Temporary Suspension of the Services Due to an Earthquake

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Originally Posted by Babyj

How is it stupid to prepare for the worst? I live where it is cold I went and bought a coat for when it snows. If I lived near a nuclear reactor I am buying an anti-radiation suit. So please tell me when you live somewhere that natural disasters can happen how is it stupid to have contingency plans?

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I did not say it was stupid to prepare for the worst i was calling some idiots suggestion stupid... i stated that his ideas weren't cost effective for something as menial as a game, a quite old game i should mention. and your comparison isn't valid. tornadoes happen but most people don't build their house under ground.

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Originally Posted by Crimoir

I did not say it was stupid to prepare for the worst i was calling some idiots suggestion stupid... i stated that his ideas weren't cost effective for something as menial as a game, a quite old game i should mention. and your comparison isn't valid. tornadoes happen but most people don't build their house under ground.

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People may not have their houses underground, but they have basements in tornado prone areas! Back in the old Cold War Nuclear scare days, people often turned their cellars into nuclear fallout shelters, stacking them full of canned food goods.

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Originally Posted by Heady

And you are here, and posted that waste of text because?? Sorry at a loss here...

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i just read this. LOL he was upset by the usual words of empathy that he didn't have to read, and then he wasted time writing a post to say how upset he was making his point invalid. also in coparison to how many americans can speak japanese, WAY more Japanese can speak english...

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Originally Posted by Naturebeckles

People may not have their houses underground, but they have basements in tornado prone areas! Back in the old Cold War Nuclear scare days, people often turned their cellars into nuclear fallout shelters, stacking them full of canned food goods.

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SE obviously should have had an earthquake-proof power plant in their basement so they could have the servers online in the event of a major catastrophe in Japan, just so the players not in the catastrophe zone could continue to play.

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Originally Posted by HFX7686

SE obviously should have had an earthquake-proof power plant in their basement so they could have the servers online in the event of a major catastrophe in Japan, just so the players not in the catastrophe zone could continue to play.

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Yea and don't forget enough diesel to keep it running for at least 6+ months pending a drawn out grid recovery. Hmm possibly a tank farm next door. Should be well within budget.

Best wishes out to the nation and people affected by this terrible tragedy.

I was a little bit bummed to hear the servers were going down, since I worked 64 hours last week which with my work schedule means that I only have to work 16 hours this week. Was planning to do a lot of stuff in the game this week.

But not for one second did I question SE's reason to take the servers down, nor do I feel any animosity towards them for not having a backup. I'll gladly endure a minor inconvenience to ease the burden at least a little bit over there.

My thoughts are with the people of Japan, if I could go there personally and help clean up the mess caused I would without a problem or hesitation.

On the other hand...

Ok, seriously those of you complaining about no FFXI time, the only words I can say to you is... Get a life. Go outside and play something, get some sun. There are PLENTY of other video games you can play that have been launched since FFXI has been, play those!

All the servers are in japan, why? Because its where the company is. Its more expensive to keep those kinds of machines running in other regions of the world then it does in japan (i am quite sure anyways. Why wouldn't they shut down servers for a natural disaster in the US? Because there is no need to do so. In this case there is a HUGE need to so, which means I respect their decision and will keep playing the game when it comes back.

The reason they shut servers down is for survival, not because they don't want to work or something. Its a very important reason. The thing you should think of here is... SE TRIED to keep things running during AND after the quake but due to the situation in Japan right now they HAD to shut servers down to help out others. I'll GLADLY take the money I save on the service fee to make a donation to help the cause since I cant go help cleanup myself

Think about this. just wrap it around you brains a little. There is MAJOR tension on the plates under California which is where all (if not the vast majority) of WoW servers are. If the earthquake that Scientists are 90% positive will go off in the next 5-10 years, goes off... you can be VERY sure WoW will be shut down for a while too.

I can't say I questioned SE's dission to turn off the servers. I was a little upset about it at first, but after I found out about what had happened I knew that it was reason enough to turn off the servers, and surprised they were kept running for as long as they were.

I can't personally say I know want people are going though because I live in a place that as far as I know has never had a quake or tusmai. We've had mini tornado's that rip some slates off the roofs but nothing major, and they happen once every 10 or 20 years. But I do feel sorry for everyone who has lost loved ones.

That may seem like a totally pointless post to some people but yea.

My deepest condolences to the people of Japan who were affected in the quake and the aftermath. I liked someones idea of making April payments as a donation. I understand that payments won't be taken in April, but I wouldn't mind paying at least half, if not the full amount of our monthly payment. I mean for my husbands and my account it's only about $25-$26. That's definitely not much to ask for.

