As Requested by a Dev: A Thread about Devs' Actions/Inactions

[Razzagor]

@turintuor

Or maybe because there is so much negativity in this forum that players just think that it is not worth to start new topics.

There are people ready to censor others at each opportunity and as long as it’s done in defense of the developers’ decisions, they get a free pass to be disrespectful EVEN when the person being censored did nothing to warrant such hostility.

Just earlier in this thread Smash went and made a long post full of swearing and cussing words IN DEFENSE OF THE DEVS. Said post was diligently erased by @Lyya and, so far, nothing else was done in the sense to enforce the rules and address a proper punishment.

BUT… To give everyone the benefit of the doubt, I’ll wait until Lyya can confirm if it’s just a matter of Timezones and the usual “No work on the weekends” that prevented Salty or Kafka from addressing the situation.

Still, it’s about time to review things and verify how much freedom of speech is being used improperly in these forums.

[anon43026234]

@Magnusimus

They’re pushed into that behavioral zone by a video game designed to take advantage of their worst selves in order to profit from pushing those impulsive buttons. It’s predatory. It’s abusive. And so abuse is met with abuse.

If this game has attracted — and profited by — people with gambling problems, that is a problem caused by the game, its business practices, and is by design. It was avoidable — it is possible to have a fun puzzle game that doesn’t rely on addicts to stay afloat.

This is a perfect description of the problem. Even if English was my 1st language, I wouldnt have been able to say it better.
I would just maybe say that on the 2nd paragraph, the starting word “If” is not necessary.
And for the very last part about having a fun puzzle game that dont rely on addicts…of course it is possible: Just by simply forbide F2P gambling games that involve real money. Of course as its a video game, there is a lot of fun parts in it…more than a simple casino gambling machine, but in the end thats what it is. Just a casino gambling machine disguised into a video game. Thats what makes it even more dangerous I would say.

To forbide that or not is of course governments decision. Things like that takes time unfortunately. And it may very well be only a decision country by country and not global worldwide.
But to expect auto regulation from the video game world seems to me illusory.

[AMT]

Thanks for the edit, Truxton: your message is valuable (you know very well how much you and I agree on the points you raise), and how it is delivered matters (even if it continues to be ignored after 14 months of efforts on your part).

[anon43026234]

Thank you AMT.

[Smash]

I was banned for it actually, which I fully expected, and knew it would happen before I done it.

I dont get special treatment from the devs or anyone else for that matter, no matter who I defend or not.

The ban was warranted, and we all knew it was coming when the devs were able to get around to it.

[akots]

@anon43026234

By having laws that forbide F2P games with lootbox involving real money.

IMHO, don’t go that far, this is really an extreme measure. Humanity did not even ban smoking completely, which actually is known to kill. However, three things might help in this regard. Thing number zero, there should be a clearly visible disclaimer that it is a gambling establishment/den/casino/whatever on the A/G/Switch store and Steam page with a clear warning before and after installation.

First, the game has to have age verification and limitation set according to the local legal limit for gambling establishments, aka 21 in the USA and 18 in the UK, etc.

Second, it has to have a clear set of rules and detailed description of every chance there is including spawn/drop/whatever rates to a certain precision.

Third, it has to be regulated. This implies: 1. Certification to ensure that there is no cheating that benefits publisher or users in any way including validation of claims aka “it is intended”, “it is random”, “it is determined by this or that”, etc. Which most certainly means giving access to the primary code and the options to actually test the quality and claims by an independent authority. 2. Appropriate taxing similar to gambling establishments. 3. Clear addiction management including restriction or permanent removal of usage privileges and a means to settle legal and medical disputes.

I cannot think of anything else atm but the list is already quite exhaustive. Seems like a few countries have already started working on that as blind application of in-person gambling laws is not suitable due to 24/7 availability without a need to go anywhere.

[anon43026234]

Hats off to you for this great post! If this forum had to keep only one post between the thausands written here the last 5 years, it should be without a doubt this one.

Obviously totally forbide the F2P games might sound extreme but its still how I would love to see the world of video games for the future.
I respect as much companies involved in F2P games as I respect cigarettes manufacturers.

Casino’s gambling machines are severly controlled by an independent autorithy.
The F2P games involving gambling with real money have what kind of independent authority controls? Nothing!
The drop rate could be altered and put back to normal, who will know? who survey them? Nobody! Its actually a complete circus taking advantage of grey zones because its something that appeared only since around 10-15 years. If impossible to forbide, at least as you wrote, it will need to be SEVERELY REGULATED AND CONTROLLED!

[Razzagor]

@Smash

I dont get special treatment from the devs or anyone else for that matter, no matter who I defend or not.

So it is. I saw your ban, and my concern is now about the response time to address improper behavior.

As long as things are FAIR TO EVERYONE involved and people treat each other with respect maybe these forums can be salvaged.

[Smash]

I dont think the response time was that bad tbh.

I posted it early morning my time, same as devs time. It took ~5 hours I think, for it to be removed. Less than an hour iirc to be flagged.

Just because the ban didnt happen instantly, doesnt mean it wasnt coming.

