Email of the Day

Here’s a nice email I got today:

Hello im (removed) ((removed)) I have been playing this game for a long while before it closed, as you can see this is a new account that i have made. There are alot of people unhappy with things in There, but oviously Mitchel Wilson doesn’t care about people here and he seems to only care about the fact that There.com is one of the “best” virtual worlds now. Lots of people wanted to change their name tag colour but Mitchel does not alow that and so am I asking why? But thats not the main problem. The main problem is that he does not at all care about what the people want and I know what they want. Some people want they’re teens to play There again and some people dont want to pay a monthly fee also lots of people are getting bannded now then back when There was 13+ and i want to understand why? What do you care about the most? Your making this game boring now and now there are little people playing and that might not matter to you because all that matters is the money thats enables you to live. I have always wanted to do something in There, maybe help it grow or something but from what i’ve been hearing and from what I saw, I think that this game will soon close and this time temporaily. All I want is that you make There a better place and that if there is anything i can do tell me. Even though your saying that your doing all you can to make it a better place, there are things that people want that you dont know about and that i haven’t mentioned. People want alot of things in There and maybe you could change some things, infact why dont you appear yourself in zona island and answer a few questions.

Thank you for your time.

From: (removed)

So I wanted to respond to these statements publicly, since, apparently “everyone” has these concerns.

• “viously Mitchel Wilson doesn’t care about people here and he seems to only care about the fact that There.com is one of the “best” virtual worlds now.” I think my actions – supporting There when it never made money, then supporting it’s re-opening speak for themselves here. Well as much as I’d like to speak on the topic. Oh, but I do believe that There.com’s community is and has always been the “best” virtual world communities there are.
• “Lots of people wanted to change their name tag colour but Mitchel does not alow that and so am I asking why?”. The answer to that is that the There Games would become a far less fun, since you’d have everyone changing their nametag color to “join” the team they want, not to mention changing them mid-games. It would be Lance Armstrong all over again (“I NEVER used nametag coloring substances”).
• “Your making this game boring now and now there are little people playing and that might not matter to you because all that matters is the money thats enables you to live.”. The problem with that statement is that I don’t make any money, heck, I don’t even collect a salary. And oh, I don’t know what to say about “little people” playing. Do you mean like “Short People“?
• “Some people want they’re teens to play There again”. We’ve discussed that here many times. The fact is to allow people under 18 in world requires that we supply a level of Customer Support and Moderation we can’t afford, not to mention the liability aspect. I know that lots of people think if they, or their parents, or they impersonating their parents, sign a document agreeing that There is not liable, that’s “good enough”, but it’s not. Not to mention the fact that a lot of people have commented that There is BETTER when we ask teens to please go do something different with their youth than hanging out in a virtual world. I’m pretty sure everyone in There would rather see teenagers reading, or outside, or studying, socializing in Real Life, or even taking a class in spelling and grammar than spending all their time in any virtual world.
• “some people dont want to pay a monthly fee”. We’ve talked about this a lot. If we don’t charge a monthly fee, two things happen: One, we get thousands of Alts, not to mention Alts of Banned Members and Griefers. Two, There.com goes broke and closes, this time forever. Actually just one thing happens: There goes broke, and closes.
• “also lots of people are getting bannded now then back when There was 13+ and i want to understand why”. I can’t quite parse that sentence, but we will continue to ban people that break the Terms of Service, abuse the Developer system, or Developer Submissions review system.

At the end of the day, the way you can support There is like everyone else does: Throw events. Greet newbies. Start a neighborhood (if you can afford it). Teach people stuff. There are LOTS of opportunities to help There, and some fantastic examples everywhere.