Exactly - Lack and others, are you really running a business here? This is a screw up of monumental proportions that has frustrated players and significantly deteriorated the gaming experience. Everyone I talk to and play with is screwed up in their games because suddenly BOB doesn't work, chat is funky, the boards are acting funny, and there's a real suspicion that the dice are screwed up even though it appears they're actually functioning properly on further investigation.
What you have is huge loss of trust for this site and the game board. And your pathetic response has not exactly inspired confidence.
Your current statement on the home page is little more than a simple-minded statement of the obvious. We can TELL the boards and dice and lingo have changed - what we're not sure of is how this is impacting our game play. The appropriate thing to do would be to link from that statement to a page - make it in the Rules or Instructions possibly, that explains in detail what exactly has changed:
- Wording in the Action section of the play and other parts of the game screen
- Appearance of the dice - but not the actual mechanics behind the dice
- Certain maps - the maps formerly known as Middle Earth and Classic - explain your plan for fixing that problem - both short term and long term
- BOB and other plugins are probably not functioning - then point to a link in the forums where you can learn more about their status
Then you should also provide a running update of how the progress is being made to fix these problems. You have a lot of amateur pissed off kiddies who are leaving sophomoric comments, but many of us are grown-ups who respond well to a well written explanation of why you've run into challenges.
You had to know this was coming - be honest and explain why your response to this crisis (AND IT IS A CRISIS for your business) has been poor and how you plan to make it better. Otherwise, we'll potentially take our business and game play elsewhere. You guys can be replaced and a handful of good coders could replicate the effort with the right incentives. There's a decent business model here but you guys are blowing it right now. We WANT you to succeed.
Thanks.
Incandenza wrote:Well, this sure helped me kill some time this afternoon...
I am surprised at a few things...
1. that the contingency maps for classic and middle earth are so unremittingly crappy, when any of a number of cartographers could have been tacitly approached months or years ago and asked to whip something up in case this happens
2. that the changeover to new maps and terminology wasn't immediately followed by an official announcement from lack, rather than this ad-hoc thread-merging and have-to-search-for-them messages from twill
3. that there was never any real communication with the community before this went down, when a thread soliciting opinions about how to de-hasbro CC (or at least some mention that eventually the site would have to make some changes) would've at least softened the blow
4. that this changeover is the first gameplay-related change to CC in six months (since the classic touch-up in april, and no, medals and ratings don't count)
5. that management never tacitly got in touch with yeti and chip and other scriptwriters to ensure the smooth transition of BOB and CM and such
Suffice it to say that this is a disconcerting turn of events that leads one to wonder just how on top of things Team CC is. The shroud of secrecy, lack of foresight, and pretty poor contingency options don't reflect well on how the site is being run. I suppose the real question is whether lack views this site as a business or a hobby.
And not to get people down even more, but anyone thinking that classic and middle earth will have revamped concepts up and running any time soon hasn't been to the foundry recently. I would predict that we're in for the long haul with the Lucky Charms specials.
"All mankind is in a perpetual and restless desire for power... that ceases only in death." Hobbes