Ryzom Forge Public Meetings agendas & reports - General

Elke

I have the impression that you understand it the wrong way: the general limit is 2 accounts: In European night time (22 UT - 5 UT) four accounts are allowed. So why would it impact the multi accounts outside Europe more than in Europe? Also: reducing this the the very intention...That said, basically everything can be done with 2 accounts other than killing certain bosses - where you then need 2 or 3 actual players.

I fully understand that there will be fewer European quad-boxers, but I have the impression that you do not understand my criticism. And that's fine; I'm far from the most eloquent, and depressingly accustomed to being misunderstood. Let me attempt to clarify my thinking.

In Eastern US/Canada night time (1800-0100 EDT) four accounts are allowed. No problem. In fact, they make out quite well as they have practically unrestricted quad-boxing privilieges unless they have truly odd sleep schedules. Lifting the restrictions will work as intended. And I will concede that half of the US population is in that time zone, so if you can only pick one time zone to get more North Americans on, that's the one you should pick.

In Western US/Canada afternoon/evening time (1500 to 2200 PDT) four accounts are allowed. Quad-boxers might have to log off two alts at some point, especially if they are night owls who don't go to bed early. It may or may not be worthwhile for them to have more than two accounts, so the effectiveness of lifting the restriction is questionable. If I ran 3-4 accounts, this would make me drop a subscription or two, and I have a hard time believing that there aren't any other left-coasters that feel the same.

In Australian day time (0800-1500 AEST; 0600-1300 AWST) four accounts are allowed. Except for the people in Western Oz that want to play for an hour or so before work, they will simply never be on when four accounts are allowed except on weekends. And Asians and Pacific Islanders are also in/near the same time zones. It simply would make no sense for them to bother with more than two accounts, period. Just as it makes little sense for European players that generally are not up between midnight and 7.

So we have something that helps half of North America, doesn't really do much for the other half, and doesn't do a thing for pretty much anyone else around the Pacific Rim. That limits the benefits of allowing four accounts in ways that feed my skepticism. There is also an (unfortunately unavoidable) inequality there that just rubs me the wrong way. Combine that inequality with the dubious effectiveness and you will get pretty close to the reason for my having reservations about this whole thing.Does that clarify anything?

Like I said, I hope to be proven wrong, and we won't know if we don't test it. But if I'm even partially right, I hope that my input will help craft a more effective solution.