Event FAQ's

That would be great

 

Hello lovely ones,

This is most likely not going to be a short post so thank you all for taking time to read it all. First of all, I would like to link one of the threads where I replied regarding this matter, which can be found here. Secondly, I would like to point out that I have set up the special Q&A chat sessions tomorrow especially for getting everything cleared out, and answer any question or concern you might have. The Official announcement can be found here.

There are a few points that I want to address now for everyone to know what happened exactly - I do apologise if I will jump from one idea to another but I don't want to miss anything.

1. How does the team work?
The moderator team has volunteer dedicated players who decided to share their spare time for helping other players. We are players just like you, and everyone is welcomed to apply for this position, if they meet the requirements. You see some of us more often, some of us not that often - we all have a life outside Farmerama (do we ? we sometimes ask ourselves that) and we are here as much as our time allows us. Nobody is forced to put in a certain number of hours, and nobody is forced to go overboard with their dedication. We are all in touch with each other, whenever we are moderating the Forum or the Chat, we are in our little mod cave, our group chat, where we discuss every single little thing - from announcements and forum questions, to strategies and event progress, to what are we having for dinner or what silly tricks someone's cat has done. If someone needs help handling something, the rest of the team will help out. However, even if we are all in touch with each other and get everyone informed about all the news and updates, our tasks are different. The Chat team is responsible with keeping the Chat under control. We are doing our best to keep the chat covered 24/7, but at times, we might not be able to be around - and sadly, our Chat is extremely empty and quiet - which is something we strongly hope it will change. As a chat moderator, you have to watch the chat and take action if something is out of control, and of course, make sure the players are given the assistance they need. As a chat super moderator, you are doing the same thing, plus - you supervise the chat moderators' activity, verify the bans given, and train new moderators when needed. As chat admin, you will do the same, and on top of it, make sure the activity of chat moderators and super-moderators are flawless and correct any mistakes. If something is really out of control and a chat infraction is not enough, the admins are able to take further action, as well as assist players with any account inquiries. (will get back on admin responsibilities shortly). The Forum: the Forum moderators will assist you in the Newbies and General issues of the Forum. This is the main focus. Super-moderators will be able to take things a step higher, and assist you with general issues in the Technical area, and if needed, interfere in other sections of the Forum as well. The super moderators will also be responsible of training new moderators, and of the activity of the current moderators. The admins: here is where things get "complicated". As an admin, in addition to attending players in the Technical issue section of the forum and supervising the mods and smods activity, you are also responsible of communicating the information received from the higher ups, the game team - through FAQs and Official Announcements. Admins and higher will receive all these details through e-mails, as we are in close touch with the testing team and the community managers, and we are able and have to forward them questions, feedback, report bugs, etc. We also have special access to certain tools that allow us to check your logs, As team leader, I have all the above responsibilities and also I have to make sure the team is working properly, things get done the way they should be, make sure information is posted in time and correctly, and, when things are not that lovely, like now someone needs to do the "dirty job" as well. Which takes me to the next point, but not before mentioning that I hope you now understand our position better; If you see moderators online, active in different sections - do not feel ignored or avoided - we each have our areas assigned and we don't really step on each others' toes for getting our job done.

2. The Comic #6 Event FAQ
You cannot imagine how badly we feel and how sincere is our apology for this situation. First of all though, I want to thank our wonderful moderators for doing such a fabulous job in the given circumstances - without having any kind of information and without needing to do so, they collected the info, translated it, and honestly did their best in this situation. I am proud of them and I cannot thank them enough, so please - do not blame them for a second. Secondly, I want to thank you for your patience and understanding, and for collecting missing info as well, and help each other (Over 18 pages of strategy, wow!). The community spirit is impressive in such situations and I am happy to see this. Last and not least: our mistake. I apologise for this big mess, and I am really really sad and disappointed that things went this way. Sadly, it couldn't have been predicted. I personally have been away for quite a few days. I have informed the Team that I will not be available. However, unexpected things came up for our two admins as well - this was very unfortunate, and the timing was terrible. You cannot predict getting sick, you cannot predict problems appearing in your real life - and everything being last minute, there was none of us around to prepare the event FAQ. I will repeat myself, but we are truly, sincerely, extremely sorry - you have all the right to be mad at us, but we promise this won't happen again (we organized ourselves and brainstormed about this today), and also ask for a little bit of understanding. We are not a huge community, we don't really need more than 3 admins (myself plus two board admins) for keeping you informed and for handling the logs checking when needed. And let's be honest - in over 4 years of moderating, this is the first time it happens, so I think the Mod Team has done a really great job... what are the odds of all of us having unexpected problems? However, rest assured that we have learned our lesson and we won't allow this to happen again. Therefore, I apologise once again and I do hope you will not judge us based on this incident, and learn to forgive and forget.

