This is not our hobby. It is our livelihood, it is our investment, it is our obligation. It is all the work, risk, and stress that that entails. The success of this endeavor is not only determined by our hard work and perseverance in continuing to make a better game, but just as much by the people that play the game. A person logging into the game for the first time, seeing a bad environment and then leaving is never going to know how good the game is because that's just the half of it. The person who logs in, sees it, and parrots that behavior as fun and normal just completes a vicious cycle. This is a social game by nature. That doesn't mean that everybody has to be sociable, but it does preclude antisocial behavior. Our subscription fee gives you the prerogative to use, not to abuse. We're not going to watch this situation unfold where players and potential players are driven out and displaced by the lowest common denominator.
This business wasn't started so we could turn customers away, what business is? By the same token, we never sold a subscription with the understanding that that person would drive other customers away or detract from the game experience. These latest events weren't isolated, they were the culmination that caused the action to be taken. It's not something we want to have to do. It's just another stress and more time and energy burned. But if we have to go backward in order to move forward then that's what we have to do and we're better for it.
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Doug "Pyro" Balmos
HiTech Creations
