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Got this flash file from ICQ about five years ago, thought I'd share it with everyone. :-) Merry Christmas!

May all of you find peace, love, joy and God's blessings abundant this yuletide season. Merry Christmas to all of you.

I received an early Christmas present a few days ago all the way from Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya in the form of the retail version of the Nuvitron Electronic Fuel Economizer (NEFE, for brevity), courtesy of it's inventor, Mr. Perlito Cabauatan.

The inventor shared some positive feedback regarding the device. Apparently a number of people who have installed the NEFE on their own automobiles attest to having improved power and acceleration in addition to getting better fuel economy.

Here are some photos:

Surprise, surprise! A package for me. :-) People at the office thought it was a fruitcake since it was about the same size and shape as one.


The NEFE retail box.


Unlike other gas saver products, (like the Khaos for example), the NEFE is advertised as effective for both gasoline and diesel fed engines.


Developed with assistance from the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), pending registeration with the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines.


This is what's inside the box. You get an installation manual, a main unit, and an auxillary unit.


A close up of the main unit. For durability, the inventor recommends this part be mounted on the inside of the vehicle, behind the engine firewall rather than inside the engine bay itself.


The auxillary unit. This clamps around the fuel line.

I won't be going as far as endorsing this device until I see the results for myself. My initial observation regarding the NEFE is that it is not that invasive on your engine to install, unlike some other fuel saving devices. Basically, all it needs is a power source (you tap into the ignition switch wire) and a chassis ground. The auxillary unit is attached to the fuel line via a clamp which can be easily installed/uninstalled using only a flat-blade screwdriver.

Visually, the build quality of the main and auxillary units seem to be quite good, and they appear to be durable enough to withstand the rigors of daily driving. Of course, only a long-term test will say for certain.

It is my intention to make a thorough and objective evaluation of the claimed performance and fuel economy improvements of the device for myself. In order to get the most accurate results, I need to have my car (a 1994 fuel-injected 1.6l Nissan Sentra) tuned-up first so as to establish a precise baseline. Haven't gotten around to that yet, so watch this space for more updates.

To Mr. Perlito Cabauatan, my thanks for the test unit and season's greetings to you and your family! :-)

The inmates of Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitiation Center (CPDRC) strut their stuff. And they're actually pretty good. Only in the Philippines. :-)

Note:

Turn off the background audio first at the bottom of the page before clicking the play button.

I'm all for second chances and everything, but this gives rehabilitation a whole new meaning. Who knows? These inmates may just find careers as dancers or music video extras when they get out. And that's probably a whole lot better than whatever got them in jail in the first place. :-)

The CPDRC inmates have several other videos dancing to other tunes, just look them up on YouTube. :-)

After weeks of refueling at Shell service stations, I was finally able to complete my collection of 1:38 scale Ferraris. Shell is selling the model Ferraris for P50.00 each for every purchase of P500.00 worth of Shell V-Power fuel, or for P100.00 if you buy P500.00 worth of other Shell fuels.

The models are made by Hot Wheels and the quality and detail are pretty good. Unfortunately, they're only made of plastic and not die-cast metal. At only P50.00 though, I'm not complaining.

Completing the collection isn't as easy as you may think. First of all, I don't really travel all that much, so I had to be a bit patient as I waited for the needle on my fuel gauge to go down before I could refuel again. Secondly, not all Shell service stations have the complete model line-up in stock, so I have to ask what models they have available before I refuel. If they don't have the particular model I'm looking for, I look for another Shell station. Thirdly, have you noticed how high gas prices are lately?

Well, this is what I got for my trouble:

The complete collection.


Ferrari F50. This was the very first one I got.


Ferrari F430.


Ferrari Enzo.


Ferrari F2005. This is perhaps the most difficult model to find, most Shell service stations don't seem to have them in stock.


Ferrari F360 Spider.


Ferrari Superamerica.

If you want to collect them yourselves, the promo will last until the end of the year, so you still have a few weeks left.

Some people may dismiss these models as nothing more than mere child's toys, but hey, these miniature babies are probably as close as I'll ever get to owning a real Ferrari.

I wish they'd give away the real thing though. :-)

Here are a few of the things you should watch our for when shopping for a Nokia N95, so you don't get duped into buying a knockoff:

1. A real Nokia N95 doesn't have a touchscreen, a small touchscreen menu at the bottom of the screen, and a stylus;

2. A real Nokia N95 has a 5 megapixel camera. Fake N95s either have a lower quality camera or sometimes even no camera at all. The built-in LED flash is also smaller on fake N95s. A real Nokia N95 also has a lens cover. Some fakes don't. Note that a genuine Nokia N95 8GB variant doesn't have a lens cover as well;

3. A real Nokia N95 has a two-way slider. Most fakes either slide down only or don't slide in any direction at all;

4. A real Nokia N95 boots up a lot slower than most fakes. The built-vibrator also momentarily activates when booting up a real N95. Counterfeit N95s boot up almost instantaneously, with no vibration, and sometimes with a different startup sound;

5. The battery of a real Nokia N95 mounts on the lower rear of the unit. Some knockoffs mount the battery on the top rear instead. This type of fakes typically don't have a camera since the battery is where the camera ought to be;

6. A real Nokia N95 is a quad-band phone with HSDPA, 3G and EDGE network capabilities. Fake N95s are typically dual-band with GPRS capabilities at most;

7. A real Nokia N95 has WLAN capabilities. Fake ones usually don't;

8. A real Nokia N95 has a built-in GPS receiver. Fake ones usually don't;

9. A real Nokia N95 only supports one SIM. There are fakes which support more than one SIM;

10. A real Nokia N95 has a silver finish in front, and either a dark purple/plum or a yellowish/sandy colored rear. Fake N95s usually have a black rear, and the branding (the word "Nokia" or "Nokia Nseries") may be printed upside-down. Note that a genuine Nokia N95 8GB variant has a black finish all-around;

11. A real Nokia N95 is charged via a miniplug at the bottom of the unit which is the same for all Nseries phones. Fake N95s sometimes use a USB port style charger which plugs in the side of unit. The power button also should be at the top of the phone. Some fakes have the power button on the lower front of the unit instead;

12. A real Nokia N95 comes with headphones, a data cable, a TV-out cable, a charger, a CD, and a number of manuals and booklets. Fake N95s usually don't include these accessories in the box. A real Nokia N95 comes with only one battery. Fakes sometimes throw in two batteries in the box;

13. A real Nokia N95 has a UPC sticker on the side which contains a bar code, the serial number of the phone, and information on where the phone is made. There may also be a security hologram seal, and perhaps a warranty sticker. The boxes of fake N95s usually lack one or more of these stickers. Note that some fake N95s may be sold in original N95 boxes, so don't base your conclusions solely on the appearance of the box itself;

14. Lastly, and more importantly, fake N95s are sold a whole lot cheaper than the original. If the price is too good to be true, then it's probably a fake.

If any N95 you're eyeing has even one of these warning signs, chances are that it's a fake. Just walk away. To be on the safe side, make your purchase at an authorized Nokia dealer. Sure, it may be more expensive, but at least you're assured of getting the real thing.

Here's a YouTube video of a fake N95 which was offered for sale on eBay. By now in all likelihood some poor schmuck has shelled out his or her hard earned cash for this cheap imitation.

Buyer beware.

Note:

Turn off the background audio first at the bottom of the page before clicking the play button.

Saw this video on YouTube. It compares an original Nokia N95 with an imitation N95.

While it's fairly simple to tell a knockoff from an original, a lot of people have already been fooled by the fake N95, particularly those who bought it from eBay or from some unscrupulous retailer, thinking they got a good deal.

