Formal Letter to SE about RMT situation.

[Magusrex]

The leadership of this game is showing themselves to have no honor. What I know personally of Japanese culture tells me they hold leadership and honor in high regard. I and my father before me trained with Japanese masters in Judo, it appears that spirit is gone. I am ashamed for those in charge of this game because I admire the courage and tenacity of the history of the Japanese people, I consider myself honored and blessed to have trained with them. If management had courage, they would come to these forums and address our concerns and accept responsibility for everything that happens under their watch. I and others are being harassed, management appear to be doing nothing meaningful to fix it, leading us to believe they are profiting from it and seem to lack the courage and honor their position should mandate.

[Kaze3434]

snip.

its comments like this one i was talking about before, Zabuza. some go way OTT.

[Magusrex]

its comments like this one i was talking about before, Zabuza. some go way OTT.

I meant it to be OTT. I meant what I said however. Their continued silence leaves me with legitimate questions about the character and honor of those in charge. We deserve a response. We have not touched a nerve yet, have to try something new.

[Kaze3434]

I meant it to be OTT. I meant what I said however. Their continued silence leaves me with legitimate questions about the character and honor of those in charge. We deserve a response. We have not touched a nerve yet, have to try something new.

interestingly enough, everyone who plays the game does not deserve a response to anything about anything. the people that a company must answer questions to are stock holders. its a crummy system, but thats how business works. most, if not all gaming studios try to have a layer of transparency, but there will always be things that will not be touched on, or fully explained. Case in point: DLC( Disk Locked Content). first expansion for destiny was already in the base game, but the players were forced to pay for it. no answer has been given why some companies do this.(we all know its about money).

In this games case, the action being done(perm banning bots and gil sellers and temp banning buyers) is a bandaid on a gunshot wound. the rate they ban at is fast, but its just as easy for the gil selling companies to make new characters, and flood the servers. one of the main reasons that this game has so many bots is because its a sucessful game, with tons of players that are used to freemium, and pay to win. if there was no incentive to have gil, then none of this would be happening.

[Magusrex]

interestingly enough, everyone who plays the game does not deserve a response to anything about anything. the people that a company must answer questions to are stock holders. its a crummy system, but thats how business works. most, if not all gaming studios try to have a layer of transparency, but there will always be things that will not be touched on, or fully explained. Case in point: DLC( Disk Locked Content). first expansion for destiny was already in the base game, but the players were forced to pay for it. no answer has been given why some companies do this.(we all know its about money).

In this games case, the action being done(perm banning bots and gil sellers and temp banning buyers) is a bandaid on a gunshot wound. the rate they ban at is fast, but its just as easy for the gil selling companies to make new characters, and flood the servers. one of the main reasons that this game has so many bots is because its a sucessful game, with tons of players that are used to freemium, and pay to win. if there was no incentive to have gil, then none of this would be happening.

I disagree, I know we are not guaranteed a response, I know it is not in the terms and conditions but I think enough of us are being harassed that we deserve one. I also understand that deserve does equal receive. I also have known people who could could not resist responding to the gauntlet I dropped. I have played far more popular games that had a much,much better handle on this. I KNOW they could do something about this if they CHOSE to care enough.

[kyuven]

snip

Um, one thing you learn about Japanese business and culture in general, is that they also don't like to directly address problems. They often beat around the bush about subjects.
It's one of MANY things that caused friction in recent years with SE themselves (that pretty much got Tanaka fired and Yoshida his job) as well as companies like Toyota.
The usual idea is that a problem will be reported and quietly solved. And it'll be reported in THE most passive-aggressive manner possible.
The boss wouldn't say "I want you to make this mauve," he'd say "I don't like green." You're supposed to pick up on what he wants from what you know of him.
However, NA/EU people are COMPLETELY different and want updates whenever possible of every action being taken, even if it's just "we're working on it."
This cultural discrepancy is just something you learn to deal with when doing business with Japanese companies. Yoshida and his team are actually UNUSUAL in that they're at least trying to emulate non-Japanese companies in their approach to the players. But some things won't change, especially as this is still new territory for them.
"Honor" means many things in Japanese society, and one of those things is not talking about money matters in public.
They're not klingons...

[Magusrex]

I guess I just have a very old fashioned view of what leadership and honorable business means. I manage a 4 million dollar per year business. The way our employees handle complaints is a DIRECT reflection of me. If someone called me out on our website, the people who work for me know with certainty they need to inform me as soon as such a thing is found even if they were the cause. I would respond. I understand that my business is not comparable SE however this is much more than a single complaint and it is affecting a very large percentage of the player base. I am the CFO our corporation and I see their silence as cowardly and consider it a direction reflection of those in charge. They have not instructed the people who work for them to care enough about the customers who pay for their wages.

[Ryuko]

I can deal with the frequency of tells I receive... it's frustrating, and I wish I had a better way to report it, but I can handle it.

My tipping point with the RMT spam is when all of my friends started going BUSY all the time to avoid the spam. Now I can't whisper them, but they can whisper me... and don't realize they're busy. XD So what ends up happening is I get super frustrated because I can't answer and they don't remember they have busy status on.

The first step would be to allow only friends to whisper you, but even this is flawed because how do you make friends if you can't whisper anyone in the first place? Either way, this is definitely something that needs to be addressed on a more public level. I agree it's going to be bad PR when Heavensward hits and the gilsellers are in full swing. I don't remember it being this bad when ARR first happened, but I don't think anyone anticipated it being as successful as it was...

[SummerSkye]

I manage a 4 million dollar per year business.

This is why I love the internet.

[Ryuko]

This is why I love the internet.

What a coincidence. I manage a $5 million per year business.