That being said, all the people complaining about the game being down needs to get a life and realize that disasters happen. Go play your console games or something, it won't hurt you. It's these people who complain that would probably make S.E. not want to turn Aprils payment into a donation. I mean it'd hurt them helping victims of disasters and all! Who would have thought... people wanting to help people in a disaster!

My thoughts and prayers are with all those in Japan, however this seems to highlight to me the Japan centric nature of FFXI, mantaince schedules etc always seem to favour Japan with us EU players getting royaly xxxx wiping out our gaming time for the whole day. Again, my thoughts are with all those who have lost friends and love ones as well as those of any lost or ingured

I'm lost for words. After reading over 40 pages of Q_Qing, all I feel is a revulsion at those people, who are selfish enough to only think of their own personal gratification in this situation.

Final Fantasy XI brought people together, to co-operate towards a common goal, and to enjoy the global community for what it is.

Now is the time to help our fellow community, be it players or those in the real world.

My thoughts, prayers, go out to all of Japan, but that is not all.

I am a Carpenter by trade, I offer my services, if needed, in the rebuilding of a proud nation. I cant offer much money (which I have donated already), but if my services as a craftsman can help, please let me know.

To all the players in Japan. The TWISTED LS on Fenrir sends it's best wishes to you and your familys. Japan is a great place full of incredible people. You will come back from this disaster stronger as you always do. Our hearts are with you and your familys. Gods speed to you all.

p.s . Dont let the post of fools {Umbrion } get you down. True FFXI fans will wait any amount of time.

Good grief... so many threads all over the place about people upset about servers being down. People really need to step back and look at the big picture here. If they love thier toons so much, they whould realize this move HAD to be done to preserve integrity of the DATA if nothing else--regardless of all the other social/political/economic issues. There is a closed thread where a poster cited details about the practical complications of having a system in place that would have allowed FFXI to stay up just before it closed. It really puts things in perspective about why SE would have had to shutdown eventually, even if the government hadne't asked the community to conserve power. Gonna copy/paste a post I made on that topic...hopefully it will make some of these Q Q people understand the complexity of the issue:

to continue Midnitelouie's point fromn a recently closed thread on this issue...

SE owns two complete subnets, and have 4 DNS servers to manage their own network. ie... It's a MASSIVE network. There are a BUTTLOAD of servers dedicated to running just FFXI. Your client taps at least 2 servers at all times while online. I have run netstat in the background to track IP's when having connection issues to help out with support and seen mine hitting as many as 4 servers at once when changing areas.

The point is--to have full redundancy to an offsite location would be a logistical nightmare, and quite frankly not cost effective for what we pay. They would likely have to be running their own private Fiber lines to keep the bandwidth up. This game relies heavily on UDP for data transfer, so there is no store/forward mechanic like what is built into TCP/IP (hence the skipping you get when running sometimes...packets are lost and people blink when a new packet is recieved showing them in a different location). The data loss recieved as is running across the current T1/T3 backbone shows how problematic redundancy would be. They would need a MASSIVE transfer rate to keep duplicate servers running in full time with instant failover support. This is just not practical.

Bear in mind, they have taken radiadion readings at the sites and they are equivalent to roughly 1 year's worth of normal radiation leaking out roughly in 1 hour at the plant. They have had to evacuate a 12 mile radius around the reactors having problems. As dense as the population is over there, thats around 200-300 THOUSAND PEOPLE being displaced. They are having to secure power for PRIMARY SERVICES first (health/emergency/communications services), putting them under the threat of rolling blackouts for secondary services--not a good thing for "nonessential" servers and networks. Your server might be up, but the ISP's routers could go down. Redundancy would be broken. Redundant networks could be caught in a loop of continuous failovers, and eventually the forest of servers will no longer be in synch. With the reduced manpower and reduced reliability of both the outside and internal network structures--it is best for ALL INVOLVED to go offline and try to find a better way of doing business. It's just the way things HAVE to be for now.

For all we know, they are already in the process of bringing a new datacenter online offsite somewhere. But we are talking about terabytes of data per server, and it will take time to set it up. Be patient...it will happen. They wiill be back on line somehow, some way, somewhere.

