Submitting Orders Multiple Times:
Players should wait until they are sure about their orders before submitting them.
Each player will be given one "mulligan" per month, to submit revised orders. After that, each resubmitted kingdom orders will incur a $2 charge that will be billed at month end. At the beginning of the next month, the duplicate order submissions will be reset to 0. Example: a player submits replacement orders 4 times in January. He will be invoiced $6 at month end (one free and 3 at $2).
Also, players should be aware that submitting more than one order set multiplies the chance of error in processing the game, as well as consuming time. We cannot guarantee that multiple order sets will always be processed as the players intend. Always mark your revised orders as such.
Submitting orders after the deadline:
Orders are due before the deadline, printed on the turn sheet and presently almost always Noon Eastern, USA. Ideally, orders will be submitted several hours before the deadline so the game can be prepped for prompt processing (ie, the GM can enter the orders before the deadline). If orders are submitted after the deadline, a $5 charge will be incurred by the player, if the GM is able to process the orders prior to running the game. In no case will a game be delayed more than 1 hour to accommodate a late player. Don't be late.
Renaming Emissaries on Turn 1:
Players are invited to rename their king or queen with their first turn submission at no charge.
Players can choose to rename multiple to all emissaries on the Turn 1 submission at a $5 charge. Be sure to put a message in your Turn 1 email if you are renaming your king and also of course, if you are renaming emissaries, else they will not be renamed.
Requesting the GM to Investigate Results:
The Alamaze code has been running for 25 years. If is extremely doubtful an unfavorable result is due to a code error. Investigating any request by a player to look at results requires a minimum of 15 minutes of GM time, which almost always results in pointing out the player error. Any request to investigate results will result in a $5 charge unless (unlikely) the player actually was correct.
General: while we of course want players to have all their intended commands executed successfully, it is the player's responsibility to submit the order form correctly, on time. While we may with good fortune identify a mislabeling or the absence of the orders attached, this is the player's responsibility.
These are each effective beginning tomorrow, January 16, 2014.
Being someone who likes to send in a preliminary copy of results and then a final copy after chatting with allies (to reduce the chance of life causing a missed due date), this is a frustrating cost change. I do realize that there is a cost associated with the time involved figuring out the latest turn submitted, but a simple spreadsheet could keep track of it as turns come in. I can change my behavior.
However, I strongly disagree with the "Requesting the GM to Investigate Results" charge. This will reduce the catching of bug threats due to the implementation of new code changes - such as the erroneous effect of a Chaos spell, the casting of Bounty causing people to lose/reacquire regions, inability to transfer adepts consistently due to 0.1 (since the required spreadsheet won't allow .1), problems with the 5th brigade, inconsistencies in naval orders/results displays, etc (all occurred since September and rapidly corrected by Cipher/Ry Vor). I worry that the takeaway message is just-let-the-bug-be since it 'is extremely doubtful an unfavorable result is due to a code error' instead of reporting them because it might now be a new error (or a "known error reported on the forums") and then you'd get charged $5.
I understand this is a business and sometimes you have to make executive decisions, but I've always felt that your team appreciates feedback. You should probably post this message under the Active Games or the Rules folders, not just under Alamaze Sign-Up as well.
I think if a discrepancy "is" found then how about you refund $5.00 versus charging it
- This is a legitimate/fair response.
Name changes should either be free OR just not have them imo. Ideally the player could somehow just input that part of it to save the headache but alas...
This is ticky-tac stuff and no big deal to me BUT I think I'd rather just pay xxx versus having small fee's here and there. I'm guilty of none of the above asides submitting late once or twice as I've forgotten about a due date on occasion.
Agreed the code is 25 years old and it "works" and great game and all. Existentially, I've had 0 issues with the game/program/moderation and all have been excellent. I'll be looking to move into purely Titan (filling out orders for so many positions is a slog for sure though...) and somehow this has to be profitable for you while entertaining me and not being cost excessive. Your fee's are in line with me so another "no big deal" here.
I don't have any problem with the fees. I have only once availed myself of the name change option for the entire kingdom - turned out to be a game I did really poorly in, but I may take it up again sometime when I feel like rebranding everything. I certainly like to have that option and I like to name my kings.
