I never won that free iPad. Nor did I win a trip to the last Super Bowl, the last MLB All-Star Game or a cruise to the Bahamas. There's so many giveaways that I fit the criteria for and did NOT win, that I feel like the entire globe is just slapping me in the face. And this Nagus ship that I didn't receive? Just another open faced palm added to the long list of face slaps I've been getting over NOT winning free stuff.
What's the saddest part of this tragedy? If I WERE to quit, I couldn't give you all my stuff, because I never got any free stuff to give away when I ragequit! How's that for the ultimate slap in the proverbial face? Not only is Cryptic's non-free-gifting of me messing up my personal flow state, it's also depriving EVERY ONE OF YOU of the swag you deserve from my potential quitting.
All around this is terrible. Absolutely terrible. And Cryptic's metrics should have been able to predict this from jump. So they obviously did this with malicious intent and completely on purpose!
#timeisthefireinwhcihweallburn
great you never won them, the difference being you presumably would have known the criteria, random or otherwise, and *that's* the biggest complaint
I never won that free iPad. Nor did I win a trip to the last Super Bowl, the last MLB All-Star Game or a cruise to the Bahamas. There's so many giveaways that I fit the criteria for and did NOT win, that I feel like the entire globe is just slapping me in the face. And this Nagus ship that I didn't receive? Just another open faced palm added to the long list of face slaps I've been getting over NOT winning free stuff.
What's the saddest part of this tragedy? If I WERE to quit, I couldn't give you all my stuff, because I never got any free stuff to give away when I ragequit! How's that for the ultimate slap in the proverbial face? Not only is Cryptic's non-free-gifting of me messing up my personal flow state, it's also depriving EVERY ONE OF YOU of the swag you deserve from my potential quitting.
All around this is terrible. Absolutely terrible. And Cryptic's metrics should have been able to predict this from jump. So they obviously did this with malicious intent and completely on purpose!
#timeisthefireinwhcihweallburn
great you never won them, the difference being you presumably would have known the criteria, random or otherwise, and *that's* the biggest complaint
But I FIT the criteria and didn't win! That's the complaint. I didn't get free stuff even though I qualified! It's a monumental slap in the face. Just like this is. Because free stuff was not won.
Again, as have already said, I'm not as cheesed off about this as I was initially. The fact is that it is entirely possible that, whilst I may well have qualified for it, it is entirely possible I didn't receive the 'gift' due to an unfortunately technicality - namely the email unsubcribe issue.
The bad part there is that it seems as if the system automatically unsubscribed people en masse at some point. If I had to guess It'd be one of the 3 or 4 forum migrations.
I never won that free iPad. Nor did I win a trip to the last Super Bowl, the last MLB All-Star Game or a cruise to the Bahamas. There's so many giveaways that I fit the criteria for and did NOT win, that I feel like the entire globe is just slapping me in the face. And this Nagus ship that I didn't receive? Just another open faced palm added to the long list of face slaps I've been getting over NOT winning free stuff.
What's the saddest part of this tragedy? If I WERE to quit, I couldn't give you all my stuff, because I never got any free stuff to give away when I ragequit! How's that for the ultimate slap in the proverbial face? Not only is Cryptic's non-free-gifting of me messing up my personal flow state, it's also depriving EVERY ONE OF YOU of the swag you deserve from my potential quitting.
All around this is terrible. Absolutely terrible. And Cryptic's metrics should have been able to predict this from jump. So they obviously did this with malicious intent and completely on purpose!
#timeisthefireinwhcihweallburn
great you never won them, the difference being you presumably would have known the criteria, random or otherwise, and *that's* the biggest complaint
But I FIT the criteria and didn't win! That's the complaint. I didn't get free stuff even though I qualified! It's a monumental slap in the face. Just like this is. Because free stuff was not won.
If this was completely random, then your argument is sound. However, the email clearly says this is thanks for unwavering support, which implies that the money I myself have used to support this game is not valued by Cryptic, so they won't be getting any more if it because that's highly insulting considering how much I've spent on this game since purchasing my lifetime sub during Beta. I've easily spent more on this game than any other MMO, and I've played quite a few, even had three separate accounts for SWG back in the day.
no if i Leave the game, all the stuff, entire billions.. Go down with me... Everything, The entire Complete collection.. lobi.. ALL.
n i live with your mistakes........
Sadly, like it or not, that's all peanuts in the grand scheme of things.
Pretty big peanuts, though. By my last tally, he's got 20 ships' worth of Lobi crystals, a full collection of pretty much every lockbox/Lobi/promotional ship released so far (even the now-ultra-rare Bulwark, possibly several of them), 20-40 infinity T5 ships, 20 infinity T6 ships, possibly also 20 infinity UR ships... and I don't even know about everything he has!
