Attn: URGENT ANNOUNCEMENT - SERVERS ARE STILL DOWN

[Caly]

UGH I'm so sorry you have to deal with this. Thank you for letting all of us know so quickly. We will still be here when you get back up and running.

 

[CalmWind]

Well I'm glad to hear this wasn't a personal attack on the MO Dev team.... still very upset about the situation and I hope whoever did this gets caught. Take your time making sure everything is secure, we will be patient!!

 

[IrishElf]

Thank you for the information! It is so sad that this happened and I hope everything gets fixed quickly for you.

 

[Jelani]

Thank you for keeping us updated. Such a shame that you have to deal with this.

 

[Zyani]

not a very nice timing, just before the weekend.
I do understand it tho

 

[Mima]

How will I survive the next 2 - 4 days???? It will be long weekend

 

[Diet]

Just some of Diet's odd musings... (not necessarily reflective of Mad Otters official views).

There are two types of people in this world: Builders and Burners.

Builders like to create, support, and endorse new and interesting things in this world. They add to society and humanity, either through innovation, art and culture, relationships, and overall good will.

Burners on the other hand like to tear things down. They knock over the block tower of their neighbor simply to watch it fall down. They take away from society and humanity, by hurting people, ruining things, and largely leaving a wake of grief and sorrow in their path. Sometimes burners have selfish ambitions (greed, power, etc.), sometimes they don't. Who is to say what goes on in their minds. I probably won't ever understand their motivations, and quite frankly I don't want to.

It is easy in times like this to get frustrated, upset, and even downright angry at the burners of the world. But embracing these emotions doesn't do us any good, in fact it only does us harm as the anger eats away at ourselves, and possibly causes us to temporarily become burners through small interactions with others throughout our days.

And so I would encourage us all to not get angry and want revenge, but instead combat the burners in the best way possible: be builders. Take this time to build something new and wonderful in your life. Draw a picture, write a poem, take a friend out to coffee. Or, if you are missing your V&H time, think of some new events that you want to do with your friends when the servers come back online, plan out your next outfit, or jump on discord or the forums and ask your guildies how their days are going.

In this particular case, these server related issues are largely out of my realm of expertise since I am the game designer and content creator. Rest assured that I am at the beck and call of our programmers to help out in any way that I am able. But in the mean time, I'm going back to work, harder than ever. If my building pace needs to out step the burners pace, then so be it. As you all know we recently released a teaser of an upcoming expansion; there is work to be done, and so I'm going at it with a fervor like no other.

I for one am choosing to be a builder today. Anyone want to join me?

 

[IrishElf]

Wise words, thank you!

 

[Talemire]

Man, someone needs Jesus (the hacker). Absolutely agree with Diet - Two wrongs don't make a right. A good community keeps being a good community.

 

[Maxim TaB]

Keep in touch MOG! Hope you will figure out with this trouble in short time. P.S. Don't forget - we all r watching and following you... Sending you warm hugs and patience!

 

[Sinjin]

I know this sounds incredibly shallow in light of the legitimate concerns of the dev team (‘all hands on deck’ efforts to restore secure access to our adopted home) and the players (concerned about lost progress of a potential rollback and missing their V&H ‘fix’), but to be honest... and I’m not making light of anyone’s heartfelt angst/grief, but I’m just so selfishly relieved to not have to call the internet service provider because of a connectivity issue.

 

[Regecide]

Thank you guys for literally dedicating your lives to your players. You are legends and have made a difference in the world.

 

[Nadiria]

I just wanted to say how amazing it is that the MO team - including special shout outs to Ivar, Sarah, Tiberius and Diet - have taken the time to be so transparent with us. I truly appreciate it, and I know that there are many others who do too.

I have been in the exact situation that they are in right now - recovering from a data center hack, and I have personally experienced the stress and grief and anxiety that they are experiencing. It's horrifying, frustrating and maddening all at the same time (and those are the *nice* words I can use to describe it in a family-friendly forum).

Diet is *so* right - we must all be BUILDERS - especially during a crisis like this - and this is an opportunity for us to come together in a new and different way. We still have our Forums and Discord... and the game *will* return, and soon enough this episode will be nothing more than a bad memory in the rear-view mirror. But until then, for those of you who are missing gameplay, and are upset and frustrated, just remember that in the great and grand scheme of things... this is just a bump in the road, one that we will all soon be past. The Otters didn't plan on this, it's not about anything that they did, or didn't do. They are working hard to mitigate this damage, and bring the game back online; when the game is down, so is their revenue stream - the game literally can't make money for MOG while it is down. So before anyone else hollers about how their "weekend is ruined", they need to stop and think: The people you are griping to/about are (essentially) working unpaid to bring a game back online for you to play. It's your fun - but it's their livelihood, their paycheck. Find your perspective, and be a BUILDER.

And now, a note just for the MOG Team: Thank you again, Otters for working so hard on our behalf. Please forgive us if we get frustrated... V&H is unique in all the world, and so for many of us there really is no other game to go and play while we wait... And that's because of you, and all of your hard work. Thank you, again, for being so dedicated and committed to your game, and your community. You matter to us, and we really do appreciate you, even if sometimes we have a weird way of showing it! Stay safe, and warm and hydrated. Eat, and sleep and take care of yourselves first and foremost - because without you, there is no game. And no reason for all of us to be here.

