So.. we get these 30 beta accounts from SoE.. I am very happy about this and thought hey.. we give out at least 10 of them to our people that have contributed to our boards, I mean they are the ones who helped keep us up and running so that you may view this and other post. So ..I asked SOE if I could do this and they said sure.. I mean we all know its a marketing tool for SOE but was told thats not a problem at all.

So then we put it on both the EQ and the EQ2 boards.. Ladred puts it up on the main EQ2 for SoE.. because well its a marketing tool.. brings people to our communities.. thats what its designed to do, I mean truthfully what sucks more.. a dead community that says nothing.. or a very live active community that says a lot.. I mean we are talking about EQ2 here and its going to take some time.. and some people will move over to the new boards for EQ2 but .. again.. it takes time.. and bringing more people to the boards is a good thing for those that decide to transition over to EQ2.

So even though its a marketing tool for SoE which is designed to bring people to the game.. it gives them a brief look at the game for free and lets them explore a bit before they buy and may input some changes to the way things are currently accomplished. And of course word of mouth is the biggest marketing in any market.. IT ROCKS.. or something to that effect from a friend or guildmate.. or where ever.. well it of course peaks the curiosity a bit. I also believed it was nice reward for our sites... those that have freely supported EverQuest for a long long time (5+ years).

So whats the problem.. ?

Bitchy people who don't even belong to the boards .. so maybe they need a little insight of how REAL communities does things /shrugs. We gave back to our own first.. then we opened it up to anyone that is registered.. IMO and as the Admin and Owner of the site.. I felt it is the only fair way to do things IMO. Of course I could of done what that other community did and just gave it out to new people registering.. but we all know that.. when your sitting there with your cable bill in hand or cell phone bill .. and a commercial comes across the TV .. that is offering 1/8 th of what your current cell or cable bill is.. well its infuriating when you call and they say.. oh thats only open to new customers.

So .. please give me your input.. because there maybe future opppurtunities like this and I like to get some feedback from our community instead of seeing this Feedback (http://eqiiforums.station.sony.com/eq2/board/message?board.id=Around&message.id=3294&no_redir=true) I am getting from people whos only goal is to get a free beta account at all cost.

Gah, I hate those people.

On a side note... *sniffles* ... I wanna try the beta, but I don't want to spoil myself for the actual release ... and finally ... no way in hell I could download that game. It'd probably be on the shelves before I could finish dl'ing it. :p

Finally, the Kerran in the picture looks horrible. Looks like a bad cross between a baboon and a tiger.

Sobe,

your doing just fine man.
Hell, if you had givin the first 10 to yourself and the TDG mods I would have thought it was fair. You all put the most into this community for nothing more than some flak in return.

The sad fact is you are a figurehead and every single thing you do will fall under scrutiny from someone.

This community speaks up when we feel somthing is wrong. If you had gone about this wrong, I am confident we would have told you in a 5 page long string. I don't see that string so I will conclude that you have our continued support.

Hats off to you and all of the folks who have contributed to the grove both with their wallets and with their time and dedication.

Anyone who doesn't like our policies can feel free to find another class site to visit, and while your there, be sure and click one of the banners up top and buy yourself some Platnum to help put Yanxxx' kids through school

Sony gave you the accounts to do with them what you want.
You made the proper decision to distribute them amoung the community 'as you see fit' and started with contributors to the site.
Anyone that has problems with this can take it in stride if they are :

1. Not members of the site.
2. Not contributing members to the site.

It's your site and beta accounts, how they are distributed is entirely up to you and no one else. My personal opinion is that the whinners can go pound sand.

Like JonnAndCo said "This debate is interesting. In another thread, a fansite was criticized for not supporting it's loyal fan base first. In this thread, they are getting flak for rewarding their loyal members. You simply cannot please everyone."

Don't sweat the load, you're doing just fine.

Coming from a non-contributor(I have enough problems keeping utilities and rent paid..lol) I see no problem with the way you are handling things. I would absolutely love to have one of the accounts but I have no problem with giving additional perks and advantages to those who do support the site financially.

This is your site and you have the right to award the accounts however you see fit(subject to SOE's restrictions of course.)

Even if you had an infinite number of accounts there would always be someone who bitched. Look at how much flack Blizzard caught for their 100K stress test beta giveaway.

A perq like this ought to go to those that have shown their support for the community in the past without any expectation of a reward. A random selection among past contributers was the ideal solution, I thought.

Quite frankly, anybody who rushes to "join" the community only because they see it as way to get into the beta is someone the community is better off without...

You made a good decision Sobe. No worries :)

Don't let it get to ya. Those beta accounts were intended to drum up some enthusiasm and positive PR within TDG, one of EQ's longest running and largest communities. How they were distributed was left to you, someone who has an established reputation among players, other fan sites, and SOE itself.

Posting on SOE's forum was a sensible way to publicly announce your plans for distributing those accounts. Apparently, a few users over there misunderstood your intentions and thought you were trying to lure people into donating money to TDG with hopes of "winning" a beta account. When they discovered that wasn't the case and they couldn't cry foul over a violation of some imaginary "no purchase required" law, they tried to cry foul over your violation of the imaginary "anyone can enter" law.

Eventually, they will realize that this isn't some kind of public raffle and SOE isn't going to force you to include them.

Until then, just ignore their whining. hehe

~Firemynd

Just ignore them.