While the fake N95 is sold significantly cheaper than the original, it simply isn't worth it at any price.

Caveat emptor.

Note:

Turn off the background audio first at the bottom of the page before clicking the play button.

Presenting the Nokia N95 8GB.

Note:

Turn off the background audio first at the bottom of the page before clicking the play button.

Nokia N95 8GB commercial.

More than a year after I last upgraded my main phone, I'm at it again, and my cellphone of choice now is none other than the flagship of Nokia's Nseries, the Nokia N95 8GB.

While my old Nokia N70 was a mere evolution of the venerable Series 60 platform, the N95 takes mobile phones to a whole new level with a feature list significantly longer than any other high-end phone on the market today.

For starters, it's a quad-band 3G phone. No, make that a 3.5G phone. It supports the High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) standard, which enables it to transfer data at 1.4-1.8 Mbps, around three to five times faster than 3G or 384 Kbps DSL. And HSDPA is not a standard that's still waiting in the wings. Globe Handyphone already supports it. With this speed you can make smooth video calls and browse the internet faster than even most wired connections.

It's a 5 megapixel auto-focus digital camera. Not so long ago 5 megapixels were a lot to have on a dedicated digital camera. Now, the clarity and resolution that was previously only available on dedicated digital cameras is now built in the N95, thanks to its 5 MP CMOS sensor, Carl Zeiss optics, 20x digital zoom and integrated LED flash. And for video calls and self portraits, there's the ubiquitous .3 megapixel VGA camera up front.

It's a video camera. It captures a MPEG-4 VGA video at 30 frames per second. And with 8 GB of storage you can store hours of video. Perfect for those wannabe porn stars. :-)

It's an MP3 player. You can use ordinary headphones via the N95's built-in standard 3.5 mm minijack. It also has built-in stereo speakers, a graphic equalizer as well as 3D audio, and the sound quality easily rivals that of dedicated MP3 players. It has built-in FM radio reception as well.

It's an internet access device. You can access the internet via GPRS, EDGE, 3G, or HSDPA through your provider's network. If you're near any wireless LAN, you can also go online via the N95's built-in Wi-Fi.

It's a GPS receiver. You can easily determine your position anywhere in the world through the United States' network of GPS satellites.

It's a hand-held game machine. It plays Next Generation N-Gage games.

It's a flash drive. Plug it in any PC with the supplied USB cable, and voila! you have an instant storage device. The cable isn't even proprietary, you can use any cable with a standard mini USB end. So much for that Pop-Port nonsense.

And with 8 GB of internal flash memory, you can store literally thousands of songs, pictures, videos, or any other data.

It also supports Infrared and Bluetooth transfers.

There's hardly anything this mobile phone can't do. It can do so much that Nokia doesn't even call it a cellphone. Nokia calls it a multimedia computer, and given its capabilities it seems like an apt description. All of this functionality in a package smaller and lighter than my old favorite, the Nokia 6600.

Of course, it's not perfect. It costs as much as some notebooks, so you really have to ask yourself first, do you want a high-end phone, or a low-end notebook?

At the end of the day, the N95 can still be considered a bargain. How so? Well, if you buy an ordinary cellphone, a digital camera, a video camera, an MP3 player, a PDA, and a GPS receiver, almost certainly you'll pay a lot more than if you just bought an N95. It's all those features which make the N95 a relatively good buy.

Aside from its rather astronomical price, there isn't much to nitpick about it. I was a bit concerned about the durability of the slider mechanism, but it seems sturdy enough for daily use. Battery life appears to be a tad more brief than the battery life of my N70, but if you can restrain yourself from playing with all the features, the battery will last a good three days or so, about the same as any other phone. At this price level, rapid obsolescence can become a concern, but given its long list of features, it's a safe bet that you won't be needing to upgrade from it anytime soon.

Of course, I've said that before, but I always end up upgrading nonetheless. Let's just see what new technological breakthroughs they will come out with in the next year or so.

Some pictures:

Black beauty.


Push the slider up and out comes the keypad.


Push the slider down and you get a set of multimedia controls. The screen automatically changes to landscape mode as well.


5 megapixel camera and built-in flash. No lens cover though.

A word of warning. They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and with all the praise the N95 has been getting, it's no surprise that a lot of imitations and fakes have been flooding the market lately.

If you're out to get your own N95, you better know how to tell the real deal from the bootleg ones. Check this article out for more information.

Some fakes have become so good that they can easily fool the untrained eye. When in doubt, just purchase your phone from an authorized Nokia dealer. And always remember, if the price is too good to be true, it's because it probably is.

Reposting this for whatever good may come out of it. :-)

Anyone here interested in purchasing a plot of commercial land located along Commonwealth Ave. in Quezon City? It's my father's property, and it has a lot area of 2,844 sqm., with a number of residential improvements. The frontage is a bit on the small side, at 14 m., but it directly faces Commonwealth Ave.

The lot has been on the market for quite a while, but since the real estate market has been down for some time now...well you know how it is.

Just in case you're interested, or know someone who is, please feel free to leave a comment or to email me at ronallandottk@yahoo.com. To cut the hassle, would prefer to deal with direct buyers only. Sometimes it can be quite hard dealing with a multitude of brokers and middlemen...you know how that is too. :-)

You can also call 9315575 if you have any inquiries.

Siteplan of the property.


Aerial view. The road at the top of the photo is Commonwealth Avenue.


Here's a tighter aerial shot. The improvements are clearly visible from this distance.

And just in case you're wondering, no, I didn't hire an airplane or a helicopter. Used Google Earth instead. :-)

I observe with mild interest and amusement as a number of men manhandle a locked Ford Expedition into a parking space just behind the building I work in. Checking the time I figured they spent more than half an hour jacking, tugging and pushing at the shiny mass of metal, with their strains finally coming to an end with the large SUV being coaxed into one of the parking spaces.

Querying one of the security personnel, I was told the the vehicle was forcibly repossessed after the owner failed to make the payments on the vehicle. Apparently the owner wasn't happy about his SUV being repossessed, so he neglected to unlock the doors, much less give them the keys.

As if it really mattered whether he gave them the keys or not.

It's a tad ironic, don't you think?

A towering 4x4 such as a Ford Expedition, in the vast majority of cases, is really nothing more than extravagant status symbol, an expression of affluence, an utter display of the triumph of decadence over practicality. Weighing in at over 6,800 kg, or approximately 15,000 lbs, it weighs about the same as six or seven subcompacts. Being approximately 2 m wide, more than 5 m long at about 2 m tall, it's probably bigger than the tin shacks of a lot of destitute and impoverished Filipinos. With a massive 5.4 liter V8, it devours fuel faster than Homer Simpson at an all-you-can-eat fish restaurant, not to mention the fact that compared to most vehicles it probably belches out tons more greenhouse gases. If you think global warming is a myth, then this is the car for you! Further contributing to the irony is that most owners will probably never even drive their Expeditions off-road.

So who would ever buy a vehicle like a Ford Expedition?

Why, only the ridiculously rich of course. No one without oodles of cash should even consider buying one of these babies.

Which leads us back to the situation at hand.

In front of me stands a repossessed Ford Expedition.

It doesn't seem quite right.

Status symbols come naturally if you can afford them. A lot of wealthy people I know even deliberately shun status symbols, preferring the anonymity of being just like everyone else, possibly for their own protection as well.

Unfortunately, some people can't wait. There are people who waste no time or money in projecting themselves as more than what they really are. In this case, that they are more wealthy than they really are. That's why they buy status symbols...even if they can't afford them.

