Mindark and the harassment of your inactive players.

Hey guys,
I think its time to address something that I am sure is and will continue to get worse over time in regards to your customers logging in or not. I have decided to walk away from all digital life until at least the first of the year. I have re loaded my computer with a fresh OS install to clear the pipes so to speak. Anyway I log into my email and there sits a message from Mindark that I have not logged in for several weeks.

Would you please forward this message to them for me or address them over this issue yourselves. I have chosen to NOT log in to Entropia Universe after many years of issues not being addressed, trust degrading at every VU, and now harassment when I am not even loggged in the universe. Could you please let them know in a nice way since atm I am incapable to do so that I have not logged in because I CHOOSE NOT TO. Obviously they can not understand the concept that I do not WANT to be in their universe right now as I have not pressed the button normally required to log in.

I consider myself a citizen of planet Arkadia as I have been here since day one when you opened the planet. Since then I have let the fact that I pay taxes to planet Calshitzo even tho I have not spent 30 days total there since the inception of Planet Arkadia even tho it is your money that makes the functioning world of Arkadia possible for me to play in. I have even tolerated my average returns taking a major hit EVERY time they run an event on planet Calshitzo. I have tolerated the devaluation of every thing I own within the Entropia Universe at the whim and will of Mindark. I continue playing because I have built up in game relationships over the years with many of its fine participants. I have even had my share of fun pestering my not so favorite participants over time.

I have tolerated EVERY VU that has been done since the first day I logged in being complete and total programming shite. (maybe you could ask from me how the monkey can figure out how to get the orange between the cage bars but they cant seem to get one single release out with out it being a major cluster fuck.) ( Ok slipping into not nice mode...sorry)

I can and have even tolerated the market manipulation they have done to remove ANY semblence of obtainable value to be had unless you are an uber hunter and get the nice shiny valuable things lootable by only a privledged few. All these things have made me scale back my play and most certainly cut my investment in my ava to nearly nil these last years. I even started not logging in when MA runs an event on Calshitzo. They STILL do not seem to get the point I am voting with my ped card by not spending money when the have continually treated my ava like garbage to be walked on and burrried in the sand.

I really appreciate what you guys have done to and for the Universe and we all see where your heads are at as far as growing Planet Arkadia and with it the Entropia Universe. I feel really bad for you as even with all this effort Mindark continues to hamstring you at EVERY turn. We the players see this. It makes us wonder if you as a planet partner can not get a fair shake on what you do what chance do we as players have?

Now with recent events unfolding..questionable practices being allowed in space now with no enforcement of rules, I have to wonder if the people who were taught sportsmanship, fair play, and the meaning and need for rules to be followed when going thru life feel the same as I do now and have a serioius doubt if the person with morals and high standards for themselves will be able to enjoy the game now let alone move forwad in it and not just be fodder to pay for the less honorable players now. Add that to the recent event with Mindark breaking the unwritten rule of trust and moving forward with changing stats on gear and items at will for what ever reason and things tilt too far in the wrong direction. I find myself actually questioning my sanity for staying in or even hopeing that some day the standard operating proceedure from Mindark would have changed by now.

At any rate all this leads to this. What they do in their world I guess is totally up to them. None of us seemingly has any effect for change no matter how loud or how long we scream in defiance over what happens in here. I do how ever have a right to my private life out side of this universe and do not want nor give them permission to harass me about not logging in. (yes I have checked the box accepting them sending notifications about special things but this does not in any way shape nor form give permission for them to harass me regarding not logging in)(it even says they have intentionally sent the spam without permission basicly taunting the reciever.) Please forward this to them and remind them any time they feel the need to send me a message telling me something I already know about not logging in to read this and not bother sending the email reminding me I have not logged in but to get off their dead asses and resolve these issues and send me an email stating they have addressed them and guess what.. I would more then likely log in again without an email reminding me I have not logged in when I have intentionally NOT logged in because what they do.

I thank you for taking the time to read this and I sincerely hope you can pass this up the chain of command as the harassing emails only remind us why we stepped away in the first place.

 

CB,

Firstly, good on you for taking a break, I hope you get lot out of any new perspective that brings.

Second, I'm glad they actually do ask the question, rather than not ask. I guess that someone bothering to ask the question is either trying to find out the answer, or trying to make it look like they are trying to find out the answer. I believe in the case of MindArk it's the former.

I know they don't do everything the way you'd like them to, but I do think they try to improve.

