May 24, 2010
Dear Meteor Games,
I played VPN, and when the plug got pulled on that game, I faithfully followed you over to Island Paradise. I loved your creations, and indeed, according to Nobody, I was the 16th player to join island Paradise. I didn't want Island Paradise to undergo the same fate as had VPN, but now it seems inevitable. Crash after crash, I stuck. Even when there were bugs that impeded my own game play, I remained. But now, it seems time that I must say goodbye, Meteor Games.
Why am I leaving? Is it because the coins, trophies, barn upgrades and the items I lost? Not so much. I know I can get those back if I file a ticket with support. Rather, it is the incompetence and lack of communication that has finally gotten to me.
Incompetence, you say, how so? They managed to code a game and get it to run, even though it has bugs. That may be true, but this latest incident upon the 20th of May has convinced me otherwise. The reason for the crash was apparently quite simple. They were moving data from one server to another while the game was still being played. To use a simple analogy, treat the data like a word document you have stored on your computer. You've stored the file in folder A, and right now you're working on it. You want to move to the file to folder B. Well, you can't, not until you've closed the file that you have open can you move it. Likewise with the data for the game, the game should be taken offline before moving data from one place to another. Had the loss occurred for something completely unpredictable such as hardware failure or a bug, I could have put up with it. But downright incompetency? No thanks.
There is incompetence in the management as well, allowing bugs to remain unfixed for months on end. Take something as simple as the Tiki Power bug, which gives players a bit of extra tiki power when the revive neighbor's crops. This may be beneficial, but the lack of caring to fix it will only lead people to conclude that Meteor Games, in short, does not care.
Which of course, brings me to my next point, communication. Or rather, lack of. Echo struggles to keep us updated with what is going on, but sometimes, even she doesn't know what's going on. Why doesn't she know? She's the Community Manager, after all! The reason that she doesn't know is that no one tells her what's going on. Right after the incident on the 20th, and with everyone feeling all jumpy, there was a second data loss on Saturday, on the 22nd of May. Whoa! I thought they didn't work on Saturdays? Well, it seems otherwise. Someone had the wise idea to do something, which now caused a whole bunch of people to lose their inventory a second time. And on top of that, trophies, clothes, barn upgrades and what most people don't know, easter egg hunt. There was not a single peep from Meteor Games. Not even a quick post on the Discussion Boards, "Hey guys, we know we did something wrong! So sorry, but contact support". Instead, everyone was left to flounder on their own, and file tickets to support.
Is it really that hard to make a post onto the application wall telling everyone that the game is going down? Do you have a fear of the game going down, even for maintenance? Well, learn something new every day. I've played the Kingdom of Loathing, which goes down at precisely the same time each night for maintenance, and that game works great. So if you need the downtime, just ask for it. If you don't want to do a nightly maintenance, since that may seem unnecessarily frequent, at least give everyone a warning. I'm pretty sure that if you can code a flash game, and you can code a banner across the top advertising Mothers' Day flowers, then I'm pretty sure you can code a banner telling everyone with at least 24 hour advance notice of when you're going down, for how long, and to plant their crops around that time. And after the game comes back, change the notice to say something along the lines of "We're back! If you have suffered any losses, contact support. Here's how to contact support: ...". You don't need an article as long as the one that exists upon this wiki to be able to tell people how to contact support. Just ask Echo for one of her scripted messages.
I find it annoying as well, that when well-meaning suggestions are made, they are ignored. An example of this would be to lock the application wall. I have no idea how many times I brought this up. Not everyone on this planet is a Facebook whiz who knows their way inside and out of it. They may make it only as far as the wall. And the wall is a place worse than the Discussion Boards, in some ways. For one, there is no moderation going on. At all. All you see are one of two things. The first being the "Level 38, add me" kind of posts, and the second being the "OMG, I LOST MY STUFF. GIVE IT BACK!!!!!" type. The first type - not so harmful. The second type - your doom. The people posting there don't know that no one is answering them. They just assume that posting there, they'll get their stuff back. Then because they won't get their stuff back, they accuse Meteor Games of not listening to them (which isn't too far from the truth), leave the game, tell their neighbors to quit, and tell their friends that Island Paradise sucks and they shouldn't even try to play. This means Island Paradise not only loses existing players, but it also loses potential players. The last thing you should want to do is tick players off enough that they go and tell their friends not to play. Your biggest source of free advertising is your own players, if you can't keep them happy, at least don't tick them off.
