News here
now that IGE is out of the picture, Wowhead has decided to become a part of the ZAM Network.
and here.
That last link is bothering some folks… according to the author (the former director of web acquisitions for IGE), Affinity is still very closely connected to IGE under the table.
IGE has been ’supposedly’ sold off by Affinity Media. They used FUD when they purchased OGaming. They used FUD when they purchased Allakhazam. Just some more FUD – rest assured IGE/Affinity Media are still very connected.
Discussion ongoing at FOH and F13.
Why is this big news? For those unfamiliar with the World of Warcraft community (both of you) Wowhead is a quest/item database that was set up as a reaction to Thottbot (its direct analogue) being owned by IGE. Due to its being faster, and not owned by virtual mobsters, it rapidly became successful in its own right.
I wonder if this is going to break my copy of Lightheaded…
#1 by Cuppycake on June 23rd, 2007
Wow, that Lightheaded mod is pretty nifty. Just when I thought I’d seen it all….
#2 by Artheos on June 23rd, 2007
Heh… heh… ha.. hahahahah!
I pretty much don’t use any of these ‘hint sites’ anymore and find that I don’t miss them either.
#3 by Jobrill on June 23rd, 2007
It still amazes me how the tide has turned. It used to be back in the days when RMT was building steam under the tender loving auspices of Johnathan Yantis, when a class website or realm forum or whatever was bought out, you could immediately count on a standing member of that site to immediately start a new site, with at least a good 80% of the site’s frequent visitors and contributors heading over to that new site within days.
Now, Snatching up sites is business as usual, and almost no-one raises an eyebrow. Yeah, I know “ZAM’s not affliated with IGE anymore” and whatnot. Well, considering they haven’t really said “Gold buying and selling is wrong and unfair to the company that runs the game and the players that play it,” and they’re mum about the exact details of the sale, I’m rather inclined to think that the linked blog might not be that far off the mark.
But then again, if Alla really did go for 10 mil as I’ve heard in some circles… Yeah, I gotta admit, I’d find that pretty damn hard to turn down, and I’d find it pretty easy to justify bedding down with gold-sellers, especially if I could use a “but they SOLD/spun off their gold-selling business” excuse.
#4 by Simond on June 24th, 2007
“It used to be back in the days when RMT was building steam under the tender loving auspices of Johnathan Yantis, when a class website or realm forum or whatever was bought out, you could immediately count on a standing member of that site to immediately start a new site, with at least a good 80% of the site’s frequent visitors and contributors heading over to that new site within days.”
Except SK.org. =) Although it was hilarious when IGE shut that site down with no forewarning due to lack of gold-sales ad banner traffic.
#5 by Gojira Shippi-Taro on June 24th, 2007
Big Money, as the song goes also “Draws the Flies”.
Interesting note, Turbine appears to be at least attempting to sidestep the hint site / gold seller thing by implementing their own Wiki for LOTRO.
#6 by Jobrill on June 24th, 2007
Heh, I was a pretty damn active poster on SKorg, actually. I moved to Shadow-Knight.org (Which I think is also now defunct) when Soulvoid sold it to IGE, and was really struck by how FEW people moved with me. We even had generally respected members of the SKorg community FLAMING us for leaving, which sorta hit me pretty hard.
#7 by Staryx on June 24th, 2007
You’re lucky I have a bunch of Rush in my iTunes, Lum, otherwise I would’ve had that song stuck in my head all night.
On topic, it seems everyone has a price. I know I’d sell out if I ran some sort of gaming fansite and someone offered me a mil for it. Money talks.
And why didn’t I hear about Wowhead or that Lightheaded addon while I was still playing? It would’ve saved me a ton of headache, since Thottbot wasn’t a terribly reliable site. It ran like a sloth whenever I needed it.
#8 by SoulVoid on June 24th, 2007
actually SK.org mover to evilgamer.net when IGE forgot to renew the domain and some bot purchased the domain for 2k
#9 by yarassouloulah sy on October 6th, 2008
thank you