Suffice to say that I'm less worried about him leaving and more worried about him outright deleting the whole thing without sharing any of it with his siblings or fleetmates.
Infinite possibilities have implications that could not be completely understood if you turned this entire universe into a giant supercomputer.
However, the email clearly says this is thanks for unwavering support, which implies that the money I myself have used to support this game is not valued by Cryptic, so they won't be getting any more if it because that's highly insulting considering how much I've spent on this game since purchasing my lifetime sub during Beta. I've easily spent more on this game than any other MMO, and I've played quite a few, even had three separate accounts for SWG back in the day.
As someone who manages email marketing campaigns as part of his job, I have to try to make this point though I feel it won't sway this thread one bit ... the unwavering support line is marketing speak. And it's true. Everyone who won the free ship has provided unwavering support. Even if the criteria were random. It's totally true. And a lot of people who provide unwavering support did not win the ship. Because it's a giveaway promotion. And sometimes that's how those things go.
If it's an arc gift based on arc metrics, then good night everyone. Arc claims that I've been playing STO for 19 hrs and 30 mins. For several years now. Who knows how many of my purchases went unnoticed...
I use Arc from time to time but it so buggy that most of the time I just use the launcher. I never liked Arc and probably never will. However the note mentions STO supporters, not Arc supporters.
From reading about the 15 pages of threads in here so far... a lot of people fail to understand that the majority of the responses is not jealousy of who wins what (although there are a very few exceptions). The majority of opinions expressed here is the "lack of communication". Heck I could care less if you win a gazzillion $$$. However, the disclosures or disclaimers of how this was done or might be done again in the future should be wide open for all players to see.
Why being secretive about it? To top if off it is not the first time of this lack of communication. Remember the free Andromeda or the 10 free spec codes give away to selected players?
It is a huge marketing fiasco of what could have been a great contest or raflfle give away for the players. I'm happy for those who got the ships but I'm not thankful of how this was rolled out.
Do we feel more "enticed" to spend more money in this game now? Take a guess Cryptic.
However, the email clearly says this is thanks for unwavering support, which implies that the money I myself have used to support this game is not valued by Cryptic, so they won't be getting any more if it because that's highly insulting considering how much I've spent on this game since purchasing my lifetime sub during Beta. I've easily spent more on this game than any other MMO, and I've played quite a few, even had three separate accounts for SWG back in the day.
As someone who manages email marketing campaigns as part of his job, I have to try to make this point though I feel it won't sway this thread one bit ... the unwavering support line is marketing speak. And it's true. Everyone who won the free ship has provided unwavering support. Even if the criteria were random. It's totally true. And a lot of people who provide unwavering support did not win the ship. Because it's a giveaway promotion. And sometimes that's how those things go.
Then toss in the hidden requirement of being on their email list, which many were removed from a long time ago for unknown reasons....
Deleted as it has private correspondence which is against the rules
Um why was this post been deleted when it was informing Customers that the Enterprise F swag is restricted to U.S. Residents something the marketing team who sent these mails failed to mention in the emails sent directly to PWE Customers.
And theres another shared reply from support on page 13 of this thread that hasn't been removed for violating the T&C ?
From reading about the 15 pages of threads in here so far... a lot of people fail to understand that the majority of the responses is not jealousy of who wins what (although there are a very few exceptions). The majority of opinions expressed here is the "lack of communication". Heck I could care less if you win a gazzillion $$$. However, the disclosures or disclaimers of how this was done or might be done again in the future should be wide open for all players to see.
Why being secretive about it? To top if off it is not the first time of this lack of communication. Remember the free Andromeda or the 10 free spec codes give away to selected players?
It is a huge marketing fiasco of what could have been a great contest or raflfle give away for the players. I'm happy for those who got the ships but I'm not thankful of how this was rolled out.
Do we feel more "enticed" to spend more money in this game now? Take a guess Cryptic.
They don't need to reveal their criteria. It was a promotion. A giveaway. Some people got it. Some people didn't. And the hidden terms do not matter one bit. This isn't about lack of communication. It's about people being upset that they didn't win something for free, trying to tie it into some sort of communication problem that never needed to exist.
I won the free Andromeda, btw. While I was on hiatus from the game (unwavering loyalty yo!) ... getting a Free T6 version of a Galaxy, a ship where if you are familiar with my posting history is the height of irony as it's not a ship I'm a fan of.
But it was a free ship. That I appreciate getting. And never once did I question the marketing "fiasco" that led to me getting it.
