Sending a Clear Message

I will begin by saying I love this game, and that I sincerely appreciate everything the mods (and yes, the dev team) do do for us. There are also some wonderful players here. There are many reasons to keep playing despite frustrating errors and bugs, inconsistent communication, and what are in my opinion very bad business decisions. However, I have seen legitimate complaints on many issues from many players and the overall sentiment of players becoming increasingly negative (understandably so). Yes, this is a free game (thank you for that); but it is also a game that hopes we will spend our money on extras (starter packs, MM, etc.) I do agree that different cultures view different things in different ways. But I also believe in basic economics and the rules of good business vs. bad business.

Take for example the massive log in issues we recently experienced. Grateful we received a bonus code at all...and offended that BP apparently thinks a 6hr rent collector is adequate compensation or apology. On the one hand, no big deal because they owed me nothing and gave me something while showing they heard everyone and acted upon it. On the other hand it's a very big deal because it showed so little understanding of the actual losses (in game terms) of the players, and showed how little BP actually wants me to spend my money on the game. The reduction of MM given at the Cineplex will just make less players bother with it and thus less advertisers will spend money on ads for it; many players are thinking this has been done so more MM will be bought. And just how long has it been since the dev team gave us a producer's letter or any information about changes or improvements, etc. in the works...or that they have even heard of our long standing suggestions/requests/complaints?

One of the biggest problems with all of the ongoing complaints we players have (need for increased production, need for new events or at least different prizes, need for more frequent and open communication, etc.) is that there are so many threads and so many topics...I doubt BP and the RC devs truly comprehend just how upset we players are and how much of an impact this is having on RC's revenue generating potential. Customer satisfaction is essential to good business.

So here is my hail mary pass: a poll, and a thread, where we can talk about ALL the issues. A vote to show player's overall opinion whether the way the devs are doing things is good business or bad business from a customer satisfaction point of view. Beginning with a basic premise of "We like the game and appreciate your efforts" so we are not being ungrateful or unappreciative, this is an opportunity to appropriately air what we are unhappy about. Because BP needs to understand that doing some things right does not equate with it being ok to do other things wrong. Maybe, just maybe, if the mods have a single mountain in one spot instead of a million scattered pebbles....the devs might actually realize the magnitude of the problem and the need for immediate and comprehensive corrective action.

To all my fellow Mayors: be nice, be fair, be honest, and for goodness's sake grab your soapbox and speak up loud and clear. Let us show the devs we are a united community, that they have a loyal customer base, but also that we need to be heard! Please, whichever way you vote...add some comments so the devs will know what is on your minds and what needs attention.

 

I to love this game. I think the moderators are the most amazing people I have ever had dealings with. I am going to limit myself to one issue that effects all of the others. Communication. The moderators do a great job trying to keep the players informed but they are a go between, middle persons. They are not the creators or decision makers in the chain of command. We need to hear from the people who make the decisions and get explanations for why certain decisions and actions have been done. Not just speculation and rumor or second hand information.

For a comparison when was the last time you heard of a head of state or head of a company not talking to their constituents or customers except through their press secretaries. That is what it is like to have the producer and developers of Rising Cities only communicating with the players through their moderators. We need contact please.

Be honest, be frank, be consistent, be regular. We would rather hear to much than nothing.

 

Firstly i love this game as well, i started about 20 months ago and have seen many changes over this period of time, i mostly see positives in the game it is by far way better that any others that i have seen since i started gaming in 1998.
Being in Australia we seem to miss a lot of the problems that the northerners seem to have, over the past few months some of the small glitches we get here eg very slow game loading have improved somewhat, have had way less lost connections etc.
@ Billyjim i agree with most of what you have stated above, my main gripe is lack of communication from the devs and producers, yes it would be nice to have new events,rewards and higher levels for events, i believe that they will come in good time, last year we did get a couple of new events 3 new play fields and other incentives, i am sure we will see some this year as well.
to the mods Pirate Strider and Tassie we surely appreciate your time and efforts

 

Thank you, Billyjim, and well said. Proof that we can praise the good while still asserting just and fair concerns. I also must agree that the central issue here is lack of communication; which is exactly why I am hoping that many Mayors out there will say whatever it is they need to say, here in one spot, so the mods can take that to the devs.

Thank you also, skippyroo. Didn't see your post until after I replied to Billyjim, so am editing so as not to double post. Will also add my own thanks to Pirate, Strider, and Tassie and am glad to see they are getting due recognition here. Agree with you on the additions to the games as well; when I brought that up in my post I was griping mostly about how long the issues were discussed with no word of communication from the producers and devs regarding same. As you and Billyjim wisely point out, that is the core issue here.

