Joanna (and everyone else): As many of you know, I stopped contributing to the forums at playstation.com after the "unpleasantness" from GlassWalls last February. Someone told me (hint: she's a terrorist who does not have dark hair!) that there's been recent activity on a thread I started last December regarding the return of EA Poker Sony: It's time you told us the EA... | PlayStation® Community Forums Since this forum is friendly (certainly compared to playstation.com), I wanted to post my response -- as well as some comments -- to some of the things that have been recently posted to that thread. 1. Joanna: thanks so much for thinking that my input would be valuable to the return of a poker space! However, to remind you (and to inform those who are unaware): I've spoken to MANY of the old (literally) poker vets from 2009. And as a result of the disgusting actions of GlassWalls last February, we have NO desire to support a SONY-operated poker space. If it were run by a company OTHER than SCEA? Sure! I'd be happy to help out. But run by SCEA? I KNOW I can speak for many including Texans, NikkiDoll (and maybe Sak, but that was in March when we spoke!) that we have NO confidence in SCEA-managed poker space. Locust has been pretty responsive as has Mercury Valentine. But again the GlassWalls incident has given most of us a bad taste in our mouths. ESPECIALLY when we all remember that easdRob was the zenith of customer relations and GlassWalls the nadir. HOWEVER -- IF you want, I would be HAPPY -- once a Sony-managed poker space opens -- to send a message of recommendation to Narc! :-D THAT will turn the poker tables into a ghost town REAL quick! 2. In one of Locust's most recent posts, he said that the EA Sports Complex "has not yet been fixed". In MY first post on the thread I reported that easdRob told me that the needed fixes were complete and awaiting SCEA implementation. Despite the apparent departure of EA Sports from Home, I see NO reason why Rob would be dishonest with me. Quite the contrary -- Rob had always been responsive, even volunteering his own time to talk to EA poker players for answers and input! 3. Again Joanna you commented that while you visit Aurora, you rarely socialize. Also, someone in the thread commented that, if we want poker, we COULD go to Godfather space. My reply covers both issues: EA Poker AT the Complex was a way to relax AND play a game AND socialize, all AT THE SAME TIME. Someone playing OrbRunner is too busy collecting orbs to chat ... and for some reason, players at Godfather CANNOT chat during a game without getting stuck. But back to my first comment: IF SCEA runs a public poker space, nothing will change much -- most of the 2009 poker vets that made EA Complex a great place will be nowhere to be found. We have NO confidence in SCEA managemen given the great example shown by GlassWalls. It's too bad that SCEA's rep has suffered with us because of the actions of ONE Home staffer. But so be it.
I understand. It's a shame because input from veterans like yourself and all the real lovers of the game especially as it pertained to EA could make a difference in any new space developed. I can understand certainly the frustration and disappointment many seasoned players have with what has happened. I know I'm certainly not happy. I miss the good old days. It does appear that something may very well be in the works. I fear that what comes out will be a shadow of what was. My hope is that somehow input from those who know what would work might make a difference. Be that as it may I don't even know if they even entertain the input. I don't think any of us are surprised that the spaces aren't coming back. I suspect the comments about not being fixed relate more so to the money side of things than to the technical side. I suppose we might have to be content with wonderful memories of a venue that was really very special inspite of all it's problems. Appreciate the response hun!
I'm not really sure if this is true, but I have a close friend that goes to those underground hacking sites (I believe he only reads the info, I don't think he's done the actual hacking), and he said that the EA complex was taken offline because it was used for some kind of hacking purposes. (reward hack?)
