Gem Traps continued!!!

[ScotlandPride]

Recently saw a post on here about gem traps, i totally agee that u literally must play RS very cautiously or else u well undoubtedly make some frivilous gem purchases. All i want to get is the pool table for 40 Gems( i will never purchase gems as it is ridiculos to do so) but recently i lost 10 gems to the cook food instantly thing and lost another 2 on orange wall pieces argh. Team lava is really trying my patience and i will be quitting the games if this continues just wondering if its possible to fix this or something as many people have the same issue, i understand its buisness but really i mean come on!

[ariesblu]

I don't think there will be an implementation of any sort to fix this issue. Countless people have lost gems over and over, and nothing has changed, so I don't think there will be much if any improvement on this matter.

[barleycoon]

I'm really sorry to hear you've lost gems, however I personally feel they are not gem traps. Many games are designed this way, most of the time it's because of accidental tapping. Which is not TLs or players fault in any way.
It is completely player choice if to buy gems or not, the games can be played without purchasing any gems. Which not all developers actually do. Many players love purchasing gems as their are many beautiful items to buy, I would be in that group. For free games they are of superb quality.

[Rachael98]

I'm really sorry to hear you've lost gems, however I personally feel they are not gem traps. Many games are designed this way, most of the time it's because of accidental tapping. Which is not TLs or players fault in any way.
It is completely player choice if to buy gems or not, the games can be played without purchasing any gems. Which not all developers actually do. Many players love purchasing gems as their are many beautiful items to buy, I would be in that group. For free games they are of superb quality.

Whilst the latter is perhaps true, it does not change the fact that we'd like an On-Off.
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[nmishii]

I feel that they are gem traps.

TL has read the posts about people losing gems for over a year, and there has been no change made to prevent the accidental loss of gems, which seems to occur daily.

It is silly to have to have to be cautious about how fast you tap and where you tap so that you don't waste gems. It is silly to spend your gems once you get to 24 or 25 so that you don't accidentally buy an extra slot or a random box.

It is possible to fix it so that it isn't as easy to waste gems. They have confirmations on other actions, like selling a chair in BS and RS or a cat-o-lantern in Farm. But they don't have confirmations on gem purchases. If TL cared, they would fix this problem ASAP.

[barleycoon]

I too have always wanted a gem confirmation, as it would reduce the risk to players.
TL do care, we can't possibly know what commitments/plans they may have or not. I know it's upsetting to lose gems, because I've done it myself, however I'd never blame TL.

[nmishii]

TL does not care about people accidentally losing gems, because if they did, there would be some sort of confirmation. There has been plenty of time to implement a confirmation, and they have already implemented it for other actions. Posting that you wish there was a confirmation hasn't worked for over a year.

TL does care about how much money they make, like all businesses. It apparently does not bother them that their customers are accidentally losing their gems and their money and they could easily help prevent it. Even if they don't add a confirmation, moving the slot in Fashion shouldn't be too difficult and they have made no attempt to do that, even though they know from the many posts that many people accidentally buy that extra slot.

[gypsymage]

I quit buying gems after I accidently spend 50 gems trying to click past the "hooray something about new rennaisance stuff" screen. That was an obvious trap since the "ok" button was conveniently placed at the same spot as the items that required gems were. The easiest way to not fall into these traps is not buy gems. Businesses need to learn to treat their customers right instead of trapping them into purchasing what they do not want. I would spend way more if I was treated honestly and fairly, and spend way less if I was not.

[ScotlandPride]

Couldnt agree with that last post more! Quit trapping and start appreiciating your players!

[ultrafrog]

I too have always wanted a gem confirmation, as it would reduce the risk to players.
TL do care, we can't possibly know what commitments/plans they may have or not. I know it's upsetting to lose gems, because I've done it myself, however I'd never blame TL.

You're wrong. They know exactly what they are doing with gem traps. That's why their support policy is to never refund gems for any accidental purchases.