This is 15 pages of people upset they didn't win something free and trying to justify their complaint behind a witch hunt over how marketing campaigns work.
I guess the silver lining is, it's got people talking about the game. And that will help drive more traffic.
From reading about the 15 pages of threads in here so far... a lot of people fail to understand that the majority of the responses is not jealousy of who wins what (although there are a very few exceptions). The majority of opinions expressed here is the "lack of communication". Heck I could care less if you win a gazzillion $$$. However, the disclosures or disclaimers of how this was done or might be done again in the future should be wide open for all players to see.
Why being secretive about it? To top if off it is not the first time of this lack of communication. Remember the free Andromeda or the 10 free spec codes give away to selected players?
It is a huge marketing fiasco of what could have been a great contest or raflfle give away for the players. I'm happy for those who got the ships but I'm not thankful of how this was rolled out.
Do we feel more "enticed" to spend more money in this game now? Take a guess Cryptic.
They don't need to reveal their criteria. It was a promotion. A giveaway. Some people got it. Some people didn't. And the hidden terms do not matter one bit. This isn't about lack of communication. It's about people being upset that they didn't win something for free, trying to tie it into some sort of communication problem that never needed to exist.
I won the free Andromeda, btw. While I was on hiatus from the game (unwavering loyalty yo!) ... getting a Free T6 version of a Galaxy, a ship where if you are familiar with my posting history is the height of irony as it's not a ship I'm a fan of.
But it was a free ship. That I appreciate getting. And never once did I question the marketing "fiasco" that led to me getting it.
This is 15 pages of people upset they didn't win something free and trying to justify their complaint behind a witch hunt over how marketing campaigns work.
I guess the silver lining is, it's got people talking about the game. And that will help drive more traffic.
I am more upset that I paid for a ship with real cash and Cryptic effectively stuck there fingers up at me saying I am not loyal enough and gave a better version of the ship I paid for away for free to other people. Not only that but Cryptic have also made it so I can never complete the ship set I am using.
It’s not the other people I am upset about its the fact I cannot get hold of the better T6 version of one of my main ships and I cannot complete the main item set I use. Plus by rewarding some players for being loyal Cryptic are effectively saying the rest are not loyal which is insulting. Either give it to all loyal players or none. Not a handful.
From reading about the 15 pages of threads in here so far... a lot of people fail to understand that the majority of the responses is not jealousy of who wins what (although there are a very few exceptions). The majority of opinions expressed here is the "lack of communication". Heck I could care less if you win a gazzillion $$$. However, the disclosures or disclaimers of how this was done or might be done again in the future should be wide open for all players to see.
Why being secretive about it? To top if off it is not the first time of this lack of communication. Remember the free Andromeda or the 10 free spec codes give away to selected players?
It is a huge marketing fiasco of what could have been a great contest or raflfle give away for the players. I'm happy for those who got the ships but I'm not thankful of how this was rolled out.
Do we feel more "enticed" to spend more money in this game now? Take a guess Cryptic.
They don't need to reveal their criteria. It was a promotion. A giveaway. Some people got it. Some people didn't. And the hidden terms do not matter one bit. This isn't about lack of communication. It's about people being upset that they didn't win something for free, trying to tie it into some sort of communication problem that never needed to exist.
I won the free Andromeda, btw. While I was on hiatus from the game (unwavering loyalty yo!) ... getting a Free T6 version of a Galaxy, a ship where if you are familiar with my posting history is the height of irony as it's not a ship I'm a fan of.
But it was a free ship. That I appreciate getting. And never once did I question the marketing "fiasco" that led to me getting it.
This is 15 pages of people upset they didn't win something free and trying to justify their complaint behind a witch hunt over how marketing campaigns work.
I guess the silver lining is, it's got people talking about the game. And that will help drive more traffic.
As I've said, I'm not mad about the ship, I don't even know that I'd use it cause I'd feel compelled to create a Ferengi for it and I don't have the energy to go through the missions yet again. What I AM upset about is the wording of the email, if it was just a random giveaway then it would have been better for it to say "congratulations, we drew several names to win this cool ship and swag and your one of the lucky winners!" instead of saying it's a special thanks for unwavering support.
I've done some independent research and figured out how this campaign actually worked itself out. Here's what I discovered ...
The Ferengi Ship Giveaway is an annual event held since stardate 75304.9 by the Galactic Union, in which the STO players who had shown the most unwavering loyalty participate in a lottery process to determine the winner of free stuff. In this draft, the players obtain the rights to free ships and other eligible goodies, including snail mail swag. The lottery winners would get the best swag available. The term "lottery pick" denotes a draft pick whose position is determined through this lottery, while the non-loyal teams involved in the process are often called "entitled players".
