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Sony To Delete Virtual Goods

Posted by Soulskill on from the satisfaction-is-not-guaranteed dept.

New submitter dommer2029 writes "A few years back, Sony bought up a small company running an online collectible card game called Star Chamber: The Harbinger Saga. Two days ago, they announced that the servers will be shutting down on March 29, 2012. All of our virtual collectible cards? Poof. It's not surprising — the user base is small and dwindling — but it's proof that any server-based digital goods you 'own' can vanish on a corporation's whim."

13 of 171 comments (clear)

  1. of course by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Of course the user base for star chamber is dwindling. There hasn't been an expansion since 2007. Collectible games need expansions to survive. Otherwise people get bored and move on.

    Sony Online Entertainment. Where games go to die.

    1. Re:of course by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Ha. Ha. Reminds me of the old saying "Denny's, Where waitresses go to die."

      And diners, too... there's a saying around here: if you want to find excellent food, follow an old person to lunch. You'll either find the best food that 60 years of experience can find, or you'll arrive at Denny's.

    2. Re:of course by Charliemopps · · Score: 4, Insightful

      ARE YOU INSANE? SOE was the first major MMO publisher to start charging different rates for different levels of content, and then again the first major MMO to have a real money for items auction house. The current disaster that is the MMO market was almost entirely modeled after SOE. Do you ever wonder why MMOs are almost universally $15.99/month? SOE raised their rates almost 10 years ago now, and it stuck. Prior to that they were $10/month. SOE is the root of all evil as far as MMOs go.

  2. SUCK FONY by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'm all for Sony bashing, but I also hate whiney nerds. So... fuck both of you

    1. Re:SUCK FONY by idontgno · · Score: 5, Funny

      ...but I also hate whiney nerds.

      The self-hatred is strong in this one.

      --
      Welcome to the Panopticon. Used to be a prison, now it's your home.
    2. Re:SUCK FONY by japhmi · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Why do you assume it is a nerd?

      He's posting on slashdot.

      --
      "Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys" P. J. O'Rourke
    3. Re:SUCK FONY by Guppy · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Why do you assume it is a nerd?

      He's posting on slashdot.

      On a Friday evening.

  3. Yes, but... by Reasonable+Facsimile · · Score: 4, Funny

    ... you'll be able to trade in the collectibles for rootkit'd CDs.

  4. Wow... by mcgrew · · Score: 4, Insightful

    At first glance I was going to say "after XCP, OtherOS, and leaving unencrypted CC info on an internet facing database, what did you expect?" but on re-reading TFS, the data being deleted wasn't collected by Sony.

    Maybe I should point out that "buying" data is stupid, you should buy media? Or that trusting ANY corporation to not be evil is stupid?

    --
    Free Martian Whores!
  5. What did you think was going to happen? by 0racle · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Virtual Collectable Cards. Did someone think the servers would be online forever so they could 'keep' these bits of data?

    --
    "I use a Mac because I'm just better than you are."
  6. The Cloud by blueforce · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Precisely why I don't trust Amazon's (or Apple's, or anyone else's) cloud to store books, music, movies, or other media that I purchase.

    --
    If you do what you always did, you get what you always got.
  7. Nothing to see here by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    I don't like Sony any more than most people here, but let's face it. Online game servers shutting down are bound to happen eventually. Accordingly, it's implied that purchases made in virtual worlds won't last beyond the life of the world itself. There's no need to spin this story into Sony taking candy from babies.

  8. Email them by RichMan · · Score: 4, Funny

    Sony should email people their virtual property.

    ---
    Please find attached your items.
    0x208910812
    0x291919111
    0x233311102