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

[a Goat]

Sent you solution in PM



THREAD LOCKED

 

[Zombra]

"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.

Uh. Dictionary.com.

 

[Nano]

I posted on the official forums.

From a comment: "It's a large 9.73 mb file, so be aware." Reading that made me think I time traveled to the past for a bit.

 

[Zombra]

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.

I don't know. The fact that third party backer management sites exist(ed) at all implies that there is a certain amount of hassle involved.

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!

The more I think about it, the more I suspect that the site went down without any warning to inXile.

b) are still selling Tides of Numenera and thus, also required to provide support for this game and keep a support infrastructure in place.

Ehh, they're not selling the backer stuff any more though. As far as I know (which isn't far, I admit) they're still supporting the game itself - the product they are continuing to sell - as much as they ever were.

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.

This definitely wasn't intended as a middle finger. Their track record is one of negligence, not malice. The question is, which is worse

 

[Zombra]

"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.

Uh. Dictionary.com.

Entitlement is the state of being entitled to something. It's like saying "ownership". The word isn't an insult (unless it's used sarcastically).

 

[Goral]

Hey, look what I've found:
https://anonfile.com/XamcJb83n3/Torment_Retrospective_pdf

 

[Russia is over. The end.]

"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.

Uh. Dictionary.com.

Entitlement is the state of being entitled to something. It's like saying "ownership". The word isn't an insult (unless it's used sarcastically).

Uh huh, and what does "massive entitlement" mean in that reddit post? Massive ownership?

You shouldn't use words that are more often than not used as an insult, and expect people to understand some other definition.

 

[Taluntain]

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?

The major problem here is that you had to make a choice between Steam and GOG before you could get a key. We've had a bunch of backers via our mass donation who never picked up the game and theoretically, still could at some point. I couldn't just get all those keys out of the backer portal because everyone has a different preference when it comes to keys, some want GOG, others Steam. Hence leaving the keys unclaimed in the backer portal was the only way not to have to get a dump of keys that possibly nobody would want later on because they weren't on the platform they use. If I got any warning that they'd just kill the backer portal I would have made sure to get a dump of keys regardless because I couldn't rely on inXile to provide anything later on any more, but this is a moot point now.

Obviously sending out a mailing about all of this BEFORE killing it would have been the least anyone with half a brain would have expected, but not even sending one AFTER killing it with an explanation and fulfilment instructions for any late comers and only letting people discover it via googling about it is far below the lowest expectations anyone sensible would have for the shittiest shovelware provider, let alone what's supposed to be a "serious" company like inXile.

 

[hexer]

I can't imagine that portal generated so much traffic and expenses that they had to close it.
Especially now when they're running on Microsoft's infinite pile of money.
A rarely visited portal should be up and running for a few hundred dollars per year.

At least they could have made some of the rewards public for everyone. Instead of nuking it altogether.

Really regretting I ever gave them my money.
Fargo is just incredibly incompetent post 90s, ever since he sued Interplay so they had to sell Fallout license to Bethesda in order to pay him.

 

[Zombra]

Uh huh, and what does "massive entitlement" mean in that reddit post? Massive ownership?

That is a sarcastic use.

You shouldn't use words that are more often than not used as an insult, and expect people to understand some other definition.

OK, so English isn't your thing. That's cool. #informative

Double good u stop talk now

 

[Infinitron]

It is possible that the portal's closure had something to do with publishing terms with Techland.

 

[Mikeal]

Hey, look what I've found:
https://anonfile.com/XamcJb83n3/Torment_Retrospective_pdf

Ooopsie I accidentally clicked on that one.

 

[Rando745]

All of the backer portal(s) created at inXile appear to still hosted at Linode and accessible. The DNS records have been changed, so you can't get to them without knowing the original IP addresses.

There were exclusive backer only rewards not available anywhere else. Additionally, updated versions of rewards [e.g. novellas with updated images/text, concept art, etc.] were also published there as development went on. Bonuses on GOG, Steam were not updated in kind and some are missing the final versions from the backer portals. Some rewards from the original inXile BT4 portal are missing or different from ones on the CrowdOx BT4 portal; the quality of the artwork related rewards there are noticeably less in comparison to the original downloads [probably to save bandwidth].

