DescentBB

Someone posted this info on PD: PXO's website has been down for the past few weeks. I was wondering if anyone knows who (if anyone) was/is responsible for maintaining that site and any steps that we might take to get in touch with them.

Volition runs (ran? hopefully it's not disappearing) PXO.

It really is just a matter of time until its gone all together. When it eventually does happen it shouldn't be too much of a surprise.

If we keep using PXO while the website is down, we won't get any new players and D3 might die. Don't you think it would be a good idea to leave PXO at this point?

sunch, you make no sense.

All I'm saying is that without the website, new players can't sign up for PXO accounts. If new players can't get to our games, D3 is gonna die. If we take our games away from PXO, new players will be able to play and maybe D3 could be saved?

Its going to die anyway. How many people are going to purchase d3 anyways? This game is ancient.

My brother want's it as well as a few of his friends. It ain't quite dead yet. It'll be some time before it's dead if there's anything I can do about it.

suncho, i see your point...but what about this?
Lets say we abandon pxo. Where are the new players going to find us? at best, a few stragglers might fluke upon some of us on gamespy (uggh) or kali. But the vast majority will see that "wow, this game is old its not even supported by the makers anymore" and toss it in the wastebasket.

Leaving pxo would kill d3 faster than if we didnt. There really isn't any reason we should leave that can outweigh this.

yeah, i don't think we really get any new players anyway. not enough to matter. the game is old, long live um, halo?

Jeez, I was afraid that no one else (besides DCrazy) would reply to this.

I'm planning on sending an e-mail to Volition's webmaster informing them of the problem. Do any of you have another suggestion of a person at Volition who would be better able to possibly solve it?

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Arial">quote:</font><HR><font face="Arial" size="3">Originally posted by kurupt:
yeah, i don't think we really get any new players anyway.</font><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

JFYI, Team NuB gets ~1-3 applications per week. Anyone tried to talk to Volition about the website yet ?

Or maybe we could propose a login-less system where entering nothing would let you into PXO.

1 to 3 a week? not bad. i didn't know. sweet.

I thought at some point we had a generic PXO login that anyone could use.

didnt testi create an open user account for pxo?

I'm sure some people must have extra logins.

The question is, if people cant initially log into chat to find out about the login, then...

Heh.

Contacting [V] is near useless, especially about PXO, because they were bought by THQ. Ever since that, the company has gone almost silent, including the shutdown of the VBB.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Arial">quote:</font><HR><font face="Arial" size="3">Originally posted by BAAL:
<b> suncho, i see your point...but what about this?
Lets say we abandon pxo. Where are the new players going to find us? at best, a few stragglers might fluke upon some of us on gamespy (uggh) or kali. But the vast majority will see that "wow, this game is old its not even supported by the makers anymore" and toss it in the wastebasket.
</b></font><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Since you can't get a login for PXO, stragglers are all we have. By staying at PXO, we're giving the finger to those stragglers and saying, "Screw you! Too bad you didn't buy this game when it first came out!" I dunno about you, but I care about stragglers, even if they are just stragglers. =)

Another thing to consider is that the only people who know about PXO are people who already own D3 in the first place. If there are people out there who might consider purchasing Descent 3, they won't. There's nobody there to tell them. We're all hiding on PXO.

If we play D3 out in the open away from PXO, people who bought the game but never signed up for PXO accounts will be able to play. People who don't own the game yet will find out about it.

If we stay in PXO, the influx of new Descent 3 players will stay low. There will be a few new players just by luck. But even they will not be able to play with us because they can't get PXO accounts.

damned if you do, damned if you dont

damn outrage/volition/parallax/interplay

<pre>
[Sp00nZi3] help please
[Suncho] hi
[Suncho] what you need help with?
[Sp00nZi3] i cant get in descent 3 multiplayer
[Suncho] you have to go through PXO
[Sp00nZi3] my browser wont load PXO....is there a lot to load?
</pre>

All we need is an update to the online menu via the 1.5 patch, like HEAT.Net - So new players can go to "somewhere" new. I'm guessing there's a few that could be included. And then we can move away from PXO.

yes, the fix is 1.5
1.5 needs to be autoupdateable
isnt the autoupdate site down?
if so, why doesnt someone just buy the domain and put the 1.5 patch on it?

