Evony is a new, free, browser MMO. And their marketing consists of spamming up the internet like crazy. This blog is receiving a huge number of spam “comments” from them. Fortunately Akismet anti spam puts them automatically into the bin. Here are some of the email addresses they are using for this spam:
tsenseless.evony.com/bx8s07@naplesnews.net
tsenseless.evony.com/4cdtyg0fv@hotmail.com
tsenseless.evony.com/m36fqptkw2@naplesnews.net
tsenseless.evony.com/sfhwrv@live.com
tsenseless.evony.com/fhgpzdbk80@naplesnews.net
tsenseless.evony.com/w85@darkhorsefan.net
tsenseless.evony.com/xycw5vd@student.com
tsenseless.evony.com/ndh4pr1@bolt.com
tsenseless.evony.com/f3ypkg6@postmark.net
tsenseless.evony.com/ftcs@usa.com
tsenseless.evony.com/6n8ck@naplesnews.net
tsenseless.evony.com/rjd@email.com
And so on. They are doing this from the IP address 63.223.110.211
Whois Record
OrgName:    Beyond The Network America, Inc.
OrgID:Â Â Â Â Â Â BNA-42
Address:    450 Springpark PL
Address:    Suite 100
City:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Herdon
StateProv:Â Â VA
PostalCode:Â 20170
Country:Â Â Â Â US
NetRange:Â Â Â 63.216.0.0Â -Â 63.223.255.255
CIDR:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 63.216.0.0/13
NetName:Â Â Â Â BTN-CIDR5
NetHandle:Â Â NET-63-216-0-0-1
Parent:Â Â Â Â Â NET-63-0-0-0-0
NetType:    Direct Allocation
NameServer:Â NS.CAIS.COM
NameServer:Â NS2.CAIS.COM
Comment:Â Â Â Â ADDRESSESÂ WITHINÂ THISÂ BLOCKÂ AREÂ NON-PORTABLE
RegDate:Â Â Â Â 1999-12-09
Updated:Â Â Â Â 2004-11-12
OrgAbuseHandle:Â PAD13-ARIN
OrgAbuseName:Â Â Â PCCWÂ AUPÂ Department
OrgAbusePhone:Â Â +1-703-621-1637
OrgAbuseEmail:Â Â
Edit: I have written a second Evony article giving an overview and background.
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Joyce,
If you’re struggling to get your husband off the computer, wear a low cut dress and say “Art thou coming hither to thy chamber, my lord”?
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How is this any different to the multitude of facebook games that require u to visit websites in exchange for cresits/coins whatever, and yes you can skip the mission and just pay by credit card/paypal.
I started playing evony on thursday, its been fun so far, and not as time consuming as other games, cos u limited in what u can do (upgrade 1 building at a time etc) so unless you want to watch the poor animation for 5min-1hr, you switch over and do something else,all the while resources accumulate. I havent needed to BUY any coins and wont anyway, you get most stuff through rewards.
BUT I am concerned by the sinister (sounding) developers and whether they are in fact using my bandwidth to do something else behind the scenes. Although the game doesnt seem to be bandwidth intensive, i have noticed a distinct drop in performance when downloading and Evony is running in the back ground. Im gonna do a malware sweep tonight.
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Stop being pusscakes its a free online game!
I have recently started playing Evony, it is an online multi-player strategy game. At first I was just checking it out to see what all the hype was about. I continued to play because of the atmosphere and online neighborhood. I joined an alliance right away and the quest instructions were very clear and helpful. The combination of these two things gives this game an upper hand on any other game I have played in this category because you get the support of your fellow players and the admin team. The 7 day protection is a great way to build your empire so you dont get rocked by a feuding enemy which is amazing because it makes you be able to get into everything and learn the skills before you gradually go further into the game. I would reccommend this game to anyone who likes strategy games (especially medieval ones) and would also rate it as the best game to just pick up and play for new folks too! The intergration right on the browser makes it available pretty much anywhere anytime.
Come play,
DooHaBucS
Server 30
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OK. I don’t care if evony is a cool game or not. Just do not use some chick’s breasts (or some sluts with provocative looks) as your advertisement.
sickening, if this goes on I will sue google.