The backer portal(s) enumerated the individual rewards owed to each backers. That can be unhelpful if your business goals have changed... Who remembers Torment is suppose to include DRM-Free physical media for Mac/Linux/Windows? [The "special" DRM-Free physical media release only happened for Wasteland 2 because enough backers complained about receiving a Steam Only disc.] Or how about the missing Wasteland 2 novella by Chris Avellone? I can think of about a dozen less notable rewards from WL2, TTON, and BT4 remain undelivered to backers... How many do you remember?

Zombra: I would be irresponsible to thank you for your continued efforts to help fans who are missing rewards. So I won't say that and you shouldn't infer. But I am curious if you have any more insights as to what happened? It's been entertaining.

Goral: Might be legit? Mega.co was used for file hosting on the inXile forums. No reason to think otherwise here, right?

FYI: I proxied my IP, used a disposable email address during sign up and typed in gibberish as my password. So I likely won't be contributing to this thread in the future. I'm a random internet nobody, who makes up fanciful stories and shouldn't be believed. However, if anyone want's to push the point: everything I said has been or is public knowledge; you just need to know where to look.

 

[Zombra]

Rando745 I'm confused, but whatever! I don't have any behind the scenes info, and I haven't been on the inXile forums really at all since Torment release. I only entered the conversation when I saw an easy way to get somebody a pdf they wanted. Sorry to disappoint.

Also, lrn2tag

@Rando745

I almost missed your post.

 

[Russia is over. The end.]

Or how about the missing Wasteland 2 novella by Chris Avellone? I can think of about a dozen less notable rewards from WL2, TTON, and BT4 remain undelivered to backers... How many do you remember?

still hosted at Linode and accessible

Lmao, so much for "MUH OPERATIONAL COSTS" and all the cucks who perpetrated this "argument".

Why didn't you post the IP? If you're gonna be a leaker, go all the way, disgruntled inxile employee.

 

[Roguey]

Or how about the missing Wasteland 2 novella by Chris Avellone?

The problem with this is that it's still unfinished because it spiraled into multiple short stories plus a full-fledged novel.

However, Avellone did submit a completed script for his Tides of Numenera comic and the only hold-up there is that Lyin' Fargo doesn't want to pay for an artist to actually draw the thing.

 

[almondblight]

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?!"

Backer portals are an annoying and unnecessary waste of time. Smaller developers (Trese Brothers, Craig Stern, Cultic Games) did the decent thing and just e-mailed the keys out. If someone isn't in a rush to play the game it's not that surprising that they might put off going through a pointless registration process for yet another website.

 

[Infinitron]

All of the backer portal(s) created at inXile appear to still hosted at Linode and accessible. The DNS records have been changed, so you can't get to them without knowing the original IP addresses.

There were exclusive backer only rewards not available anywhere else. Additionally, updated versions of rewards [e.g. novellas with updated images/text, concept art, etc.] were also published there as development went on. Bonuses on GOG, Steam were not updated in kind and some are missing the final versions from the backer portals. Some rewards from the original inXile BT4 portal are missing or different from ones on the CrowdOx BT4 portal; the quality of the artwork related rewards there are noticeably less in comparison to the original downloads [probably to save bandwidth].

The backer portal(s) enumerated the individual rewards owed to each backers. That can be unhelpful if your business goals have changed... Who remembers Torment is suppose to include DRM-Free physical media for Mac/Linux/Windows? [The "special" DRM-Free physical media release only happened for Wasteland 2 because enough backers complained about receiving a Steam Only disc.] Or how about the missing Wasteland 2 novella by Chris Avellone? I can think of about a dozen less notable rewards from WL2, TTON, and BT4 remain undelivered to backers... How many do you remember?

Zombra: I would be irresponsible to thank you for your continued efforts to help fans who are missing rewards. So I won't say that and you shouldn't infer. But I am curious if you have any more insights as to what happened? It's been entertaining.

Goral: Might be legit? Mega.co was used for file hosting on the inXile forums. No reason to think otherwise here, right?

FYI: I proxied my IP, used a disposable email address during sign up and typed in gibberish as my password. So I likely won't be contributing to this thread in the future. I'm a random internet nobody, who makes up fanciful stories and shouldn't be believed. However, if anyone want's to push the point: everything I said has been or is public knowledge; you just need to know where to look.

Gee, I wonder who this could be