I understand not refunding boxes because they have a random element and can be abused like if you didn't get what you wanted and asked for refund but for set price gem items?

Ok, so your developers haven't gotten around to adding a confirmation. In the meantime why can't support refund people that accidentally purchase other gem items?

Because that's their policy.

[barleycoon]

You're wrong. They know exactly what they are doing with gem traps. That's why their support policy is to never refund gems for any accidental purchases.

I understand not refunding boxes because they have a random element and can be abused like if you didn't get what you wanted and asked for refund but for set price gem items?

Ok, so your developers haven't gotten around to adding a confirmation. In the meantime why can't support refund people that accidentally purchase other gem items?

Because that's their policy.
I completely understand your view, nobody's view is ever wrong. People just have different ideas. I have never believed in the gem trap concept, but that's my view.
TL give players such alot and I'm extremely grateful for that. It's not TLs fault when accidental tapping occurs, or players it just happens. It's not supports fault, so I don't feel they should refund its an accident that occurred. I do however hope we might be given an gem confirmation option. TL spend so much time on these games for us, I feel maybe we all could be a bit appreciative.

[ultrafrog]

Err. You say that like TL is a charity running a clubhouse for us to hang out in after school.

The way you're phrasing things is in a manner that no one is ever 'at fault'.

Support is there to resolve customer issues, of which gem traps are one.

In actuality, it is the player's fault. The player is the one that makes the mistake of misclicking on a gem trap. TL has just created a system that makes it extremely unforgiving to make mistakes.

[barleycoon]

Please show my posts some respect, as I do yours. TL is a business, they need to make profit to survive in this industry and to be able to add new innovation in game which TL constantly do. I do not believe blaming is helpful in this situation, it doesn't resolve anything it just stirs up negatively. Support do an amazing job and it shows how much they really care.
I don't feel this burden should be placed on support, it's not their fault.
I do not feel support should be dealing with this issue, as it's from accidental tapping ie no ones fault.
I don't agree the game was designed to have gem traps, other developers use these concepts too.

[ultrafrog]

Again, accidental tapping the the player's fault as the player made the mistake on clicking on something s/he did not intend.

If TL was doing an amazing job then why are there 20 page threads and other threads regarding this issue all over the forums with 0 resolution?

http://forums.teamlava.com/showthread.php?16926-come-on-team-lava-come-clean-!

Someone brought up the point that it's funny how there is confirmation screen for selling items but none for buying.

If you asked the players, the highest priority would be 'fixing' gem traps, not other issues.

What other developers use gem trap concepts so I can avoid them?

[pinkster73]

Again, accidental tapping the the player's fault as the player made the mistake on clicking on something s/he did not intend.

If TL was doing an amazing job then why are there 20 page threads and other threads regarding this issue all over the forums with 0 resolution?

http://forums.teamlava.com/showthread.php?16926-come-on-team-lava-come-clean-!

Someone brought up the point that it's funny how there is confirmation screen for selling items but none for buying.

If you asked the players, the highest priority would be 'fixing' gem traps, not other issues.

What other developers use gem trap concepts so I can avoid them?

In my experience most other developers have confirmations for spending real money in game.

[farmer1600]

Another thing that's completely absurd is that Team Lava has literally forced me to disable my in app purchase setting due to their ridiculous amount of random pop-ups.

I've NEVER had any purchase/spending/customer service problems with 10 other games on my phone; many of which still hold the credits I purchased months ago - Never...ever... have to worry about losing real currency credits in any other game....except Team Lava's

A years worth of complaints from players and nothing has ever been done about it - Call it whatever you want (I call it gem traps) but the complaints are always about the same specific things - Many posts even show pictures of the button trap placement.

I have to click a button that says ' are you sure you want to sell this cat o lantern for 10 measly coins?' but absolutely no confirmation button whatsoever to spend:
- 5 gems to instant cook a dish
- 25 gems (or 40 or whatever they raised the price to) to buy another fashion ordering slot located directly beside your regular ordering button
- 24 gems if you click ok instead of x; will get you a box item everytime they release a new box and force a pop-up
- 10 gems to get you 10,000 coins??? or 100 gems to get you 100,000 coins?!?!?!?

