[LCN] Update Regarding the Referral and Rewards Program

well at least you acknowledge that it was said, which was the point I was trying to make to that person, yes I am aware of how zynga games glitch, in Pirates of the caribbean we had the WSOD, ( white screen of death ) for a few years and we played it took hurs to do something that should have taken minutes,till zynga pulled the plug but that game was also hacked so much , it was beyond being saved. But we loved our game, when I came to kano I had 500 clan immediately ,cause so many came here and that was back in may of 2010, but the few scripts in that game were only given to the select few, not that I would have used it, I was offered at one time and said no thanks.

 

I am former mw, and I am convinced that Zynga's ignoring scripts and letting them fly ruined mw. To find an game where so many players believe in a script free game makes me happy to be here, and I sure hope it stays that way.

 

While I believe that the devs here are excellent developers, I have begun to realize that they are terrible business people. One does not turn one's back on long time loyal customers. That's how a business is lost.

 

Let me address a few things here. We’ve already talked about the exploit and how players abusing it were banned, but it sounds like there's a few other concerns too. I hope I'm summing these up appropriately, please let me know if not:

1. Scripting and bot use was common in Mafia Wars, and players are concerned about that happening here.
2. People are worried that players were able to buy multiple starter packs.
3. Some of Kano’s recent initiatives have been supporting new players and not older ones.

I've talked a bit about bots and scripting already, but I'll paraphrase what I said to a few other players yesterday who I've been talking to about higher-level issues. For one thing, Mafia Wars and Mob Wars: LCN are quite different. MW, from what we know, had a lot more repetitive actions, fewer limits on those actions, and less rules around what was considered cheating.

Our game has a bunch of built-in limits that are intended to make the game challenging, and it’s designed so that there are more fun things to do and less repeated actions; some players enjoy the challenge of the hitlist, but some players will get bored after some time and look for something else to do. We make sure there are limits on the number of some actions you can do all at once, and provide a variety (challenges, calendars, raids, blitzes, etc.) so there's more options.

I believe many of the scripts that were built for Mafia Wars were designed to fix things people were frustrated about in terms of design. Rather than encourage that, we'd prefer to make changes that make the game more fun and easier to play. I think there's less call for scripts in LCN, so beyond preventing them from working we will be taking player feedback and trying to improve the interface and experience.

We also have had systems in place for a long time to prevent bot and script use, and to detect alts as well. The support team spends a fair bit of time just handling player reports and doing proactive searches for this activity, and we freeze accounts every week for rule violations. I know some players believe we let people slip by or that we don't enforce the ToU equally; all I can say is that's never our goal, and we are doing our best.

In terms of multiple starter packs, I've indeed had some reports of this and people have sent me links of people they suspect. So far I have yet to find an account able to buy these more than the limit, but I'm happy to look into accounts if people want to report them to me.

I know people are upset about the Referrals program and our treatment of longer-time players lately. To address that, we’re considering some solutions that have been proposed by players to make you guys feel appreciated and respected. I've been talking to a number of you about this and I'd just like to thank most of you who wrote to me for your polite, valuable and insightful suggestions. We're planning to release an announcement ASAP with news about what we're planning, and I hope you guys will feel it's an appropriate reflection of what you've asked for; we won't be able to satisfy everyone, but we will certainly do our best.

From the bottom of our hearts here at Kano, I want you guys to know that all of you are important to us, and it's never been our intention to insult you. You guys all make our game what it is, and we're proud you've all chosen to play our game. We're gonna do whatever we can to show that appreciation.

 

Indeed and the operative words in many cases were "weren''t in fact able to play"? Zynga was different and became even moreso when they became a publicly owned stock market company.
For one,that placed a "legal" duty on them to act in the best interests of the shareholders at all times ,,NOT THEIR CUSTOMERS
That involved a number of redundancys, meaning forums like this were unmanned 80% of the time . So if you had a problem more often than not you were left to your own(or friends) devices . What exasperated the situation was in 2013 Zynga made it a condition that unless you spent $25 a month(usually meant becoming what was termed a VIP player) there was no customer support for you . Even if Zynga had deployed anyone on to customer support duties on that day.
Often players couldn,t access aspects of the game such as the FL altho his colleagues in the same mob could access those aspects . Now here is a player, paying good money month after month and in a few days he can see that the financial investment he has made is lost, as those around him advance(in levels and skills and loot) whilst he treads water waiting for a zynga fix ,altho he hasnt been able to inform them of the problem because of none access to CS,

He learns, that a particular script defeats the problem and allows him to access the FL say whilst Zynga fixes. We are talking problems lasting months here not days with Zynga and in some cases years , several years.

What are you gonna do? Script or no play? It was my misfortune to be involved with Zynga twice, taking them to the Better Business Bureau both times. Zynga knew I had a script, I told them myself in a forum similar to this........ I had the gold version, the only reason it wasn't platinum was cos there wasn't one :/

 

Who was it said scripts for LCN don't exist??

There are people BRAGGING about them all over Facebook!!



"And so it begins..."
https://www.facebook.com/mwlists/ph...817755907327/1089791867709907/?type=3&theater

I posted this before but Kano seem to have ignored it https://www.facebook.com/GuessX-Scripts-131414080285469/?fref=nf
They've got photos of their wares, like a shop window.. How can anyone pretend they're doing anything other than making scripts for LCN?

 

How about these? https://www.facebook.com/mwlists/


Kevin Kaplan
7 May at 16:52Jules, will you be making a hopper for Mob Wars LCN?

