Temporary Suspension of the Services Due to an Earthquake

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Originally Posted by Eekiki

Funny, because I have been called heartless, selfish, insensitive, disrespectful, and many different swear words. I have at times defended myself against these attacks, but the entire time any negativity from me was directed solely at Square-Enix. My opinion is they are taking advantage of the situation in order to save a couple bucks, since FFXIV is costing them boatloads of money to run right now with zero subscription revenue coming in.

Disagree with me if you want, but don't attack me for having an unpopular opinion and expect me to not defend myself.

Also, http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/obsolete.

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Maybe read the definitions you post, and learn to understand English before you correct someone else's. 'Obsolete' was used correctly to mean 'no longer current or needed.'

Also, taking advantage of the situation to save money doesn't usually entail a 100 million yen donation.

Finally, SE recognizes that they rushed the launch of this product, and are basically conducting an extended beta. That means they get all of our services as product testers for free. Seems like a pretty good deal when you want to get your investment back up to snuff.

A 100 million yen tax deductible donation.

I'm not saying it isn't a good gesture and a big help to the recovery, but don't kid yourself into thinking SE is making this great sacrifice purely out of the goodness of their hearts. Everything is calculated in business. Some bean-counter in the SE corporate office did a cost-benefit analysis to determine exactly how much money to donate to get the maximum benefit (from tax deductions and positive PR) for the company.

Please don't read emotion into that statement. I'm simply telling it like it is. My emotional response to it is I think it's great that SE is donating so much money to the recovery effort, but at the same time I wish corporations were not allowed to use charity as a tax shelter. On the other hand, it's good that they can, because it entices them to be more generous. Bottom line, I don't like capitalism, but I understand why it works.

The word "obsolete" was not used correctly in that context. It was a psuedo-intellectual attempt to tell me I was wrong, not that I was correct at some point, but not any longer.

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Originally Posted by Eekiki

A 100 million yen tax deductible donation.

I'm not saying it isn't a good gesture and a big help to the recovery, but don't kid yourself into thinking SE is making this great sacrifice purely out of the goodness of their hearts. Everything is calculated in business. Some bean-counter in the SE corporate office did a cost-benefit analysis to determine exactly how much money to donate to get the maximum benefit (from tax deductions and positive PR) for the company.

Please don't read emotion into that statement. I'm simply telling it like it is. My emotional response to it is I think it's great that SE is donating so much money to the recovery effort, but at the same time I wish corporations were not allowed to use charity as a tax shelter. On the other hand, it's good that they can, because it entices them to be more generous. Bottom line, I don't like capitalism, but I understand why it works.

The word "obsolete" was not used correctly in that context. It was a psuedo-intellectual attempt to tell me I was wrong, not that I was correct at some point, but not any longer.

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Are you being cynical just for the sake of it? If it helps people to express their condolences, why not let them? Even the small things matter and a kind gesture is enough to put a number of people in a good mood.

While it is true that large corporations usually do things like this for the sake of profit, does it matter? It helps all the same, but the charitable feeling gets sour when certain people feel the need to always go point out the backsides of everything.

I don't believe you're heartless. More likely attention seeking.

I'm being cynical because I'm a cynic. I can't adequately explain why the world needs people like me, so I'll use a line from a South Park song: "Without evil there can be no good, so it must be good to be evil sometimes."

If people like me don't point out the dark side of things, how can one truly know when something is good or not? Have you ever seen the movie "Pleasantville"?

One last thing. If you believe because I think the way I do I must be a sad person, you are mistaken. I'm a very happy, easy going person. I say what I say for the benefit of those who may be ignorant when it comes to how business works. It's better they hear it from someone like me instead of learning it the hard way.

I guarantee you the majority of the people who have read what I've written here have said, "Meh, whatever. It's still good that SE did what they did, even if it was for their own benefit more than anything," and moved on. Part of being an adult is knowing the good and bad in any situation, and being happy with what's good when it outweighs the bad. There's an increasing lack of this on both sides of the spectrum lately.

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Originally Posted by Eekiki

A 100 million yen tax deductible
The word "obsolete" was not used correctly in that context. It was a psuedo-intellectual attempt to tell me I was wrong, not that I was correct at some point, but not any longer.

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I used the term because although "Judge not lest you be judged." itself is true and a good one to live by, when a party makes judgmental statements, and then uses that phrase for argument, the purpose of the phrase becomes moot and completely negates the argument you are making. Thus making your statement obsolete. If you are not willing to live by the phrase you are advocating, it's kind of silly to tell someone else not to do it.

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Originally Posted by Eekiki

Funny, because I have been called heartless, selfish, insensitive, disrespectful, and many different swear words. I have at times defended myself against these attacks, but the entire time any negativity from me was directed solely at Square-Enix. My opinion is they are taking advantage of the situation in order to save a couple bucks, since FFXIV is costing them boatloads of money to run right now with zero subscription revenue coming in.

Disagree with me if you want, but don't attack me for having an unpopular opinion and expect me to not defend myself.

Also, http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/obsolete.

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That opinion may be why you may have been called such names. It may or may not be the truth, however you have no evidence to support such a statement, and the companies actions say otherwise.

