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PROTEST: We, the undersigned, will not purchase gold until our complaints are heard.

Fred12343Fred12343 Posts: 20
Dear GGS,

We, the undersigned, refuse to purchase gold until you have made progress on and/or addressed our complaints, being:

1. Fix missions to allow for more robust competition that does not benefit only the gold players.

2. Change game play to make it so that there is a more even use of gold and game $, so that varying levels of gold spent can still make game interesting and productive.

3. Fix co-op research and projects so that it is not impossible to accomplish things with only game $$.

4. Allow partial contributions of collectibles.

5. Stop with the hidden nonsense with calculations that makes later contributions less valuable (charity mission).

6. Do something about the water tower change, such as put the prices back to where they were, or allow anyone who had a tower prior to the price change, stay with the original prices.

We enjoy this game and we want to keep playing. We appreciate good entertainment and are willing to pay appropriately. We are insulted by the insidious nature of the gold-grabbing inherent in most aspects of the game and in protest will no longer purchase gold until changes are made.

Fred1234

(PLAYERS: If you agree with this protest, and will abide by the terms - meaning no gold purchases - please sign by replying. Please also ask everyone in your co-ops to consider signing. If we want change, we need to show GGS that people agree.)
Post edited by Fred12343 on
«136

Comments

  • Catalyste3Catalyste3 Posts: 45
    edited 28.02.2013
    Fred, for #3, do you mean the research projects that require Gold to start it? Because other than that, I see nothing wrong with using farmdollars.

    Also I see nothing in there about the Water Tower fiasco and their sudden decision to hike the price even though it does not solve the problem it claims to have.
  • Fred12343Fred12343 Posts: 20
    edited 28.02.2013
    I just added the water tower to the protest petition - thanks for reminding me.

    Certain research projects require gold to start. The amount of gold required starts modestly with the first project and then jumps enormously.
  • monica79538monica79538 Posts: 1,932
    edited 28.02.2013
    I agree to this petition. I would much rather have my old farm back and if they won't bring it back, then GGS is going to have to come to our requests. Some of us have been asking respectfully for months and we have been patient and it is definitely wearing thin. No one complained directly about the water tower and GGS did not listen to what we had to offer as solutions for the missions or donating pieces for the challenges. Helps for co-ops
    Every update is worse than the one that precedes it--here specifically the bees.

    OMG i could go on.
    You had better start to listen GGS or you will be loosing your most valued assets--your faithful players.
  • ChickletsChicklets Posts: 1
    edited 28.02.2013
    I fully agree with Fred1234 - this game is turning out to be just a money grabber. I have previously bought gold but no longer.....
  • Maria899679 (US1)Maria899679 (US1) US1 Posts: 133
    edited 28.02.2013
    I totally agree with you,i am also buying gold but i think i won't do it anymore.
    At least till someone from GGS listens to our complaints...
  • tinyandme (US1)tinyandme (US1) US1 Posts: 66
    edited 28.02.2013
    Amen on that. No Gold for me.
  • Lil Finebutt2Lil Finebutt2 Posts: 14
    edited 28.02.2013
    I'm with you Fred12343, I've spent a ridiculous amount of real money on this game and would have continued to so if it appeared GGS had any real interest in addressing our concerns, but unfortunately that doesn't appear to be the case so until GGS takes a genuine interest in its customer base I'm done buying gold. Therefore GGS I'll no longer help fund a company that completely ignores us. And please keep in mind GGS that there are hundreds of other truly FREE games out there that are every bit as good if not better than any of yours that I can and have and will continue to play and not one of them has ever cost me a single a dime to fully enjoy. Bottom line is you're not the only game in town GGS so pay attention or pay the price of ignoring your paying customers.
  • Jaded Jewel2Jaded Jewel2 Posts: 56
    edited 28.02.2013
    Bottom line is you're not the only game in town GGS so pay attention or pay the price of ignoring your paying customers.

    I said it once already - I was looking for a game when I found this one and my money will go to someone. It doesn't HAVE to be you!


