OUR problem.. really???

I was quite ready to pass the whole double academy thing off as just yet another unfortunate bug... UNTIL I read the response from Wizz:

"Since there was an announcement stating that these extra permits should not be built, refunds will not be possible."

SERIOUSLY?????? You think that posting a notice.. not even up front, not even truly tagged as important in any way, just mostly a comment to other people's threads and one small note .. you SERIOUSLY think that is "due notice"?

You are flat out wrong! Most players never even come to forums. They want to play and if it cannot be figured out "in game".. the game is not worth it. I, (obviously) am one of the few exceptions. Even so, I definitely do NOT come here before playing on a regular basis. I come when I have a problem or question OR when I am at a "pause" point and am bored.. maybe waiting for something to finish building, etc.

Understand, had you simply said "oops, we goofed, sorry technical errors keep us from offering refunds".. I might have questioned it, but I you would not be reading this rant! Instead, you gave a response that shows complete lack of understanding of how people get communications in this game (in truth, as opposed to your ideal beliefs of what you think ought to happen). I already said in my earlier responses that the loss of product was not that big a deal, I was unhappy about the loss of the vitamin packs, but mistakes happen. However, your response turned a mistake into basically "too bad..you were just too stupid to go and read our notices, so we could care less and have no obligation to correct OUR error.. you goofed, tough." NO real apology even, just "well, we goofed, but you missed our notice, so its your tough luck".

A simple apology would probably have sufficed. Instead, you decide to insult us and blame US for YOUR error!

That attitude, that plain failure to understand how people pay, get information is a big reason why many of us plain won't spend money here. If you cannot even communicate with us, show us basic respect when you cause errors... then why on earth would we want to spend real money here?


A REAL notice would have been flashed as soon a we logged in... This is very technically possible. Not this buried "announcement" in miscellaneous threads.

 

I think you missed a very important point here, this issue is restricted to a few players scattered around the world in 20 different languages.
You think that an announcement to all 3 Million active accounts around the world is the best approach to what is at best effecting 2000 players.

Try to think of the emails that would generate from everyone else around the world and the time it would take to answer them all.

Not all things are as easy as some people think to fix.

 

I don't think he was asking for emails. I think he was asking for some type of message when we log in when there is a critical issue. While I don't share his angst over this issue, I do understand how he feels.

If it effects even 200 (much less 2000) of your customers, then that should be critical enough to post a very noticeable warning of some type that Anyone can see when they log in to the game. On the loading screen...or on the little UI that pops up to choose which area you want to go to. Maybe even just a "flashing exclamation point" that is bright red, which would signal for someone to come to the forums and read an important notice of some type.

I am not a programmer, so I have no Idea how difficult that would be to make happen, but I am sure it would solve a lot of "NON communication" issues in the future. Because I do understand how this person feels about sometimes the "team" does make it seem like our issues are not important. Even one unhappy customer is going to effect more than just that one. Word of mouth has a way of trickling down hill and effecting many.

Just my two cents worth

 

This is the biggest reason why I stopped buying MM's. I see answers like this all the time

 

I think you missed a very important point also. The Official Announcement was a warning to the mayors.

Therefore, Rising Cities team was trying to tell us to not do something in the game for fear of causing future problems. A warning to all three million active users would not be out of line. What would have been the result if all three million active accounts had used the extra permits before they were removed? Sounds like a potentially bigger mess than the trouble of putting up a banner at sign in saying "Important Official Announcement go to the Forum and read" along with the advertising to get us to buy starter packs and MM's. Once again just one persons opinion.

 

I think we have another missed point here (sorry if I sound pedantic) only a tiny fraction of the active accounts will see the extra permits.
And even fewer will try and use them, this announcement alone has created many hours of questions and answers so I go back to my earlier statement.

Telling the whole world we have a problem in a pop up will crate an answer backlash that will prevent us doing what we do for months.

We do what we can to advise you all but really a pop up for the entire world for a pimple would be a disaster for us in support.

 

All of the above is true, but my biggest complaint was that when these errors happen, it is up to us, the customers to go through hoops to solve problems YOU, the business, created.

Telling us is YOUR job.. period!