3. The FAQs
We are in no position to complain because all the information we receive is in English, so we are literally the luckiest mod team. Some announcements are translated, some need to be translated by us - however we only have to do minor changes (for example, finding the in game names of the items because internationally, we are speaking "coded" and use the logs names of items, currency, etc.). We (admins) do have access to test servers that allow us to prepare the FAQs and take screenshots. We do get all the information (event requirements, rewards, item stats, etc) from our wonderful community managers, which we then need to fit into our event FAQ templates - if you check different language forums, you will see everyone formats and words it differently, in our own style.

All this being said, I will address some of your concerns...

Event FAQs have been posted lately at least a day before the events. This did not use to happen years ago, when the FAQs were posted 3 hours before the event began, in the same day. This was, as explained above, an exception due to our problems. Events will continue to be posted before the events begin, most definitely. We might not have control over the set our, but our fabulous game team takes great decisions regarding this aspect.

I will apologise again, it will not happen again.

This really saddens me because Bigpoint and Farmerama should absolutely not be blamed for this. Our moderators did their best under the given circumstances, as explained. And no, we personally are not a business - this is indeed a hobby for us, but we are not college students. You would be surprised to find out the age and professions of some of our team members! Therefore, we apologise again, and please do not blame the higher ups for our unavailability to post one event FAQ correctly, in time.

Indeed, thank you for bringing up what I was mentioning above - we did not use to get the event FAQs so early - and I apologise once again - but trust me, our moderators did their best.

I do understand your frustration, and as mentioned for your fellow farmers, we do this aside from our job, we are not "capable employees", we are volunteer players who do their best to assist the other players. The money you spend or do not spend do not influence us at all, but of course we do want the game to be successful and have a long happy life, because we, as players and as moderators as well, absolutely love the game. Please try to remember the years of FAQs posted in time as well, and not blaming the entire company because 3 volunteers happened to have real life problems at the same time.

Yes, myself and the admins are responsible for this, and BP does provide the information we need for putting together an FAQ. I do apologise that you were not able to plan the event, and it was confusing for you, and I am sorry I cannot do anything to fix this now.

Our wonderful team (standing ovations for shooger and Neon) did their best to translate the info from the other languages. The in game terms might be tricky and hard to translate - standing ovations for Intrepideur for collecting and translating this as well - and I am really really sorry this information has been missing.

I also have to apologise to you and the game team because you had to keep the spirits under control without any information, training and guidance. I really appreciate all your help and the way you handled the whole situation, and I promise I won't leave you all alone again.

I have addressed this, and thank you for your kindness, but as mentioned - BP cannot be blamed for this whole thing, they are doing a great job.

As mentioned in a different thread, I have merge your suggestion with this one because it fits into the same category and addresses the same issue. There isn't one type of mod, there are many kind of positions and ranks in the team, and we all have different responsibilities, as mentioned above. Also, all of us "official mods" are all volunteers. We don't need to find back-ups for pitching in, it happened once I'm not trying to minimise the situation, I honestly feel extremely bad about all this, but leaving the modesty aside, I don't think I have done such a terrible job at making the event FAQs, for Bigpoint to feel the need to hire someone to do it. As for the neighbours comment - oh we do have regular farms, we are actively playing the game and we don't miss any events - but, we cannot disclose our identity. Our personal farms need to stay private. While our mod farms are kept for testing, they are not actively played, they cannot participate in market transactions, etc. So we do have at least 2 farms each - one for testing when players report something not working, and one that actually brought us here, started 3-4 years ago, where we log in every single day to get our Fuzzles reward and make sure we don't miss any event reward . I thank you for your suggestion as well, but we have certain procedures and guidelines and the rights are given to moderators based on our ranks. For one isolated incident, we will not have to turn the whole world upside down, just be better prepared in the future.