And sadly, the poor slob who owns (owned?) this SUV apparently falls among the latter.

Moral of the story? Don't pretend to be something or someone you're not. Never buy something you can't afford. And never, ever buy a luxury SUV if you can't make the payments.

The past few months my son has been having problems with his Sony Ericsson K310i, specifically with the unit shutting down intermittently even though the battery wasn't discharged yet. "Automatic shutdown" was my son's term for it.

Over the weekend, the cellphone finally decided to give up the ghost, showing nothing than a continuously blinking white screen when powered up.

Not wanting to be stuck with a high tech paperweight, and with unit still under warranty, I promptly called up Globe Handyphone for advice on how to have the cellphone serviced. I was instructed to bring the malfunctioning unit to a Sony Ericcson service center, and as it turned out, the closest service center to my location is the Sony Ericsson Concept Shop in SM North EDSA. My son and I were off to visit it the next day.

I was never a Sony Ericsson person, as I've always preferred Nokia cellphones instead. The thing with Nokia is, if you know how to use one model, then you wouldn't have any problems using any other Nokia model, thanks to its semi-standardized user interface. Sony Ericsson cellphones also have semi-standardized user interfaces, but since I got my first Nokia almost a decade ago, I've never really seen the need to move on to another brand.

I've owned more than a dozen Nokia cellphones in the past ten years or so, and I've never really had a unit go south on me, whether it be a lowly 5110 or a high-end Nseries phone. I guess Nokias are just as tough as nails. Nothing against Sony Ericssons, but they just don't strike me as being as durable as Nokias. Then again, I really wouldn't know since I've never really owned one. That being said, having a unit less than a year old break down on my son doesn't really fill me with confidence.

Sony Ericsson phones are quite notable in the fact that they have better feature sets than their Nokia contemporaries, especially with their low to mid-range products. Nokia is notorious for releasing several similar models over a particular model series with compromises in features here and there, without any unit within a range overwhelmingly better than the rest. While this may have the advantage of having more models to choose from, the downside is that Nokia cellphones depreciate in value more rapidly than comparable models from Sony Ericsson, which tend to retain their value better over the long term.

Of course, it's not necessarily an apples to apples comparison. For the most part any cellphone from Sony Ericsson or Nokia, or for that matter, any other contemporary brand will serve your needs quite well, it's just a matter of preference and/or brand loyalty. For my son, that preference was for Sony Ericsson.

I was somewhat taken aback when we got to the Sony Ericsson Concept shop at Cyberzone, SM North EDSA. They had around four people tending to customers in the sales area, while there where none at the service area, despite a line of people waiting to have their units serviced.

The wait wasn't excrutiatingly long though, only about 10 to 15 minutes. It would have helped though if there were people at the service counter though. For at least 10 minutes there wasn't anyone. Hmmm. Around four or so employees at the sales area. No one at the service area. I guess for them sales must be more important than service.

Where the heck is everyone?

Eventually our number was up, and it was determined that my son's cellphone was in need of a software update. Thankfully, there were no hardware problems whatsoever. We left the unit to be fixed and went on with the rest of our day. Minor quibbles include my having to drop by a Globe business center to get a certification that I got my son's unit from them, and the fact that no one was answering the phone at the Sony Ericsson shop when I tried to follow up the unit's status, despite repeated attempts. Eventually someone did answer, but again, the less than enthusiastic treatment I got wasn't exactly confidence inspiring.

Later in the day we picked up the unit, and it was now working. Being under warranty I didn't have to spend anything on the repair. I think an out of warranty software update would have set me back around P500.00 or so, and while this isn't a huge amount by today's standards, it's still quite a sum to be saved by having them perform the update under warranty.

All wasn't well though. My son was quite disappointed over the fact that all of his contacts, messages, tones, pictures, games and other files were lost, proving that you can never be too young to be a victim of technology.

But I guess he'll just have to live with that.

His phone now works flawlessly, and even the automatic shutdowns which have plagued the unit before have disappeared. At the end of this adventure, this was the only thing that really mattered.

As for me, I'll stick with Nokia.

I've never had any reason to visit a Nokia service center in the more than ten years I have owned Nokia phones, and hopefully, I'll never have to visit one in the future.

If you're wondering why I haven't posted anything new lately, it's because my computers at home were all down until only a few days ago. Went through a couple of hardware upgrades which, unfortunately, didn't really go as smooth as I was expecting them to turn out.

The first upgrade involved the video card of the PC my son uses to play games with (Athlon XP 2400+, 1.5 GB RAM, 256 MB Radeon 9550). He started complaining over the slow frame rates he was getting with some newer games, particularly the resource-hungry RTS World in Conflict. The game is actually playable when using low graphics settings, but there's nothing quite as pathetic as playing a computer game with all the settings turned down to low.

After some research, I figured the GPU with the best bang-for-the-buck was the NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GS, with its 12 pixel pipelines, 5 vertex shaders, and a core running at 400 MHz. All I need now is to find one, particularly one which runs on an AGP bus.

I soon realized that AGP video cards are bit on the scarce side nowadays, with most computer stores stocking up on PCI-Express video cards instead. Even if a shop carried AGP video cards, more often than not their available stock was limited to low-end models, with chipsets such as the GeForce FX 5500 or the Radeon 9550. After going through quite a number of shops at Virra Mall in Greenhills, I finally managed to snag an AGP Inno3D GeForce 7600GS with 256 MB of GDDR2.

Unfortunately, after installing it, I realized the particular unit that was sold to me had a factory defect, as the images being displayed by the card were corrupted and essentially gibberish. The shop promptly replaced it the following day with a fully functional unit, but the aggravation from a failed upgrade and the effort to return the video card was already had.

The second upgrade was with my main PC (Athlon 64 3000+, 1 GB RAM, 256 MB GeForce 6800 LE). Apparently 1 GB of RAM doesn't seem to be enough for my purposes, as I almost always end up using the paging file (and with it the resultant loss in speed), especially for some newer games.

I bought a pair of Elixir (a somewhat generic brand) 1 GB DDR400 DIMMS. I figured generic was okay, since I don't really overclock to the max and the modules were dirt cheap (actually they were the cheapest that I could find). As it turned out, either both of the modules I got were defective, or they really weren't that compatible with my MSI motherboard, as I got nothing but intermittent hangs while installing Windows XP or running Memtest86+. Again, the defective or incompatible modules were promptly replaced by the shop the following day, though I opted to pay extra for Apacer branded modules instead. The new ones worked perfectly.

Moral of the story? If you plan on upgrading your computer, make sure you plan for all contingencies, particularly a botched upgrade. And also make sure you don't have anything pending in the pipeline. There's nothing quite as annoying as having an important file stuck on your PC's hard drive, and being unable to access it because of an upgrade which went sour.

No regrets though. I have two faster PCs. It's almost worth the aggravation. Emphasis on almost.

Links:

Inno3D GeForce 7600GS AGP Review

What's wrong with this picture?


I guess we Filipinos were never really good at following rules.

I've won! I've won! - NOT.

The past several months I've been getting quite a number of text messages on my cellphone informing me that I have won a sum of money in some sort of raffle, and instructing me to call back and look for the person whose name was mentioned in the message.

If it sounds to good to be true, that's because it is.

This is what is known as a text scam.

Text scams first came out a number of years ago, with the rising popularity of cellphones with SMS capability (and consquently the number of suckers who own one). Presently, with approximately 30 million cellphones all over the country, scams like these are quite common.

This message is obviously bogus, and was designed by some unscrupulous souls to appeal to the avaricious and gullible among us for the purpose of scamming them into giving up hard currency, for processing or facilitating the release of their so-called "prizes".

