Yesterday, I tried to reply to the lone comment made in my last post, and thought I had found a workaround to do so, but in the end a carefully thought out post was lost. Very unlikely I can replicate those words again, but I will try. When I asked why posts were appearing, three now by my count, in the forum regarding units we here do not possess, I was told that Facebook players could post here and have with some regularity. As a regular reader of the forum I find that answer misleading. Yes, there have been posts regarding other games that have found their way here from time to time, asking questions about those games, but none that I recall being expressly about units we here do not possess unless they were made by players here, and certainly none made by strictly Facebook players other than some moderators that play there yet post here.

My statement was that those posts are irrelevant to us here at the .com site, and I still feel that way. Dimitri made it plain that Facebook players had the right to post here, which makes me want to ask: Do they not have their own forum where they can ask questions or post their concerns? Because Facebook players have many features, which have been mentioned here before, that we do not have, when I saw those posts it simply annoyed me and reminded me and many others here that Facebook players enjoy features we do not. It simply seemed to be flaunting the fact they possess features there that we here do not and we already are very aware of that. This has been an issue for quite sometime now, and despite promises that we here will have them too, so far that has not happened.

It has been stated that Facebook players do not gain any advantage over us here by having these features, but I think that too is misleading. It is likely that having more features enhances the overall game experience, while we here pay the same for less features than they do. The perception that we are paying the same for less is not a pleasant prospect in my view, and for many creates resentment.

Before Plarium writes me off as some lone malcontent, constantly complaining about the state of things here, I would say that as Hegemon of a top 100 coalition, who has not missed a day in 1263 days of playing, that many of the concerns I point out are feedback from my players who represent players from all walks of life and from all over the world. Most players do not ask for much, a game that works as well as it possibly can, to be treated with the respect and dignity that everyone should be treated with, and to simply play. Many long-time players are becoming disillusioned and are losing patience waiting for promises to be fulfilled, that are by anyone's measure taking a very long time to be kept.

Recently, it has been intimated that players who post complaints and criticisms are in the minority among all the players who play our game. Posters in that camp said that the majority of players had no complaints with the game, to which I replied that I think there is a great silent majority out there who for their own reasons choose not to post or complain. Since neither side has any statistical data to empirically prove the other one wrong, I will leave it to the reader to decide. I do know that emotions are running high and frustration with the current state of things here are too. I can, unequivocally state that activity levels of players, in my coalition anyway, is lower than it ever has been. This means there is a causal factor behind this situation, that I will also leave to the reader.

As long as Plarium employs an authoritarian model to deal with players there will be conflict and resentment. If they would lean towards an authoritative approach when dealing with players, it would allow for some flexibility, consideration, and a sincere concern for players problems. Then some real progress could be made regarding players perception of Plariums efforts and motives.

About a week back I purchased a package for my wife which did not show up in her city. She filled out a ticket for Plarium support, and at the time of this writing, still no reply. But, the Openbucks site immediately contacted her and one of their customer service representatives, Hilda, communicated with her, showing concern, consideration, and a willingness to solve the problem. The package showed up in my wife's city about 8 hours after the purchase. There was another inquiry from Hilda the next day to follow up and expressing hope that all had turned out alright. Plarium support could learn a great deal from the Openbucks support people.

I do grow weary of being negative and would love to have some positive things to say regarding the state of the game. If and when something positive does happen, I hope to be one of the first ones to speak to it. I think we all are in this together, and we all want to see our efforts rewarded, our commitment rewarded, our loyalty rewarded, with the end result being a game that plays correctly, and should something go awry, a remedy that is sure and swift, so we can get back to doing what we are here for, and that is to play the game.