You arranged a good thing for the people at TDG and should be pleased with what you have done.

And to the people who get chosen, Have fun in EQII ;)

<3 the Sobe....

Ignore them.Your did the right thing and I thought it was a really cool gesture to say thanks to all the people that do make donations. Scirocco is right..if they are going to rush right out and join just to get the free account we don't really want them.

Ya know... some people in EQ were given EQ2 beta accounts just because they signed up for them. Some players were given accounts just because of their guild tags. Friends of SOE employees have been given accounts just because they knew someone.... There's no reason why the Druid's Grove "GL" shouldn't be able to hand out a few beta accounts given to him as he sees fit.

If you choose to give them out within your own community, that's fair (an probably EXACTLY what SOE expected you to do). It's kind of nice to see a notorious "solo" class being rewarded for being a part of the playing community for a change. Who says druids are all loners? :)

Sobe, your first thoughts were of the community that you work so hard for. You checked with Sony and they approved your plan, in my mind you did everything right.

I'm glad the first accounts went to supporters of the site, and I do wish they would all go to long time members. This is a gift that you've been given to pass along to TDG members, I hope each person who is lucky enough to receive one will conduct themselves in the beta in a way that will reflect well on TDG. Congratulations to the winners.

Sobe, thank you again for all you do, just stay the course, we're behind you.

I think what you did was fine. I also noticed there were more positive posts that followed the first naysayers.
It's not like you restricted the raffle to *only* the contributors either!

Your doing the right thing totally 8).

they are just dinks,

speaking as someone already in beta , they are just ass clowns.

If it helps, I think the Druid's Grove is an example of the most decent forums run anywhere. I can do with less American vs American and American vs. World bashing in the political commentary but all in all everyone here is very mature about how they behave themselves.

I just wish other online communities could be like this.

<3 Sobe. Just remember what you told me about people and their underoos 8)

Tell me to bugger off Sobe. And just give the EQII beta accounts back - no ones going to play it anyway. :P

A perq like this ought to go to those that have shown their support for the community in the past without any expectation of a reward. A random selection among past contributers was the ideal solution, I thought.

I have to agree. Sobe your actions seem logical and forthright to me.

I've been lurking on the Grove since it's inception. Not because I had a druid then, but because two of my closest online friends, Chaca Lunarwolf and Tatania, were original Grovers and daily posters. Eventually, I came to see the light and retired my Paladin and birthed my very own druid. Over the years, I've posted occassionally, and contributed to both the ezboard and our new board. As a result, I was lucky enough to be one of the random winners of the first 10. I already believed I got my money's worth from information posted here and the community, but do very much appreciate the added and unexpected bonus of getting to explore EQ2 thanks to the Grove.

Thank you Sobe! :)

At this point, everyone has already said anything that I could have thought of to add, hehe. I think you're being more than fair, Sobe, so just keep up the good work. :)

<3 Sobe. Just remember what you told me about people and their underoos 8)
We want to know about the underoos!!! :xblueman:

There will always be people who are complainers, who don't contribute, and who expect everything to be handed to them on a platter. There's nothing to be gained from letting the whiners get you down.

Contest is straightforward and fair, SOE oked it, the folks here are happy-- nothing to worry about. :)

Kinday

Sobe-
You can't satisfy everyone. As long as the community here feels it's fair, it shouldn't matter what outsiders think.

You've done a great job! We're all behind you.

Artio

I contribute because I like it here. Not because I expect anything. And I believe that all people that contribute do for the same reason. When I beta, it is hard work writing up bug reports and recommendations every night and I don't think the people asking for those accounts are willing to do that much work for the community. The ones that are bitching... think about it... Are those the people you REALLY want to be beta testing with or someone that contributes and cooperates? Do you want them exploiting the system and not reporting bugs so that the rest of us have to bitch about fixing it after release??

I say give the accts to your guildmates from AL because they are dedicated players and have supported you. Ignore the begs, rants and other complaints from people that obviously are out for their own gain more than fixing the game for others. If you can't be trusted to do the right thing then give them back to SoE but I think you can handle it.

Since this is a rant I have only one thing to say... you couldnt FORCE an EQ2 beta account on me Sobe!!

Keep up the good work :) (ok 2 things)

Since this is a rant I have only one thing to say... you couldnt FORCE an EQ2 beta account on me Sobe!!

Keep up the good work :) (ok 2 things)

I turned down an EQII beta account. No thanks. Couldn't pay me to play EQII.

hehe, I didn't mention that I also turned one down.

Sobe, your first thoughts were of the community that you work so hard for. You checked with Sony and they approved your plan, in my mind you did everything right.
Exactly, I think you handled it perfectly. Sorry if those in that thread are getting you down :(

Far as I'm concerned Sobe, you should take the beta accounts:

give the top 10 donators (prior to the announcement)
top 10 posters (prior to the announcement)
and random the ther 10 off

aking sure you cover any op or mod that wants one in those 30, as they do the most work for the community, this is a PR perk, not a raffle among the 300 people who join just so they can e-bay one of the keys for 500$ like was done with the WOW beta. I am in no way implying that you or any of your members sold WOW beta accounts, just that there have been a number of them for sale on PA/Ebay type places.

you did well sobe... EQ shoulda did this too, i mean shrugging off those that have played for almost 5 years to reward the ones that are new?! what kind of backstabbing is that? anywho, good job and keep itup if they dont like it well they can just go .........