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Sasami
Goddess in Training
 
   
  
 
 
Since: 02-18-02
From: Back in texas! YAY! college sucked!
Rating: 10 (1030 pts)
Since last post: 7567 days
Last activity: 7567 days
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I'm abandoning this site and won't be checking, posting, or updating here anymore. Ragnarok is of my past and no longer of consequence to me, just for records sake, here is a post I made a bit ago at ixlair.
First of all, I believe all of the information here to be extremely important and I beg every Ragnarok Online participant to read it in it’s fullest. I plan on requesting all fan sites to post a copy of this message through my routes and hope that it can get to the eyes of all international Ragnarok viewers within the next few days.
I am currently at AX, Anime Expo in Anaheim, California, and not an hour ago was the Ragnarok Online Panel, which I attended. The attendance was huge; the room was almost completely filled of anxious, happy, and disgruntled audience members alike. It contained multiple staff members of Gravity, including none other than Kay Christy herself. I am just going to discuss what happened at it, what was asked, and give out some information to everyone in the community, fully backed by myself.
First of all, at the end of the panel, I confronted Christy and requested a personal audience with her, introducing myself as Sasami, which she said she knew who I was and responded that “I don’t think it’s a good idea.” She outright refused to discuss any of the issues I needed to talk to her about, one of them being the Ragnarok Online fan books. I do request anyone who attended this panel to discuss what happened in their perceptions and such.
The panel started with the introduction of all the “guests” on stage and was basically a question and answer session. Most of the answers given to all the inquiries where complete utter BS, as I am sure at least half the audience had gathered. Multiple questions where proposed and quite often, Christy completely contradicted herself, lying to the audience, then blatantly admitting afterwards when she was caught in the lie that she just did, in fact, lie. I do not blame Christy herself for these actions; she is just the puppet and does as the heads of Gravity tell her. I do however blame her for a lot of her own actions, including refusing to talk to me to clear up some situations I will be discussing in the following paragraphs that where brought up by other RO fans, as well as some personal things between she and I in the past. I decided to keep myself quiet during the question session to more appropriately bring up these facts and concerns to her as to not embarrass Gravity more than it has already done to itself, but unfortunately, as I previously stated, she refused to talk to me, and I’m sure she knew the consequences of that decision when she made it, so this is the only way I know of resolving the situation.
The first question proposed by an audience member was of why the Korean service was so far ahead of the IRO service. The answer from my point of view, and my best friends, an impartial bystander who has no affiliation with Ragnarok (thank god), who was also with me listening, was quite muddled. Neither of us could really discern what Christie meant through her babbling, but it sounded like, as usual, that they are working “hard” on trying to get the new patches in, and didn’t really seem to comment further. The question was brought up later in the answer session, and they refused to comment on it again. If someone else can clarify what was said, I will update this message.
The question was also proposed as to why the users were being forced to pay for a service that is not nearly complete, and has as many problems as Ragnarok does. The answer was basically, because we have been in beta for 2 years and Gravity decided that that period of time was long enough to give out a free service.
This next question was where it got interesting. The issue of security came up and hit Gravity hard. Someone basically asked what gravity planned on doing about security and the frequent hacking problems. Christy outright denied that the server was ever hacked. A question was proposed next as to then why the servers where being rolled back if the servers weren’t being hacked. After a brief, I’d say 5 second, pause, Christy “corrected” herself and said that the servers where being hacked and that they where trying to take care of the problems, and that they are looking into hiring a security professional to take care of the issues. First of all, they should have taken this action a LONG time ago (hiring someone to work on security), second of all, I have my doubts that they actually plan on this action. Next a very astute fan gave a well thought out and very accurate description of what could easily be done to fix major security holes involving simple router access lists restricting sql access and such to local subnets (wont go into details), to which was again replied to that Gravity is working on it, the answer they always give. I am pleased to say the question received a large amount of applause. I am unsure as to this, but from what I have heard, the root password to the server itself was 4 characters long and the server was not fire walled in any way. Gravity tried to make clear they where very sorry to the fans about the frequent roll backs, but from personal experience, that’s all they try to do, roll back and not fix the problem.
The situation of the Ragnarok Online fan art books was also brought up and quickly dismissed by Christy. Almost a year ago, Gravity approached the largest fan sites: pak0, Ixlair, and RO-source, (I think those are correct) and asked them to sell the Ragnarok online fan books for Gravity, to be intermediaries. After the money was taken and the sites tried to send it to gravity to get the fan books, Gravity gave constant problems and setbacks and such, refusing to get the fan art books to the sites. The situation is still trying to be resolved by Ixlair, I am unsure what happened with the other sites, especially since RO-source was closed down.
Another situation brought up that I thought was kind of cute was that their site didn’t work on internet browsers besides Internet Explorer, which Christy basically outright said they never plan on fixing it and to just use IE.
The last topic that I can remember (I should have written all this down ~.~) that really caught my attention was that of the “illegal server” issue. Gravity said that all servers out there are emulators and they are trying to work on shutting them down. This is a lie. Most of the servers that are up now are, in fact, the REAL deal. A copy of the Aegis server was leaked and has been passed around for many months. I have been in the position of a copy for at least 3 months, as I recall, though I have done nothing with it and distributed it to no one else. I was just slightly curious as to how they actually did the server architecture, and if the rumors where true. As a note, the rumors where true, the server was thrown together to compliment their Arcturus engine and was horribly made. Gravity has a habit of lying to cover their butts, as has been stated by many individuals many, many times. To be a little self promoting (Not really, there are just accurate accounts here) you can check out my website at http://www.castledragmire.com/ragnarok and view the history of hacking of Ragnarok section for events that happened over the period of time I was involved in the game. I am no longer involved in the game, just running multiple fan sites, and I feel it is my responsibility to make sure that the truth of the situation is heard.
Just to state, most of the community knows that everything I say is true, I state facts of things that happen, never opinions or rumors (I stated one rumor I have not confirmed in this, and stated that I was unsure, about the 4 password root). The only time, as many of you may recall, that I was incorrect on something involved screenshots of beta 2, and I saying they where false. Well, the reason I stated they where false was because Christy PERSONALLY told myself and Yoshosan/Sniffer that they where fakes, and a day later, we found out she lied to us. This is one instance of a personal incident I have had with her, I have nothing against her except the business practices she is helping her company promote.
I would also just like to mention to the super novice at the panel, good luck with pursing that , you probably won’t ever get anything out of it, but it’s different and fun to have something of your own no one else does. Gravity will more than likely never change their novice system however.
The final thing I wanted to discuss was the topic of AFK “laggers”. People have very often tried to fight against the people that leave up AFK messages, complaining about the lag they produce, but actually, according to the numbers, they are insignificant, and I just wanted to educate the community about this. The only packets wasted on their part are when someone else enters on the screen where they can be seen. A 20-100 byte packet depending on the individual and their guild/part/skin etc is sent to each user, and then nothing else. This 1 packet is insignificant even on the large quantities of people coming into the area. It is not a problem having AFKers, trust me. Bots are a much larger problem as they actually DO things and make many packets sent.
I hope everyone that has read through this takes it to their heart, I do not necessarily wish to see gravities downfall, Ragnarok is a good game in it’s own way, but the way it’s being run is inappropriate, and I am just completely tired of seeing gravity take advantage of people, taking your money monthly and then providing horrible services. The main posting of this is at http://world.ixlair.com/showthread.php?&threadid=12521 if you wish to comment more. Thank you everyone for listening.
Sasami
(edited by Sasami on 07-10-03 04:04 PM) |
MingShun
 