    Petiton signed ~
    Jaded Jewel
  • lambro112lambro112 Posts: 8
    edited 28.02.2013
    oh this so reminds me of another game.....which was eventually shut down....GGS you are not listening and it is going to cost you again.
  • Beaver (US1)Beaver (US1) Posts: 29
    edited 28.02.2013
    I agree with you Fred. You should also add "remove biased board moderators" too.
  • satinurlapsatinurlap Posts: 14
    edited 28.02.2013
    Actually Monica I complained directly, I used the in game 'tell us what you think' button, posted my response to Nafaru and emailed the support team about the collections issue and the water tower!
    I know it's a business and that Big Farm wants to make money, but it's quite disappointing to never have a coherent response from GGS about why their improvements always result in more money being taken from players, as if we are all just bottomless money wells!
    For the time being I accept I can only play without purchasing gold, and just use the dollars my farm generates, when that stops being fun I'll find another online game to enjoy, there are so many more out there after all...
  • Catalyste3Catalyste3 Posts: 45
    edited 01.03.2013
    Fred12343 wrote: »
    I just added the water tower to the protest petition - thanks for reminding me.

    Certain research projects require gold to start. The amount of gold required starts modestly with the first project and then jumps enormously.

    No problem. :)

    Yeah #3 wasn't clear to me, so I had to ask. I think the $$ threw me off instead of the actual word "Gold."

    I don't agree with how they have the research structured like that. We're in a co-op and I don't agree with anything that has the explicit intention the make the player spend money like that in order to advance in the game. I believe Gold should always remain an option that can add an advantage, not include that advantage as a task, research, or project.

    It's ridiculous.

    If GGS doesn't smarten up and learn from the failure of other companies, then they'll end up going out of business. Something isn't right when real concerns aren't addressed and a user's leisure time is more like a nightmare.

    ~I sign~
  • Suzahnnah (US1)Suzahnnah (US1) Posts: 21
    edited 01.03.2013
    When I first started to play this game I resisted the urge to buy gold. The only need I saw for it was to speed up the long construction times on certain things. As I leveled and grew my farm, it became painfully obvious that gg was pulling the strings to "encourage" gold buying. No big deal at the time, I could still manage to play and grow my farm without gold. Now I'm at a point, with the inception of our second gold sink of a farm that playing without buying gold, is really slowing me down and in the process, killing all the fun.

    Fred, I to am insulted by the blatant money grabbing tactics that gg uses.

    You have my promise that I will no longer buy even one piece of gold until things change. If things stay the same or get worse, I feel sorry for my livestock that will starve while my crops rot in the field since I wont' be here to maintain anything!
  • onetime3930onetime3930 Posts: 4
    edited 01.03.2013
    I have not bought gold and will not any time soon. I have a policy of playing sims for at least one month before sinking a cent into them. I have learned that this avoids a lot of headaches for me as a platform's motives are usually revealed within the first month.
    I understand that program writing and server space all requires real dollars, but when there are tens of thousands of people playing the costs can be mitigated fairly easily I believe.
    Pigs get fed....hogs get slaughtered.
  • SloaneSloane Posts: 43
    edited 02.03.2013
    I [luckly] do not rember gold spam on missons. I can't but gold cuz my parnets won't let me pay anything.(there cheapcakes) But, i have heard of gold spamming. i only use little gold since once im done with it, its gone forever. But i agree to theese terms. and more and more people are getting REALLY mad about it. GGS, ya better listen, because here how it will work. we like the gameplay, but if this goes on inored, players (includeding me) will start playing less, and less, and less, till the point they forget the game. this is a promblem. I've heard that however many people play, you get __ dollors for it. Now that means,
    -GGS won't be getting money; witch could cause for it to shut down
    -if that happens, people will end up upset that a good game ended, but your other games could end too
    -People will have less and less friends
    -you will barly have people to send advice
    -people with co-ops will end up with no body.
    and others could happen too. SO JUST CLEAR IT UP ALREADY GGS!! >:(
  • Catalyste3Catalyste3 Posts: 45
    edited 03.03.2013
    Back up to the top with you.
  • bbehr12bbehr12 Posts: 1
    edited 04.03.2013
    I'll sign. I'm not familiar with a lot of the controversy, but this seems important and can benefit all; I definitely support it.
  • edited 04.03.2013
    I have bought gold in the past but no more. I do not enjoy a game where the only way to win is to cheat.
  • monica79538monica79538 Posts: 1,932
    edited 04.03.2013
    We have co-op members with credit cards in hand waiting for GGS to answer. They refuse to buy unless GGS acknowledges.
  • plank~3plank~3 Posts: 2
    edited 04.03.2013
    I have only just started to play this game (forced to by GGF closing) but already i can see its beginning to fall apart at the seams. GGS just want every-ones money,they dont care about the players only $$ filling thier pockets.I will not buy any gold and i am seriously considering leaving GGS for good. Only one thing is preventing me that is "I cant find the button to close my account!!!" I wont buy any gold period.
  • Latten (DE1)Latten (DE1) Posts: 6,246
    edited 04.03.2013
    Alright, here we go.

