Central Comand PLEASE Respond

[WPBRJ]

not even sure this is the right forum to post this but here goes

Ok I have been a member for about 3 to 4 weeks now and have to say I am a bit disappointed at best. Is there anyone in charge here at this site? I have been playing risk for a long time now I have been playing on line for over 15 years and have seen about 6 or 7 sites now start up and shut down. This is a great site except for the lag, the crashes, the break downs, and the biggest of all the lack of communication from the central command and staff. I have seen a very small amount of posts in the forums to this point from them, I can count on one hand how many I actually remember there 14 staff members in centcom and maybe I have seen 6 posts in my time here that is not acceptable to me.

I am certainly not saying there should be a counter post to every post made but at least a post when there are problems. I joined and immediately paid for premium that’s how much I liked the site boy did I jump the gun on that one. While I still love the site I have no more of an idea what’s going on with all the problems now than I did when I first joined and with all respect that’s bull shit. I have never seen a post by most of the staff let alone I have never seen any of them on the site or in games.

This leads me to my question is this site going dead? Are you just taking people’s money and not giving a crap? That money goes to someone and they should be on this site every day talking to his or her customers explaining what’s going on and what they are doing to fix things. Silence is doing nothing more than pissing people off and making them want to leave. Maybe this site needs to go back into Bata for a while so you can work these bugs out.

It’s been 2 days now with games not loading and all we heard from centcom is there look into it. That’s it there look into it; wow that really told me a lot, why can’t they just post saying were sorry for the inconveniences and this bug is XYZ and there hopping to have it fixed by such and such day and time and that they recommended suggestions to this point will work for most players. There are 30 posts from players on fixes but these are temporary at best. The one fix I used was the push pull thing they said it was way slow and the ironic thing about it was it was faster than most of the days that I have played to this point. So not sure why they say it’s slow.

I also think that whoever is taking the money from the players needs to really start to think about returning the money if they so choose to stay silent and not give a fuck about the people that actually care about this game and want to play. I have the right as a paying customer to at least raise these questions and deserve a response. I am not asking for your first born I just as a customer want to know what is going on and what is being done about it and what we as customers can do to help.

i am sure this will be ignored as well by staff and thats a shame this place had such promise!!

R.J.

 

[FLAGG]

I have been around this site for a while............I played Risk as a child.........found this site by accident. Fell in love with it. But have never played on another risk site, so I have nothing in the computer age to compare it to.

I will say, things were better under BETA. No Question. I remember full response from staff. I even remember a time where their main programer (EVAN) helped me DURING the 1 hour period of a move. That guy was awesome at his responsiveness. Bado used to write all the time, and play in games that I was in all the time. The site had some problems, but there was so much response with the site creators - that you almost felt part of the team.

Because I was a member at that time..........I have seen what this site can be. I keep hanging on, hoping it will get back to that point. I am still trying to be patient...................

----------------------------------

However..........I feel this is a great post from a relatively new member who has been around the Risk world and other sites a lot. It is a good record of how things have gone the last couple months..............WPBRJ is also a great player (from the games I have been in with him). It would be a shame to lose a great new member...........

I think this post definitely deserves a response by the people in charge...........

FLAGG

 

[Chilly]

I'm stepping back from Majorcommand. I found the site because I follow Wallstats in my RSS reader and Bado made an announcement about it there. It is a beautiful site with incredible maps and I've made some terrific friends here. One of the coolest things is that I keep in touch with family through here.

However, it appears to me that all development on the site stopped sometime back in March. In fact, the blog used to get updated regularly with news from Centcom. You can see that the last major update (at least that has been communicated) was done in March. This also coincides with approximately the last time that Evan posted to the forums. You used to be able to look up the case numbers of reported bugs and check the status on them. I checked a handful of case numbers and it appears that data set is currently empty.

I am concerned that there is no longer any active development being done here. Yes, there have been some stunning maps put out, but I'm talking about the background, stuff behind the curtain type of stuff. I could be wrong, but it seems that since Evan left, there has not been the necessary level of technical know-how to keep things working properly.

