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.
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.