Sadly, a lot of people have already fallen prey to this modus operandi, no doubt overcome by the glorious promise of easy money. Of course, the ones getting the easy money are the perpetrators of this scam.

Here are some examples of the messages I have received, complete with the numbers that sent them:

D'AUDITOR's of PHIL.CHARITY FOUNDATION nform u dat ur Celfon no. Won Php950,000.00 2nd prize Winner draw last:03/01/07 Call Me Now I'm Atty.LIONARDINO V VALDEZ

Sender: +639176170683
Sent: 12:18PM 03-04-2007

Congrt's ur simcrd # Won P560,000,n our 2nd Anv,Fre,Rafle Drw last:June 25-07 frm:Millionaires Club Inc.4 more info&dtails call me nw!Im SEC, EDGAR LEDESMA

Sender: +639053143420
Sent: 01:29PM 07-09-2007

D'AUDITORS of GMA CHARITY FOUNDATION nform u dat ur CELFON nos. WON P 950,000.00 2nd prize winner,drw last.05-24-2007 PLS CALL ME NOW,IM,MRS LELIBETH SANCHEZ

Sender: +639174653165
Sent: 10:50PM 05-26-2007

(Notice):Ur simcard #won P680,000 In Our 2nd Anv PreRAffle drw last:Oct,31/07 frm Millionaires Club inc. 4 more infor &dtails call me nw! im sec,VIC E CUEVAZ

Sender: +639165536075
Sent: 6:37PM 11-04-2007

If you receive a SMS similar to the ones above, it's bogus. Simple as that.

Some dead giveaways that the text message is a scam are the following:

1. The number used is eleven digits, for example, 0916xxxxxxx. Legitimate promos typically use a four digit number.

2. Did you join any raffle promo? If not, how can you possibly win?

3. If you take the bait and decide to call, the person on the other line usually asks for a prize processing fee, a tax payment on the prize, or something similar to be deposited in some bank account.

4. Personally, I feel that if a company can afford to give away hundreds of thousands or even millions of pesos via text, it would be safe to assume that that company can easily afford to hire an employee who knows proper spelling and grammar.

If you see all these warning signs and you still go on and part with your money, shame on you. You probably deserve to have your money taken away from you.

Unfortunately, despite searching the internet particularly the websites of the providers and government agencies concerned, other than some advisories warning the public, there doesn't seem to be a clear-cut mechanism on how to report or apprehend these criminals. It would be nice if there's a way to at least report the numbers used so these numbers get blocked, or if there was some task force somewhere which specializes in entrapment operations against the perpetrators of this fraud.

If you happen to hear of anything, let me know. For now, all we can do is be careful.

So, what do you do if you get such a message?

The easiest thing to do is to ignore it, delete the message right then and there.

If you're feeling a bit sadistic, you could text or call back and give the sender a piece of your mind, but then again why bother? You'll be the one paying for the text or call.

Just be vigilant, and don't believe everything that you receive on your phone.

Walang manloloko kung walang nagpapaloko.

Its been a quite a long while since I blogged about religion, so I was pleasantly surprised when blogger Sadiq Alam sent me the link of his latest post through email.

You can read it here.

The message is simple. God is always with you, whereever you are.

You can read the rest of his blog here.

Maybe I should blog about religion again. :-)

And the top ten reason to quit playing RAN Online, from 10 to 1, are:

10. Availability of newer and better online games.

Frankly I don't have much experience with other MMORPGs, but I've heard and read lots of positive reviews over some newer online games, such as Perfect World, Lineage II, and Granado Espada. Yeah, it may be hard to give up RAN Online after all those months, but you never know. It may be about time to move on to some other MMORPG. And who knows? The service and support may even be better.

9. Poor return of investment.

You play for hours on end, for months, perhaps even years, and eventually you get that high level character you've always wanted. Now what? You could try selling your account, but not only is that prohibited by e-Games, you'll only get a small fraction of the money you invested into making that character in the first place.

Well, you do get bragging rights against lesser characters, but the satisfaction doesn't last. No matter how high your character's level is, in all likelihood there's a character out there with a higher character level than you, and perhaps even better and more powerful items to boot.

Besides, nothing lasts forever. You could play and play until you character reaches the level cap. Then somewhere down the line the game loses support from its parent company and eventually the server is shut down. It can take anywhere from a few years to several years, but it will still happen. Remember R.O.S.E Online? Tens of thousands of players at its height. Dead after three years. And your precious character? While it was still being played it was probably a few megabytes of data residing on a hard disk somewhere in cyberspace. When the server shuts down for good it's not even that anymore.

8. It's murder on relationships.

Admit it. Unless your significant other is as addicted to Ran Online as you are, playing the game for hours, days, or months at a time can be murder on relationships. Ever had a girlfriend, boyfriend, or spouse chide you for spending so much time and money on an online game? And if you don't have a girlfriend or boyfriend yet, don't expect to find one while being glued in front of your monitor.

While some relationships grew from the game into reality, such fairy tale romances are not that common, and even if they do happen, they're probably not likely to last in the absence of the common denominator, that is, RAN Online itself. Without the game to hold the relationship together, it evaporates into nothingness like pots during PK period.

And of course, there are your parents. I don't think any parent (and I happen to be one myself) who would approve of you playing RAN Online to the exclusion of everything else.

7. Addiction to Ran Online can ruin your grades/career.

Do I even have to explain this one? I've know students who cut classes just to be able to play during 2x or 3x EXP events. I've known even some professionals who call in sick just to be able to play at home (I've done that a few times myself). There are even some extreme examples of students giving up school altogether. While the game may indeed be fun, it should take a back seat to more important matters, such as school, and work.

6. The huge numbers of annoying characters.

Try as you might, you can't seem to avoid them. Scammers, bad mouthers, kill-stealers, looters, DAM lurers, identity thieves, GM impersonators, etc. Yeah, I know it's all part of the game, but let's face it, when a high level character comes from nowhere and thrashes the mobs lured by our partymates, or when a DAM lured by a character only in his or her underwear decimates the entire party, or when you drop your +7 item and the player who picked it up doesn't return it, admit it. You're annoyed.

5. Your buddies have stopped playing the game.

It's always fun starting out a new MMORPG. You meet people, you add them to your buddy list, before you realize it you have an entire slew of friends welcoming you every time you log on. Sooner or later you form a gang, or join one, surrounded by characters who have played alongside you for months, even years.

Then one by one they start disappearing. Some players lose interest and just stop playing. Some characters get sold or traded. Some characters get hacked and/or deleted. Maybe you'll make some new friends, but eventually they'll disappear as well the same way as the old ones.

And when you find yourself for the most part alone, then playing a MMORPG hardly seems different from playing a standalone single player game. Which is well and fine if you're hooked on the game itself, but if it's the social aspect you're after, the point is lost. Just like your buddies.

4. The service and support being provided by e-Games is just plain awful.

Do I really have to elaborate on this one?

Connection errors, full servers, user's account is being connected, lag, frequent disconnections, software bugs and glitches, lost items, wasted eP items, rollbacks, hacked accounts, deleted characters, poor password security, slow problem resolution, etc. If you think I'm exaggerating, just check out the forums. A lot of us probably spend more time trying to connect or reconnect than actually playing. And let's face it, I'm not saying that their technical support is totally useless, but just for the record, how many of you were actually helped by their helpdesk?

