inXile's Torment backer portal got taken down, unclaimed rewards are unavailable

[TalesfromtheCrypt]

Does anyone here have a backup of the Planescape Torment Developer retrospective PDF that was released by InExile as a backer reward for NumaNuma?
Turns out those cocksuckers shut down their backer portal a while ago so I can't download it anymore.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Zombra]

I posted on the official forums. Will let you know if anything turns up. Hope I don't get banned for asking such a piratey question!

 

[Zombra]

TalesfromtheCrypt Got it. PM me your email address.

 

[Nano]

TalesfromtheCrypt Got it. PM me your email address.

Can't you just upload it to Google Drive or something and post it here? It's not exactly piracy when there's no way to obtain it anymore.

 

[Thor Kaufman]

just upload it via vpn and pretend you somehow found a link. Afaik it's still law that you can't be held responsible for sharing links. Not like anyone is going to care, anyway.

 

[Zombra]

I'd rather not do that. I'm happy to share with a few friends but posting a public link ... eh. If you want to, pm me your email address and you can do it once I've sent it to you.

 

[Taluntain]

Uh, what's the deal with the backer portal disappearing?

 

[Taluntain]

So, after some digging, I find out that apparently they killed it about a year ago already without a word to anyone. That's just... crazy. I never bothered to play the game on release, so I never got the key out or any of the rewards. Infinitron there's a petition at https://www.change.org/p/inxile-ent...ment-backer-portal?source_location=topic_page that wouldn't hurt to have in the news about this. I doubt that it'll make any difference even if hits a 1000 signees, but at least it would be good to raise awareness how fast Inxile buries their not so popular games.

See also: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/inxile/torment-tides-of-numenera/comments

Edit: and https://www.reddit.com/r/Torment/comments/bgsvk6/sign_petition_to_restore_the_backer_portal/

 

[Infinitron]

It's not like they won't give you a key if you ask them. Contact support.

 

[The Red Knight]

It's not like they won't give you a key if you ask them. Contact support.

According to the petition it is actually the case for some people?

 

[Nano]

Edit: and https://www.reddit.com/r/Torment/comments/bgsvk6/sign_petition_to_restore_the_backer_portal/

Lmao @ the fanboys sticking up for inXile.

 

[Taluntain]

It's not like they won't give you a key if you ask them. Contact support.

According to the numerous sources linked in my post, it's been a PITA taking ages for most people to get a key out. I probably still have a couple dozen left there from unclaimed pledges made via our site (Sorcerer's Place). I don't have a list of all the rewards that also came with all the money we sent to Inxile, I never expected the backer portal to disappear without as much as a warning. So now I need to hunt down everything that I have the right to claim, great.

 

[Glop_dweller]

It's not exactly piracy when there's no way to obtain it anymore.

Yes it is.

*They have the right remove it—and did.

**Edit: It's funny as hell to read these negative ratings, because it really is these members signing their positive opinion of theft & piracy; and afirming their lack of moral character.
Don't go into politics when you grow up.

 

[FeelTheRads]

Lulz, they can't afford to keep a shiity site online? Which has keys you paid for? Pay for a game, wait for months for the key, if you get it at all. Yeah, kickstarter backers are SO important to inxile.

What an absolute shit of a company.

But maybe Zyklon Beekers is expensive. Maybe they can't afford both such an elite writer and to fullfill their responsibilities. I think they need a new kickstarter to restore the portals.

I think I didn't even download their shitty rewards. I assumed that at least I'd get notified if they take them down. Guess you can't expect even a shred of decency from this shit company.

 

[FeelTheRads]

It's not exactly piracy when there's no way to obtain it anymore.

Yes it is.

*They have the right remove it—and did.

So I guess the buyer doesn't have the right to what he paid for, is that correct, retarded corporate bootlicker? The rights of companies before the rights of buyers, just like a good corporate drone.

 

[Glop_dweller]

So I guess the buyer doesn't have the right to what he paid for, is that correct, retarded corporate bootlicker? The rights of companies before the rights of buyers, just like a good corporate drone.

Companies, and buyers are groups both comprised of people—neither is more important that the other, and both have rights that must be respected.

In fact, a company can buy from another company who bought from them... and then they are both each other's buyers.

If you have a problem with a company's product (including obtaining it), you take it up with the company—not demand that someone give you an illegal duplicate... by public link no less. That screws over the company by publicly giving their work away; which you have no right to do or demand.

 

[FeelTheRads]

I don't really see how it can be their right to remove something people payed for and not be held responsible in any way. But I guess I'm not a corporate cocksucker.

Anyway, maybe someone bug Fargo on twitter about it. He's always there posting stupid shit anyway, maybe he'll do something about it.
Oh, and ask him just how important backers are for inxile. I want to know for future reference next time they beg for money.

 

[Zombra]

More complicated than you might think at first glance.

It's certainly not illegal for a user to download something they already paid for from an alternate source. But for the primary source to stop hosting it doesn't instantly make it public domain - for someone like me to upload it on a public link wouldn't be a squeaky clean move.

