Event FAQ's

I think it would be great if we could get the event FAQ's 18 hours before event starts. I understand the mods have no control over it but this current event is beyond ridiculous Yes, there was finally a posting from a mod but it still wasn't the proper one for us in the good old US of A. Thank goodness others were posting info as soon as they found the info. Thanks to all who banded together to try and give all the rest some idea of what was needed!!

 

Absolutely agree. With Comic Event just about to start we still do not have a proper FAQ.

 

There are many things I can hang in there with (and have for a number of years) concerning this game - bugs, glitches, weirdness in the artisan village with display of levels and not starting crafts, event-start problems, login problems, issue after issue. But one thing that is completely asinine and absurd to me, is that the English forum and community is short-changed repeatedly when it comes to notification of events. And, I could probably forgive even this if we at least had PROPERLY TRANSLATED INFORMATION (please excuse the shouting mods - I'm trying to be heard across the Atlantic Ocean) prior to an event starting. Events during which we, the customers, often have the opportunity to part with our RL money for certain advances, etc. Which I am sure we would be more inclined to do if we had correct and complete information on which to draw our spending decisions.

It's almost as though they aren't actually a business, but rather a side hobby for ambivalent college students. As though, they'd rather we just didn't play. Almost like they....they don't want customers. It's complete madness. Absolutely baffling.

 

When I started to play, we didn't get the FAQ's until a few hours before the event start. And then had problems because to many people tried to get access to it. Then we had the calender and earlier FAQ's. GREAT.
But today, I have harvested the first of the event crop and are still not able to read the FAQ's. It still needs translation. That is a big No, No.

 

It is absolutely inexcusable that we do not have a clear ENGLISH translation of the FAQ before the event starts when the other OFFICIAL BP language forums have it. The event is two hours old and still... NOTHING! I have no clear understanding of the the structure at BP but... you guys STILL do NOT have your act together. I was starting to think that MAYBE BP had finally hired some capable employees. But obviously I was wrong!

I really enjoy this game but colossal mistakes like this sure go a long way toward taking the fun out of it. Once again I feel like a fool for spending my hard earned and scarce money on this game.

 

It seems the Mods are responsible for giving us the information we need, but that is just not on. BP should have a proper translation into each language which they pass to the Mods who then post it ready for us to use. I have not even started to contemplate this event, despite all the really helpful advice from fellow players. I needed the information yesterday so I could plan but will pass this time.

 

This is at least the second time the "english" FAQ for the Comic Event #6 has been released.

But the most important information to me is still missing: the spreadsheet that tells me about the requirements and rewards step by step!!! Just a small list of the total requirements for the event seems to have made it into the FAQ.

So thank you for this additional iota of information, but it would really be nice to have had a full description of the event with ALL the information (especially while introducing a new event mechanic) before the event started.

 

As you may have noticed, we seem to be running below our full compliment of Mods, so the FAQ is below it's usual standard. We have had to translate it from other forums, so it may still have a few errors. As stated this info is normally supplied from BP to the admins, but the mods & super mods don't have access to this info, so have done the best we can under the circumstances.

Please remember that forum staff are volunteers.

 

BP should have a proper translation into each language which they pass to the Mods who then post it ready for us to use.
(from the post of farmerumf)

I just thought, this should be highlighted.

 

I read all the complaints about lack of information on the recent comic event (Nov 6th), thought to take a look a the mod requirements. I was sort of surprised to see that you have only one type of mod.. and basically the same time, etc requirements.

Maybe you could find a place for people, not official mods, who perhaps cannot give the full time, but who are willing to pitch in occasionally to help.. people who are fluent in multiple languages (particularly German and English), just specifically to deal with writing out FAQs, (particularly for events, but perhaps other issues as well). Also, if you don't already, keep these positions for regular players. (see other comments mentioning not to ask mods to be neighbors since they don't have regular farms -- if so, that might well deter folks)

i have seen this work in other forums. You just give very limited authorizations, perhaps have a separate, "hidden" folder these folks can use to work in, then the items get posted by more official mods/administrators.

Let me be clear, I am NOT able to give the time required, (am going on game vacation soon, anyway) am NOT going to do this myself. However, something along those lines might be a partial solution to all the complaints.

 

Neon Lights - thank you for all of your help. I am so sorry you do not have a full team right now. I do hope everyone is okay (!!). I don't think there is any blame placed on the mods here (not my intention, anyway). I see lots of players in agreement that the final responsibility for these things is on BP (and it's paid employees), as it rightfully should be.

I do hope our mods have much smoother sailing for the rest of the event! Always a question-heavy time, it would seem!

 

I agree, the Mods are in no way to blame for this error since, as they have pointed out on multiple occasions, they make the information available to us as soon as it is available to them.

The main issue here seems to be a complete lack of communication between BP and it's clients and volunteers - entirely on the part of BP. It would appear that we English users got the FAQ much later than other forums and, as is evidenced by the strategy thread for this event, users were making attempts at translating - often incorrectly - other FAQs which did nothing but arouse confusion.

In my opinion:
1. No FAQ should be released until all forums can access it (that means that all language forums should have and release the FAQ at the same time
2. No event should begin until all forums have been able to access the FAQ.
3. BP should ensure that moderators of all forums have access to the relevant FAQ for their forum before any forum releases the FAQ

This is all able to be arranged by BP. Whether or not they do is another matter.

I have never spent my real money on this game. With the mistakes that they keep making, I do not ever intend to do so.

 

I wish the FAQ come out early that should be, I just did mistake, where i press the start button before i should have enough harvest. Normally quest with times can be cancel and restart against but not this one... Feel really disappointed!!!

