BuzzerBeater Forums

This is a well reasoned response.

I just got home and cannot put together comments intelligently on the spot, but I will be thinking about reconsidering my decision.

All the best,
~Dan

The ad hoc reference was in regards to shelving the new game engine after all of one match. One would have thought that you had tested it on a private server somehow, or maybe had already run average scores across a number of tactics.

I don't know if that was the right move or not, but clearly not testing led to the perception that you were winging it as you went.

As for the bug posting, again, you didn't have to say that you had a fix that was unimplemented, even just a "we know this is a problem and are working on it" would have been sufficient. as it stood there was no way of knowing if you even agreed that there was a problem and that it might have been a 'feature'.

As for the revenue 2 mil was the absolute upper bound. thats based off the 40*50k number. I know that the number of actual supporters is maybe 5-10% of the 50k, so call it150k + ad revenue + revenue from parterning with hoops world etc. i dont know what some of those numbers are and while i have suggestions on increasing ad revenue, thats for another day. THe short of it is that I am renewing my supporter, but responsiveness of the staff for such a small game is critical really, especially as it is harder to get a new paying supporter than to keep one existing one happy.

I'm not sure which decisions you're referring to here. One thing we always keep in mind is that announcing future changes does involve influencing the way that the game is played, so we try hard to be cognizant of such problems and as a result, the timing with which changes are announced is dictated chiefly by fairness/gameplay considerations.

I take it you're referring to the Federations bug that you reported. We read everything that's posted in the bug forums (and several others), but try not to reply unless we actually have a fix. This bug is fixed as part of a future release, and we had planned on replying when the fix was released (since it's pretty unsatisfying to leave a reply of "we've written code that fixes this but we're not giving it to you yet".) For various reasons, that future release continues to be delayed, since it involves many changes that need to be released simultaneously. We expected to post in that thread with a resolution when the release happened.

Sadly, our gross income is so far away from $2M/year that we cannot afford to develop at the pace we would consider ideal. If you feel that as a result, you are not getting enough value, then I certainly respect that choice. If you feel that we should be choosing a different set of ads, we would welcome advice in that regard and would be happy to switch ad providers to any other provider who will be able to at least match our current rates.

The idea of giving supporters a shorter avenue to support is one I can take up with the rest of our team. We have been thinking about different ways to improve bug reporting for quite some time, but actual development work needs to happen in order for this to become possible. Our current development queue is, suffice to say, both longer than we would prefer and set to become substantially longer as we approach upcoming major releases. I do not want to promise supporters a rapid response time unless I am convinced we will be able to keep that promise. If you can find a way for us to bring in even a tenth of that $2M you mentioned on a yearly basis, I can promise we'll hire enough staff for a rapid response. :) Sadly, until then we are severely limited in the amount of development time available, and the economy and game engine have needed to be our highest priority work.

Secondly, when your supporters (the people paying your salary!) complain about a legitimate bug, and there is no response, or no mail even acknowledging the problem, you will lose your subscribers/customers rapidly.

This is actually a pretty good point, in my opinion. I made a suggestion some time ago, that had a general positive level of acceptance but not a word from the BB's about it. I know you guys are doing your job and don't have time to reply but... you read all the suggestions, so... at least, write 3 (or how many you feel necessary) default messages and send the one you think it's appropriate. For example, if the idea seems good: "After reading this and my first impression about it is that this is actually a good idea. But further thought about it is needed. Meanwhile, we have other issues that we'd like to focus on but this will definitely be on the table sometime soon". Another text for a negative reply: "Since it conflicts with other areas of the game, I don't know if it is executable." And another text for some "in between" situations or whatever. You get the point.
Because, even being a default response, it would let people know the fate of their ideas... because, if they took the time to suggested it, they gave their very best shot. And a thing that the original poster left out is that, the users are giving ideas for free on how to improve your business... So, the BB's should also have a little consideration for them. And in my opinion, a default message would be more than enough. Even write that it is a default message in the beginning, if necessary. Nothing worng with that. But, this in my opinion.