3. It is financially draining.

While the game follows the Free-To-Play (F2P) revenue model, if you want to have a chance at leveling your character up to a reasonable level within your lifetime with some semblance of ease and convenience, you will probably have to invest in a number of in-game accessories bought with your hard-earned money. Such accessories include training rosaries, buddy transmission cards, headgear, bus cards, start and back point passes, etc.

Granted, such accessories are optional, but after a while they seem to feel like necessities, especially if you've been playing for hours and only seeing a 1% increase in your EXP level, or if you have to run all the way from your school to let's say, HO.

And if you don't have a PC with an internet connection of your own at home, it only makes things worse as you have to play in a LAN shops which charges by the hour.

Months of playing can add up to a few thousand to tens of thousands of pesos. Think about it. If you didn't play RAN Online you could have saved enough to buy a new cellphone. Maybe even a laptop.

2. It's hazardous to your health.

How many of you have played for hours and hours at a time, without eating, sleeping, only stopping for occasional bathroom breaks? I know I have, especially when I'm using one of those 24 hour resurrection training rosaries. I've only gone on a few all-nighters in the months that I have been playing RAN Online, but it is not unusual for some players to go on straight playing binges lasting for days, perhaps with only a few hours of sleep at a time. Obviously, playing the game in such a manner can be detrimental to one's health.

And you don't even have to play like that to suffer health risks. I think I'm starting to develop repetitive strain injury (RSI) in my right wrist from holding and clicking a mouse over and over again, even though nowadays I only play once or twice a week.

Prolonged sitting can also lead to back pain as well as poor blood circulation, causing difficulties in moving, varicose veins, and increased susceptibility to fatigue. Lack of physical activity can lead to obesity and possible heart problems and hypertension later on.

Not to mention headaches and migraines associated with eyestrain from staring endlessly into a computer monitor.

Without realizing it, we are probably putting are bodies at risk by playing the way we do. And e-Games seems to be encouraging it. Have you ever seen them post any health warnings against playing too much? Has anyone?

And the number one reason to quit RAN Online is:

1. It takes up too much of your time.

When you first start out playing RAN Online, you'll notice that it really doesn't take much time to level up your character. A newly created character can level up to the 20s or 30s in a matter of a couple of hours. An intermediate character can get one or two levels up in a matter of several hours, while a high level character may need to be played for days, even weeks just to level up.

Needless to say, playing RAN Online wastes a lot of time. Hey, it's fun, that's why I play it too. But the bottom line is that it is still uses up a lot of your time. And when you people get to be my age (I'm not that old mind you), you'll realize that time lost is time lost forever.

That's the reason why this is the number one reason to quit.

There are always other online games out there.

We play games to have fun, not as an investment.

Relationships, grades and careers can be rebuilt.

Annoying players are part of the game, actually part of any online game, and for that matter, part of life. Annoying people are everywhere.

New friends can be made, service can improve, money can be made, health can even be regained, if it's not too late.

But time...

Time can neither be replaced nor recovered. The hours, weeks, months we spend playing this game represent hours, weeks and months that we will never get back. So we should make the most of what little time we have.

Summing up, playing or quitting RAN Online is a personal choice. It's up to you. Just realize that while it's fun, spending too much time playing it, or for that matter any other online game can take its toll on your relationships, your family, your grades or your career, your sanity, your finances, your health, and above all your time.

The key is moderation. But if you're fed up with all of the compromises, you might as well quit. In all likelihood, you won't regret it.

I guess I spoke too soon. Less than 24 hours after I was first able to log on RAN Online and the other e-Games websites, again I am plagued by the dreaded connection error dialogue box:

Well, I knew it was too good to last.

I don't know. The urge to quit playing is becoming so strong I'll probably succumb sooner or later. Actually I'm already what they call "semi-retired", that is, I only play when I get the itch to do so, and whenever time and opportunity permits. I was only compelled to go out of semi-retirement so that I could level my INT swordsman all the way to 127 and learn the newly launched 127 skill. Thankfully, during the brief period with which I was able to connect yesterday, I was able to succeed in achieving my goal. But now that I have accomplished what I set out to do, and with e-Games being plagued with connection errors, I wouldn't be surprised if I just disappeared from the RAN gaming community.

Such a shame really.

To be perfectly honest, RAN Online is truly a great game that is slowly getting better with the introduction of the new skills and quests. Unfortunately, the quality of the service being provided with e-Games seems to be inversely proportional with the quality of the game itself - as the game gets better, the quality of service deteriorates.

Needless to say, I don't think I'll be buying any more e-Points soon.

If there's anything I need to be thankful for this situation is that e-Games' lousy service played a huge part in getting me back to blogging again. I've been in a blogging rut the last several months, having run out of fresh material to blog about. Strangely enough, I haven't seen many blogs critical of e-Games' services. Perhaps if I write about my own experiences with e-Games' poor service, maybe in my own little way I can get this problem out into the open and at the same speak for the thousands of e-Gamers who share my sentiments.

Let's just see what happens.

After almost five days, I was finally able to log in e-Games' web servers.

While I'm definitely relieved that I was able to access my e-Games accounts, the experience nonetheless has left a bad taste in my mouth. The bottom line is, the less than stellar service and support of e-Games to its customers still leaves me extremely disappointed.

Apparently, a lot of other e-Gamers feel the same, as my posts relating to e-Games' troubles have seen higher than average traffic lately, indicating that dissatisfaction with e-Games' quality of service has grown beyond its internal forums and has spilled over into the internet at large.

I'm taking this topic to heart for several reasons - firstly because of my personal stake as player of RAN Online, and secondly, the perpetual complaints against e-Games' services represent virgin territory as far as our local legal system is concerned. As an advocate of the legal profession and soon to be (hopefully) a member of the Bar, there are a lot of circumstances in these events which are, to my mind, ripe for legal intervention, and perhaps, even regulation.

Not that I am totally blaming e-Games. It is understood that running a MMORPG of this scale makes technical problems more likely than not. But of course, we have to strike a balance between technical issues and consumer rights, and the rights and responsibilities of both e-Games and its players.

Needless to say, I think more will be written, and much more will be said with regard to this issue in the days to come.

If there are any e-Gamers out there who would like to give their two cents worth, please feel free to do so. If there is anything that needs explanation, whether legal or otherwise, I will try to explain my perspective in an honest and objective manner.

For those who have offered their support, I give my thanks.

And if anyone from e-Games can read this, please, please get your act together. And please do not alienate the very people who have contributed significantly to the success and growth of your company by trampling over their rights as consumers.

After talking a number of times with different e-Games support personnel and browsing a number of different forum sites (like this one), it turns out that the reason why I couldn't log on RAN Online or any of e-Games' websites is because e-Games is having connection problems specifically with subscribers of PLDT's myDSL service. Apparently subscribers of different ISPs are not affected, as far as I know.

So, the bottom line is, if you want to play RAN Online, or at the very least log in any e-Games website and your ISP is PLDT myDSL, tough luck.

I've tried refreshing my connection so my router can obtain a new IP address, but it still doesn't work. Nothing does. And it's strange, because other than the fact that I can't seem to access e-Games' web servers, my internet connection is perfectly fine. If it weren't for the fact that I play RAN Online, I probably wouldn't have noticed.

I can log on on virtually any website in the world, and yet I can't connect to a number of websites belonging to a solitary company. Somehow I'm inclined to think that the problem lies on e-Games' end. I've been a subscriber of PLDT myDSL for several years now, and while it has had its share of problems, it has never singled out any particular website with which it couldn't connect. Now, I have this rather strange situation in which I can't connect to one company site and one company site alone. It seems perfectly logical to assume that someone at e-Games has screwed up...again.