I think these fees are very valid, and reasonably priced.
I find myself reluctant to report issues for fear I will be charged every time. An example is I enamored a region this turn and it did not go up and was denigrated in a different region and it did not go down.
(01-20-2014, 10:22 PM)Stillgard Wrote: [ -> ]I find myself reluctant to report issues for fear I will be charged every time. An example is I enamored a region this turn and it did not go up and was denigrated in a different region and it did not go down.
The forum is a great place to learn about why these results occurred.
Is the region that was enamored controlled by a king that has declared you an enemy? By a natural enemy? Re-read the description of the enamor order.
There are only four levels of regional reaction: Friendly, Tolerant, Suspicious, Hostile.
On top of these, enemy/ally status for controlled regions have an 'overlay' impact. Certain kingdom's special orders can temporarily affect reaction levels.
BUT, one can never be better than Friendly or worse than Hostile. If you are hostile in a region controlled by a kingdom that has declared you an enemy, you will show as hostile. If you enamor that region, you will move from Hostile to Suspicious, but the enemy declaration of the controlling kingdom will mean you are still effectively Hostile. Another enamor (to Tolerant) would have you show as Suspicious. If the region was lost to a kingdom that has declared you an ally, your reaction would go from showing Suspicious to showing Friendly - but the program actually still has your underlying/base reaction level staying at Tolerant.
(01-20-2014, 10:40 PM)Cipher Wrote: [ -> ] (01-20-2014, 10:22 PM)Stillgard Wrote: [ -> ]I find myself reluctant to report issues for fear I will be charged every time. An example is I enamored a region this turn and it did not go up and was denigrated in a different region and it did not go down.
The forum is a great place to learn about why these results occurred.
Is the region that was enamored controlled by a king that has declared you an enemy? By a natural enemy? Re-read the description of the enamor order.
There are only four levels of regional reaction: Friendly, Tolerant, Suspicious, Hostile.
On top of these, enemy/ally status for controlled regions have an 'overlay' impact. Certain kingdom's special orders can temporarily affect reaction levels.
BUT, one can never be better than Friendly or worse than Hostile. If you are hostile in a region controlled by a kingdom that has declared you an enemy, you will show as hostile. If you enamor that region, you will move from Hostile to Suspicious, but the enemy declaration of the controlling kingdom will mean you are still effectively Hostile. Another enamor (to Tolerant) would have you show as Suspicious. If the region was lost to a kingdom that has declared you an ally, your reaction would go from showing Suspicious to showing Friendly - but the program actually still has your underlying/base reaction level staying at Tolerant.
Ok, that explains it better. So in order to get to Suspicious from Hostile in a region controlled by my enemy I need to enamor it twice.
As a player returning to the game I will admit that I asked many questions. Almost all of them were due to my lack of knowledge and in fact the answer was pointed out to me as being in the manual. I also took advantage of the multiple revisions of orders.
The fact remains that I am a consumer and I expect a certain level of service. To date the service level has met my expectations based on the fees charged. If the fees are going to increase then I will need to reevaluate the service I expect.
For increased fees I dont expect to have my Kingdom turn left out of the game processing, which in turn requires all turns to be reprocessed and the random game results changed.
I dont expect to be charged additional fees for a game on a new map and then have the game restarted 3 times because the code is not accurate. Most Beta tests are free, not charged extra.
I dont expect my game results to be rerun because a spell that was submitted on the turn sheet was not processed.
While the code has been in place for 25 years the game is still processed by humans, although some believe Cipher is actually a cyborg, and mistakes will happen. To my knowledge the players have been tolerant of the game based mistakes that have taken place. I would expect any new fees to be reasonably implemented and if I find them unfair then I will need to reevaluate my decision to participate in the great community of Alamaze.
Of course. Anyone can leave anytime they wish, and they should if they don't think they are getting good value.
And if anyone wants to point out a PBEM game that provides better service and value, give the specifics here. I'd love to hear about it. Tell us why: how much is it, how often does it run, how much faster is the service and support, how's the forum and website, what game play elements are better? Go ahead.....