So I think it would be worth your while trying to get your points down to two or three short, really impactful paragraphs and taking full advantage of this opportunity to give some feedback that would be worth their time having a read of. Just in case it makes a difference.

Good stuff man. Enjoy the break!

 

Have you actually gotten one of these Tim?

They dont ask any thing. The way it is written it comes across as "Hey your not here spending money. Get your ass back in here". There is ZERO semblance of concern whether you have specific issues keeping you away or not. Secondly they DONT ask a specific question at all. They state they are "Reminding you that you have not logged in" which again..I have to say to them.. "Hey DUMBASS. I have intentionally not logged in". Its not like you could possibly log in by accident is it?

As far as getting points lined out and sent to them...Well Mindark support is a total joke. In 6 years of playing I have had put in very few support cases because I know they are useless. The ones I had real concerns over we dealt with by them sending cut and paste standard answers from an idiot that I have serious doubts even understands the English language. If needed I can copy and paste the questions I sent and their extremely retarded responces. There has only been one that has been responded to in a real support department manor from a real company. I even had one for a simple Im stuck in space that was not even answered for the first time for nealry an entire week. They cant answer a stuck support but can pester someone within 2 weeks of not logging in? You are running a buisness in game..would you leave a customer hanging that long without any responce but send them an email asking why they have not bought some of your items?

As for the break from game thats for RL issues and the fact my compy caught a strange disease I needed to cure it of. The break is not from the game but all digital life including skype chats, other games, even simple reading the news. MA will never change a thing unless it suits their agenda. Thats how they have and always will operate. I posted this here to let David know that Mindark is doing something counter productive to the efforts he and the A team have made to makeing people want to play and be on Arkadia regardless of how messed up Mindark may be.

The fact that they specificlly state in the message reminding me I have not logged in that they can and will send these regardless if you have opted to hear from them seriously aggrivates me as I know for a fact does others which is why I bring this up. I have a friend here that played for a short time and figured out how it operates and quit over 2 years ago. hHe STILL gets regular messages from them even tho he contacted them he stopped playing and will NOT be returning EVER. He would have walked away and forgotten MA and EU but since they persist to pester him he reccomends people to stay as far as possible from it as they can because of the way they operate.

Anyway customers David has reaped for his efforts may get confused when recieving such a BS email from MA should they need to be away from game as it coming from Arkadia since that is where they started. Just wanted David to be aware of this so maybe MA offending people on his behalf who are not even in game wont be upset by MA's incompetance.

 

Fair enough mate. To the questions you directed to me, the answers are no I haven't received one of these emails, and no I wouldn't deliberately leave a customer hanging that long, but it has happened by accident.

 

I have to side with CB on this one, because when I decided to take my breaks, especially when I was going through my health situation last year, it was rather annoying that I consistently got these emails to remind me that I wasn't logging into EU. I had enough to think about without being reminded (indirectly) that I haven't been spending PED.

In all fairness, MindArk didn't know I was suffering ill health that almost took my life, but that's just the point. They don't take into consideration that people have real lives outside of EU that need attention, and that for some (no matter how it might look), have other responsibilities and obligations that require a focus outside our virtual world.

The only time that I can recall where MindArk openly said anything in consideration of someone's health was related to Merry Mayhem and not to play so many hours in a row. They have now "reworked" Merry Mayhem to give this even further consideration. Now, all they have to do is stop sending reminders that we haven't been in EU, because I'm absolutely sure that people who are not engaging in our universe know that they aren't, and have made a conscious decision not to.

 

Without someone posting a copy of the email it's hard to judge if it's the email at fault or the (ex)players being a little too sensitive.

 

I don't think it matters, MA shouldn't be pestering anybody if they are not signing into the Game. Only time they should send an email is when you have been gone almost to the point where if your account is inactive and about to lose it a friendly little reminder then. Otherwise, I say butt out.

 

Really? Rather than thinking perhaps that someone can be objective about their experiences, you attribute sensitivity as the cause for his or anyone else's response about the emails?

I'm not an "ex-player" but have taken breaks in almost 8 years of my PE/EU experience, and I sure as hell don't need to be reminded that I haven't logged into Entropia Universe when I know I've made the conscious decision not to.

Simple as ...

 

I don't see a problem with a company not wanting to lose a customer, it wouldn't bother me to recieve an occasional email. So clearly the response is either subjective or the email is at fault.

 

Got it.

 

I got a couple of these emails send to and know what CB means.
in a way it bothers me too having a break from the game by decision or through things more important in life.

