vbulletin 4 leaked

[Wayne Luke]

I don't buy this at all, although I'm aware it's a very common statement many make regarding leaks...one which can't be proved whatsoever.
Using this logic, you could argue every is a marketing technique to keep people interested and that's just silly. I don't doubt it happens at times, but I highly doubt it's all that common like some of you make it out to be.

Blizzard has a program called Friends & Family. The participants in this program gain access to new patches and games before they are made available through beta invites or to the open public.

Many of the people who run the most popular fan sites for Blizzard products are in the Friends & Family program. The top guilds in World of Warcraft are in the Friends & Family program. The top PVPers in World of Warcraft are in the Friends & Family program. Information is datamined from World of Warcraft patches before the NDAs are lifted and published on sites belonging to these individuals. A model here, a new spell there.

Even things that haven't been added to the pre-downloads that normal customers have access until the last minute are revealed weeks and even months ahead of time. Official news is actually very light until the software gets to the Public Test Realms but the unofficial sites have a lot of the information, even if some things get tweaked before release. If Blizzard doesn't plan these leaks, they condone them by allowing the sites that create them to remain in their Friends & Family pre-release program.

Now, I am talking about one company. I am not talking about every company that has leaks of their new products or rumors that are true or even close to being true. Blizzard uses leaks as part of their promotional campaign and keeping said campaign at a grassroots level. Their commercial marketing isn't overbearing and a lot of times sporadic and yet they are alway top sellers and dominate their markets.

[---MAD---]

Blizzard has a program called Friends & Family. The participants in this program gain access to new patches and games before they are made available through beta invites or to the open public.

Many of the people who run the most popular fan sites for Blizzard products are in the Friends & Family program. The top guilds in World of Warcraft are in the Friends & Family program. The top PVPers in World of Warcraft are in the Friends & Family program. Information is datamined from World of Warcraft patches before the NDAs are lifted and published on sites belonging to these individuals. A model here, a new spell there.

Even things that haven't been added to the pre-downloads that normal customers have access until the last minute are revealed weeks and even months ahead of time. Official news is actually very light until the software gets to the Public Test Realms but the unofficial sites have a lot of the information, even if some things get tweaked before release. If Blizzard doesn't plan these leaks, they condone them by allowing the sites that create them to remain in their Friends & Family pre-release program.

Now, I am talking about one company. I am not talking about every company that has leaks of their new products or rumors that are true or even close to being true. Blizzard uses leaks as part of their promotional campaign and keeping said campaign at a grassroots level. Their commercial marketing isn't overbearing and a lot of times sporadic and yet they are alway top sellers and dominate their markets.

I am guessing you're a WoW player :P?

[Redseal]

Blizzard has a program called Friends & Family. The participants in this program gain access to new patches and games before they are made available through beta invites or to the open public.

Many of the people who run the most popular fan sites for Blizzard products are in the Friends & Family program. The top guilds in World of Warcraft are in the Friends & Family program. The top PVPers in World of Warcraft are in the Friends & Family program. Information is datamined from World of Warcraft patches before the NDAs are lifted and published on sites belonging to these individuals. A model here, a new spell there.

Even things that haven't been added to the pre-downloads that normal customers have access until the last minute are revealed weeks and even months ahead of time. Official news is actually very light until the software gets to the Public Test Realms but the unofficial sites have a lot of the information, even if some things get tweaked before release. If Blizzard doesn't plan these leaks, they condone them by allowing the sites that create them to remain in their Friends & Family pre-release program.

Now, I am talking about one company. I am not talking about every company that has leaks of their new products or rumors that are true or even close to being true. Blizzard uses leaks as part of their promotional campaign and keeping said campaign at a grassroots level. Their commercial marketing isn't overbearing and a lot of times sporadic and yet they are alway top sellers and dominate their markets.

There is alot of competition between the fansites for this privilege. Its great if you are on the inside, but if you are a newcomer its almost impossible to get anywhere.

[hitmancode47]

Theres a lot more than 8 We just know the meaning of NDA's

What does "NDA" mean?

[MrNase]

--> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-disclosure_agreement

[Floris]

A claus in our contract that prohibits us from telling that vB4 will come with a new style or that it will have SEO -until it's been made public via an official Announcement or Blog.

[Vile]

Blizzard has a program called Friends & Family. The participants in this program gain access to new patches and games before they are made available through beta invites or to the open public.

Many of the people who run the most popular fan sites for Blizzard products are in the Friends & Family program. The top guilds in World of Warcraft are in the Friends & Family program. The top PVPers in World of Warcraft are in the Friends & Family program. Information is datamined from World of Warcraft patches before the NDAs are lifted and published on sites belonging to these individuals. A model here, a new spell there.

Even things that haven't been added to the pre-downloads that normal customers have access until the last minute are revealed weeks and even months ahead of time. Official news is actually very light until the software gets to the Public Test Realms but the unofficial sites have a lot of the information, even if some things get tweaked before release. If Blizzard doesn't plan these leaks, they condone them by allowing the sites that create them to remain in their Friends & Family pre-release program.

Now, I am talking about one company. I am not talking about every company that has leaks of their new products or rumors that are true or even close to being true. Blizzard uses leaks as part of their promotional campaign and keeping said campaign at a grassroots level. Their commercial marketing isn't overbearing and a lot of times sporadic and yet they are alway top sellers and dominate their markets.

Yea, I'm aware of the Friend & Family program (since I've participated in it in the past along with closed betas for Blizzard).

I agree that things like this increase the chance of leaks, but as for the last part and saying Blizzard basically encourages these leaks, that is something I'm still doubtful of.
Leaks are bound to happen in these cases, and even though there is only so much that can be done, companies do spend much time and effort to try & stop them, so actively encouraging them for publicity and marketing as their true intentions while hiding it in the face of the public and pretending it's bad, again is just too far fetched for me to say that this is the case the majority of the time.

[harmor]

Since we are on the topic of Blizzard does anyone know how the MySQL data for World of Warcraft became public?

[Wayne Luke]

Since we are on the topic of Blizzard does anyone know how the MySQL data for World of Warcraft became public?

MySQL Data? The company uses Oracle databases for their servers. If you mean sites like wowhead.com, its datamined from the MPQ files that sit on every player's computer.

[harmor]

MySQL Data? The company uses Oracle databases for their servers. If you mean sites like wowhead.com, its datamined from the MPQ files that sit on every player's computer.

I can set up a WoW private server using a MySQL Database.
Am I correct to say that Blizzard writes to the MPQ files to reduce load off the server?

[Wayne Luke]

The MPQ files hold all the artwork, item stats, icons, mapping coordinates and such so that the client can render the world. All that get sents between the client and the server are small bursts of text that synchronize data between the two. It wouldn't be hard to reverse engineer that data to come up with a basic database structure and use it. Most of the formulas used by the servers have been reverse engineered, published or theorized as well. This is how people are able to theorycraft changes to abilities.