Thank you for your kind words. Everyone is ok, I am back, so is one of our other admins who is slowly recovering, while another one will need to focus on her personal life for the moment. The event ... ahh sailing does not seem to be smooth, but I am sure the next event will be as great as the previous ones. ( There must be something in the air for all of this to happen at the same time ).

I do appreciated your kind words but in this case, I must take the blame because there was no lack of communication between BP and us, but between us, volunteers. Our mod team did not get the information solely because the ones who did get it happened to be away. The other Forums were not able to put things on hold because of us, the event had to start either way, and BP does ensure that everyone has access to the information before setting the time for posting it. I have repeatedly explained in this post that the fault is ours, and I apologise once again for this - BP did their part, and they were amazing, the problem was at our level.

I am really sorry, and I understand your disappointment. There is nothing I can change, but you are welcomed to contact our Customer Care Team to complain about this problem - I wish I could make it up to you, but I am unable to do so.

Once again, I'd like to point out that we do get the information and it has to be released at the same time. But yes, big round of applause to the players and moderators who did their best at translating the FAQ.

This just saddens me more because we are the ones to be blamed, and it's unfair for Farmerama / Bigpoint to be blamed. Please be mad at us. The past translation problems were not because of the translations department (which does exist, but not for creating FAQs), but because we were not able to see the translations in time for making the FAQ - so we used to assume what an item would be called - therefore, last minute changes appeared when the events were going live. Also, I would like to remind everyone that there are over 20 languages, not just German and English speaking players. Thank you again for not blaming us - but please, blame us, it was our fault for sure.

I will mention again that BP does a fabulous job. In last month's producer newsletter you can see a picture of the entire team. All of them are putting their soul into this every single day, they are extremely dedicated and helpful, they are simply wonderful and we could not ask for more from them, honestly. We are the ones who screwed up. They did their part, they wrapped up all the info needed for putting together and FAQ, but we were absent for communicating this .

Thank you for your lovely feedback It's a pleasant surprise hearing positive feedback as well, honestly, and you have no idea how much we appreciate it.
I would also like to point out again that we do inform each other if we are away for over 24 hours to make sure we know how to organize ourselves - so we don't need to communicate this to you, the players, because it's our responsibility to make things work, you should not have to suffer the consequences. Official announcements cannot be posted without higher ups approval, and the moderators who were around were not in touch with the employees who can approve such announcements. Our shooger was even so sweet that she asked if it was ok for her to post the translation - she was afraid she would get put in a corner for it (no, we are not that mean ) If we knew there were problems, we would have handled them. Sadly, this was too last minute to be handled any better - but again, we have learned our lesson.

Thank you for your kind words. You are partly right and partly confused Yes, we are all volunteers - the entire forum team. However, we do get information from Bigpoint, we get all the official announcements and thier posting dates and time, we get all the FAQ details, we get previews of upcoming features that we need to explain and help you all with. Can it be stressful at times? Unfortunately, yes - because indeed we are caught up between the unhappy players complaining, our unhappiness and frustration for not being able to do anything, and the game team (community managers, developers, QA team, etc) who are also doing their best to help us and fix everything while dealing with us (I can assure you, admins and mods can get preeeeetty worked up at times too ) We do love what we are doing, and I would honestly not trade this experience for anything else I've done. It's mind blowing meeting so many wonderful people (fellow mods, players, higher ups), having always something to do, being able to help others, calm them down, and at the same time, enjoy every single minute of it.

I have addressed all this as a response to your previous post, but I will thank you again for your suggestion. We will most likely look for more team members, but not too many, because we should be able to handle the not so huge amount of work on our own. This was an unfortunate event, really terrible timing.