Under the current rules, only the top unwavering loyal fans and customers are decided by the lottery, and are chosen from the special list of players that check all the boxes. The lottery is weighted so that the player with the most unwavering loyalty, or the player that holds account credentials of the player with the most unwavering loyalty, has the best chance to obtain a the most free stuff. After the top three most unwaveringly loyal customers are selected (from the lottery slotting system), the remainder of the first-round draft order is in order of the forum posting record for the remaining players, or the players who originally held the account credentials if they were reagequit. The lottery does not determine the draft order in the subsequent rounds of the promotional giveaway process.
See? It's really super simple and easy to understand. In fact, this same system is used by other organizations and is actually televised on major networks annually.
We can all go home now. Nothing to see here. The most unwaveringly loyal fans were represented. If you did not get the ship it was because your ping pong balls didn't work out right. It happens in these types of drafts every single year.
From reading about the 15 pages of threads in here so far... a lot of people fail to understand that the majority of the responses is not jealousy of who wins what (although there are a very few exceptions). The majority of opinions expressed here is the "lack of communication". Heck I could care less if you win a gazzillion $$$. However, the disclosures or disclaimers of how this was done or might be done again in the future should be wide open for all players to see.
Why being secretive about it? To top if off it is not the first time of this lack of communication. Remember the free Andromeda or the 10 free spec codes give away to selected players?
It is a huge marketing fiasco of what could have been a great contest or raflfle give away for the players. I'm happy for those who got the ships but I'm not thankful of how this was rolled out.
Do we feel more "enticed" to spend more money in this game now? Take a guess Cryptic.
They don't need to reveal their criteria. It was a promotion. A giveaway. Some people got it. Some people didn't. And the hidden terms do not matter one bit. This isn't about lack of communication. It's about people being upset that they didn't win something for free, trying to tie it into some sort of communication problem that never needed to exist.
I won the free Andromeda, btw. While I was on hiatus from the game (unwavering loyalty yo!) ... getting a Free T6 version of a Galaxy, a ship where if you are familiar with my posting history is the height of irony as it's not a ship I'm a fan of.
But it was a free ship. That I appreciate getting. And never once did I question the marketing "fiasco" that led to me getting it.
This is 15 pages of people upset they didn't win something free and trying to justify their complaint behind a witch hunt over how marketing campaigns work.
I guess the silver lining is, it's got people talking about the game. And that will help drive more traffic.
Anyone who works in marketing would understand that this was a "missed" opportunity for this MMO to get players more excited about the game rather than to create this chaos. Not sure about what "rules" you are talking about since other MMOs that I play do have "open" promos and disclaimers that "excite" the community. My world is just not STO and not naive to understand each company sets their own business model. However, this is a rotten one IMO.
Also, not sure you could say "anger" is the only response captured in here. Specially since even the Community Manager was NOT "communicated" of this promo? was she angered too? more like confused like the rest of us:
What I AM upset about is the wording of the email, if it was just a random giveaway then it would have been better for it to say "congratulations, we drew several names to win this cool ship and swag and your one of the lucky winners!" instead of saying it's a special thanks for unwavering support.
Let's Whiteboard this so we can ideate the true metrics:
So what you're really mad at is that Cryptic lives up to its company name by refusing to open the kimono on its promotional giveaway details. While there are quite a few thought leaders present in this, I feel that opening a dialog isn't coming down the pike because your endgame is seeking to unearth their core competency and the company does have a right to protect its value proposition and its unique differentiators. While I respect your attempt to utilize your best in breed credentials, I don't think leveraging this situation will move the needle. In fact, you're trying to boil the ocean in such a way that the learnings aren't going to take it to the next level. The shifting paradigms don't take into account the out of pocket human collateral involved in the exclusive offering.
I recommend we put a pin in it and noodle on it, maybe even punt the discussion entirely until we can circle back on it and ping it with the proper ROI.
What I AM upset about is the wording of the email, if it was just a random giveaway then it would have been better for it to say "congratulations, we drew several names to win this cool ship and swag and your one of the lucky winners!" instead of saying it's a special thanks for unwavering support.
Let's Whiteboard this so we can ideate the true metrics:
So what you're really mad at is that Cryptic lives up to its company name by refusing to open the kimono on its promotional giveaway details. While there are quite a few thought leaders present in this, I feel that opening a dialog isn't coming down the pike because your endgame is seeking to unearth their core competency and the company does have a right to protect its value proposition and its unique differentiators. While I respect your attempt to utilize your best in breed credentials, I don't think leveraging this situation will move the needle. In fact, you're trying to boil the ocean in such a way that the learnings aren't going to take it to the next level. The shifting paradigms don't take into account the out of pocket human collateral involved in the exclusive offering.
