greatley because of this.

[AquaLurker]

the idea is battles are arranged on the forums, so you know who you're playing with..

Do you play your own products? Have none of the post above said anything that your team do not understand.

It is counter productive to start flaming the boards and slating the developers...

No, shutting down the lobby chat before finding a solution is.

By the way three clans that I used to play with have stopped playing RTW because of your multiplayer problems (People spend HOURS trying to arrange "a" proper game).

The lobby use to have more players, BI didn't improve on that, try figure that out.

Give us results not suicidal decisions, then the community will stand with you.

[The Shogun]

Aqualurker I understand your frustration, this is a very poor solution. We have had some direct complaints of a very serious nature and we need to take this action to ensure this does not continue to happen. As I said this is only a short term solution and we are working to resolve the situation as quickly as possible.

[CBR]

Its good to hear CA is working on a solution, so lets all hope it will get sorted out quickly.


CBR

[Puzz3D]

This could boost Samurai Wars for MTW/VI .

[Jochi Khan]

HI guys
the idea is battles are arranged on the forums, so you know who you're playing with. You then go to the lobbies to hook up and play.

.
This is not the case. Other than for Tournaments. You obviously have no idea how the online game is played. How on earth can people meet on the forum to arrange games.
Other than for specialised Clan games the majority of players play at random against/with people they meet in the Lobbies. Even clan members have to meet up before they can play.

This a temporary measure only we are not trying to kill off online play, we are tying to save it.

As a temporary measure or otherwise, this is certainly the right way to go about killing off the online play.
If we cannot arrange games in the Lobby what is the point of logging on?
and if we dont log on the MP is finished.

The PM chat option is still available? Have you tried chat with half a dozen people with this option?
In the previous Total War games it was possible to select a number of players and discuss whatever with all of them at the same time. Not with RTW or BI you dont. You can only direct your chat to ONE person at a time. Try typing the same message out to 6 or more people and changing the ...select so and so...each time.

Jochi

[Loinnreach]

We have had some direct complaints of a very serious nature and we need to take this action to ensure this does not continue to happen. As I said this is only a short term solution and we are working to resolve the situation as quickly as possible.

Ok. I 'hold' you for your word.

You can only direct your chat to ONE person at a time. Try typing the same message out to 6 or more people and changing the ...select so and so...each time.

In the matter of fact you can contact as many people at the time with PM option as you like Jochi...select all you wish to contact with ''second arrow'' and when all selected, press ''first arrow''.('arrows' - for outgoing and incoming messaging)

[Vanya]

GAH!

Vanya find this amusing. Vanya have no head, and therefore no eyes or ears. So, Vanya not worried by this development.

Its simple: hosters put up games without passwords and play on "faith".

Joiners join and play and do their best to be "honorable".

With luck, the games will be enjoyable.

Vanya never bothers to check out who's hosting or what-not. (Of course, that is because Vanya finds it difficult to play online... so few games to choose from... and nobody joins if ye host...).

Vanya remembers when in a two hour period, He could play 10 full games in olde Shoggy. That number drastically dwindled to 2-3 games with MTW. But with RTW, that number is 0-1... for TWO HOURS!

Vanya never sets up games beforehand... He just randomly joins existing games without regard for the hoster or the rules (Vanya follows any rules laid out, of course, if He is made aware of them a priori.) It is the randomness that makes it fun. Pre-arranged games via a forum is... well... "not good" and kills the mood.

Fellas... Read between the lines. This happenned because CA got paid a visit by a lawyer or by a Guido-wannabe... or both. Some repressed choir singer with a holier-than-thou attitude (they probably don't take their kids to doctors when they get sick expecting the heavens to part so God can heal them of their ailments) probably overheard their spoiled little thorn of Satan joke about how he said blah blah blah to some yada yada yada. As a result, we've been expelled from the "garden of eden" of GameSpy.

Ahh... Vanya gets teary-eyed with nostalgia when he remembers the good ole days... when the worst ye could find in the game chats was Llama Insane doing his thing...

GAH!

[Aelwyn]

Shogun said as much as he could. Indeed I'm sure there were some impending lawsuits by some people that can't seem to ignore things, thus have to ruin it for everyone. Like the parents that try to get things banned just so their kids can't have them, instead of being "parents".

But yes, the thing that gets me is, there are definite ways to improve the lobby. They have been laid out in the past, and asked for already. So why did it take this long for it to be worked on?

[Alrowan]

now i wish the old PW'd rooms of STW would come back...

[Tomisama]

now i wish the old PW'd rooms of STW would come back...