Since: 05-10-02
Rating: 10 (400 pts)
Since last post: 7615 days
Last activity: 7615 days
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T-T G'luck, wherever you go.
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Ming Bling - Knight of Chaos
Ye Royal Dealer - Your Local Warp-Hopping Merchant |
sakura
 
Since: 06-18-02
From: Canada
Since last post: 7651 days
Last activity: 7651 days
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| Well, I'm gonna miss you all, it was fun. |
Kaz
 
Since: 06-24-02
From: I'm not paranoid...
Rating: 10 (400 pts)
Since last post: 7715 days
Last activity: 7790 days
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Aww! Sasami, I'll miss you, you were my heroine ;-;!!
Christy probably would have lost her job if she let you up there and you were allowed to speak of your experience.
[jerk] Umm... should you visit this board again... did the server you steal support 2-2 skills ;D? [/jerk]
Oh wait, not done yet.
[jerk] If you're experienced with the zone process, do you know where the hp/sp tables are and how to edit them? Or at least the ASM code that's used to divide hp by max hp to where you'll wind up with a divide by zero error if max hp is 0?[/jerk]
Thanks Sasami for all that you've taught us (or at least, me, wee! Packet hacking and ASM).
(edited by Kaz on 07-22-03 12:14 AM) |
Osafune
 
