MrThorbizzle
12-29-2003, 06:45 PM
Well I found this other gem in a DR yahoo group. More of the same from Simu, but quite entertaining.
---
From: "Peter Souza IV" <psouza4@yahoo.com>
Date: Sat Jan 26, 2002 1:08 am
Subject: (VERY LONG) drConnect history, status, future, etc.
My history, drConnect's history, et al.:
I created the drConnect project back in August '99. At the time, I was a subscriber to DragonRealms Platinum and had a trader that I was testing out. After some experimentation, I eventually started the basis of a client that I initially wanted to keep statistical information of my contracts and such with. From there, it led into a scripting client so that I could run my trading scripts there... which led into a program that my friends who tested it thought would be a good idea to distribute and continue building. Never listen to idiot friends.
As soon as I did, in December of 1999, Simutronics banned all my accounts. Why? After several e-mail attempts, one that was finally answered on February 12th, 2000, said:
"Your accounts have been suspended for suspected involvement in a password phishing scam. Several of our customer have had their accounts accessed by unauthorized persons. The only common thread we've found is that they all visited your website on AOL. Your accounts will remain closed until we finish our investigation. Due to the number of accounts involved, it's like to take some time.
Sincerely,
GM Reniko
Simutronics Feedback".
For the record, the only website I had with AOL was for WizardPro, which didn't have any password handling (or communication handling, for that matter). Was written back in Visual Basic 4.0 and had a few cheap-o features like a coin converter, titles listing, herbs listing, and a vault-tracker. Anyway, I assume they meant drConnect and started asking around if anyone was hacked. Not a single person would step forward and say that they were. To this date, the 300 or so registrants of drConnect (and any trial user, that I can tell) have never reported a single account problem.
A month later, on March 13th, 2000, I wrote back with a very to-the-point e-mail threatening legal action if they did not respond. I had still not received any information about their so-called investigation or anything. I prompty received a "We are unable to welcome you back as a customer and wish you well in finding an alternate gaming environment." e-mail.
Anyway, I argued, threatened, pleaded, and bargained for my accounts back over the next two years and to this date, though it's a moot point. In early 2001, Eric Latham (Eric Solomon, DragonRealms top manager guy basically) and I engaged in a month-long exchange of e-mails and a few phone converversations and reached an agreement that would transfer control of drConnect (source code, etc.), prevent website activity, release technical information, etc. In fact, if you're really interested, the entire list was:
(1) Details on a possible bug exploitation which allows users to log into character slots without paying for them (100% reproducable).
(2) The complete halt of all development and distribution (public and private) regarding drConnect in any form by any name.
(3) The complete halt of all development and distribution (public and private) regarding MSN Zone Remover in any form by any name.
(4) The promise that future applications will not be developed by myself that damages Simutronics' ability to generate revenue or, in any way, directly violates the Simutronics Terms of Service contract or Player Agreement Policy for any Simutronics service.
(5) The promise to not release any known technical information on DragonRealms, Simutronics, or any of its affiliates to anyone by any means. This ensures that any previous applications I have developed will not continue in development by other people.
(6) The offer to release all technical source code for drConnect to Simutronics corporation upon request.
(7) The complete shutdown of the internet website www.dr-Connect.com.
(8) My agreement to remove any and all membership to communities that are intentionally designed to discuss information and methods on how to cheat Simutronics and/or violate the Simutronics Terms of Service contract or Player Agreement Policy for any Simutronics service.
(9) Detailed information on how to stop current drConnect users from connecting to any Simutronics service as well as detailed information explaining how further front ends and scripting utilities could be written based on information that is publically available. This will aide Simutronics in stopping third-party vendors from connecting to Simutronics services.
As a representative of Simutronics corporation, Eric agreed (and mostly composed the list of terms) to the terms and I fulfilled each and every one of them. Their only term was to accept me back as a customer, which Eric agreed to, but only on a term of 12 months later. I asked them if there was more information I could supply to show good faith or *something* I could do to lessen that time, but received no response. In fact, after delivering my end of the bargain, Eric refused to answer any e-mails or voice mail messages left with him, except at one point where he made it very clear never to call him again (it was, he said, inappropriate). I e-mailed him again instead, asking for status to my requests and the information I sent him. No response. Over the next month and a half, still not a single response to any e-mails.