My money=my choice how to spend it...unless it's a team lava game.

I would never recommend team lava to anyone I know - 5 of my friends recently installed SmurfVillage, Tap Ranch/Tap bistro and Tap Zoo - Almost everything is avail. for coins - I still purchase special items from those games though - Smurf Village just got a new land expansion (for 750 coins!) plus everything is covered in snow right now - Very cool! Still bought smurfberries from them yesterday - Why? To support a company who provides me with a pleasurable (not stressful) gaming experience.

[farmer1600]

p.s. The updates are REALLY great but hard to get too excited when most if not all often cost gems.

[julia3032]

I'm really sorry to hear you've lost gems, however I personally feel they are not gem traps. Many games are designed this way, most of the time it's because of accidental tapping. Which is not TLs or players fault in any way.
It is completely player choice if to buy gems or not, the games can be played without purchasing any gems. Which not all developers actually do. Many players love purchasing gems as their are many beautiful items to buy, I would be in that group. For free games they are of superb quality.

This is ridiculous. Of course it's a gem trap. The game has been designed this way deliberately. Why do we have a confirmation if we want to sell a chair for 50 lousy coins and not for any transactions including gems? I don't mind purchasing gems if I there is something I want to buys. What I do resent is having those gems stolen from me. This does not happen to me very often because I know about them and am very careful about where I put my fingers. Just today though, I lost 40 gems. I was checking a sushi bar box to see how many parts of each kind I still needed. I put my phone down in order to write down the number of each item. I picked my phone up and my finger must have brushed the screen because all the boxes said "completed" I am so disgusted!
If it were not deliberate there would be a confirmation asking if we wanted to spend x amount of gems to complete the item. TL always says they can't refund gems because ppl actually intend to spend them and get "buyers remorse". Who wants to spend money when you can get the items for free from your neighbors??? As for buyers remorse, a confirmation could solve that completely. If you go ahead and hit the confirmation button then you have no excuse. TL's policy of never refunding gems under any circumstances is totally wrong. I play many other games and TL is the only one who doesn't refund gems. All the other games I play have confirmations before you spend. Some even have a "restore" function so you can wipe out your last transaction if you made a mistake.

There is no excuse for this kind of behavior on the part of TL. They make a huge about of money. The gem traps make ppl less likely to buy gems, not more. I was even going to purchase a box after I finished redecorating...since they took 40 gems for no reason, I'm not planning to spend any more money on this game.

[expressW]

I would never recommend team lava to anyone I know - 5 of my friends recently installed SmurfVillage, Tap Ranch/Tap bistro and Tap Zoo - Almost everything is avail. for coins - I still purchase special items from those games though - Smurf Village just got a new land expansion (for 750 coins!) plus everything us covered in snow right now - Very cool! Still bought smurfberries from them yesterday - Why? To support a company who provides me with a pleasurable (not stressful) gaming experience.

I really like smurf village. Very cool, berries last ages and they DO Something! Not just look pretty.
And there is gem confirmations for everything....

TL only still wins out because they update every week...

[felicitybliss]

I really like smurf village. Very cool, berries last ages and they DO Something! Not just look pretty.
And there is gem confirmations for everything....

TL only still wins out because they update every week...
I am not sure that TL wins simply because they update every week. The weekly updates have been unexciting, IMO. Getting a few gem items and a token coin item is hardly something that gets me excited. The last super update, IMO, was the deep fryer in BS. The sushi bar was exciting until I realized that android was left out. My view quickly soured. I am at the point on my games that I have little to do--recipes are completed with level 90+.

