Status Update 23rd June 2016

[DHRifleman]

whose money did they waste to make dog colars?

Not your money. Not my money. Their own money. The second you hand your money over, it's no longer your money. Does your employer tell you what to spend your salary on? No. Once you get paid it's your money and you can do whatever you want with it without having to consult anyone.

This statement does not even fit the situation. EW is not our employees, or we would dictate exactly what they will do for the money we give them. And we would give them the money if we were satisfied with what they did to earn it after the fact, not before.
They provide a service and we happen to pay them for it if we want. It is in their best interest to understand what the majority of players are willing to pay for, and what will make them stop paying. The reason the game is in the state it is in, is because too many people kept defending EW and the game as it got worse and more bug riddled. From EW's perspective they see positive posts defending the negative ones, then censor the negative ones even further, and the outlook looks all rosy. Unfortunately it isn't and it will show in lost revenue, and then finally something might be done.
So posting what the next thing should be only detracts from the real issues which is the game needs fixing. New stuff should not even be on anyone's mind if they are not happy with how the game is working.

If you give them a choice, which is what you do when you ask for a new item or feature, between fixing some issues for $0, and making that item you want that you will pay actual money for, guess what they will choose to do?

On topic
Have a nice Summer Break

[Jaggyroad]

Please fix this crashing issue. I've been a fervent player for nearly seven years now, and I've certainly spent more money on this game than is reasonable (to most people, anyways LOL). I'm nearly at the point of taking a hiatus until you guys fix this, as when I'm hosting, my sessions are incredibly unreliable. My crashes are affecting other players. Whiterime is nearly unplayable.

[Extort713]

I'm nearly at the point of taking a hiatus until you guys fix this.

What I have been doing for the past couple weeks... The game has crashed so many times that it is way too irritating now.

[caledonianblues]

This statement does not even fit the situation. EW is not our employees, or we would dictate exactly what they will do for the money we give them. And we would give them the money if we were satisfied with what they did to earn it after the fact, not before.
They provide a service and we happen to pay them for it if we want. It is in their best interest to understand what the majority of players are willing to pay for, and what will make them stop paying.

OK the analogy was not perfectly fitting but you understand the point I was trying to make, and my point remains valid. When you subscribe to a service, you're paying your money to a company for a service. That entitles you to the service, not to a say in how the profits that service generates are spent. You couldn't contact Netflix to discuss or complain about how they invest their profits. Once you hand over your money it's no longer your money. The only option players have, if unhappy with how their money is being invested, is to stop paying. Simple as that. I agree that it's in the best interests of Expansive Worlds to understand what the majority of players want, but ultimately the items, features and content that make it into the game have to be cost-effective.

The reason the game is in the state it is in, is because too many people kept defending EW and the game as it got worse and more bug riddled. From EW's perspective they see positive posts defending the negative ones, then censor the negative ones even further, and the outlook looks all rosy. Unfortunately it isn't and it will show in lost revenue, and then finally something might be done.

Negative posts are only censored if the post violates the Code of Conduct. There are plenty of negative posts on the forum right now which have not and will not be moderated. I could probably find several dozen pretty quickly. There's a distinct difference between conveying negativity and criticism in a professional and civil manner, and posting hatred, frustration and negativity with absolutely no regard for other forum members or the Code of Conduct. If such posts were left un-moderated the forum would quickly become a pretty dark place, and I for one would hate to see that happening.

In my opinion, the game being in the state it's in right now (which I agree is shocking and absolutely on the verge of having a significant and possibly irrecoverable impact on the company and its revenue) has absolutely nothing to do with the forum, forum members, or what they post. Expansive Worlds are responsible for the game and for their revenue and profits. Someone defending negative posts should not be adequate justification for Expansive Worlds to sweep problems under the carpet.

[nosnerb]

This statement does not even fit the situation. EW is not our employees, or we would dictate exactly what they will do for the money we give them. And we would give them the money if we were satisfied with what they did to earn it after the fact, not before.
They provide a service and we happen to pay them for it if we want. It is in their best interest to understand what the majority of players are willing to pay for, and what will make them stop paying.

OK the analogy was not perfectly fitting but you understand the point I was trying to make, and my point remains valid. When you subscribe to a service, you're paying your money to a company for a service. That entitles you to the service, not to a say in how the profits that service generates are spent. You couldn't contact Netflix to discuss or complain about how they invest their profits. Once you hand over your money it's no longer your money. The only option players have, if unhappy with how their money is being invested, is to stop paying. Simple as that. I agree that it's in the best interests of Expansive Worlds to understand what the majority of players want, but ultimately the items, features and content that make it into the game have to be cost-effective.

The reason the game is in the state it is in, is because too many people kept defending EW and the game as it got worse and more bug riddled. From EW's perspective they see positive posts defending the negative ones, then censor the negative ones even further, and the outlook looks all rosy. Unfortunately it isn't and it will show in lost revenue, and then finally something might be done.

Negative posts are only censored if the post violates the Code of Conduct. There are plenty of negative posts on the forum right now which have not and will not be moderated. I could probably find several dozen pretty quickly. There's a distinct difference between conveying negativity and criticism in a professional and civil manner, and posting hatred, frustration and negativity with absolutely no regard for other forum members or the Code of Conduct. If such posts were left un-moderated the forum would quickly become a pretty dark place, and I for one would hate to see that happening.

In my opinion, the game being in the state it's in right now (which I agree is shocking and absolutely on the verge of having a significant and possibly irrecoverable impact on the company and its revenue) has absolutely nothing to do with the forum, forum members, or what they post. Expansive Worlds are responsible for the game and for their revenue and profits. Someone defending negative posts should not be adequate justification for Expansive Worlds to sweep problems under the carpet.

Only problem is the service is not being delivered. The game is unplayable

[baldey]

Yep that's the ONLY problem.

[DHRifleman]

Someone defending negative posts should not be adequate justification for Expansive Worlds to sweep problems under the carpet

You are correct, it shouldn't be.

[Radamus]

This makes me think of some prior discussions- the active forum members are only a small blip in the overall metric but I can't imagine that just because they aren't being vocal here that they aren't having the same problems. If this continues much longer I have no doubts it will have an impact.
It's disheartening when I think back to when VDB was released, the most beautiful and vast eye candy imaginable when compared to all the others places and sites. My first new reserve after joining. It was great, yeah, we had a cattle drive through the river but they tweaked that and made it a great experience. And then bush Rangers - and it's been nothing but break and fix disasters one after another since. I'm just saying, that when I reflect on my experience it's just kind of sad based on what we had and how well it seemed to be for me to now, disappointing. I know they're working on it and I trust they'll figure it out but I'm understanding now the frustration that I saw with the long term veterans while I was still wide eyed and ignorantly blissful. This stuff wears on ya especially when you really are into this game and all you want to do is hunt and enjoy the experience and the challenge.....that's all I want.