Making headlines!

So I decided to start a new thread since that seems the cool thing to do. So it was suggested to me that we should take this to the media and then a couple hours ago a news story broke (not found by me) here is the link

http://venturebeat.com/2012/08/14/russias-game-insight-faces-a-fan-revolt-in-mystery-manor-ipad-game/

I just found a second news article about game insight where they say "User experience is the basis of your future revenue," Trushkina explained, why Game Insight has taken two years and had around 100 developers working on the title... Yet while Game Insight says it's seeing "amazing numbers" from the closed beta, it's still unsure whether the game will perform globally at the level it hopes. Retention rates are unbelievable. The active user base is amazing. But these games are very expensive. We could have made 10 casual games for this budget," Trushkina said.
Here is the link
http://www.pocketgamer.biz/r/PG.Biz/Game+Insight+news/news.asp?c=44082

So then I do research and can find no evidence of a gaming strike ever before! So I took it upon myself as one of your elected representative to spread this story to other news sources. So far I have emailed NBC and a website dedicated to social gaming news insidesocialgames.com. I have also sent it to g4tv.com. I sent it to abc and they sent a canned response to mail them a 1 page letter blah blah blah. Anyone else have any ideas on who to send it to? I put my email to them at the bottom. The shorter the better because they are more likely to read it.

There is a major strike against a gaming company (game insight) for unfair game practices in their game Mystery Manor (a top grossing iPad/Facebook/android app). This has never happened before. It is actually becoming a big deal and apple is putting pressure on them because of major drop in ratings (5 stars down to 2 on current update which the only positive reviews are from new players earning extra rewards for a 5 star rating) and rankings on appdata.com. They are concerned so they started issuing random statements on their facebook page. Facebook.com/mmanorhd I am including a link to an article explaining it more in detail. Please feel free to contact me or see mmuff.com for more details.
Thanks,
Kristi Uenishi

http://venturebeat.com/2012/08/14/russias-game-insight-faces-a-fan-revolt-in-mystery-manor-ipad-game

IGN is a big gaming community

Brad5868 wrote:IGN is a big gaming community

Ok, it has been sent to ign thanks

No wonder they've been deleting Facebook posts like crazy! GDC (Game Developers Conference) Europe is now ongoing in Germany (Aug 13 to 15) and GameInsight's VP was one of the speakers at a session where they used Mystery Manor as a case study. Not a good time to have bad press, lower app ratings, and a Facebook page full of unhappy players!

Hats off, Kristi! The strike was perfectly timed!

I was one of the people that reached out to venture beat, and have spent tonight researching other media outlets that might be interested in this. Game Insight has a media page where they list all stories on their company and games. I can't post the link because I am a new member, but if you google Game Insight, you can go directly to the News link and then to the Publications tab.

Below is the letter that I sent to Gamezebo this evening:

Dear Mr. Hildebrand,

Earlier this year, you wrote a story regarding the Russian gaming company, Game Insight. I am writing to you to make you aware of a developing issue with this company that has already, and will continue to affect their revenue.

Over the past few days, Game Insight has found themselves knee deep in a customer revolt. Their flagship game, Mystery Manor: Hidden Adventure is at the heart of this melee. Their rating in the Apple app store has plummeted from five to two stars, with hundreds of negative reviews pouring in. Last week, Mystery Manor was the second highest grossing app on iTunes, but due to a global player boycott, they have fallen to 12th, and will continue to fall as more players join this effort.

It takes a lot to get players from all walks of life so enraged, to not just delete an app but make a concerted effort to vocalize their displeasure. Game Insight has been incredibly unprofessional with their users, providing a game fraught with bugs, no customer service, refusal to refund purchases, and frequent updates that make the game nearly impossible to play without paying vast amounts of money (although the game is advertised to their users as absolutely free).

Most recently, GI asked players to post feedback on their Facebook page, but as fans began to do so, they deleted and banned any poster who expressed any opinion that was in any way negative. This resulted (and continues to result) in thousands of posts erased over the past three days. With players unable to vent their frustrations to GI support and unable to do so on their Facebook page, they have begun seeking alternative ways to express their displeasure.