That generic login was username:chat login:chat
But I dont see how that would help any.. Suncho has all the connections.. He should be able to get some kind of word from these clowns..


Lemmie think about if we all just leave pxo now?

Ok.. People get the game. Try to get into games... Doh.. No place to play.. Nobody to play against.. No games being played..
well forget it .. I'll just delete this POS unsupported game..

With all the old players quitting and playing gay a$$ Ground pounder games. To keep this game alive we need new player. Which as Grendel put it are still coming.. How are these new players going to find us if we all leave PXO? I really doubt anyone will track us down unless they really do some looking.

The simple fact is PXO may suck and may be unstable. But its the only way we are gonna be able to keep players coming in replacing the old ones leaving. Someone needs to find some way to make contact and find where the hell that PXO server is and talk to the people running it. Find out how much bandwidth it take and perhaps talk the main company into letting someone in the community take over the ownership.. Obviously they don't give a **** about it. So it would come pretty damn cheap.. Hell I would do all that if I knew where to start. Hell,I may not play much. But I do enjoy it when I do play

box

the most feasible solution would to be

1. buy the domain name for the autoupdate
2. get kevin to finish 1.5
3. post 1.5 on the newly bought website and have it be autoupdateable
4. when new users come, they update to 1.5
5. in the 1.5 patch, we will remove heat, pxo, and add the other options (ie: gamespy, descent.cx, etc)
6. the nooblers join games that way

we kill a few birds with one stone
1. we realeased the 1.5 patch which should cut down on cheaters
2. we have a new gamming service, which would bring d3 out of the shadows of pxo
3. we have aquired another domain name for futher development

how much does a domian name cost, 10 bucks a year? I'd think it would be worth it, even if Kevin didnt finish 1.5 we could still release it, screw the 2 mac players
The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few

And who's going to get sore about a 1.5 release anyway, I'm pretty sure most of the people here already have the patch thanks to a few siggies

Nobody's locked me up.... yet

My opinion is this.

The PXO site has been down for several weeks at this point. Clearly, if they intended to bring it back up, they would have done so a long time ago. Historically, even when PXO has gone down, it was rarely down for more than a couple days. This is why I'd just as well assume it's not coming back.

If PXO remains down, the simple fact is that it is impossible for new players to join in. Then, the debate is futile. There's no point in sticking with PXO and it's going to choke us if we do. So, I am with Suncho on this one, so much as I care.

We have a gated community with a gated forum, and a gated multiplayer service. For gawd sake we only number in the dozens, wake up and smell the coffee and realize that all of this "exclusitivity" is pointless.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Arial">quote:</font><HR><font face="Arial" size="3">Originally posted by LunchBox:
Suncho has all the connections.. He should be able to get some kind of word from these clowns..</font><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

First of all, they're not clowns. They're just really busy. I emailed Matt T about it. No response yet. Usually when I talk to him about stuff, he says, "I'll think about it" and never gets back to me.

Besides, don't you think if I really did have any useful connections, PXO would already be shut down completely?

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Arial">quote:</font><HR><font face="Arial" size="3">Originally posted by LunchBox:
<b> Ok.. People get the game. Try to get into games... Doh.. No place to play.. Nobody to play against.. No games being played..
well forget it .. I'll just delete this POS unsupported game.. </b></font><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Box, there's one serious flaw in your logic. You're assuming that large numbers of people who don't already own Descent 3 are finding out about it and buying it. They can't get to the multiplayer in the first place unless they already own the game. And with the PXO website being down, those people can't even play either.