 

Frankly, I will be quite pleasantly surprised if we get any improvements at all from this point forward. This game is just drifting and being given very little attention. I am sure that the company has some new games that are receiving that attention. And, in a little while, the games that are getting the attention now will start to drift along when the company has even newer games. That's the way of online games. I see something similar in the corporation I work for. The sales department is the moneymaker and it is the department that gets all the attention. Here, it is the new games that bring in a lot of money for awhile and they get all the attention. Once the initial influx of money comes from the new games, it is on to the next project. I wonder if this game even pays for itself. It is probably operating at a loss now so the company feels why throw good money after bad? I mean, really, the U.K. and U.S.A. can't play this game for three whole weeks? They obviously took their time fixing it. That just proves my point.

 

6 hour rent collector for losing almost 3 weeks this is about 400 hours short.Not good enough. Imagine buying a pair of shoes taking them back and being offered only 1.5% of your money back.This has stopped me spending.
Communication is non-existent.
Production has not kept up with expansion.
Cineplex was difficult to get to work but was worth the effort @15 MM now definitely not worth trying. To blame outside contractors and not have them deliver a reliable service. Sorry the ambulance didn't turn up not our fault it is contracted out gee that is a big law suit.
Space although it is not an issue to me I can see it will be. Would be nice to know if anything is planned.
Bugs I see the population issue has been going on a year. Just one instance where I feel that proves no hope of any real efforts by developers.Tasks not completing and the mods having to reset accounts.Cache issues. etc etc
This is why when my rent collection finishes I will no longer be a customer to a company that has no respect for it's customers

 

Fred, I can certainly understand where you are coming from. I recently came back to playing this game after awhile of being absent. I, having learned my lesson playing another Bigpoint game, have not gone overboard on spending real money on this game since I started playing a couple of years ago. I do like to use real money to buy Loot A Matic tickets, and very rarely use mm's to build or anything else. IRL I am not much of gambler, but I have always been attracted to a "spin the wheel" type of gambling game. I just play now for the fun of it, am not in any rush, and try to ignore the total lack of customer service. The mods provide the best service they possibly can with the amount of communication they get from the company, but that is most likely sorely lacking too. I actually feel very bad for the mods and try to support them whenever I can. We all just have to face it, if we like this relaxing, and personally challenging game, we have to play it without very much support, if any. When I checked out the other "city building" games, this once seemed the most fun and the most colorful. (I like colorful, pretty things lol.) I will be out checking out other games and see if they are attractive to me. Who knows, maybe now another company with better customer service is out there with a game that I would like.

 

Honey I usually have played strategic war games.These are very time demanding having to be on at the right time to send attacks etc. Building game in real life is picking up and demanding more of my time.So I thought a game like this would suit me personally.

I just like to use games as unwind time but it is against my principles to use any business that doesn't deliver to their clients.

And you are right the mods do a great job with what they are given (almost nothing) I have stated I would have left the game a earlier if it wasn't for the mods

 

Thank you Fred and Honeywest for your input and frankness. This is exactly what I started this thread for. RC is a great game, but could be so much better. BP doesn't realize it's sitting on a gold mine but it's business practices are alienating their customer base. I too use RC for relaxing (and need that after college, legal work, babysitting, and caring for a friend dying of cancer). I would spend a lot more money on this game if I wasn't so frustrated by the devs ignoring the players' ideas and needs, failing to communicate, etc. Good case in point: wanted this poll open for at least 30 days but it will only be open 7 days because it glitched when I started it; how "convenient"? Hopefully word will get around and players will get their comments and votes in. Again, kudos to the mods (they do a great job under tough circumstances).

 

Thanks Geflin for the personal invite to comment here. For what-ever its worth, here are my thoughts on BP, and RC, after reaching my first year of play. Oh, how time flies.

First off, let me say I enjoy Rising Cities as unwind/relaxation time. I have never knowingly criticized the mods, as they are not the owners, but mere volunteers, who do a great job. My comments have always been directed towards BP and RC.

As a webmaster of two websites, and creator of a half dozen board games over the years, including an additional two GPS related games with Apple, I thoroughly understand the main principle behind all games, ..using the appropriate math calculations, to keep any leveling-up game intriguing.

My main complaint against RC (BP) is how they deceived their players into purchasing large amounts of MM to watch their city grow (don't kid yourselves MM purchases are very important to RC's survival). In reality those players who did, saw their city grow fast, ..which included a disastrous shortage of production products to supply their residents needs, and all due to a lack of BP incorporating the appropriate math calculations into RC. The average player could not have perceived this production math shortfall, until well after they had purchased and spent considerable lots of MM (I didn't notice until my High-Rise Residential buildings started to reach level three).

I wrote about this in early 2014 (two months into my game (spent well over a $1000 US), only to be heavily criticized by two particular newbie players on this message board. One has already left after figuring it out on his own the hard way, became quite boisterous, frustrated and left. The other is still with us, but their tune has changed considerably.

Getting back to RC (BP); I think they don't have a clue as to what proper PR is regarding responses to their players. They don't seem to understand, keeping their players (business customers) happy, is critical to there survival.

