Guess who runs the servers!!!

[barocca]

With everyone's indulgenece I'm editing my original post.

The WE-MI server/chat port began 'mucking up' saturday evening 27 oct (Aus EST),
I sent off an email to EA.com,
they replied that EA's UK office ran the server,
i sent email to EA UK,
They replied that CA ran the server,
So i sent an email back to EA UK asking for confirmation and sent an email to CA asking them what was wrong with the server,

The Shogun stepped up to the plate at the 'official' forum with confirmation that EA definately did run the server.

Later today i expect to have a response of some sort from EA's UK office,
I will post that reply here and at the 'official' forum.


---original post---
according to email recieved from EA tech support,
Creative Assembly and NOT EA run the servers!

Creative Assembly!

So here we all are
pissed at the wrong people!

I have a 'feedback' email addy for CA,
info@creative-assembly.co.uk
NOTE: --EA run the server not CA--

so i'll mail them and see what they say...

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DoragonBarocca of Clan Doragon

[This message has been edited by barocca (edited 10-29-2001).]

[tootee]

Probably the next thing we would hear from CA is that they don't maintain the server..

BTW why would CA be the one running the server when all the registration is via EA? I thought CA is just a gaming design house?

--tootee aka goldfish shimazu

[Erado San]

Yer right, Tootee, Barocca is wrong here. Server is provided by EA.

Barocca, I don't really trust someone at EA support claiming this. Their effort in supporting Total War has been below par in any book, and I seriously doubt that all of their staff know what's going on here.

We simply have to wait for Benone (at EA) to arrive at the office and press the buttons again.

[barocca]

Erado
it's straight from the mouth of EA tech support!

excerpt from an email from EA tech support


Subject:
RE: Shogun: Total War Warlord Edition
Date:
Sun, 28 Oct 2001 18:49:54 -0800
From:
Support21
To:
"ME!"

Hello Barocca,

Thank you for sending your concerns regarding Shogun: Warlord Edition. Ok, i'll try to answer your questions as best as I can, but Creative Assembly runs the servers.
As to it being down, I'm not sure. I know it was down
about 2 weeks ago, and I haven't heard any word of the Warlord server coming up, just the Total War.
...
As far as the two servers merging, thats something that may
be fixed with the new patch once it goes final, but I have not heard a definite answer to that.

I hope that this will assist you.

Thank you for contacting EA Technical Support.

Chris H.
EA Technical Support



ok?
i will happily forward the email to you if you want,
cya.

[barocca]

if the dude is telling me a big fib i suggest YOU email him and get the real deal!

the address is:-
Chris H.
Support21@ea.com

[Erado San]

Thx, Barocca. If this is true then something has changed. I'll try and find out.

By the way, it's a bit irrelevant who is running the server. I don't care as much about who's to blame. I'm more interested in who's going to fix it.

[This message has been edited by Erado San (edited 10-29-2001).]

[Erado San]

As I said I would try and find out. CA have nothing to do with the server. Period. And, like us, I bet they are not amused.

[tootee]

How I wish they can let us (I mean really really serious STWians, e.g. Erado and others with the technical know-how) run the servers. I'm sure many responsible STWians would volunter to help over the maintanence and running of the online community, maybe Erado San could manage and oversee the operation.

I think with a well-run multiplayer facility, EA may even sell more copies of STW and MI/WE. Now isn't that a win-win situation.

--tootee aka goldfish shimazu

[Obake]

I'm sure that CA will be even less amused if they get to see this E-mail from Barocca.

If I recall correctly Elbeno is/was the closest thing we had to a server monkey and he is an EA Europe employee.

And now we find out that EA either just admitted that it has no clue about their own business (no big suprise there), or that they have fallen so low that they're trying to pass the buck by blaming CA for their screw-up.

The other item of note in Barocca's E-mail is this Chris saying that combining the servers is under consideration! This is something that most of the community has been wanting, but this is the first "official" mention of it that I've seen. I'm taking it with a large grain of salt (as should all of us), but it's encouraging nonetheless.

