Service Fees for Additional Services Provided

[Lord Diamond]

Rick, I don't consider any other PBEM company to be your competition for my money. If I leave Alamaze, it's not because I found another PBEM to fill a void. You are competing for my time and dollars with Grand Theft Auto V, Civilization V, Might & Magic, rifle/pistol/archery practice, woodworking, reading, and my family. What other PBEM companies charge has absolutely NOTHING to do with how I perceive Alamaze. Nor does what you charged back in the 80's. I have no intention of ever even visiting other PBEM websites, much less sending them money or playing their games.

You are competing against yourself. As long as the price and value match the fun I am getting out of it, then I will play Alamaze. If the fun increases, I will be willing to pay more. If it decreases, I'll go fire up the PS3 or find something else to do with my time and money.

I really think that should be your focus. Forget about other PBEM games and past accomplishments. All we really care about is what Alamaze is about today and what it will be about in the future.

[HeadHoncho]

Fully agree with Lord Diamond.

[Iatronas]

I agree with Lord Diamond as well.

I'm happy to pay for the services as long as the game continues to be enjoyable and worth my time, regardless of the competition. I see my wife, work, kids, new Xbox games I haven't played, etc. etc. etc. to be the competition for my time - at this point in my life the cost of time/family > cost of money. As with work, the more efficiency and convenience I can achieve, the happier I'll be.

I still excitedly check my e-mail even while at work on turn due dates to read my turn as soon as it comes in. That is what will keep me playing for now.

[Ry Vor]

Yes, the people that like what we have done and will do will stay with us, and others may not. As we go forward, thanks for the appreciation, loyalty, support and encouragement.

[bluefile2]

Can we charge a $5 late fee if results aren't posted by 12:05pm San Diego time?

[Ry Vor]

Can we charge a $5 late fee if results aren't posted by 12:05pm San Diego time?

BTW BlueFile2, down load a new order input form from the forum. All your turns show up with no ingest tab, requiring an exit from the system, copying your orders to Grasshopper's machine, re-entering the system. Don't manipulate (sort, move) an order entry form. If you do so, and if people don't mislabel turns, we should be able to get turns processed by 12:05 Pacific, unless Grasshopper just is trying to collect overtime every day.

[bluefile2]

I can do that! Not sure what an ingest tab is, but it sounds important. Tell grasshopper that it's now 12:06 and bonuses are cancelled.

[Hile Troy]

I can do that! Not sure what an ingest tab is, but it sounds important. Tell grasshopper that it's now 12:06 and bonuses are cancelled.

Please post the link to the new order input form, I do not want to miss that.

I wanted to post what happened to me today, in case it relates to anyone else, in relation to this thread - added costs.

I have been working a lot this last week, running a 4 man crew with only 2 people, keeping everyone safe, trying to avoid the added demurrage costs of working slow, the extra BS of slowing down production, etc. I put my two turns together last night, .... nevermind!

Long story short, I f'ed up and sent the same order set twice instead of two order sets once. I got a courtesy email asking what was up. I was at work and could not check in regularly or often. My wife was not available for what seemed like forever. I was finally able to get ahold of her, have her resend the correct orders under the correct game-kingdom-turn, I assume just in the nick of time.

All for a measly $5? My turn was processed, my allies can still rely on me, I only messed up one prisoner transfer, etc.

Whatever it takes to keep this game going and improving, I am in.

HT

[Brogan]

Ever hear about writing out that bitchy email, and then not sending it, but you get it off your chest by writing it? I just did that.

Of course, no one gets billed for reporting a bug. That's ridiculous. No one that has actually been billed for extra service has complained. They own up to it.

Earlier I posted about anyone knowing of a PBEM with better service, pricing, player contact, etc, to tell us about it in detail with all facts. There were none.

Always treat your Alamaze Team and our personal reputations with respect, whether its about playing a game with you or providing you service, else you will be required to leave. We are nobody's boy and it's certainly not for someone's $2 a turn we are doing this. 'Nuf said.

For the rest of us: Rock on in Alamaze!

I have been playing PBEM games for a long time from different companies. My two favorite are Alamaze and Victory the Battle for Europe (by Rolling Thunder Games). Both are professionally run and priced similar but Victory still uses per turn prices, the monthly model would not work for that game.
- Customer Service - I would place both companies 9 out of 10, both have email contacts and get back to you usually within 24 - 36 hours.

- Bug reporting: Victory is almost as old as Alamaze, I think it came out 2 years after. It is still running on 25 year old hardware (apple I think), which is scary and cool at the same time. I will say that there are almost no bug issues with the game (it does not change at all).

- Player contact: They have a forum much like this one where players can exchange emails, there is also an in game order to request a nation's address, and as long as you are not playing anonymously the computer will send the player your email.

- Turn processing: Here is where Rolling Thunder Games pulls ahead. There is a turn entry program made from MS-Access which is free to be distributed, so no cost. You enter your orders and the program checks per order to verify things are correct. For example, it knows where you need to place numbers VS. text data and how many columns an order should be. I find this immensely useful. Once you are done you save and send the turn to the staff at RTG. It won't tell you if the first space your army is moving is valid, but any spaces after that it will know if they are adjacent or not. One more item I need to add here - There are two emails you send orders to, their ISP email like our activegames@alamaze.co, the other is to a gmail account. This is great for the times my ISP or their ISP thinks that I am sending junk mail and blocks it. The last thing the RTG staff does is send you an email when your turn is received by a human, so you know it got there.

- Turn resubmitted and misc fees. Much like Alamaze things can change after you send in orders so there are times you send in replacement turns in Victory. There is no fee attached to this ever, I would image all they do is just over write your turn file where it is saved until the process date. The only non standard fees they have is a turn reprint fee. This usually occurs when you have your results sent to additional people like allies. Once again it does not happen a lot.