MMO-Champion acquired by Curse

[Aunai]

Well i hope all goes well with the new owners...dont see a bad thing with this merger... only time will tell

[Maneken]

So how has curse MADE MONEY in the past that has effected you? Apart for providing the best addon service for mmos and running sites well.

Im happy with a donation system to gain some extra stuff (especially if we will never have to pay for what we currently have - oh wait bibi has already confirmed this ^_^)

Visit curse and compare advertising there and here, check what premium gives you except faster downloading of addons, then you can see what premium means and agressive advertising means.
Does this affect me, except it force me to configure noscript/adblock/taco extension for firefox, no it doesnt, cause i dont visit that site anymore except to download some addon then fast close that site and chill nicely at mmoc.

No offense to any1 but its very pretty sure this site will have premium version of service its just too clear how much money can collect with so huge ammount daily visitors( to clear up im not against on making money, hell all worlds revolve around that, its just question how to make balance beetwen profit and not loosing visitors)

[Hinalover]

It's only a matter of time. MLG might have been hands-off (only forcing those ridiculous tournament things), but I doubt that Curse will provide the same courtesy.

Actually if you look at both WorldofRaids and TankSpot, Curse has been mostly hands off as well. If anything MMO-C will gain more from the take-over than they were with MLG. You see these deals that Blizzard hands out, such as free passes to Blizzcon, Free Beta invites, special press events, etc. Curse gets to take part in those and they will be able to give some of those free-bes to MMO-C. MMO-C, because they were never part of the "Official Fansite" grouping, never got a chance to take part in those, only get stuff second-hand. If the management takover works out, we could very well see MMO-C become part of the "Official Fansite" listings and get stuff first hand.

[critch]

I know it can be difficult to have a civilized conversation on this medium without someone reducing themselves to name calling. I will try and clarify myself.

This entire idea of Curse charging a premium service is based around addons, or the convenience of using addons on their site. This premium service would not even be a topic if this site was able to charge for it's addon use. Unfortunately for Curse Blizzard does not allow this. With creative marketing this site indirectly tries to charge a service for the use of their addons. Looking over the perks, or lack there of, this service provides it essentially gives each customer a quicker alternative to downloading/updating their addons. Any other perk is just a smoke screen. The majority of the public will see "paid service" and automatically think they're getting a good deal without doing any research on what they're actually getting in return.

...and as far as supporting the employees/people who contribute/maintain the Curse site/addons anyone who visits the site already does.

There's a big shiny impossible to miss button marked Premium on the Curse site. On that page it tells you exactly what the premium addon does. Updating all the addons at once instead of one at a time. Gets rid of ads (Like a lot of different premium upgrades to websites.) Addon syncing.

You can use the thing for free but you don't get those, but it's not like you have to pay. I've happily used Curse for years. No problems to report, and they've never asked me to upgrade other than the ad on their site. And there are tons of sites that ask for donations to get rid of ads as it is, why is Curse suddenly horrible?

I like the change in ownership. MLG takes over their sites with their annoying invasive POS "Watch 'professionals' play games!" stuff too often, and changing the format is a good thing. This place looks like a Livejournal blog.

[snowblind]

If anything MMO-C will gain more from the take-over than they were with MLG.

Time will tell, and I hope for the sake of the site that you're right, but I'm not optimistic.

Curse is terrible, and its not a matter of "if" there will be premium content, but when, how much it would be, and how much content you can now see for free that will be behind those closed doors.

---------- Post added 2010-07-20 at 07:11 PM ----------

On that page it tells you exactly what the premium addon does. Updating all the addons at once instead of one at a time. Gets rid of ads (Like a lot of different premium upgrades to websites.) Addon syncing.

You do realize that the only reason Curse isn't charging you for addons is because they can't, right? Their stupid little client is nothing more than an attempt at a workaround.

[Tore]

-Possibly go full-scale with db.mmo-champion.com because I'm pretty sure you're all bored of the item pages with just a tooltip and no drop location or screenshot. (But we still have to decide that)

Might as well not even have db.mmo anymore. It's just eating space and making the people running everything work harder. I mean, who doesn't use Wowhead for item info? MMO-C is primarily a news source and forum, and it's damn good at those two things. Wowhead is a damn good item database. Might as well just collab if you can instead of worrying over building your own database to compete.

[Hinalover]

Might as well not even have db.mmo anymore. It's just eating space and making the people running everything work harder. I mean, who doesn't use Wowhead for item info? MMO-C is primarily a news source and forum, and it's damn good at those two things. Wowhead is a damn good item database. Might as well just collab if you can instead of worrying over building your own database to compete.

If anything, they may actually integrate MMO-C's database features with WoWDB. WoWdb has always played second fiddle to Wowhead. By integrating features from MMO-C's database into WoWDB, and having WoWDB linked from MMO-C's website, could help Curse profit on that lack-luster website.

[Crispin]

first lol

Really though, this is going to be interesting.

WTB info about other MMO games than just WoW.

The only major downside about MMO-Champion, is that it's deadset on WoW, and sometimes acts as if there are no other MMO's available, shoulda named it WOW-Champion

[Nightslyr]

Eh, I don't see the controversy. I've never had a problem with Curse, and any potential annoyances can be mitigated by an ad blocker/noscript combo (and, seriously, if you're not using these kinds of tools to protect yourself while online anyway, you're doing it wrong). Even if some of the info is hidden behind a pay wall, it will get out to other free sources quickly enough.

