Account Transitions part two

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Warrior B'Patrick, Mar 17, 2018.

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  1. Warrior B'Patrick

    Warrior B'Patrick Avatar

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    Greetings @Chaox, @dallas, @Berek, @Serafina. I have included you all because you all have had at least a passing comment on the situation.
    @Serafna in QA and CS Specialist has emailed me saying she is waiting for a reply from support.

    @Berek has posted comments that explain why this is happening but does not seem to take into account for non-Russian speaking players re-directed to Russian only web sites or the fact that even though account details ad still housed on US servers the information is being shared with Black Sun which could be a violation of some countries rules or expose locations of people stationed overseas.
    https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/f...ck-sun-customer-migration.110422/#post-961235

    @dallas has posted that the intentions were for the international partners to be able to better support users in their region but one look at the Black Sun website that is only in Russian and does not have a third of the content of the US servers shows that that is not happening.
    https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/f...-and-website-really.111022/page-8#post-961260

    @Chaox posted that they are looking into it but the week has been very busy and to contact support@portalarium.com.
    The original post that started asking these questions was started on February 23rd and I sent an email to support on March 7th.

    My situation is I am a US citizen stationed in Azerbaijan for 4 years and at the end of my stay will return home to Athens, Georgia in the US. I do not speak or read Russian and their web site has not other language. There is also the question of my exposure because my IP is traceable as well as my personal information and credit card or banking information being stored on a Russian server. Also what happens when I return home? Is my information that is stored on foriegn servers get deleted and I start using the US servers again for login or do i get a message like @ChavaiotH received saying that access is denied?
    [​IMG]

    We all understand that life is very busy for you all right now and I think I can assure you that the loyal supporters of SOTA will understand the wait if it can not be address quickly. But please give us specific answers on what is being done. Some thing other that we are looking into it and contact a server that we don't want to be on in the first place. Communication is the key to support and an ally to stop fear of being ignored.
     
  2. TheBalance

    TheBalance Avatar

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    I agree with @Warrior B'Patrick on all accounts except one - this is not something that can wait to be addressed for two reasons.

    1 - The answers to these questions should already exist and have been made available to your customers the moment you announced this partnership.

    2 - Becoming (forcefully) affiliated with an entity in Russia while working for the US government can potentially lead to MANY problems for both our contractors and armed forces stationed abroad. You have directly jeopardized their livelihoods and careers by doing this. Is it likely to be taken that far? Probably not. Could it? Absolutely. Obtaining and maintaining clearance is no joke, especially at a high level.

    I'm not going to mince words here - this is an unforgivable mess and answers cannot wait until you get around to it. You are not too busy launching your video game to ensure the information you're sending abroad is being handled correctly and those, like @Warrior B'Patrick, will NOT become victims of your short sighted and reckless behavior in failing to account for cases like his.

    Your response of instructing him to contact them through a website he cannot read, in a language he cannot speak, is quite frankly disgraceful. He is not their customer, he's yours. You put him in this situation.

    Fix it.
     
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  3. Mykll

    Mykll Avatar

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    Answers should be given, and be given in a public open forum for all to see. Not answered behind the scenes in secret. Not threads locked, basically telling us to shut up and go away. Not to mention they won't answer whose data they shared to Black Sun, and other partners. Was it everyone's, and they just handle whoever gets redirected to them? The EULA, the Privacy Policy, does not address this, so saying to go read them is pointless as well.

    None of these issues should be handled in secret as fringe cases.
     
  4. Spinok

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    Even not with Black Sun, based on the customer agreement https://sota-game.com/polzovatelskoe-soglashenie, customer give approve to use and process your personal data even not to Black Sun (which probably have the agreement with Port) but to Black Sun daughter - Avatar LLC , who is the distributor of Black Sun, and who at the end give services to players, all laws protecting personal data which are noticed there - Russian.
    Third ??? Ten times less maybe hundred.
     