<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Arial">quote:</font><HR><font face="Arial" size="3">Originally posted by LunchBox:
With all the old players quitting and playing gay a$$ Ground pounder games. To keep this game alive we need new player. Which as Grendel put it are still coming.. How are these new players going to find us if we all leave PXO? I really doubt anyone will track us down unless they really do some looking.</font><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

How are these new players going to find us *UNLESS* we leave PXO? Tracking down a username and login for PXO is far more tedious than just going onto GameSpy, Kali, All Seeing Eye, or SMPM. Right now nobody can find us at all. If we leave PXO, people will be able to find use before they buy the game and then that might motivate them to go out and order it.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Arial">quote:</font><HR><font face="Arial" size="3">Originally posted by LunchBox:
The simple fact is PXO may suck and may be unstable. But its the only way we are gonna be able to keep players coming in replacing the old ones leaving.</font><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

The simple fact is that's not true and it wouldn't be even if the PXO website were up. If the PXO website were up, it would be a way to get newbies but it wouldn't be the only way. It also wouldn't be the best way.


<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Arial">quote:</font><HR><font face="Arial" size="3">Originally posted by LunchBox:
Someone needs to find some way to make contact and find where the hell that PXO server is and talk to the people running it.</font><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I'll let you know what they say. But bringing the PXO website back online does not solve the problem that PXO prevents most newbies from getting into the game in the first place. With the website down, it's just worse is all.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Arial">quote:</font><HR><font face="Arial" size="3">Originally posted by PJB:
All we need is an update to the online menu via the 1.5 patch</font><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

There is no 1.5. Get over it. We can take the matter into our own hands and stop relying on PXO/Outrage/Volition. All it takes is moving the servers off of PXO.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Arial">quote:</font><HR><font face="Arial" size="3">Originally posted by BAAL:
<b> suncho, i see your point...but what about this?
Lets say we abandon pxo. Where are the new players going to find us? at best, a few stragglers might fluke upon some of us on gamespy (uggh) or kali. But the vast majority will see that "wow, this game is old its not even supported by the makers anymore" and toss it in the wastebasket.

Leaving pxo would kill d3 faster than if we didnt. There really isn't any reason we should leave that can outweigh this.


</b></font><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
What he Said !! Der!!

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Arial">quote:</font><HR><font face="Arial" size="3">Originally posted by PantyRaider:
<b> What he Said !! Der!!
</b></font><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Where are the new players going to find us if we stay on PXO?

What is the actual url for autoupdate? Who currently owns it?

Thanks.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Arial">quote:</font><HR><font face="Arial" size="3">Originally sent by Mark Muller on Sun, 1 Feb 2004 15:07:05 -0600:
<b> Hello everyone.

Grendel informed me yesterday that the website was down, so I'm in here on Sunday checking things out. Sadly, it appears that the machine hosting pxo.net is completely fried. It's making really cool crackling noises, that I imagine is something arcing inside the machine. I havn't popped it open yet since I don't know exactly what I could do if I found the problem.

Since D3/FS1/2 are Interplay games, and we're owned by THQ I can't just go out and purchase new equipment, and I doubt Interplay is going to foot the bill either since they can't foot the bill for much of anything these days.

I've sent an email to the IT dept. over at THQ about getting at least the Summoner 1 servers housed over there. We'll see what they say about PXO. I don't know the legal details about what they're required to support after the buyout etc, it's all rather sticky and no fun to deal with.

What I will say is this, if THQ can't/won't host PXO, and won't allow us to make a purchase to bring it back online, we'll figure out some way to make it a community supported venture. Unfortunately with Outrage closed now, it becomes even more difficult to decide who has the authority to do this sort
of thing. But I'll do my best to make it happen for you guys. I appologize for the instability in the system, and realize how frustrating it must be. I've been on both ends of situations like this, and trust me I like it no better on this end.

-Mark Muller
-Network Admin
-Volition, Inc.
</b></font><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Thanks a lot for looking into it, Mark !!

Looks like the community has a chance, how about it ?