BUT I recieved mails of this kind, reminding me to login while on a monthlong break even too when i was playing almost every weekday.

...you see, it´s dynamic

 

It's not bad for MA to want to send out these "keep in touch" emails, since customer retention is important for a business like this, but they should be using the opportunity to create a positive experience for the user. An email they're sending to someone who played for a couple days then took a 2 month break should be completely different than a 5 year player who takes a break. The long time player never needs to be "reminded" that they haven't logged in; getting nagging emails is the last thing they want. MA needs to think about the various reasons why a long time player would take a break and word any emails appropriately so that it is not offensive to any of them. What are the reasons?

- negative RL situations (financial, computer problems, health)
- positive RL situations (new baby, school, marriage, enjoying RL too much to be bothered with EU)
- neutral RL situations (new job, too much work, travel)
- frustration with the game (support, TT returns, bugs, taming, nerfs, scammed)
- trying to control game addiction
- lost gold card/password
- no peds, can't deposit
- found other games they like better, just lost interest

I'm sure there are other situations too.

A focused email is always better than one that tries to cover all the possible scenarios, so if it were my job to send these emails, I'd send out personal messages as much as possible. Take 5 minutes to check the avatar's most recent chat logs, forum posts, and support cases to see if there's a reason they haven't logged in. If there is, send an appropriate email. If there's no obvious reason, then send an email that's not going to offend half the people. A straightforward survey would work--just ask which of the above situations applies to them and gives them a space for feedback about the game. And if a player has responded to this form and still not logged in, don't send out another generic nag email to them.... be smart about it. If they complained about TT returns, don't send them another email until TT returns are improved.

 

i guess this is one of the ones being in question:

Hi [yournamehere],

We noticed that you haven't been logged in to Entropia Universe for a time now and we don't want you to miss the opportunity of being a continuous part of our virtual community.

Your username is [yourloginhere] and if you have forgotten your password, you can set a new one by following this link:
*link has email, so i removed it*

Should you experience any technical difficulties logging in to Entropia Universe, please search the Knowledge Base - FAQ or contact the Entropia Universe Support Department at https://account.entropiauniverse.com/support-faq/contact/.

Note: You will receive this email even if you have opted for not receiving emails from Entropia Universe.
Kind regards,

Entropia Universe & Planet Calypso


seems they come in a 2 weeks cycle
gotta admit that i did a email "reroute" to a special EU folder they can spam all they wish

as to players being too sensitive
i am playing, still actually, although way less nowadays, since close to 8 years (7 months and 10 months or so)
if you see the nerfs and behavior of MA and their "awesome" support that, you aren't over sensitive, actually you more qualify for a "incredibly patient, endurable and stressproven" award
i could tell you funny stories as well, but i won't
lets just say, that for most people i met ingame, the attidude towards EU shifts from "whoa, thats great" in the first year, over the "hm..., thats strange" the second year to a more and more cautious and "wtf do they nerf next" attidude

it may sound strange, but when i just started, i was looking forward to VUs bringing new stuff
nowadays i am not looking forward anymore, its more a mixture of fear and worry


believe, the threadstarter there is very likely not over sensitive, actually thats still quite calm
and this isnt the usual "i lost xy ped" stuff, this is about real game issues and treatment of players/customers over years

and before the points come "why do you still play then and dont quit"
cause of my friends ingame
i may add that i didn't deposit since around 4-5 years as well, i call it voting with the ped card
i may give one story to that as well, because my logic in depositing follows exactly the MA support math logic
one support case, i think my first even, shortly after i had my first disciple graduating was like this
"I just got 0.5 points when i had my first graduater, while my mentor got 24 points when i graduated, why is that so-can provide screenies"
now the answer i got was like this
"hey, in VU 7.4 we changed the skill system, you may not always get a skill increase now, but if, it will be higher"
so clearly all i knew about math got shattered, obviously 24>0.5
i adjusted my depositing accordingly, since "less is obviously more"

just one example of support, years back mind you, but from what i can tell, it didnt improve much, although i stopped writing support cases mostly as well, unless something really worries me
didn't help much either, so who cares
MA sure doesn't

 

jep, i agree

but it seems to be exactly the thing MA doesn't bother about
they keep nerfing things and handle their players as if they are idiots
example?
"well, yeah, we introduced clothing and armor equip fee, because that reduces lag"
WTF?!

player retention starts ingame, treating people like, well, people, not like a cash cow to be milked
but i won't get into the topic before i get cheeky on christmas

 

At least i still enjoy watching your forum avatar

 

enough small issues make it a big one tho
and they keep adding up not getting less

 

First of all, i can never thank you enough for your fantastic guides, Alice! That's where i got all the info when i started EU

All the small things add up as u say, maybe it's worth to look into this old story.

