Good game but bad customer service

Okeefe

After nearly 8000hrs of play I answered a player question, in global chat, and was banned for a month.  After the month, I came back in and others asked me about the ban and I got banned for another month, for chatting about the ban. 

A guild member, who had never spoken in global before, asked what was going on and got banned for 6 months. 

After this guild member was banned, my ban was extended to 6 months.

If you go to the PG forum to ask why, you get a 1yr ban.

If you send email to the customer service department, they ignore the email. 

If you go to Steam, PG thread and ask , you get permanently banned from that forum.

The game is fine, but theree is absolutely no customer service, no recourse, no appeal.   The staff are very cliquey and everyone that gets promoted to guide or Mod are all buddies and if they take a dislike to you, forget it.  

Okeefe

Keep in mind I have been playing online games for 35yrs and have never been banned from one before.  

I have a guild of 170+ people in PG.

Kyleran

Welcome to the forums!

How much did you spend on the game to date?

Quizzical

You've already spent 8000 hours on a game that hasn't even launched yet?

Ungood

Quizzical said:

You've already spent 8000 hours on a game that hasn't even launched yet?

it's been in an Open Beta/EA for a long time now.

Just like I have around 500 hours in Crowfall, and the game is not even in Beta yet.

Quizzical

Ungood said:

Quizzical said:

You've already spent 8000 hours on a game that hasn't even launched yet?

it's been in an Open Beta/EA for a long time now.

Just like I have around 500 hours in Crowfall, and the game is not even in Beta yet.

There's a big difference between 500 hours and 8000 hours.  8000 hours is a lot for a game that released 10 years ago, as even playing two hours per day every single day for ten years wouldn't get you there.

Ungood

Kyleran said:

Welcome to the forums!

How much did you spend on the game to date?

Just out of curiosity, why is this a concern? 

Is there something  about their payment plan I should know, like do they have a Pay2be a Ranging Asshole package, or a Pay2Not be Treated Like Shit.

Because something like that, I would like to be made aware of before I even consider looking at a game.

Ungood

Quizzical said:

Ungood said:

Quizzical said:

You've already spent 8000 hours on a game that hasn't even launched yet?

it's been in an Open Beta/EA for a long time now.

Just like I have around 500 hours in Crowfall, and the game is not even in Beta yet.

There's a big difference between 500 hours and 8000 hours.  8000 hours is a lot for a game that released 10 years ago, as even playing two hours per day every single day for ten years wouldn't get you there.

I see what you are saying, but, you know, some people go hardcore with their game of choice, and they can put in 4K hours in a single year, because they don't have any pressing real life obligations.

Truth is, 2 hours a day is like very casual, like the Has a Job&Family&Obligations kind of set up, when you deal with serious to hardcore players they can easily put in 4 - 6 hours a day, which is not a lot for a single person, even if thy are working a full time job, when you consider, 8 hours for a full time job, then 2 hours for food, you have an additional 4 - 6 of free time to spend on a game or whatever else strikes your fancy, and then do say another 6 hours per day on the weekend, so you are looking 40 hours a week on a game for someone who is single or has minimal real life obligations, or maybe dating/married a fellow gamer, and actually likes their game of choice. Not to mention, for working stiffs, MMO's can be super cheap entertainment for how many hours of escapism you can get from them, so they become a way to deal with the grind. That can add up to a quick 2K hours a year.

and that is not even going hardcore or No-lifers, who can easy dump 8+ hours a day, plus 10 - 12 hard play sessions daily on the weekends, so they can be clocking 4K hours a year.

Then you have the always-on. Now, how many actual hours of play these players have might be up for a lot of dispute, they are often logged in for astronomical amounts like 12+ hours a day, and go 24/7 on the week ends, because they are just logged into their game of choice while they are doing other things, like watching movies, taking a nap, making dinner, cleaning the house, playing some other game, like for example they are logged into WoW while playing Among us, or something, and we all know this person, that we send a tell to, and they respond like a half hour later, with "Oh I was AFK." Well know these people, in fact we all have at least one friend in game that is one, and those people can put in a an official log of 8K hours a year into a game super easy, but how much they have actually played could be up for debate.