Ditto!

That’s where many Clans were born

Only this time with the ability to keep an eye on the main foyer, and PM invites to join private chats (my two cents ).

[Jochi Khan]

Vanya says it as it is. Well spoken.

Jochi

[Just A Girl]

If game developers Made there own Servers like they used to ,
instead of depending On Game Spy,
(Also remember Dont shut them down when youve made enough money from the game"STW")

This problem could be easily fixed by asigning a mod to the foyer.

Guess its Cheaper to force people to use the inadequate game spy,

But with ca being Thrown about like a hot potato form EA to activision, and now i think to sega,
I supose its best to have a neutrall game server to host mp games on,
Having said that, Ive also seen game spy shuting down game servers as well.

So why dont you Just make a Server for RTW only instead of all this cost saving game spy stuff.
Its not helping you guys.

[The Shogun]

Hi guys

Right first off I would like to apologise again for the situaion in the lobbies. I know that some of you feel we have used a Sledgehammer to crack a nut. No amount of petitions or letters of outrage will speed this up I'm afraid. Now, as I have said, we are working to get this sorted as quickly as possible. However, I am having to spend a lot of time online at the moment just trying to smooth things over on the boards and this is proving a drain on resources which could be better spent trying to fix the issues at hand. Due to the way things are currently implemented it's not just a matter of one super quick fix, if it was we would of taken this option already. So we don't need any more suggestions on how to fix the problem. The less time I have to spend running around all the forums making posts like this the more time I can spend chasing the people that can help sort this out. So please guys give us some time to fix this.

[Jochi Khan]

Ok. What say we back off for 5 and see what transpires?
Give them time to sort it out.

Jochi

[Just A Girl]

Already said all i had to say on the matter,
Its up to ca to decide what to do.
So i guess we Must Give them there space and time,
hopefully they will come up with a fix that will be acceptable to all.

[Puzz3D]

Over a year after the game's release, Creative Assembly finally acknowledges that the design of the RTW/BI multiplayer foyer is inadequate. It seems counterintuitive to go after the 12 year old market and design a foyer that is wide open to abuse. That's going to drive away the serious players, and that's what has happened.

[dreadedmob]

By shogun

I ask that the community show a united front

We have always had a front against them but now we have another front and its against you.

Shogun you have been decent about this but infact the whole thing is not excusable by you guys finally talking about something.

Im sure the comunity will forgive you if you start taking our opinions alot more.
If you don't it proves you don't really care about mp.

[Emperor[1G]]

Seems to me a simple solution:

Install a code on the chat lobby that blanks out or puts in random characters such as %&$&$ in place of an offensive word.

or

barring that, install an option so people can turn on a profanity filter. MANY games use this. And while Blizzard Inc. pisses me off no end in other ways, the way their lobbies and Bnet are setup would be a good example.

Having killed off chat lobby communitcation, our show matches that we broadcast over our radio network are now dead since we can't hear the responses of the players/observers. Then again, trying to get anyone to play the game anymore has pretty much made the venture pointless, hence the fact none of our casters (myself included) has had any interest in doing more audio replays due to the frustration and time sink just getting a game going is.

I don't know how many people setup matches on your forum boards, but except for show matches almost every game Ive ever played in was pick ups, with people needing to advertise an opening/rules for their game to fill it up.

Finally, I take personal offense to the insinuation that WE as a community have NOT already put up a united front. You think we condone this kind of behavior? Our problem isn't that your dealing with the issue, its that its taken you THIS long to deal with it, its something that should have been addressed before the games release by your development team (as so many other games have done) and rather then taking the suggestions of your community who play this game all the damned time, you instead shut the whole operation down. So tell me Shogun, if you were the consumer and this had happened to you, on top of an already ungodly interface and horrific hosting by Gamespy, how would YOU react? I challenge you to try and play a night of ONLINE Rome: Total War, either version, then come here and tell us you've done a marvelous job.

This isn't the kiddie Battle.net crowd you're dealing with. Those kind of people don't play this game. You're dealing with older gamers who are more serious about the hobby then enjoy. Having said that: I bought RTW on the success and fun of Shogun and Medeival. You lost my business BECAUSE of RTW, and the support of my gaming community.

[Grey_Fox]

This isn't the kiddie Battle.net crowd you're dealing with. Those kind of people don't play this game. You're dealing with older gamers who are more serious about the hobby then enjoy.

Actually the game is marketed at 12 year olds up, so CA is essentially dealing with a large number of children. It was STW and MTW that had the older fanbase. Sad but true.