1 Comment Like · Comment

Comments

Mob Wars Spreadsheet Hosting Yes

Like · Reply · 8 May at 16:39



Mob Wars Spreadsheet Hosting
13 April ·

Working on buckets for mob-wars ... then we'll write a simple fight script.. and then we'll do the same for LCN

 

Scoughman Administrator
We also have had systems in place for a long time to prevent bot and script use, and to detect alts as well. The support team spends a fair bit of time just handling player reports and doing proactive searches for this activity, and we freeze accounts every week for rule violations. I know some players believe we let people slip by or that we don't enforce the ToU equally; all I can say is that's never our goal, and we are doing our best.

I'm telling you that you need to take your foot out your mouth because you just put it there, utter BS you just typped & allow me to copy from a ticket I submitted to you lot & the response i received!

Tatum S.
Kano/Apps Support
Staff
Generally the issues we look into are cases where two or three accounts seem to be linked more closely than usual. This kind of connection can be the result of alternative/fake accounts or shared accounts, but can also be the result of multiple separate players frequently accessing the game via the same internet connection. We look into all cases like these, but when players have provided sufficient information that there is reasonable doubt that multiple account use has taken place, we do not take action against their accounts.

Now I have submitted tickets about known alts & that is the respsone I got, so I'm telling you straight up that the supposed TOS you (Kano) operate by are as porus as tea bag, they are only if ever implmented when they suit you & if somebody spends a little bit of $$ you are prepared to turn a blind eye.

The only reason we have gotten where we have gotten in this forum thread is because people have challenged you otherwise you'd sweep the whole thread under the carpet give yourselves a round of applause & high 5's all round saying job well done!

If you(kano) actualy stopped discriminatinating against your customers, the orignal existing customers all along things would be a lot different, now take your foot out of your mouth & go find somebody else from Kano somebody with a lot of stars on their shoulders & maybe then we'd get some real answers not the yeah well no fine erm ahh story that keeps getting bandied about!

telling it like it is!

 

@Reg Hahn the first two links you shared are for Mob Wars, not Mob Wars: LCN, and we've heard reports about the third group as well. I have no doubt people are working on making scripts for the game, and this is not a new thing. We have systems in place to prevent these from working and alert us if they are trying to run. In the case of alt use, we do try to give people the benefit of the doubt when it comes to account sharing; we really want to do our best to make sure we aren't discouraging people from playing with their families or friends, while at the same time having a hard line on breaking the rules.

 

That is not our game, it looks totally different and I said that the first time it was posted.

 

Thanks @Scoughman for addressing these issues, as I have mentioned in posts elsewhere a big concern is the use of alts, I know Mitch says you have ways of detecting these but I still have concerns regarding that.

I am not sure whether to address the flaws, problems and concerns with the referral system here or not as posting my concerns may be seen as a guide on how to abuse the system.

 

thank you sol for finally taking the time to address and recognize the issues at hand!

 

This is their provider of the scripts and they have said they are developing script for LCN:
https://www.facebook.com/GuessX-Scripts-131414080285469/?fref=nf
https://www.facebook.com/mwlists/

Sounds like the same glitch as in rewards program but in Mafia Wars:
http://www.mafiawarslootlady.com/2013/04/skill-point-exploit.html
Leveling up exploit in Mafia Wars:
http://www.mafiawarslootlady.com/2011/11/manhattan-exploit.html

https://www.facebook.com/Mafia-Wars-Cheats-Book-257556644259982/

 

We really aren't discouraging people from playing with their families or friends????????

Are you sure as you seem to be doing exactly that to the established players with what you have been doing over the last few weeks.

And when you said "An announcement ASAP" would you like to put a proposed time frame on that, are we talking days, weeks, months or years.

I would very much like to see this game get back to normal, but there has to be just a little bit of remorse from KANO to how they have treated some players over the last 2 months. Any chance of a "Sorry" ???????

 

that is not LCN , that is the old mob wars

 

I wish people would stop posting about the old Mob Wars 1.

Kano built La Cosa Nostra and a huge number of players migrated over very quickly to get away from the bots, scripts and other aids that were available to those that wanted to use them, many here will remember the 'nono virus'. It all still exists and people still play there, that is up to them.

 

While people who have played this game diligently for several YEARS have been overtaken by players who have played for several WEEKS. It raises questions about the whole structure and fairness of the game. Whether they are all cheats or not isn't the crux of the problem.

The fact is this game is now 'broken' and if it isn't fixed pretty soon it faces a very uncertain future.

 

its a money game now if you cant buy it you will be weak as piss now. Its a shame used to be you had to be friends with high levels to be strong you need alot of there boss's but now its totally crazy, you say you dont want this to turn to Zynga but you dont realize you basically done the same as them it turned into cash cow and this is the same its just here its buy items. Please rethink your choice its not very popular with the community.

 

Kano,
I have been here since almost the beginning. This game has gotten me through bad times, like hip replacement. Please do not screw this up. Listen to what your long time players are telling you. Good business people know how important it is to keep their loyal customers happy. Newbies might be spending like crazy but you cannot know for sure how long they will be around. Us oldies but goodies want to be here to stay. Thanks!

 

I honestly do believe that Kano will fix this. This is their livelihood and as such they depend on all of their customers (us) to keep them afloat. That being said I do doubt that they deliberately tried to screw us, they just made what they thought was a good business move, and it would have been if it was done differently. Writing code is not an easy task and does take some time. It is easier to stop a code than to write a new one. I will give the benefit of the doubt and wait a reasonable amount of time to see what is offered. I heard it was going to be stamina and I hope that is not true. We are not "Boss/Raid Wars", we are Mob Wars LCN and as such we need attack and defense. To add extra stamina would make us no different than Mob Wars 1 which is what most of us left to come here. Just my opinion.