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You be the judge, was I robbed???
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Dark Raven
Dark Raven
Trusted Informer

May-6-2007 17:10

When you suscribe, you can save money and start an agency... You can get the gear you want, the equipment you want, even the players you want to make it your own. If your suscribtion runs out, you can still stay there and use your equipment, your message board, and most of the perks of being in an agency.

If you save money and buy some tough gear, it's nice, it fits your detective just right. It's nice that you have invested in something good. Now if your suscribtion runs out, you still have the gear... No one comes over to you and says, sorry buddy but even though you paid for that, you can't use it anymore...

Well, I got the shock of a lifetime today. My suscribtion ran out today and I logged in as usual to go and see my message board in my appartment to see that I'm not allowed to go in as i'm not subed anymore...Now i've invested over a million dollars in my place to make it my own, unique style. It fits my detective to a tee. To make it worst, I have numerous items stored in my appartment worth a lot of money. The issue is not the resubing, as I'm planning to resub shortly but I feel that I was robbed here. I could have understood having my case file blocked like an agency but no access???

I can't help to feel like this is a double standard. It's ok if you do that with an agency but not with an appartment...I already have my answer from the Admin but frankly, i'm really disapointed in his response... I guess i could'nt keep this inside and needed to put it out there to see what the community thought.

Thanks for listening,

Raven.

Replies

Secret_Squirrel
Secret_Squirrel
Safety Officer

May-6-2007 20:06

hmmm I tend to agree guys, Agency/Apartment, what's the diff.

The only problem would be if the apartment isn't in the city you are in. Like for instance, my apt. is in London, my Agency in Shanghai. (It's a VH thing)

If your sub lapses in city other than the one your apartment is in how do you get to it anyway!? (But I suppose this happens with Agencies members too.)

Anyyyyway. Yeah lots of individuals have invested a LOT of Sleuth dollars and, just as importantly, time in their apartments. If you can access your Agency in any status you should be able to access your apartment likewise.

Sleuth Admin
Sleuth Admin
Tale Spinner

May-7-2007 01:30

We're sorry if you feel you were misled Dark Raven. I thought it was always fairly clear that apartments are considered to be premium content.

People have gotten used to staying in agencies after their subscriptions lapse, but the issue is more complicated there for two reasons:

1) Agencies have daily rent, so if you were unable to access an agency for awhile because your subscription lapsed, your agency would be in danger of disappearing, and you would never be able to access it again even if you did subscribe later.

2) Agencies affect other players. If an agency only had one director and that person's subscription lapsed, then the other members of the agency would either be booted out or left with a directorless agency.

In the case of an apartment, it's more cut and dried. Apartments have no daily upkeep cost so you can always resubscribe later to access that feature. Also, they only directly affect the owner of the apartment.

In that way, they are more akin to the other premium features: traveling, scripted mysteries, etc. Unlocking Shangri La and Cairo both represent a significant time investment for a player, however its understood that if you decide not to renew your subscription, you won't have access to those features anymore.

I think this is fairly standard for online games. Sunny plays a game called Yohoho Puzzle Pirates. She used to be a subscriber, and advanced quite a bit in the game meanwhile collecting some great gear. However, she became a more casual player and decided that it was no longer worth it for her to pay the subscription fee. She still logs in and plays for free (getting a fair amount of enjoyment for free), but now she's no longer able to use her sweet cutlass or wicked cleaver when engaging in a friendly duel. Instead, she can be seen picking fights at the local wharf with a sturdy stick.

Secret_Squirrel
Secret_Squirrel
Safety Officer

May-7-2007 02:28

Cool, thanks for the nice definitive answer Ben :)

biggie528
biggie528
Lucky Stiff

May-7-2007 04:45

Yohoho Puzzle Pirates? So THATS what shes doing when she's not paying attention in chat, I knew the work thing was crap....suhhweeeeet Sunny :)

So as long as Dark Raven resubs then he can have access to his apartment and items again, if I'm understanding correctly?

Its an annoying thing, but as long as he doesn't lose anything, I guess that's understandable.

sunny
sunny
Lady of Shadows

May-7-2007 11:35

I can still kick ass with a stick.

R Anstett
R Anstett

May-7-2007 12:28

Perhaps an email the week before the subscription runs out?

Something along the lines of:

"Please be aware your subscription is about to expire. You will loose all access to premimum content such as Traveling, Case Files, Apartments and the many other enchancements that subscribing brings you.

We hope you renew soon."

Lady Ruby Caplan
Lady Ruby Caplan
Well-Connected

May-7-2007 12:32

My two cents:

There are a lot of free games out there with just us much if not more to offer than Sleuth.

There are a lot of games out there that are free that are as good as, or better than Sleuth AND have premium content that you can subscribe and/or pay a donation for that is not taken away from you -because you paid for it.

I think this encourages me not to resub rather than to continue subbing. In fact, due to the repetiveness and things like this, I will not be resubbing and will not be recommend anyone else too.
I've spent more than 7 years in the service industry and was always told, "It's the customers that pay your wages."

In saying all that, yes the subs are reasonable but once you have subbed as long as someone as Dark Raven, you deserve some credit and recognition.

I think it stinks quite frankly.


Ms Helen
Ms Helen
Con Artist

May-7-2007 13:29

Ran you do get an e-mail before your sub runs out. I get one every time my subscription is up for renewal.

Sleuth Admin
Sleuth Admin
Tale Spinner

May-7-2007 15:46

Ran,

Ms Helen Corning is right, you get an email the day before your subscription lapses. I suppose it makes sense to warn a little earlier than that so people can plan ahead. We try not to bug people by email too much, so we're kind of conservative in terms how/when we notify by email.


LCR,

We try to be as accommodating to unsubscribed people as possible, because we want a lot of people to enjoy the game. We essentially make no wages from Sleuth right now. It's really just covering its own expenses.

It does make me sad that we put in all of this work and emotion into this game, yet some people who play the game insult us and the product and our efforts to at least ensure that Sleuth can remain a viable project. I really hate fighting with people that I care about like this.

Our primary responsibility lies with our paying subscribers. We agree to offer them good service and a fun experience through the length of their subscription. If we could afford to be more generous to unsubscribed players, we would.


Secret_Squirrel
Secret_Squirrel
Safety Officer

May-7-2007 17:41

^ well that sucks! Not What Ben has said, but that he had to say it, and feel it.

All the good, truly rewarding, joyful things [and they are too numerous to mention] that Sleuth has given me will *always* outweigh the minor petty things that annoy me.

I would hope I'm not in the minority.

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