Although GI is now releasing statements to suggest they are working on these issues, these issues did not develop overnight - many months of being ignored was the motivator for GI customers - and even now, GI continues to ignore and ban their players.

I believe that this is a story worthy of your attention. I encourage you to read the reviews from players in the Apple app store and visit the links below (the Mystery Manor Facebook page, Mystery Manor Unofficial Fan Forum and Mystery Manor proboards).

(in my letter, I included these links but can't do that here because new members cannot include links in their posts)

These pages will help you to understand the depth of customer displeasure with this company.

Sincerely,

Isabella Beckett


I encourage EVERYONE to blitz these media outlets with our info.

That's great Isabella!

I also sent off a heads-up note to Gamezebo's editor too!

Just sent the same letter to the editor at PocketGamer.biz with one edit....... Mystery Manor has not dropped to 14th on the list of top grossing apps.

You are all amazing! That letter is amazing Isabella! Please also send it to the sources I listed. More than one email might make more of an impact. Pianofingers thank you so much for the help you have been able to provide! I also want to point out that the date was Lorias71 idea. I only told her we should strike and told her where all us cool kids hang out. She took the inititive to set a date and started a thread. Thank you everyone for all your time and help!

Kristi....you legend!!

If anyone's on twitter (foreign language to me), lets start sending it to anyone and everyone in gaming!!

And Isabella, GI are knee deep in a revolution? Let's go for neck deep !!

Ah hey guys, goooood work! I just got home and came here first to see what's going on, did you see my post about getting a refund? Apple confirm the charges I've spent on diamonds will be refunded and I guess anyone else writing to them in displeasure regarding mm will benefit too, give me five mins and I'll find the email address of a lady called Marisa who helped me, however she has not responded thus far regarding my further questions, in fact all she did was issue a refund without me asking and negated to answer a damn thing lol. But I'll take that for starters. If enough people ask for their money back it'll hit gi harder and apple seem to confirm that even though my purchases have been well spread over my game life as it were, that it's too easy to accidentally purchase these within the game in error.
I've not been over to face book yet with this and if anyone here in uk has any access to draw this to tv news like channel four who are the least lefty righty type of news here, glad to show unbiased and interesting stuff away from political only limits, get onto them, I've struggled to find anywhere to contact them as I don't tweet and have been dealing with a sick granny all wk.
I shall come back with Marisa email address for anyone wantingtomtake this direct to apple complaints rather than just gi.

Oh ps, read the article linked and the woman who wrote comment at bottom, eg the only comment, has been the only one I noticed on Facebook to tell us all to stop picking holes and everyone suggested to speak in the Skype was in her mind not suitable, I wonder if she is an employee or family member of gi as she is very defensive and I wonder how just one person who apparently has played for a short time, if she isn't unhappy like we are is othering to be the only person pitching in on that article to say ask gi and they will correct you. Just a thought, although I fess up I'm a detective drama and criminal psychology fan and constantly suspicious lol

Marisa was emailing from

iTunesStoreSupport@apple.com not sure if that will reach her but all my replies were from her direct on that email address

Another friend recommends "Games radar" as another site to reach out to. It is supposed to be a huge gaming community.

Hope this helps the cause!

Thanks for coming up with this idea! You ROCK! This should really get GI's attention.

Such a good idea to reach out to the gaming communities and media! You've done a lot of work for us and I for one really appreciate it. Thanks to everyone else for you efforts as well.

Bells wrote:Another friend recommends "Games radar" as another site to reach out to. It is supposed to be a huge gaming community.

Hope this helps the cause!

Ok I wrote to them too.

So so welcome, my brain has been a hive of activity since this furore (lovvvvve that word lol) started and I'm buzzin baby to find a way to show the bullies that what they think are little people and individual players are really a solid unit and tight knit community who can and will exterminate at will....oh wait no that's a film lol but we will not be moved....to marginally quote a Margaret thatcher line 'these gamers are not for turning'!! We will, we will, rock them!

I posted the link to the venturebeat article to the gamer news section of reddit.com. Can everyone please go there and upvote it so it will show up to more people (once it is approved I will let you know). I titled it Gamers on strike! and making a difference. Thanks everyone!