Shafted by Simutronics, I started up drConnect again, waiting for their verdict. I developed it for the next 6-7 months and up until December of 2000. A month prior, another DragonRealms player and I began a romantic involvement in which she began living with me. Not more than a few months later, an issue came up on the DragonRealms message boards that had to do with drConnect and she posted a reply to the effect of it being a nice program that offers a few more options than The Wizard. Her account was immediately locked out. Her response was that she was not welcome back and that if she had questions, she should contact Peter Souza. Not very professional, eh? She asked a few more times what the deal was, but only received one more response saying that Simutronics will not release any information without a court order.
Starting to catch on to what kind of business ethics we're talking about here? Anyway, this dampened my mood quite a bit more and we both became very sour. I got side tracked with Visual C# (dotNet stuff) and toyed with a new platform for drConnect (as shown by "version 3.00 is coming!" on the website). C# is still in beta by Microsoft, from what I understand, and so development quickly died. March of 2001, I began working on Eaxia (my own MUD gaming system, based loosely on Dungeons & Dragons 3rd edition mechanics) and became so involved that in early August I quit my real-life job and have been doing Eaxia ever since.
Under financial burden, I sold the all-but-sluggish drConnect project to Daniel Skillin in early October, 2001, who didn't want to see the project die out and was interested in disecting the code for an educational experience. I won't discuss the sale amount, but needless to say, it helped to fund Eaxia during it's early, developmental stages.
As a test, I recently (on January 16th, 2002) created a DragonRealms account using my own credit card and information (nothing fraudulant). Their system allowed me to create an account and I played it for a day, before Simutronics terminated the account. Their response (from GameMaster Daecir) was: "As has been previously explained to you, you are not welcome in Simutronics' products.". Now... technically, I don't have any official correspondence saying that I'm not welcome in their products. It's blatantly clear, but legally electronic transcription (e-mail) isn't official. But whatever, if they want to hold that kind of attitude, that's their right. I asked that they discontinue connecting to my gaming service (which they have been frequently up till that point). If I'm not welcome there, they're sure not welcome here. A few days later, a notice about "DragonRealms: The Fallen" circulated to me and welcomed players who were currently locked out. I figured it couldn't hurt to ask if I'd be welcome in that product, so I did. I received this response (also from GameMaster Daecir): "No. You are not welcome as a customer in any present or future Simutronics product."
Loose ends:
drConnect: drConnect is owned by Daniel Skillin now. Now Dan's been a good friend of mine for nearly a year and a half, but he's not often online. In fact, with his ISP being home.com and their recent problems (to put it nicely), I'm not even sure if he'll be around in the future, let alone near future. I haven't seen him on in about 3 months, since just after he purchased the project from me, even though he's been sent several e-mails. In fact, this may be the longest it's been since I've heard from him, so I hope all is well. In the meanwhile, the project is basically dead, though I have been considering to personally continue development until he returns. It's his product, so any registration fees would be directed his way upon his return. I know there will be a greater interest for drConnect with "DragonRealms: The Fallen" making it's way into all you scripters. Write me at: psouza4@yahoo.com if you're interested.
Simutronics: I still feel very short-changed by this company and am in awe of what lengths they'll go to to belittle someone. Now they have me as a competitor, though I hardly consider myself one all things considered. Of the thousands of MUD games out there, I feel I provide one of the better ones, but it isn't (yet) on the level with them. One of the things I found out during this ordeal is that at one point I placed a bid on someone's character on a Yahoo! group, seeing if I could edge in the market of buying/selling characters for a profit... well this sort of died out and I didn't know why for about a year later. The player was locked out (permamently) for accepting my bid. Immediately and without appeal.
Sometime in early January, 2001, a few Simutronics GameMaster accounts were hacked into, giving the hacker access to game, website, and other systems. I don't claim responsibility for this and I'm not going to say who is (so don't ask). Some sensitive material was passed to my hands at that time and I used it to bargain with Eric Latham for my account. In fact, he probably wouldn't have even responded to my e-mails if I wasn't in posession of that material. Of it, his phone number and office extension were listed, which is how I came to his attention. This material has since been destroyed, so don't ask me for game questions on mechanics or anything else. I'll just ignore it. I only mention it now because it's an important part of the story. I did tell Eric Latham this, but he seemed disinterested (did not respond). Who knows.
