Statement GPC

Grepolis Player Council, second term.


End of may 2018 the Council members for the second term were selected and in June most of the members where pressent on the Beta forum and on Discord.

We all had to agree to the Code of Conduct, also with the terms of the NDA, so in this statement you will not find anything that should not be public at this moment.

Why this statement made by the GPC, second term, we will explane to you, the players.

The purpose of the GPC is to forward ideas and suggestions from all the markets that are reprecent by chosen players to Innogames and to be a additional Feedback Channel for Inno.
Also come with ideas/suggestions to improve the game and advice Inno about changes or improvements.
Common goal is to improve the game so that players enjoy it.

The tools for the GPC are an section on the Beta-forum where the GPC can put the ideas/suggestions from their markets.
Confrence call with Inno staff, meaning the LCM and a member of the development team.
Q and A on the forum with both.
The GPC have their own Discord channel to debat the ideas or brainstorm over big issues linkt to the game and everything that belongs with it.


What is the status at this moment regarding the GPC.


1. No commitment from Inno staff

2. No responce on questions, suggestions or ideas for the last three months

3. Ignoring the GPC by bringing big chances to the game without even asking for advice

4. Not keeping promisses

5. No communication about this term, when it ends, is it already ended, will there be a next term

6. Several members left the GPC and/or the game due to point 1 – 5


Without any possiblity to communicate with Inno staff since november 2018 and also no updates on the Devblogs since september 2018 gives us great concern about the future of the GPC and the voice of players in general.

Grepolis Player Council
 
After my own experiences with a similar project years ago (I was a member of the Beta Focus Group which was abandoned by Grepolis staff only three months after it had come into existence, without a word of explanation, in fact without a word at all) I was very sceptical when former Lead Community Manager Naranya launched the GPC in 2017. However, Naranya was very persuasive, pleading that we should give InnoGames a chance to win back the lost trust - and we did, reluctantly. She not only launched and mentored the GPC project, she also brought the DevBlog back to regular bi-weekly community updates and encouraged the game designer to present new concepts and ideas there, in order to get valuable feedback prior to their realization and implementation. It is no coincidence that we have experienced some of the most ill-advised changes to the game since, featuring the Casual concept with its almost ridiculous design flaws, and the new changes to the WW end-game that make the start of the WW era subject to manifold possibilties of players´ manipulations.

All of the trust regained by Naranya/Stefanie Schaumburg was lost after the new Lead Communiy Manager took office last year, and this time for good, I guess. Wherever I read and write and listen to other players, not only to the GPC members but all players interested in communication with InnoGames and the Grepolis team, the disappointment regarding Anna Sieprawska´s behaviour and her lack of common decency (manifesting itself in the wordless abandoning of the GPC, the DevBlog and the blocking of all communication with and information towards the communities and their representatives) hovers like a omnipresent dark cloud in all conversations. The players feel betrayed and let down, they feel that their cooperation, their enthusiasm for the game and their experience do not count at all - or not enough to invest at least some minutes per day or week into any interaction with them. Anna Sieprawska last logged in here on November 22, 2018 - and that means she did not even bother to read what the Inner Council members might have asked or proposed since then, and that´s not only a slap in the face of the GPC members but in the face of all players interested in the game´s development. The third GPC term is overdue, but nobody has any hope left that it will happen.

However, it´s not only the LCM who is to blame, but also her supervisors who quite obviously also don´t give a damn. The company is prepared to spend lots of money each year for all kinds of marketing efforts, but ignores the cheapest and most effective way to tie committed regular players and their communities to the game/the company or to even pretend that their opinions and feedback matter. Why?
 

Geisti

Griffin
Because you are number 1 in the market and can feel like God in France!
You can then do what you want, the main thing is to generate enough sales so that you can satisfy the shareholders. Turnover is more important than keeping players in the game who have been faithful to the company for 6 or more years. Because you rather chase away the old players through a continuous loop of events. There is no one left who can offer the House of Innogames contraindications. The opinion of the players are unimportant, the only thing that counts is the creditworthiness of the players. Event revenues have been more important, I could count on an example where the opinion of the players is taken first, but in house on Innogames I can also talk to the wall right away.