    1. Fix missions to allow for more robust competition that does not benefit only the gold players.

    As said before, the Game Design team is working on this. Up to now, we have a general pre-sorting based on the accumulated number of reputation points as well as levels, Thing is, since all players get thrown together for one mission, and then sorted to sets with 10 players each, sometimes this won't work for everyone. But yeah, working on that.

    2. Change game play to make it so that there is a more even use of gold and game $, so that varying levels of gold spent can still make game interesting and productive.

    You can do _everything_ without spending a single buck. Everything. We give out gold for free, with each Level up, with a lot of Login Bonuses and even with a few quests. Right now, there is no "You NEED money to play this" point in the game at all.
    I may or may not have to remind you, that this actually happens in a lot of online games, it's either this or having to share everything you did ever, and in Big Farm you'll find none of it. I can of course see where the criticism is coming from, but in this case, I feel it's a bit overblown.

    3. Fix co-op research and projects so that it is not impossible to accomplish things with only game $$.

    This has been forwarded but plays into my previous point, as well. As long as you don't want to create a huge cooperative, it should be absolutely possible to do without having to buy gold, as long as your cooperative is helping out with donations and actually works together. If there are specific points you'd like to discuss, I would need a bit more information on this.

    4. Allow partial contributions of collectibles.

    Yup, I understand that one. Sadly, it's not planned for the near future, since this is how it's supposed to be. We forwarded this a lot of times, believe me.
    The costs for the instant buy of said collectibles has been lowered significantly on higher levels though.

    5. Stop with the hidden nonsense with calculations that makes later contributions less valuable (charity mission).

    It's a linear progression, and it's supposed to help in the upper rankings of the list. If the progression wouldn't be linear, it would be very easy to just go ahead and "snipe" victory during the last few minutes, and we don't want that to happen. As it is now, it gets harder to accumulate points the higher up you are, but that is happening to all users who are up there. This hopefully makes sure that whoever wins (or stays in the upper rankings) will do so rightfully and not because he made one payment to snipe his way to victory.
    Since this is the first time this event is running, we're obviously watching it closely, too. If it won't work out as intended, we might rethink it, but for now it's working exactly as intended. If you want, I can talk this over with the team again, though.

    6. Do something about the water tower change, such as put the prices back to where they were, or allow anyone who had a tower prior to the price change, stay with the original prices.

    A lot of players seem to forget this on a regular basis: The water tower and the workshop are optional. They aren't needed to get anything done, they are a vanity item that may help a bit without completely breaking game balance. These are buildings you either will have to actually buy with gold, or spend some time to save free gold to buy them piece by piece (which is entirely possible, too). But, and this is a big but (pun not intended), they are not needed. You can perfectly play the game without having these two, and you won't run into problems later, either.

    And that's it :) If I sound annoyed at times, don't take it personal - I wasn't, promise. Also, if you have follow-up points, feel free to post them and we'll try to reply as soon as possible.
  • monica79538monica79538 Posts: 1,932
    edited 04.03.2013
    You have not read our complaints:

    The missions are not sorted according to levels and reputation points. There are several complaints of people getting in the same group with people of much higher rank and reputation points--With that combination: the average person don't stand a chance, especially if the competitor is pushing production with gold. I have also been to farms that have ALL level 3 fancy house and so many tractors i could not count them all--yet they are in same competition. There is no problem with people buying gold, but they should not be allowed to freely abuse people that do not have the means to buy gold. The egg challenge is becoming impossible to complete because of high RP.

    As for the water tower portion of your post--I am absolutely fuming! Nafaru made the announcement almost a full week ahead that the water tower was to have price increase. OMG i will have to find the quote and paste it here--The water tower pricing will be increased, since especially in later levels it got far too powerful for its current price.
    Its to-buy price will be the same, but upgrade prices will be raised significantly, so if you planned to upgrade, don't wait too long
    . I can't believe that GGS thinks it acceptable to acknowledge an unbalance and then fix it by raising the purchase price, but do NOTHING to reduce its power. Talk about lining your pockets! AS i remember there was even a pricing incentive to buy gold that weekend. Unbelievable.

    ****As for the fundraiser event--I am most certain that if the title of it had been changed to something like 'Save our Other Farms' --There would have been a lot more positive response--Especially with loosing our farm on the other game.