(Edited to add Ivar's name to the list of shout-outs, because... Ivar! )

 

[IrishElf]

Awesome post Nadiria! On point and well said!

 

[BadgerReborn]

Nadiria, you just made my day. thanks

 

[Sarah Otter]

I'm going to second what Badger just said.

Nadiria, thank you for your thoughtful, beautifully written post, the words of which meant a great deal to us. Thank you.

 

[StullenAndy]

Nadiria
perfect statement

 

[Panthera]

Just some of Diet's odd musings... (not necessarily reflective of Mad Otters official views).

There are two types of people in this world: Builders and Burners.

Builders like to create, support, and endorse new and interesting things in this world. They add to society and humanity, either through innovation, art and culture, relationships, and overall good will.

Burners on the other hand like to tear things down. They knock over the block tower of their neighbor simply to watch it fall down. They take away from society and humanity, by hurting people, ruining things, and largely leaving a wake of grief and sorrow in their path. Sometimes burners have selfish ambitions (greed, power, etc.), sometimes they don't. Who is to say what goes on in their minds. I probably won't ever understand their motivations, and quite frankly I don't want to.

It is easy in times like this to get frustrated, upset, and even downright angry at the burners of the world. But embracing these emotions doesn't do us any good, in fact it only does us harm as the anger eats away at ourselves, and possibly causes us to temporarily become burners through small interactions with others throughout our days.

And so I would encourage us all to not get angry and want revenge, but instead combat the burners in the best way possible: be builders. Take this time to build something new and wonderful in your life. Draw a picture, write a poem, take a friend out to coffee. Or, if you are missing your V&H time, think of some new events that you want to do with your friends when the servers come back online, plan out your next outfit, or jump on discord or the forums and ask your guildies how their days are going.

In this particular case, these server related issues are largely out of my realm of expertise since I am the game designer and content creator. Rest assured that I am at the beck and call of our programmers to help out in any way that I am able. But in the mean time, I'm going back to work, harder than ever. If my building pace needs to out step the burners pace, then so be it. As you all know we recently released a teaser of an upcoming expansion; there is work to be done, and so I'm going at it with a fervor like no other.

I for one am choosing to be a builder today. Anyone want to join me?

Diet You are so awesome and so right

I just wanted to say how amazing it is that the MO team - including special shout outs to Sarah, Tiberius and Diet - have taken the time to be so transparent with us. I truly appreciate it, and I know that there are many others who do too.

I have been in the exact situation that they are in right now - recovering from a data center hack, and I have personally experienced the stress and grief and anxiety that they are experiencing. It's horrifying, frustrating and maddening all at the same time (and those are the *nice* words I can use to describe it in a family-friendly forum).

Diet is *so* right - we must all be BUILDERS - especially during a crisis like this - and this is an opportunity for us to come together in a new and different way. We still have our Forums and Discord... and the game *will* return, and soon enough this episode will be nothing more than a bad memory in the rear-view mirror. But until then, for those of you who are missing gameplay, and are upset and frustrated, just remember that in the great and grand scheme of things... this is just a bump in the road, one that we will all soon be past. The Otters didn't plan on this, it's not about anything that they did, or didn't do. They are working hard to mitigate this damage, and bring the game back online; when the game is down, so is their revenue stream - the game literally can't make money for MOG while it is down. So before anyone else hollers about how their "weekend is ruined", they need to stop and think: The people you are griping to/about are (essentially) working unpaid to bring a game back online for you to play. It's your fun - but it's their livelihood, their paycheck. Find your perspective, and be a BUILDER.

And now, a note just for the MOG Team: Thank you again, Otters for working so hard on our behalf. Please forgive us if we get frustrated... V&H is unique in all the world, and so for many of us there really is no other game to go and play while we wait... And that's because of you, and all of your hard work. Thank you, again, for being so dedicated and committed to your game, and your community. You matter to us, and we really do appreciate you, even if sometimes we have a weird way of showing it! Stay safe, and warm and hydrated. Eat, and sleep and take care of yourselves first and foremost - because without you, there is no game. And no reason for all of us to be here.

I would add Ivar to those shout outs All 4 have been going out of their way to keep us informed of what is going on.
Nadira you are very insightful.

In 2011 I, and several others who are now vital parts of this community went through another companies hacker breach and it took a whole lot longer than 4 days to get the breach fixed and the games back up, it took about 6 weeks . It is very hard on a company to have something like this happen, they not only lose the revenue of the down time but oft times a percentage of permenent revenue from players who decide NOT to come back when the games come up again, sometimes even long term players that if not for the break would never have left. I am grateful to the entire Mad Otter & Neonga Teams for all the hard work they put into our game

 

[Astro]

LMAO ??????

The holiday is aptly named "Family Day" guess I will get to know these people again.

 

[Nadiria]

Diet You are so awesome and so right


I would add Ivar to those shout outs All 4 have been going out of their way to keep us informed of what is going on.
Nadira you are very insightful.

In 2011 I, and several others who are now vital parts of this community went through another companies hacker breach and it took a whole lot longer than 4 days to get the breach fixed and the games back up, it took about 6 weeks . It is very hard on a company to have something like this happen, they not only lose the revenue of the down time but oft times a percentage of permenent revenue from players who decide NOT to come back when the games come up again, sometimes even long term players that if not for the break would never have left. I am grateful to the entire Mad Otter & Neonga Teams for all the hard work they put into our game

Yes! Ivar needs a shout out, and I'm going to fix that post right now!