I have withdrawn from all of the OPEN tournaments that I entered, but which haven't started. I've set my notifications to alert me when I have a turn to take, and will do my best not to AWOL any of them.

Bado,
Please tell me I am wrong and that there is a plan going forward.

Regards,
Chilly

 

[KungFuDuet]

A recap and future of majcom

KFD here, reporting in on the situation with some official and personal insights.

RECAP
I came into the site near the end of 2010. It was pretty much love at first sight with the game, and which I decided to also take on a role on the team to help shape the wiki.

Evan, I recall, was active to the point where there was a DEVCOM, which is the testing grounds for new features. A lot of features were implemented, and yes, they were good times. Yet, his support on the site fell away as we got to a more stable situation. (2011) This is around the time when we went from PRIVATE BETA to PUBLIC BETA

A SIDE NOTE, WE WERE NEVER OUT FROM BETA, WE JUST WENT FROM PRIVATE TO PUBLIC (lifting the cap user number)

As he pulled out his troops from MajCom land slowly, the rebels of the bugs came striking quicker and faster than before, but because of other commitments, he was not able to address them immediately. Earlier this year, we had a failure on the site, and that was the start of the Dark ages. Even the wiki was affected, losing a majority of images. I sent an email to Evan (a bit out of place for me to do so), asking him to address some of the problems. He was definitely busy and stressed I know. But he came back for a few days and fixed a few things, though he didn't remain here. (March 2012)

So in May-June 2012, Badorties set out to find a new developer. As MajCom was not his proper job (for those who don't know he is the Creative Director of Visual.ly), he was pushed for time always. I try to check in a few times a week with him, most times he is up very late at night still working. A lot of pressure was on Bado.

With that, Evan's retreat was definitely a devistating blow, and which I saw a few members of the CentCom taking leave from MajCom for a break, and a side observation on the situation. I stuck around, being the one probably most hopeful.

July 2012, Badorties took to the roads for meetings with certain people. By my observation it didn't turn out well, as no new developer came in.

August-September 2012, one person was asked to recode the engine, as we believed that the flash client was the roots of many problems.

The person was not able to do it, given his time. (it is very difficult to find time, I can assure that.) But Bado said another one would be coming it, has the time, and is motivated to help MajCom.

Mid-November 2012, The newest person assesses the situation of MajCom.

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FUTURE
None of us were programmers, so we don't know how long it would take. I still hold high hope for what is to come of MajCom.

December, Christmas shopping time. For the new Programmer, the Christmas break will be a time of recoding.

I LOOK FORWARD TO THAT, AND I HOPE YOU WILL STAY AROUND FOR IT AS WELL. BECAUSE I BELIEVE IN BADO, AND THIS SITE.

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Q&A
A lot of people ask why Bado seems to be absent around this time.
He has a hell lot of things going on at the moment. You may say it is all excuses, but by my observation, it is genuine.

If the engine gets recoded, when will it be finished? What would it do?
It is hard to say, as I am not the Programmer. I would imagine January. It will eliminate the flash client, and hence a lot of bugs caused by the flash client, including the 2 star bug.

What do we do about the 2 star problem happening currently?
I would recommend the Poll Pulled temporary fix. I would also recommend you not to play Real Time games, but stick to Casual games for the moment. A good idea is to start a casual game, playing it real time.

May you keep the site in your prayers. As for me, I am confident. And I WILL stick around.

FOR THE NEW YEAR, NEW MAJCOM!!!

 

[Chilly]

KFD:
Thanks for the post. That does shed some light on the matter and adds valuable perspective.

Much appreciated.

 

[ajdedo]

Hi KFD,

Thanks for your response.

I have to say that this is no way to run a business - If this site was free, then you get what you pay for. But since there are players who pay actual money (regardless of the amount) and are not able to play - then that is TOTALLY unacceptable.

It's actually a disgrace that so little has been done in what you outlined as nearly a year - You were very detailed in the events that took place, and from what I read, there have only been 2 people since May 2012 that attempted to fix this site. That is completely outrageous.

