I was player to IO games from 2004. I started with Imperia online. When the IH started I was from the first players who logged in. I survived the cruel open beta testing when things were unbelievable! You had to travel to and from a dungeon per fight, the game was buggy (still is), there were a lot of black provinces to the map and many other things!
I "promoted" to moderator from Judith when I contact her for some translation mistakes. For as long as she was working at IO we had a perfect co-op. Later she replaced from Johnnie. Our co-op was also I want to believe good.
Also I had a good co-op with many of the players, trusted members and moderators.
I will recall just a few of them.
Chegewara (left because had issues with IO)
Geomaticus (left because limited time due to newborn child)
Snif (left because had issues with IO)
and many more, inactive now...
Anyway enough with nostalgic feelings.
Why I am leaving, I believe is the real question.
Well there is no simple answer to that.
When you are in a group of people and you have fun you are able to find some time to spend with them. When you stop having fun with them you realise that there are more important tasks to do and suddenly you realise that you don't have enough time for them any more.
That's what happen with me. I stopped having fun! And I don't have any time to waste here.
Why I stopped having fun?
Let's see. At first the game with all it's bugs and mistakes and unfriendly rules was fun because of the people! Both players and IO office wanted something better and each one of us contribute to the game as he could. That was fun! Fun was the community we had create. Fun was the interaction, our agreements and disagreements we had. Let's see the game today... Forum is at zombie state. Not even CMs log in at monthly base!!! Game has been stopped developed... At first the office reduced the work hours spending to IH. People continue to support the game development every way they could. Trying to show that attention should be given here too. Sadly IO office decide Imperia Online is the only game they can/want to support. Since the creators turned their backs to people, people turned their backs to creation. There are so many abandoned accounts or accounts at "babysitting" mode to the game... Only a handful of players remain.
Same situation here at forum.
In addition IO office handled issues wrong according to my point of view.
First and big mistake:
Announcement of new things! They announced that the work at IH 2 has begun. Two years passed and nothing!
They had said that IO and IH Iphone apps will be ready at June! Guess what June, previous year. And guess what! IO app is at beta and IH is... no where! I don't know if IO has Idolised Blizzart but we all know about Diablo 3...
Announced co-op dungeons... No news... Etc.
Another mistake:
They forgot the game! I mean a day's work per month can keep this game alive! Do random events, do double xp or crafting weekends. Do something!
Another mistake:
Ending Beta. This game had 1 million bugs. Now has 100.000 bugs. Who told you that was ready to leave beta?
In fact beta gives you a good excuse about applying new things, have unsolved bugs and do experiments altering each and every aspect of the game.
Another mistake:
Fixing bugs! When you fix a major bug ANNOUNCE IT! A year or more ago the game was giving 2 APs free if you posted to your facebook and 2 APs if you played a game. The office stopped supporting the game and the 2 APs are forgotten for a long time now. After that you had problems with Facebook. NONE knows if you solved them!!! You never announce if a bug is fixed! People don't know if you are working or not. They simple "forget it too".
Another mistake:
Keep broken things visible!
Until recently IO office had another 2 games (Global wars and Galactic Imperia) running. They chose to close them. Guess what! Links to the closed games were visible long after! Players could access them from a drop down menu with company's other games. Only to get an error message!!! Same with other in-game functions. If something is broken you remove it until is fixed. Facebook button and Artillery's button for the 2+2 extra APs are still there. Go check what works... And those are only examples!!!
Final mistake from a long list that I chose to reveal to public is this:
The way you reply!
Check the outrage EA's tech-support has created. Reason? not because they are not polite with the people. It's because they reply "that's the way it is if you like it".
When the forum was populated with CMs their posts were "fixed", "no problem" etc. They didn't share any additional information! Players want to feel that you pay attention to them (and you should). You should listen to them and share as much info as possible.
"There is no problem, because..." You never said something like that! You disappoint your costumers that way.
Those are just a few reasons because it stopped be fun.
I would like to add here that these are not only my point of view! All these years of activity at forum I never hid my mail/skype or never declined you the option of pm. Many gamers contacted me all these years. They affected me with their point of view and I affected them with mine. But I can say that the above are a silent uproar from players.
I don't hold any evil thoughts about any of the moderators, trusted members or players.
I am disappointed from the office as general not as individual CMs. With the following exceptions:
>>That programmer who created the "chat". Why? Why? WHY? You couldn't make anything worse!!! Only thing in tech life worse than this is Windows ME! In fact if you play use that chat at Windows ME I believe it will be like divide with 0! or get sucked into a black hole or something!!!
Anyway, back to the me leaving theme.
One important reason I am leaving is my personal ethics. I don't like to be the one who's job is to be in the middle, when the situation is as I described above. The reason is simple. You hear the people's troubles and issues. You filter them. And when the worthy ones are forwarded to the office from you... Nothing. You get the feeling that nothing happens! From the issues that I have forwarded to the office only 20% were replied! Maybe they are fixed maybe not. I never informed about it. And in fact there are several occasions I had to wait weeks asking every single day until they get bored and reply. All I was getting was "we will have to check it". When? how? who? doesn't matter you will wait for days. In the mean time castles are captured players abandon the game etc.
And the worse part for me is that even if I wait for my issues that's my problem! But what about yours? You want a reply from me! What to say? My usual "I will notify the office", when inside me each day and more, I knew that is like saying to you. "Hold there and wait for support to aid you, when the god enlighten them!". I feel like betraying both you and the office.
Yes, betraying the office! I have to admit that the office supported me in-game and in-forum when I need it. They given to me so much diamonds... I was never in need. But for me when I started the game they were crystal clear, glamorous diamonds. As the time passed and the interest reduced those diamonds start turning red... Blood red... Those morally, blood diamonds aren't for me. I don't want them!
To end this topic I will have to say something.
This is a game. But I invested some time to this game! Enough time to can say that I learned a lot from the people here and also contribute somewhat. I saw a lot of my ideas and suggestions applied to game. (Even if some of them were mocked from Oton as outrageous... I am referring to the sound and music applied to IO...) My decision to leave is final. I am thinking that for some time now. And by doing that I feel like I am leaving something behind.
I will not visit this forum again. I will log in to my Crassus_M account one last time to inform my guild member for my decision. And that's it.
Good bye, and good buys.
P.S. Food for though! Global Wars and Galactic Imperia are history...
