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News

May 6th, 2001

Well, what an exciting week this was! Mike the Mad was up, then down, and finally up again! I feel I owe the faithful 6 an explanation, and it�s a bit long, but here goes: As my 6 loyal readers know, MtM came up on April 1st. Actually it came up on the 31st of March, but I always liked April Fool�s Day. I was in contact with a member of the Mythic staff from way before the grand opening, however. Just asking questions, �can I use your screenshots, can I use the word �Mythic� , �etc. They said they liked the site, but had issues with a certain .jpg I used, thinking it might offend their female players (and no bullshit, it was my wife�s favorite picture on my site). I thought it was kind of bogus, but I also realize that in the corporate world you have to do the little PoliCorr dance just to cover your bases. So I switched the questionable picture to the one of the dark haired woman in the red robe you see now (if you want to see the other pic, send me an e and I�ll mail it to you. You�ll see more skin on any episode of �Xena�, however). After I changed the picture I asked about getting a link from Mythic�s main page. A week goes by and no response. I write again. Still no response. I figure that with E3 around the corner, and trying to put out an MMORPG, that they were just swamped. While I was waiting for either a �yea� or �nay� from Mythic, the now infamous �fan-site beta� announcement was made by Mythic on the 3rd. In a nutshell, it said that fan sites that met a certain level of quality would be not only let into the beta testing, but given certain other �goodies� as well. Neither the level of quality or �goodies� was elaborated on. Since half of the amateur fan site links on the official Mythic page were dead, however, I figured I had a pretty good shot. Visions of exclusive content danced in my head like the sugarplums of yore. Was this a genuine attempt by Mythic to reward fans, or an attempt to generate hype? It doesn�t matter, IMHO. They are a company who is in business to make money. To do that they need people to buy their product. To buy their product people need to know about it. In any event, more fan sites came up in the next two weeks than ever there were Elvis sightings in the tabloids, and this could not have been an unforeseen consequence. Many of these were good sites, much more professional than mine. Some were worse. Art is subjective. As the weeks rolled on, me and many other Webmasters were both writing to Mythic and posting on the boards for a response to the question of �When do you plan to implement what you promised?� No response was ever posted on the board, and none of the 7 or so webmasters I�m in contact with received an e-mail. Mythic was reaping the benefit of our hard work in terms of added exposure, and while we had not initially asked for anything in return, if they were going to make promises we expected them to be kept. With the mass influx of DAoC sites, building our audience was all that more difficult. They were rewarding exclusive content to the bigger game sites, including some who came after us. How can we compete, even attempt to be competitive, without a level playing field? (And if you don�t think it�s a competition you�re kidding yourself. A friendly competition, surely. I would never wish ill on another fan site operator. But I do judge my work in comparison to theirs, and I�m sure they do the same. Our art form is a very public one, and we live or die based on the masses. If no one is coming to my site, why should I bother publishing it? Sure, I enjoy doing Flash and HTML, but I could just have them sit on the hard drive of my computer.) Around the 25th I could start to tell things were getting a bit ugly. Numerous e-mails and PM�s were coming my way from other webmasters saying, in essence, �Are they ever going to answer us? What�s their problem?� I attempted to solicit an answer from Mythic on the boards they frequent at first politely, then humorously, and finally with a touch of rudeness. It had been nearly a month, and still no response! We weren�t asking for a novel here, nor were we asking for immediate gratification in terms of �goodies� or betas. A simple statement to the tune of: �We are currently looking over the fan sites, and by the end of May all our decisions will have been made� would have been peachy. I can understand it taking some time. What I can�t understand, nor will I tolerate, is being blatantly ignored. The Mythic personnel were frequenting the boards, they were answering other questions, and I have no doubt that they were aware of the numerous posts requesting an update. They simply chose not to respond. Till