Well, that's something, at least. It's nice to know that someone still cares about us and is willing to try to support our community.

Hooray for Mark Muller who still cares!

I think the idea of a community-supported venture is best in the long run, though, but I'm not entirely certain how you would make it work. I'd envision a handful of designated servers maintaining an ongoing server list of some type and the chat becoming generic IRC on that server network. We could scrap the login system entirely, or it could be outsourced to some third-party (oldskool Case's Ladder style, or even whatever Unreal Tournament 2003 does)

Suncho's idea of "getting rid of PXO" is not entirely feasible because the issue would remain of how to get newbies into whatever other method is provided while the link to PXO exists in the game. Since this being addressed in some future patch is extremely unlikely, a happy median would probably be converting PXO control to the community. That way, newbies can still click on PXO to join the game, but there is no longer a single point of failure on the administration end. Best of both worlds.

This is most encouraging news. Thank you Mark Muller!

I was going to say... I see no problem abandoning the PXO game tracker, so long as there's some activity in the PXO chat. The AutoUpdate service has been down for some time now, yes? Even when it worked, how often did newcomers update before looking for games on PXO? Not very often, I should think, as evidenced by the number of times someone came to PXO chat asking "why aren't there any games?". So from the newbies point of view, they still go to PXO and see no games just like before, only now instead of "get the 1.4 patch", the answer they get in chat is "go to d3.descent.cx". What's wrong with that?

However, if Mark Muller is willing to help us... perhaps there's an even better solution. Ideally, I'd like to see the game tracking and chat services stay up, but remove the login requirement. Thus allowing servers to be viewable and joinable from PXO and Gamespy and Kali and descent.cx and smpm, etc etc etc. That I should think, would be a very good thing.

I ddint mean for it to come out like it did Alex.. The clowns statement.. I am understanding your point more and more since I have had more time to think about it.. The problem I dont like is the multiplayer is built into the game. More often than not people are finding us that way. But since the pxo is down and you cant get any logins that it out now.. So I am down to hear other good options.. I mean what about Kali.. Alot of us have and still use it. .Whats wrong with it? I know it isn't free. But tons and tons of d2 folks mananged to find Kali..

More ideas?

Box

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Arial">quote:</font><HR><font face="Arial" size="3">Originally posted by Solrazor:
Suncho's idea of "getting rid of PXO" is not entirely feasible because the issue would remain of how to get newbies into whatever other method is provided while the link to PXO exists in the game.</font><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

You're assuming that these newbies already have the game installed and therefore have access to the multiplayer menu.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Arial">quote:</font><HR><font face="Arial" size="3">Originally posted by LunchBox:
The problem I dont like is the multiplayer is built into the game. More often than not people are finding us that way.</font><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Again, these are only people who already have the game installed and therefore have access to the multiplayer menu. If we were playing on Direct TCP/IP games, people would find us tons of places even if they've never heard of D3 or never bought it or never figured out how to get into PXO.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Arial">quote:</font><HR><font face="Arial" size="3">Originally posted by LunchBox:
So I am down to hear other good options.. I mean what about Kali.. Alot of us have and still use it. .Whats wrong with it? I know it isn't free. But tons and tons of d2 folks mananged to find Kali..</font><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Basically if we choose Kali, we're also choosing everything else at the same time. If we make our games accessible through Kali, that also makes them accessible through GameSpy, ASE, SMPM, and Descent.cx. There's no need to choose Kali instead of something else or pick one service over another. We choose to not be on PXO and we have everything else automatically. =)

There are only 2 options here:
1. Abandon PXO.
2. Come up with some way of keeping PXO.

Somehow mayby get PXO turned over to the community. What can be done about that?

I would like to point out that we could utilize PlanetDescent in this department.

Most games have a "Planet........" It's kind of a default thing and is easly found by search engines. Have a button added to PD for game server choices.

Any thoughts??

Abandon pxo these are words I thought would never be heard.