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Tatiana, you are a retard. You even use the word “slut” to refer to the women in the advertising. Holy cow, just stick your head in a bucket already, or, maybe, sue yourself! Ha ha!
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So the ugly looking bitch has a problem with the slut with provocative looks ha ? Welcome to the 21st Centuary Tatiana !
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OK, here’s how I see it. It’s run by the Chinese, which a lot of people find worrisome this day and age… it’s run by gold farmers who nobody, but gold buyers, are fond of. That’s a separate issue in and of itself, and not really associated with evony. Evony is a symptom of an overall ‘gold-seller problem’.
The other major issue seems to be their ad campaign practices. While I disagree with spamming and the like, one can hardly blame evony for slapping some pixel-skin on their ads just because people are clicking it. The fact of the matter is that its a great way to get a first look, but if people are looking for some jollies, they won’t have to wait long to find out evony’s not that kinda site, and thus as an ad campaign it has no real staying value. People play the game because they like the game. Aside from this particular site, most seem to just complain about false advertising (just funny, not technically anything criminal about the lack of half-nude women) and how the game is boring (hardly a crime).
Also, my take on the censoring of comments by evony staff: Yeah, sorta lame, until you stop and think that all MMO games function pretty much the same way. Why not hop on the Warcraft boards and start calling for a boycott until they do something about dirty role playing where kids can see it (a legitimate concern for lots of people) and see how long before they remove the thread. Besides, it’s China, a land currently based on government censorship, hardly surprising they’d go that route.
Oh, and as far as the woman with the addicted husband… No one online twists one’s arm for money in this game, although they make it pretty easy to spend. You don’t -have- to spend money to make it big in the game, it just takes more of a time investment. Oh, and speaking of which, the time he’s spending online with this game isn’t playing. The game is specifically designed to be played over large amounts of time. While the first few buildings and upgrades come quickly, the majority of the game is carried out over spans of hours, days, or weeks in which the player can do little more than wait. Same thing goes if they’re big in attacking other players. Eventually you’re pillaged out for a while. If your husband is spending 8 hours a day glued to his screen, he’s not doing anything but watching timers and talking to his online buddies. Evony isn’t the problem, he’s got problems with addiction. If it’s not Evony, it will be something else, and not necessarily a video game. He’s gonna need counseling, I’d wager, but he’s gonna have to want to do it himself.
In short, I think folks make a bigger deal of this game than it is. The people who support them financially and buy game coins are the same people who buy gold in games like WoW, whereas the people who don’t (IF they like evony at all) will play it the ‘hard’ way, because they like the challenge of a good game. If they’re advertising in a way that offends your sensibilities, I hate to say it but ‘Welcome to the Internet, it only goes downhill from here…’ If you’re offended because they advertised ‘bewbies’ and you didn’t get any, grow up. If you’re offended because they’re Chinese, take stock of the items you have in your home that were produced there, or have components that were. If you’re offended because they sell gold, get mad at the buyers who keep them in business and create such a market. If you’re offended because the game is boring, go play something else. Pretty sure that will cover everyone’s contingencies.
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i was about to enter the game tonight, when this article came across my view. i hate adds, even thought its known that they support the free part of the game. i just hate them to death.
thank you for preventing me from being dissappointed.
long live Hard copy games.
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I have the I-Evony Client and it did have some kind of malware but not sure cuz my virus protector shut it down and deleted it as soon as i Installed
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My guess is it was identified as such because it’s designed to access e-mail systems from a third party program. In otherwords, I can use it to send an invite via an aol e-mail account without actually logging into aol to do it.
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Boy, you people get upset over the most trivial things. Evony hasn’t cost me a dime yet and I have been playing for about a month now. I have two cities on the game and I enjoy it. The bloke that said he hates advertising: have you looked around? Advertising is everywhere. Do you wander around with blinders so you never have to look at a billboard? Do you get all upset when a commercial plays on TV? Perhaps the reason he doesn’t like ads is he lacks the self control not to purchase everything because he saw a clever ad about it. That’s your fault pal, not the ads. Making you part with coin is the purpose of advertising after all.