I recommend we put a pin in it and noodle on it, maybe even punt the discussion entirely until we can circle back on it and ping it with the proper ROI.
Anyone who works in marketing would understand that this was a "missed" opportunity for this MMO to get players more excited about the game rather than to create this chaos. Not sure about what "rules" you are talking about since other MMOs that I play do have "open" promos and disclaimers that "excite" the community. My world is just not STO and not naive to understand each company sets their own business model. However, this is a rotten one IMO.
This. WoW had a similar "thank you for unwavering support" type giveaway a year or two ago, and the criteria was simple: everyone who had maintained a subscription since day 1, with no lapse, got something mailed to them (I forget exactly what it was, a statue or something?). I didn't qualify, but I thought it was awesome for them to do. This, on the other hand, is a disaster.
If this went out to players who spent a lot of $$ in the game should have just sent them a bunch of special lockboxes with a chance to get the ship. That way they could have made some money off the keys. Also I wonder how many players are actually going to fly the ship as their main? Personally I would worry about people constantly trolling you over it in game. Just my 2 cents.
This is ridiculous, really. People are certainly entitled to feel however they feel, but expecting Cryptic to suddenly change their modus operandi and go with a full disclosure mea culpa ending in giving away far more ships than they intended to -- not realistic.
They didn't promote this publicly because they never intended to promote it publicly. It wasn't targeted at everybody.
The same people are going on and on about how they've been disrespected, but that's all on them. It's absolutely ridiculous to think that Cryptic purposely decided to p.y.s.s. off their customer base. Granted, they're surprisingly good at it as an unintentional by-product of the way they do things -- but it's not an intentional campaign to snub people.
Since it was clearly NOT their intent to imply that everyone who didn't get the Nagus is not a loyal customer (because no business EVER does that), then what is the dissatisfaction based on?
It's not people taking offense over the loyalty issue, because Cryptic never said they weren't. It's just an excuse to complain because people are disappointed that they didn't get the ship or the swag.
Nobody here got an email from Cryptic stating "Neener, neener, you don't get the ship because you're not a good customer!"
The only outcome for this kind of manufactured rage is to influence Cryptic against similar giveaways like that in the future, because people can't keep their perspective and respond rationally. For crying out loud, some people actually made threats over this! You can't tell me that's just normal dissatisfaction. It's irrational, selfish, and childish.
Disappointment is okay. I'm disappointed. But I'm not going to break all my toys and go home over it.
In light of... recent events... I wanted to share a few things I have learned personally, working in the customer service and public relations fields for the last decade.
Let's say you own a business. And let's say you want to reward some of your customer base for their "loyalty".
There are two really simple ways to do it the right way:
1: using a clearly understood method of qualification
2: using a method that is equally applied to everyone who meets the qualifications
We actually have a really great example of the "right" way to do this in the veteran reward program for this game. The method of qualification is clearly spelled out and clear. And it is equally applied to everyone who meets the qualifications(either of actual time or purchasing a LTS).
As you might guess, the wrong way to do it is the opposite of the two points above:
1: using a secret/unclear method of qualification
2: using a method that is not equally applied to everyone
To understand why the "wrong" way is actually wrong, I would like to discuss each point, and what makes them "wrong":
1: if you use a secret/unclear method of qualification, this prevents people who actually qualify but didn't get their reward from being aware of the situation and resolving it. If you have someone who actually meets your "secret" qualifications, but some bug in the system has prevented them from getting them, that person has no way of knowing they were supposed to get them in the first place, because they don't know what the qualifications are, and that person therefore has no way to submit a bug report to resolve the situation.
2A: Now, we all know life is not fair, right? Some people's houses get destroyed by tornados while others don't. There are some things in the word we just can't control, and will never be fair. But there are also some things we CAN control. So just because there are unfair things that may happen that are outside of our control does not mean we shouldn't try to be fair in the things we can control, and this game's reward system is something Cryptic can control. They can choose to apply it equally and fairly, or otherwise.
2B: Using the "recent events" as an example, we have people who say they have spent tons of money getting the reward, we have people who say they have spent little to no money getting the reward, we have people who have played for a long time getting the reward, we have people who have not played as long getting the reward, and we also have people who the devs might "like" more than others due to their contributions to the game and it's promotion getting the reward. We also have people in all of those groups who didn't get the reward at all. Having a method of qualification that is not equally applied to everyone who meets it creates unpleasant feelings in a community. And while there will always be "jealousy" and "immaturity", there is no need to actually encourage those things by using an unfair system that is not equally applied.