Similarly, the decision to pull the plug on the Meteor Games forum is simply shameful. The Discussion Boards that Facebook provides is subpar. There is no search option, anyone can post, it is impossible to make a "sticky" and there is no such a thing as a chat filter. To address these in order, a search option provides users the benefit of simply finding a solution quickly and efficiently. They do not have to repeat the same topic over.. and over.. and over.. again. The ability for anyone to post may seem brilliant, at first glance. Upon closer look however, you'd realize that a lot of people have just suffered a loss in the game, they're angry, they're frustrated, and they want to take it out on anybody. If you force them to sign up first, it gives them a moment to reflect on whether their post is actually appropriate, or if it really is just downright rude. The lack of an option to make a sticky means that posts from Echo are quickly lost. And when they're lost, board regulars have to try and bump it to the top, which is absolutely ridiculous. As for the lack of a chat filter, Echo tries to delete threads where people are swearing and name-calling, but since Facebook doesn't filter these things, everyone sees them, and this gives a bad impression of the Discussion Board in general. It also deters players who may have valid questions or ideas from ever voicing them, since they are afraid of being bashed.
The callous way Meteor Games treats its players is definitely irritating. Following the December crash, there was no announcement regarding what players should do if they lost items, not even a "I'm sorry!" on the wall, where most players would see it. A bug wave in early February that caused many players to gain experience at an unprecedented rate and eventually caused Mona to leave was also unacknowledged for the majority of Island Paradise players. The crash in mid-March got a tiny response - the return of Dragon Fruit as a crop, a bonus English Game Hen, and a tiny notice onto the wall that the game was "...back now better than ever!" and that everyone's island was "...safe & sound.", a downright lie if I ever had to hear one. People aren't blind, Meteor Games. They want to know what's going on, and what they should or should not be doing in the mean time. As for the latest crash in May, that one is just ridiculous. There are no announcements onto the wall regarding what is going on, and indeed, no one has a clue, and no one is cluing anyone in. Following this May "crash", there have not been any announcements regarding it. Instead, what have we got? The wonderful May Island Decoration Contest! Hurrah? Quite a few of us have basically lost half our fortune and our trust in you!
I would like to take this time also to criticize support. Yes, they are wonderful people who try to reimburse stuff that's lost. Well, after sending in about 3 tickets using the recommended method of the big blue Support button below the game, filling out all fields, making sure that none of the fields exceed the 3500 character limit and checking that it said "Success", I am weary of waiting for a response. How many people are on your support team anyway? Five? That's what it feels like. And what happens if a ticket gets filed under the wrong category? It feels like it just automatically gets ignored.
And of course, the topic of money. How can this one be ignored, after all? It is what Meteor Games seems so intent upon collecting. Well, it would seem to me, that it would cost less if notice was given a day before, the game was taken offline, the data moved around to the correct server without being corrupted, and then comes back after a few hours than it would to pay support overtime to come in and work on Saturday like they did after the March crash. And in case you haven't noticed, after every single crash, the number of players, monthly active users (MAU) and daily active users (DAU) drop. Maybe not immediately, so you think you're safe, but they leave. And the trend has been ever downward since the March crash and has been completely incapable of recovering. It's fairly obvious why - people who are angry and unhappy are leaving, and there aren't enough new players to fill it in, resulting in a net loss of players. Why should you care, as long as the paying people stay? Well, the paying people probably won't stay when what they've paid for is gone, and insofar as players are concerned, each player is a potential payer, and someone who possibly knows someone else who pays for game. Each time a player leaves, you burn a bridge. In the case of Mona, a pretty big bridge. She was one of your greatest fans, until February 9th. And now, it seems it is my turn to leave, as well.
Goodbye Meteor Games,
--Goldenguppies Island Paradise Wiki Administrator 00:41, May 25, 2010 (UTC)
P.S. Echo, you are blameless in what has occurred. Don't take this as a personal attack, because it is not. It is in no way your fault, but rather, a company that is deaf to the moods of its customers. The fact that they refuse to listen to their own Community Manager (who is hired specifically for the purpose of enlightening, not only its customers of what is going on, but of the people at the top of what their customers want) is part of the problem.
As for the wiki itself, I am very sorry to all those who have contributed, great or small, but particularly to AvalonRose. The burden of it now rests solely upon you. You may choose whether you wish to shoulder it, or cast it off as I have. I have only two requests in regards to the wiki: allow this blog to remain locked and untouched by any and all others, as black mark in Meteor Games' history and a final contribution from a player who has been here since day 1, and the deletion of my own page, which I will complete myself shortly and depart from here.