Arci
This is no hate for Innogames, it has already become frustration in between. You always say our opinion is so important, but still you let the GPC starve on the long arm. I conclude that you do not care about the opinion (feedback) of the players. I do not advertise to my friends for this game! Before I lose all my friends, I prefer to advertise for you. I always find an exciting computer game, but you only find true friends once in a lifetime.

Faithfully
Geisti
 
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DeletedUser2458

Guest
Since the Grepolis United project has been launched it's seemed it could get better and better. And it really did. However, not anymore. Current LCM simply destroyed everything what this project brought. Communication between players and Inno is gone. The community is dead and hopeless. It's always sad to see TV ads for the game which probably doesn't worth any attention by CM department. It needs somebody fresh who would estabilish and mantain any communication with players & look into the local teams as well because they are dead too excluding the biggest markets.

Maybe any contact to Dominika Borgosz would be fine?
 
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Arci

Community Manager
Grepolis Team
Thanks @Bullspirit Dancer for sharing this statement from the GPC members.

For the others, please, keep in mind that every discussion here is supposed to be constructive. What I can read on this thread instead is mostly hate or finger pointing and neither of them really seems a constructive path to follow.

There's an official statement from InnoGames on the GPC forum that clarifies the situation, I think a GPC member will share it soon with the community.
 
For the others, please, keep in mind that every discussion here is supposed to be constructive. What I can read on this thread instead is mostly hate or finger pointing and neither of them really seems a constructive path to follow.

We have found the "constructive path" blocked for far too long now, without any articles or discussions in the DevBlog prior to changes, and with the GPC members stating month after month that they have neither any news to share nor any contact with InnoGames staff. That´s not "hate" and "finger pointing", that´s nothing but undeniable facts. We have been asking for a DevBlog revival or any comment regarding the future of the DevBlog for the last six months, and I am quite sure that the German CoMa has been forwarding our feedback - but there was no reaction at all.

It is not our fault that the facts and the emotions caused by those facts are not flattering for the company and its officials. Constructive behaviour is not an unilateral duty of users and customers - the company is setting the tone.
 
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buffysara

Athena
Ich habe einen konstruktiven Vorschlag:
Ich bin der Meinung das die LCM schnellst möglich ausgetauscht werden muss. Mit ihr ist keine vertrauensvolle Zusammenarbeit mehr möglich.

I have a constructive suggestion:
I think the LCM needs to be replaced as soon as possible. With her no trusting cooperation is possible anymore.
 

DeletedUser4351

Guest
Better late than never, Anna, the Lead Community Manager of Grepolis posted this message today on the Inner Council forum section, I'm sure the still active GPC members will post and comment it for their home markets sooner or later, so please be patient, there's a lot to process right now... but no worries, for GPC members it will only take a few hours or days, not 3 months :)

Dear Grepolis Player Council Members,

From the bottom of my heart – thank you for all your messages and suggestions posted in this section of beta forum. I am aware, that our cooperation did not always work how you would wish for it and I would like to apologize for that. We did, however, benefit greatly from your help and based some important decisions on your feedback, so we are very grateful for all your work and passion.

It is unfortunately clear to us now, that Grepolis Player Council, even though a great project, requires way too much time and effort on our side. Currently we do not have time and will not be able to continue the project in the way it existed so far. It also seems that we did not manage to explain the role of the GPC well enough, as there have been many misunderstandings on this topic. Grepolis Player Council was intended to be a channel for feedback and gathering new ideas from all the communities, which was not always the main discussion focus. But we did get some great input from your side for which we are grateful.

What will happen next?