Here are some VERY SIMPLE changes BP can do to induce some excitement back into RC:

For starters: STOP being so stingy regarding your awards systems.

How about some 'Better Shooting Star Rewards'; I would like to see some changes to the 'Shooting Stars' rewards (I'm so tired of working so hard to get to the next level only to get a 'SINGLE key' as my shooting star reward). How about a meaningful reward instead of a stupid crap shoot award!. You-know; ..something really meaningful after you've reached the level of 40, 50, 60, and then 70.

How about some 'New Event Games'; I mean, how hard would that be. Something on the lines of an "Epic Improvements Event"(with no crappy epics thrown in either). Something unique like the only epics offered in an event game that meet or exceed %50. Such as epic 50%+ rent reduction timers, 50%+ rent increase, and 50%+ revenue increases. Make the event challenging, say a nine day event, ..and run it often (stop being so stingy in your awards).

How about some new 'Production Facilities'; This suggestion should resolve RC's locked-in 'user-side' coding problems. Which presently prohibits RC from being able to make changes to existing production facility levels to higher ones, without manually going into each players game board (Server-Side) and manually changing out each facility on each player's game board (an impossible task).

My suggestion is simple and would work like this; after a player reaches say level 55 or 60, RC allows the players to demolish their old farms, ranches, lumbers mills, bakeries, breweries, and brickyards, and rebuild new ones by purchasing new 'High Production' facilities. These new facilities, need to produce product that is at least 'triple' the present production amounts per facility, which is what it will take to re-calibrate the bad math presently in this game.

In closing, .. BP needs to become more creative, ..and build some excitement back into their game!

 

I strongly agree with you. You either run out of products to keep your bakeries running or you can't keep up with the products from the bakeries. The events are getting boring as they are. You can only do the events and get the same rewards everytime is really monotonous.

I'm at level 45 and most days I can only collect rent once a day because of the shortage of goods and also upgrading buildings is real slow moving.

Cutting back on the Cineplex is also hurting. You need MM to purchase buildings for the mountain area after you run out of building permits. You are pretty much limited in that area.

I too like to get home and unwind/relax by playing this game.

 

Thank you Harley and Piche, for your input. Please get the word out...the system only let me post the poll for seven days for some reason. Hopefully we'll get enough posts that BP RC will do something about the issues everyone has been commenting on for so long.

 

I do think we have received some great additions to the game since I first started playing (love the beach and mountains, for example). But when I hear how long it took for that to happen, I start to wonder. When things like the log in problems happen, I try to understand, because these things are complex (coding, servers, etc.); but when so much time passes that even a lay person knows it should have been fixed already....

I do like the game and am glad I was introduced to it. But what about the St. Paddy's Day event? That was suggested a year and a half ago, and not a peep from the developers as to whether or not they thought it was a good idea. Valentine's and Halloween all over again, sure....but do something new because the players might actually like it, nah? Come on guys, you can do way better than this. You need at act like you care about your customers or you won't have any. I have taken several bouts of hiatus from this game simply because I have better things to do that wait several years to even know what may or may not be happening with the game. There are other places I can go where that is not a problem. I stick with this only because Geflin believes in it, and it is kinda fun. I think there are many areas where you need to improve, starting with communicating with your player/customer base more often and more clearly. Tip o' my hat to the moderators...you all do a great job!

 

HI Kiriana, I appreciate your thoughts, ..you're a fair and kind heart-ed person that's pretty evident. I personally think the issues for RC are far more problematic than we understand, or certainly deeper than BP is willing to say. My gut feeling is that BP is spending their time on other projects, and see RC as secondary project at this point.

Furthermore, if RC were really an important baby to BP, they would be communicating with their players (customers) at least once or twice a quarter, ..but we're lucky if its once or twice a year.

This is the first game I've ever put any money into, let alone a lot of money, ..I have enjoyed it, but as a whole it was a mistake to throw that kind of money away.

I will miss reading the thoughts from some of the players that have already moved on. There loss makes you realize (sigh), ..that all good things do come to an end.

I wish everyone here well, especially the mods, who have had to carry the burden for the bugs and many unhappy RC players, ..and they've done it gracefully.


Good night everyone!

 

Second gee you are a generous person

 

Bump, for obvious reasons. However, just 16 votes place in 1 week. Makes you wonder. But than again, the majority is always silent.

 

The majority may actually be happy with the game. More to the point, there will always be a few protagonists

 

For some of us that you call PROTAGONISTS all that we are saying is that the dev's need to spend more time on what we mayor's are needing as far as resources to keep the game interesting and moving forward. No communication from the dev's is also annoying as the last letter we received was Sept. 30th of last year.

We are just asking for answers and explanations.

 

Settle! You are making negative assumptions. I did not say it was a bad thing - look up the definition! We are all entitled to our opinions

 

Who is making assumptions?