the 30th, that is. Two separate individuals sent me angry e-mails directing my attention to another board, where a series of questions about fan sites had been officially answered. In response to the beta question (and by inference the �goodies� and official recognition), the reply was that Mythic was looking for people who had spent time and money, and that geocities sites probably didn�t have a chance of getting in. The same individual who I�d initially been in contact with regarding .jpegs etc. said this , so it�s not like Mythic was unaware of my Geocities site. I was stunned. Money? What the hell did that have to do with it? So my site was probably going to be ignored, simply because I couldn�t afford anything better? I was paying the $5.00/month to keep the banner adds off, I was looking for a better host, but I sincerely cannot afford to do much more. A flurry of e-mails and PMs ensued. While I was not the first to reach this conclusion, I quickly came to agree with it: �Mythic had lied to us, or at the very least been deceptive.� The �certain level of quality� statement was true, but the level of quality they were referring to was a professional one. That was why they had rewarded the bigger game sites that came after us, that was why we were getting no response. Because we hadn�t met their standard. The whole �fan site for beta� statement had been a scheme to generate publicity, and they had no intention of ever following through on the spirit of the agreement. Even though my site was up before said statement, I still felt used. Worse than that, I felt stupid. I thought I�d found a company who not only appreciated my work, but also were actually going to reward me for it! How cool is that? Well it wasn�t very cool, because it was bullshit. I was just another sucker. I sat on my porch, half-heartedly tried to drink a beer. What should I do next? I didn�t want to pull Mike the Mad, because it was one of my greatest joys in life (and a low-cost form of entertainment). I didn�t want to stop frequenting the boards, because a lot of cool people with smart things to say hung out there. Yet in the end that�s exactly what I did. I logged on one last time, and quite literally said �Screw You Mythic�. I posted a goodbye message on my site and then went to bed, not happier but perhaps wiser. I certainly did not expect what happened next. I didn�t even know about it till 2 days later, I was so disgusted with anything computer related I didn�t even power on my machine except for the five minutes it took to remove my site from Geocities. When I did check my e-mail accounts, I had numerous letters of support, and some of them even said that Mythic had responded with an answer on my �Screw You� thread. I had expected a letter from Mythic telling me to remove their pictures and to get bent. Surprisingly, I instead had a letter of apology from Mythic. It wasn�t the most tender or touching of letters, but combined with their statements on the boards it was enough. I think it took a lot of class and guts on their part to admit doing some things wrong, and I respect them for that. As I said, Mythic is made up of human beings, and all of us are prone to error and the seven deadly sins. So where does all this leave us today? Well, I�m probably not Mythic�s favorite person in the world. I can live with that. A few people called me a baby and a whiner, but these are also the type of people who wish cancer on their enemies, so I can live with that as well. A few presented well thought out arguments as to why I was wrong, and I thank them for the time put into their argument even if I do not agree with their conclusion. But overall I�d say 95% of the correspondence I�ve received has been of a supportive and positive nature. And those people I thank most of all. In my opinion, the matter is closed. I stood up for myself (and the other webmasters), the situation came to a head, and closure resulted. I hope Mythic will be more proactive than reactive to our concerns in the future. They lost the opportunity to do so this time, but I think they will not do so again. They are outstanding in terms of customer service and potential customer response in all other arenas. Why did they drop the ball this time? Maybe the answer is no more complicated than that they are human, just like you and me. We don�t want them to forget that we are all unique individuals with hopes and dreams and flaws. A good way to further that end is by remembering the same of them. In my attempts to be completely fair, I will be sending Mythic a copy of what I have written here. If they care to respond I will add their comments, unedited, for a counter-point. Till next week. Best Wishes, Mike the Mad

