So who is responsible when real money is spent on microtransactions in a game that then becomes unplayable, though no fault of the player?
According to Kixeye’s official support forum, the answer is nobody!
A major security flaw has been exposed in Backyard Monsters, a browser based MMO. A malicious player can take control of another player’s yard, which not only allows unscrupulous users to cheat their way through the game for free, but makes the game completely unplayable for the original owner of that yard. The player Gyan1010 has claimed responsibility, explaining on a Kongregate hacking forum how his takeover method also prevents his victim being able to continue to play the game.
Security issues in multiplayer games are nothing new, but Kongregate players are complaining that support for their version of the game is non-existant. There is no Kixeye representative on the Kongregate subforum for the game, and players posting at Kixeye.com find their threads locked with the response that “only the Facebook version of the game is supported here.” Support emails simply receive an automated reply.
In fact, Facebook seems to be Kixeye’s only priority right now, as the app on that platform has received many exclusive updates, including Alliances, fortifications, and an Invasion event. Kixeye has noted that the Facebook platform is much more profitable than any other, and says it deserved the extra work on that basis, but Kongregate players justifiably find this unfair.
One player, under the name of Dragonalx, pointed out to us that Kixeye’s motto is “We don’t make games to make money, we make money to make games”, and said he felt Kixeye wasn’t following this policy by only updating the game on its most profitable platform.
A Kongregate admin said they would “try to get in contact with KIXEYE as soon as possible to see to it that a fix is in the works.” Hopefully this will at least resolve the issue of hijacked yards – but it’s something the developer should already have been working on without pressure from major gaming portals.
Seems to be a very unfortunate case. Obviously something should be done but as of now it seems nothing can be done and it’s leaving many people in the dark.
Kixeye doesn’t just not provide support to Kongregate’s version of Backyard Monsters; it actively opposes anybody asking for them to give support. My thread on the Kixeye forums https://forums.kixeye.com/threads/141748-An-Attempt-to-Logically-Explain-the-General-Annoyance-Among-Kongregate-BYM-Players presented my argument in as calmly and logically a manner as I possibly could, yet it was closed after an hour by a moderator who probably didn’t read any farther than “Kongregate” before locking it. I have not been affected by the problems, but for the sake of those who have, SOMETHING must be done.
i do agree with him
Sucks that gyan can disable our accounts, if he couldn’t I would definetley volunteer to jump to his WM spot with slappy, dss and destroy him :/
Where did Kixeye state that Kongregate was unsupported? Was this posted publicly? I have spent money on Kongregate through Kixeye and would like to be able to cite this in my communications with them and the rest of the Kong community.
-Umo
@umo
look at kongregate’s version then look at facebooks version… i’m sure whether or not kixeye supports kong version is self explanatory.
-redoblivion
If I had known the state of the game on Kongregate prior to my starting (a couple of weeks ago) I would not have spent any of my Kongregate Kreds on the game. I hope they start updating the game (to where Facebook is at) and fixing these bugs. I really do enjoy the game but choose not to use Facebook and have already spent Kreds at Kongregate.
To everyone else: Stay away from the game and don’t support them on Facebook either.
I hope that Kixeye will stop with this campain, and start caring about customers where ever they play.
I am confident that Kixeye will fix and update kongregate BYM.
They are just encountering problems you wouldn’t understand.
I wouldn’t hold your breath for a fix to this bug. The issue on Kongregate has spread to facebook as well and the response is the same: “We’re working on it, but we don’t have an ETA for a fix” I have been a paying customer to the BYM game since its early stages and despite that, I’m still greeted with the same template response that everyone gets for every bug report.
I encourage anyone who has this problem to look into reversing and paypal transactions and disputing any credit card charges for shiny as the kixeye staff has admitted that this problem is a “bug” in their system and they can’t fix it, thus they cannot provide the experience we have paid for.