    There has also been at least 2 separate announcements that the missions were going to be better, but so far--not a single change is evidenced as of yet. When will that make it to the updates, not just announcement???
  • Garden of EdenGarden of Eden Posts: 7
    edited 04.03.2013
    I am with all of you guys 100%!!!

    When I have started this game, it looked quite intereseting and it was pulling my but to sit down beside the laptop and click until my fingers went tired. I was among the first ones that joined to this play, we were only 116 on inernational-UK server at that time.I got up at ranking quickly and liked the game.It made me play it whenever I had some free time.Now.........I still play it, but only cause my friends from the ex game are here and we talk daily....and let me tell you, I force myself sometimes to open it.Yes, I have bought few coins, cause we were in lack of 2 last tickets to start a coop project.By buying gold I was allowed to contribute the missing tickets.
    For me, buying stops, there is no point to give and give and give and get nothing in return,noone is listening to our sugestions and requests.
    GGS team, there is something called "bona fides",google for ancient Roman rules abt trading and running an honest way in all aspects of life itself.When we buy gold with our real money, game becomes a part of real life and noone wants a virtual world slipping into our wallets just to make one partner happy and content.When we make deals, there are two parts joining together and everyone should gain something from their mutual partnership.

    I sighn here with the bigest pen I could find on my desk.....
  • Lil Finebutt2Lil Finebutt2 Posts: 14
    edited 04.03.2013
    In reply to Latten's above post:

    1. Fix missions to allow for more robust competition that does not benefit only the gold players.
    I have countless issues with the Missions but requiring us to participate in them in order to complete The Chicken or the Egg? co-op project is simply ridiculous. Reputation points are individual achievements and have nothing at all to do with co-ops and requiring they be earned does not and will not result in a more cooperative effort among players, more than once I have been pitted against my fellow co-op members. Therefore the simplest solution is to remove this requirement from that project. No this will not solve all of the problems with missions but it will solve one that causes division in co-ops.

    2. Change game play to make it so that there is a more even use of gold and game $, so that varying levels of gold spent can still make game interesting and productive.
    It's not a matter of whether or not the game can be played without gold, it's a matter of every facet of the game appears to be designed to 'persuade' the player to buy gold. Face it, there are those who can afford to buy gold and those who can't, GGS isn't going to persuade those who can't afford to buy gold to suddenly buy gold no matter how many gold draining schemes they hatch.

    3. Fix co-op research and projects so that it is not impossible to accomplish things with only game $$.
    Subsidies (Level 2) requires 20,000 gold. That's level 2 not level 10 so indeed it affects low level co-ops as well.

    4. Allow partial contributions of collectibles.
    Not planned for in the near future, huh? That's no surprise since a great deal of gold that I've spent in my co-op has gone to purchasing collectibles. Bad news for GGS though, I'm not going to do that again no matter how cheap they make it, it's the principle of the matter. If it is indeed a cooperative then we should be able to pool what we have. I can and do donate money and gold to my co-op in any quantity I choose so there is no logical reason I shouldn't be able to do that with collectibles as well.

    5. Stop with the hidden nonsense with calculations that makes later contributions less valuable (charity mission).
    No matter how GGS tries to spin it or how they tracked the points that scheme was NOT for charity! It was a lie to call it such, it was in fact a scheme devised as a means of encouraging players to spend real money on virtual gold. That was blatantly obvious when the girl who trades cash for gold showed up right after the charity drive began. And if sniping the win is such a bad thing why don't they do something about that in the Missions?

    6. Do something about the water tower change, such as put the prices back to where they were, or allow anyone who had a tower prior to the price change, stay with the original prices.
    Vanity items? Really?--and here i thought they gave me a worthwhile benefit, that's why I spent so much gold upgrading them, but if they're just vanity items then GGS is definitely charging far too much for the upgrades. In all seriousness though, you can shear a sheep many times but you can only skin it once, and I feel like I've been skinned.


    Anyway, thanks for replying Latten, now we at least know a moderator is aware of our complaints and taking an interest in them.
  • Fred12343Fred12343 Posts: 20
    edited 04.03.2013
    Hi Latten,

    Thank you for the thorough reply.

    I think you might be missing an underlying tone that I and many others are feeling and are reacting strongly about. The tone/theme that is becoming horribly apparent is the "bait and switch" that GGS is using throughout the game.

