It's not like cRPG is some bureaucratic, red tape nightmare, and it's not like this guy's mortgage/money/job/life/whatever depends on it. People have a direct line of communication with the devs (whenever they're not, you know, living their lives) and nothing, nothing at all in this game is worth turning into an entitled brat to get your way. Squeaky wheel might get the grease in RL in most situations, but this is a frigging forum for a free online video game. It's a terrible comparison. No one is asking people to be pushovers.
How someone with less of a sense of entitlement would have handled this? Log on IRC, query one of the devs after asking who is around, tell them "Hey, there seems to have been a mistake, some of the looms I traded disapeared, I got them from that scammer but I had no idea it was hot goods, any way of getting either my item or the money back?". Stomping around demanding to see the manager might get you results down at the local McDonalds, but here it's just gonna make the devs ignore you.
See following post
Probably right.
Should also probably have followed the usual form of approach:
1. Call customer support (IRC?). If this doesn't work and produce results, step 2.
2. Write formal letter of complaint to higher ups (chadz ect) involving threatening of lawyers and to take it public. If this still fails then step 3.
3. GO PUBLIC with an epic story of how you were horribly wronged (General Discussion forum).
Anyway, devs may spend hours of their day making the mod. But we spend hours of our day playing it. You need both to have something. Having one without the other is useless unless devs are happy to just spend time coding ect for the sake of it. The same way a business needs customers. Just because a business splashes out lots of money to make something, doesn't mean we don't equally spend a lot of money/effort to buy it. In terms of crpg it's a time investment. It's the exact same thing.
If devs wrong someone and remove something they've spent hours and hours working on (i.e gaining heirlooms and being able to trade them). Then I personally think you should have every right to feel a sense of entitlement and as such be able to demand compensation or whatever. The same way the devs should feel entitled to slam anyone who tells them they are doing a crappy job at coding the game or if someone say copies their work without their permission, because that's what they've spent tons of time doing.
Yes Gawin should probably have approached the devs more directly than a post on the forums. But I still think even if he had, there should be nothing wrong in feeling a sense of entitlement. As both sides have invested something in this mod. Arguing that this mod is free, as some have, has nothing to do with it. If I were the devs I'd jump at the chance to help someone I may have wronged. Regardless of how they approached me. As it was likely my fault in the first place. It helps if the community see's that such things are dealt with quickly.
Edit:
It's already been stated that the devs are known trolls. And it's a bit sad that they are viewed that way in my opinion. This mod would grow a lot more if both sides dealt with each more decently. But fact is, if you make a complaint as such, and all you receive are some unhelpful answers from devs/admins/whatever. Then people are not going to respect the devs regardless of the work they do.
Just as if you come on here and write a post flaming the devs/swearing/insulting ect, then you will lose the respect of them and the community.
But Gawin's post I think was well addressed, even if he should have gone to them directly first.
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