Was just about to suggest reddit but you beat me to it! great letter, Isabella!

Just found this!
http://blog.games.com/2012/08/15/mystery-manor-ipad-boycott-revolt/

Thanks guys, I don't deserve the credit on this! This was suggested to me by another friend who is not a member of mmuff. She deserves the credit, will have to get her to join our community.

Glad the suggestion helped though!

Here is a link to the 3rd article written. Thank you Issabella for finding it!
http://www.gamepolitics.com/2012/08/15/mystery-manor-fire

This story has now been picked up by Game Politics. If you read the stories though, you will notice that Game Insight has re-framed our argument to suit their purposes. Therefore, I added a few things to my letter and sent it off to Business Insider, who posted a story about another GI game earlier this week. I have bolded the revised section of my letter, which states our actual concern (it was not bolded in the letter that was sent):

Dear Mr. Buffa,

Earlier this week, you wrote a story regarding the Russian gaming company, Game Insight. I am writing to you to make you aware of a developing issue with this company that has already, and will continue to affect their revenue.

Over the past few days, Game Insight has found themselves knee deep in a customer revolt. Their flagship game, Mystery Manor: Hidden Adventure, is at the heart of this melee. Their rating in the Apple app store has plummeted from five to two stars, with hundreds of negative reviews pouring in. Last week, Mystery Manor was the second highest grossing app on iTunes, but due to a global player boycott, they have fallen to 24th, and will continue to fall as more players join this effort.

It takes a lot to get players from all walks of life so enraged, to not just delete an app but make a concerted effort to vocalize their displeasure. Game Insight has been incredibly unprofessional with their users, providing a completey unstable gaming platform fraught with bugs, no customer service, refusal to refund purchases, and frequent updates that make the game nearly impossible to play without paying vast amounts of money (although the game is advertised to their users as absolutely free). Although categorized as a social networking game, last week Game Insight removed the ability for players to add friends to their game, blaming Apple for this change. Deletion of this key element of game play, along with a continued unstable platform, is what finally set off this firestorm.

Most recently, GI asked players to post feedback on their Facebook page, but as fans began to do so, they deleted and banned any poster who expressed any opinion that was in any way negative. This resulted (and continues to result) in thousands of posts erased over the past three days, and a similar number of paying customers banned from posting. With players unable to vent their frustrations to GI support and unable to do so on their Facebook page, they have begun seeking alternative ways to express their displeasure.

Although GI is now releasing statements to suggest they are working on these issues, these issues did not develop overnight and even now, GI continues to ignore and ban their players. Additionally, as media sources have begun to pick up this story, GI has attempted to twist the central argument of its customers. Below, I have included links to these publications:

(all three links were included in letter)

I believe that this is a story also worthy of your attention, especially since the actual issue is being reported inaccurately. Players are not upset over the removal of a promotion. They are upset over the removal of a social facility (being able to add friend codes, which resulted in small, in-app currency bonuses per added friend). Game Insight has been dishonest with both their customers and the media in framing this discussion. The Apple rule for developers does not apply here because players were not making purchases - i.e. Game Insight was not circumventing Apple for profits. This is one of many moves that Game Insight has made to close the door on free game play. This is their right if they choose, but they are being incredibly dishonest in their approach. I encourage you to read the reviews from players in the Apple app store and visit the links below (the Mystery Manor Facebook page, Mystery Manor Unofficial Fan Forum and Mystery Manor proboards).

(links included in letter)

These pages will help you to understand the true issue at hand, as well as how this company has chosen to handle it.

Warm Regards,

Isabella Beckett

ok I wrote to gamesutra who wrote an article about the Game Developement Conference featuring Game Insight speaking about mystery manor. I used a version of Issabella's beautifully written letter

Just sent letter to editor in chief at gamasutra as well.

If anyone else would like to send, his name is Kris Graft (yes, I double checked to make sure he is male) and his emailis news (at symbol) gamasutra.com (NOT gamesutra) - sorry everyone, still not allowed to post links lol.

In the subject line, write "News for Gamasutra"

This would be a good one to send to so please flood them

I sent emails too