With the smurf updates, it is only once a month, but each update is huge. New quests, characters, seasonal changes, land expansion, new items, decorations, and a new game skin make the monthly update simply shine. The new zynga holiday game also is quite interesting and is a complete holiday package (unlike the RS Halloween which had very few Halloween items).,,These companies also have reasonable priced virtual products and have "are you sure?" buttons built in.

The one thing that I think TL excels at is this forum and the level of player interaction regarding TL and non-TL issues within. Oh, I should also mention the neighbor system in game is much, much better in TL games. Many others rely on Facebook or gamecenter for player interaction (which I don't participate in).

Sorry, I am drowsy and getting way off topic....back to topic, it seems that TL is simply not listening to its consumers to eliminate the gem traps. Personally, I started lobbying govt officials to create transparency laws to protect consumers (everything from hidden overage cell phone fees to consumer opt out buttons). If companies won't do the right thing, then I think govt has to step in with regulations. The lack of protection for virtual currency (paid with my real $$$) falls under these issues.

[3squares]

I am not sure that TL wins simply because they update every week. The weekly updates have been unexciting, IMO. Getting a few gem items and a token coin item is hardly something that gets me excited. The last super update, IMO, was the deep fryer in BS. The sushi bar was exciting until I realized that android was left out. My view quickly soured. I am at the point on my games that I have little to do--recipes are completed with level 90+.

With the smurf updates, it is only once a month, but each update is huge. New quests, characters, seasonal changes, land expansion, new items, decorations, and a new game skin make the monthly update simply shine. The new zynga holiday game also is quite interesting and is a complete holiday package (unlike the RS Halloween which had very few Halloween items).,,These companies also have reasonable priced virtual products and have "are you sure?" buttons built in.

The one thing that I think TL excels at is this forum and the level of player interaction regarding TL and non-TL issues within. Oh, I should also mention the neighbor system in game is much, much better in TL games. Many others rely on Facebook or gamecenter for player interaction (which I don't participate in).

Sorry, I am drowsy and getting way off topic....back to topic, it seems that TL is simply not listening to its consumers to eliminate the gem traps. Personally, I started lobbying govt officials to create transparency laws to protect consumers (everything from hidden overage cell phone fees to consumer opt out buttons). If companies won't do the right thing, then I think govt has to step in with regulations. The lack of protection for virtual currency (paid with my real $$$) falls under these issues.

you are my hero. I so admire your activism!

Zynga has a much hyped IPO in the works. I wonder if Consumer relations / customer satisfaction might have more weight if youre planning to go public.

[julia3032]

I rather have the weekly updates...perhaps you don't realize how long we waited for them to fulfill their promise of "weekly updates". Although we desperately need new recipe's in Bakery for the donut and ice cream makers at least we are getting some new content each week. I stopped playing for 5 months because there was absolutely no updates except for the boxes for months and months. Don't discourage them...it took so long to get this. I'd rather they just take away the gem traps. How they don't understand how much this works against profits is beyond me.

[mushroom79]

I completely understand your view, nobody's view is ever wrong. People just have different ideas. I have never believed in the gem trap concept, but that's my view.
TL give players such alot and I'm extremely grateful for that. It's not TLs fault when accidental tapping occurs, or players it just happens. It's not supports fault, so I don't feel they should refund its an accident that occurred. I do however hope we might be given an gem confirmation option. TL spend so much time on these games for us, I feel maybe we all could be a bit appreciative.

Not when they change a cash item to CC or gem item overnight and cause players to waste gems! so are we suppose to check EVERYTHING we do now, from gifting to planting to cooking to buying deco in case anything changes to gems/CC? Well, having to watch out for gem traps in whatever we do, takes away the fun from the game.

[ultrafrog]

Well it's not that things "change" from being coin items to gem instead, it's that the game is riddled with virtual land mines that preys on people's mistakes.