    Last edited: Mar 17, 2018
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  5. Kpopgurl

    Kpopgurl Avatar

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    Did anyone get a statement from Black Sun yet? As a EU citizen I am quite happy that Travian is so present here and it seems we keep access... Do you have any proof that you bought the game while being in the U.S. or on U.S. territory? @Warrior B'Patrick

    Did you buy it while being in the EU?

    I know the country your stationed in has neighboorhood relations with the EU, and if all fails I think EU customer law may apply. You have full rights to all information about you in the EU and you decide whats happening with it. Sending it to a third party without your consent *which you might have given inadvertenly* is a violation and is fined heavily here.

    I don't know how valuable your account is to you or how much you paid for it, but you might want to lawyer up if things dont settle to your satisfaction.
     
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  6. Warrior B'Patrick

    Warrior B'Patrick Avatar

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    Please keep the comments calm. This is a very critical issue for many of us but too harsh a comment or out right attack against port will only get this locked again and still not give us any answers. I am thinking this is just a hesitation to communicate because they have no firm answers yet. Give them time and hopefully they will see the benefit of frequent communication with its users.
     
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  7. Parson Barr

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    IRL I work for a large telecom company and deal with topics like this. It's called data sovereignty.

    I can definitely see the data ending up stored overseas simply because of your current location. But merely marking an account as US allows any foreign player to register an account in the US. Personally I don't have a problem with that, but the player's home country might. And legally it wouldn't necessarily protect their data.

    This can be solved from a technical standpoint, but I'll bet it came as a big surprise. These kinds of issues plague Fortune 5 companies all the time. They spend millions to stay compliant. Port will probably need some time to formulate a plan.
     
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  8. Warrior B'Patrick

    Warrior B'Patrick Avatar

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    Greetings @Kpopgurl, I was part of the kickstarter group and pledged in 2013. I was in the states then and for many years but since then I have traveled to the country of Georgia and to Azerbaijan. There was no problems until the first week in March when the Re-direct started based on the clients IP address. All my purchases have been thru paypal out of the US. And support knows me for several of my mistakes. But I am assuming that the agreement with Black Sun was for an area around them and regardless of the users wishes they were pointed to them. The US is a large country and a lot of people there do not understand the intricacies of dealing with many different countries and each one cultures, languages, and fears. When I was in Georgia it was amazing to me that a country a fourth the size of Georgia in the US was completely different from its neighbor Azerbaijan. Different language, religion, money, and culture. And they are not even at war with each other which other countries in this area are. In the end I believe port will work this out and we can all get back to enjoying the game.
     
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  9. Warrior B'Patrick

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    Greetings @Parson Barr, I to am a technical support for networking and hardware and my hope is that until I officially login to the BS servers they will not have my information. Hopefully Port has not migrated all data to partners and only does it when a customer logs into their server and issues a request. Also it doesn't help that I don't read Russian so I cant log in anyway without getting out the translator.
     
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  10. ChavaiotH

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    The problem is most likely that the black sun was not prepared for the transition. This is bad, especially before the game is released.
    I am also confused by their readiness to take responsibility for 15 countries with their own language and their own currency. Are the CIS countries still relevant?

    Otherwise, everything would have been different, for the better.
    I like the game and I'm ready to support developers, also bring new people into the game.
    I was embarrassed just this thoughtful moment, which caused unpleasant emotions.
     
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  11. Berek

    Berek Portalarian Emeritus Dev Emeritus

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    Hi Warrior B'Patrick! Thank you for the details on your specific case. We'd be glad to help you and others here in any way that we can of course. There's a lot to unpack with your question. As we mentioned in the other thread, can you please email us at support@portlarium.com if it's something of a concern on our end. Otherwise, as you've listed them here, please contact Black Sun for support in the countries and territories that they manage.

    https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/f...king-forums-and-website-really.111022/page-11
     
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