Would have be funny if its for returning players only. Would also make sense they wouldn't announce it then with all the players that would suddenly leave to get a ship.
"Please, Captain, not in front of the Klingons." Spock to Kirk, as Kirk is about to hug him.
Star Trek V: "The Final Frontier"
Would have be funny if its for returning players only. Would also make sense they wouldn't announce it then with all the players that would suddenly leave to get a ship.
I never left, so there was no 'returning' involved.
I honestly cant understand why people are having fits over this.
You should be happy when someone gets something cool.
If you have been with the game since the beginning and spent thousands of dollars on the game and don't get the ship that is supposed to show Cryptic's appreciation for your unwavering support for their game while someone else has started the game last year and hasn't spent a cent on the game gets the ship, then it is showing disrespect towards the person that has been with the game since the beginning.
Now if Cryptic said that it was a random giveaway, then we wouldn't have this mess. Some people will be slightly irritated that they didn't win, but they wouldn't feel slighted or betrayed.
"Hey do you think we should put out a release letting people know they've been chosen randomly out of Facebook likes?"
"Nah, let's keep em pulling out their credit cards, thinking If I just spent a little more I'll get something..."
Well if people want to think that they are welcome to but as we know dollar amount spent isn't the criteria that's just plain stupid *shrugs*
So I'm told that the ship is for those who have spent at least $1k on the game. If you've been a subscriber since launch and missed no more than a few months of sub time you've just met that criteria. So I totally agree with long time subscribers getting something cool for sticking it out with the game, especially considering at launch there were questions among the playerbase over whether sto would last for even two years. I see that as being a serious loyalty reward.
I'll leave the debate for what other criteria should be counted for such a thing to everyone else. I'm out (to play the game )
Any Kdf player who has had to cope with Gecko and co should get a gold plated bop considering our unwavering support despite the powers that be being hellbent on removing every facet of individuality and giving it to the whiny feds, let alone the fact we have perservered despite knowing on record certain devs would love to nuke the kdf faction from orbit....
What was the point in that statement? Just TRIBBLE people of even more, love the game but I think my wallet is staying shut next time around... not asking for names of who you gave it just you're backwards criteria of why -
If you've been a subscriber since launch and missed no more than a few months of sub time you've just met that criteria.
Those people should qualify for free financial advice since they spent 3 to 4 times more money in the long term than they needed to budget in the short term for a lifer.
I mean hey, I'm paying Dell Financial a bunch more interest than I actually need to, but I don't think I deserve a prize for it. I know I've made bad life choices.
=/\=Transwarp 10.0 Victory Achieved on 26-July-2012, Six Months After F2P =/\=
From what I can see having spoken to people I trust and who have won the ship, the criteria for winning is a spend in excess of $1000 in the previous 12 calendar months. In addition there may be other qualifying criteria such as play time, member of an active fleet, perhaps fleet owner/founder (those I've spoken and I are all fleet founders) etc.
Now the privacy issue is quite sound. If you, as a phisher, are targeting people in MMOs for their account information, why bother wasting your time on folks with little to no assets? It makes sense that the target for their activities would be those who have the most to lose, ie those with the most wealth. Advertising that anyone flying around in a gold plated ship is also someone who has money to burn on a video game may indeed jeopardise that individual's security.
I have spoken to nobody who has genuinely not contributed more than $1000 in the last 12 months and not received the ship, I've heard anecdotal evidence of folks spending nothing and still receiving it, I find this implausible and could be down to bare faced lies or an error in the awarding system.
I think it has, as often is the case, not been handled well by Cryptic. Their statement could have been a little more forthcoming without necessarily revealing details of any one individual's financial status, for example:
"The selection criteria for this rare ship are many and numerous, and whilst we appreciate all our players contributions and support to the game there are certain players that go above and beyond that expected by the average MMO supporter. These include but are not limited to, financial support to the game, hours played, fleet status, forum contributions, Facebook contributions, Twitter contributions, back links from their own websites to ours, and a host of other metrics which cannot be shared in order not to risk compromising the personal data security of our customers."
There are plenty of people, including people I know personally, who have the ship and have no spent anything like that much within the past year. The one I know myself spending less than I have. and there have been people who have barely touched the game in the past year and people who play it daily, people who haven't ever used the forum and those that are never off it.
