Founders, Benefactors, and doing the right thing

Of course I am! Until there is a "founder button" how are all the other Benefactors going to know they can upgrade to Founder? This thread was started with Benefactor fairness in mind.

And if Portalarium wants to reward me for my efforts, then I will gladly accept.

 

I was not saying it was a bad thing for you to be doing, I mentioned a few times that its very smart for people to do right now, even if I don't agree with them allowing it. My beef is with Portalarium and how they have handled this whole thing, and not with the players who are making the best of a fairly lucrative opportunity.

 

*slows roll* I don't mean to be sleazy Grace. Usually the OP sets the topic of a given thread, so by claiming that the thread is about topic X, you are generally claiming that the OP's real topic was topic X. Also, as someone who is familiar with the sharp nature of forum environments, I always read the entire thread before I post, and just like it isn't fair to claim that this thread is about upset founders losing their exclusive capes, it isn't fair to call me sleazy and assert that I have not read the entire thread.

Perhaps we're all getting a little too heated over this. I've just found it difficult to look back on 6 pages of Adam constantly needing to reclaim his original point.

Yes that is what I am suggesting (I got the idea from the OP though to be clear). I get the idea of compensating Founders for losing the KS exclusivity, but this isn't the way to do it. The compensation is being distributed among only a handful of founders who are cashing in on this (ofc I don't blame anyone for using the system as designed), and it isn't easing tensions any.

I'm not sure if anything can rectify this situation in the eyes of those who feel cheated, but I believe that the sketchy third-party approach just makes things worse.

 

Depends upon if you think this action was taken for the benefit of the game, or if you think things should be done exclusively for the benefit of contributors. I am participating for the sake of seeing the game developed, not for the sake of what I'm going to get out of it personally.

I'm seeing many expressions of selfish entitlement that are not very flattering.

 

I think it was done for the benefit of the game; I also think it was meant to be a well-intentioned bone thrown to the Founder community as well; one that had some semantics attached to it that may have not been initially foreseen.

In the end it's looking like it's been somewhat of a can of worms. I can understand points on both sides. But what can be done about it now? No matter what that might be, I can't see it being anything that doesn't complicate things.

 

Can we sell our accounts?

 

If you can find a buyer nothing can stop you from selling your login.

 

I know I'm doing the right thing by facilitating these hundreds of people who want to get the same rewards I have, many of whom simply didn't pledge before because they hadn't heard about it. Also, if my help saves them money, and gets me to Lord tier, all the better.

 

Echoing this question, is there any official word on this? Now that we can peddle gift pledges for referral profit, are we allowed to flat-out sell our accounts?

 

I don't know about you, but I am ready to abandon this farce if i can sell my account for what I paid for it.

 

You've been pretty negative through the entire development process so this is no surprise.

 

I'd say more critical than negative. I don't want the game to fail if there is a straightforward game to be made, but I don't really care for all the shadiness and duplicity on the business end and this artificial class warfare meta-game that keeps playing out over Founder vs. Benefactor in different ways whether it be over access, the land rush, or any other silly artificial velvet rope that tends to manifest itself within the community. I wish I could be a true believer and self-serving opportunist, but I'm not and cannot be, so yeah, if I could sell my account with Portalarium's blessing (or get a refund) I'd gladly depart and leave all of you to feed off one another ala Lord of the Flies.

Now, if this continued fiasco is a means to create some incentive for PVP, well to that I say (NSFW):

 

This is what I'm talking about. Who has which cape in game doesn't bother me in the slightest (and I'm glad to see that this is the case for most), but the manner in which Portalarium is being represented has diminished my pride and confidence in them. Like Kambrius, if I wasn't bothered by the perceived lack of integrity, I'd happily become an opportunist, and open up another pledge-upgrade shop for Portalarium. The thing is, I never agreed to become a pseudo-employee of Portalarium in exchange for giving them my money before a certain date.

Even this convoluted insecure third-party system wouldn't be a negative, if only it were what we all agreed to in the Kickstarter. The cardinal sin of Kickstarting a project is saying something in the Kickstarter that you have to later go back on. Understandably, this issue arose from unforeseen abuse on the part of a small group of witty founders, but rather than fix this system and stop future abuses to happen, Portalarium decided to simply condone the exploitation. Whether this happened because it was easier than fixing the exploit, or because Portalarium sought more funding is irrelevant. What matters is that part of the KS terms, which were specifically used to solicit funding, have been forwent.

 

I have no idea what's going on here.

Does this mean I can finally add my fiancee, whose pledge I "gifted" long, long ago (before gifting) can finally be tied to my account?

If so, I'm all for it.

 

On the other hand, the process allows me to gift my wife an account so we can play together, at the same time, and both be founders. People are fallible, and can't foresee all consequences or repercussions. I do think this was done with the best of intentions IMHO.

V

 

To clarify, what this change means is that (in a positive light), if your wife is a benefactor, you can gift her a founder pledge (assuming you are a founder). Even if you aren't a founder yourself, you can be gifted a founder pledge from any founder willing.

In a negative light, what this change means is that if you purchase a Portalarium product on the premise that there is a purchase deadline, they may betray that premise after they've received your money.

If you bought your wife a pledge before the referral program, there is no way to get referral credit for her. This is probably because players would falsely "refer" each other if this were possible.

In Counter-Chronological Order:

As long as things remain civil, nothing about this thread breaches the ToS or serves to offend anyone. If there is one thing that I know for sure about Portalarium, its that they do value our input and concerns, and want to foster a community of players who feel comfortable being honest with them.

 

Or...err... Good Madame

I, too, will be refraining from creating a virtual store in the farcical "player marketplace".

It feels.... well... less than Virtuous.

 

Allow me to play you my theme song:

 

We need a Mod to lock this thread and just end this fighting... we all have our own thoughts and feelings... enough already...

 

I happen to be one of those users who only heard about this game a couple of weeks back, so missed out on being a founder.

Though I consider this a ridiculously handled fiasco, it does open the door to allow me to receive Founder status (and whatever rewards are included in that status), for what I consider a mere pittance.

Doing so helps another player attain a higher tier they are striving for, helps Portalarium with much needed funds, and helps myself of course.

Unfortunately, the only ones who feel slighted are those that felt Founder status should be an exclusive entitlement, which due to an obscure gifting loophole it never really was.

I consider it a win-win. My apologies to everyone who does not.