Servers are Down

[Neko_Yanagi]

Aside from all the other obvious reasoning, who knew something like this would happen? And who is to say that the same thing wouldn't happen in a second location?

Plus SE is based in Tokyo, Japan. It would make the most sense to have the servers there. To hire another IT department, plus servers, and going through all that trouble and cost is really something that is out of the question.

All I can ask of anyone and everyone, is to PLEASE give SE a break here. It's not their fault, and this is a horrific situation that is beyond anyone's control. If anything, I have to respect SE's decision to do the socially responsible thing. They are shutting down they servers to save energy for those who NEED it, who need to take care of vital functions, like hospitals for example.

My hopes and prayers go out the everyone affected by the disasters in Japan. Hang in there.

[Reika]

Some people are sounding like this is some kind of attack on Non-Japanese play time. Not saying in this thread, but in others. Know that Japanese players are not playing it right now either. And i guarantee you if you translate any discussion related to the outtage, they are NOT complaining or bitching at SE.

[AuctionGirl]

You guys misunderstood what was said. Large companies should always have a contingency plan with multiple locations ready to go. I am a programmer and server/database administrator and I have had to setup many companies with these type of fail over/backup plans. It doesn't cost that much for servers to have a fail over or even both in production at the same time and fails over if 1 place goes down.

This goes to the saying...
Don't put all your eggs in 1 basket.

SE did just that, put all their companies servers in 1 location and if that goes down, so does the company.

I am not mad about the server downtime, I may find another game to play in the meantime and then I wouldn't have to look back. I'm just clearly pointing out that here is another fault in the company. Failing to plan for disasters (whatever type it might be).

[alienbaby]

sucks for me, i really wanted to play tonight

[Geist]

I am not mad about the server downtime, I may find another game to play in the meantime and then I wouldn't have to look back. I'm just clearly pointing out that here is another fault in the company. Failing to plan for disasters (whatever type it might be).

Please think about it: a disaster of this magnitude isn't something you can "plan for", IMHO. You can prepare and try to lessen the impact, but you know there will be fallout, and that it will hit hard, and that there's a limit to the contingency plans you may have been running.

Also, as a fellow system operator and sysadmin in RL, there's also a vertical limit to the multiple locations approach, when it comes to such a large, complex infrastructure, involving such huge throughput (and I must assume, far from marginal power requirements).

These are extraordinary circumstances and trying times: if this saves people's lives, or at least helps them pool together what resources they have at hand right now, let's keep the nodes down for as long as it takes.

[Usun]

Don't be silly, it's a damn game, I support the SE decision.

[Abraxai]

While it is a shame the servers went down, I must applaud Square-Enix for their humanitarian side.. Must be cutting quite drastically into their Profits to shut down a game like FFXI.. They're basically sacrificing a month's income for the good of Japan. (An easy 8 figure sum). Kudos to SE.. Good move! God bless you all struggling through this messed up situation! x

[Alise]

If I was a "Large Gaming Company" with over 10 million in monthly revenues between all services, I would have off site/off shore servers ready to go if a natural disaster happened. Yes this event is unfortunate, but business is business and they are unprepared to do business if a natural disaster occurred.

Maybe they will learn from this experience as this shutting off the service could cause more people to quit and find another game to play. Just poor business judgment from SE that's all..

What is the point to have all the good manage and then suddenly a big disaster cost your life?
if no life, then is no point to have money, this time it was lucky their company doesn't get

The developers are all living in JP. Even thought they may be able to put extra server in another country for reserve purpose, they can not put their "extra" life in any other country for "reserve purpose"

[ArkhamNative]

I fully support SE's actions to temporarily shut down their datacenters. I'd tell them please take as long as you need to do what's best.

I urge those who are complaining or questioning to take a moment to try to get a sense of perspective on the immensity of this disaster. Over 20% of the nation's electricity generation was lost. The remaining needs to be prioritized for rescue and recovery efforts, including heat for the shelters for the hundreds of thousands whose homes and even whole towns were completely destroyed. If you can't comprehend the horrible loss and destruction, maybe start with current estimates that the entire country seems to have shifted 8-12 feet from where it had been.

I also suggest that we look into donating at least some portion of our PlayOnline/FFXI monthly fee to a disaster relief organization providing supplies and assistance to Japan in this time of dire need.

[Abriael]

If I was a "Large Gaming Company" with over 10 million in monthly revenues between all services, I would have off site/off shore servers ready to go if a natural disaster happened. Yes this event is unfortunate, but business is business and they are unprepared to do business if a natural disaster occurred.

You don't get one bit of how servers of a MMORPG work right?

Even if they had a server farm already prepared somewhere (and it's no small feat considering that each "server" of the game is not a single server, but a server cluster made of multiple servers), even just the process of tranfering the data takes several days of preparation, and more days to be physically executed and finalized.

You sure didn't begin your adventure on this forum in a smart way.