Eaxia: the game is developing to become a dream come true. After almost a year of development, we went live with our gaming service. We've become a place for gamers to have fun role-playing and enjoying a new environment. We've mixed a good interface system (not unlike DragonRealms, actually) with familiar gaming concepts (Dungeons & Dragons) and built it on a codebase that's home-grown (about 3% is CircleMUD 3.0, which is being weeded out still). I invite you to come check it out sometime. www.eaxia.com We are, however, moving soon, so we will be offline for the rest of January, returning sometime on or after January 29th, 2002.
This has probably been the longest e-mail I've ever written and I'm sure I left out some critical points.
One tip I can give to you about dealing with lockouts with Simutronics corporation: any time you threaten legal action (or even hint at it), something clicks over in their side of the world and you suddenly become enemy of the state #1. If you want any hope of ever seeing your account again, kiss their ass. I mean it. Be nice. Admit to whatever false claims they lay on you. Promise them you'll agree to their policy. Never, ever threaten them. That's how you deal with Simutronics. They have changed their policy so many times now, you'd be shocked what it has to say. For instance, they can lock you out and keep charging you unless you cancel. Then, if you DID cancel and decide to come back, they can charge you a "reinstatement fee". Woah! When did that happen? Anyway, I've threatened Simutronics with legal action so many times they must think I'm joking. In reality, I'd probably win a settlement (their changes in contract doesn't apply to an expired contract, so it doesn't affect me, thankfully) and even a grievance at this point, but then I'd never be a Simutronics customer again. Course right now, I doubt there's much hope anyway. Some people tend to think that I shouldn't want to play their service because I run my own. I doubt very much that anyone who runs their own entertainment service (whether gaming or otherwise) will suddenly lose interest in everything else. Think Drew Carey doesn't watch other sitcoms and laugh now and then? I'm sure Blizzard employees play competitor games too. DragonRealms is fun (sort of... these days, some people can be real snerts and let's be honest -- the place is REALLY overcrowded especially in Crossing) and I have a lot of friends there. I still want to be able to hang out with them and enjoy the game, but we don't all get what we want.
Well jeeze.. I started writing this e-mail over an hour ago. Guess it's time to send it.
Hope no one things I'm writing a pity story. Yes, I'm upset over this and feel very strongly on the subject, but I think it's about time everyone knew the details. All the details. And hell, if you didn't want to read it, you didn't have to. :)
Night everyone,
Peter Souza IV, owner
Zinious Software
www.zinious.com
GameDirector Exxy
Eaxia online gaming service
www.eaxia.com
---
From: "Peter Souza IV" <psouza4@yahoo.com>
Date: Sat Jan 26, 2002 1:08 am
Subject: (VERY LONG) drConnect history, status, future, etc.
My history, drConnect's history, et al.:
I created the drConnect project back in August '99. At the time, I was a subscriber to DragonRealms Platinum and had a trader that I was testing out. After some experimentation, I eventually started the basis of a client that I initially wanted to keep statistical information of my contracts and such with. From there, it led into a scripting client so that I could run my trading scripts there... which led into a program that my friends who tested it thought would be a good idea to distribute and continue building. Never listen to idiot friends.
As soon as I did, in December of 1999, Simutronics banned all my accounts. Why? After several e-mail attempts, one that was finally answered on February 12th, 2000, said:
"Your accounts have been suspended for suspected involvement in a password phishing scam. Several of our customer have had their accounts accessed by unauthorized persons. The only common thread we've found is that they all visited your website on AOL. Your accounts will remain closed until we finish our investigation. Due to the number of accounts involved, it's like to take some time.
Sincerely,
GM Reniko
Simutronics Feedback".
For the record, the only website I had with AOL was for WizardPro, which didn't have any password handling (or communication handling, for that matter). Was written back in Visual Basic 4.0 and had a few cheap-o features like a coin converter, titles listing, herbs listing, and a vault-tracker. Anyway, I assume they meant drConnect and started asking around if anyone was hacked. Not a single person would step forward and say that they were. To this date, the 300 or so registrants of drConnect (and any trial user, that I can tell) have never reported a single account problem.
A month later, on March 13th, 2000, I wrote back with a very to-the-point e-mail threatening legal action if they did not respond. I had still not received any information about their so-called investigation or anything. I prompty received a "We are unable to welcome you back as a customer and wish you well in finding an alternate gaming environment." e-mail.
Anyway, I argued, threatened, pleaded, and bargained for my accounts back over the next two years and to this date, though it's a moot point. In early 2001, Eric Latham (Eric Solomon, DragonRealms top manager guy basically) and I engaged in a month-long exchange of e-mails and a few phone converversations and reached an agreement that would transfer control of drConnect (source code, etc.), prevent website activity, release technical information, etc. In fact, if you're really interested, the entire list was:
(1) Details on a possible bug exploitation which allows users to log into character slots without paying for them (100% reproducable).
