More drama in Evony forums
Seems Evony has decided it’s a good idea to start to address some of the complaints people have in the Evony forum. This time it’s the well known Evony representative Dawnseeker who’s replying to several complaints from a guy named Icer. Icer thinks that paying costumers should be threated better by Evony, and has several things that he’s not happy about. I actually agree with some of them, and I am glad that Evony seems to take complaints seriously and answer them. Here is the list and the reply from Dawnseeker.
- Not given proper updates on server status.
- Utter lack of concern about in game issues.
- Serious lack of freedom of speech on forums.
- No compassion or compensation to inconveniences produced by Evony.
- Nearly a complete lack of customer support.
- Absolute unwillingness to place ones self in the customers position.
- Non-Verbal threats (such as if you do such and such we will ban you, instead of “how can we help to resolve you situation”).
Fair points, all.
Let me begin by disclaiming. Evony is a startup company and the game itself is less than a year old. We’re also getting started with a wildly popular massively-multiplayer online game, whereas most gaming companies with anywhere near our number of users got started in the days before internet gaming, and certainly before the explosion of MMOs. Not only that, but we weren’t prepared for just how popular Evony would be. I mean we knew it was great, but we didn’t know just how many people would agree and just how quickly! This puts us “behind the 8-ball” in terms of staffing, both for customer service and bug reports. We’re actually very pleased that our players have such high expectations of us. Players in many fly-by-night games would just accept bugs and poor service without much thought before moving on to the next game. We’re glad that our players tend to see us as a serious, customer-oriented operation and that they make demands on us accordingly. I assure you that our goal is to meet that demand, and — more than that — to exceed player expectations. You’re right that we have been delinquent in some areas, but I promise it is not for lack of trying. We have been slow to respond to some in-game issues, but much of that is because they will be resolved or become irrelevant in Age II. Yes, I’m talking about Age II again, but its a big deal and players will find a lot of bugs and other issues resolved when Age II is released. This is another reason that certain issues may be put on the back burner for right now. As a startup company we simply don’t have the staff to dedicate to hunting down every bug and resolving every problem that arises. We try to fight fires as they come and deal with major issues. Sometimes that means some of the small things get lost in the shuffle. We know that nothing seems small when it is happening to you and we are constantly working to improve and expand our service. I would like all of our players to feel that they matter and are taken care of. We try to give compensation when service outages are extreme and out of the ordinary. It is simply not feasible to give out compensation to every player, every time something happens to them. Once again, we focus on the large issues and the fact that we have given out compensation on numerous occasions speaks to the fact that we do care about our players and that our goal is to make you all happy. If players violate the game rules, they will be banned. We have banned very few accounts on the first violation, hoping that a warning suspension will serve to let players know that we’re on to them and that they should modify their behavior. If they continue to cheat, we have to ban them, both to make sure that future threats are taken seriously, and to protect the players who don’t cheat. On the forums we welcome free speech and — yes! — criticism as long as the tone is not incendiary and the forum rules are followed. You may not like all the rules, but they are there for a reason and we constantly struggle to toe the line between freedom and limitations. You may be surprised to learn that discussions on whether or not to delete a thread or issue an infraction are frequent in the moderator chat channel. We want to give players as much freedom as possible within the framework of the rules that have been establish to promote this game. It would not be in any company’s interest to allow speech on its forums which is likely to be harmful to its revenue. Microsoft won’t allow you to go to its forums and write about how terrible Windows 7 is and demand that everyone reading the post should return the software for a refund. Neither will we allow such posts on our forums. Allowing such posts would not only be bad business, but it would be bad for our players. Bad business means less revenue, which means less staff and less production. That said, we invite honest criticism and open debate as long as the tone is proper. If things turn into flamefests, they will be shut down. That’s just how things go around here. Our customers do have a strong voice in the community. Much of what we do is based on player feedback. Most of what we do isn’t. Its not because we don’t value feedback, but because the developers have a creative vision for the game that is both awesome and successful. You’re not being ignored, but a game developed solely by the players would be pretty boring. Players love what we’ve done and we want to build on that success by incorporating your ideas into our vision. Its a team effort and, in many ways, every player is part of that team. Icer, you’re well-spoken and intelligent. I would love to hear your ideas. I would love to hear anyone’s thoughtful ideas. Bring it on! I promise you, we read this stuff!
You can read the whole thread here.
Expert Guide to Age 2
To become sucessfull and really do well in Evony Age 2 I really think you should get the Advanced Evony Strategies E-Book. Filled with secret strategies and tips it is definitly worth the cost, cheaper than a holiday package even.
Get it here.
How about the drama of mass bans that are targeting innocent players?
None of the below points matter when an innocent players gets caught up in the bot crap. You wonder why people are leaving the game.
Not given proper updates on server status.
Utter lack of concern about in game issues.
Serious lack of freedom of speech on forums.
No compassion or compensation to inconveniences produced by Evony.
Nearly a complete lack of customer support.
Absolute unwillingness to place ones self in the customers position.