My understanding is that the spaces were closed because hackers were able to gift the rewards given in the space. It does seem a bit odd to me that they would close spaces like this and not remove the rewards. The EA Complex represented 5 spaces if you count poker (two floors), golf, racing and Club Fight Night. The Uncharted space was also removed as a result of a hack or so the rumor goes. Why that hasn't been returned to the Navigator as well is a mystery. Perhaps Naughty Dog or whoever the developer involved just didn't want to invest any additional time or money into fixing the space. Personally I think these closures – especially in the case of EA – were more an issue of the dollars associated with fixing and running them. The Complex must have used quite a bit of bandwidth given it's popularity. What is odd relative to the EA Space is that EasdRob did say the complex had been repaired so there is an obvious difference between what Locust_Star and Rob are saying. I will add that there was a fairly large disagreement between EasdRob and Hokiefootball1 who worked very close together for months on the poker venue. Hokie was a consultant and professional poker player. That disagreement from what i was told was a result of money and the cost of running the complex. I suppose we'll never know the complete story relative to it's removal or why it wasn't returned to the navigator.
And I also want to apologize to Superlatives given after a discussion with Carla this morning it appears I somehow accidentally closed this thread last night. I do see a little check box under the discussion window (close this thread) which I may have inadvertently clicked when replying to Super in my post. That is certainly not something I would ever do on purpose given the EA Complex simply means too much to me for a discussion relating to it to not be allowed. I know I made the suggestion in the thread over at the official forum that Locust_Star consider a group of high profile former players to act as an advisory group given the worst scenario is that a new space be made as a replacement and it lacks the important characteristics that would make the poker community happy and consider returning to the new venue. He certainly hasn't replied to that comment. I'm really sorry that comments made by Glasswalls in Superlatives thread at ps.com have alienated players like Super and Texansgirl among others who after all are some of the very few poker crown winners and who certainly know what would make a new poker space successful. It may be a mute point anyway given the SCEA team might not be looking for input. Joanna
how dare you talk about ea poker or any of other stuff home should have that doesn.......oh wait this isn't the ps forums lol . i use to love the ea poker ( spent most of my time there lol ) but like alot of things that they have said would be coming to home ( or returning in this case ) it has been hit with the sony death phrase " we will let you know SOON " so to me we will never see it again . but as far as why they pulled the spaces i don't buy there story either really cause if it was to fix a bug with them that would have taken a week or 2 at most and they wouldn't have pulled the football jersey's also. but if it is a contract thing then why didn't they pull everything that is ea ( godfather space and what little is left in the ea store )? but we will never really know why they took them down and more than likely never see them again. now if they bring another poker space to home as long as it is free to play i will gladly live in that space lol .
Ranko: First ... welcome! If you REALLY want the sordid details, PM me. But bottom line: one of the Home STAFFERS (NOT an HCV) got into a "power trip" (which is fine (and maybe even his "right"). But when that power trip results in a genuine Home question being answered with sarcasm and derision, IMO that's unacceptable. The EA Poker vets got spoiled by Rob, the EA Sports developer who ACTIVELY sought input from players. That made EA Sports Complex SO popular. While the vets never expected Home staff to be as responsive as EA, we also never expected such immature behavior from PAID Sony staff. Bug enough "nutshell" for you?? :-D
To reiterate Joanna - NO offense at all, EVEN IF the closure HAD BEEN intentional! Anyway ... ... re: the gifting of EA Complex rewards -- I never heard that. Rob said ONLY it was some "security" issue (though Rob never told me EVERYTHING!) HOWEVER: IF Sony wanted that security hole fixed and that was why the Complex was taken offline -- THAT doesn't make COMPLETE sense. It would be one thing if hackers could gift items from the EA Sports STORE; then, SCEA would be losing money. But ALL of the EA Complex rewards involved NO money exchange. Not even the Diamond Bracelet or even the Crown. And if someone HAS Diamond in his/her inventory, the mere "possession" of Diamond DID NOT allow them access into the VIP areas of CLub Fight Night. Only winners logged on EA Servers could cross the rope. But again: Rob DID tell me all the work needed from EA's end was complete, and all that was needed was for SCEA to UPLOAD the new code. Re: SCEA and their ability (or desire) to lure true poker players as regulars in a new poker space: there's something I've deduced over the past 2 1/2 years. Seems that when there's user dissatisfaction with something IN Home, SCEA thinks that all they have to do is throw "technology" AND "glitz", and that will solve the problem. When, in reality, many times the REVERSE is true. Despite bugs at the poker tables, Rob's decision NOT to implement Sony's "Game Queue" software on the poker tables was the right one. While poker players turned into "button mashers" when a game ended, it was better than the alternative: five empty tables because of a queue freeze ... just like there was at Feva Pitch. Even so -- the poker vets WERE willing to help out. Unlike many of the HCVs, we weren't after free Home items (heck, we just WIN them!) And again, we don't expect the effort from SCEA that Rob gave. But we didn't expect what we DID get from them. SCEA thinks that Home users want items. That MAY be true with the user base as a whole. But if that is the type of user base they want at a Sony-managed poker space, then that's what they'll get.
