Comments on: EA-Land Closes http://brokentoys.org/2008/04/29/ea-land-closes/ Random Comments About Games and Tractors Sun, 14 Mar 2010 17:11:27 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: kfsone http://brokentoys.org/2008/04/29/ea-land-closes/comment-page-1/#comment-16276 kfsone Thu, 08 May 2008 16:53:09 +0000 http://sjennings.wordpress.com/?p=2620#comment-16276 Oh, that's what happened to TSO? Makaze: Sure, maybe you could cover physical presence, bandwidth, power, software/hardware/support/maintenance, [minimal] staff and etc operational costs for $40k/mo. But you'd have to shake the staff down to well below the minimum you need for the team to be productive, which means you aren't going to be able to keep enough developers to actively develop anything of significance - which means you're not going to keep any developers for long at all. Which is essentially a death-blow for the product. Oh, that’s what happened to TSO?

Makaze: Sure, maybe you could cover physical presence, bandwidth, power, software/hardware/support/maintenance, [minimal] staff and etc operational costs for $40k/mo.

But you’d have to shake the staff down to well below the minimum you need for the team to be productive, which means you aren’t going to be able to keep enough developers to actively develop anything of significance – which means you’re not going to keep any developers for long at all.

Which is essentially a death-blow for the product.

]]> By: wowpanda http://brokentoys.org/2008/04/29/ea-land-closes/comment-page-1/#comment-16275 wowpanda Wed, 07 May 2008 18:05:29 +0000 http://sjennings.wordpress.com/?p=2620#comment-16275 "Errrr that first sentence should be a quote…" Agreed “Errrr that first sentence should be a quote…”
Agreed

]]> By: Makaze http://brokentoys.org/2008/04/29/ea-land-closes/comment-page-1/#comment-16274 Makaze Wed, 07 May 2008 16:47:57 +0000 http://sjennings.wordpress.com/?p=2620#comment-16274 Errrr that first sentence should be a quote... Errrr that first sentence should be a quote…

]]> By: Makaze http://brokentoys.org/2008/04/29/ea-land-closes/comment-page-1/#comment-16273 Makaze Wed, 07 May 2008 16:47:01 +0000 http://sjennings.wordpress.com/?p=2620#comment-16273 The cost of maintaining the servers is surely a lot higher than you are trying to suggest 8k players at shutdown X even $5 a month (we'll pretend they lower the price) is still $40,000 a month. There is no way their hardware infrastructure costs come anywhere near that to only support 8k players. MMOs may be expensive to actively maintain (patching/customer support) and ridiculously expensive to make. But they're damn cheap to keep alive by only leaving the servers plugged in. I'm not saying they should keep TSO alive, it was a complete and total flop and severely tarnished the brand. Only that it's being shutdown out of concerns far bigger and more ephemeral than just monthly upkeep costs. The cost of maintaining the servers is surely a lot higher than you are trying to suggest

8k players at shutdown X even $5 a month (we’ll pretend they lower the price) is still $40,000 a month. There is no way their hardware infrastructure costs come anywhere near that to only support 8k players.

MMOs may be expensive to actively maintain (patching/customer support) and ridiculously expensive to make. But they’re damn cheap to keep alive by only leaving the servers plugged in. I’m not saying they should keep TSO alive, it was a complete and total flop and severely tarnished the brand. Only that it’s being shutdown out of concerns far bigger and more ephemeral than just monthly upkeep costs.

]]> By: Bienchen http://brokentoys.org/2008/04/29/ea-land-closes/comment-page-1/#comment-16272 Bienchen Tue, 06 May 2008 10:16:42 +0000 http://sjennings.wordpress.com/?p=2620#comment-16272 @J. like i said in my letter, we are a bit shelfish and we want the feeling to be a Sim. my boys are 14 and 16 they dont like to be toons. @please :D we still need the computers for ourself to save our game :D at http://www.playercampaigns.com/ @J. like i said in my letter, we are a bit shelfish and we want the feeling to be a Sim.
my boys are 14 and 16 they dont like to be toons.

@please :D we still need the computers for ourself to save our game :D at
http://www.playercampaigns.com/

]]> By: J. http://brokentoys.org/2008/04/29/ea-land-closes/comment-page-1/#comment-16271 J. Mon, 05 May 2008 20:30:42 +0000 http://sjennings.wordpress.com/?p=2620#comment-16271 "EA-Land is also a genuinely safe place for kids to interact with each other." ToonTown is still alive. Go play that. It's fun. “EA-Land is also a genuinely safe place for kids to interact with each other.”

ToonTown is still alive. Go play that. It’s fun.

