Ben-DutkaLess than a year ago, Sony was forced into some dark times, as hackers nailed the PlayStation Network and chaos ensued.
To their credit, Sony worked hard to restore services and issued a candid apology, and Sir Howard Stringer said Kaz Hirai brought the PSN back "faster than anyone could." Also, since the Network has returned, things have been – for the most part – just fine.
It's always amazing to see what effect time can have, even when we're only talking about a span of ten months. During the PSN outage, hundreds, if not thousands, of gamers were screaming bloody murder, and swearing off Sony altogether. The communities and forums erupted with hate and disgust. But as early as June, it was reported that 90% of PSN users had returned after the hack. And now, nary a peep is heard; everything seems to be moving along swimmingly.
So the question is: has faith in the PSN been entirely restored? Has everyone simply concluded that this wasn't all Sony's fault, and that hacking is essentially the only form of terrorism we should really fear in the 21st century? Or is everyone just waiting for the slightest tremor; the smallest reason to go, "see, I knew it; the PSN is still susceptible and dangerous"…? Of course, hackers targeting game publishers became a common news headline in 2011 as well, so Sony was hardly the only victim, even if it was the highest-profile case. The bottom line is that nothing online is 100% secure and we just have to accept that.
But if you put your finger on the pulse of the gaming community, what do you feel? Faith and stability or anxiety?
random outages being labeled as "maintenance" concerns me just as much as the outage in April of 2011. I wonder what caused them to have take down their entire network on March 4th 2012.
Hmmmm, not sure why but the PSN never went offline for me yesterday.
I went over to the PS Blog & that was just fine(was supposed to be down too).
I also was able to keep getting all of the inFamous user generated missions that's hooked into the PSN too.
That wasn't random it was scheduled and Sony told us beforehand.
Nothing of what you're talking about is random. The PSN has had scheduled maintenance since its inception, and none of those "outages" have been random.
Sony can fix PSN but they just can't fix stupid.
Just because you disagree with me does not make me stupid.
The only users that were notified of the scheduled maintenance were the users that happened to browse a PSN fan site 48 hours prior to the downtime.
My company has won back to back JD Power Awards for customer service on multiple occasions and Sony could learn a thing or two from people like me.
I'm sure Ben would hate to log in to his web host to update psxextreme.com only to find out the server is down without him ever being notified in advance.
I would also like to preemptively address everyone who decides to rebut with it being a "Free service", but you would only be giving validation to the people who pay to go online……
Feel free to reply, but don't bother if you're going to troll or flame me jawknee
Taking PSN down on march 4th was the rescheduled maintenance from March 1st. Apparently you don't read the blog or follow Sony's Twitter.
Dude, you tried to claim that there were all these suspicious "random" problems with the PSN and that Sony disguised them as maintenance.
Firstly, you have zero proof of that and secondly, there has been absolutely no information concerning such a possibility.
Therefore, it sounds like you're quite frankly making crap up. It also sounds like you're holding a grudge just because you were the victim of identity theft. …that's called personal bias, you know.
Last edited by Ben Dutka PSXE on 3/6/2012 9:12:11 AM
Facts are stubborn things and they just owned you and your ridiculous claim that something suspect was going on.
IT WAS MAINTANCE! Most of us new about it before hand. Do some research before you post such inane comments to avoid making yourself look foolish next time.
Guys, come on. Be reasonable. He does have a point here. It's is pretty common practise to inform the customers when a provider have to take down their servers for maintenance.
I mean, had I not by chance read the news on this site I would not have known about this downtime either.
Wouldn’t it be good practice by Sony to send a short note to all their users via PSN a couple of days beforehand, just to inform them of the planned downtime? Especially since that incident last spring?
You can't really expect your customers to follow you on Twitter or have a Facebook account to catch the news, and media stories really are no substitute for info straight from the company in these regards.
Last edited by Beamboom on 3/6/2012 11:24:44 AM
Beam-
They reach people, by posting on the PS Blog and via twitter, they get the word out one way or the other. Regardless of how they do it, the fact is it was maintenance, it was scheduled, and now it's over. All he's trying to do is stir up arguments, and if he's not, he's doing a good job at it.
You are right that they shouldn't rely on twitter and sending out a notice via PSN is a good idea. But that doesn't matter when the majority of people did know about it.
He doesn't have a point at all because he's disregarding the facts. He's making up assumptions that are based on absolute non sense.
Last edited by bigrailer19 on 3/6/2012 11:26:16 AM
No serious provider of any service base this kind of communication with their customers on blogs and social media messages. That's simply not how it's done.
And that is what I understand he is commenting on, and, well, in that particular point he is right!
May I also remind you all that the very beginning of the hacking scandal started with a message from Sony on their blog, saying it's just a couple of days downtime due to maintenance.