April 29th, 2001

Slow, slow week. I was going to point towards some threads of interest on the VN boards, but those boards are down as I write this. They've been going down pretty regular, I can only assume they're doing maintenance. Hopefully Mythic will be giving the fan sites some exclusive access and content. Till I have the tools to offer you something unique I can only say thanks for stopping by, nothing to see here. With nothing to report I'll just shut up for now. Have a good week. Best Wishes, Mike

April 22nd, 2001

Well, another week has come and gone. I'd venture to say that the majority of people who were going to get into beta have been notified. I know that, as of yesterday, people were still getting their e-mail notifications. But if you didn't get in don't give up hope! Mark Jacobs has said they'll be letting in others as time goes by. So you need something to do while waiting? Why not show your DAoC support and help a good cause while you're at it? Some DAoC fans have gotten together to help fight cancer by using their computers. You download a short program and, when you're not using your computer, it can run a little app that helps cancer research. If this interests you you can check it out here . Did I mention you can win free prizes? Mythic unveiled their new logo this week. Looks pretty sweet IMHO. I'll undoubtably be bastardizing it for my site. You can see it on their main page . Heres a supercool program to help visualize your characters in almost any RPG, computer or pen and paper. You put in the variables, and it creates a drawing of your character. If you can't draw yourself, hop on over to The Hero Machine and prepare to be amazed!. Heres a great new DAoC Site, this one dedicated to Guilds. This is going to be one of the big ones in the DAoC community, I think. One of the big news items in other MMORPG games is Verant's unveiling of Shadows of Luclin, the next expansion to EverQuest. I have to admit that the screenshots look awesome. You can judge for yourself here. Some of you have been having problems with the Flash parts of Mike the Mad (the intro and The Brewers of Hibernia Guild). I've written to Geocities about this, but so far no luck. So I finally bit the bullet and purchased a domain name. I'll be transferring the data in about 2 weeks to the company where I work at, who act as web hosting providers. Till then just check back whenever you can. If you need a domain name yourself check out where I got mine: GoDaddy , it was only $8.95 for a year. I added a few new games to the fun page. My favorite has to be the Snake game. That thing is pretty addicitive, even if it does hang up every 5 games or so. Well thats it for this week. Hope to see you here again next Sunday, same bat time, same bat channel. Best Wishes, MtM

April 15th, 2001

Happy Easter to my Christian readers! I have to admit ignorance of most non-Christian holidays, so if more than Easter is being celebrated today please forgive my ignorance (or better yet drop me an e and edumacate me). Today I am unveiling the new news format. I came to two conclusions about the news: Because this is a hobby I cannot be the firstest with the mostest. Secondly, the effort required to try and keep the news current was a drag. I didn't enjoy it. As my on-again, off-again love/hate affair with institutions of higher learning will attest too, I stink at trying to do something I don't enjoy. So now the news will be delivered in a weekly digest format. Timely and relevant? Probably not. More fun for me? Oh yes, Bridget, oh yes. In addition to being more enjoyable, I will also corner the highly sought-after travelling salesman and long-distance trucker MMORPG market, or anyone else away from their computer for a long time. So on with the news: Beta is over, but you haven't got your letter yet? Well according to the main page you either weren't selected, or the batch containing your confirmation hasn't been mailed out yet. I keep hearing the term "will be mailed out in sets of 50" bandied about. 50 a day? 50 a week? Yes, no, maybe. Speaking of rising from the dead, rumors persist that Verant is going to be mimicking many of DAoC's features on a brand-spanking new PvP server. Will it work? Will veteran EQers stick with the tried and true instead of leaving to go frolic on the grassy fields of Camelot? Are you kidding? The EQ retention rate is about 40% as is. As gamers we may be less fickle than a super model at a Shoney's buffet, but we still like the shinyest toys. Prediction: A year from now the EQ Servers will be devoid of any life except for those who got their avatars into the high levels and can't bear to part with their lootness. Everyone else wil be moving on to the 2nd generation MMORPG's. Best start hyping EQ2, Verant. As shown on one of my favorite sites, Lum the Mad, there are some very creative, if eccentric, people out there helping to further the cause of webbery as art. Need a laugh, or just like avante' guard humor? Check this out. And while we're on the subject, I released my new Flash movie for this site. Gee, you think I'm a fan of the movie 'Excalibur'? Naming all 3 of my sons 'Uther' would seem less obvious. Like techno music? Check out this guys work. Met him on the VN Boards, and let me tell you he is talented. If Bards will be able to play their own tunes in game, I'll be grouping with this guy. Now, for the board thread of the week: I REALLY like this idea. There are some bugs to be worked out, but go on over and put your two cents in. Well thats it for now. If EZBoard hasn't gone belly up on us, feel free to comment on my ramblings. Or don't, it's all good. MtM