Raist

To all the people saying that SE should have backup servers in California because Japan is supposedly a "hot zone" for tsunamis, that solves nothing. California deals with tsunamis and earthquakes just as if not more frequently. Yes, Japan is in a precarious place being near a fault line but so is California. The San Andreas Fault is part of the same fault line as Japan, look up the Pacific Ring of Fire. It's a gigantic fault line that extends around the Pacific plate. Putting servers on the other side of the plate serves nothing. The earthquake that caused the tsunami appears to be right along where the Pacific plate and the north eastern part of the North American Plate along with the Filipino Plate come together. If you want something to blame, blame plate tectonics. Then again, if it weren't for those very forces, there wouldn't be life on this planet. Even though it's a natural occurrence, it's still a disaster. Stop bickering about what should of happened or what could have happened and find solace in the fact that people survived. Anyone that blames SE is equally at fault. If you knew it would happen, like you imply SE being stupid for not knowing it would happen, you are equally at fault for not doing anything about it. Neither we nor SE are gods, though I wish some of us were sometimes, it is not within human ability to be able to predict every event that will happen. Not even humanity as a whole would be able to defend against every possible occurrence. On top of that, Japan has the best tsunami warning system in the world. They have been dealing with them since before recorded time, they are the experts. As it stands, this is the limit of human technology and knowledge. If it weren't for the fact that Japan is so prone to tsunamis, the effect could be even more devastating.

rolling blackouts schedule announced by power company...3 hour blocks for each zone:

http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp...1031406-e.html

Raist

My thoughts and feelings go to everyone in Japan, the villages, the towns, the families, the families who have lost a loved one or a friend. I want you to know that everyone in the other countries are thinking of you all and that this should never happened to anyone.

To SE it is completely understandable why you'd shut down the service for a week, hell even if it was longer, its completely understandable, and my thoughts go to the SE Crew and their families, for giving up the power from the servers for the better of your country.

Don't listen to any of these hateful comments, they are rude and disrespectful. All this talk about "You should have backup servers" I find absolutely disgusting, the thought that people can think that even thought Japan have had a huge natural disaster and that lives have been lost, they should still have the servers up just so the other countries can get away from their "harsh" realities whilst you are living in hell right now.

Though its a global company which means everyone can use it internationally, the company is originated in Japan and it would be respectful for people to understand that even though it is "Global" company, they should be able to wait a week just so they can understand what is going on in Japan and not care about a week from their "Virtual Life."

P.S - The "Virtual Life" comment might be disrespectful, but I'm only disrespecting people who have made such comments.

People who understand this disaster and why SE had to make this decision, I'm glad to see some people still have hearts and can see sense.

I think this thread has gone in a circle at least twice.

Everyone who is donating: You rock^_^b GL Japan with recovering from this shity situation.

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Originally Posted by Sanjuu-Satsui

I think this thread has gone in a circle at least twice.

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I'm not sure if this was aimed at me. But...

I don't want to dig up old dirt, I just wanted to SE to know that even though people are saying heartless things, and even though they are saying sorry. They've said what they've said. It's still hurtful.

I just want SE to know that I respect their decision

No no Deckerd it wasn't haha ^_^ I just finished reading through the whole thread. Unfortunately Half of it wasn't even on topic so I skipped most of the Hate Bashing.

I'm just curious how people KNOW SE-Japan has ALL of the game servers. Even if SE-Cali has back-ups would it really make a difference? Doubt it. Might cause servers to come back online sooner I guess.

The people who really grind my gears are the ones who "have a life" yet spend time telling others to stop bitching and to get one of their own. I'll take this time to call them "special" lol.

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Originally Posted by Sanjuu-Satsui

The people who really grind my gears are the ones who "have a life" yet spend time telling others to stop bitching and to get one of their own. I'll take this time to call them "special" lol.

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My "Virtual Life" comment was aimed kinda like that but for people who have said things disrespectful. No one like you my friend ^.^

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And you are here, and posted that waste of text because?? Sorry at a loss here...

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I am pretty sure I explained everything that is needing explanation in my posts. [Removed by Moderator according to the FINAL FANTASY XI FORUM Guidelines.]

^_^b
I was just gonna post the face but they said I had to have at least 10 characters! Hahaha

I did not wish to irritate anyone else. I was just expressing my point to SE of their decision and what I think of these people who are disrespecting SE decision and their disrespect towards Japans current state.

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Originally Posted by Sanjuu-Satsui

^_^a

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Nice <(^.^)>

Condolences to all effected by this, hang in there, best wishes.

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Originally Posted by Lithera

that is like saying you should have a plan for if/when the supper volcano under Yellowstone park goes off and distroyes everything up to ~8 states in circumference. Or that people should have a plan for mount Raineer goes off that if it is anything like Mt. St. Hellens where people all the way in Minnisota had to deal with tons of ash. Let me ask you this do you have a plan for those? Or a plan for a meteor strike? After all we get them burning up in our atmosphere almost every day.

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I do, I live about 4 hours from Yellowstone and if I hear its about to explode I will move far away from it. If Mt. St. Hellens ever goes to blow up again, I will go buy a gas mask so I do not breathe ash, same thing for Mount. Raineer. And about a Meteor strike, meteors strike the earth constantly but they do not have enough force to do any damage. If the meteor has enough power on it and size it wont matter sense everyone would be dead. Also America has a contingency plan for the volcano under Yellowstone Lake, I do not have any idea what it might be mainly because the odds of it erupting intensely unlikely (not saying it is impossible).