Only issue I have with the thing is that some people claimed that they havent been on in a while and the message said that Cryptic thanked them for thier (unwavering, or something like that) support. That just tells me that they buckshotted stuff, instead of actually looking at who was really "supporting" the game.
> @paspinall said: > sylveriarelden wrote: » > > Meanwhile at Cryptic... > > "Hey do you think we should put out a release letting people know they've been chosen randomly out of Facebook likes?" > "Nah, let's keep em pulling out their credit cards, thinking If I just spent a little more I'll get something..." > > > > > > Well if people want to think that they are welcome to but as we know dollar amount spent isn't the criteria that's just plain stupid *shrugs*
Then what is the criteria to be considered a customer who's demonstrated unswerving loyalty? There's people here who've been supporting this game long before closed beta launched and they didn't get squat. So if it isn't about money spent, or time playing the game, or time having a registered account. How exactly does Cryptic/PWE decide who has demonstrated unswerving loyalty?
Then what is the criteria to be considered a customer who's demonstrated unswerving loyalty? There's people here who've been supporting this game long before closed beta launched and they didn't get squat. So if it isn't about money spent, or time playing the game, or time having a registered account. How exactly does Cryptic/PWE decide who has demonstrated unswerving loyalty?
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.
Okay, I do understand that people are quite agitated about this whole giveaway. The wording isn't the best, however it makes those that got it feel good about themselves.
I don't know the way it was done. I don't know the exact procedure, how much had to be spent etc. But really? Those people are spending quite a bit to keep this game alive. They SHOULD be rewarded. Giveaways and even just freebies happen in every game in existence. This isn't something that is new to the MMO world. Exclusives aren't new either. Almost all MMO's have exclusive content. Even normal RPG/1st person shooter/insert genre game here have them. Do they sooner or later become free for all? Yep. Will this one? No idea nor do I care. If it does, it does. If it doesn't, it doesn't. Be happy for those that got it and are supporting this game as I know a few of you on this thread are just coasting by on the dil --> zen conversion and not spending a dime. So it's them that are supporting your game.
Again, I get people are annoyed, and that wording hits home to a lot of people. No one, be it PWE or Cryptic, are saying that all players aren't loyal. They are. Speaking as just a mod for PWE, we do care about your business. We care about you being allowed to post on the forums, we care about your access to the game, we care about you as a player. It's why this game is 100% free and almost everything in game has at least two ways to get it. Be it zen, or buying zen or exchange.
This all said - I'm going to leave this thread open assuming we can keep the fire contained and not spread and kill lots of innocent people. I don't want to have to put warnings and what not on everyone due to them expressing how they feel about this situation, but just keep it to a low roar and not trample on the forum rules please.
Yes, I'm that Askray@Batbayer in game. Yes, I still play. No, I don't care. Former Community Moderator, Former SSR DJ, Now Full time father to two kids, Husband, Retail Worker. Tiktok: @Askray Facebook: Askray113
Okay, I do understand that people are quite agitated about this whole giveaway. The wording isn't the best, however it makes those that got it feel good about themselves.
I don't know the way it was done. I don't know the exact procedure, how much had to be spent etc. But really? Those people are spending quite a bit to keep this game alive. They SHOULD be rewarded. Giveaways and even just freebies happen in every game in existence. This isn't something that is new to the MMO world. Exclusives aren't new either. Almost all MMO's have exclusive content. Even normal RPG/1st person shooter/insert genre game here have them. Do they sooner or later become free for all? Yep. Will this one? No idea nor do I care. If it does, it does. If it doesn't, it doesn't. Be happy for those that got it and are supporting this game as I know a few of you on this thread are just coasting by on the dil --> zen conversion and not spending a dime. So it's them that are supporting your game.
Again, I get people are annoyed, and that wording hits home to a lot of people. No one, be it PWE or Cryptic, are saying that all players aren't loyal. They are. Speaking as just a mod for PWE, we do care about your business. We care about you being allowed to post on the forums, we care about your access to the game, we care about you as a player. It's why this game is 100% free and almost everything in game has at least two ways to get it. Be it zen, or buying zen or exchange.