As far as the litigation aspect of it goes, the United States as well as some of the other industrialized nations are in bad need of tort reform and a loser pays system. Amazon is being sued by a 17 year old high school student over the loss of the book “1984” removed from his Kindle. The upshot is he couldn’t complete his assignment because the book was no longer on his Kindle. Amazon found out they didn’t have the publishing rights to the text so the removed it to prevent a copyright infringement suit and the got sued by this moron anyway. If we had a loser pays system this 17 year old moron who doesn’t possess the wherewithal to go to a library and check out the print edition of George Orwell’s book “1984” would be responsible for paying Amazon’s legal fees. That would put an end to much of this type on nonsense. Before you get upset that this would limit the peoples access to civil courts, the simple solution would be bond underwriting the same method that criminals use now to bond out of jail. If they can do it it not a stretch for a bondsman to underwrite the loser pays escrow.
Remember, Evony is a free game that will try to sell you stuff each time you login to play. Whether you buy anything is entirely up to you. Evony isn’t going to charge anyone a fee to play because the would kill the golden goose. There are enough credit card wielding idiots playing the game now. I’m just not one of them.
BTW, I’ve earned 40 credits which is worth 4 game coins by advertising my join link in the same places I found it…on opt-in traffic exchanges. I don’t want to upset our ad hater bloke, you’ll find ads on opt-in traffic exchanges.
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I have played evony for few weeks now and it does not have fair play if you build up to high lvl without spending any cash you get wiped out ,My opion is they have in game players to do this to make you spends money to re build game SUCKS……………………..
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Well, all I can say is it looks like Evony sucks ass.
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In game advertising sux. It’s not a matter of “OMG can I resist the temptation to buy”, but more the annoyance factor. I hated the gold spammers on WoW and no doubt would detest the Evony scams / spammers even more.
Secondly, be very very wary of installing their software. If you’ve heard of the “Storm worm” then you’ll know what I mean. China has a bad reputation for malware and you might just get a permanent infection to be implemented by the perpetrator at an indeterminate time in the future. Oh and if you think your current virus scanners / malware programs will detect it, you may be mistaken. “Storm” can be detected on individual computers only. Try to remove it and the program attacks. It can’t be detected across a broad range of computers because it modifies its own code every time it transmutes. Imagine what they could download to your computer upon install ….
And hey maybe that’s not their intention, but they sure do seem like a sneaky company to me.
Thirdly, who the hell wants a fun game to suddenly turn bad, after you’ve dedicated hundreds of hours to it, by the bots attacking your towns (and all your alliance too) just because you guys decided not to pay real cash for improvements? Maybe they weren’t bots, but how would you know? Obviously they could generate messages like F@#$ you loser (or whatever).
Hey your alliance better get these guys, lets spend some real dollars and kick butt!!!
Easy way to sucker new buyers into their cash economy …..
Fourthly, yeah I’ve done a fair bit of reading into this game (including their forums). Sounds quite fun in some ways, but the battle mechanics need a serious revamp.
What army in history has ever won that focuses so strongly on catapults and archers (to the point of needing no skirmishers)?
Fifthly, big tits / hot chick (no I didn’t say filthy, please learn to read lol), forget about her, that’s just advertising. If you buy a womens magazine you’ll find much the same story. Come to think of it, if you buy a mens magazine same again. Check out the TV, billboards, utube, mailbox paraphernalia, taxi cabs, blimps and yes even National Geographic. Just a fact of life. If you get suckered in by it then perhaps you’ll learn for the next time when you’re bombarded by sexy advertising.
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A priceless advice for anyone who considers playing Evony: first, register in their forums and read carefully, specifically the Bug section. You will see what people experience for months: the American company who is behind the project could not care less about any complaints people report. People write, they lose real money in the game, experience loss of access for days following upgrades, bugs that leave they behind in the game – I repeat, they report they lose the real money they put in the game – but they never get any replies from the service. In the forum, players who report these issues get banned (go see it with your own eyes, it is all visible), and the topics get closed by admins without a reason.
According to me, these guys have no future.
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Hey Bruce,
if you have ever played Age of Empires II (Cheap game now, it is ten years old!) you will see the perspective and graphics are just stolen from it.
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Graphics stolen – I don’t care.
Copyright infringed – I don’t care.