Non-Verbal threats (such as if you do such and such we will ban you, instead of “how can we help to resolve
Irritated
26 Jan 10 at 10:23 am
Well that is definitely a bad thing, might take up that topic later on, hasn’t happened to anyone I know but I’ve seen some posts in the forums.
Admin
26 Jan 10 at 11:44 am
dawnseekers response is complete BS. if you look on the forums you will find links to countless threads asking for explanations or help about banning. within minutes of posting they all get deleted by 1 of the fascist moderators. his assistant foxybunny is notorious for it. they seem to find amusement flexing their powerful mod muscles. censorship on that site is worse than in china. its ridiculous to think they are running it from the US. also you will notice that any1 who criticizes or disagrees with the mods has their forum account deleted for ‘failing to contribute in a positive manner’. customer service does not exist at their firm. months of mails and phone calls go unanswered. and why would they bother answering when they can just block you and revoke your account. so glad i never spent money on this game.
michael
8 Mar 10 at 4:23 am
I was suspended for 3 days. Excuse was I was using cheats or bots?
I don’t. It would be nice if someone had the decency to tell me what they consider cheating since I have no clue what it is that I have done.
As if the 3 days suspension was not bad enough. when I was able to get back in. They have taken 1/2 my troops which I spent numberous days and resources building.
It would be nice if admin would respond in someway. I did nothing wrong that I am aware of. And the fact that they choose to take things away on a wim and suspend people on a wim, leaves me very hesitant to ever invest another dime on this site and I would recommend that no one else ever spend a dime. If innocent players are going to loose everything because whoever/whatever is looking for bots/cheats obviously has some issues of its own that need to be fixed so that innocent players are not being wrongfully suspended
Laura
9 Mar 10 at 5:02 pm
Lots of people are leaving Evony now. Some were banned for botting, some got fed up with the lack of customer care and others didn’t like the interminable farming necessary.
Mostly they have moved to the many similar browser games. Current favourite is War of Legends, mainly because it is published in the UK and has good customer service and no endless farming.
John Armour
12 Mar 10 at 2:33 pm
Yeah, after reading this tread I’m still a little bemused but I think in the main we can all agree the main focus of the company is on profit, and rightly so.
In the main the customer service is non-existant but the game is addictive and people do like a simple challenge.
Let’s hope they learn the lessons of the super-servers before they roll out the beta II expansion.
If you do some basic maths on the prices for equipment and gems in the Beta you are going to need a mortgage to play soon anyway.
No wonder they are so pumped up about it.
Who knows? greatest profit making exercise in history? Or worlds largest marketing mistake? Im guessing a little of both.
Noob
24 Mar 10 at 8:32 pm
i have done something wrong
matt
9 Jun 10 at 12:42 am
I made the mistake of starting to play in Evony 2, then made a bigger mistake by dedicating quite a bit of time to it, then made the huge mistake of giving them money.
A bug in the game has now had me logged out of my account for days. Not one single reply from Evony despite tickets lodged in the correct manner.
The forum is a joke, there are a few of us with the same problem. Every time we post they delete, and if we re-post they ban us.
Customer service at Evony is non existent. They simply do not care one bit for their customers – paying or not.
Kate
2 Aug 10 at 6:01 am
Found out about a new chat site called Chat Spasm, a chat site with musicians.
Rudy Bahrmasel
31 Aug 10 at 1:32 am
i played evony for many months but found a better alternative atleast imo its a similar slg game better map but evony seeing the competition filed a lawsuit and has slowly ruined the game because it just doesnt have the player base evony has and cant keep up with the legal fees it freaking SUCKS!!! man
matticus
27 May 11 at 10:42 pm
They do not even enforce the rules anymore. I have reported numerous bot users to no avail. I reported the lord name ANGRYCUNT and nothing has been done to change it. If that name does not violate the rules they have posted then nothing does. I will not spend a dime on this game.
Jim
5 Jun 11 at 7:39 pm
Same thing happened to me yesterday. I play on a new server and was suspended for 3 days for supposedly cheating. I didn’t cheat and didn’t even know what a bot was until today when someone told me. This is ridiculous!! And customer service, forget about that. I replied to the link and no answer 24 hrs later.. What a rip off this game is. And now I read here that half of my troops will be missing? Why am I being punished like a child for something that I did not do. Seems evony falsely accuses people and steals all the money they pay for the game. Maybe they should accuse there selves for there flawed system!!
I was suspended for 3 days. Excuse was I was using cheats or bots?
I don’t. It would be nice if someone had the decency to tell me what they consider cheating since I have no clue what it is that I have done.
Tina
17 Jun 11 at 3:17 am
I was suspended for 3 days. Excuse was I was using cheats or bots?
I don’t. It would be nice if someone had the decency to tell me what they consider cheating since I have no clue what it is that I have done.
Tina
17 Jun 11 at 3:17 am
Lol..My comment is awaiting approval by moderation
Tina
17 Jun 11 at 3:18 am
All comments have to be moderated, I get lots of spam on this site unfortunately to leave comments open
Iwind
17 Jun 11 at 7:34 am