They're everywhere -
Instant finish cooking
Instant complete easy appliance, both components and appliance
Mystery boxes, the whole expand tab is a very dangerous place to be, you can mistakenly spend a lot of coin there.
Then you have pop ups flying in your face to contend with

I think it's the opinion of many players that you should only have gems spend WHEN YOU INTEND TO. It's not fair to get it taken away because you made a mistake and have the company say oh so sorry, no refunds. It seriously can't be the best solution that you keep below 24 gems to make it more difficult to accidentally spend.

If it's because of lack of time to develop the features for confirmation, then why can't support assist in the meantime and offer refunds for mistaken clicks? It's a complete cop out to say that 'it's not support's fault' so they shouldn't do anything about it. Again this is because of their policies to have gem traps in the game, not because they are actively trying to remedy the issue but can't.

[felicitybliss]

you are my hero. I so admire your activism!

Zynga has a much hyped IPO in the works. I wonder if Consumer relations / customer satisfaction might have more weight if youre planning to go public.

Thank you, but anyone can raise their voice. :) I read Zynga's SEC filings. This is not a stock I would purchase. The number of customers that it has to replace to stay financially even is phenomenal. From the filing, I could understand why they are in acquisitions mode.

[imnotbernard959]

i just bought a 4 gem table because of a misclick. was 1 more gems til i got the tv

[mickeymaes]

I dont understand why some people dont think that TL is using gem-traps! Once I bought a box and recieved my price, and then TL puts a 'buy again' button instead of were the 'okay' button would normally be. Its awfull!!!!

[manger63]

Im sorry to hear that you lost your gems. its not a gem trap. sorry, its your fault.

[mickeymaes]

in holland we say that you have got a board infront of your head if you don't aknowledge something that is so obvious

[pinkster73]

I dont understand why some people dont think that TL is using gem-traps! Once I bought a box and recieved my price, and then TL puts a 'buy again' button instead of were the 'okay' button would normally be. Its awfull!!!!

Most people here believe they are gem traps. There's about 3 who don't. The majority are with you.

[nmishii]

I came across two gem traps that aren't gem traps anymore. I would say what they are, but TL might read this thread and realize they accidently removed the gem traps and restore them. Its still a gem trap in my third game.

[sheannam]

I absolutely agree! I am often very frustrated in TS, as this is much worse than RS or BS, in terms of 'traps'. I hate if you have no food in your backpack, it will put up a similar message regarding using gems to refill energy.

Absolutely sketchy and unnecessary. There are already many 'paying' points to the games- you shouldn't have to trick us into it. I think there needs to be confirmation in cases like this.

To help, I've found that not redeeming my treasures until I have enough of them for what I want to spend the gems on, helps me keep my 'gems' safe.

[mushroom79]

ridiculous that we have to be ever so careful in anything we do just to avoid the gem traps that are everywhere. it takes away the fun....

[ultrafrog]

Guys be careful, with the latest update it's possible to instant complete all your appliances in addition to just one. That means if you have 18 appliances you'd be spending 90 gems to finish cooking your food.

It's no wonder that the best idea in this game is to not have gems saved up. Why risk losing nearly 10 US dollars on a misclick with absolutely no recourse.

Actually it's close to 20 bucks since that is what 105 gems costs

[nmishii]

Guys be careful, with the latest update it's possible to instant complete all your appliances in addition to just one. That means if you have 18 appliances you'd be spending 90 gems to finish cooking your food.

It's no wonder that the best idea in this game is to not have gems saved up. Why risk losing nearly 10 US dollars on a misclick with absolutely no recourse.

Instantly completing cooking is one of the gem traps that keep getting mentioned in gem trap threads. I guess 5 gems wasn't enough for them to ***** people out of. It looks like TL really does listen to our feedback - they read that we instantly complete dishes a lot. Then they made is so that more gems can be lost when doing that.

[nidaa007]

yeah thts really disgusting.... when u actually save gems to get something u really want and end up buying something else just cuz of accidently hitting gem purchases.... i Saved 24 gems on RS to get holiday gift... but wht happend yesterday.... i accidently hit woodland box while scrolling through design items..... n duh..!!! instantly i got a new item n all gems were lost.... now where was tht CONFIRMATION message... ???? tht i really want to spend my 24 gems or not....... :(

this is really not fair.... i think there r loads of players who purchase gems.... TL doesnt need such cheap ways to earn money... they should create some confirmation options to pop up before buying gem items.... !

