Servers are Down

[Abriael]

Also you need to look at the fact that because they might have servers in another location/country does not mean they will sit idle and do absolutely nothing waiting for this disaster. They should have them deployed and used the whole time operating in 2 or more locations at the same time. Also there would have to be nightly or scheduled data backups across locations to each location this way if 1 place goes down for ANY reason, not just earthquakes, but could be simply the data center goes down for any unknown reason.

Sorry but no. The more you post, the more you demonstrate how this kind of things work.
Do you think SE doesn't have scheduled data backups? of course they do. But Backupped data still needs to be transferred and installed to the alternate location, and this is NOT as elementary as you try to make it sound.
Also, if servers operated in two locations at a time, they would still have to split the worlds between locations. This means that even if they had two locations, half of the game population would see their servers shut down, which is a scenario that's even worse than the current one "why they can play and I can't!" I can already hear the whines and tantrums.
They cannot operate all the game worlds on half the servers without a major server architecture overhaul that would probably take weeks.

How many servers/locations do you think Google, Microsoft, WoW or any other successful gaming company has? I know google has servers everywhere in the world... Tell me why they would do something so stupid? Because they understand that the internet is an uncontrollable and the more locations you have, the more control over 1 or more failed locations.

You're comparing apples to oranges. First of all WoW doesn't have "backup" server locations. Not even one. They have servers located in different facilities (and they aren't scattered around the world lol, servers that serve the same region are still located in the same general area, simply because of ease of operation, and this means that would be all involved in a possible disaster situation) are so just because they have so many server clusters that they simply don't fit in a single facility.

It has nothing to do with "backups". As for google or microsoft, they don't run MMORPGs. Their servers don't rely on complex and sensitive character data, and their users won't even notice if the status of google search is rolled back a few days.

Apples and oranges are different things. Comparing them isn't smart.

Again, I could care less if the game is running, just pointing out a major flaw in their business process.

No, you're pointing out a flaw that you perceive due to your lack of knowledge (or oversimplified idea) about the ins and outs of the operation of a MMORPG.

And to the one who said they don't have a staff in another country, have you heard of remote access? You can SSH/SFTP or anything else across the internet and control everything somewhere else.

Servers, especially complex server clusters like MMORPG ones can operated remotely only for SOME functions. They still need on-site maintenance and surveillance. Again, lack of any kind of knowledge on the subject shows.

Another benefit to multiple locations is that clients whom are closer to one of those locations can get reduced ping times better game play, and possibly less lag.

Which causes fragmentation of the community. Many people play final fantasy games especially because they enjoy the truly international nature of the server. The "benefit" you posted (that normally is negligible for non-twitchy games), comes with the loss of another benefit.