Last edited by Beamboom on 3/6/2012 12:22:43 PM
Oh please. The guy is flat out making crap up and you're seriously defending him? Nonsense.
I read the posts much like searching for diamonds. I find the nuggets and ignore the dirt around it.
🙂
But seriously, I do actually think that point was valid, and a good one too. I wonder why they don't use their own messaging system?
I can imagine myself being pretty pissed if I invited to a gaming party one evening and discovered PSN were shut down that entire day without me receiving any notice about it.
Last edited by Beamboom on 3/6/2012 12:51:55 PM
@Beam: If you were going to be part of a gaming party I'm pretty sure one of the people in the group would be someone who keeps up on gaming news. I have a big group of gaming buddies and I'm the main one that keeps them updated on all the going ons in gaming.
Beam, your defending Pal for the wrong reasons. 🙂 Pal is assuming there is some sort of conspiracy theory going on. Take this quote from his original post – "random outages being labeled as "maintenance" concerns me… I wonder what caused them to have take down their entire network on March 4th 2012."
That whole quote is him assuming that Sony isn't actually doing maintenance, when in reality and in fact they were and it wasn't at all "random" but scheduled.
And the point you're trying to make by saying "May I also remind you all that the very beginning of the hacking scandal started with a message from Sony on their blog, saying it's just a couple of days downtime due to maintenance." is not only a lame attempt at trying to defend your argument, but leads me to believe you also have conspiracies against Sony. You know better than that! 😉
Last edited by bigrailer19 on 3/6/2012 1:20:31 PM
@Big: If there is *one* thing I immediately just ignore, it's conspiracy theories. I simply do not see them, no matter if they are for or against Sony or anyone else. If not I'd had my hands full just commenting on these ridiculous conspiracy theories about the media ganging up on Sony or MS founding Sony hackers etc etc etc.
All I am saying is that they would have everything to gain and nothing to lose from practising common courtesy when it comes to informing customers about downtime. That, and only that, is what I am commenting on.
@Daze: Maybe, maybe not. That's beside the point. Downtime should be communicated directly to the customers, not via media, not via friends.
Last edited by Beamboom on 3/6/2012 1:27:58 PM
Adding my 2 cent to the conversation. What I do agree with is that you should notify people by email or their psn accounts. Don't get me wrong I like sony, but I sure as hell and many others don't follow them around like a puppy dog.
It is not much of a schedule maintenance if they don't contact the majority of their customers by the best possible medium. Which would be through their psn accounts.
I agree with most of you, but Beamboom as well.
Palpatations is definitely dead flat wrong about "random" maintenance. I've heard of every single maintenance issue since the outage, but that's because I follow PSN on twitter and I visit this site almost every day. The twitter thing alone guarantees I hear of these announcements straight to my phone when I'm not even home! lol And Palpatations has a history of bemoaning Sony without evidence, but that's neither here nor there.
On the other hand, Beamboom is right in that social media and blogs aren't the best way to inform your consumers. There's no way that could reach everyone. NO way. None. A PSN message to all users would reach more people for sure. PSN has sent messages to all users before. Why not for maintenance announcements?
So in that respect, yes, I agree there are better ways to inform people… especially when you have all those palpatations out there that assume the worst before reading published words…..
Unfortunately, they're allowed to vote with their wallets as well, afterall.
Last edited by Underdog15 on 3/7/2012 2:11:48 PM
My finger on the pulse says it's largely forgotten, people have short memories and when it comes to entertainment they are willing to forgive and forget just about anything in time. I don't agree that Sony was to blame in the first place, but that's how the cookie crumbled.
People like myself that had 2 credit cards opened up in their name and had their bank account emptied out from thieves are not as quick to forget Sony's negligence.
I would love to say that I have "Faith" in Sony at this point, but I can't.
PS: How do I get on this mailing list that notifies me of scheduled maintenance? I regularly check the e-mail that is registered with PSN/SEN and I never receive notifications of scheduled maintenance. The only notification I receive is when I personally take the time to contact Sony or log on to gaming sites and check forums and/or editor posts.
@Palp: Are you saying people stole your money from when PSN was attacked? If so I call bull$hit! Their was no trace of credit card info stolen it was just your basic info that people can get online anyways.
If you visit the Playstation blog than you will see the notices when PSN will be down or follow them on twitter like Highlander said above.
Pal-
I read your comments and am curious if you took advantage of the identity theft protection plan Sony offered. You said your personal information was compromised, but Sony offered help in that, so I'd be curious if you acted on it or not?
Cool. Someone with a brain.
Your identity theft issue is probably unrelated, you are just looking for someone to focus your anger on. Even if it is, that's always the price of transacting online. I just found out my credit card was run up by an unknown party, was I mad? You bet I was, but I'm not going to stop transacting online. Convenience has a price.