[Oiishi_desu]

Just to share.. After TL's maintenance glitch causes me to lose ALL my tiles and floor, I was compensated with total 100gems. Together with my existing gems I had close to 200gems in all. During a routine tipping of neighbors tables RS reported lost of connection and reload while I was at my nbr's. An accidental click on the promo item at the time (costing 68gems) did not set me back by 68 gems but RESETTED my gem total to 68 instead! And since I was at my nbrs there is no space to put the item in the shop, I return to my restaurant to maybe work around the item I had bought by accident. But the item was no where to be seen. I had thought since I was not able to place the item maybe I didn't manage to buy it, or it was in storage( it wasn't, I've checked).. But fact remains that I've lost over 100gems AND gotten nothing from it.. Idk if it's a glitch but it did made me wary from now on.

[greygull]

Email support@teamlava.com Give them your ID, game name, devise and version, and what you said here. They will be able to look into your game and see what happened.

[cameronphilips]

Yap the day i feared finally happened, today i have misclicked the complete all and used up basically my remaining gems.

[mboo3]

I don't like the mystery boxes that is my most common misclick, when i'm trying to
lay tile. I wist that there was a 'click to buy' button. I want to redecorate for new year's
and wanted to spend jems on that not a falcon.

[graciebell3]

When there are buttons placed to perform a function which 99 percent of players would never choose, which also cost dozens of gems, that is a trap. For example: recover all spoiled food for 60 gems, that is an example of a trap.

[mushroom79]

and most obviously the swapping of the buttons too. And after you choose correctly to discard all spoilt food, u still have to go to every freaking appliance to discard each spoilt food, each time running the risk of losing 5 gems. Dont get it. Since in the 1st popup, I already chose discard all, why must we still go to individual appliance to discard one byone again? the answer is simple. Increase the probability of gem traps. I wouldnt be surprised if one day, after we select discard all, and go to each appliance to discard each spoilt food, there will be an additional option for each appliance: "Recover ALL INSTANTLY for XX gems", just like the new button for cooking"ALL FOOD INSTANTLY". I am not giving ideas but just speculating and reminding players out there to be wary of new gem traps. Because the more we ask for a confirm button, the more traps we get.

[estiquesophy]

I have the same sentiments! It happened to my fashion story, bakery and pets as well! I would really appreciate if more players stand up against such traps to earn our hard cash!

[estiquesophy]

I have written to TeamLava that I will be writing to my country's newspaper forums for games. I will also be writing to Apple' s iTunes store since this concern their in app sales as well. Since TeamLava is ignoring our posts in their forum, then severe actions need to be taken.

[MrAwesome401]

Today, the game was stuck or not in sync with the server and when it came back, all my uncork food was done and I was out 55 gems. I doubt team larva would refund my gems. I am almost to the point of not playing anymore than fall into any more gem traps. It took me a long time to save up those gems. I certainly was not going to spent it on spending up my cooking!

[ultrafrog]

Today, the game was stuck or not in sync with the server and when it came back, all my uncork food was done and I was out 55 gems. I doubt team larva would refund my gems. I am almost to the point of not playing anymore than fall into any more gem traps. It took me a long time to save up those gems. I certainly was not going to spent it on spending up my cooking!

I find that the game lags more than ever which causes inadvertent misclicks. This is especially true when you restart the game and all the popups start flying in your face.

Really sucks that TL continues to rob players this way.

[ggfdddgh]

I can't believe i just lost 70 gems to a gem trap! so upsetting :-(

[maguar]

Sorry to hear this.

I'm closing this thread as its years old. This is a more current thread (http://forums.storm8.com/showthread.php?60673-Confirmation-button&highlight=Confirmation).