Since: 07-22-03
From: Texas o_O
Since last post: 7792 days
Last activity: 7791 days
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I've never really been here before, but a buddy of mine who reads here every so often pointed this out to me since i was at the RO panel (Scary looking long haired white guy in an adidas visor towards the back, on the right side of the room with a couple of Naruto cosplayers  ) and AX, and i might want to throw my 2c.
In every sense, you are right. Christy was continiously pouring lies over the people who were asking questions, and frequently getting flustered as players were coming up with accurate information and questions about topics she should have been more properly briefed about. She has forever earned the nickname "Baghdad Bob" for her frequent, and rather adamant denouncements of the fact that RO was hacked. I've played RO since the first weeks of Beta 1, and, i'm sorry to say, i'm completely sickened by what i have seen. What was once a thriving beta of what appeared to be a halfway decent game has been thrown down the crapper. Bad judgement on the part of the RO GM and Gravity Corp have left a sour taste in my mouth, and the RO Panel at AX only allowed me to open my eyes fully.
Thanks for letting me get this out, it's been bugging me for almost 2 weeks now :\
Oh, sorry if i shouldn't post this here, but eh, the one on IxLair seemed kinda...hostile |
DaiSHi
Moderator
 
Since: 05-03-02
From: California
Rating: 10 (400 pts)
Since last post: 7567 days
Last activity: 7567 days
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aye, i've been gone too long, and too late to say a goodbye. i've quit ro quite awhile ago... fed up with gravity, but refusing to fall to pakRO or other private servers. been just dawdling with work and friends.
If you see this Sasami for whatever reason, I wish the best of luck to you and your endeavors at uni and other works. too bad we didn't get to chat much. i got lazy and didn't attend AX, even though it's always close to my house. and sorry for not doing my job here lately, even though your site is my home page. good luck to you all. i'm generally lurking in ro.pak0.com on etg, or IM me on daishi124. adios, tzai giang, and adieu
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Daishi, 62/33 Blacksmith ; Daishikun 65/35 Knight
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Chibi-Bar
Moderator
 
Since: 04-16-02
Rating: 10 (400 pts)
Since last post: 7659 days
Last activity: 7616 days
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ahh crumbs.. the only time I didn't go to AX I miss Sasami and Gravity panel?? sheesh.. well sasami.. I have to totally agree with you.. and I think the rootpassword was 4 letter long (who would have thought of that) then again.. my sources are from hacker sites and such.. (I get bored at work) who knows...
I wish you well in all things you do.. just don't give up ok Sasami?  take a step at a time and all will work out well
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Chibi-Bar
Your Local Merchant on Chaos |
KaworuShiro
 