    Bait: get started on things, get hooked, spend a little gold, advance, then ... wait a minute ... the switch happens and now things get very expensive.

    Your reply indicates that this is intentional. GGS doesn't really care what people think as long as they continue to spend money. This petition and the comments indicate that some of your long-time supporters are done. We no longer see an entertainment value that justifies the expense and we will no longer spend money to be treated poorly.

    Everything that has come out recently, and all of the responses we've seen, are intended to get more gold spent without providing anything in return that makes the cost worthwhile. The game play has not improved - it has become different and more expensive. Nothing new has been done to increase teamwork with co-operatives. Nothing new has been done with missions to make them more accessible and more competitive for all ranks. The charity drive is a joke, and the water tower bait-n-switch is appalling.

    About the water tower (yet again). Many many people had a water tower that was not maxed out prior to the price change. Many of these people were budgeting gold for the next upgrade. Suddenly one day the cost to upgrade was switched. This is really bad and you pissed off *everyone* in that situation.

    You refer to the charity drive as a linear progression. This is incorrect. A linear progression is a straight line. In the charity drive, greater donations of game $$ give you fewer points per game $. This is either a linear regression, or a non-linear regression (I don't have the time or desire to calculate each point value to determine if the regression is straight or stepped (linear or non-linear)). Why does this make people so angry? It is a hidden calculation that is not explained at the onset - yet another bait and switch.

    You (GGS) have the beginnings of a great game. You're building a large following. Many people are willing to spend some real money because the entertainment value of this game is positive.

    You (GGS) have done nothing to encourage repeated spending by improving game play and rewarding your steady customers. You hide game functions and calculations, you switch things out without notice (the forum notice for the water tower change is not a public notice), and you build the feeling that the only way to continue playing, without extreme boredom, is to spend exponentially more real money than you have previously.

    Our promise to stop spending money is not the ranting of a bunch of spoiled kids. We are your biggest supporters. We care so much about this game that we are pleading with you to do things to keep us on board. It would be quite simple to just leave. We don't want to leave. We want a better game. Why aren't you and GGS doing things to find out how you can make the game better? Why aren't you finding more ways for people to spend within their budget? Why aren't you making the game functions transparent so that we're not unpleasantly surprised every time we purchase something new, start a mission, go up a rank in project levels, etc?
  • monica79538monica79538 Posts: 1,932
    edited 04.03.2013
    PURE desperation is a gold sale after all that has been said and done.
    Latten you gave a long detailed post, but not really about what we wanted answered.

    I will never buy gold if this continues.
  • ShawnPaw1003ShawnPaw1003 Posts: 6
    edited 04.03.2013
    Signed---i will not buy more gold unless these issues are resolved. We need to see some sign of a change because quite frankly, i feel like I am giving my money away to people that dont even value our opinions
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 0
    edited 04.03.2013
    Welcome to the enlightend world of "free" games... Wake up people, the are NO FREE games. NOTHING man-made is for free, grow up... People spend time to make and update these "free" games, that cost money, it has to be paid from something, not thin air. Stop complaining and play, or go find some other hobby.
  • satinurlapsatinurlap Posts: 14
    edited 04.03.2013
    Well put fred!

    Forgive me if I'm wrong but it appears from Latten's response to your post that us players either need to 'put up or shut up' as nothing that really frustrates us about the current game structure is actually going to get changed. Dissenting comments here in these forums are perceived as rabble rousing and I get the distinct impression that it is far from welcome. So much for free speech eh?

    The main issue for me was that the coop collectables situation would at least be addressed to reflect the true nature of team cooperation, by letting us all contribute to the totals needed, I still do not understand why the developers find this so difficult to change, as it would be a fantastic improvement within the coops, but nope!

    And as for buying premium 'vanity items', well they are totally off my shopping list from now on, as we've been reminded and assured here they're not a necessary requisite to play the game, nor indeed is purchasing gold in fact.
    So that settled for me, time to stop being a sucker, and stop lining someone else's pockets.
    We are encouraged within these forums to tell the developers what we think about how they could improve the game and that our opinions matter, but only if it does not rock the boat....
    Anyone got a life raft?....
  • ezio auditore3ezio auditore3 Posts: 2,399
    edited 04.03.2013
    Well,I've never bought gold (I plan to but the cheapest one as a gift if I do we'll in my exams) but I'll still sign up because of the collectibles p.s we know you're trying latten :):):):):):):):):):) but the fact of the matter is that in this case you need to shout to be heard
This discussion has been closed.