I have explained all this above, so hopefully now everyone knows who should be blamed, and when.

*whew* I apologise for this really long post but I did not want to miss or ignore or avoid any of your comments. I fully take responsibility for this situation, and once again, I apologise and promise you that it will not happen again. Please try to forgive us, and remember that over the years, you had the FAQs posted in time for events, and hopefully this unpleasant experience will be left behind.
​

Best regards,
teddy.bear

 

Thank you teddy. This thorough answer of yours only shows how dedicated you are. How great of you to face the firing squad and admit the fault ultimately lies with you. Hopefully we can all move on now from this issue.

We still love all of you and appreciate everything all of you do.

 

You are most welcome, Elemeef, and thank YOU for your kind words and understanding, I honestly and sincerely appreciate it.

Kind regards,
teddy.bear

 

Hi teddy

First and least, thank you for explaining how the team works. I found it very interesting, and it explains a few things I have been wondering about.

In this unfortunate situation, thanks to all of you for doing what you could. Thank you teddy for being so honest with us. I do not blame you nor anyone else. Sometimes stuff happens. In the midst of the situation it is of course very frustrating, especially since we had no idea what was going on. But when the dust settles I hope no grudges are held. The dedication you show is well above what I would expect.

Most of all, thanks to you and your wonderful team for all you do for us everyday. For all the announcements and FAQs that do come out mostly perfect and on time. For attending to all matters politely and patiently and often with an encouraging word or a funny phrase. We are truly lucky to have you

 

Teddy you are the best!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Thank you so much for explaining what happened and how the setup works, Teddy. We all grumbled but that led to a great deal of sharing of all sorts of help from fellow players. I found that really heart-warming. You guys are putting a lot of time into helping the rest of us players for no reward other than a love of the game and all it entails. I salute you!! Thank you for all the effort you and your team put into being our den mothers on top of coping with RL.

 

Thank you, teddy.bear!
No need to ask for forgiveness, I think it is clear that the moderators are trying to keep up as good as they can.
Also, a big thank you for this extensive view behind the curtain of the game. It shows that I was very much unaware of how and when the game, the moderators, the developers, producers or BigPoint in general work. If I sounded out loud some wrong message or even accusation then it is my turn to apologize.
Thanks again.....keep on farmin'

 

Teddy, you are great! Thank you for a wonderful explanation and apology.

Apology accepted. You're quite forgiven! Must be tough, getting all of everybody tumblin over ya like that. *hugz*

 

Thank you Teddy for the good explanation. Thank you also for the apology.

I hope you and your team are on the way of being fine (recovering) again. RL can be tough at times and one never knows what it will throw at us.

If things improve and the games/life run smooth, it seems we get pampered. And then we forget what it has been, when there is a bump.

 

Thanks Teddy. You work so hard keeping us up to date with all things Farmerama. What would we do without you? A big thankyou to you and all the Mods - we must be really trying at times but you keep your cool and point us in the right direction.

 

Teddy, I just read your post about the FAQ. You are doing amazing your work as a mod and we thank you for that.
this situation about the FAQ shown that we help each other and we all know that the biggest problems about this event weren't your fault!


(I wrote a similar post on the chat but I had to leave, and I wanted you to read this..)

 

Hello lovely ones

Thank you all so much for your kind words, they are very much appreciated. You are all very lovely and understanding and all you comments are heart warming.

​

 

I just read your post teddy. I think you apologized more than anyone should ever have to! That said, thank you for the explanation. I also think that you and the team go above and beyond when it comes to helping the community.

Sometimes RL throws some nasty things at us and we cannot forsee or anticipate them, so we cannot truly blame you for what happened. You cannot take care of the community until first you take care of what is happening in your life. Same for all of the team, sometimes bad things happen at the worst times.

I would like to say thank you to all of the team for myself and my husband (Grom1949) for answering our questions so quickly and thoroughly.