(2) The complete halt of all development and distribution (public and private) regarding drConnect in any form by any name.
(3) The complete halt of all development and distribution (public and private) regarding MSN Zone Remover in any form by any name.
(4) The promise that future applications will not be developed by myself that damages Simutronics' ability to generate revenue or, in any way, directly violates the Simutronics Terms of Service contract or Player Agreement Policy for any Simutronics service.
(5) The promise to not release any known technical information on DragonRealms, Simutronics, or any of its affiliates to anyone by any means. This ensures that any previous applications I have developed will not continue in development by other people.
(6) The offer to release all technical source code for drConnect to Simutronics corporation upon request.
(7) The complete shutdown of the internet website www.dr-Connect.com.
(8) My agreement to remove any and all membership to communities that are intentionally designed to discuss information and methods on how to cheat Simutronics and/or violate the Simutronics Terms of Service contract or Player Agreement Policy for any Simutronics service.
(9) Detailed information on how to stop current drConnect users from connecting to any Simutronics service as well as detailed information explaining how further front ends and scripting utilities could be written based on information that is publically available. This will aide Simutronics in stopping third-party vendors from connecting to Simutronics services.
As a representative of Simutronics corporation, Eric agreed (and mostly composed the list of terms) to the terms and I fulfilled each and every one of them. Their only term was to accept me back as a customer, which Eric agreed to, but only on a term of 12 months later. I asked them if there was more information I could supply to show good faith or *something* I could do to lessen that time, but received no response. In fact, after delivering my end of the bargain, Eric refused to answer any e-mails or voice mail messages left with him, except at one point where he made it very clear never to call him again (it was, he said, inappropriate). I e-mailed him again instead, asking for status to my requests and the information I sent him. No response. Over the next month and a half, still not a single response to any e-mails.
Shafted by Simutronics, I started up drConnect again, waiting for their verdict. I developed it for the next 6-7 months and up until December of 2000. A month prior, another DragonRealms player and I began a romantic involvement in which she began living with me. Not more than a few months later, an issue came up on the DragonRealms message boards that had to do with drConnect and she posted a reply to the effect of it being a nice program that offers a few more options than The Wizard. Her account was immediately locked out. Her response was that she was not welcome back and that if she had questions, she should contact Peter Souza. Not very professional, eh? She asked a few more times what the deal was, but only received one more response saying that Simutronics will not release any information without a court order.
Starting to catch on to what kind of business ethics we're talking about here? Anyway, this dampened my mood quite a bit more and we both became very sour. I got side tracked with Visual C# (dotNet stuff) and toyed with a new platform for drConnect (as shown by "version 3.00 is coming!" on the website). C# is still in beta by Microsoft, from what I understand, and so development quickly died. March of 2001, I began working on Eaxia (my own MUD gaming system, based loosely on Dungeons & Dragons 3rd edition mechanics) and became so involved that in early August I quit my real-life job and have been doing Eaxia ever since.
Under financial burden, I sold the all-but-sluggish drConnect project to Daniel Skillin in early October, 2001, who didn't want to see the project die out and was interested in disecting the code for an educational experience. I won't discuss the sale amount, but needless to say, it helped to fund Eaxia during it's early, developmental stages.
As a test, I recently (on January 16th, 2002) created a DragonRealms account using my own credit card and information (nothing fraudulant). Their system allowed me to create an account and I played it for a day, before Simutronics terminated the account. Their response (from GameMaster Daecir) was: "As has been previously explained to you, you are not welcome in Simutronics' products.". Now... technically, I don't have any official correspondence saying that I'm not welcome in their products. It's blatantly clear, but legally electronic transcription (e-mail) isn't official. But whatever, if they want to hold that kind of attitude, that's their right. I asked that they discontinue connecting to my gaming service (which they have been frequently up till that point). If I'm not welcome there, they're sure not welcome here. A few days later, a notice about "DragonRealms: The Fallen" circulated to me and welcomed players who were currently locked out. I figured it couldn't hurt to ask if I'd be welcome in that product, so I did. I received this response (also from GameMaster Daecir): "No. You are not welcome as a customer in any present or future Simutronics product."