If I owned a Movie theater and people came in every night and payed $10 to watch a film, but the movie projector was broken, I would not take their money day after day, nor would I piss around for 8 months before I got the projector fixed. I would either stop selling tickets, or find someone to fix the projector the next day. There is no excuse for not doing one of those two things.

There are literally hundreds of thousands of people in the US that can write computer code and work on the site. Tens of Millions of people worldwide. Finding a person is not a problem. There is no excuse. The only reason this site does not work properly nearly a year later is lack of will by the owner to get things done. Period. No other reason.

It is criminal that everyday new people are still signing up and paying money to use something that is clearly broken. That should have stopped months ago. If the owner is preoccupied with something else, then don't charge money and let the site do as it will. No one can complain about something that is free. But if you continue to charge money - then you must deliver on what you promised. Otherwise it is bordering on fraud.

I would strongly suggest that the owner either do a google search and find someone to have the site working today, or eliminate the pay structure - Which should have been done already. There is really no other choice at this point.

 

[PKHustle]

Hi KFD,

Thanks for your response.

I have to say that this is no way to run a business - If this site was free, then you get what you pay for. But since there are players who pay actual money (regardless of the amount) and are not able to play - then that is TOTALLY unacceptable.

It's actually a disgrace that so little has been done in what you outlined as nearly a year - You were very detailed in the events that took place, and from what I read, there have only been 2 people since May 2012 that attempted to fix this site. That is completely outrageous.

If I owned a Movie theater and people came in every night and payed $10 to watch a film, but the movie projector was broken, I would not take their money day after day, nor would I piss around for 8 months before I got the projector fixed. I would either stop selling tickets, or find someone to fix the projector the next day. There is no excuse for not doing one of those two things.

There are literally hundreds of thousands of people in the US that can write computer code and work on the site. Tens of Millions of people worldwide. Finding a person is not a problem. There is no excuse. The only reason this site does not work properly nearly a year later is lack of will by the owner to get things done. Period. No other reason.

It is criminal that everyday new people are still signing up and paying money to use something that is clearly broken. That should have stopped months ago. If the owner is preoccupied with something else, then don't charge money and let the site do as it will. No one can complain about something that is free. But if you continue to charge money - then you must deliver on what you promised. Otherwise it is bordering on fraud.

I would strongly suggest that the owner either do a google search and find someone to have the site working today, or eliminate the pay structure - Which should have been done already. There is really no other choice at this point.

This guy is right.

I'm probably done with MajorCommand for a while.. until this is all fixed. Gl.

 

[Map]

Hi All, i falled in love with this site but in the last weeks I couldn't play anymore for server problem . Is there anybody that can advise on an alternative site to play risk?

thank you

 

[stone123]

Totally agree with original poster and aldedo

I posted a bit of a rant to baborties back in the summer about all these continuous problems not getting fixed and that i don't think its right as some of us are paying customers

I also said this site would loose and upset new customers/paying clients if you will....Yep that's what is happening

We all love this site but we have definitely been let down by the lack of support

 

[Badorties]

Well thanks for all your feedback guys, let me address it all as best I can.

Evan was the main programmer and built MajCom from the ground up. He is a very talented guy, but the MC backend is very over-engineered. This ended up causing all sorts of issues since the game is fairly simple. IT was obvious that the game engine needed to be re-written and Evan did not have the time or really inclination to do this.

Meanwhile the subscription plans were set up to pay for server and other costs. The current subscription rate barely covers expenses most months. If it doesn't I cover it personally out of my paycheck. No one on CentCom gets paid. If I were to stop offering subscriptions, MC would be shutdown at the next server bill.

So I set out to find another developer who could take a chance on MC and recode engine. And I say take a chance, because I could not pay them, only offer a chance at future revenues. Developers make more money than I do so it's not something I can cover with my paycheck either. I did have a friend who was willing and able to help, but it turns out he really was too busy to do it and after months of going back and forth, I looked for another option. I found another friend of mind, Cory, who is willing and able and also has some time to get the needed stuff done. He plans to do much of it over Christmas break.