So once upon a time, there was a small gang in Twins who figured out they can bring down the server simply by changing their clothing/armor. They thought it was lot of fun!
So, few avas made a simple macro that does it very fast and started hammering the server. It worked like miracle.

MA obviously wasn't equally excited about this little game of theirs, it's not funny if your servers keep crashing and ppl can't log in... they had to do something about it, had to do it fast.

It's not hard to see what were their choices:

1. Try to talk those avas out of it, tell em "it's against EULA" etc -- Wouldn't work (or: "didn't", dunno if they actually tried that one ), because it's hard to prove that changing clothes is against anything...
2. Try to improve the code, make the old ava system compatible with the new engine -- As we know now, it was already planned later down the road, but -- it would't work as a quick solution.
3. Add some computing power so that the server can take the additional load without crashing -- Problem with that one is, were would the money for additional server come from? divide it between all players? Not fair...

(Afaik, those were the choices they had. If u know some more, feel free to complement)

MA decided the ones who cause the mess will pay. 2 pec means u can change your clothes and armors ten times and it will cost u 2 US cents total. Let's be honest, that's not a problem for anyone. As soon as u start a macro that does it thousands of times however, u will see how it starts adding up quickly. When your PED balance reaches zero the macro shuts down automatically.

Again, maybe it wasn't the best solution possible in this situation? Maybe somebody has a better one?
If so, why not share it with us?

 

i dont have to suggest any, because they implemented one which doesnt cause decay, the decay was just the cherry on top
and thats the time it takes to equip clothes/armor now

you simply can't change it thousands of time per second because of the time it needs to change now

at least i guess

 

Wow back home again and decided to peek in here to see what was goin on. Nice to see some good points being discussed and not the standard fanbois crashin in and doin the yer a whiner nanny nanny boo boo crap.

Seems like everyone is on track with what my orginal post was about in regards to a very cold and unnecessary message. It probably would not have bothered me near as much if they had written it in a more professional manor and not just uhh yer not here spending money type a way. But MA is not known for giving two shits about their actual customers just the money they spend. How hard would it be to write something like...Hey we see you have not logged in in a while and we hope everything is alright with your life outside of our game. If there is something happening within the game keeping you away would you mind telling us what it is or even taking this survey? if they still did not wish to touch us with their hands even thru a proxy message responce.

I could have lived with something like that but after the last round of nerfs specially with the weapons stats change where that was pretty much the last straw as far as me EVER trusting them again enough to put money into this to "Invest in better gear". I fully see this happening in the future for everything. They have gotten to the point that patch and nerf no longer effective as they have made everything nearly valuless at this point. They have to keep that glass ceiling isolated so the only ways to do that is make bigger uber gear and make the current uber gear less effective for whomever buys it as it all gets replaced, or start nerfing the shit outta the low and mid gear to keep that ceiling intact.

Anyway this could digress into a whole not so happy area of discussion so I think I will just sit back and see what you all discuss as I slowly gear back up to get back into DJ mode and maybe find inspiration to at least redownload EU so I can dance with my listeners on ocassion.

As for the clothing discussion my 2 cents says.. hey they are MA.. ban the retards and all their alt accounts for crashing servers like that and not screw over the entire rest of the population with such a lame ass excuse to simply fleece more money from us in such a shitty manor.

Keep going with all this it seems to be good discussion working so far.

 

I got slammed by school and personal issues last semester and did not play EU for a while. I did not get any emails from MA...I guess they figured I would be back.

Honestly there have been plenty of things implemented of the years by MA that I don't agree about but on the flip side of things if it wasn't for EU its quite possible I would not have been able to go back to school nor afford some of the software I work with daily. This game can be such a mixed bag of nuts sometimes. I can understand the frustration......trust me I have been there many a time but when I really start feeling super negative I take a break and design a bot or monster from my own imagination or play Rise of Flight Iron Cross and forget about the EU grind.

Needless to say I've been playing this game near a decade now and one constant is MA's tweaking. That being said it has burned them in the past so it always surprises me when I see them do it again. I am curious how things will pan out down the road and I think 2013 will be an interesting year.