As a related aside, I'd like some feedback on possible Events to coincide with our first major newsletter. Post ideas in this thread:

http://www.vendetta-online.com/x/msgboard/3/18870#235262

I love newsposts.

Oh, and yes, trial account users will probably be removed from existing guilds, once this whole "no trials may join guilds" thing goes through. This could push certain guilds under the minimum membership limits and result in their being automatically disbanded. So, now would be a good time to double check that your guild is populated by real people, and not pretend people.

Note, this does not apply to actual subscribers whose accounts have lapsed and are no longer subscribed, they will still retain their guild affiliations (although, they can't really participate, of course). This only applies to trial accounts who have never subscribed.

[generic approval message]

So, when are we going to find out what this secret project is? It was a couple of weeks a month ago, and it's still a couple of weeks...

Hah. Like the terms "real" and "pretend" people have any real meaning in a game where we are all "pretend" people. I like it.

Also, with the trial accounts that never subscribed, will they actually be deleted at some point? Because I think that would be a good idea, if a new trial account doesn't subscribe in a month it is deleted (after a polite warning email) with all its character names, to free them up for paying players. Maybe that would free up Xenu for whoever wanted it.

Thanks for the update Inc!

Two questions...of course :)

1) I've made a number of accounts (mostly just to have a cool account name for RP sake) on one email address. Will these be affected by the change to one account per email?

2) You mention that the secret project involves outside tech...does this mean outside tech for you guys or that we would need outside tech to fully (or at all?) experience the change? (I'm just thinking of a while ago when you guys added a feature so that that one gaming keyboard with all the macros and the mini text screen would be more functional with VO)

The secret-squirrel features are not for any proprietary equipment/accessories. Yes, I said "a couple of weeks" a month ago, but, well, this isn't just us. There's more going on. I hope things move along swiftly from here, all I can say for sure right now is "so far so good". I can't say for certain when it will be revealed, it could within two weeks, could be longer. But, like all development, Stuff Happens and unforeseen problems crop up.

I'm not sure what we'll do about retroactive accounts, smittens. We did run across your variety of trial accounts, while we were making the newsletter stuff ;). For the moment, we're mostly focusing on new accounts. We may do some sort of "extraneous trial" purge at some point, but probably not for awhile yet.

Is it VOICE CHAT!? It is, isn't it! I want VOICE CHAT!!!!!

Will this purge affect characters with expired subscriptions?

Shadoen: I was just theorizing about a purge, not announcing one. And no, if we did one, it would not impact previously subscribed accounts. We'll do a lot of notification before we start purging any of them.

If you're asking about the guild membership thing, no, that would also not impact people who had been previously subscribed. It will only impact never-subscribed trials in guilds.

Cpt. Charisma: duly noted :). We'll have to look into that, too, at some point. There are a lot of third-party solutions for the moment.

A purge of never subscribed accounts after a reasonable time delay seems reasonable to me .

I accept that it might affect some of the "fun Guilds" but if vo becomes more populated then they could be supported by alts of subscribers anyway .

A reliable source told me that the third party cooperation is an EA-GuildSoftware advertising campaign. EA will pay for running the servers and guild will put "unobtrusive" ads for EA titles into the game.

A new mission will be:
"There is a Crysis in Battlefield 2242. Take Command of your ship and Conquer it for us! If you succeed we will reward you with a Medal of Honor!"

The only reason I hope that that is not the case is because it would be quite rude of you to reveal something incarnate has explicitly stated he is not ready to reveal.

Heh.

and result in their being automatically disbanded

Sure it will. Right after Hell freezes over.

I'd be slightly disappointed with the Incarnate if advertisements ingame counted as a "feature". Actually, the more I think about it, the less likely it becomes. He says

"Some of our time is being absorbed by a very cool feature addition that we can't really talk about yet. Hopefully you'll all be able to see the results within a couple of weeks. I hate to be vague and secretive like that, but this involves another company and some outside technology."

Again, this is him saying it is a "feature addition", and that it would involve "Another company and some outside technology".

Unless they are somehow using outside technology to clone themselves...

@ Whisler; Are you saying;
1) you don't know either
2) you actually think that what spuck said could be true

?

wow ..I gotta be less subtle!

Heh. It was a bit convincing first read :D

;)