Are we going to hear from Brian Clayton. Positron, War Witch soon ??

[Knightslayer]

I think Kibun is a red herring. At the end of the day, NCSoft is a business, and cultural issues aside, it acts like a business. The behavior that many are attributing to Kibun or "saving face" also comes from one other thing. In the west we call it pride. The two concepts aren't as alien to each other as it would seem at first glance.

NCSoft is a very prideful company, and the unilateral "This is how we're going to do it" attitude is part of that. It's unlikely that we can change their decision at this point, but we can definitely make them wish that they had, and warn others of the destructive pattern of behavior so that they don't get burned by it as well.

And if the pressure gets high enough, there is still a small chance that they could decide that selling off the IP is the best way to make it go away.

Yep, the joys of a massive ego...

[Segev]

I agree. That is the way the lock-boxes should work.

I have been a lifetime subscriber of STO since about the time it came out. I haven't once stepped foot into anything PvP related. Even my Klingon character hasn't participated in any PvP content.

Ignore the PvP stuff, and STO isn't too bad. Granted, the Klingon side is more geared towards PvP. But, its not mandatory that you participate. Even as a Klingon.

This has been my observation, as well.

Unicorns? :P

This forum has one word filter. The word spelled "t" "r" "o" "l" "l" is filtered to "unicorn," and the plurals thereof likewise.

[Codewalker]

This has been my observation, as well.This forum has one word filter. The word spelled "t" "r" "o" "l" "l" is filtered to "unicorn," and the plurals thereof likewise.

Actually, just checked and it looks like somebody added the F-bomb in as well.

There's one other banned topic in the filters: louis  vuitton.

[Segev]

I don't even know the significance of that "Louis" one. ^^;

[P51mus]

Actually, just checked and it looks like somebody added the F-bomb in as well.

There's one other banned topic in the filters: louis  vuitton.

A quick search shows it's some kind of shoe/watch/jewelry company.  So I'm going to guess some kind of spambot issue.

[Codewalker]

So I'm going to guess some kind of spambot issue.

We have a winner!

[HEATSTROKE]

Rage....... taking......Over........ want..... news....now......Rage...REALLY.... taking...over.....

[Olantern]

Having their NDA's lifted merely means they can talk, not that they will.  However, I understand that some of them noted that they'd say something today in announcements yesterday.  (I was working and traveling from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. yesterday and much of the previous day (no Halloween this year for this Olantern, sadly) and completely missed the details there.)

In the meantime, calm yourself by considering in a Sphinxian way that our devs are number one and all others are two or lower.

[Colette]

"To Korean cultural mindset, it's better to tell a face-saving white lie. It's better for all involved. This is because that face-saving white lie allows all involved to maintain the illusion of comity, of kibun. The "realignment" and "exhausted all options" lines would be expected to be understood for their true meaning, but give a way for the "losing" side (in this case, us) to preserve their own public harmony by accepting that all that could be done was tried and moving on, while preserving the harmony of the side with the power to make the decision by allowing them to not have to state flatly that they don't want to cooperate."

I really appreciate the effort you're taking to explain the cultural context. But to be honest, it feels to me like the mindset of medieval Europe before the Colonial revolution, the multiple French revolutions and so forth, like the Koreans are still living in Shakespeare's time when the rest of us are post-Hugo. And now the Korean overlords used to hearing "God save the king" are getting a little taste of "give me liberty or give me death" and "viva la republique!"

Yeah, this would be consistent with a country that lived quietly under Imperial Japanese rule for fifty years until somebody else managed to liberate 'em.

What did they expect?! What flag is flying over Paragon's City Hall? Here's a hint, Mr. Kim: it doesn't have a flowery harmony-preserving symbol on it. It's the flag of the folks who fought two wars to ensure you live in a country with Internet access.

"Rage... taking... over...."

Yup! The PC police are gonna pull me over again, aren't they?

"...our devs are number one...."

Yup yup.

[Terwyn]

"To Korean cultural mindset, it's better to tell a face-saving white lie. It's better for all involved. This is because that face-saving white lie allows all involved to maintain the illusion of comity, of kibun. The "realignment" and "exhausted all options" lines would be expected to be understood for their true meaning, but give a way for the "losing" side (in this case, us) to preserve their own public harmony by accepting that all that could be done was tried and moving on, while preserving the harmony of the side with the power to make the decision by allowing them to not have to state flatly that they don't want to cooperate."