It started about four days ago. I logged off RAN Online after an emergency server restart was announced. I haven't been able to log on ever since, much to my consternation.

To make matters worse, the customer support personnel of e-Games seem to be oblivious as to the real cause of the problem, much less any possible solution. All they can offer to do is get my IP address and location for purposes of determining the extent of the problem, but for any real solutions, they seem to be as mystified as I am. All I can do is wait, and occupy my time with other pursuits, which is probably just as well.

It's just disappointing that e-Games is doing a piss-poor job of providing service to it's customers. For several months now it has been faced with connection problems and software glitches, which is only exacerbated by the absence of any really meaningful technical support. A shame really, considering the immense popularity of its online games, especially RAN Online.

Now the pressure is on e-Games to fix this problem. The number of PLDT myDSL subscribers who happen to be e-Games customers is significant, more so if you factor in that a majority of internet cafes and LAN shops who cater to gamers playing e-Games' online games connect to the internet via PLDT myDSL.

The thousands of players who couldn't connect represent what will probably amount to be a huge revenue loss for e-Games. Needless to say, if I were running the company, I'll probably end up firing someone because of this.

I've said it before, I'll say it again. e-Games definitely needs to get its act together. So far it has been nothing but one technical problem after another, exacerbated by poor technical support and what I can only assume to be incompetent technical people.

Maybe e-Games President Steve Tsao should seriously consider skimming some money from the millions of pesos of revenue it generates thanks to its loyal player base, and seriously consider spending it on better hardware, better network connections, and more competent technical people, instead of concentrating on marketing and sponsoring all those events.

Fail to nip this in the bud, and we can expect e-Games' client base to evaporate into nothingness, just like the 2x resurrection training rosary which I bought with my hard-earned money that ended up being wasted because of this.

Given today's cutthroat market, one shouldn't expect to provide poor service and stay in business.

In the meantime, may they should just change the name of RAN Online to RAN Offline. The latter is probably more appropriate.

Disembodied spirit? Malevolent spectre? Actually it's just my son Aaron, proving that a digital camera, Adobe Photoshop, and a flashlight up one's nose can turn out to be quite a remedy for boredom. :-)

For almost two days now, RAN Online, and the rest of the other e-Games titles, portals and forum pages remain down.

Any attempt to log on RAN Online simply results in the following message being displayed:

Logging on any e-Games website only generates a browser time out error and a blank page, as if e-Games simply did not exist on the web.

What gives?

I have always been critical of the shoddy service e-Games has been giving its customers lately (see previous posts here and here), but this recent development takes the cake.

Without any advisory or warning, e-Games' web presence has mysteriously disappeared, just like that.

It reeks of unprofessionalism and incompetence, and to my mind, simply unacceptable and definitely a perfect example of the wrong way to run a business.

I also find it a bit disturbing that most newspaper and magazine articles I read about local MMORPGs are filled with little more than hyperbole and unending praise, with nary a mention of the "dark side" of online gaming, that is, the issue of technical problems and shoddy customer support. Perhaps some of these gaming journalists who purport to be "objective" are on the take? Can anyone spell P-A-Y-O-L-A? Well, your guess is as good as mine.

Think about it. While I'm not in any way suggesting that all gaming journalists are like that, truth be told, I have yet to read an article in any reputable local newspaper or magazine, even those publications solely dedicated to gaming, or local gaming websites which really criticize the proprietors of some online games for not giving their customers the quality of service and support that they deserve.

RAN Online is the country's third most popular MMORPG. I can only surmise that it got to No. 3 because of the tremendous player support, and not because of e-Games' less than stellar capabilities in supporting the title.

Clearly, e-Games has to get its act together, before waning player support shuts it down...permanently.

And the way things are, I wouldn't be really surprised if that actually happened.

Happy 11th birthday son!

If you're my age you may just remember a song by Bruce Springsteen way back in the early 90s with the same title as this blog post. More or less, this phrase happens to be an apt description of my life at the moment.

Things happening (or not happening) all over the place...but nothing really of import taking place in my life.

I guess that explains why I haven't been blogging again for the longest time. Just the same old things to blog about, day in, day out, month in, month out, year in and year out.

And coincidentally, I now know what Bruce Springsteen was talking about in that song of his. Have you checked out SkyCable lately? How may times have you found yourself flipping aimlessly through what seems to be hundreds of channels, and not be able to find anything worth watching? It's been happening to me more often than not lately. Either I just developed a case of adult attention-deficit disorder or the quality of cable TV programming has gone down the drain. I guess I must have watched more than my fair share of TV, since to me cable appears to be nothing more than a vast collection of reruns. Come to think of it, my life feels like an old rerun as well. Haven't I been on this path before?

Probably.

I dunno. Maybe I'm finally getting a real mid-life crisis.

Maybe I'll get the urge to update this blog more often in the next few days. I've been blogging for the past three years now, it would seem to be a real shame if I just threw this thing down the drain.

Thanks to the people who keep visiting even though I haven't updated.

And in case I don't get another chance to post again, advance happy 11th birthday to my son Aaron, who'll be celebrating his natal day tomorrow. Eleven years. My my. Time really does fly.

Whether you're having fun or not.

Note:

Turn off the background audio first at the bottom of the page before clicking the play button.

Makes Me Wonder
Maroon 5

I wake up with blood-shot eyes
Struggled to memorize
The way it felt between your thighs
Pleasure that made you cry

Feels so good to be bad
Not worth the aftermath, after that
After that, try to get you back

I still don't have the reason
And you don't have the time
And it really makes me wonder
If I ever gave a fuck about you

Give me something to believe in
'Cause I don't believe in you anymore, anymore
I wonder if it even makes a difference to try, yeah
So this is goodbye

God damn I'm standing here
Decisions that made my bed
Now I must lay in it
And deal with things I left unsaid

I want to dive into you
Forget what you're going through
I get behind, make your move
Forget about the truth

I still don't have the reason
And you don't have the time
And it really makes me wonder
If I ever gave a fuck about you

Give me something to believe in
'Cause I don't believe in you anymore, anymore
I wonder if it even makes a difference
It even makes a difference to try

And it's over, heard the feeling
But I don't believe it's true anymore, anymore
I wonder if it even makes a difference to cry
(Oh no)
So this is goodbye

I've been here before
One day I'll wake up
And it won't hurt anymore

You caught me in a lie
I have no alibi
The words you say don't have a meaning

Cause I still don't have the reason
And you don't have the time
And it really makes me wonder
If I ever gave a fuck about you
and I...and so this is goodbye

Give me something to believe in
Cause I don't believe in you anymore, anymore
I wonder if it even makes a difference
It even makes a difference to try

And it's over, heard the feeling
But I don't believe it's true anymore, anymore
I wonder if it even makes a difference to cry
(Oh no)
So this is goodbye

(Oh no)
Yeah, so this is goodbye
(Oh no)
Yeah, so this is goodbye
(Oh no)
Yeah, so this is goodbye

Tomorrow, after a long drawn trial which has lasted for almost six years, the Sandiganbayan is finally scheduled to render its verdict on the plunder case of former President Joseph Estrada.

Talk about being caught between a rock and a hard place.

Acquit Estrada, and EDSA II will be reduced to nothing more than a sham political event, an example of how extra-Constitutional means were adopted for removing from office without due process what would amount to be a President innocent of any wrongdoing.

Convict Estrada, and earn the ire of perhaps millions of Erap (and even FPJ) supporters who believe their idol to be innocent of all charges, convicted only as a sacrificial lamb if only to justify his removal from office and the "unlawful" assumption of then Vice President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to the Presidency.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

And it's all happening tomorrow.