Since: 06-05-02
From: Palo Alto, California
Since last post: 7749 days
Last activity: 7749 days
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hm... been a while since I've seen this place ^^;;
being as it's a msg board I'll take the time to type up my blabber of the issue~
First off it's a pitty I didn't hear that you were going to AX2k3 as well, reading this makes me somehow regret being there and being unable to see face-to-face or at least shake the hand of one of the long-standing members of the RO community, what's left of it that is...
I have the video of the panel I took, but don't get me started on the current issues revolving around capturing and editing this POS... all I can say is that Sasami pretty much summed up the panel, it's 1 hour of crap filled splendor... while being in the California SF suburbs, you'd have no idea what ordeals were dealt with just to get to AX2k3, primarily just for the RO Panel and all in all, I was thoroughly dissappointed.
In addition to all the commercialization of AX, which added to my displeasure, it just me or did the first thing that hit my mind when I caught sight of the Dealers Room displays was E3?
To add to the pile, Christy only proved her lack of dedication to RO-itself with her inability or choice not to directly answer much of the questions and comments there. If it was her choice and not her inability, I'll give her the credit of spewing enough corporate excuses and general responses to prevent pockets of the crowd from rioting (which I was so looking forward to... I had a whole scenario worked out in my mind involving the fellows in the back of the room with the emotion-headbands)
Like much of the viewers here I've been 'round for a while... not as long as some, maybe more than others, but importantly one of the many who have sat and waiting with only high-hopes keep'n us go'n. After much anxiety, excitement, dreams(yea, corny) and none-other-than... hope, Gravity and Ragnarok are IN the US (the wonderful republic of California might I add...) although the servers have been here a while, Gravity is pretty much a functional, full-fledged US company... with staffers and all, yet to much dismay, it doesn't seem like we're any closer to achieving the goal and the running-status which many other ROs have already achieved.
Adding to the over-whelming disappointment much of my initial thoughts of some of the RO-staffers are that they're well minded community members, who just lack the ability to make a difference in the game-itself. From the sounds of their experiance, they're stuck behind workstations packed with never-ending e-mail and backed up phone-complaints.
While customer-service is up a notch, it's not much nor enough to make everything worth-while, not because of the staffer's efforts, but because the disarray of the iRO community is too great for their few staffers to manage. Thankfully there has been a slight decrease of botting activity in iRO, while only noticable through the various forum posts of disgruntled bot-users it is indeed happening, although, not the way I or many others would wish it to be carried out. From my observation, the hierarchy goes, sub-GM/support-GM reports to a GM or "the" head-GM where sub/support have the surface-layer ability of inspecting and kicking players... while the GM and head-GM take care of the higher-level database work, ie. bannage and record/log investigations (but don't quote me on this stuff, I ain't sure, I don't have proof other than experiance through word-of-mouth and am not looking to start another one of those controversies/rumor-trees) but because of this, Gravity relies upon users to do the witch-hunting... encouraging users to spy upon their neighbors, their buddies, and the occational person that just so happens to piss the person off, sparking a report, often-times falsefied or "tweaked" to bend or work around the full-featured truth.
All in all it reminds me of US-History class' unit of the red-scare and McCarthyism... and for those less or more familiar with this, know how that whole ordeal turned out...(or it's just me...)
which doesn't come with my personal approval, weird and as otaku as this might be... the first thing that comes to my mind similar to this situation is Gate Keepers. The whole concept of the bad-guys being the, once, good-guy-bystanders that turn bad, only because the conditions for their life push them to doing so. So uh, in a less otaku sense, rather than ban and isolate/cut-off those who participate in RO (in their own way...) it be best to elevate the playing condition of RO-itself, be-it preventing botting or just making it a lesser-incentive to bot, like showing the more interactive "funner" side of RO. (though a vision likely unachievable be-it the condition, style of game-play, etc. seeing as there's still rampant bottage through other ROs as well)
especially because this whole witch-hunt concept breaks apart the idea of a community, not only with turning one against one-another, but it creates an "elitist" class who find themselves above the others, although it's pretty much already there, it just emphasizes and increases it.
so...yea... blah~ i'm out of thoughts
oh yea!
P.S. from hanging out with some of the staffers it seems that only 2 people have "access" to the server, 1 "programmer" and Christy... which doesn't suprise me... yet iono... suprises me that they've managed so far with such, yet dissappoints me in the thought that "they expect to get-by with this? !"
yea~ I've let out enough as it is... ima probably get yelled at for this, but oh well~ I like many others have lost the incentive for RO, as the only thing that kept me after the 2nd Beta2 was some buddies, and I've managed to lose those as well (sob sob... oh well~)
k, i'm done, i'm satisfied that i've taken up a good 3 or so KB 
PS#2:
Thank you Sasami~ although, yes, another thank you from an insignificant member, I wish you best of luck, effort, hardwork, and all those other good things for your MMORPG project. I wish you nothing but the best for your future company~ O(~_^)o
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~_~
(edited by KaworuShiro on 08-05-03 06:21 AM) |
lagwagon
 
Since: 08-12-02
From: Orange County, CA
Since last post: 7772 days
Last activity: 7772 days
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Goodbye, Sasami, I know you probably won't ever see this but you truely made an influence in my life, in real life and in my actions/learnings/experiences on the internet/computer. You may not believe this, but it actually made my eyes watery that I'll probably never talk to you again. You are, as somone else put it, my heroine too. Goodbye Sasami.
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l a g w a g o n
(edited by lagwagon on 08-11-03 11:35 PM) |
ParA
 
Since: 05-25-02
From: Canada
Since last post: 7763 days
Last activity: 8019 days
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Ahh I know why Ragnaroksource (not RO source)
closed down... a most gay story I say.
Farewell Sasami! have fun
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As for me, I came back to ensure there would be a future. To teach the world that it no longer needed guardians. The hope for future generations has always resided in mortal hands. And now that my task is done, I'll take my place amongst the legends of the past...
-ParA, Shamistic Dragon |
Arsenic
 
Since: 04-12-02
From: Qc, Can
Since last post: 7680 days
Last activity: 7673 days
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I thought of paying a visit to your site just for old time's sake and I see this message. Interesting stuffs, but it just confirms the thoughts I always had about Gravity.
Oh well, RO's dead and buried since a while now. You always seemed pretty much concerned about the game. Glad you have finally left your worries behind.
Good luck in real life. See ya. |
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