The post was dealt with, and then, I assume, it was listed internally for punishment.

[awryan]

@Razzagor

So it is. I saw your ban, and my concern is now about the response time to address improper behavior.

Instant bans only happen if the incident happens during a stream.

[MatrimCauthon]

Or while the warden is cruising through cell block 001.

[Saltypatra]

We err on the side of caution with bans, and typically act faster when players harass each other, than when they harass us.

Banning looks easy from the outside, but it is anything but easy, I assure you. It causes a lot of negative sentiment and often results in us being harassed further.

[Razzagor]

@Smash

Just because the ban didnt happen instantly, doesnt mean it wasnt coming.

It took (give it or take) nearly two days for it. In your case, specifically, we were lucky because it wasn’t your intention to keep behaving poorly and filling the forums with swearings. So if the situation was more about Timezones plus the weekend’s off from Salty and Kafka’s schedules I worry this is a problem to be considered.

@Saltypatra

We err on the side of caution with bans, and typically act faster when players harass each other, than when they harass us.

Banning looks easy from the outside, but it is anything but easy, I assure you. It causes a lot of negative sentiment and often results in us being harassed further.

It’s never fun to deal with such situations, but Smash’s ban wasn’t supposed to be a permanent one anyway and, in my opinion, unavoidable given the content and intent of his post. Just that.

A clear and strict set of rules plus more moderation was something suggested before this situation with the pandemic… I hope you and team consider this.

[AMT]

So I was originally going to wait until this whole first ‘Campaign’ was over to provide some corresponding observations, but today’s Invasion Event and the unmistakable jump in excitement/participation on the part of my guildmates highlighted a contrast that is noteworthy enough to mention, and it is directly linked to point nº 3 in the list of World Event Complaints:

@AMT

Event constraints applying to Hero are overly limiting, especially for newer players who rely on smaller weapon inventories

Yesterday we had guildmates apologizing for their low participation in the Tower Defense event (we don’t have any guild event requirements, so players can just play as much/little as they feel), complaining that the troops and weapons available are too few and not exciting, thus making the event just another unrewarding grind. Hard to argue with that, seeing how we can only use 17 troops and 6 weapons (and that’s without even considering QA facts such as Queen Mab’s Mana Burn not being boosted by the Event Medals).

Today, those same players are so excited watching a double Gobtruffle team obliterate the competition in the Invasion weekend event. Their gem/time investment, unsurprisingly, correlates to how much fun they are having.

This (among other things that can be recurrently found across the forum) continues to evade this developer’s design choices.

In any given event, we have a few groups of players, including:
A- Those who are chasing the leaderboard, who will invest as much as needed to get there, thus having medals and potions boost that makes troop selection irrelevant.
B- Those who are chasing all event rewards, and will also do the investment required to get to said target.
C- Those who will go up to weapon tier, whether they plan to use all their sigils or not
D- Those who just want the first couple of potions to get a fast start and get the minimum done
E- Those who ignore the event shop or event altogether

A and B will pretty much not be affected by troop/weapon limitations, and neither will their spending. Same goes for C.
D and E, however, may possibly be encouraged into spending more gems if the limitations were removed (or adapted à la GW, where you can choose to follow the event constraints for a bonus in points, but are not forced to do so): i.e. if they would receive more ‘fun’ for their participation.

Alas, it would seem that event limitations are primarily limiting player fun & spending.
#GoWDesign

[AMT]

@Saltypatra

I’ve spoken to Sirrian, who is checking the forums from home, but not posting. As he isn’t posting he hasn’t been logging into his account, as it isn’t necessary. So yes, Sirrian has been frequenting the forums, but won’t have popped up in the Dev Tracker because he isn’t logging in.

For posterity, I have asked him to log in now, and he has done so.

In the 1-month anniversary of this claim, here’s what the record says:

This screenshot was taken a few minutes ago from:
https://community.gemsofwar.com/g/Developer

There continue to be multiple interpretations, especially if one chooses to believe that logging off from the forums but still checking it is a realistic alternative.

So it’s up to each player to interpret the facts provided, and what they may mean vis-à-vis how much Sirrian ‘frequents’ the forum, and supervises how the company representatives interact with customers here.

[Bernice]

It was a real treat when he made a quick surprise appearance on the July 20th dev stream. I’d love seeing that once in a while (in the future after the lockdown of course) more than worrying about when he actually signs in here.

[AMT]

It should however be noted that his presence here would likely reach a broader segment of the playerbase, thus potentially being a more impactful use of his limited appearances.

[MagiBelgr]

How about you just stop it and go back to LgoH already

[MagiBelgr]

In all seriousness AMT, what you are doing is harassment. It’s not holding employees to account or whatever other noble reason you have deluded yourself into believing you are enacting. You are just a troll and the forums would be better off without you.

[AMT]

As per the OP: anyone who finds their views to be incompatible with the nature of this thread is free to mute it or ignore it, so that others who wish to engage in it in a civil, ad-hominem-free manner can do so, as evidenced by most of the exchanges herein by both players and devs.