Watch the news tomorrow people. Whatever happens, whatever the consequences, it will be history in the making.

One of my favorite songs. Fits the month...the day...even my mood.

Note:

Turn off the background audio first at the bottom of the page before clicking the play button.

Wake Me Up When September Ends
Green Day

Summer has come and passed
The innocent may never last
Wake me up when September ends

Like my fathers come to pass
Seven years has gone so fast
Wake me up when September ends

Here comes the rain again
Falling from the stars
Drenched in my pain again
Becoming who we are

As my memory rests
But never forgets what I lost
Wake me up when September ends

Summer has come and passed
The innocent can never last
Wake me up when September ends

Ring out the bells again
Like we did when Spring began
Wake me up when September ends

Here comes the rain again
Falling from the stars
Drenched in my pain again
Becoming who we are

As my memory rests
But never forgets what I lost
Wake me up when September ends

Summer has come and passed
The innocent can never last
Wake me up when September ends

Like my fathers come to pass
Twenty years has gone so fast
Wake me up when September ends
Wake me up when September ends
Wake me up when September ends

In memory of 9/11.

A few days ago, Fil-Am teen sensation Vanessa Hudgens, lead actress of the hit Disney Channel films High School Musical and High School Musical 2 was caught with her pants down...literally, after photos of her in the buff circulated freely on the internet.

The photos were taken privately, and as is usual for nude pictures of famous celebrities, found their way to the internet much to the embarrassment and dismay of Disney, which is renowned for family-oriented films and television programs.

Hudgens has issued a public apology over the incident, which her publicist has described as a "lapse in judgment". Disney will continue to retain her services, unwilling to mess with an already proven formula.

Personally, I don't really consider her nude photos to be a big deal, except of course for the fact that posing in her birthday suit doesn't really jive with the corporate standards and target audience of the Disney Channel. Being signed up with a studio known for cartoons and movies devoid of sex and violence, some eyebrows will indeed be raised over Hudgen's indiscretion, but taking Disney out of the equation, being photographed in the nude is more or less normal in this day and age, with virtually all famous female celebrities being photographed unclothed, deliberately or otherwise, at some point during their careers.

It seems a tad ironic that some people are prude enough to make a big deal over nudity in whatever medium they may see it, and yet embrace unbridled sexuality in mainstream films, or full out sexual acts in pornographic magazines and videos.

Somehow, I think it's all relative. We don't mind seeing naked women, or even naked men belonging to certain tribal communities, and yet when it comes to people belonging to the same level of culture, we suddenly become prudes and take offense over the sight of a nipple or a glimpse of pubic hair. And we're the ones who are supposed to be civilized.

I guess taking into consideration that Hudgen's films are geared towards children, some parents may find such a display of bare flesh to be inappropriate and irresponsible.

It's not that I'm advocating nudity, far from it actually. To my mind, there is just nothing inherently immoral or offensive with the naked human body. That being said, it depends on the situation, and in Hudgen's case, displaying her nude body in all its glory certainly doesn't coincide with her image as a wholesome teen star. Nonetheless, her career will survive. Perhaps with some mild tarnish on her shining star, but probably no permanent damage.

That being said, if you're curious and interested in seeing her nude photos, you came to the right place. I don't profess to be a prude (except in certain instances), and I certainly don't encourage those with prurient interests to drool over pictures of Hudgen's young naked body. If however, you're merely curious, or feel that the unclothed human form is something to be admired at and not something to be ashamed of, you can catch a glimpse of her controversial pictures here.

September again. The first Sunday. The first day of the Bar exams.

*sigh*

Maybe next year.

Good luck to everyone taking it this year.

Wake me up when September ends.

Law of Mechanical Repair:
After your hands become coated with grease your nose will begin to itch or you'll have to pee.

Law of the Workshop:
Any tool, when dropped, will roll to the least accessible corner.

Law of probability:
The probability of being watched is directly proportional to the stupidity of your act.

Law of the Telephone:
When you dial a wrong number, you never get a busy signal.

Law of the Alibi:
If you tell the boss you were late for work because you had a flat tire, the very next morning you will have a flat tire.

Variation Law:
If you change lines (or traffic lanes), the one you were in will start to move faster than the one you are in now. (works every time)

Bath Theorem:
When the body is fully immersed in water, the telephone rings.

Law of Close Encounters:
The probability of meeting someone you know increases when you are with someone you won't want to be seen with.

Law of the Result:
When you try to prove to someone that a machine won't work, it will.

Law of Biomechanics:
The severity of the itch is inversely proportional to the reach.

Theatre Rule:
At any event, the people whose seats are furthest from the aisle arrive last.

Law of Coffee:
As soon as you sit down to a cup of hot coffee, your boss will ask you to do something which will last until the coffee is cold.

Murphy's Law of Lockers:
If there are only two people in a locker room, they will have adjacent lockers.

Law of Dirty Rugs/Carpets:
The chances of an open-faced jelly Sandwich of landing face down on a floor covering are directly correlated to the newness and cost of the carpet/rug.

Law of Location:
No matter where you go, there you are.

Law of Logical Argument:
Anything is possible if you don't know what you are talking about.

Brown's Law:
If the shoe fits, it's ugly.

Oliver's Law:
A closed mouth gathers no feet.

Wilson 's Law:
As soon as you find a product that you really like, they will stop making it.

From my inbox.

As promised, here's the text of my letter-complaint discussing the unscrupulous practices of certain online game proprietors. I have promptly sent copies of this letter to the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), and the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC).

Now if only they stop sitting on their asses and see the letter for what it represents, that is, uncharted legal territory, as far as consumer rights is concerned.

The undersigned would like to respectfully bring to your attention certain possible abuses and violations of consumer rights as well as possible abuses in the use of an information and communication infrastructure in a commercial field which does not seem to be regulated much if at all. I am referring to MMORPGs, or Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games.

A MMORPG is basically an online video game, a game played over the internet where the players are represented in a virtual world as characters of their own design and choosing.

The typical scenario for these online games is that the players’ characters go on various quests in the said virtual world, killing monsters, etc. in order to earn experience (measured in points) and in-game gold. The additional experience makes it possible for the character to raise its level, therefore improving its characteristics, making it stronger, more resistant to damage, more skillful, etc. The in-game gold is then used to purchase weapons and armor within the game itself.

As you may well imagine, the highly customizable characters and open-ended quests make the game potentially very addictive, especially for kids and even adults.

Technically, MMORPGs require the proprietor to set up a server with internet access, running a server version of the game. The players download and install client versions of the game to their own PCs, create an account, and log-in to the servers via the internet, and proceed to play. Proprietors earn money in a variety of ways, primarily by charging playing times, or by offering the game and gameplay for free (Free-to-Play in industry terminology), and making money by selling virtual items that can be used in the game itself, such as weapons, costumes, etc.

In this regard, I would like to bring to your knowledge this locally available MMORPG which was introduced to me by my son late last year entitled RAN Online (http://www.ranonline.com.ph) which is owned and operated domestically by IP e-Games (http://www.e-games.com.ph)

I found the game quite interesting and entertaining, and I have been playing the game on a regular basis since then. Apparently many others find the game entertaining as well, and informal estimates put the number of players at more than 40,000, probably more. RAN Online follows the Free-to-Play model, and primarily earns its revenue via the sale of in-game items in exchange for ePoints (eP) prepaid-style load cards which are bought in 20, 50, 100, 300 and even 1000 eP denominations, at a price of P1 per eP (e.g. 100 eP is worth P100).

