Dear GA,
Dear Chadj,
Dear Khamos,
Dear Friends Green and OJ,

I'm Marcomec and I would try to contribute in a positive, proactive and constructively manner in the situation that has arisen. I do it because I still believe that SC (potentially a great game), the whole community and the situation so require.
Surely we all have a legitimate point of view.

Surely the GA, as clearly stated in the TOS, may at any time terminate an account and for no reason too, and this is well described. But as we all know GA is or should be a company interested in profits.
(Profit is intended as return which allows the expansion and survival of a company in the long run)


Marcomec
- Active since the campaign of "Rustling of Change"
- Energy accumulated approximately 1.4M
- Realms: Trecate (12,080 pots and Vit +50), Romentino (550 pots and Vit +40), 24 other realms
- BAN with the following text appeared on the top of forum: "You're banned: exploitative Behavior / Location Abuse (5/24/2012 1:28 am - 11 pm 05.23.2050)"
The second date indicated 2050 (yes! 2050), is related to the length of my ban or on the date of offense??
In the first case you are wrong by the FAQ: "All accounts closed for cheating, as a result of exploitative behavior, or due to an external application or extension designed to manipulate gameplay, will remain indefinitely closed."
In the second case I would not have words, I URGES AN EXPLANATION!
- To date no notification of the ban by email, or at least I have not seen between 50-100 mail arrived, trashed or spam I receive daily. It seems strange because I always received regular notifications and all notifications are fleggate.
- To date I have not received any activation email (on personal email, that upon which is backed Marcomec) for the new account that I created ---- MARCO1 - lvl 9, probably even that mail is banned; I indicated my personal email I use for my company and .... are online and ready to post.

Not being able to post for a while into the forum I had much time to "feel the situation" and evaluate the many points of view expressed by the community.

1) Currently I do not know exactly why I was banned and cause the lack of communication and explanation by the GA I doubt that I'll never know. This generates a sense of fear and uncertainty in me and throughout the community that thinks: "it can happen to me".

Personally I have never used external app, and I think I have never used tricks.
Here come the first problems of defining the rules of what is legit or not.

- "An exploit in Shadow Cities is defined by the use of a bug, by a player, Allowing for an advantage over others in a Manner not Intended by the game's design".
Unfortunately we do not know and do not have a clear definition of "bug" and "allowing ... in a Manner not Intended by the game's design". For example, this does not exclude that GA leaves intact a bug because GA wants the players to use.
As you also said : "If you truly aren't certain, it's probably best not to engage in the questionable activity until clearer definitions are made regarding the specific activity"
OK but ...
Where are these definitions?
Where is a complete list about?
How can I know, I that I'm not the GA, know what GA thinks and intend about the game design if the same GA does not say?

2) Ban and general mode of treatment of customers

Given what was said in the previous step, and repeated requests for clarification and complaints in the community without clear response, I wonder what will be the actions of the GA about.

I would expect more communication and information in order to clear the field from misunderstandings and misconceptions.
Personally I would have expected a notification or a "call" and a clear explanation of my mistakes if I made mistakes. This so we and I can fix. It should be the normal behavior of people with common sense, but not so obviously in our case.

Not to mention that GA assure that the method of detection of offenses seems to be perfect. I apologize, but for the definition the absolute perfection does not exist. If we then consider the infinite series of bugs and crashes and loops, many doubts assail the community.

3) The current situation
As we all are seeing the current situation is full chaos.
A good part of the community do not play in protest, the other plays very little and bad, all this resulting in tensions between the two factions and between players and GA. The GA does not intervene or does not want to intervene.

Communicating is the key
For the GA means understanding the needs of the community and solve them (if the GA considers it worthwhile), means for the community to start to have again trust in GA.
We are all at a very critical point: the GA may lose a part of the community and its business (if not worse), the community risks losing a very beautiful game.

A society that succeeds in creating a serious relationship, constructive and satisfactory for its customers will have happy customers and will implement its business quickly and effortlessly. GA, the community is giving strong signals and important issues ... you can only see in three ways: problems, void, or growth opportunities.

WE MUST ACT NOW!


This is my message, and as I wrote before, wants to be an exhortation to do our best to continue to have fun together respecting each other.
Hugs to all

Marco
Player: Marcomec now Marco1

Marco,
Thanks for thoughtfully sharing. I hope GA shows you and all players more respect (or at least some respect) and transparently provides an explanation for their specific actions against you, and against the community.
The Kafkaesque punishment of players (for using GAs wonky code) is a ludicrous but unfortunate reality. How can anyone know they are breaking the law when that law is written no-where? This is a game, not an existential lesson in absurdity. Oh wait, it is an absurd lesson...

Ty all

yes Anvar this is the point
the community, the entire community deserve a better game experience

Good post, Marco.

I take it that you have sent email to playersupport@shadowcities.com?

Give them a few days to answer. It's weekend and they are off work most likely. And even after that they'll have a huge mess in their hands to review and clean up before they decide how to proceed. To be honest, I think this whole protest/boycott thing is only making things more complicated.

I hope you get things sorted out!

Yes lazarus
I've sent two mails about

Like i said i just want to know
I Hope that all of us Stay calm and i Hope that GA clarify a lot of things asked by all the community

👍😄🇮🇹

I was worried about you Marcomec! Are you on facebook? If so please send me a friend request? I completely agree with your post. Thank you for your words.

Ty Snog
I try to send you a fb friend req
But i'm pratically not present on fb

The community and I, all of us, are worried about rules
The point is : we dont know what is legit or not, there is no clear rules .. We want Comunication

Why we have to pay for things not clear or defined ??
Why the entire community is under this chaos??

Bravo Marco