They could also have several accounts, like a Main, a Crafter, a Troll, etc, so they are adding up total time across all accounts, which could turn 2K total hours into a viable claim of 8K if they were 4 boxing.

All in all, the 8k is not that big an issue, really, even if it might be somewhat exaggerated.. it's still not that big a deal.

Quizzical

I'm not saying that it's impossible to spend 8000 hours on a game.  I am saying that it's unusual to spend that much time on one particular game without feeling like you've played through everything and want to move on.  And it's especially unusual to spend 8000 hours playing one particular game before that game even launches.

There's also the issue that there's almost certainly more to the story than the original poster is saying.  Someone who has been justly banned and wants to complain about it isn't likely to give the full details of why he was actually banned.

Kyleran

Ungood said:

Kyleran said:

Welcome to the forums!

How much did you spend on the game to date?

Just out of curiosity, why is this a concern? 

Is there something  about their payment plan I should know, like do they have a Pay2be a Ranging Asshole package, or a Pay2Not be Treated Like Shit.

Because something like that, I would like to be made aware of before I even consider looking at a game.

Generally I find if a customer is a steady source of income game devs are reluctant to react with a really heavy hand to customer infractions.

Conversely, if the company has little to lose financially from such moderations it happens more often.

Of course, no idea what OP did to draw such ire, said they only answered a question, but without more info no way to tell if the punishment was warranted or not.

achesoma

Damn, can y’all believe this website is free?!

Ungood

Kyleran said:

Ungood said:

Kyleran said:

Welcome to the forums!

How much did you spend on the game to date?

Just out of curiosity, why is this a concern? 

Is there something  about their payment plan I should know, like do they have a Pay2be a Ranging Asshole package, or a Pay2Not be Treated Like Shit.

Because something like that, I would like to be made aware of before I even consider looking at a game.

Generally I find if a customer is a steady source of income game devs are reluctant to react with a really heavy hand to customer infractions.

Conversely, if the company has little to lose financially from such moderations it happens more often.

Of course, no idea what OP did to draw such ire, said they only answered a question, but without more info no way to tell if the punishment was warranted or not.

Typically Devs don't hand out moderation, that is often handled by the CS team, who may or may not know how much a player is spending.

Ungood

Quizzical said:

I'm not saying that it's impossible to spend 8000 hours on a game.  I am saying that it's unusual to spend that much time on one particular game without feeling like you've played through everything and want to move on.  And it's especially unusual to spend 8000 hours playing one particular game before that game even launches.

There's also the issue that there's almost certainly more to the story than the original poster is saying.  Someone who has been justly banned and wants to complain about it isn't likely to give the full details of why he was actually banned.

Damn.. I knew I was doing something wrong, after 14 years in DDO, I still feel like there is more to do.. and here you tell me I should have been done by 8K hours.

Sovrath

Okeefe said:

Keep in mind I have been playing online games for 35yrs and have never been banned from one before.  

I have a guild of 170+ people in PG.

I don't know man, I've yet to see someone make a post like yours who didn't deserve a ban. I've been here for years and every time someone writes this type of post AND they show what they've written, I've always just shook my head thinking "are you kidding me?"

But there's always a first time so care to share?

Wizardry

I would not expect any customer service,i mean there has only been 2 people working on the game for like 10 years so why would they hire anyone for CS when they can't hire anyone for game design.

So what you are dealing with is some deadbeat who enjoys the power of being given mod status.

Personally i gave the game far too much time,i stuck with it until i saw a few updates and then realize the guy doesn't know what he is doing and the game would never become AAA.
I am not going to sit here and write a novel on all the small tidbits that need improving but instead just say the game ideas were good but it needed a real developer.

Something else you should realize is that these douches are 99% likely moderating for free so typically they can do whatever thee feel and the owner isn't going to say anything to them or question them unless something unlawful happens.

I also feel that at this point the game is not making anymore money so they really couldn't care less about quality customer support.