Concluding comments: I'm not here to say Cryptic are bad people or they don't know what they are doing. All I hope is that the people who are in charge and make decisions can learn from this situation, and hopefully improve the way they do things in the future.
In light of... recent events... I wanted to share a few things I have learned personally, working in the customer service and public relations fields for the last decade.
I highly recommend you read the details of how the NBA Draft Lottery works.
And also consider the fact that the negativity stirred up by this giveaway could create something massively positive. You see this ship, which is not that big a deal in terms of ship power, is now currently considered the hottest ship in STO. (A tall order since the Vengeance just dropped). Everyone is hot for this thing. And it means it's SUPER exclusive to those who do have it on display right now in-game.
So next week, month or year, when it gets re-offered in a different type of promotion, these same fans who are ready to ragequit, will line up for this shiny shiny jawn.
Seems like decent marketing.
And really that's the piece of the puzzle that is being missed in a lot of discussions right now.
The T6 Connie argument? Becomes meaningless if in September they do some OTHER heretofore unmentioned surprise thing celebrating the 50th anniversary by offering something involving the TOS Constitution model at T6.
This Giveaway? Becomes less of a hassle if down the line they offer the ship in another way. And they likely will. Nothing thus far has remained exclusive. Remember the Galaxy X? Used to be ... the only way to get it was to hit a specific number of REFERRALS. That changed. They put it directly into the store.
That's a huge piece of context missing. This ship everyone wants right now cause it's the new hotness, has everyone all hyped up. Yeah, you'll get a chance to own it. Someday soon.
Comments
great you never won them, the difference being you presumably would have known the criteria, random or otherwise, and *that's* the biggest complaint
But I FIT the criteria and didn't win! That's the complaint. I didn't get free stuff even though I qualified! It's a monumental slap in the face. Just like this is. Because free stuff was not won.
My character Tsin'xing
If this was completely random, then your argument is sound. However, the email clearly says this is thanks for unwavering support, which implies that the money I myself have used to support this game is not valued by Cryptic, so they won't be getting any more if it because that's highly insulting considering how much I've spent on this game since purchasing my lifetime sub during Beta. I've easily spent more on this game than any other MMO, and I've played quite a few, even had three separate accounts for SWG back in the day.
Pretty big peanuts, though. By my last tally, he's got 20 ships' worth of Lobi crystals, a full collection of pretty much every lockbox/Lobi/promotional ship released so far (even the now-ultra-rare Bulwark, possibly several of them), 20-40 infinity T5 ships, 20 infinity T6 ships, possibly also 20 infinity UR ships... and I don't even know about everything he has!
Suffice to say that I'm less worried about him leaving and more worried about him outright deleting the whole thing without sharing any of it with his siblings or fleetmates.
Infinite possibilities have implications that could not be completely understood if you turned this entire universe into a giant supercomputer.
But is it unwavering loyalty?
As someone who manages email marketing campaigns as part of his job, I have to try to make this point though I feel it won't sway this thread one bit ... the unwavering support line is marketing speak. And it's true. Everyone who won the free ship has provided unwavering support. Even if the criteria were random. It's totally true. And a lot of people who provide unwavering support did not win the ship. Because it's a giveaway promotion. And sometimes that's how those things go.
Your loyality may have been wavering at one point or the other over the course of the years.
Are you certain your loyalty has always been absolutely steadfast?
No hidden thoughts of leaving STO in your heart? Never?
I use Arc from time to time but it so buggy that most of the time I just use the launcher. I never liked Arc and probably never will. However the note mentions STO supporters, not Arc supporters.
Why being secretive about it? To top if off it is not the first time of this lack of communication. Remember the free Andromeda or the 10 free spec codes give away to selected players?
It is a huge marketing fiasco of what could have been a great contest or raflfle give away for the players. I'm happy for those who got the ships but I'm not thankful of how this was rolled out.
Do we feel more "enticed" to spend more money in this game now? Take a guess Cryptic.
My character Tsin'xing
Um why was this post been deleted when it was informing Customers that the Enterprise F swag is restricted to U.S. Residents something the marketing team who sent these mails failed to mention in the emails sent directly to PWE Customers.
And theres another shared reply from support on page 13 of this thread that hasn't been removed for violating the T&C ?
They don't need to reveal their criteria. It was a promotion. A giveaway. Some people got it. Some people didn't. And the hidden terms do not matter one bit. This isn't about lack of communication. It's about people being upset that they didn't win something for free, trying to tie it into some sort of communication problem that never needed to exist.