Goofs happen. No way to prevent that. But, the difference between a reasonable, responsive business, and one that makes it clear customers are the least of their concerns is how they deal with those errors. In this case, in other cases, the attitude of Rising cities (maybe Bigpoint as a whole?) is "yeah, we goofed, but too bad.. you did not leap through our hoops, you expected too much... we could care less"

The fact that this is advertised as a free game does not change the principle. You make it free because you have found that is the best way to draw people in and then get them to spend money. Not responding to people is no way to do that, either.

AND.. no, I definitely do NOT want as bunch of emails! My email box is so clogged already its hard for me to find truly important school notices and such.

Per the "only a few people" issue... not true. You already have to distinguish through language, other issues. Tag on the announcement to those vectors. OR put out a banner that says something like "US customers, check announcements"

Posting error problems like this, things that are immediate in nature and not readily correctable if we fail to see the notice NEED to be put somewhere other than the forums. Forums are absolutely NOT an effective means of communication for anything other than general information because most people just never go to them.

ALSO, the fact that you have only a handful of complaints means little... UNLESS you take into consideration that only 1 in 40 people ever complain.. most just leave and you never find out why.

At this point, I am ready to ditch the game. I figured since I posted that "rant", I should at least see it through to the end, but I come to the site for entertainment, not aggravation and lack of repect. The only reason I have stayed is it has not cost mean any real money. That said, I have spent money on other online games, but nothing here really makes me want to do so. That is sad. Its basically a good game, a good concept. A few glitches, but considering its just barely 2 years old, not bad. This attitude, though, has to GO!

 

Opening the forum and checking the Official Announcements takes what...20 seconds max? As much as I agree on a general lack of information/communication, I think the user can take on tiny bits of responsibility too. E.g. IF users did take those 20 seconds of checking that one section of the forum (which is after all at the top and easy to check if there is anything new), staff and support wouldn't have to deal with 2nd academies and such for days.

(Plus, in my mind, it is totally logical that a 2nd academy mustn't be built, so I don't get why people stupidly/blindly click and do stuff in the first place and THEN come to the forum to complain.)

 

I never would have come to the forum if it I hadn't had an obvious bug that I needed fixed. It wasn't until I read other peoples complaints that I realized I had other bugs. I think its safe to say very few players would ever go to the forum. And I think its a good thing that most players don't go to the forums (it means their gameplay is smooth enough to enjoy and simple enough to cater to the masses).

Building a 2nd academy is logical. Why wouldn't you want to maximize the amount of trainees you can get? It takes 30+ hours to train a good officer, you don't know if officers quit on you, or what the gameplay mechanics of the officer is. The ingame information is very limited. Again, you're assuming most people go to the forums, which I think would be a sign that the game is doing poorly. This is a casual game, the audience is going to be very wide and includes both dedicated gamers who will check for strats as well as laid back gamers who just want to experience the game without any assistance.

I'm not saying I don't enjoy the forums, I think the community is really cool here. But I only got involved by chance. And I wanted to explain why some people are upset that the warning to avoid buying two academies wasn't more visible OR that there is no refund for the academies.

My personal belief is that if its truly on <10% of the players then:

1) Yes, a mass warning would cause more panic than good and should be avoided.

2) What's the harm of refunding them the material? Now I believe there might be a technical limitation to refunding material, I know its been said that due to technical reasons, MM may not be returned, so if this is a technical issue where material may not be returned, then I think I would be a lot more understanding with the current BP stance.

Either way, I hope Eva realizes that we are all human. The devs, staff and volunteers at BP and RC are all prone to mistakes and maybe the wrong choice of language. I will admit that this game is one of the more time demanding casual games out there and so it invokes a little more passion among its users. So I see where the frustration is coming from in Eva's post. Hopefully we can get by the frustration and look forward to the positives. I think Eva's point was made clear and I also think the bugs that have been plaguing us are lessened greatly (at the expense of some 4k people, but we can't change that now). This issue is a one time thing, no more people will be affected by the two academy bug. And now the devs and staff can focus on new exciting updates as well as minor tweaks to finish off the rest of the minor bugs. In the future, staff and volunteers will remember your words of wisdom and will choose their words more carefully. So thank you for your input Eva. It will make the gaming experience better in the future. Hopefully you continue to play and see what new and exciting features BP/RC have planned!

 

20s for checking once, yep. What happen one min after you leave or are looking on something else like your city?
To be almost safe from this type of thing you need to check the forum a lot, and you can still miss a OA by a sec.

 

Topic moved.
In the future please use Speaker's Corner or Ideas Section if you wish to discuss or make a a game request.