If you want to spread blame for what happened to you, spread it reasonably. Even if Sony was negligent with their security you should still only place about 10% of the blame on them and 90% on the hackers. But you can't put a name or face on the hackers so you've chosen Sony.
Credit Card info doesn't let people open up credit cards in your name… your personal info, address, and SSN (or SIN) do. You got robbed some other way. A PSN hack -could- have helped, but it wouldn't have caused it… unless you keep all that sensitive info in your email account and you use the same password everywhere…
Then it's just negligence on your part….
That maintenance yesterday ruffled the feathers of some friends of mine, lol.
But as far as consumer faith is concerned, i think Sony has nothing much to worry about. They have my trust.
Folks are still jumpy though.
Last edited by Fox hounder on 3/5/2012 10:18:32 PM
I have faith in the service for sure, however I also understand that NO network is safe from hackers. That outage wasn't a huge deal to me either as I have a bunch of single player games that don't require me to be online, and the clan I'm in has its own website so we were able to talk on a daily basis still.
The only thing I hope for in those situations is that the companies and justice systems go after these hackers and punish them to the fullest extent of their law(whatever country the hack originates from).
I never had to have my faith restored because I've always had faith in Sony.
It was those s#^&%^^ Scumbag hackers that I'd love to teach a lil attitude adjustment 101, if you know what I mean.
Yes and no in a way because I no longer use my credit/bank cards on the network I buy psn cards.
Same here I no longer use my bankcard either only psn cards.
Yes, just for some extra security I buy PSN cards instead of leaving my credit card on the network.
Last edited by AcHiLLiA on 3/5/2012 11:35:02 PM
Just do you all know, PSN is largely secure. Your credit card information was not – and it's work repeating that in capital letters – NOT compromised. Just like the password data that was supposedly obtained during the attack last year was NOT in plain text – it was hashed. There are a hell of a lot of myths and untruths told about those events, and still no one wants to listen.
As for using cards online. You have two choices, do and do not. Any time you can use an indirect service to pay for things, you should. But do not imagine that just because you buy PSN cards that your card transaction is safe. What if the retailer you buy through is compromised? What if the PSN card number that you buy has already been used and 'put back' on the shelf by some thief?
There are so many ways you can be conned or swindled that do not touch PSN that I can't count them. The fundamental rule is always be wary.
Why the lecture for taking precautions?
Because every time this topic comes up, there are always many readers that don't know. The comment is meant for all, not aimed at you.
Last edited by TheHighlander on 3/6/2012 11:09:01 AM
Highlander, I know what ur saying, but PSN cards is just a safer route for me.
Last edited by AcHiLLiA on 3/6/2012 12:19:00 PM
I think High is just trying to say you guys are paranoid and I agree.
@jawknee, paranoid me, then if u agree, then u got it all wrong.
Last edited by AcHiLLiA on 3/6/2012 12:42:54 PM
Sorry I speak English.
… not sure why High's post was taken personally.
I never lost my faith in Sony 🙂 they have given me years of fun and games, they least I could gavee hem was patience and trust
I dont think faith was ever lost or "restored", simply people were trolling.
Never lost faith in Sony, not once.
Last edited by CrusaderForever on 3/5/2012 11:31:43 PM
Also, anyone that is interested in getting the digital Mass Effect 3 can start downloading it at 12:01am according to the PS Blog!! Now that's what I am talking about. I am a physical copy guy, but this is how it's done when you want the digital copy. Nicely done Sony! What a great day this has been thanks to Sony!
Last edited by CrusaderForever on 3/5/2012 11:55:55 PM
wow its like sony are a religion lol
Last edited by Godslim on 3/6/2012 5:40:23 AM
It was quite a tragedy, because not too long beforehand PS3 was becoming more recommended around here before the month long mishap. Right now I concur with the thought of how it's been forgotten.. at least until the horrid picture of "PS3: It only does Offline" makes a return to news sites again.
Last edited by VampDeLeon on 3/6/2012 12:02:51 AM
Funny how people freak out yet Sony warned us and even postponed it a day. Not to mention they kept access to some parts while they worked on others.
Maybe its just on my side of things. But the network is faster for me right now after the maintenance.
I never lost any faith in Sony and the PSN. The problem has been delt with and I'm sure the network is stronger than ever, and continuing to get better.
What really pisses me off is when Sony announces that they will bring to the network down beforehand, and when they take it down ignorant jackasses jump all over the Internet and scream and cry and tell everyone it has been hacked again. Some of those idiots just can't let it go. But they wouldn't have noticed it if they weren't back online playing.
All in all, I'd say at least 98% of users are back online and enjoying it.
Last edited by Jed on 3/6/2012 2:42:31 AM
i never lost faith, some (media etc.) acted like the world was
comming to an end.
now, if it had been XBL, ms would've thrown money around to keep
it quiet and out of the media.