I agree Super. It would make me happy though if SCEA had enough sense to consult users like yourself who know what would work and what wouldn't because that could make the difference between a space being a success for it's users. Poker as we know was very successful. Perhaps the bandwidth issues and cost associated with running it were just too much and EA suffered ultimately from it's own success. Heaven only knows what might be coming. I certainly know that what we had a part from some of the glitches worked very well. As they say if it's ain't broke don't fix it. I'm not optimistic that a new space would ever be able to compare with what EA had. I'd love to be wrong.
I know of a little bit of this... Back when the hacking of EA's space started, first it was just for that crown. Hackers really want EVERY reward item in Home. And they got that crown. If it's in the lounge code, they can see it and duplicate it. EA took offense at that. they wanted only the true winners that earned that prize to have them. EA made messages to some of the hacker forums that provide the knowledge to hack the reward. As you can guess, that didn't go well. I heard EA eventually put in code to specifically look for that hacked item and report it to sony. That didn't solve the problem. Like Jo mentioned, hackers also used the lounge and exploited a hole in the code to gift themselves items. The did the same thing with the Uncharted Tibet lounge, and the Liars game in japan. Sony created some patches that solved the problem, but now there are new methods to bypass it. Right now there is a HARDWARE hole that was found and publicized by the hacker geohot, that allows the bypass of the main playstation operating system. (sony's lawsuit against Geohot is why the hackers have attacked PSN) That hardware hole means any thing on a ps3 can be stolen or altered. Sony will ban your machine if they catch you doing it. But nothing on a ps3 is secure right now. Sony is working to release a NEW ps3 slim. There are patents for it that have been leaked on the net. It will fix the hole.. but then I'm sure it will be hacked eventually...
For one the problem from the get go was the Home managers tolerated the people who were hacking games and items and didn't do anything about it. Heck they're even friends with some of them. When the rest of us started to complain it was already to late for anyone to do anything about it. And from my perspective they really didn't care anyway. People are still hacking things from other regions. I've seen alot of people lately wearing newer things from Japan and EU in NA home that they shouldnt be.
Firefly: Thanks for the post ... your info DID fill in many holes! I can also add some inside info to what you know! FYI I DO remember the first several weeks after winning the crown; hackers would approach me and attack me, saying (effectively) "How dare you, winning the EA Poker Crown ... we deserve to have it too!" And I also remember people hacking it using UNIX. What EA did was this: they had code installed in Home (which still exists AND operates today). If it sees the item code for the Crown (or Tiara), it checks your name against a list of legit winners (all SEVEN!). I personally KNOW of THREE incidents. Two hackers had clean records and each got a three month ban. The third user had a previous record and got a six month ban. Crown hacking is less of an issue these days. For over a year, the EA Poker Crown was the ONLY crown "item" in all of Home.
ah, interesting. I had wondered if anyone had been caught by that EA trap. btw, the Unix exploit by hackers is why Sony deleted the option to run a second operating system. But you probably figured that one out. Not because of Home, but probably because Sony was trying to lure studios to rent or sell movies in the PSN store. And having that Unix exploit was an obstacle to that. That's my guess at least.