One asset MC does have is a constant stream of new users. This primarily why it is still around. So my hope is that Cory is able to get a much more stable system in place that is free of the type of bugs we have now, which are all associated with the current over-engineered architecture.

I can totally understand everyone's frustration. Not only do I read every post on the forums but also in my inbox, on facebook, and my email as well. I take no pleasure in running a service that is often broken and I am trying to get it fixed as best I can. The solutions are not as easy as ajdebo suggests or rather they would be if I had unlimited money to throw at the problem, but I don't.

So if you are totally unsatisfied I can refund your subscription. If you decide to leave, I hold no ill will at all. Though I do hope you will comeback once these issues are sorted. If you do stick around as a player, I most certainly appreciate your patience, and for the volunteers here like codanostra, KFD, Masterjskye and others, I owe you more than you know.

Despite all these issues, it is a positive thing, or perhaps negative thing, to note we are at an all time high for active users.

If anyone wanted to email me personally, the best way to reach me is [email protected]

 

[Chilly]

Bado,
Thanks for your response. I completely understand the many choices and decisions you have to make behind the scenes to keep something like this running. Probably the first is: Is this a hobby or a business? I wouldn't expect it to be anything other than a business, and thus I would not expect you to continually lose money on it. The explanation of MC's current state was exactly what I thought it was; no current developer and no big pile of cash to hire a new one. I'm hopeful that your friend Corey is able to sort things out over the next month and will be definitely rooting for him.

Please keep us all in the loop as to how things are going. My biggest complaint was the increasing number and seriousness of problems, with very little communication other than "we are looking into it". I would suggest you post a similar update to the blog so your voice is easier to be heard than just a response that can get buried in the forums. I'm sure this is not easy to work through and despite our frustrations with the site, we all need to remember that there is a real person on the other end who (by his reply demonstrates) does care about us and is trying to fix the problem. Thank you.

Chilly

 

[Cardinalsrule]

what Chilly said.....

 

[lh34]

Just thought I'd add my 2 cents to this conversation...

I joined this site in September of 2010, in one of the brief periods where it was open to the public to join. The site experience was unmatched. I was blown away by the detail and interactiveness/easiness to use of the 7 maps. Games were quick, easy and fun to play. The forums were active, and there was a solid group of users playing. (Hardly any AWOL) I enjoyed the unlimited games, and really enjoyed playing in the initial tournaments. However when the site went into public beta (early 2011?) and I could no longer play unlimited games or tournaments, I shortly left the site. More and more new users were joining games and AWOLing and since both of my friends on the site had left, I felt like there was little left for me on this site. I had been spoiled by all of the great unlimited action, that when the site went into public beta it didn't feel so great to me anymore.

I slowly forgot about this site throughout 2011 and into 2012. A couple weeks ago, I was bored and was looking through my bookmarks tab on my computer, when saw the link to MajorCommand. I decided to log in just to see what had happened with the site in my absence, and wow was I amazed. The number of maps had doubled. NUKES!, which was just a remote idea when I had left the site, was now a fully functioning map, and the idea of a conquest map which seemed barely on the radar when I left the site was now a fully functioning map. (12 Domains) There were many other new maps, Philippines, Africa, Australia, Mars. I joined a couple of games on my usual maps, Classic MINI, USA, just to test out the gameplay again. Ehh, it was a little slower than I remember, but everything else about the gameplay was just as great as it was ~1.5 years ago. I couldn't imagine why I had left the site in the first place, and I was enjoying my 4 free games.

Then the slowness really appeared. It was taking 30+seconds just for the map to load, and real-time games were no longer playable. It frustrated me a bit because I knew what the site was and what it could be. However, the slowness doesn't bother me anymore. I won't play any real-time games, and it may take me longer to take my turns, but the situation is what it is. Complaining and getting mad isn't going to get anybody anywhere, so IMO everybody should just take a deep breath and accept the fact that currently the site is slow, and it may take longer to take your turns. Everybody just needs to wait this out, because I believe that this will get fixed, and it will get better, it's all a matter of time. If a few players feel the need to leave the site because of the slowness, then the site loses a few members, it's not a big deal.