This all said - I'm going to leave this thread open assuming we can keep the fire contained and not spread and kill lots of innocent people. I don't want to have to put warnings and what not on everyone due to them expressing how they feel about this situation, but just keep it to a low roar and not trample on the forum rules please.
I'm glad you're keeping the thread open, Mr. Moderator. Although, in all honestly, I'm not entirely sure what more could be said on the subject at this point.
As for 'it makes those that got it feel good about themselves,' nah, not really. I feel good about having gotten one, fore sure; but I don't feel particularly good about myself, as in 'Look, what a good little customer I must have been! (whilst the rest, apparently, was not).'
The intention behind this promotion was good: to reward the loyal customers. And I think they probably did so, cuz last time peeps got upset for rewarding ppl who had been absent for a while. Wording is everything, though; Q.E.D.
null @askray How can you say that the people who got the reward have been spending "quite a bit" when you admit that you don't know the criteria for reward?
If we take peoples words on some of the statements made about the reward, some havent spent ANY OR VERY LITTLE money, some had multiple accounts rewarded (how likely is it that they spent tons of cash on both accounts?), and some have barely been on the game (as of late).
I think its great that some people got the reward, and honestly, I could care less about the ship, I have the 26th & 31st Century ships to still shake down. What makes me scratch my head about this is the whole statement of rewarding high amounts of loyalty to players who admitted that they havent played much NOR even spent much. If they are randomly awarding them, they should have just said that they won a lottery, or something.
To me, this whole thing just sounds like a marketing effort that the customer introduction wasn't well thought out, and hit the fan during execution.
null @askray How can you say that the people who got the reward have been spending "quite a bit" when you admit that you don't know the criteria for reward?
If we take peoples words on some of the statements made about the reward, some havent spent ANY OR VERY LITTLE money, some had multiple accounts rewarded (how likely is it that they spent tons of cash on both accounts?), and some have barely been on the game (as of late).
I think its great that some people got the reward, and honestly, I could care less about the ship, I have the 26th & 31st Century ships to still shake down. What makes me scratch my head about this is the whole statement of rewarding high amounts of loyalty to players who admitted that they havent played much NOR even spent much. If they are randomly awarding them, they should have just said that they won a lottery, or something.
To me, this whole thing just sounds like a marketing effort that the customer introduction wasn't well thought out, and hit the fan during execution.
Fair enough. I'm going off of what people have said that have gotten it for the majority of people I've talked too. And I do agree, the marketing behind this wasn't that thought out in my own opinion.
Yes, I'm that Askray@Batbayer in game. Yes, I still play. No, I don't care. Former Community Moderator, Former SSR DJ, Now Full time father to two kids, Husband, Retail Worker. Tiktok: @Askray Facebook: Askray113
The only thing that would make this even better is if we had somebody show up in the thread and say they never spent a single dollar on anything in STO and got the ship.
Comments
Spock to Kirk, as Kirk is about to hug him.
Star Trek V: "The Final Frontier"
I never left, so there was no 'returning' involved.
If you have been with the game since the beginning and spent thousands of dollars on the game and don't get the ship that is supposed to show Cryptic's appreciation for your unwavering support for their game while someone else has started the game last year and hasn't spent a cent on the game gets the ship, then it is showing disrespect towards the person that has been with the game since the beginning.
Now if Cryptic said that it was a random giveaway, then we wouldn't have this mess. Some people will be slightly irritated that they didn't win, but they wouldn't feel slighted or betrayed.
You don't understand why people don't like being excluded from access and opportunity?
Yeah, that's a real head-scratcher...
Well if people want to think that they are welcome to but as we know dollar amount spent isn't the criteria that's just plain stupid *shrugs*
Do they come with sunglasses and baseballhats?
I'll leave the debate for what other criteria should be counted for such a thing to everyone else. I'm out (to play the game
*5k USD is just a random number, since for me that would be insanely much money wasted on a game. It's probably more though.
Get the Forums Enhancement Extension!
Those people should qualify for free financial advice since they spent 3 to 4 times more money in the long term than they needed to budget in the short term for a lifer.
I mean hey, I'm paying Dell Financial a bunch more interest than I actually need to, but I don't think I deserve a prize for it. I know I've made bad life choices.