 

From a selfish standpoint I don't care if the FAQ or instructions come out 10minutes or 10 hours before an event.....for me it is most important that the information goes out complete and understandable and most of all simultaneously. I would like to have an even chance to grab some required animals or products off the market and not as usual to find only spider webs quivering silent on the empty market or to see that the prices already skyrocketed.......

 

teddy.bear, Thank you for you many apologies and your explanation of things. I truly meant no disrespect to any of the mods. I was just voicing my opinion which I'm sure many other players feel the same way too but just didn't say anything. I apologize to you and any of the other mods or other farmers who may have taken my opinion offensively.

 

Julie, FWIW, I did not think you were disrespectful. I thought everyone's lovely support was quite clear while voicing our concerns and frustrations that they were by no means, a personal beef with anyone, particularly the mods and admins. No matter how much convincing Teddy might want to do to take all the responsibility.

The point which I sincerely hope is not lost, was that there should be a reliable, accurate and timely communication of information directly from game team to players. All the players. However that is best accomplished is (oddly) irrelevant. The mechanics of it, while obviously quite complex, should never even be of concern to the players, and the mere fact that they are asking for an explaination, (which Teddy so graciously provided), would be of concern to me as a business owner. An opportunity to re-think, without casting blame, how I deliver my product to it's users, how I monitor the quality and timing of my deliverable. Maybe the current system works well enough most of the time. And maybe there could exist a follow through which would ensure that any errors or absences, when they do occur, do not impact many users. Simple. It's nothing at all personal, just a good business move on BP's part. How it ever became a matter of personal offense/defense, saddens me. It is very unfortunate to see comments taken out of their context and assigned to others. As always I wish our volunteers the best and am grateful for them. BP could do a better job in taking final responsibility. Because no matter how lovely and wonderful they are, they are not running a charity, are they?

Which is why it is so great that threads such as these exist, so that BP may receive the feedback they require as a business. And as customers, we can give feedback and then decide to continue to support the business, or not. I see all of these comments to be a sincere form of flattery and loyalty, actually. if we did not love the product and want to succeed, we would not even be bothered to share our irritation, we would simply leave. They have a good thing going - I hope they choose to continue to make it better.

 

heidels, Thanks for the kind words

 

I'm sorry but I don't think this bonus makes up for the glitches in this event. Since the new producer took over this game has deteriorated. Clearly many new things have been geared towards players who spend a lot of money and this very poorly launched event does not auger well for the future. Until recently events in general ran very smoothly. To not have proper FAQ's at the beginning of the event made it very difficult if not impossible to plan. I for one gave up straight away. I then made a half hearted effort and managed to get the first 3 levels and at that point abandoned the event as time was running out only to find the time extended too late for me to complete level 4. So frustrated at the beginning and the end. No bonus will make any difference and the elements in this bonus mean nothing to me - sorry.

 

Ok, wait - You seem to be taking several different issues here and lumping them into one. Everyone is entitled to his/her opinion, of course, but as Teddy has explained, this was an issue of bad timing. Yes, there were glitches. That would have been a little frustrating on its own. Yes, there was no FAQ. Also frustrating. But neither of these issues caused the other, it was just a bunch of bad luck stuff that all happened at the same time. In reference to some of your points: I disagree with your assessment about the game...I don't think it has deteriorated at all in these last few months. It's been busier, certainly. There have been almost non-stop events, but the producer discussed why that was going to be the case in his/her introductory newsletter months ago. In terms of the extension coming too late for you to complete level 4, I'm sorry that you didn't have time, but it's not like anyone knew in advance that the glitches were going to take so long to fix. The missing FAQ has been explained ad nauseum, and to be honest I think it's in pretty poor taste to continue complaining after apologies have been given and reparations have been made. In looking at the sheer volume of posts that Teddy and her team have replied to in the last few days, it seems very clear to me that they are working extremely diligently to respond to each and every question. They have been apologetic, candid, have learned from the experience, and have promised it won't happen again. They have now given an exceptionally generous bonus code, and if you don't feel that it makes up for the glitches, then I'm sorry, but...what exactly do you expect them to do? -edit-

If you don't want the gifts they gave you, I'm more than happy to take them off your hands.