Adds sexist – so are >50% of all adds I see everywhere.
Adds stolen – I don’t care.
System copied, ripped off – I don’t care.
Now… costs money – no it doesn’t. You can do everything in the game without paying a single cent/penny/etc. If you choose to spend money on “a game” then it’s your stupidity if you don’t want to.
What don’t I like about Evony.
There is no contact or admin support, at all. Zero, absolutely nothing. I can’t post on the forum. My existing account is not banned but I can’t login. When I ask for password reminder – nothing. When I contact via bugreport – nothing. If I try to create a new account – can’t. I have no way to contact Evony for any legitimate reason. But, meh, it’s free, so no one has any right to complain – though I know they will anyway.
So overall, if it seems to be too good to be true – it probably is. “Free” stuff on the internet is >95% not free. Money doesn’t grow on trees and all that. The only way I know to get good stuff free is download it illegally. There are a few exceptions, but that’s the general rule. So Evony isn’t any different from all the other gumph on the internet – but that doesn’t stop anyone does it.
If it’s that bad, throw away your computer. Get a life. Go rockclimbing or travel. But if you complain, you’re wasting more time than you waste playing MMOs. As far as I can see, it’s just another form of attention seeking. Nobodies forcing you – are they?
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i dont understand, evony is a great game like age of empires or empire earth (sort of) but why Bruce Everiss are u critizizing the game like that? maybe some people dont like the game but its really dumb to post this and send it to evony. all i can say bruce is good luck with the lawsuit
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Sigh.. I’m Chinese and I could tell it was a Chinese game just by looking at the style of advertising. Ironically most Chinese people would probably recognize it as a money-grubbing scam (there’s 100 times more “games” like this in China), and avoid it right away. You westerners need to smarten up, because I bet this kind of thing will be commonplace in the future, and not just from China either.
Unfortunately, even the internet is not immune to shanzhai garbage…
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Evony, which used to be Civony, is changing it’s name again. Now it’s Kingory. Exact same game yet again, same stupid advertising tactics, just a new name.
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When you see the ads, click on them and then close the browser.
You will make money for the site the shows the ad.
The real win is that EVONY will have to pay for all those clicks! When they run out of money for ads, the ads will stop.
So, please click on all the ads you see! this will get them gone!
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I played this game for about 2 months and did not miss one day. It destroys you to the point that you worry about sleeping in case someone attacks you and 2 months worth of work is blown. I never paid a cent to play this game and got into the top 300 on the server through hard work. But playing before, during and after work each day and 12-15 hours a day on weekends, neglecting my wife and child tooks its toll. After a total commitment to the game I walked away after appologising to my alliance members and plan not to return. This is a single persons game because you have to leave everything else behind to stay at the top. Good game, I agree, but nerve and relationship destroying
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I, too was planning on blogging about the similarities between Civ 3 and 4 and the ludicrous ad campaign, but I think I will most likely link to your blog since you have pretty much covered the gamut, so to speak. Great job as always Mr. Everiss. Keep up the HONEST GOOD WORK!!!!! The world needs more people like you!
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OMG Boobs on the internet!!!!!
NOOOO, What has this world come too!!!!
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this game needs to be flushed down the toilet.
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The game blows and the advertisement is just a hook it’s not worth the time. you might as well go out and get a good game. I played it for maybe 20 minutes and was like wow this is no fun what so ever it’s nothing to get excited over unless your lonely and just want to stair at the advertisements.
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…. think above would b bad enough …. check out evony forum re: hundreds, if not thousands of complaints made by paying customers of offer termed 250c for $5! Sheeish! What a disappointment.
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p.s. don’t believe me? take a look:
http://bbs.evony.com/showthread.php?t=59914
http://bbs.evony.com/showthread.php?t=58818
this is just example of TWO thread compliants – there are numerous others.
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DO NOT PLAY THIS GAME!!!!
