Friday, August 6, 2010

Everquest Next & Gamer Rights


Everquest Next
If you haven't heard about Everquest Next then you can keep up with whats been going on here, at EQ2Wire. Lots of information passing through on the site about what has been happening at Fan Faire. Information about SOE games, releases and teasers.

Very exciting to hear more about what's being called Everquest Next. It's said this game will have more focus on the first Everquest. This, I think, is a good thing. While Everquest 2 is a great game I never felt it was really a big extension of the first. It did not incorporate the same feeling. The places were named the same but looked nothing alike, they felt much different. So I have higher hopes for this third game to be more spot on when it comes to recapturing the feeling of the original game.

I will be excited to hear more on this! Lets hope they give us more to hold on and daydream about, soon! I will surely be following this closely for more information. So exciting!!!


Gamers Rights
Earlier I saw this on EQplayers.com:
The Gamer Petition: Supporting First Amendment Rights for Video Games
Within the next year, the Supreme Court of the United States will rule on a case that involves video games and First Amendment rights. If you are an American citizen, believe that video games should be covered under the First Amendment, and you would like to have your voice heard, please consider signing The Gamer Petition.
The petition provides a way for consumers to support First Amendment protections for games, just as music, movies other entertainment media are protected. When the Supreme Court hears the case, this petition will be amended to a formal amicus brief in support of gamers and gaming.
The Gamer Petition states:
We, the undersigned American video game consumers, purchase, rent and play video games the way we do other entertainment content such as movies and music. We respectfully request that you hold that video games are indeed free speech, protected under the First Amendment, like other entertainment media.
The Gamer Petition has been created by the Entertainment Consumers Association, a non-profit membership organization that represents consumers of interactive entertainment in the US and Canada. The association was founded to give gamers a collective voice with which to communicate their concerns, address their issues and focus their advocacy efforts. 
This petition is open to all United States citizens. If you support First Amendment rights for video games, please add your name to the cause.

Check it out people, we have rights!

3 comments:

  1. Last time we spoke about Everquest Next, it sounded like it was a speculation or a rumor, but I guess now we're definitely going to see this game? I hope so :D I certainly want to give EQ2 a try when F2P is available but for a more dedicated look into the EQ world I'll probably be looking ahead to Everquest Next.

    And interesting petition. I'm currently only a permanent resident of the US so not a citizen so I guess I can't sign, but do you know how this petition came about? Just wondering if it has anything to do with what's happening in California, where last I heard some lawmaker wants to take a harder look into the inappropriate content in video games?

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  2. I've been hearing rumors for awhile about it but I've been waiting to SOE to go out there and really give us some real info! In the Evercracked video they did refer to it so I knew it had to have some truth to it.

    I think I'll probably wait for EQnext to get back into any EQ games seriously as it sounds like it might have some real potential. I will definitely play the FTP version until then!

    I've also heard things here and there about this law being passed and really haven't seen much else but little bits and pieces on it.

    I saw the petition on EQplayers.com and EQ2players.com which are SOE sites so I was pretty surprised about it. I just thought it was something that should get out there!

    I think China is too hard on the games. We have other things that really are problems to be doing this with video games. I know some games like GTA are pretty extreme but I don't think MMO games are anywhere in that category. But that won't be taken into account, people like to just bunch all video games together as trash, addictive and horrible.

    I hear about people dying playing WoW for 50 hours straight. These people have problems to begin with. They were to unstable to know when to get up and get a drink or food or go to sleep.

    Since I started MMO games in 2000 I've seen MMO games take a lot of bad publicity about mentally unstable people doing bad things while playing these games. Look at the majority of people who don't. They are not ever mentioned just the extreme cases. But everyone likes drama and pointing of fingers.

    Anyhow if I see anything about it I'll pass it on!

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  3. Definitely, problem behaviors from video games are the exception, not the norm and I don't think censoring or banning them is the solution.

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