April 9th, 2001

Well it's all over but the crying now. Here's hoping every single one of Mike the Mad's readers got into Beta! (yes, all 6 of you :)

From Mythic: As of this morning, we've closed down the Dark Age of Camelot Beta 3 application page. Thank you to everyone who applied -- the response has been overwhelming, with over 33,000 applications. We'll be sifting through the applications over the next few days, and will be opening up the beta about 50 players at a time starting later this week. You'll be notified via email if you have been selected.

April 8th, 2001

Zfalcon, one of the pillars of the DAoC community, recently made a very generous offer by willing to share from his extensive list of domain names. So if you want to create your own DAoC Fan Site heres a golden opportunity! Camelot HQ currently owns over 200 Dark Age of Camelot related domains which YOU can use free of charge to create your own Camelot fan site. There are general domains such as camelotinfo.com and more specialized domains like camelotclerics.com or daocwizards.com. We can assist you in putting your site together including a basic layout, your sites own message boards, and much more. All of this is at no charge to you, and hopefully will help support the evergrowing Dark Age of Camelot community. If you have any questions or would like to reserve a domain for your fan site, send an e-mail to [email protected] and he will assist you in getting everything set up. You can view the entire list of the available domains you can choose from by clicking here.

April 4th, 2001

The latest news on beta from the head honcho, the numero uno, the big cheese himself: Folks, We are currently standing at 25824. My original estimate was between 20K and 25K so we have already exceeded that number. There are times I love to be wrong. Some people have asked me how you will be notified if you have been selected for beta. Here's the information: 1) Starting next week we will be culling the database of "bad" apps. These are people who applied multiple times as well as a host of other reasons (don't ask, I'm not going to go into details on this). 2) We will then select the total number of random apps that we will approve for the entire Beta 3 stage. We will also begin adding people whose participation on the support sites has been such that they have earned a place in this beta test (Please, no more discussions on what constitutes earning a slot, "He's dead Jim"). 3) When that process is done (I expect it will take all of next week), we will then tentatively schedule your admission date to the beta. Due to the fact that we don't have unlimited bandwidth and servers we will let in between 50-100 per day into the beta. 4) You will receive email notification that your account has been selected for beta and the date that your account is open. You will also be given what you need to connect to our download server. You will not be able to download the game until the day that your account is active. We will ask all new beta testers not to even try to connect to the download system before hand as that will just waste your time and our bandwidth. All of the dates here are subject to change by up to 3 weeks. Our first priority is getting in the realm of Midgard for our current beta testers and beating the heck out of it. While there will be a lot for the new beta testers to find in terms of bugs, since the B3 folks are new to DAoC we want to make their entry into our world as error-free and fun as possible. Our experienced existing crew certainly know what to look for even if in another realm as well how to break things there. They will constitute oour shock troops for B3. If either it takes longer to get in the content or because some heinous bugs arrive, we will delay the opening of Beta 3. I will, of course, post here and make sure our support sites know what is going on. So they can keep the flow of information going strong. Mark

April 3rd, 2001

Well, they moved the beta application to the front page. Because people who visit Mike the Mad tend to be movers and shakers, and don't have time for those pesky 'Back' buttons, I put a new link here.

April 2nd, 2001

Online applications for Dark Age of Camelot's Beta 3 will start to be taken on Monday April 2 at 12:00 noon Eastern Time. The application process will work much like that of Beta 2 -- an online application will be located under the beta link on this web page. We'll leave the application up for a week or more in order to gather many names, from which we'll select the lucky applicants, who will be notified before the start of Beta 3. More information about Beta 3's start date will be released soon. Please check back for updates.

April 1st, 2001

Mike the Mad Is Opened!

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