We would like to ensure you that after very busy 2018 (new edition of Grepolympia, new endgame, Casual Worlds) we are working hard on bringing even more cool new features to the game but we also plan to continue realizing community wishes. So please, do not worry - we will continue asking our players for feedback and implementing changes that will improve Grepolis. So with this last message I would like to mention list of ideas you created at the beginning of 2nd term. We looked through it and would like to comment on a few top ideas (hidden in a spoiler). We will keep the whole list for the future as it includes some nice suggestions - thank you for them!
  • ‘A search function in the PM's with which you can search for conversations per player’ – we will look into it and implement the feature if technically possible.
  • ‘Exclude new worlds from events’ – we will not exclude new worlds from events. We understand that this comes from players believing that events influence the worlds and we would rather work on making sure the events are well-balanced then disable them on the new worlds.
  • ‘Search option for reports.’ – unfortunately impossible due to technical limitations. It would require re-doing the whole report system from a scratch, which would be a massive undertaking.
  • ‘Disable morale once the world becomes eligible for world wonders’ – we consider it as something mostly top alliances and experienced players would benefit from and morale are there to protect weaker players. This would be too big of a change to the current system and strategies our players know and use for years.
  • ‘Making sieges visible on the commands overview’ – Good idea. We hope we can make some improvements there.
  • ‘Runtime (travel time) check on App / Mobile.’ – We would like to make a change that would allow players to choose the number of units they want to send even if they don't own the units (currently not possible on mobile, but possible on browser).
  • 'Integrate administrator overview for starting city festivals on App / Mobile.’ – We will look into it and would like to bring a simplified version of the browser feature to mobile.
  • ‘Show the number of incoming attacks on App / Mobile.’ – we will into it and would like to implement something similar.
  • ‘Search a city by typing its name on App / Mobile. (Some players find it difficult to find a city if they got a lot, for example 150)’ – we would like to bring it to the app.
  • ‘Tutorial Overview: The current Turtorial does not achieve the desired goal. It should serve to show beginners the functions and the meaning of the game.’ – we will be working to make small changes to tutorial. We do not plan currently reworking the whole system.
  • ‘Make it possible that a player can change the title of own topic on forum ingame.’ – good idea, we would like to add it to the game,

Grepolis community is great, we very much enjoy working with our players and are happy to see their passion. That's why we are grateful for every suggestion and every opinion we read on the forums. Unfortunately, there is one last thing we always need to keep in mind – there are hundreds of ideas and small things we would like to change in Grepolis. But we simply do not have time to do all of them. However, that will not stop us from trying to improve Grepolis with every new game version, so please keep posting your ideas on our forums!

Feel free to share translated version of this announcement with your communities. This forum section will stay opened until next week.

Once again – thank you very much for your help and you will most certainly hear from us again!

Best,

Anna
 

DeletedUser4186

Guest
her comment shows us all one thing:

what we are worth in Her (inno?) eyes.

the Answer is:

NOTHING
 
By the way, this is my favorite phrase in this quote

Once again – thank you very much for your help and you will most certainly hear from us again!

Which means, it is not hopeless to believe on it ;)

Sorry, Arci there fore :(
 

Geisti

Griffin
For the others, please, keep in mind that every discussion here is supposed to be constructive. What I can read on this thread instead is mostly hate or finger pointing and neither of them really seems a constructive path to follow.

*Arci*
We have no further suggestions, because we have the impression no matter what we players write about suggestions for improvement, which you will never arrive anyway. Are just that so disappointed of you, you have always said our opinions (feedback) are important to you. Thanks to the GPC, you have given us the opportunity to get in touch more closely with you, but the Lead Communtiy Manager has managed to completely destroy the confidence Faey has rebuilt in your term of office. We have been shown as players once too often here (Beta Focus troupe, GPC - Part1, GPC - Part - 2) also our patience has limitations. Therefore, it is no wonder that many players here only get frustration, but in this state, we are not guilty players. Because we do not attract players to shoe, the cause lies solely in the communication policy of the house Innogames towards its customers (players = paying customers)

regards
Geisti
 
Thanks @Bullspirit Dancer for sharing this statement from the GPC members.

For the others, please, keep in mind that every discussion here is supposed to be constructive. What I can read on this thread instead is mostly hate or finger pointing and neither of them really seems a constructive path to follow.

There's an official statement from InnoGames on the GPC forum that clarifies the situation, I think a GPC member will share it soon with the community.


No Arci..... it is not hateful.... but the truth....... and the truth is constructive.....

I assume the post on GPC announcement still has my comments saying this is a joke that will not work......
And you were telling me off for been negative..... well here we are now and you see that the GPC members do say that this is not working... it abandoned and ignored by Inno in a very very short period.....

