Cloud Gaming / Stream

[Thaliruth]

Hello Standing Stone Games,
I allowed them to play on the Shadow.Tech service where I get a Virtual Cliud PC to play Lotro? Or will I be banned?


With WOW Blizzard it is forbidden according to AGB, but here at Lotro I find nothing to it

[Cordovan]

I believe this is the first time this has come up. I am slightly familiar with Shadow, but not with the details. I am not sure what behavior it might allow that could result in a ban, but I can't see the simple use of a virtual machine to play LOTRO be the direct cause of one, assuming you are on your own account and such.

[LabadalofDorlomin]

Funny thing... I remember wondering how long it would take before we had virtual top of the range pc environments for the general populace and then promptly thought nothing more of it.

It seems that this has now caught up......

If anybody is using, I would love to hear how the virtual environment translates onto your aged equipment and if it really lives up to all that is advertised?

[Valamar]

Funny thing... I remember wondering how long it would take before we had virtual top of the range pc environments for the general populace and then promptly thought nothing more of it.

It seems that this has now caught up......

If anybody is using, I would love to hear how the virtual environment translates onto your aged equipment and if it really lives up to all that is advertised?

Not a good sign. I tried to visit their web site to get the details and got a constant stream of 404's! . . .

Keep in mind that LOTRO as currently existant, won't run any better on a $2000 computer than it runs on a cheap PC or Mac . . . It's still a single threaded 32-bit game.

[Fredelas]

Keep in mind that LOTRO as currently existant, won't run any better on a $2000 computer than it runs on a cheap PC or Mac . . . It's still a single threaded 32-bit game.

It might look better and have a better framerate, though, especially if the user does have a fast internet connection but doesn't have a powerful graphics card.

[Thaliruth]

It might look better and have a better framerate, though, especially if the user does have a fast internet connection but doesn't have a powerful graphics card.

I agree with you. New AAA titles run wonderfully and can only talk positively about Shadow

[Nosdracir]

It might look better and have a better framerate, though, especially if the user does have a fast internet connection but doesn't have a powerful graphics card.

At a cost of $35 per month, it doesn't seem to be a good option for someone who can't afford a new graphics card.

I read a bunch of the testimonial comments and a lot of them emphasize the flexibility of being able to play their games on a tablet or low end laptop when away from home.

[Rugongrod]

So let me wrap my head around this. You send keystrokes and mouse-clicks to a server, that server then relays those keystrokes and mouse-clicks to another server. The second server then sends back the results to the first server which then "streams" those results back to the "home" device?

I don't get it. People are already head over tails about "lag". This seems like it would just contribute to said "lag." And at that price point playing on an android device, which realistically is the only real reason to use this service, just isn't a viable option for anyone except maybe the financially independent.

[Arestelle]

It might look better and have a better framerate, though, especially if the user does have a fast internet connection but doesn't have a powerful graphics card.

And run cooler, I hope? My laptop has a discrete graphics card and pretty high specs, but I have to run a cooling pad and set the graphics down to medium to keep the heat from spiking at 88+ F.

[macbeth2012]

Hello Standing Stone Games,
I allowed them to play on the Shadow.Tech service where I get a Virtual Cliud PC to play Lotro? Or will I be banned?


With WOW Blizzard it is forbidden according to AGB, but here at Lotro I find nothing to it

It looks like the WOW bans are coming from the fact that the WOW TOS specifically prohibits cloud based computers. Currently, there are no prohibitions to cloud based computers in the LOTRO TOS (that I can find), so without specific clarification of the TOS, you should be OK. However, the issue will be that LOTRO is designed to run on a single core processor and only has a 32 Bit client, so jumping to a much higher spec PC (read modern PC) can, and likely will, create some of the lag issues that have been reported.

[maartena]

I believe this is the first time this has come up. I am slightly familiar with Shadow, but not with the details. I am not sure what behavior it might allow that could result in a ban, but I can't see the simple use of a virtual machine to play LOTRO be the direct cause of one, assuming you are on your own account and such.

The only thing I can think of here.... is that because Shadow.tech uses shared IP addresses (in other words, potentially hundreds if not thousands of players might play from the same IPv4 address) that if ONE of those players does something nasty, and SSG decides an IP-address ban is warranted.... that it would affect other players as well. I believe SSG has banned a lot of VPN IP address ranges when they were used for gold selling tactics.

That said, if this DOES happen, the account is not banned, and the player can just jump back to the Lotro install locally. Not that I think people would waste $34.95 a month for the service just to get themselves banned.....