I really appreciate the effort you're taking to explain the cultural context. But to be honest, it feels to me like the mindset of medieval Europe before the Colonial revolution, the multiple French revolutions and so forth, like the Koreans are still living in Shakespeare's time when the rest of us are post-Hugo. And now the Korean overlords used to hearing "God save the king" are getting a little taste of "give me liberty or give me death" and "viva la republique!"

Yeah, this would be consistent with a country that lived quietly under Imperial Japanese rule for fifty years until somebody else managed to liberate 'em.

What did they expect?! What flag is flying over Paragon's City Hall? Here's a hint, Mr. Kim: it doesn't have a flowery harmony-preserving symbol on it. It's the flag of the folks who fought two wars to ensure you live in a country with Internet access.

"Rage... taking... over...."

Yup!

"...our devs are number one...."

Yup yup.

Er. There's quite a few Commonwealth folks here who still live in effective monarchies, so I wouldn't quite characterize it that way.

[Codewalker]

I don't know, Commonweath countries I'd consider to be monarchy "in name only". The real decisions are all made by parliament, so they kind of evolved into representative republics in any event.

[Colette]

Let's not get into the Royalist-Republic debate here, huh? I'm spouting off because the Korean "mindset" as described is so servile it's throwing me (a normally easygoing, tolerant guy who speaks three languages) into a fit of apoplectic xenophobia.

[Codewalker]

Sorry, I've been recently involved in coming up with the background for some Steampunk fiction that reminded me of it. It's set in the Victorian era in a parallel world where the American colonies never rebelled, so the notion of republic vs. monarchy and how one can become the other is fresh on my mind.

By all means, continue with your xenophobia. :)

[Ammon]

It's set in the Victorian era in a parallel world where the American colonies never rebelled...

OMG!  An America where they speak English, measure distances in inches and miles, count weight in pounds or tons, instead of all that lovely metric stuff the rest of the world have. ;)

I once imagined an alternate universe where the Pilgrim Fathers had been able to spell properly too  ;D

[chasearcanum]

Having their NDA's lifted merely means they can talk, not that they will.  However, I understand that some of them noted that they'd say something today in announcements yesterday.  (I was working and traveling from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. yesterday and much of the previous day (no Halloween this year for this Olantern, sadly) and completely missed the details there.)

In the meantime, calm yourself by considering in a Sphinxian way that our devs are number one and all others are two or lower.

Precisely,

As I understand it, this may be (in part) due to the way some California employment act (WARN?) applies.  Technically, after a shutdown like this, employees stay on payroll for 60 days, but aren't obligated to show up for work.   This lets them job search, clean up loose ends, etc, with full benefits.   It also has the side effect that all employment conditions remain in full effect- if they have an IP agreement where any work they do while employed by X remains the property of X, that remains in effect.  That means that if they even got together with the other devs and started brainstorming strategies on what to do from here, NCSoft could claim ownership of those ideas.  Now that the 60 days are passed, they're possibly more able to START pursuing various projects without as much risk, in theory.

[Knightslayer]

I don't know, Commonweath countries I'd consider to be monarchy "in name only". The real decisions are all made by parliament, so they kind of evolved into representative republics in any event.

Yep, pretty much figureheads. Though really well paid ones!

[Twisted Toon]

This forum has one word filter. The word spelled "t" "r" "o" "l" "l" is filtered to "unicorn," and the plurals thereof likewise.

I know. I thought the filter was amusing since a friend of mine collects the single horned variety of Unicorn and not the club wielding variety. :p

I must say, someone on the Titan team there has a sense of humor to match that of the Paragon Studios design team.

[Terwyn]

I don't know, Commonweath countries I'd consider to be monarchy "in name only". The real decisions are all made by parliament, so they kind of evolved into representative republics in any event.

Constitutional Monarchies are still monarchies. The Queen is our head of state. :P

[Globetrotter]

Constitutional Monarchies are still monarchies. The Queen is our head of state. :P

Long Live Queen Beatrix!!   hmm May be not the Queen meant here, but still  Long Live Elizabeth II too   ;)

[Terwyn]

Long Live Queen Beatrix!!   hmm May be not the Queen meant here, but still  Long Live Elizabeth II too   ;)

I'm Canadian, Globe. Long life to Queen B as well. I do believe you know about the tulips. ^_^