The Allakhazam buyout

Post by **Rollie** » Mon May 08, 2006 6:13 pm

So what are you guys' thoughts on the Allakhazam buyout? In case you hadn't heard, Ogaming/Thottbot/Alla are now owned by the same people. You can read Allak's post on it here:

http://www.allakhazam.com/forum.html?fo ... m=0;page=1

Azzor has an interesting read on the growth of IGE site holdings as well that goes hand in hand with this:

http://wow.azzor.com/445/truth_about_IGE.php

It's interesting that their holdings now encompass so much. But to what end?

Skyfire · Post by **Skyfire** » Mon May 08, 2006 6:56 pm

Monopolization.

What else?

Eventually, they will be the only ones with these kind of sites. Next comes subscriptions, just to use them (or subscriptions to get "full benefits"). /sigh

That was my take on it.

Sianni · Post by **Sianni** » Mon May 08, 2006 9:38 pm

I think Sky hit the nail on the head there. Pay to surf is next.

Alanthus · Post by **Alanthus** » Tue May 09, 2006 5:52 am

To what end has a fairly obvious answer, controlling the entire secondary market for MMORPG's is going to generate a lot of profit. Controlling the gamer resources is a very good way to gain leverage with game companies, an easy way to advertise illicit products and so forth. The formula is a tried and true one that's been used both by legitimate businesses and crime syndicates for a long time, it's really hard to tell the difference between the two though.

Hmmm, since they did buy wowcensus and that didn't turn out to work I'm curious as to how much they would offer or have offered for warcraftrealms, as a WoW resources generating quite a bit of traffic I'm sure it's on their wish list to be part of the ZAM network...

Buying game currency and items is something I strongly disagree with for a number of reasons and knowing more than a little bit about the people that profit off this simply turns my stomach

Post by **Rollie** » Tue May 09, 2006 8:09 am

Hmmm, since they did buy wowcensus and that didn't turn out to work I'm curious as to how much they would offer or have offered for warcraftrealms, as a WoW resources generating quite a bit of traffic I'm sure it's on their wish list to be part of the ZAM network...

Well, surprisingly to both of us, I've never been contacted by anyone about such a thing. Of course since I do run the ads, maybe they aren't as concerned.

damiende · Post by **damiende** » Sun May 14, 2006 6:53 am

The sad part is that I think most of those posting at the allakazham forums. Will still keep on doing so. The best think in my opinion would be to fill the allakhazam forums with wrong info. Turn the forums into a giant flame war.

Damiende

oiseaux · Post by **oiseaux** » Mon May 15, 2006 9:55 pm

I was reading the thread of which Rollie posted and most are ticked off at allakhazam. They feel rather betrayed that he would sell out. I personally don't care about gold farmers unless they are hacking or teleporting to get such gold.

They are definintely hiding the fact that allakhazam is under the big umbrella of IGE. Over half of the posts I read are cancelling their premium accounts. Like warcraftrealms, allakazam's data is gathered by players of games, so losing those that are paying and willing to submit data is gonna hurt allakhazam in the long run. I guess we just watch and see what happens next.

I wish people would get this upset about RL issues rather than a make believe world.

heartless_ · Post by **heartless_** » Mon May 15, 2006 11:32 pm

/phew

Was glad to read that Rollie hadn't been bought out

My whole take is it creates the same problem that lead to the first dot com bubble burst. Everyone tries to build up the next big thing just to sell out when they finally make it. Then the website goes the way of the crapper all while the original founder(s) laugh all the way to the bank.

Some communities just believe they are immune... like the Alahkazam community. IMHO if the site remains intact and just has a new corporate owner there isn't much to worry about. The second you start seeing uncharacteristic changes starting... thats when you run for the hills.