Bridging the Gap

DeletedUser11502

Guest
Greetings!

My name is Antz, I am the Server Administrator for the US server.

As most of you are aware there are many myths and stories about the Support Team, some are true, others not. I would like to lift some of the veil that surrounds the closed world of the Support Team and through your questions shed light on what the Support Team does in the background.

The Support Team consists of three groups, the Forum Moderation Team, the Grepolis Wiki Team, and the In Game Support Team. Each plays an important role in ensuring things run smoothly for you the players.

The Forum Mod Team manage and maintain the external forums. They also have the unenviable job of enforcing the rules that have been set by the Developers while maintaining a minimal impact on the discussions.

The Wiki Team manage the Grepolis Wiki. This mass of information is constantly being updated as new information is learned and as the Developers continue to improve on the game

The In Game Support Team work to keep the multiple worlds moving. This is the team that answers support tickets, trouble shoots game issue and player issues and enforces the rules as set by the developers.

In all, there are less than 15 people that fill roles in some form within these teams. All are experienced players who want to give back to the Grepolis Community. All of them are volunteers that work under the guidance of our Community Manager.


A few things to remember

1. Due to privacy and confidentiality concerns there are areas that the Support Team are not permitted to discuss. If one is commented on, you will be informed of that it is something they cannot discuss.

2. Standard Forum rules still apply

3. This is not a rant session. If you have a question ask... don't rant.
 

DeletedUser11502

Guest
First thing that everyone questions: the in game mods - how can they play and moderate.

Simple - they can either play or moderate - not both. Each of the moderators must decide when a world opens if they will play or mod the world. If they play, they are excluded from any moderation tasks and discussions regarding that world.

Any In Game Moderator that plays has the same rights and privileges as any other player, however when it comes to their conduct, they are held to a higher level as they are expected to know and follow the rules.
 
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DeletedUser11502

Guest
Ah ... the infamous Premium debate... Because player 'x' is a heavy gold user he gets off ...yeah no...

The In Game Mods do not care if you spend nothing or spend 100's of dollars a week. They are equal opportunity rule enforcers...

They also do not take into consideration age, nationality, sex and so on. They cannot see through your computer screen.
 

DeletedUser298

Guest
Triple post!!!! We got a Noob Alert! Sound the siren!
 

DeletedUser11502

Guest
LOL... can you blame me... 3 days to get a response...
 

DeletedUser13502

Guest
Ah ... the infamous Premium debate... Because player 'x' is a heavy gold user he gets off ...yeah no...

The In Game Mods do not care if you spend nothing or spend 100's of dollars a week. They are equal opportunity rule enforcers...

They also do not take into consideration age, nationality, sex and so on. They cannot see through your computer screen.

Just to clarify this one, In Game Mods do not have access to that information so they have no way to know who is a heavy gold user and who is not a golder at all.
smiley_emoticons_skullhaufen.gif
 

DeletedUser4951

Guest
Why is there a lack of transparency and why do players appear to get a different treatment for same or similar cases? Do you guys have any plans of fixing that? If so what will you do?

This is more or less speaking to my experience on Lato currently where something shady happens, people rant, then it gets shut down because people aren't able to discuss it. Though this has happened on US as well. Why can't people discuss or complain either?

Sorry for barrage of questions not related to US. This service isn't currently offered in EN.
 

DeletedUser15357

Guest
Why is there a lack of transparency and why do players appear to get a different treatment for same or similar cases? Do you guys have any plans of fixing that? If so what will you do?

This is more or less speaking to my experience on Lato currently where something shady happens, people rant, then it gets shut down because people aren't able to discuss it. Though this has happened on US as well. Why can't people discuss or complain either?

Sorry for barrage of questions not related to US. This service isn't currently offered in EN.

Complaining about an EN server, on the US server.... Makes sense..
 

DeletedUser11502

Guest
While I can only speak for the US server...

Why is there a lack of transparency...

The lack of transparency is mainly from the issues with privacy and confidentiality.

Simply put we cannot discuss player accounts with anyone except that player nor can we discuss what our Support tools tell us and this puts a divide between players and Mods and it will always be present.

...why do players appear to get a different treatment for same or similar cases?

We treat each issue on a case by case basis. While this may appear that some players get treated differently, it may be because of the variable surrounding each case, be it player history, the severity of the case, even the tone of the messages between the players and the Moderator can make a difference (a example of this would be the difference between a player understanding and agreeing with a ban versus one that is adamant that their multi accounting ban was based on mod bias (even though they had 3-4 accounts).

