Tired of Smallworlds BS

  • by: Ricky A
  • recipient: Smallworlds; Minimundos, Outsmart Games Ltd

SmallWorlds is a virtual world and social network service by Outsmart Games, a privately owned company based in Auckland, New Zealand. The virtual world runs inside a web browser and integrates with YouTube, Flickr, and a number of other Web 2.0 services. The game HAD* a 25+ million playerbase and WAS* one of the most popular gaming sites for 13+.

I'm not going to go through the whole "funzone" topic of how socially rich Smallworlds WAS*, back in 2013. I'm even going to skip the topic of how well the company's staff USED* to handle issues between players. What I am going to discuss, is literally every f*cking bad thing about Smallworlds.

Ahem.

One, stealing peoples' money. Smallworlds runs through a server called Xsolla, so everytime a user purchases a virtual item on Smallworlds, they go through the purchase using Xsolla. Now we all get that purchasing an item online requires credit/debit card information and/or gift card information, depending on what kind of transaction option you've selected. Now, let's use Amazon as a comparison to Smallworlds' transaction quality. When you purchase an item off Amazon, a popup appears stating that the transaction has been successful and an email will be sent to you regarding the time your shipment will arrive. Simple, right? Well, Smallworlds is different. You order a VIRTUAL item, meaning it isn't real and the only thing that makes up its non-existent mass are pixels, and once your transaction is complete, you get an email from your bank stating that money was withdrawn from your account. Understandable, right? So, you go to your inventory on Smallworlds. And guess what? You don't see the item that you've purchased. This is a small example of how greedy, how fast it is for Smallworlds to take your money. And sometimes, you purchase something and it just NEVER APPEARS in your inventory.

Now I know you guys might be like, "Oh, we are nothing like Amazon, that's not a good comparison," or "Well, it takes some time for us to process the payment and send the item to your account," or I don't know, maybe some other dumb sh*t that you guys say in general. But seriously, Amazon and Smallworlds are online stores. And how could you be processing a payment if I already got an alert from my bank before you load a few pixels in my inventory?

That was a long as* paragraph, well keep reading. I'm not done yet.

Two, the response team. Or whatever the f*ck you guys are supposed to be. As I said earlier, sometimes when you purchase an item, it never shows up in your inventory. So, WHO DO YOU CALL?

Payment@smallworlds.com or Support@smallworlds.com


If I could describe each email address in one word, I'd say sh*t. I don't even want to go in depth with that. Not only because my fingers are tired, but because its a waste of time; JUST LIKE THE EMAILS YOU SEND THEM. (But btw since they don't help through emails, you head towards the forums, and you write them a long essay on how bad they are. But what do they do? Delete your thread, LOL.)


Three, just listening in general. This is kind of a follow-up for the last paragraph. Smallworlds reminds me of rattlesnakes. They're deaf as f*ck. Everything that you tell them, they just ignore you. They ignore everything that you request. A company's job must be able to listen to their customer's problems, especially if that company's soul purpose is to be social.  I bet if Mitch Olsen (if you dont know, is the founder of Smallworlds) was at the beach, and a baby was drowning, he'd just sit there and watch.

Four, banning. This takes part in the many reasons why people are leaving this game. The question is: why? People pay for this game, they put time in this game, too. Banning people simply means: we don't care about your efforts, we have your money, now leave our game. If a person invests themselves in an online game, of course I understand the risks; everyone makes mistakes and there are consequences for that. But there comes a point when something happens, and morally it isn't a person's fault, but Smallworlds is literally so narrowminded and self-absorbed in the game's so-called "guidelines" that if something happens, they automatically ban you. They don't take the patience to look into the problem as justified as possible.

Take a look at this forum I recently posted in regards of a friend of mine WHO NEVER GOT A SINGLE BAN FOR YEARS. AND THE REASON FOR HER BAN MADE NO SENSE:


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

A recent temporary ban has been placed on a friend of mine by the name of Abrielle Brenaye. This ban was placed, because earlier today (July 16, 2017) a Flickr sign located at Melrose School and Daycare/Adoption Center was (in this case, hacked into) and therefore shown a series of pornographic material.

A user by the name of Scrappy TheCholo was the first person around that Flickr sign, and also was playing around the many NPC's that were in the space. Scrappy was also the person who gathered everyone in the space to come and view the Flickr sign that shown the pornographic material.

Myself, along with two other players (Xavier and Annastasia) were looking into the problem maturely. Xavier contacted a moderator to come and remove the board. Annastasia and I were discussing on who exactly could've done something like that, we have swept upon the idea that either an officer or contributor of the space was responsible of this issue. We have also noted that a hacker could have been able to get into the Flickr widget, because that item uses servers from another media platform.


In terms of Abrielle Brenaye, when this issue happened, she was not online. This point should basically conclude the idea of her responsibility of putting up pornography on the board. I personally don't understand the reason why she is banned, just because this issue happened "at her space." Abrielle's space isn't her private home, it is a public space meant for roleplay schooling. I would understand if it was her homespace and she had full credentials on it, but she DOESN'T at Melrose because so many people visit that space every single day.

Since many people visit that space, it is exposed to dangers. If these dangers happen behind the owner's back, I don't see why you'd punish the owner. Abrielle has worked very hard on that space, and it is a very busy area. 7 DAYS without being able to log in is a stress, especially for someone like her who invested TIME and MONEY in the game.

With all due respect, staff. 

(edit- it's Smallworlds responsibility to secure the items in-world. Blaming the owner of the space in which the issue happened in has nothing to do with the security of the game. Even if the owner was online, they wouldn't be able to control what the hacker can and cannot hack.)


Thank you.


-P.S IF YOU WERE AT MELROSE SCHOOL AND WAS HERE WHEN THIS HAPPENED, PLEASE BUMP THIS POST FOR ABRIELLE. 

-----------


And guess what? That thread was deleted.




Now for the sake of my fingers, let me list the remainder of flaws Smallworlds obtains:

-  robbing people

-  bad responsive service

-  can't listen to customers

-  banning for no reason

-  cheats

-  horrible moderators

-  players don't get the values they need in order to play (for ffs some of us are paying money for this game)

-  offers don't work anymore (they're doing this so you can grow desperate for gold and actually buy something from them)

-  don't listen to us in forums

-  no patience

-  the site is low quality. Buggy, laggy, glitchy.

-  and they still got us financially supporting their bumas* company



SOME OF YOU MIGHT THINK I'M BEING OVER-DRAMATIC, BUT THIS IS LITERALLY WHAT'S HAPPENING. I UNDERSTAND THAT SMALLWORLDS IS JUST A GAME TOO, BUT WHEN A GAME INVOLVES MONEY AND BAD SERVICE, IT ISN'T CONSIDERED A GAME. ITS CONSIDERED FRAUDULENT. Everything I stated in this complaint was true.

-speaking on behalf of everyone.

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