I figured I give it a shoot and check it out.I have never played a game like this before. I learned my lesson in this game you buy coins to purchase items to use and play this game. I had items, coins and other thing go missing into thin air over night!!!?? Other items just dont work and cause problems playing the game!! I spent over $300 usd on this game when I noticed that ..ha I couldnt have use this and that, So I started watching the game more carefully when I noticed the problems. I have sent 10-15 emails to everyone I could to figure out a way to fix this problems. All I get back is the same reply email telling me how to log in onto the server??? Thats not the problem Im having! They use and hide behind Paypay as a way of payment leaving you feel safe cause after all “paypal is the safest way to pay online” NOT!! paypal will not help you and they know that they are other people having this same problem with them but dont do anything about it.Its something that the buyer protection doesnt cover!
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lol yeah, there is an evony ad right next to the article. I found it ironic. But anyways, I’ll admit I played this game for about 2 days. Then it came down to the point that it took so long to do anything and I finally decided to quit playing this garbage due to they try to get you to pay. PAY!?!? For what? Absolutely nothing. It’s a waste of space and it kinda confuses me too as to why G is letting them run ads. I guess it all comes down to the Benjamins….
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Hey, I am spreading the news my friend. Check my blog at http://evonyscam.wordpress.com/
Keep up the good work Bruce, don’t give up.
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this game is rubish u have no control what so ever, all mmo are turning into crap.. and scams, they draw u with the social aspect then really ur just interacting with other losers (to the game ofcourse) 😛
why spend 300-500$ on this game while u can get a console or another game which u have full controll over.. want social aspect ? making a website finding local people with same interest to share your gaming needs and interact with real people… in general all MMO are scams… money makes company company needs to find ways to make money , and best money making tool is MMO games 😛 simple really..
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hey bruce i went to register on evony and it said my email address was been used by another emporer. how do i stop this so i can keep well away from evony?
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I’m tired seeing Evony’s shit adverts everywhere. I’m installing adblock now.
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Bruce … found this little tidbit on Evony’s Forum … it’s a billing claim from money brokers … check out the Regan Mechantile (Hong Kong) – I think HONG KONG IS in CHINA … last time I looked … amazing how Evony has claimed they r not China based corp but billing is coming from HONG KONG …. (perhaps a GLITCH??!!??) … just thought is was interesting …. copied directly from the evony forum ….
TRANSACTION CONFIRMATION
You have successfully made a payment to Regan Mercantile(Hong Kong) Limited using your credit/debit card (VISA, xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx) on XX XXX 2009.
The amount of USD 50.00 has successfully been debited from your credit/debit card.
This charge will appear on your card statement as a debit by: MB*Moneybookers.com
Sincerest regards,
Moneybookers
*******************************
Moneybookers Ltd., London, Registered in England and Wales no 4260907.
Registered office: Welken House, 10-11 Charterhouse Square, London, EC1M 6EH, United Kingdom.
Authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority of the United Kingdom (FSA).
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Well I definately got a shit load of adgen trojans and different things etc by logging on to evony with my virus protection turned off.. 88 all up I had.. Michael Jackson songs would start playing then I could hear commercials coming out of my speakers but nothing on the screen.. also my e-mail address I use for evony is now constantly spammed every day wif crap.. I mean 100 email perday.. very annoying searching for real mail inbetween all the junk..
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I love the game (true some people in the chats are simple jerks, but what can you do?).
But, in regards to Bruce’s lawsuit and being Australian myself, that after reading some posts I felt compelled to make my own comments on EvonyMasters.com…….basically no so much as supportive of Bruce, but clearly on his side of the fence….and also clearly defendingthe Australian Courts – I am sure Evony will be fined minimum by courts if they proceed. This is due to the fact that I do know something of Corporate law and have been involved in IT (alot in security) for some time (over 10yrs). I am totally convinced that evony is ‘walking the plank’ as I put it in regards to their vilification of a not-for-profit blogger.
Strangely enough – 2 mins after I posted that comment, The servers were upgraded and I can no longer log into my accounts. I fully suspect that my IP address may now have been blocked by them. We will see if that is the case….but its also true that everytime you complain about the many, many bugs in the programming you get no response except how to logon. Their lack of respect for the gaming community will ultimately be their downfall. Unfortunately…..
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I’ve been wondering whether it was a Nigerian scam after all.
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evony is a great game and sometimes i stay awake right through the night as i am while writing this.It is a great game but someone needs to make something like it that doesn’t involve paying for cents as it gives some an unfair advantage.