I won the free Andromeda, btw. While I was on hiatus from the game (unwavering loyalty yo!) ... getting a Free T6 version of a Galaxy, a ship where if you are familiar with my posting history is the height of irony as it's not a ship I'm a fan of.
But it was a free ship. That I appreciate getting. And never once did I question the marketing "fiasco" that led to me getting it.
This is 15 pages of people upset they didn't win something free and trying to justify their complaint behind a witch hunt over how marketing campaigns work.
I guess the silver lining is, it's got people talking about the game. And that will help drive more traffic.
I am more upset that I paid for a ship with real cash and Cryptic effectively stuck there fingers up at me saying I am not loyal enough and gave a better version of the ship I paid for away for free to other people. Not only that but Cryptic have also made it so I can never complete the ship set I am using.
It’s not the other people I am upset about its the fact I cannot get hold of the better T6 version of one of my main ships and I cannot complete the main item set I use. Plus by rewarding some players for being loyal Cryptic are effectively saying the rest are not loyal which is insulting. Either give it to all loyal players or none. Not a handful.
As I've said, I'm not mad about the ship, I don't even know that I'd use it cause I'd feel compelled to create a Ferengi for it and I don't have the energy to go through the missions yet again. What I AM upset about is the wording of the email, if it was just a random giveaway then it would have been better for it to say "congratulations, we drew several names to win this cool ship and swag and your one of the lucky winners!" instead of saying it's a special thanks for unwavering support.
The Ferengi Ship Giveaway is an annual event held since stardate 75304.9 by the Galactic Union, in which the STO players who had shown the most unwavering loyalty participate in a lottery process to determine the winner of free stuff. In this draft, the players obtain the rights to free ships and other eligible goodies, including snail mail swag. The lottery winners would get the best swag available. The term "lottery pick" denotes a draft pick whose position is determined through this lottery, while the non-loyal teams involved in the process are often called "entitled players".
Under the current rules, only the top unwavering loyal fans and customers are decided by the lottery, and are chosen from the special list of players that check all the boxes. The lottery is weighted so that the player with the most unwavering loyalty, or the player that holds account credentials of the player with the most unwavering loyalty, has the best chance to obtain a the most free stuff. After the top three most unwaveringly loyal customers are selected (from the lottery slotting system), the remainder of the first-round draft order is in order of the forum posting record for the remaining players, or the players who originally held the account credentials if they were reagequit. The lottery does not determine the draft order in the subsequent rounds of the promotional giveaway process.
See? It's really super simple and easy to understand. In fact, this same system is used by other organizations and is actually televised on major networks annually.
We can all go home now. Nothing to see here. The most unwaveringly loyal fans were represented. If you did not get the ship it was because your ping pong balls didn't work out right. It happens in these types of drafts every single year.
Anyone who works in marketing would understand that this was a "missed" opportunity for this MMO to get players more excited about the game rather than to create this chaos. Not sure about what "rules" you are talking about since other MMOs that I play do have "open" promos and disclaimers that "excite" the community. My world is just not STO and not naive to understand each company sets their own business model. However, this is a rotten one IMO.
Also, not sure you could say "anger" is the only response captured in here. Specially since even the Community Manager was NOT "communicated" of this promo? was she angered too? more like confused like the rest of us:
To top it all the response from the community...but dont take my word for it:
http://massivelyop.com/2016/07/20/star-trek-online-confuses-community-with-ship-giveaway/
Huge confusion brought to players for their lack of communication. At least thats "my" take on it and how others saw it too.
Let's Whiteboard this so we can ideate the true metrics:
So what you're really mad at is that Cryptic lives up to its company name by refusing to open the kimono on its promotional giveaway details. While there are quite a few thought leaders present in this, I feel that opening a dialog isn't coming down the pike because your endgame is seeking to unearth their core competency and the company does have a right to protect its value proposition and its unique differentiators. While I respect your attempt to utilize your best in breed credentials, I don't think leveraging this situation will move the needle. In fact, you're trying to boil the ocean in such a way that the learnings aren't going to take it to the next level. The shifting paradigms don't take into account the out of pocket human collateral involved in the exclusive offering.
I recommend we put a pin in it and noodle on it, maybe even punt the discussion entirely until we can circle back on it and ping it with the proper ROI.
Getting upset about Marketing Speak is not a good use of 15 pages of Forum Bandwidth.
Wow. I have never seen such skilled flogging of corporate buzz-speak. You've clearly done this before.
This. WoW had a similar "thank you for unwavering support" type giveaway a year or two ago, and the criteria was simple: everyone who had maintained a subscription since day 1, with no lapse, got something mailed to them (I forget exactly what it was, a statue or something?). I didn't qualify, but I thought it was awesome for them to do. This, on the other hand, is a disaster.