Again, the slowness is what it is, there is nothing that you can do about it. Just relax, and enjoy playing the games, because even with the slowness, this site's game experience and quality is unmatched.

LH

P.s. Why are people complaining about missing turns. I found that the pulled pork option (or whatever it's called) worked perfectly well for me...

 

[PackerHawkeye]

WRT revenue, with the number of people that access this site, have you considered ads? I know people hate them but at least until you can get the site upgraded from flash it might be a way to build up some capitol so that you can actually pay a developer what he/she is worth. Maybe even two of them. I'd take some ads if it was a quicker means to an end.

 

[PackerHawkeye]

BTW, lh, the pulled pork comment - I had that in my head too.

BTW part two, Seattle lost to Green Bay this year.

 

[lh34]

BTW, lh, the pulled pork comment - I had that in my head too.

BTW part two, Seattle lost to Green Bay this year.

I think ads are actually a really good idea, even if a Packers fan came up with the idea.... jk.

And I think we could argue about that game and that call for hours and neither of us would budge on our opinions about the call... so why don't we just agree that if the Seahawks and Packers meet in the playoffs that the Seahawks will obviously beat the Packers.

 

[ghost]

Major Command is "still" in Open Beta.. as it's been for awhile while Bado currently seeks out a new developer...
it sucks, it seems unfair.. it's frustrating when trying to play.. but it HAPPENS...
it's the owner's hope his new prospect (Developer) is going to be able to revamp things and get them running smoothly. i realize it can be very irritating when server issues throw a game, or make taking turns near impossible.. but this is part of being in Beta.. issues happen, problems arise.

i'm looking forward to the New Developer taking the reins and getting things amazing..

 

[Shepherd]

hi all, nice discussion. I truly appreciate that, despite everyone's frustration, the discourse here has remained constructive and not gotten overly negative or accusatory. It speaks well of the users we have here.

As somebody who has been on board from day one (or maybe day two) I share in the frustration of the general membership. The conversations I've had with the mapmaking team sound very similar to the conversation here. We all thought we would be at a different place by December 2012, and the level of activity 12-18 months ago reflected our excitement about where this seemed to be going. But starting a new business is fraught with growing pains, and here we are.

It is my sincere hope that in three or six months time the game engine will run much better than it does now, i.e. no more games getting frozen because of dead regions, no more periods during which the server seems to be run by hamster-wheel power, improved RT game selection screen, etc. Once the basic kinks are worked out, we can get our focus back to all the fun stuff we've long had in mind for this site - developing new maps, coming up with new game features, creating AIs for bot players, you name it.

As for ads, I've always been opposed to dirtying up the site with tasteless crap. However, if it gets us to the next level it's worth looking into.

 

[ghost]

As for ads, I've always been opposed to dirtying up the site with tasteless crap. However, if it gets us to the next level it's worth looking into.

i am with you on this.. and hope the New Developer Bado has been speaking with will be able to get the job done without nasty ads everywhere. lol.

nice to see you Shep!

 

[Cardinalsrule]

although in principle I agree with shep and ghostie about the ads, I'd be willing to put up with them if it meant the bugs got fixed faster. I believe that, with the speed issue and the server issues and the bugs (0-troop, etc.) fixed, and with the cartographers that are here, this will someday be far and away the best 'risk' site on the web, and will gain enough of a following that all the time that Bado, et. al, put into it might actually pay off for them monetarily, at least in some modest fashion.

There are SO many things to fix now; the scoreboard doesn't work half the time, I don't believe that the medals are awarded in a timely manner, ranks don't get upgraded for hours/days, there are dead/broken games in the 'find a game', there are broken tourneys that need to go away, the list goes on. But, I will continue to stay and keep my membership and remain hopeful, although I probably will not play as many games until things get better, because I'm a bit of an 'excitable boy' and it pisses me off when I lose because of a glitch or server issue. Hoping that December brings positive changes!