[Hinalover]

WTB info about other MMO games than just WoW.

The only major downside about MMO-Champion, is that it's deadset on WoW, and sometimes acts as if there are no other MMO's available, shoulda named it WOW-Champion

Taken from a Wow.com interview with Boub (http://www.wow.com/2009/05/05/15-min...-mmo-champion/)

The original plan was to include other MMOs, but I didn't expect the WoW part of the site to be so popular. It takes all my time now, and I don't think you will see any other MMO covered on MMO-Champion.

I really want to talk about a few other games like EVE Online or Diablo 3 -- but it won't be on MMO-Champion, and I won't do it until I have the time to do something nice with each site. I don't really want to use MMO-Champion's popularity to launch tons of new sites and just report official posts for every MMOs out there without any further research.

[Karnige]

yeah big companies buying out smaller companies. no real shock. I come here for information I could care less about who owns it.

[Frozenbeef]

Look down at the bottom it has a curse logo :P

[pVVn3c|]

I have used curse for years without using premium. The ad's aren't that bad. I think this change will be good, and maybe when premium is offered it will have even more features that will make me feel like it's worth purchasing. Regardless Boub already said we won't have to pay for ANYTHING that we enjoy for free today.

[Jest]

Actually if you look at both WorldofRaids and TankSpot, Curse has been mostly hands off as well. If anything MMO-C will gain more from the take-over than they were with MLG. You see these deals that Blizzard hands out, such as free passes to Blizzcon, Free Beta invites, special press events, etc. Curse gets to take part in those and they will be able to give some of those free-bes to MMO-C. MMO-C, because they were never part of the "Official Fansite" grouping, never got a chance to take part in those, only get stuff second-hand. If the management takover works out, we could very well see MMO-C become part of the "Official Fansite" listings and get stuff first hand.

But if you look at Warhammer Alliance and Aionsource they completely changed both sites and in the case of Aionsource, they fired the original Owner/Creator/Admin and removed over half his staff. Everyone that I've ever talked to that's worked for Curse's lower levels says the same thing. They talk a cool game but in the end they're absolute control freaks who will not hesitate to remove anyone who doesn't assimilate.

[Bonestormed]

wowinterface.com is SO MUCH BETTER than curse , its not even funny.

I tried curse , too intrusive.

Real bummer about this site being bought out by that group , just means it will become hard to navigate , cost money , ie , stop being a place i will visit.

[t0mat03]

Curse acquired MMO-Champion? Sorry to hear that, you have my sympathy.

Possibility of Premium MMO-Champion? Hahaha, oh wait, you're serious. Pathetic.

[Hinalover]

Actually, if you had any knowledge of the sites you just mentioned, (or even had just read the thread ffs) you would know that Tankspot is not owned by Curse, it is owned by ZAM, the company who also owns WoWhead, and Curses competition. Tankspot looks great because it is NOT run by Curse. WoR however, which you admit to frequenting in previous posts, looks exactly like the bloated, spammy, crap filled, cookie cutter layout that Curse uses on the majority of their sites. Also, quit talking out of your ass about things you know nothing about. MMOC will never become an official Blizzard fansite as long as datamining happens here, that is one of the main stipulations of being on that list, and if datamining doesnt persist here, the news will slow and people will go somewhere that it does. I hope Blizzard removes support for Curse as an official site since they have now acquired a datamining site.

First - I was under the impression that Tankspot was part of the Curse group. Apparently I am wrong
Second - I said I like WoR, I can see where the original poster; talked about there being some clutter; is coming from. I didn't agree to saying that the clutter is not fine. I like some of the layout that is on WoR. Yes some of the opionated items the poster talked about is a little unnerving, but not all of them. It is a better layout than some of WoR's previous versions:

Aug 19 2006 http://web.archive.org/web/200608191...fraids.com/v2/
Mar 27 2007 http://web.archive.org/web/200703271...ldofraids.com/ Yellow and Orange

Third - If the only reason MMO-C is not part of the Blizzard fansite is because of the datamining, then why is Wowhead still part of that group. They are into the datamining just as much as MMO-C is. Shoot they have a blog that features their 3-D Models. They use the newly released Cho'gal model as their main example (http://www.wowhead.com/blog=163298; http://www.wowhead.com/blog&tag=3d-m...ewer:1:34250:0). Main difference, to me at least, is that MMO-C broke the NDA; later retracting all information until the NDA was lifted; when WoWhead did not.

[Drmorte]

Gratz and all... but, can we get on with new cataclysm news? That's why we originally came here.

Or are you out on your new yacht today drinking bubbly?

[lithiax]

LOL at Curse Empire = 25 employees passionate about MMO that want to try to create the best tools for mmo gamers and make a living out of it.... It's not that easy. Stop seeing big brother everywhere... Try and get hold of the people working at Curse instead of assuming it's just an "evil empire"...

[Riboflavin]

Congrats Boub, I hope you and your staff can get back to reporting to us soon. It must be a relief that you might get less sleep at night due to goofing off in Cata, rather than kicking the site and swearing at it in impassioned french to stop breaking.