Something certainly happened here. I don't have any insider info, but I suppose the awful backer portal site they were using charged them substantially enough for them to cancel service after a while. Or maybe that provider simply folded, wouldn't be the first file hosting site to do so. Could be a lot of reasons the backer portal went away.

A lot of the backers who are screaming for their entitlement now might be the same kind of people who would complain about an official public upload: "We paid extra for this, now everyone gets it free?!" This isn't an argument, just an observation of a complicating factor.

Notable: inXile's community coordinator, the front line guy to deal with a customer satisfaction issue like this, just left the company. Like, this week. If anybody new was hired for that role, I didn't hear about it.

It's weird to me that anyone would back a digital download project, then wait three years after release to actually download it, then complain when the download was no longer available. Websites go down, companies change hands, nothing on the internet lasts fucking forever. Check your email, get your shit.

Honestly, I think these people are only complaining because they heard it wasn't available any more. The majority of them were never going to actually download it in the first place.

All that said, I agree that inXile should just put the extra stuff up on Mega and let it fly free.

Lastly, I wonder if Microsoft would be assholes about it if they did that. After all, they own it all now, don't they?

 

[TalesfromtheCrypt]

TalesfromtheCrypt Got it. PM me your email address.

Thanks a lot Zombra, much appreciated! Sent you a pm

 

[FeelTheRads]

Check your email, get your shit.

Pretty sure I didn't get any email saying they're gonna take them down.
Yes, stuff goes down and, but usually people are warned about it in advance. Not the case for a garbage company, though, that's true.

And really, if you can't afford to keep a shiity site with a couple of downloads online you probably shouldn't exist.

Just saying that people should have downloaded the stuff already is retarded apologism. There was no warning about it and time is not really a valid reason. I think I waited like two years, if not more, to play W2. Guess I should be lucky I could get my key, because you don't really deserve it if you wait whatever arbitrary amount of time you think is too long?

"Entitlement". Lol. Yes, of course, asking to get what you paid for is entitlement these days. Fuck off and play dress up in W2, fanbot.

And funny that it's usually the $15 backers who think they're big supporters and always accuse the others of entitlement. Bet you're one of those.

 

[TalesfromtheCrypt]

Here are some problems I have with what InExile did:

1) I certainly don’t expect them to host the backer rewards perpetually, but I don’t think it would be too much to ask of them to keep the servers running for 4-5 years after the release, given that they:

a) are still a commercially active company that is developing other games and
b) are still selling Tides of Numenera and thus, also required to provide support for this game and keep a support infrastructure in place.

We are basically talking about a pretty simple database here with little traffic, you can take the cheapest webspace there is and call it a day.

2) Certainly it wouldn’t hurt to send 1-2 reminder emails to all backers before shutting the portal down? „Last chance to claim your rewards, backer portal closes down on [date]!“ This is literally half an hour of work or so!

3) For whatever reason, the planescape pdf is not hosted in the Kickstarter versions of the game on Steam nor GOG. The other digital rewards are listed as „Extras“ in my GOG copy of the game, but the planescape retrospective is missing and was available only from their portal, despite being promised as a reward from the very start? Why?

4) If you fail to keep your backer portal online, give people the possibility to claim their rewards via a support request. Reports on this differ, but it seems to be a pretty big hassle to go through their support, to say the least. It seems at least some people where not successful in claiming their rewards this way.

5) I‘m not entirely sure, but I think some of the higher Tier backer rewards (comics and stuff like that) still haven’t been completed and have probably been abandoned!

All in all, this further solidifies InExile‘s image as a amateurish, chaotic and badly run train wreck of a company that shows backers the middle finger as soon as they feel they can get away with it.

I realize money is tight and the company seems to be in perpetual crisis mode. In such situations good customer support is the first thing to get thrown out of the window, but it wouldn’t have taken a lot of time and effort to make life easier for the late reward claimers.

 

[FeelTheRads]

5) I‘m not entirely sure, but I think some of the higher Tier backer rewards (comics and stuff like that) still haven’t been completed and have probably been abandoned!

Weren't they supposed to have sone posters too? I don't think those ever made it either. And I'm pretty sure they failed to do all they promised in their stretch goals.
But now they even fail to provide the shit they did. This is eastern-european level of incompetence and disregard for costumers.

 

[user]

NumaNuma

Rofl, fitting name.

 

[Russia is over. The end.]

Setting up a simple html 1.0 site where you enter your email, get the email confirmation link and then you have a list of things you're allowed to download, no UI, extremely basic. Costs 1 day to make, and 10 bucks/month operational costs.

Just look at this:

 

[FeelTheRads]

Fanbots will be fanbots. Apparently inXile did the right thing since wanting what you paid for is entitlement?

Not even a thought that maybe they didn't go about it in the most elegant way. Automatically the customer is to blame and has to be belittled. I really can't imagine how it feels to be such s brainwashed sheeple. And for a shit company like this on top of that. Must be that "ignorance is bliss" thing.

Also, inb4 backers get banned on their forums for asking to get the things they paid for.