But how can you demand constructive feedback, when the people that provide the feedback are punished when Inno does not like it???? I have told you in om as well many times about this and thet we should not get punished for telling our opinion.... and that this is a beta world just for this.... for feedback... communication...... not for setting barriers with your clients.... but to hear and act accordingly...

And yes.... I do have a lot of things to say... but I am not as there is a great chance to get banned AGAIN because Inno does not like my sayings.......
the very same sayings that in the end Inno proves me right... but in meantime the error has been commited, and resources have been lost.....

So If you want a constructive discussion you should be prepeared to hear everything andf not just what you want (and by you I also mean Inno as you are the company official representative here).... and accept the fact that those managers in Inno office might be wrong in many points.... and listen to the players..... not just have them to "sponsor" you..... because in the end of the day..... we are in the era of the Internet where if you do nto like one game you can always find a similar style on that offers you the pleasure you seek.... and not gona bother if company X or Z ignores you because they will lose in the end of the day as you are going to "sponsor" company Y instead.....




p.s. hope will nto get banned again for telling my opinion....
 

DeletedUser4186

Guest
Gala has right

and here is the statement from inno that proof that he has right

Dear Grepolis Player Council Members,

From the bottom of my heart – thank you for all your messages and suggestions posted in this section of beta forum. I am aware, that our cooperation did not always work how you would wish for it and I would like to apologize for that. We did, however, benefit greatly from your help and based some important decisions on your feedback, so we are very grateful for all your work and passion.

It is unfortunately clear to us now, that Grepolis Player Council, even though a great project, requires way too much time and effort on our side. Currently we do not have time and will not be able to continue the project in the way it existed so far. It also seems that we did not manage to explain the role of the GPC well enough, as there have been many misunderstandings on this topic. Grepolis Player Council was intended to be a channel for feedback and gathering new ideas from all the communities, which was not always the main discussion focus. But we did get some great input from your side for which we are grateful.

What will happen next?

We would like to ensure you that after very busy 2018 (new edition of Grepolympia, new endgame, Casual Worlds) we are working hard on bringing even more cool new features to the game but we also plan to continue realizing community wishes. So please, do not worry - we will continue asking our players for feedback and implementing changes that will improve Grepolis. So with this last message I would like to mention list of ideas you created at the beginning of 2nd term. We looked through it and would like to comment on a few top ideas (hidden in a spoiler). We will keep the whole list for the future as it includes some nice suggestions - thank you for them!
  • ‘A search function in the PM's with which you can search for conversations per player’ – we will look into it and implement the feature if technically possible.
  • ‘Exclude new worlds from events’ – we will not exclude new worlds from events. We understand that this comes from players believing that events influence the worlds and we would rather work on making sure the events are well-balanced then disable them on the new worlds.
  • ‘Search option for reports.’ – unfortunately impossible due to technical limitations. It would require re-doing the whole report system from a scratch, which would be a massive undertaking.
  • ‘Disable morale once the world becomes eligible for world wonders’ – we consider it as something mostly top alliances and experienced players would benefit from and morale are there to protect weaker players. This would be too big of a change to the current system and strategies our players know and use for years.
  • ‘Making sieges visible on the commands overview’ – Good idea. We hope we can make some improvements there.
  • ‘Runtime (travel time) check on App / Mobile.’ – We would like to make a change that would allow players to choose the number of units they want to send even if they don't own the units (currently not possible on mobile, but possible on browser).
  • 'Integrate administrator overview for starting city festivals on App / Mobile.’ – We will look into it and would like to bring a simplified version of the browser feature to mobile.
  • ‘Show the number of incoming attacks on App / Mobile.’ – we will into it and would like to implement something similar.
  • ‘Search a city by typing its name on App / Mobile. (Some players find it difficult to find a city if they got a lot, for example 150)’ – we would like to bring it to the app.
  • ‘Tutorial Overview: The current Turtorial does not achieve the desired goal. It should serve to show beginners the functions and the meaning of the game.’ – we will be working to make small changes to tutorial. We do not plan currently reworking the whole system.
  • ‘Make it possible that a player can change the title of own topic on forum ingame.’ – good idea, we would like to add it to the game,

Grepolis community is great, we very much enjoy working with our players and are happy to see their passion. That's why we are grateful for every suggestion and every opinion we read on the forums. Unfortunately, there is one last thing we always need to keep in mind – there are hundreds of ideas and small things we would like to change in Grepolis. But we simply do not have time to do all of them. However, that will not stop us from trying to improve Grepolis with every new game version, so please keep posting your ideas on our forums!