 

Well said, squigglegiggle. I agree 100%. FAQs should come down from the developers in the appropriate language for each forum and be released at the same time. Kudos to the players and mods on the English forum who did their best at translating.

 

We've had translation problems in the past. At the time I posted in the old forum how surprised I was at the inconsistencies in translation. I'm even more surprised now than I was then that they don't have a "department" in charge of translations. This failure is the reason we keep getting different English names for the same thing. The lack of consistency might not be a big deal to BP but it is confusing for us on the receiving end. Surely it can't be that difficult to find people that are fluent in German and English.

BTW: I've yet to hear anyone blame the MODs.

 

Suzee - yes. We have had many problems in the past.
At the risk of beating this thing to death I had one more rumination yesterday that helped me put it in perspective. I know that this game is a "free" game to play for many. And perhaps that is why BP feels they can put so much responsibility on their mods/volunteers regarding relaying communication about it's basic operation.

But, I am sure as many pay (an equal amount in the relative sense, if perhaps not in absolute numbers). I am sure of this because the game is 4 years (?) running. And those that pay ultimately subsidize those that don't. There is to me, nothing at all wrong with that - I didn't pay anything for at least the first year. So, in essence, BP is selling a product to all of us. When I consider every other electronic product I buy of any kind: software, games, online accounts, etc. These companies do not leave it to unpaid volunteer users to write and translate their product manuals, how to guides, product announcements, enhancement announcements, etc. Because that would be, well, absurd. They pay employees who are held to specific and measurable standards of performance, as a condition of their employment.

An imperfect, but I think viable analogy: I am online cloud storage company CropBots. I have a free version of my product which has limited features. I offer it without strings. But I hope to showcase it in such a way, that those using it for free will want to pay me for more. For those that want to and can pay, I offer enhancements and more robust features. Occasionally I offer promotions and add functionality to make my product better, easier, funner, and more appealing. Because I am a for-profit business, I do not under any circumstances, place the responsibility of figuring out my announcements, enhancements, events, and communication methods on unpaid volunteer users of my product. Why would I do that, when I want my product to be seen in the best possible light and with complete understanding of everything it can do? I want to encourage people to buy more of it, right? And for the people that are already paying, don't I owe them a complete understanding and explanation of what they are paying for? If I don't consider these questions, my competition will laugh and my profits will be inherently limited, if my business lasted at all.
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Okay, jumping off soapbox. I having taken more than my allotted share of forum real estate on this one. Sorry! Back to figuring out this EP thingy for the current event (which incidentally I love/hate so far LOL, and wish I understood just a bit better so I could spend BB at the shop sale with confidence and happiness).

 

To the Mods:
Thank you for posting the Feedback Thread (Comic Event #6): There was so much moaning and confusion about the event (and I admit that I was a part of that) that I felt the urge to say something good about it. After all I am really enjoying it and it was a worthwhile challenge.

Weirdly enough I even kind of enjoyed how the community gobbled together the information all over the different language forums and I would like you to know that you are not alone.

I know that this forum is consisting of a very small community compared to the german one for example (6.500 versus 73.000!!!) but I am happy to be a part of it and of course you mods are doing a great job and there is only so few of you. And this is why I would like to suggest that if you guys need a break to possibly just let us know, that you can't cover all the work for a while (or that you can not access the information because the Over-Mod who gets it all, is on holidays or whatever). I for one (and it has been shown that I am not the only one) would be happy to help you guys out whenever I can (and obviously I have quite a bit of spare time right now as you can see by my overly long posts).

We are after all a community. And just a warning/note about a delay will go a long way, as we have just proven. Once we knew about the event at all and other FAQ's being available elsewhere, we were able to deal with the situation. And even though this event and the information about it ended up being a little confusing at times, it was much more helpful than having no information at all. I don't even want to imagine the situation if we wouldn't have had the Strategy Thread. So please just tell us upfront if there are problems.

 

After reading all this I'm kind of confused.....All the content comes from volunteers (aka moderators)???
That sounds very strange to me, as if General Motors is asking his customers: "Well, if you like the car why don't you write a manual for all the others that might also like it!"
If this is really the case, then I have to applaud BigPoint for finding this way of maximizing their profits from gains they make from players like me who spend quite a chunk of money on this.
I guess I am to blame (and each and every Farmerama fan) for sponsoring this "Free" Browser Game unappreciated and unasked with our money, if we wouldn't spend so willingly then maybe that would motivate BigPoint to start working on maintaining Farmerama's
Fan- and Customer base.

In my previous post/reply I forgot the main thing:

THANK YOU TO ALL THE MODERATORS!!!

I can't imagine how I would handle the situation that they are in......but I'm convinced I would be tempted to use very expletive language to express my frustration if I were in their position (between a rock and a very hard place).....And I mean this going both ways, up in direction towards BigPoint and down towards fellow farmers who probably are misled as me, thinking that the Moderators are actually part of BigPoint and therefore responsible for some of the misery that is plaguing the game from time to time.

 

Looks like you combined a few threads, OK, except the whole reason I posted my suggestion was to try and offer a way to ease the burden on the mods. If you have different volunteer options, then folks might be more willing to help. In particular, if you are looking for professional translations, allowing people to volunteer who are not necessarily able to click in every day might work.

Even for normal mod duties, it might help to have a couple of part-timers who can fill in when needed, or as they are able. You would have to be careful, but I have seen it work in other game forums quite well.

 

I think most of the players here don't really understand the forum team hierarchy, from what I've seen MODs only have responsibility for certain aspects of the forum, event FAQs isn't one of them - that is usually Teddy or the admins.
Maybe a better explanation of who does what in the forum team would help us understand the issues?