FBI, NCSoft drop hammer on MMORPG pirates

Iria · Nov 21, 2006, 04:00 AM

Source: Ars Technica
________
Piracy is generally considered to be one of the biggest problems facing the gaming software industry, but it was generally considered that Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing games (MMORPGs) were immune from its effects. However, a recent press release from NCSoft regarding an FBI sting against fradulent Lineage II game servers shows that this is not always the case.

The crackdown was against a web site called L2Extreme.com, which provided subscribers with fraudulent service and pirated copies of the game. The site has now been taken down and replaced by a warning message from the FBI, the giant digitized logo evoking memories of arcade games in the 1990s.

Brutality · Nov 21, 2006, 01:54 PM

God damn motherfuckers. They forced down every good Lineage 2 server out there... Since L2 Extreme was hit, all other serverowners took down their servers and now a big, BIG chunk of Lineage 2 community is fucked! It is idiotic to suggest that people should go and grind in retail servers, because retail sucks. Lineage 2 sucks as grind-them-up game. Lineage 2 is all about PVP and sieges and that's what those high-rate servers offered. NCSoft is going to be hated now...

BlueMak · Nov 21, 2006, 02:00 PM

Fucking pirates, i hope you rot in jail.

Tinkerhell · Nov 21, 2006, 03:46 PM

I don't quite understand since I know nothing of L2. I take it that the game is supposed to be played only on offical servers owned by NCSoft which you would have to pay to play on? But someones build servers for the game which you could play on for free? So you had to have a copy of the game (which you paid for) and then you could log into these bogus servers & play - but they weren't official so NCSoft got no cash for it. I take it the game wasn't desgined to be hosted in this manner??

Tinkerhell · Nov 21, 2006, 04:13 PM

ok ignore the above. I read all of the article & got the details. The idiots were giving away copies of the game. Hello?! I second Bluemax's thoughts - screw em.

Brutality · Nov 21, 2006, 04:18 PM

Lineage 2 is freely distributed game which is available on www.lineage2.com. You can freely download it and use it. You dont even have to buy it. At the beginning, when Lineage 2 North America came out, the first Chronicle server files were freely distibuted aswell so people could make private servers if they want. After major updates like Chronicle 2 and 3 came out, those new files weren't distributed BUT C1 files were modified by 3rd party programmers so it can run new content. About 6-8 months ago official Chronicle 4 files were leaked. Noone knows where or how they came from, but they were used a lot. Almost all servers were on full Chronicle 4 and that meant a lot of ingame content. Now, NCSoft noticed, that L2 Extreme has 50 000 accounts ( lol ) and thought they are getting ripped by millions (

). But it wasn't so. There were maybe 5000 players in that server. I don't know why they started this campaign with FBI. Their EULA clearly says that hosting a private server is ALLOWED! Maybe they changed that in Chronicle 5 but no-one used C5 yet. All was still C4. So shouldn't hosting a server still be legal?

And to all the pirate-flamers: How the fuck are people pirates, when they can get game for free and can play in servers that NCSoft ALLOWED to have? If those were illegal, why did they come up at all? I haven't seen any other game with so many private servers, except WoW. And no-one cared.

By the way, that guy, Shmee, who was busted. The owned of L2 Extreme was a complete dickhead. He ripped people for donation money. No other servers did that.

Nov 21, 2006, 04:00 AM	#1
Iria DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 7,275 Rep Power: 89	FBI, NCSoft drop hammer on MMORPG pirates Source: Ars Technica ________ Piracy is generally considered to be one of the biggest problems facing the gaming software industry, but it was generally considered that Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing games (MMORPGs) were immune from its effects. However, a recent press release from NCSoft regarding an FBI sting against fradulent Lineage II game servers shows that this is not always the case. The crackdown was against a web site called L2Extreme.com, which provided subscribers with fraudulent service and pirated copies of the game. The site has now been taken down and replaced by a warning message from the FBI, the giant digitized logo evoking memories of arcade games in the 1990s.

Nov 21, 2006, 02:00 PM	#3
BlueMak HH's Asteroids' Dominator Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Hellas->Macedonia->Thessaloniki Posts: 13,465 Rep Power: 349 System Specs	Fucking pirates, i hope you rot in jail. __________________ The people who are regarded as moral luminaries are those who forego ordinary pleasures themselves and find compensation in interfering with the pleasures of others(Bertrand Russell)"You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn't wear a veil,You know, guys like that ain't got no manhood left anyway. So it's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them." - Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis This is slavery, not to speak one's thought. [Euripides-The Phoenician Women (c.411-409 B.C.)] http://www.macedonia.info/FALLACIESANDFACTS.htm *Sic semper tyrannis.*

Nov 21, 2006, 01:54 PM	#2
Brutality DriverHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Estonia Posts: 887 Rep Power: 0	God damn motherfuckers. They forced down every good Lineage 2 server out there... Since L2 Extreme was hit, all other serverowners took down their servers and now a big, BIG chunk of Lineage 2 community is fucked! It is idiotic to suggest that people should go and grind in retail servers, because retail sucks. Lineage 2 sucks as grind-them-up game. Lineage 2 is all about PVP and sieges and that's what those high-rate servers offered. NCSoft is going to be hated now...

Nov 21, 2006, 03:46 PM	#4
Tinkerhell Not all fairies are nice. Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Georgia, USA Posts: 989 Rep Power: 44	I don't quite understand since I know nothing of L2. I take it that the game is supposed to be played only on offical servers owned by NCSoft which you would have to pay to play on? But someones build servers for the game which you could play on for free? So you had to have a copy of the game (which you paid for) and then you could log into these bogus servers & play - but they weren't official so NCSoft got no cash for it. I take it the game wasn't desgined to be hosted in this manner??

Nov 21, 2006, 04:13 PM	#5
Tinkerhell Not all fairies are nice. Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Georgia, USA Posts: 989 Rep Power: 44	ok ignore the above. I read all of the article & got the details. The idiots were giving away copies of the game. Hello?! I second Bluemax's thoughts - screw em.

Nov 21, 2006, 04:18 PM	#6
Brutality DriverHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Estonia Posts: 887 Rep Power: 0	Lineage 2 is freely distributed game which is available on www.lineage2.com. You can freely download it and use it. You dont even have to buy it. At the beginning, when Lineage 2 North America came out, the first Chronicle server files were freely distibuted aswell so people could make private servers if they want. After major updates like Chronicle 2 and 3 came out, those new files weren't distributed BUT C1 files were modified by 3rd party programmers so it can run new content. About 6-8 months ago official Chronicle 4 files were leaked. Noone knows where or how they came from, but they were used a lot. Almost all servers were on full Chronicle 4 and that meant a lot of ingame content. Now, NCSoft noticed, that L2 Extreme has 50 000 accounts ( lol ) and thought they are getting ripped by millions ( ). But it wasn't so. There were maybe 5000 players in that server. I don't know why they started this campaign with FBI. Their EULA clearly says that hosting a private server is ALLOWED! Maybe they changed that in Chronicle 5 but no-one used C5 yet. All was still C4. So shouldn't hosting a server still be legal? And to all the pirate-flamers: How the fuck are people pirates, when they can get game for free and can play in servers that NCSoft ALLOWED to have? If those were illegal, why did they come up at all? I haven't seen any other game with so many private servers, except WoW. And no-one cared. By the way, that guy, Shmee, who was busted. The owned of L2 Extreme was a complete dickhead. He ripped people for donation money. No other servers did that.