------------------
Obake

Never argue with an idiot. They drag you down to their level, then beat you with experience.

[Erado San]

Obake, you don't think I asked them WITHOUT including that e-mail, do you?

Well, you guys know how I feel about EA bitching, but even I am close to succombing to that. Laying the blame on CA is pretty low indeed. Elbeno is a decent guy, but they (EA) put Total War so low on his priority list he probably has to skip a few pages to find it! Kinda like EA tech support. Their TECH FORUM is full of complaints but empty of EA replies. If one day I decided to go on strike and remove my site then I fear the forums would explode. My site still gets about 5000 new visitors a month adn somehow they must be finding their answer there, because we certainly don't get 5000 posts a month in the tech forum here.

The 'Server'we are talking about is not a dedicated server, so there is not a piece of hardware exclusively running the STW and MI/WE thingy. With server, you should think of a service application running on a server which also runs other stuff.

Would I volunteer to administer that service application? So you could all (F)Blame me? Think again!

Then again, if that service application can be stopped and started remotely without the need to reboot the server, yes, I wouldn't mind that. Unless that means I need to have a (very) secret phone number so as you guys won't call me in the middle of the night complaining about the server being down. But somehow I don't think that EA would give me the privileges needed to perform these actions.

But maybe if they give me a decent connection and a piece of hardware, I maybe could convince my wife that that empty corner upstairs is an excellent place to put named piece of hardware and I'd be game.

Not to mention the fact that I'd expect a fat bonus on my bank account by the end of the month.

[TakeshidaSo]

That's exactly what we need. Another well-paid person who ignores his responsibilities, or denies that they exist. I bet we get to keep the ones we have.

Your wife may be "new", but she's bound to have plans for that spot already.

[barocca]

Well the saga continues,

Chris H's last email,
Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2001 09:27:03 -0800

continues along the line of CA run the server's,
and tells me to check the totalwar.com forum to see if anyone else is having problems connecting,
(*sigh*)

SO, i told him who i was (barocca, online playing STW for over a year now),
and who told me EA are definately in control of daphne (ritchie),
and asked him to answer these few questions,

---extract from my reply---
What is wrong with the server/application controlling port 8794 on daphne?
What is being done to remedy this problem?
When will these solutions be in place?

If you do not have access to this information who does?
and where may i contact them?
---end---

I will keep you all advised of his response!
cya

[Obake]

Not in a million years Erado! :lol

I also noted Shogun's post over at the official forum. It will be quite interesting to see this Chris' response to Barocca's latest inquiry.

Actually, you wouldn't even need a secret phone line. If EA is smart, they could give you access rights to Daphne along with a pager and just write a PERL script to phone your pager if either the STW or Mongol app's go down. You could then just sneak out of bed and up to the little corner where your dedicated connection to the server sits and re-start the services! heh heh heh

Oh, and of course there would have for be a fat bonus for you as well. I'm thinking a life-size cutout of Takeda on his horse should do the trick! After all, the winner of the map design contest is getting a cutout of the Khan! You don't really expect to get paid for your technical services to the community do you?

------------------
Obake

Never argue with an idiot. They drag you down to their level, then beat you with experience.

[Vanya]

GAH! Pay him in koku, I say!

[BakaGaijin]

I'd donate half my koku to starving African children! Oh, and I'd really love a cut-out of Takeda with horse. It would barely fit in my room, but would that ever be intimidating!

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Disappear into the Darkness!!

[Erado San]

But, Obake, will it be able to run the script when it's down? I hope not.

Would I evade my responsibilities? Probably. I'm a lazy bum if ever there was one. Would it get any worse? I can't see how. Would it get any better? Well, at least those times when I am playing and the server goes down you can expect it to be up again in no time.

[TakeshidaSo]

Oh, allright then, you talked me into it. I still think you are forgetting that, Lil' Jack Horner who sat in the corner, got his head chewed off for sitting in HER spot.