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Evony is the best!! but there are tons of ppl who are there just cuz they clicked on a add that has nothing to do with the game… and they end up not playing very long…
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i have played evony for almost 2 months now and while i think its a decent game (in some reguards) i dispise the constant encuragement to spend money on the game.
i did spend some money on it however the conversion is really pethetic compared to games like last chaos or perfect world (played both those for 7 months at a time) with evony its $1 = 10 cents with last chaos $1 = 100 AP with perfect world its $1 = 1 gold if i remember the currency right however perfect world may sound like it is a rip the value is pretty decent considering its got 2 forms of currency
in my time playing evony i have noticed several things that concerned me like it being nearly impossbale to progress with cities then the requiering items to make lv 10 buildings simplistic battle mechanics without visuals
overall i find runescape funner and a better value (btw if theres a reveiw on runescape id like to read it)
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I hate Evony because it tkes time away from my relationship. I think there should be more Computer addicts anonomys groups out there for people who spend more than 5 hrs leisure time with the computer than with their spouses.
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theres 2 other games so far thats just exactly like evony its http://www.napwar.com n killgory.com not sure if i spelled the last one right but their both almost exactly like evony just goes buy a different name n seems like better graphics to em then evony has
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I used to be a player on the game untell there was a large amount of racism. A player actualy named himself Hitler (guess what his allience name was). After weeks of complaing he was finaly gone. One of the players on my alliance was getting racist letters from members of a different alliance. Some how they found out she is from Vietnam. Even though we complained, and she sent the letters to the creaters nothing happened. I found out from a person in another alliance that that alliance spends a lot of money on the game. Since they care more about people who spend money on their game and not the other players. I just cann’t play.
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I don’t care. You’d swear someone stole your souls the way you all complain. IT IS JUST A USELESS GAME. If you don’t like it, play something else.
If your offended: BIG DEAL! No one cares. The world will always offend your principles, so get over it.
Don’t be schmuck – no one ever spends real currency on low quality nonsense – so DON’T. Spend your money on the people in your life or something. If you do spend it, then you asked for it. How can anyone in this day and age actually trust the internet?
It’s hilarious how some of the men complain about the false adds. Lol. Get over yourselves.
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Being said and done…I only came to interest when I googled ‘evony’ and wanted to see a gameplay video or screenshots today. I’ve seen the ads with the hot chicks in them for awhile now, but if your like me, that ad wouldnt faze you a bit. Today marketing and promoting is done in such tasteless ways that you ‘just have to accept it’ for face value. Personally Im more interested in the actual product then what ‘they’ use to sell it/how they sell it. Sure the ad is….’off topic’ if you will, but damn people ITS JUST AN AD…ITS JUST A GAME. If it offends you, ignore it. Plain and simple. If you really want to complain about something then why not bitch at the ‘women’s magazine’ developers. You look on the cover of ANY womens magazine and what do you see? You see a super model, looking all hot wearing skimpy ass clothing and what else do you see on the cover ‘How to have 21 days of scorching hot SEX’, ‘How to please any man’, ‘How to have better sex’, ‘How to turn up your sexlife’ etc etc etc. Which in turn – turns and manipulates all these young girls minds into turning and trying to be someone they really are not….or how about how America is messing up this world and how 9-11 was a lie and set up? or how about ranting for equal rights? There’s alot more messed up problems in this world and on the net…than a simple hot girl posing for a online game! I wish that people put this much effort into real problem solving.
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i used to play like months ago i get on now my city gone my stuff gone says i have earned 100,000,000
but dont have anything lol
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I have a huge problem with this game: My huby simply won’t switch it off. When I ask him to do so (at around 2 am in the morning) he pretends he is working… I looked into the history with him, just to proof him that I am not mistaken. Guess what he did?
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OK, I know some of you guys out there make your money with these games. That is ok. But what about addiction? How do you handle somebody who doesn’t want to see he is ruining his health! How do I approach him?
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I know. Same thing here.
After all I just expect to talk about having a LIFE for the whole FAMILY. I am not talking about a young man here… But all he did (after me trying to have a conversation) was telling me the game was boring anyway and he would stop at once. But this was AFTER GOING INCOGNITO – as if I was an enemy.