They didn't promote this publicly because they never intended to promote it publicly. It wasn't targeted at everybody.
The same people are going on and on about how they've been disrespected, but that's all on them. It's absolutely ridiculous to think that Cryptic purposely decided to p.y.s.s. off their customer base. Granted, they're surprisingly good at it as an unintentional by-product of the way they do things -- but it's not an intentional campaign to snub people.
Since it was clearly NOT their intent to imply that everyone who didn't get the Nagus is not a loyal customer (because no business EVER does that), then what is the dissatisfaction based on?
It's not people taking offense over the loyalty issue, because Cryptic never said they weren't. It's just an excuse to complain because people are disappointed that they didn't get the ship or the swag.
Nobody here got an email from Cryptic stating "Neener, neener, you don't get the ship because you're not a good customer!"
The only outcome for this kind of manufactured rage is to influence Cryptic against similar giveaways like that in the future, because people can't keep their perspective and respond rationally. For crying out loud, some people actually made threats over this! You can't tell me that's just normal dissatisfaction. It's irrational, selfish, and childish.
Disappointment is okay. I'm disappointed. But I'm not going to break all my toys and go home over it.
Let's say you own a business. And let's say you want to reward some of your customer base for their "loyalty".
There are two really simple ways to do it the right way:
1: using a clearly understood method of qualification
2: using a method that is equally applied to everyone who meets the qualifications
We actually have a really great example of the "right" way to do this in the veteran reward program for this game. The method of qualification is clearly spelled out and clear. And it is equally applied to everyone who meets the qualifications(either of actual time or purchasing a LTS).
As you might guess, the wrong way to do it is the opposite of the two points above:
1: using a secret/unclear method of qualification
2: using a method that is not equally applied to everyone
To understand why the "wrong" way is actually wrong, I would like to discuss each point, and what makes them "wrong":
1: if you use a secret/unclear method of qualification, this prevents people who actually qualify but didn't get their reward from being aware of the situation and resolving it. If you have someone who actually meets your "secret" qualifications, but some bug in the system has prevented them from getting them, that person has no way of knowing they were supposed to get them in the first place, because they don't know what the qualifications are, and that person therefore has no way to submit a bug report to resolve the situation.
2A: Now, we all know life is not fair, right? Some people's houses get destroyed by tornados while others don't. There are some things in the word we just can't control, and will never be fair. But there are also some things we CAN control. So just because there are unfair things that may happen that are outside of our control does not mean we shouldn't try to be fair in the things we can control, and this game's reward system is something Cryptic can control. They can choose to apply it equally and fairly, or otherwise.
2B: Using the "recent events" as an example, we have people who say they have spent tons of money getting the reward, we have people who say they have spent little to no money getting the reward, we have people who have played for a long time getting the reward, we have people who have not played as long getting the reward, and we also have people who the devs might "like" more than others due to their contributions to the game and it's promotion getting the reward. We also have people in all of those groups who didn't get the reward at all. Having a method of qualification that is not equally applied to everyone who meets it creates unpleasant feelings in a community. And while there will always be "jealousy" and "immaturity", there is no need to actually encourage those things by using an unfair system that is not equally applied.
Concluding comments: I'm not here to say Cryptic are bad people or they don't know what they are doing. All I hope is that the people who are in charge and make decisions can learn from this situation, and hopefully improve the way they do things in the future.
I highly recommend you read the details of how the NBA Draft Lottery works.
And also consider the fact that the negativity stirred up by this giveaway could create something massively positive. You see this ship, which is not that big a deal in terms of ship power, is now currently considered the hottest ship in STO. (A tall order since the Vengeance just dropped). Everyone is hot for this thing. And it means it's SUPER exclusive to those who do have it on display right now in-game.
So next week, month or year, when it gets re-offered in a different type of promotion, these same fans who are ready to ragequit, will line up for this shiny shiny jawn.
Seems like decent marketing.
And really that's the piece of the puzzle that is being missed in a lot of discussions right now.
The T6 Connie argument? Becomes meaningless if in September they do some OTHER heretofore unmentioned surprise thing celebrating the 50th anniversary by offering something involving the TOS Constitution model at T6.
This Giveaway? Becomes less of a hassle if down the line they offer the ship in another way. And they likely will. Nothing thus far has remained exclusive. Remember the Galaxy X? Used to be ... the only way to get it was to hit a specific number of REFERRALS. That changed. They put it directly into the store.
That's a huge piece of context missing. This ship everyone wants right now cause it's the new hotness, has everyone all hyped up. Yeah, you'll get a chance to own it. Someday soon.