Feel free to share translated version of this announcement with your communities. This forum section will stay opened until next week.

Once again – thank you very much for your help and you will most certainly hear from us again!

Best,

Anna

and after our Reaction she says

As I mentioned in my first post - we did get some great input from you guys and we are very thankful for it. But at the end we had to consider how much effort is needed to make it work and how big is the benefit of this specific form of communication.

-but what says this to us?

what was our "Job"? to collect suggestions and feedback and bring it to Inno concentrated.

thats the "specific" form of communication and is that not the same form of Communication she has with the CMs (who do exactly the same thing) with the difference that GPC was able to reach Player they don´t even play anymore or are very silent or not represented in Forum or via tickets.

If she said that was too much effort and the benefit from it was to small to keep it going it means that all feedback brought from us on normal forums and via tickets which is collected by CMs and brought to her is also too much effort and to less benefit or not?

BECAUSE ITS THE SAME THING

for us it means its not worth our time giving inno feedback because inno has no time to react to it accordingly

and thats the truth and like Gala said the truth is always constructive
 

DeletedUser3326

Guest
Customer relationship management is today the main problem in Innogames , it's their major problem , the game is not in fact , we are all able to understand it's impossible to pleasure everybody and that some changes can not be applied due to the technical basis of the game. But as said Anwepe , we are at the internet Era , lot of your customers grew , learned things , gets smarter and now some of them are able to have a good view about how works Innogames.

Again as he said , today customers can create bad buzz , bad reputation around companies even Innogames could be targeted. Furthermore because Grepolis players spend so much time in this game that create really strong feelings.

Last news confirm players opinion , we are not stupid "geek" behind their computers , some of us are really efficient , smart and productive workers IRL , we are able to judge Innogames way of management and customer experience policy.

Anwepe is right , Managers from Innogames , maybe Directors are the problem. And it's your role as CM and direct contact for customers to provide this feedback to the company. Nowadays a company that don't listen ALL the complains from his customers will be lost in the future for sure. Customer is the strength of companies , the market is ruled by offer and demand , but if there is no more demand for your services company will die.


Like others , i don't wand to provide any else feedback or things like this , like i don't want to involve anymore in politic in my country because Politics don't listen citizens , and now in France you have " Les Gilets Jaunes "...
 
https://devblog.grepolis.com/?p=2523

Can you believe it is already 2019?

I don´t comment on this. It took us half a year and finally an official letter of complaint to remind the LCM of the devblog that had existed for five years as a very important communication platform when she chose to forget about it after taking office.

We have ambitious plans for this year and you can be sure, we are not resting on our laurels. There will be new big features coming as well as many smaller improvements requested by the community.

Well, I guess it would be a very hard and uncomfortable resting place if the InnoGames team decided to rest on last year´s laurels. I hope the "new big features" will be introduced to and discussed with experienced players prior to their realization so that similar flaws can be avoided before they are implemented without prior notice.
 
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DeletedUser4186

Guest
Well, I guess it would be a very hard and uncomfortable resting place if the InnoGames team decided to rest on last year´s laurels.

my first thought was:

which laurets?^^

will be introduced to and discussed with experienced players prior to their realization so that similar flaws can be avoided before they are implemented without prior notice.

and you believe in the easter rabbit, santa claus or in Germany the "christkindl"????
 
Yes, of course I believe in the "Christkind" - I´m from Nuremberg...^^

http://www.christkindlesmarkt.de/en/

---

All joking aside, I believe it is essential to involve players in the development of new features - essential for the players, of course, but also for the company - and that´s what the neglected DevBlog is for.
 
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