Wizardry

You know that old saying...you get what you pay for.You enter an Indie game you get Indie service.
The funny thing about it though is that when i play on private game servers i get better support than games i pay to play.These people work day jobs and then come home and work on the server and dedicate time to supporting players as well find some time to play themselves.

I NEVER once seen this Eric dude play his own game or seen hide nor hare of him anywhere ever.Point being that as far as i know he doesn't even care much about his own game,definitely less than private servers that make NO money ever.

MightyUnclean

Okeefe said:

After nearly 8000hrs of play I answered a player question, in global chat, and was banned for a month.  After the month, I came back in and others asked me about the ban and I got banned for another month, for chatting about the ban. 

A guild member, who had never spoken in global before, asked what was going on and got banned for 6 months. 

After this guild member was banned, my ban was extended to 6 months.

If you go to the PG forum to ask why, you get a 1yr ban.

If you send email to the customer service department, they ignore the email. 

If you go to Steam, PG thread and ask , you get permanently banned from that forum.

The game is fine, but theree is absolutely no customer service, no recourse, no appeal.   The staff are very cliquey and everyone that gets promoted to guide or Mod are all buddies and if they take a dislike to you, forget it.  

<cough> Uh huh <cough> sounds perfectly legit.

AngryElf

Good game, if lacking AAA polish.  Great concepts and loot system.  Devs very low budget and not a ton of support.  Full disclosure: loved the game and hope for full release sometime. 
However, the complaint here is as solid as a fart and stinks about the same. Without details, I'm not sure how you plan to argue your side with any CS or garner any support from fellow players.
Good luck. 

Cuddleheart

How come Nobody is asking...

1.  What was the question asked?
2.  What was the answer the op gave?

MightyUnclean

Cuddleheart said:

How come Nobody is asking...

1.  What was the question asked?
2.  What was the answer the op gave?

I don't think anyone is biting at the bait.

achesoma

Cuddleheart said:

How come Nobody is asking...

1.  What was the question asked?
2.  What was the answer the op gave?

I’m pretty sure the answer is type 2 diabetes if he spent over 8000 hours on a single video game over the past four years. 

Brainy

Quizzical said:

I'm not saying that it's impossible to spend 8000 hours on a game.  I am saying that it's unusual to spend that much time on one particular game without feeling like you've played through everything and want to move on.  And it's especially unusual to spend 8000 hours playing one particular game before that game even launches.

There's also the issue that there's almost certainly more to the story than the original poster is saying.  Someone who has been justly banned and wants to complain about it isn't likely to give the full details of why he was actually banned.

When you run a large guild.  You start playing a new game called Guild Leader Online.  Where you log in and chat a lot of the time.  Its not uncommon your guy sits in town while you are on discord or in-game chats handling guild banks, guild drama, guild maintenance and so many other things.

Brainy

Torval said:

Okeefe said:

The game is fine, but theree is absolutely no customer service, no recourse, no appeal.   The staff are very cliquey and everyone that gets promoted to guide or Mod are all buddies and if they take a dislike to you, forget it.  

Unsure about the rest, but I find this part is absolutely true to my experience.

I totally agree, this is way common.  The smaller the staff the more likely this is gonna happen.

Ungood

Quizzical said:

I'm not saying that it's impossible to spend 8000 hours on a game.  I am saying that it's unusual to spend that much time on one particular game without feeling like you've played through everything and want to move on.  And it's especially unusual to spend 8000 hours playing one particular game before that game even launches.

There's also the issue that there's almost certainly more to the story than the original poster is saying.  Someone who has been justly banned and wants to complain about it isn't likely to give the full details of why he was actually banned.

I get that, but, also, this game has been in EA for 5 years now.

The hours are a Nothing Burger, really.

Akulas

You ask something. Receive a random ban. Ask why you got banned. Get an extended ban without knowing why. That is literally what happens in this game. Ask something about the state of the game or what the population is like as an example. Is PG dead is a good question on an account you don't care about.

Scot

A small staff in a game like this are going to develop a bunker mentality, that's quite natural and not down to who the staff are.

Without knowing the full details you have to give them the benefit of the doubt, but the OP is not the only poster we have had on here who has questioned how they handle criticism.