I think Nate and the rest of us got played.
"Yeah, we'll work something out. Sign this NDA."
"No, we're not going to work something out. We just wanted you folks to shut up."
Culture, schmulture. It doesn't take this long to work a deal. Corporations move slow, but they move. And - if they were going to deal, they would likely have made a huge fuss about it and turned it into a big PR success.
I could be wrong. I've been wrong before. I would love to be wrong, but until I'm proven wrong, my money is on CoT. Literally.
Yeah, after a while the smell of BS starts to get pretty strong.
It certainly isn't Nate's or anyone else's fault for trying. They are the good guys. NCSoft, with their ability to get their feelings hurt at the drop of a hat due to their fantasy world where the entire planet has to abide by the cultural rules of Korea, are the bad guys.
So them just getting a NDA in place to shut everyone up sounds like something I would expect from them.
By the way, good luck with that business model on the world marketplace NCSoft.
(Although I'm not I believing for a second that they would refuse a phone call from Microsoft because it didn't go through the proper Korean customs...they sound more like bullies who like to push around people smaller than them) The whole online game model starts to smell bad at the end of the day. This can't possibly last. You don't build up a costumer base for a product and then anger them over and over by informing them they can no longer use the product... and expect that industry to last. Maybe it's ok for "gamers" who just move on to the next game...but I played CoH...that's it. Other games bore and frustrate me. No interest.
(I'm excited for CoT...but part of me fears it will frustrate me because it won't be the same)At some point, the costumer base says "enough"....usually around the time that someone offers a better product. You'd better be able to promise your costumers they can play the game they bought for as long as they want.
They say the sign of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. I must be as loony as they come because I come to these forums day after day expecting to see a different result.
Just think of it like a musician. We do the same things over and over and expect better results. And it works. It's possible musicians are insane of course.