Last edited by the L train at 7/12/2009 5:23:18 PM

2 problems:

1/ if BBs need to reply to posts in such a way that would keep all users happy, they would spend an awefull lot of time not fixing the bugs.

2/ Default messages won't work since users will quickly recognise the texts are default and start thinking it's an auto-reply, and that the BBs actually didn't read it, but just want to give the impression they did.

An extra remark: telling people you are working on it, but not showing results fast is not working.
If you keep track of the bugs for a while you will notice they get fixed. Ofcourse if you are waiting for 1 specific bug, it might take a LOOOOOOONG time, and you might get the impression nothing is done, but over a longer period of time, you will see some things that where buggy are working in the meantime.

I also understand everyone would like a reaction. I'm just pointing out it's not realy possible to keep everyone happy and have enough time left to just get things done...

BBs have repeatedly announced they ARE reading all the bug reports, and most of the other forums as well (I actually am amazed how many they are reading with the time they have). I think this is about the best they can do to tell everyone their posts indeed are being read.
I hope everyone can understand this, and are confident their posts do get read, even if they don't see a reply to their post(s).

i just like to add

if you feel your concern is important and should be taken notice, you can also directly bb mail the bb's

like for example the bug i saw when im giving invites, i posted it on the forums and i never heard any of the bb's response.

fot the sake of it i send bbmails to i think at least 4 bb guys and luckily one responded.

all im saying is, since we all care about the game, lets do our part to the best if nothing happens then i think we already did our part and the next choices are yours to do to what you like like end your supporter for the meantime or continue playing or even stop playing.

but the truth is, since this game is still new and a lot of things are still developing and being worked out i there is so much things to do and bigger things to attend to and of course the bb's are also human beings that called for a life to live aside from work but at times feel some matters are really un-attended but this is surely just me on my part.

but as i said, lets do our part and with the best of our intention and good heart.

For everyone, DO NOT FOLLOW Shoei'S ADVICE.

If you find a bug, report it in the Bugs forum: (24231.1) You may not get an immediate answer, but as the BBs have said over and over, it will be read and considered.

Spamming multiple users (including BBs) with the same message, even if you think it's important, is against the rules.

Last edited by Mod-oeuftete at 7/27/2009 7:44:45 AM

yeah sure

if it wasnt for it then i guess that bug wouldnt even be fix till now.

i waited for approx more than a week waiting for a response and guess what its only when i reach out to a bb did i get it done

oh oh

FIY! the bb who replied and fix the problem thanked me yes he THANKED me

so ban me from the forums

also i just like to add and not really in disrespect, since your back having the 2 letter before your name and you have the power why not delete it.

come on its not as if your new at it


Last edited by Shoei at 7/27/2009 9:29:08 AM

I'm glad you got your problem worked out, and that you got a kind response from the BBs. That doesn't change the fact that having users BB-mail the BBs directly about bugs does not scale, and sending identical BB-mail to multiple BBs is not the right thing to do.

Again, I strongly encourage users to use the proper channels (Bugs forum), and play by the rules, which includes not spamming.

Last edited by Mod-oeuftete at 7/27/2009 9:28:29 AM

is it my problem alone?

the only reason im at haste or really driven is because i felt it could affect the community that we have.

especially at a time wherein they are promoting for us to invite people.

but i get your point, there are things even if it would affect the game still just keep on posting.

in this kind of magnitude you call it spamming, wow if it something like its a personal thing or asking questions or probably anything that just ordinary and you keep hitting it up ill probably say it would be spamming

you heard it people, just keep on posting. .. . oh isnt it the point of the person who started the post its because he feels there isnt much response going on

cheers!

To further the point, this is what the BB's have posted for a Press Announcement:

Please use the forums

It is very difficult for me to reply to the large number of questions I get about the game via BB-mail, especially because some of them are not in English. If you post on the forums, you will get a reply there from one of our wonderful GMs. However, if you BB-mail me, I am now getting so many of them (around 75 in the last day!) that I can no longer answer all of them myself, so you might not get a reply.

Sorry about that!