]]> By: wowpanda http://brokentoys.org/2008/04/29/ea-land-closes/comment-page-1/#comment-16268 wowpanda Mon, 05 May 2008 19:39:19 +0000 http://sjennings.wordpress.com/?p=2620#comment-16268 @Fragged , yes you are right about the cost, but what I am suggesting is that once there are no more developments, the cost can be low compare to income (amount of subscribers vis cost of bandwidth/space/electricity and managers salary) And I don't think pedophiles will ruin it. There is no way you can block sexual predators out of those games. While one of my friend was playing WOW last week, a dwarf approach her and asking for cyber xxx. The best way to guard against them is some common sense and parents (heard of the dumb teen try to fly overseas to see her online friend?) also the labeling of pedophile needs to change too. We had 19 year old girl who had it with 17 year old and got labeled as such for life ... That is just bad @Fragged , yes you are right about the cost, but what I am suggesting is that once there are no more developments, the cost can be low compare to income (amount of subscribers vis cost of bandwidth/space/electricity and managers salary)

And I don’t think pedophiles will ruin it. There is no way you can block sexual predators out of those games. While one of my friend was playing WOW last week, a dwarf approach her and asking for cyber xxx.
The best way to guard against them is some common sense and parents (heard of the dumb teen try to fly overseas to see her online friend?)

also the labeling of pedophile needs to change too. We had 19 year old girl who had it with 17 year old and got labeled as such for life … That is just bad

]]> By: Please http://brokentoys.org/2008/04/29/ea-land-closes/comment-page-1/#comment-16270 Please Mon, 05 May 2008 15:29:28 +0000 http://sjennings.wordpress.com/?p=2620#comment-16270 Hey, Bienchen, since you won't be able to play games with your kids anymore; could you send me one of their computers? Mine is dilapidated. Hey, Bienchen, since you won’t be able to play games with your kids anymore; could you send me one of their computers? Mine is dilapidated.

]]> By: Bienchen http://brokentoys.org/2008/04/29/ea-land-closes/comment-page-1/#comment-16269 Bienchen Mon, 05 May 2008 08:39:27 +0000 http://sjennings.wordpress.com/?p=2620#comment-16269 I am writing this letter in response to the disappointing news that EA-Land, the online version from the Sims of Electronic Arts will be closing its virtual doors on August 1, 2008. Even though I am an adult , I truly enjoy playing the game with my 2 boys (14 and 16 years). EA-Land is also a genuinely safe place for kids to interact with each other. It's nice to know that in these times of cyber bullying and cyber crime that there is such a place for kids to play. Most importantly, I think most of us who play EA-Land would miss the friendships that have developed. Even though most of us have never met and may never meet, EALand pals are true pals. With EA-Land gone where do we turn? Sure we can turn Second Life, WOW and even Pirates Online, but the truth is, we all want to be a little selfish, we all want that great feeling that only TSO (Ea-Land) can provide us with. The magic that we are Sims!! The magic there is a game without fights, sex, war and monsters! Please help us and make Electronic Arts reconsider their decision to close EA-Land. like we do on http://www.playercampaigns.com/ Thank you for taking the time to read this letter. Sincerely, Bienchen I am writing this letter in response to the disappointing news that EA-Land,
the online version from the Sims of Electronic Arts will be closing its virtual doors on August 1, 2008.

Even though I am an adult , I truly enjoy playing the game with my 2 boys (14 and 16 years).

EA-Land is also a genuinely safe place for kids to interact with each other.
It’s nice to know that in these times of cyber bullying and cyber crime that there is such a place for kids to play.

Most importantly, I think most of us who play EA-Land would miss the friendships that have developed.
Even though most of us have never met and may never meet, EALand pals are true pals.

With EA-Land gone where do we turn?
Sure we can turn Second Life, WOW and even Pirates Online,
but the truth is, we all want to be a little selfish, we all want that great feeling that only TSO (Ea-Land) can provide us with.
The magic that we are Sims!! The magic there is a game without fights, sex, war and monsters!

Please help us and make Electronic Arts reconsider their decision to close EA-Land.

like we do on http://www.playercampaigns.com/

Thank you for taking the time to read this letter.

Sincerely,
Bienchen

]]> By: Fragged http://brokentoys.org/2008/04/29/ea-land-closes/comment-page-1/#comment-16249 Fragged Sat, 03 May 2008 03:47:05 +0000 http://sjennings.wordpress.com/?p=2620#comment-16249 The cost of maintaining the servers is surely a lot higher than you are trying to suggest wowpanda, and quite frankly there are almost certainly recoverable costs (for example replacing the machines in whatever data center they are in with machines for Warhammer online, and who knows the server side hardware in place for EA Land may not even require them to replace the hardware, they might be able to reuse it.) Plus running a game like this has a real risk/reward factor for their brand - imagine if something like a pedophile ring took up residence in EA-Land and then was discovered by something like Dateline. That would hurt EA's brand significantly. They're almost certainly making the right business call by killing it off. The cost of maintaining the servers is surely a lot higher than you are trying to suggest wowpanda, and quite frankly there are almost certainly recoverable costs (for example replacing the machines in whatever data center they are in with machines for Warhammer online, and who knows the server side hardware in place for EA Land may not even require them to replace the hardware, they might be able to reuse it.)

Plus running a game like this has a real risk/reward factor for their brand – imagine if something like a pedophile ring took up residence in EA-Land and then was discovered by something like Dateline. That would hurt EA’s brand significantly. They’re almost certainly making the right business call by killing it off.

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