[KumaRatta Yamamoto]

OK i will take a shot at the forums original question "Guess who runs the servers"

I think it's Homer Simpson, Ok Do i win a prize? (maybe a copy of a game that i will never get? )

[barocca]

(*sigh*)

Chris has tried to find the answers to the questions i asked,

He has been told the company line is :-
"the servers are based in the UK, 'they' - (whoever 'they' may be) - they have been notified of the problems and are working on them"

in a nutshell!
What is wrong with the server/application controlling port 8794 on daphne?
"We Don't Know"
What is being done to remedy this problem?
"We Don't Know"
When will these solutions be in place?
"We Don't Know"
If you do not have access to this information who does?
"We Don't Know"
and where may i contact them?
"We Don't Know"


I told him this was unacceptable and asked him to pass me along/up in the chain of responsibility,
so i can harass his boss/supervisor.

as before I will keep you all advised...

first it was "pass the buck", now it's "stonewall" -



------------------
DoragonBarocca of Clan Doragon

[Erado San]

Ooppsss.... Good point, Take!

Barocca, I think you're venturing on a path of doom. After that first fluke I can understand Chris is falling back on the 5th amendment. As I mailed CA his initial response, he must by now have received a 'friendly' mail from them. The (we) I don't know is the best method not to fluke again...

[barocca]

:lol

oddly CA did NOT reply to my email,
at all!

anyway, we'll know in about 5 hours if 'support21' intends to reply to my 'request' to be put in the "pain in the posterior" basket and hand me off to his supervisor!
(currently it's about 8am where he is (give or take a hour or so))

If he doesn't reply, I'll simply email all the EA email addresses I have, morning, noon and night until someone decides to 'carry the can' and answer my questions!

after all it costs me nothing to send email, but it costs them time and money to read them...

------------------
DoragonBarocca of Clan Doragon

[tootee]

Do you think it will improve the situation if more people do the same, I mean the email thing..?

--tootee aka goldfish shimazu

[Erado San]

Waahhaaa... Not for EA it won't!!!

[ShingiOnimushi]

it's clear to me that CA and EA and playing eachother
they know we will startiung complaining to them whenever the is a problem
and they don't want to be the one having to explain
but it's clear to me EA r the server owners

------------------
Glad to be serving a great clan such as shingi

::bows::
ShingiOnimushi

[Obake]

Quote Originally posted by Erado San:
But, Obake, will it be able to run the script when it's down? I hope not.[/QUOTE]

Erado, If the server goes down they've got some serious problems, something that they'd probably drop on Elbeno's lap. What has happened far more often though is that either the STW or Mongol apps (or both) crash rather than the server itself, so the script should still run which would allow you to log-in under the watchful eye of your Takeda Shingen cutout to re-boot the app.



------------------
Obake

Never argue with an idiot. They drag you down to their level, then beat you with experience.

[Vanya]

ROFLMAO

What we have here is simple: one company (ie, EA) owns the hardware (ie, Server(s)) and another (ie, CA) maintains them.

This way, no matter what happens, they are ensured of being able to pass the blame around forever.

Gah! It was a hardware problem, says CA.
Gah! The service crashed and needs to be restarted, says EA.
Gah! No, its the hardware, says CA.
Gah! No, its the service, says EA.
Gah! says CA
Gah! says EA
Gah! says CA
Gah! says EA
Gah! says CA
Gah! says EA
Gah! says CA
Gah! says EA
...
GAH! Says the poor customer, as he buys Crusaders: Total War. When he gets home, he finds the servers are down still. GAH! He says again, shelves CTW and boycotts EA/CA forever more.

Gah! Says EA and CA at the loss of business due to poor customer service.
Gah! Say the EA/CA employees when they get their pink slips 'cause the company went under.
Gah! says the CEO, for he will no longer collect that $2 Million bonus.
Gah! say the investors that pumped money into EA/CA

And on top of it all, the little man has been saying GAH! all along!

GAH!

But, the competitors will say HOORAY!

Of course, I could be exaggerating here...

[Whitey]

makes me want to cry just reading it

poetry, sheer poetry,

[BakaGaijin]

GAH! =/

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Disappear into the Darkness!!