For the love of jesus, stop complaining about the complainers. Honestly, it's more annoying to read people complaining about "heartless individuals" and "how on earth can people be so selfish during a time like this" etc etc than it is to actually read the selfish/heartless posts. Why do you feel the need the respond to people like that. Obviously, from the very fact that they are heartless/selfish, they don't care what you have to say about them so stop. State how you feel about the situation in Japan and move on like a big boy/girl. Plaguing this thread with bad posts and responses to those bad posts is not helping.

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Originally Posted by Helel

For the love of jesus, stop complaining about the complainers. Honestly, it's more annoying to read people complaining about "heartless individuals" and "how on earth can people be so selfish during a time like this" etc etc than it is to actually read the selfish/heartless posts. Why do you feel the need the respond to people like that. Obviously, from the very fact that they are heartless/selfish, they don't care what you have to say about them so stop. State how you feel about the situation in Japan and move on like a big boy/girl. Plaguing this thread with bad posts and responses to those bad posts is not helping.

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Way to plague the forum! :D

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Originally Posted by Helel

For the love of jesus, stop complaining about the complainers. Honestly, it's more annoying to read people complaining about "heartless individuals" and "how on earth can people be so selfish during a time like this" etc etc than it is to actually read the selfish/heartless posts. Why do you feel the need the respond to people like that. Obviously, from the very fact that they are heartless/selfish, they don't care what you have to say about them so stop. State how you feel about the situation in Japan and move on like a big boy/girl. Plaguing this thread with bad posts and responses to those bad posts is not helping.

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Aren't you plaguing the forum with a stop complaining about the complainers.....complaint?

Shit its gunna turn into a loop now T_T

Size for meteors doesnt really matter even the smallest one can do huge damage. Also shouldn't you by some of your logic already own that mask and not live where you do? Because you lean more towards the you know this could of happened so you should have had a plan before hand. Yes all of japan knows they will get hit with earthquakes, typhoons, and tsunamis, but until we are able to predict these things better nature is going to to catch people with their pants down.

UP to 44 pages. And it is now time bow out of this train wreck of a thread. What was this forum about again?
O right FFXI. Hmmm moving on.

To the SE Team, and everyone around them,

Words cannot express the heartbreak I feel every day, watching the endless stream of images, listening to the stories of the survivors, and anticipating the terrible stories yet to come of those who could not be saved. Speaking for myself, my friends, and my family, we are all standing there with you now. Take as much time as you need. Take care of yourselves, and take care of each other. We'll come home whenever you're ready.

Kyu <3

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Originally Posted by Lithera

Size for meteors doesnt really matter even the smallest one can do huge damage. Also shouldn't you by some of your logic already own that mask and not live where you do? Because you lean more towards the you know this could of happened so you should have had a plan before hand. Yes all of japan knows they will get hit with earthquakes, typhoons, and tsunamis, but until we are able to predict these things better nature is going to to catch people with their pants down.

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Well said with the gas mask, very good point. And it is nice to know you do understand astro-physics to some degree. But with the not knowing when earthquakes and other things of that nature will happen it's called a Seismograph. And again sorry if this sounds rude.

It looks like SE is taking advantage of the server down time and getting ready for the server merge, heres a sneak peak

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABgSssFWeSc

Yes, my last post was meant to lighten the thread up a little, But just now hearing the news that radiation is rising to serious levels around the power plants, I want to send my best wishes for everyone in Japan to remain safe. The whole world is living this along with you and my heart goes out to everyone who has lost someone close to them in this disaster. And to those who are still trying to find thier loved ones, don't give up hope.

For those of you wanting to donate your April fees, here are several places that are options:

http://www.charitywatch.org/hottopic...unami2011.html

(Thanks Catwho)

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Originally Posted by myrla-elphaba

For those of you wanting to donate your April fees, here are several places that are options:

http://www.charitywatch.org/hottopic...unami2011.html

(Thanks Catwho)

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As a side note on donations, for donations made through the American RedCross, 91 cents of every dollar does go to Japan. I'm not sure how much of every dollar it is with other charities.

It may have been posted before, I haven't read every post, but if you text "REDCROSS" to 90999 a $10 donation will be made to Japan relief and added to your next bill.

To our friends and family of Japan, FFXI/FFXIV JP, and SE, our hearts, prayers, love, and strength are with you! In-game, we fight Notorious Monsters together; In real life, we will recover from this tragedy together. We will take this week to remind us of what is important: Family, health, friendship, support, and love. We are with you all the way. Stay strong.

Sincerely,

Your friends in South Florida, U.S.A.