Do you guys have any plans of fixing that? If so what will you do?

We are always working towards a better way of doing things. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. There is always room for improvement. There is no perfect system when it comes to Support, there are just too many variables.

This is more or less speaking to my experience on Lato currently where something shady happens, people rant, then it gets shut down because people aren't able to discuss it. Though this has happened on US as well. Why can't people discuss or complain either?

As much as we appreciate player's freedom to express their opinions, there are times when those expressions are not productive. Also the Forum Mods are told to enforce the posted rules, they are doing what they are asked to do.

If you feel that you have a issue to discuss, talk with the Community Manager and find out what s/he considers the most appropriate way of conveying your thoughts. I will say that 'yelling' and 'screaming' will not get you far.

Sorry for barrage of questions not related to US. This service isn't currently offered in EN.
 

DeletedUser4951

Guest
Complaining about an EN server, on the US server.... Makes sense..
I said that this has happened on the US server in the past too. Also I said this isn't offered on EN. So of course i'm going to ask about policies here.

1) If someone cheats then by all means make it known. Especially if there's a controversy surrounding them. I feel the mods bear the burden of proof in a contested ban. Hell I believe the mods should release a master player list with attached proof so those players can be black listed off premades.

2) But that is players receiving different/special treatment.

3) :)

4) It looks worse on the mods part to shut it down than to let it ride or directly answer questions. This has been a problem on both servers. Something questionable happens, maybe the mods are wrong, probably not though. Either way the issue gets big, then it gets shut down. This is where point 1 comes into play. Maybe its just better to alienate one cheating player than lose 100 more legitimate players. Which in the case of Lato, the #2 alliance almost entirely ghosted and quit Grepolis right before WW because someone got banned for botting.
 

DeletedUser15357

Guest
If you know the people you're recruiting then you'd know who to blacklist regardless...

Helps to actually learn who your team is vs just getting a bunch of golders together or good fighters. Which that rarely works out as it is
 

DeletedUser836

Guest
4) It looks worse on the mods part to shut it down than to let it ride or directly answer questions. This has been a problem on both servers. Something questionable happens, maybe the mods are wrong, probably not though. Either way the issue gets big, then it gets shut down. This is where point 1 comes into play. Maybe its just better to alienate one cheating player than lose 100 more legitimate players. Which in the case of Lato, the #2 alliance almost entirely ghosted and quit Grepolis right before WW because someone got banned for botting.

I know it might make us look bad to shut down a discussion regarding certain topics, but we are given rules that we have to enforce. There are no if, ands, or buts about it. Every rule must be enforced in all situations. If we get attacked for shutting down a discussion, then so be it. We are just doing our jobs. We simply ask that you respect these rules that have been set into place.
 

DeletedUser

Guest
Rules can be changed Fig.

I feel as if the effect of letting the players continue a discussion such as what TSF was speaking of is much less than censoring our speech and shutting down the conversation, or even banning members of it.

Is Medi reading this thread? I think that she should.
 

DeletedUser15357

Guest
Rules can be changed Fig.

I feel as if the effect of letting the players continue a discussion such as what TSF was speaking of is much less than censoring our speech and shutting down the conversation, or even banning members of it.

Is Medi reading this thread? I think that she should.

Rules are made by third party people (more or less shareholders to keep it simple) and they provide the rules and outlines to Inno, who provides it to the MODs, who enforce it. Nothing they can do. In this regard, you're all talking to a wall
 

DeletedUser

Guest
This is incorrect. The Community Manager sets, or can influence, the rule(s) I am speaking about in my post.
 

DeletedUser15357

Guest
This is incorrect. The Community Manager sets, or can influence, the rule(s) I am speaking about in my post.

Please go read "Greetings and Salutations" in the Oropos thread line in order to see, you are incorrect about the rules and who makes them. Straight from the MODs themselves. If you don't believe that, mail Medic yourself and have her answer you, the same thing.

This is not something that the game MODs can change, including Medic.
 

DeletedUser11720

Guest
This is incorrect. The Community Manager sets, or can influence, the rule(s) I am speaking about in my post.

This is also incorrect. Innogames has set the rules as well as what infraction gets x punishment. The CoMa cannot issue a notice to change these pre-set rules and regulations as Innogames has specifically set these SOP and SOG's to maintain a uniformity across all markets. All In Game Moderators, Senior Moderators, Server Administrators and The CoMa all follow the exact same set of guidelines.

Example: x player complains that a rule is unfair or why isn't X player perm banned.
Simple: These players received the punishment that we were instructed to give based on their specific infraction.
 
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