ArkadyTepes posted:

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semi, alot of the times you are pretty right...


and mythic has had some horrible website designs..


but the camelot herald, was a place for active subscribers to get more information, most people who would have been interested in free trials, would have found there way to darkageofcamelot.com not the camelot herald...


and http://web.archive.org/web/20090205031130/http://darkageofcamelot.com/


darkageofcamelot.com has usualy always had pretty obvious free trial link...

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Semi4 posted:

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That is not the Herald page. That is the free trial page. The only link on the Herald to the free trial page was the "| Dark Age of Camelot |” in tiny letters at the top of the Herald.

As for people getting interested in the free trial from pages other than the Herald, that is completely true.

But

Many players that are interested in a game will go to the game web page to learn about the game, view rules, learn about characters, learn about game play, view videos, get free trial rules, etc. . and to get links to the free trial after deciding that the game is worth a try.

I do not recall a single game, where I downloaded a trial, where I did not first go to the game www page to check out the game info.

It still stands that Mythic did not have a clear link on the Herald to the free trial page and it would have been extremely easy to create a clear link on the front page of the Herald instead of having an obscure link that was hard to find.

That Mythic refused to create a clear link to the free trial page is a Freudian slip showing their underlying attitude. It is like their refusal to change the account page when they know some players become confused and call in (consuming CSR time).

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ArkadyTepes posted:

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actualy that was my point... if people were interested in Dark age of camelot, they would have gone to darkageofcamelot.com first, not camelotherald.com because how would they have known it was even for dark age of camelot? ...


so they didnt need to advertise the free trial on the herald, because the herald wasnt were newbs were to go.... darkageofcamelot.com is were newbs would have went, were mythic had a small faq, screen shots, and trailers and bits about the game for newbs to find.

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Semi4 posted:

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While I do not think that Mythic people should be jailed for their actions, I understand angryranger’s overstatement to emphasize the anger that many players have toward Mythic.

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Semi4 posted:

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Many, many, many posts have come on these boards where players have posted confusion about the cancel button. It is a very simple thing for Mythic to change the page a tiny bit so as to make things very clear concerning if an account is recognized by Mythic as canceled, yet Mythic stubbornly refuses.

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Semi4 posted:

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Back shortly after launch, when I first started playing because a friend mentioned the game to me, I googled Dark Age of Camelot and the first place I went to was the Herald to check out the game. After checking out the game on the Herald, I then went to the store to obtain the game.

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Semi4 posted:

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I do not think that many players of games go to a download site first, and then download/install, without knowing anything about the game. Most people that want game info, so they can decide if they want to download or ignore, first go to the game web site.

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dannica posted:

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My response was very specific and targeted at a player who made a hyperbolic response in this thread regarding the legal and ethical status of the choices developers at Electronic Arts, inc. This was intended to be a tongue-in-cheek responses and it was clearly targeted at this posters hasty conclusions and propensity towards demagoguery.

[colorurple]

Interesting. Yes I read and saw your comment for exactly what it was/is.


My comment was about angryranger’s post and simply that I understood it as an overstatement for emphasis. [/color]





I am not an EA fangirl, but find it quite clear that if an account is not subscribed (meaning the account information page does not mention a subscription or specific renewal date), then it is infect not slated to be billed in the future.


[colorurple]It should be clear (to quote you) to “Anyone with an IQ greater than 80” that this is not about you. It is about the customer base.


There are many personality types in the world (about 5 main types with many sub types) and while some personality types will have absolutely no problem with a slightly ambiguous account page, others personality types need specific clarity. If the page is confusing for two of the 5 types, or even just one of the 5 types, then it is potentially confusing for a huge number of players. Because of the potential for confusion among such a large number of players, because there are posts which prove that the page is confusing to some players and because changing the page to improve clarity is extremely easy, the page should be made to be more clear.


It is nonsensical to argue against improving the clarity of the account page. It is also nonsensical to take the view point that because the page does not confuse you it is just too bad if there are others that it does confuse. That is the kind of position Mythic has taken over the years, toward their customers, and it is self-destructive.


This all should be self-evident. [/color]





Your experiences in 2001 are not relevant to 2011 as the game did not offer a downloadable trial 10 years ago, nor did any other online video games; our internet connections did not allow this luxury. In 2001, Google was correct to direct you to Camelotherald.com as this site certainly received more hits than Darkageofcamelot.com. I am not a computer expert, but believe it would be very easy to research the historical activity trends for Camelotherald.com vs. Darkageofcamelot.com and believe the former has much more activity than the later, thus it should be indexed first according to the methods Google employs to determine search result listings.


[colorurple] The above was a specific response to a specific comment by Arkady, where Arkady took the position that most prospective players would download DAoC without first checking out the game on the Herald. In response to Arkady’s post, my comment above is spot on and was/is very relevant.


My comment stands. Most players thinking of downloading a game will, via google, check out the game before downloading the game and in checking out the game most will go to the games web page to get info about characters, game rules, game play, etc. . . . In DAoC case that meant prospective players would check out the Herald, which for most of its life had a difficult to find, tiny text and ambiguously named link to the free trial page.


Perhaps you should not skim, you do not seem to be as good at it as you think.[/color]





As of 6.9.2011, Camelotherald.com is the first Google search result for "dark age of camelot" and the top of the page features two distinct graphic images that link to the trial for the game. Waybackmachine.com's archive for Camelotherald.com on 20.11.2001 does not show a direct link to an option to buy Dark Age of Camelot, but the top right hand image does link to Mythic Entertainment's website, which, as of 29.11.2001, displayed one full page of information about Dark Age of Camelot. In 2001, almost everyone purchased their software from so-called brick and mortar retail stores and it was common sense that one must go to such a retailer to purchase Dark Age of Camelot.


[colorurple]You are being nonsensical. Again perhaps you should not skim. The example is to show a past history of ambiguity on the Herald and the example I used shows exactly what it is intended to show. For most of the games history, beginning shortly after a free trial was available, the link on the Herald to the free trial was ambiguously name and the link was very tiny. My point is spot on. Mythic has a history of not caring if some things on the Herald are ambiguous, difficult to find and/or misleading. The example that I used is just one of many hundreds that could have been used. It is nonsense/silly for any to defend the Herald (old or new) as if it were/is clear and concise.


That Google now shows a link to the free trial page, is not relevant to the discussion that I was having with someone other than you. It is fine, and often adds to a discussion, when people jump into conversations that others are having but perhaps you should read with more comprehension if you intend to jump into the conversation of others.

[/color]

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