I personally wish all people would stop attacking each other no matter what their opinion. There is no reason we can't talk and have opinions without purposely insulting each other. As for myself, I was not trying to attack you at all. Disagreeing is not the same as attacking. I was merely trying to point out that in that statement, you were the pot calling the kettle black. If I wished to be flammatory, I could think of some ways. But I'm not trying to be.

As for my position on this, and I can only speak for myself, I will tell you. I would like the servers to be up, as anyone here would I would imagine. If everything was going ok over there, and they had all their power and whatnot, then yes, they should put up the servers, and people should be able to play. Life goes on, however sadly.

But that is not the case. They are putting up the servers at a cost of hardship to their employees. I just can't be happy at the expense of someone else. I wish they wouldn't, but it's not my decision. SE made the decision, and fighting over it doesn't really serve any purpose, any more than staying off the servers as some have suggested.

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Originally Posted by Chezen

I used the term because although "Judge not lest you be judged." itself is true and a good one to live by, when a party makes judgmental statements, and then uses that phrase for argument, the purpose of the phrase becomes moot and completely negates the argument you are making. Thus making your statement obsolete. If you are not willing to live by the phrase you are advocating, it's kind of silly to tell someone else not to do it.

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I misread your context, then. I apologize, and stand corrected.

I fully admit I do not live by that phrase. I was making light of the double standard people who claim to live by it are committing.

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Originally Posted by Chezen

That opinion may be why you may have been called such names. It may or may not be the truth, however you have no evidence to support such a statement, and the companies actions say otherwise.

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That's why it's an opinion. It's an educated opinion, but an opinion nonetheless.

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Originally Posted by Chezen

They are putting up the servers at a cost of hardship to their employees.

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I disagree with this. The hardships you speak of are working in reduced lighting, and without the A/C running in their offices.

Note, that's reduced lighting. They are not working in total darkness. My guess is they are switching from using your traditional overhead fluorescent lighting to individual desk lamps with CFL or LED bulbs in combination with natural light from outside, which is a great idea on general principle, and I'll bet they make that their new standard. I do it myself. I find working under those old fluorescent lights all day every day to be depressing, and it's bad for your skin and hair.

As for the A/C, it's early spring. Today the weather in Tokyo was a high of 49 degrees Fahrenheit. Even with all the heat the people and computers will generate, it's still cool enough outside to cool the place off if they open the windows and use fans, and it will be that way for the next couple months.

I don't think this power crunch is going to last until summer. While the Fukushima plant will likely need to be replaced (reactors flooded with sea water are pretty much ruined beyond repair), and replacing a nuclear plant properly is a minimum 5-year project, Fukushima is still just one plant, albeit a big one. Once the rest of the power stations--nuclear or otherwise--are repaired, I don't think the power situation will be so dire. If what TEPCO says is true (and they have no reason to lie at this point), repairs are moving along rather well.

Hey! Look at that! Cynical old Eeki taking a negative and turning it into a positive!

EDIT: Okay, I just checked out what the building containing SE HQ looks like on Google street view (Shinjuku Bunka Quint Building, Shibuya, Tokyo Japan if you're curious). Looks like those windows don't open, but I could be wrong. Maybe it will get a little stuffy in there, but not unbearable.

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Originally Posted by Eekiki

Looks like those windows don't open, but I could be wrong. Maybe it will get a little stuffy in there, but not unbearable.

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In America, that could be grounds for sueing (Yes I am ..half.. teasing). :)

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Originally Posted by DannyBlue

The point to all of you is that feeling 'sad' is nice, and 'grieving' is nice, but it doesn't help anything. It's just you making yourself feel better by allowing yourself to feel sad about it.

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Well yeah, isn't that kind of the point? I'm sure those who have posted comments about their feelings for Japan are well aware that it's not going to directly contribute to the reparations.

Those comments are posted just because people want to share their feelings. It's the same reason people on Facebook post their status update with some kind of emotional statement about nothing in direct relation to anyone on their friend list. It's fine.

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Originally Posted by Eekiki

A 100 million yen tax deductible donation.

I'm not saying it isn't a good gesture and a big help to the recovery, but don't kid yourself into thinking SE is making this great sacrifice purely out of the goodness of their hearts. Everything is calculated in business. Some bean-counter in the SE corporate office did a cost-benefit analysis to determine exactly how much money to donate to get the maximum benefit (from tax deductions and positive PR) for the company.

Please don't read emotion into that statement. I'm simply telling it like it is. My emotional response to it is I think it's great that SE is donating so much money to the recovery effort, but at the same time I wish corporations were not allowed to use charity as a tax shelter. On the other hand, it's good that they can, because it entices them to be more generous. Bottom line, I don't like capitalism, but I understand why it works.

The word "obsolete" was not used correctly in that context. It was a psuedo-intellectual attempt to tell me I was wrong, not that I was correct at some point, but not any longer.

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Again, it WAS used correctly, I promise you. It was clearly meant to tell you that your argument had been based on old information, and/or a lack of current information.

And if you really want to get into it with me, any linguist worth his salt knows that any phrase in common usage is lent technical correctness via the principles of linguistic evolution.

Never argue semantics with an 'A'-average university student.