Loose ends:
drConnect: drConnect is owned by Daniel Skillin now. Now Dan's been a good friend of mine for nearly a year and a half, but he's not often online. In fact, with his ISP being home.com and their recent problems (to put it nicely), I'm not even sure if he'll be around in the future, let alone near future. I haven't seen him on in about 3 months, since just after he purchased the project from me, even though he's been sent several e-mails. In fact, this may be the longest it's been since I've heard from him, so I hope all is well. In the meanwhile, the project is basically dead, though I have been considering to personally continue development until he returns. It's his product, so any registration fees would be directed his way upon his return. I know there will be a greater interest for drConnect with "DragonRealms: The Fallen" making it's way into all you scripters. Write me at: psouza4@yahoo.com if you're interested.
Simutronics: I still feel very short-changed by this company and am in awe of what lengths they'll go to to belittle someone. Now they have me as a competitor, though I hardly consider myself one all things considered. Of the thousands of MUD games out there, I feel I provide one of the better ones, but it isn't (yet) on the level with them. One of the things I found out during this ordeal is that at one point I placed a bid on someone's character on a Yahoo! group, seeing if I could edge in the market of buying/selling characters for a profit... well this sort of died out and I didn't know why for about a year later. The player was locked out (permamently) for accepting my bid. Immediately and without appeal.
Sometime in early January, 2001, a few Simutronics GameMaster accounts were hacked into, giving the hacker access to game, website, and other systems. I don't claim responsibility for this and I'm not going to say who is (so don't ask). Some sensitive material was passed to my hands at that time and I used it to bargain with Eric Latham for my account. In fact, he probably wouldn't have even responded to my e-mails if I wasn't in posession of that material. Of it, his phone number and office extension were listed, which is how I came to his attention. This material has since been destroyed, so don't ask me for game questions on mechanics or anything else. I'll just ignore it. I only mention it now because it's an important part of the story. I did tell Eric Latham this, but he seemed disinterested (did not respond). Who knows.
Eaxia: the game is developing to become a dream come true. After almost a year of development, we went live with our gaming service. We've become a place for gamers to have fun role-playing and enjoying a new environment. We've mixed a good interface system (not unlike DragonRealms, actually) with familiar gaming concepts (Dungeons & Dragons) and built it on a codebase that's home-grown (about 3% is CircleMUD 3.0, which is being weeded out still). I invite you to come check it out sometime. www.eaxia.com We are, however, moving soon, so we will be offline for the rest of January, returning sometime on or after January 29th, 2002.
This has probably been the longest e-mail I've ever written and I'm sure I left out some critical points.
One tip I can give to you about dealing with lockouts with Simutronics corporation: any time you threaten legal action (or even hint at it), something clicks over in their side of the world and you suddenly become enemy of the state #1. If you want any hope of ever seeing your account again, kiss their ass. I mean it. Be nice. Admit to whatever false claims they lay on you. Promise them you'll agree to their policy. Never, ever threaten them. That's how you deal with Simutronics. They have changed their policy so many times now, you'd be shocked what it has to say. For instance, they can lock you out and keep charging you unless you cancel. Then, if you DID cancel and decide to come back, they can charge you a "reinstatement fee". Woah! When did that happen? Anyway, I've threatened Simutronics with legal action so many times they must think I'm joking. In reality, I'd probably win a settlement (their changes in contract doesn't apply to an expired contract, so it doesn't affect me, thankfully) and even a grievance at this point, but then I'd never be a Simutronics customer again. Course right now, I doubt there's much hope anyway. Some people tend to think that I shouldn't want to play their service because I run my own. I doubt very much that anyone who runs their own entertainment service (whether gaming or otherwise) will suddenly lose interest in everything else. Think Drew Carey doesn't watch other sitcoms and laugh now and then? I'm sure Blizzard employees play competitor games too. DragonRealms is fun (sort of... these days, some people can be real snerts and let's be honest -- the place is REALLY overcrowded especially in Crossing) and I have a lot of friends there. I still want to be able to hang out with them and enjoy the game, but we don't all get what we want.
Well jeeze.. I started writing this e-mail over an hour ago. Guess it's time to send it.
Hope no one things I'm writing a pity story. Yes, I'm upset over this and feel very strongly on the subject, but I think it's about time everyone knew the details. All the details. And hell, if you didn't want to read it, you didn't have to. :)
Night everyone,
Peter Souza IV, owner
Zinious Software
www.zinious.com
GameDirector Exxy
Eaxia online gaming service
www.eaxia.com