Unfortunately, as of late, the gaming experience offered by RAN Online has seriously deteriorated with frequent server downtimes, account log-in problems, network outages, network lag, frequent disconnections, and various other technical issues. To further exacerbate decline in the quality of their services, their customer service hasn’t been very helpful as well, often unsure of how to reply to queries, or passing the buck to in-game administrators known as Game Masters (or GMs). The GMs don’t always reply to support concerns, and for the most part players are relegated to posting their issues on e-Games forum site.

The problem is that most players purchase various in-game items via their item shop in order to enhance the gameplay, the most popular items of which are training rosaries, which double or even triple the experience earned by the character for a period of time ranging from 1 hour to 1 day, depending on the price paid for the rosary. Other than that, other items, such as weapons, costumes, and accessories such as hats or rings are also sold at the item shop, with durations ranging from 1 day to 30 days. With frequent disconnections, log-in problems and the like, the end result is that most players who purchase these in-game items are not able to maximize their use due to problems with the servers and networks connections.

For example, a player would buy a 1 day 3x rosary for 150 eP (P150) and being able to use it for only a couple of hours because the system won’t let you log in. Multiply these by the number of players purchasing in-game items (a significant portion of the estimated more than 30,000 players), and you’re basically talking about fraud on a large scale.

It would be fine if the e-Games would at least reinstate the item after the technical issue has been resolved, but items being returned are rare and selective at best.

I was recently informed by a customer service representative only yesterday that despite numerous complaints of this nature, its not necessarily the policy of the company to return said items, instead they offer as compensation for server downtime various in-game events, instead of reinstating sold in-game items. These in-game events are enjoyed by everyone who plays the game, not only those who purchased in-game items, so it seems that e-Games has a policy of shortchanging players who actually make purchases. Quite ironic if you stop to think that the items being sold are only virtual, that is, they do not physically exist except only in the game.

Even the terms of service of the game which is posted everytime a player logs in seems to bear this out, and appears to be biased against the player as far as liabilities are concerned.

To further add insult to injury, the vast majority of RAN’s players are minors, who typically do not complain to authorities due to their lack of assertiveness, their being unaware of their rights as consumers, or lack of eloquence in expressing their sentiments regarding the poor service.

To summarize, e-Games primarily sources its income from revenue generated from the sales of in-game items. Unfortunately, due to many technical issues, most, if not all, on the server side of the connection, a lot of players are unable make the most of the in-game purchases and e-Games does not have a clear replacement policy even if the problem is with their own infrastructure and system.

In evidence I offer the URL of e-Games’ forum site which contains literally hundreds of complaints:

http://forums.e-games.com.ph/

Here's the page for the technical concerns page of their forum site which contains hundreds of complaints as well:

http://forums.e-games.com.ph/index.php?board=44.0

A cursory examination of the various posts in these forum pages indicate the large number of dissatisfied customers.

Here is a more specific forum thread, some of the participants of which tend to be a bit more more unsavory in their remarks and allegations:

http://forums.e-games.com.ph/index.php?topic=300928.0

Here is the forum page for most of the complaints against e-Games:

http://forums.e-games.com.ph/index.php?board=10.0

These violations, particularly those which take away the money of the players for virtual items which are rendered unusable because of server problems constitute fraud to my mind, and I believe this ought to be worthy of investigation as likely violations of consumer rights, and an abuse of information technology infrastructure, perhaps even ripe for government regulation.

This letter is not meant to single out IP e-Games. All other locally operated MMORPGs should be investigated for possible violations as well. Being a player of one of their games, it just turns out that I have personal knowledge of IP e-Games’ activities, hence my personal interest in this issue.

Your attention with regard to this matter is most appreciated. Please feel free to contact me if there are any additional details or information regarding this matter your office may be interested in.

Thank you very much.

Somehow...I can relate.

Ever since broadband internet access became commonplace, the popularity of local online gaming has grown by leaps and bounds. Only a few short years ago, internet/gaming cafés offered mostly single player titles, as well as multiplayer games playable over a local area network (LAN), such as StarCraft, WarCraft III: Reign of Chaos, Command & Conquer: Generals, and the ubiquitous Counter-Strike.

Nowadays, while most of these games still have a following, a lot of players have simply grown tired of playing with or against AI allies and opponents, or even with or against human opponents on a local network. They want to play with or against players from literally all over the place, not only with people located in a single establishment. That's precisely what massively multiplayer games are all about, and the proliferation of high speed internet access has made it all possible.

In the Philippines, the rapid proliferation of online games is nothing short of phenomenal, with an estimated 6.3 million online gamers by 2008.

Leading the charge are popular MMORPGs (massively multiplayer online role playing game) such as Ragnarok, RAN Online, Tantra Online, Fly for Fun, Grenado Espada and Perfect World, among others, as well as casual online games aimed at less hardcore players such as O2 Jam, BattlePosition and Pangya.

Unfortunately, the growth of local online gaming hasn't been smooth sailing all the way. While the demand may be high, especially among the middle and upper class segments, some online games have been hounded with technical issues, inadequate hardware and bandwidth, poor customer service, and worse, allegations of unfair commercial practices.

Of course, that leads us to the question: in case of issues or problems with online games, which local government agency has jurisdiction?

Strangely enough, the answer isn't as straightforward as we may want it to be.

To cite an example, I've recently sent a letter-complaint to the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) regarding what to my mind constitutes unfair trade practices by IP e-Games in its MMORPG RAN Online. I got a reply from their legal department informing me that it is the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) which has jurisdiction over my particular complaint. When I forwarded my letter to the NTC, they informed me that it is the DTI which has jurisdiction.

The NTC also recommended that I coordinate with the Cybercrime Division of Criminal Investigation and Detection Group of the Philippine National Police (PNP-CIDG). The email NTC sent to me listed the PNP-CIDG's website as http://www.cidg.pnp.gov.ph/. Curiously, when I tried to load that website, I got redirected to the website of Enchanted Kingdom instead. Enchanted Kingdom is an amusement park located in Sta. Rosa, Laguna.

The question on my mind is: Why is the URL of the PNP-CIDG pointing towards the website of an amusement park? Is it deliberate? Or is the PNP-CIDG itself a victim of online vandalism? Your guess is as good as mine.

To further muddle the issue of jurisdiction, other agencies which may have jurisdiction include the Commission on Information and Communication Technology (CICT), or perhaps even the National Computer Center (NCC).

So, which agency really does have jurisdiction in cases of possible consumer rights violations involving MMORPGs? It seems that at this point in time, a definitive answer may not yet exist. Online gaming is a relatively new business, and as such, government agencies may have to play catch-up before it can exercise any regulation over them. Existing laws and regulations simply may or may not address the issue of online games, and local authorities may or may not understand the business models of this type of enterprise, but one thing is sure: Government will sooner or later have to step in to curb any possible abuses made by proprietors of online games.

Not a few online games have already closed shop. The once popular Rush on Seven Episodes (R.O.S.E. Online) has shut down its operations last July 31 after three years of operation. The local server of Gunbound has shut down and is currently in the process of migrating its local users over to the Gunbound International Server (GIS). There are allegations of online fraud, particularly the illegal sale and/or theft of characters and/or virtual items. There are numerous complaints of poor service from otherwise popular games such as Tantra Online, and RAN Online. Taking into consideration the huge investments in time and money by players in building up their characters in these games, what protection is afforded them? How are their rights as consumers watched over?

This are questions which need to be addressed sooner or later, with more and more online games just over the horizon.

Suffice it to say, I'm sure we haven't heard the last of this issue.

That being said, I'll post the text of my letter-complaint in a succeeding entry. Stay tuned.