Discussing Android issues in a thread about FaS features not available to Android

[felicitybliss]

GM, your Moderating and Information-conveying style is generally excellent.

. In general, this is correct. The early responses in this thread and the closing of android threads similar to other threads existing on the boards were examples of poor customer service s****s and not GM's finest moment.

However, I currently find it impossible to believe that the information given is going to please everyone.

It is only impossible as the trust between company and consumer have been broken. Recent actions deepen and reinforce the divide.

[filo66]

Edit: I suppose after re-reading that, we're still not disagreeing on the lack of a committal. However, I just want to be clear on my standpoint as to why.

Fair 'nuff.

You can, I hope, understand my position and frustration as a user and customer. What I want to hear from TL is this:

"We are working as hard as we can to bring our Android products to parity with our iOS products and, once we achieve that parity, we will make every conceivable effort to maintain it so that all of our customers are treated equally and fairly."

I'm not asking you to commit to November 18th (or any other date) as the parity date.

I am not asking you to guarantee 100% parity 100% of the time. Mistakes happen, bugs happen, glitches happen and if TL is making a genuine and recognizable effort to maintain parity and fairness we, the customers, won't fault you for the occasional mishap.

I understand your unwillingness to commit to features and dates. I don't understand or agree with the corporate policy refusing to commit to parity and fairness.

From my perspective it's not an unreasonable request and, as an extra added bonus, it's a really good business model if you're trying to garner that goodwill I mentioned earlier.

But, to date, ya'll have gone the exact opposite way.

You've stated categorically that new features are developed for iOS first and are then ported to Android.

You have stated categorically that you will not hold new features once they are ready.

So, since they will always be ready for iOS first and because you won't hold them once they are done you have, without much reading between the lines, stated just as categorically that Android will always play second fiddle to iOS.

Of course, history has shown this to be true. Every single new feature (constructables, tasks, badges, collectables, etc.) has always come out for iOS well ahead of their Android release, often with new stuff coming to iOS before Android gets the old.

From conversations to date the only thing I can see improving in this model is the gap. If you get enough Android developers then maybe the current 2 month lag drops to a month, but the whole code for iOS -> release for iOS -> port to Android methodology doesn't leave me with much more hope than that.

[nmishii]

I don't want to repeat anything already said so this should be short.

However, in the last 6-7 weeks, iOS users have gotten access to approximately two features and one appliance that Android users have not (this is across all of our games).

There's actually been more released to iOS users than badges, collectables, and a sushi counter, although those are the main features. There's a spreadsheet posted in the Android Feature Parity Discussion thread. I read a post yesterday that notifications were fixed in the last iOS release, and that is not in the spreadsheet.

I think part of the heated discussion generated from this issue is a fault of mine in that I posted the Badges feature would be cross-platform at launch when it was pulled before, unbeknownst to me.

Yes, this was poor. What I still don't understand is, if the Android badges were far enough along in development for TL (the company) to create a thread that made it appear there would be cross-platform at launch, and at the last minute the release was pulled, why aren't badges still not released 2 months later? If the delay had been a week or two, then okay, it is reasonable that something caused the release to not be ready. I was still in the grace period giving TL time to release the Android badges when the collectables, sushi counter, and other features were released to iOS and not Android. That is what got me.

[nmishii]

I forgot to ask:

When can we expect answers to the questions we asked the developers?

[pinkster73]

And don't forget about the halloween versions of everything and the free gifts given to ios users for downloading them that Android users had to pay for. Ex. Halloween cat, raven tree

[pinkster73]

Edit: gifts given to RANDOM ios users, which is a stupidity in itself that has never been explained despite REPEATED requests.

[nmishii]

Edit: gifts given to RANDOM ios users, which is a stupidity in itself that has never been explained despite REPEATED requests.

The randomness of the offers has caused a lot of unhappiness to players. And the promotions might not be any different from other promotions run by other companies, gaming or other. The difference is that with non-TL promotions, the companies disclose what the promotion is and the odds of winning. With TL it is a mystery and people can't understand why one person got something and they didn't. If I pulled the Monopoly stickers off my fries and got a 10th Reading Railroad and a 6th Atlantic Ave, and my friend did the same and won $100 instantly, I would not think of going up to the counter and saying it wasn't fair that my friend won $100 and they should give me $100 also, because I eat more fries than she does. Their rules and odds of winning are documented in advance.

[ariesblu]

I forgot to ask:

When can we expect answers to the questions we asked the developers?

Hopefully we will see something this week.

[sterlingempire]

Oh mio Dio! cos'e quell'orrible rumore?
Mi sembrava che il semaforo fosse verde....C'e dottore in casa?Cinquantotto governi dalla seconda guerra mondiale!

Italian... very nice, HM

[nmishii]

Android users are only on a foreign platform. We don't necessarily speak foreign languages.