Spock to Kirk, as Kirk is about to hug him.
Star Trek V: "The Final Frontier"
There are plenty of people, including people I know personally, who have the ship and have no spent anything like that much within the past year. The one I know myself spending less than I have. and there have been people who have barely touched the game in the past year and people who play it daily, people who haven't ever used the forum and those that are never off it.
Yet people still keep tripping over themselves to give them money no matter how bad they fail so Cryptic = Winning.
> sylveriarelden wrote: »
>
> Meanwhile at Cryptic...
>
> "Hey do you think we should put out a release letting people know they've been chosen randomly out of Facebook likes?"
> "Nah, let's keep em pulling out their credit cards, thinking If I just spent a little more I'll get something..."
>
>
>
>
>
> Well if people want to think that they are welcome to but as we know dollar amount spent isn't the criteria that's just plain stupid *shrugs*
Then what is the criteria to be considered a customer who's demonstrated unswerving loyalty? There's people here who've been supporting this game long before closed beta launched and they didn't get squat. So if it isn't about money spent, or time playing the game, or time having a registered account. How exactly does Cryptic/PWE decide who has demonstrated unswerving loyalty?
Having a postcount higher than 1 is a start.
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 don't know the way it was done. I don't know the exact procedure, how much had to be spent etc. But really? Those people are spending quite a bit to keep this game alive. They SHOULD be rewarded. Giveaways and even just freebies happen in every game in existence. This isn't something that is new to the MMO world. Exclusives aren't new either. Almost all MMO's have exclusive content. Even normal RPG/1st person shooter/insert genre game here have them. Do they sooner or later become free for all? Yep. Will this one? No idea nor do I care. If it does, it does. If it doesn't, it doesn't. Be happy for those that got it and are supporting this game as I know a few of you on this thread are just coasting by on the dil --> zen conversion and not spending a dime. So it's them that are supporting your game.
Again, I get people are annoyed, and that wording hits home to a lot of people. No one, be it PWE or Cryptic, are saying that all players aren't loyal. They are. Speaking as just a mod for PWE, we do care about your business. We care about you being allowed to post on the forums, we care about your access to the game, we care about you as a player. It's why this game is 100% free and almost everything in game has at least two ways to get it. Be it zen, or buying zen or exchange.
This all said - I'm going to leave this thread open assuming we can keep the fire contained and not spread and kill lots of innocent people. I don't want to have to put warnings and what not on everyone due to them expressing how they feel about this situation, but just keep it to a low roar and not trample on the forum rules please.
Former Community Moderator, Former SSR DJ, Now Full time father to two kids, Husband, Retail Worker.
Tiktok: @Askray Facebook: Askray113
I'm glad you're keeping the thread open, Mr. Moderator. Although, in all honestly, I'm not entirely sure what more could be said on the subject at this point.
As for 'it makes those that got it feel good about themselves,' nah, not really. I feel good about having gotten one, fore sure; but I don't feel particularly good about myself, as in 'Look, what a good little customer I must have been! (whilst the rest, apparently, was not).'
The intention behind this promotion was good: to reward the loyal customers. And I think they probably did so, cuz last time peeps got upset for rewarding ppl who had been absent for a while. Wording is everything, though; Q.E.D.
@askray How can you say that the people who got the reward have been spending "quite a bit" when you admit that you don't know the criteria for reward?
If we take peoples words on some of the statements made about the reward, some havent spent ANY OR VERY LITTLE money, some had multiple accounts rewarded (how likely is it that they spent tons of cash on both accounts?), and some have barely been on the game (as of late).
I think its great that some people got the reward, and honestly, I could care less about the ship, I have the 26th & 31st Century ships to still shake down. What makes me scratch my head about this is the whole statement of rewarding high amounts of loyalty to players who admitted that they havent played much NOR even spent much. If they are randomly awarding them, they should have just said that they won a lottery, or something.
To me, this whole thing just sounds like a marketing effort that the customer introduction wasn't well thought out, and hit the fan during execution.
Fair enough. I'm going off of what people have said that have gotten it for the majority of people I've talked too.
Former Community Moderator, Former SSR DJ, Now Full time father to two kids, Husband, Retail Worker.
Tiktok: @Askray Facebook: Askray113