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Era-Trolls . . . do you hate such play?

DeletedUser117706

you are making assumptions about other people's motives for the way they play, to suit your own prejudices

this is a strategy game, their strategy is to gain a lot of power in their city, rather than race ahead
there are many ways to play

you are given lots chances to advance and many ways to defend against attacks
your strategy appears to be complain rather than do something positive, like advance your city and become more powerful yourself

the neighbourhoods change regularly and there can't be many who you call era-trolls, so they will rotate out of your neighbourhood quite soon

rise to the challenge and overcome it, if our distant ancestors took the attitude of it's too difficult, it's not fair, etc.. etc.., we would still be sitting in trees picking bugs out of each others fur

. . . you are just trying to dismiss that era-trolls are cyber-bullies. When a player expresses upset over plundering, to do it over and over and over again and call them a complainer or laugh at them is cyber-bulling.

Your lineage from ape like creatures, rjs66, is not the issue here - whether you continue to drag your knuckles on the ground in support of cyber-bullying is.

Re-read the original post, you have got it wrong again, and you are just attacking me, not the posting.
 

DeletedUser108359

This discussion has been taking place for years, and probably will continue for years to come.
This game started out purely as a war game. It was advertised as such. The game was simple, build an empire, attack and plunder as much as you could, and try limit it being done back to you.
However over the years it has evolved into a social game as well. The inception of the friend's tavern being one main part of this.
As Agent has stated, there are GB's which offer extra to the plunderer, but there are also GB's which do the same for the aider.
There are quests which ask you to attack and even plunder, quests which asks you to aid and motivate. ( BTW. there are far more of the 2nd than the 1st )
All of these are facts that players and prospective players know.

There are campers, people who stay in a particular era for an exceptionally long time. They have their reasons for doing this, and that is their own free choice. They have advantages and disadvantages because of this choice.
There are speedsters, people who rush ahead through the ages to get as high as possible, as quick as possible. They too encounter some advantages as well as disadvantages to this strategy.

There are players who play the game, they will attack and perhaps not plunder, only wanting the points for the pvp towers.
There are those who will plunder, sometimes because they need something you have, sometimes just because they can and it's part of their game.
Then there are the ones who will attack and plunder smaller players for no other reason than because they enjoy the feeling of power it gives them and the more these players moan and complain and swear or send them "fan mail" the happier they are. This is their objective, to upset these other players they attack.
These players usually don't like it when the 'worm turns' and hits them back, then they come with the fan mail. Usually it's something like, " now i will attack and plunder you every day" or "i will attack your guildmates" The last guy who said that to me, my answer was " good luck with that ". Still waiting for him to plunder me daily.
I'm not going to post all the many, many ways of dealing with these things. The forum is overcrowded with advise and strategies already.
Trolls.... The dictionary describes these as : "someone who leaves an intentionally annoying message on the internet, in order to get attention or cause trouble. a message that someone leaves on the internet that is intended to annoy people: A well-constructed troll will provoke irate or confused responses from flamers and newbies". Internet terminology.
The best way to deal with a troll is to block or just ignore them, sooner or later they will get bored and move on. Ps. the same strategy works for "bullies" as well.

My main point here is this... If INNO do as you ask, how do they target the players you are referring to without also "punishing" the players who are just playing the game the way it was (a ) meant to be played or (b) in their own way.

I will answer that myself. They can't.
So the answer is simple. Accept the game and play it as best as you can. Everyone has different opinions and ideas, As i believe i have said before. You can argue about facts and figures, you cannot argue about the way another player plays the game. You can disagree, ( but only based on your own strategy ) you cannot say they are wrong and you are right. or visa versa.
 

Emberguard

Legend
. . . you are just trying to dismiss that era-trolls are cyber-bullies. When a player expresses upset over plundering, to do it over and over and over again and call them a complainer or laugh at them is cyber-bulling.
If I get upset over another player gaining points and they don't stop gaining points would that then make them a bully?

Simply not liking an aspect of the game doesn't make someone a bully for utilising it. We all signed up to play a game. Games almost always have losses of items or the expectation that your opponent will try everything in their power to defeat you. You haven't lost anything tangible from being plundered because the game provided it for you with that purpose.

I'd love it if those who are being plundered stayed in the game and used it as a learning opportunity to use the tools available to come up with a solution. Usually the players saying they have a plunderer problem actually have a city layout problem. If they fixed the city layout the plunderer problem would self resolve simply due to the increase in productivity. The attacker already is so restricted that they can barely touch another players city.
 

rjs66

Lieutenant
you call people cyber bullies because of they way they play the game, i doubt that they single out people specifically, they are merely attacking and plundering because it is a feature of the game that they have decided to use

if you chose to do things differently to them then so be it, but don't complain if their strategy is working better than yours, or doesn't suit the way you want to play

your claim that i have got it wrong shows that you are not ready to listen to anyone's views unless they support your own
and the fact that you claim i am attacking you shows a lot about how you see your own personal views as an absolute truth

all i have done here is provide an alternative view point, that shows that you can deal with the so called era-trolls, it is possible, but it will take some effort on the part of the players

you claim that these people are bullies without knowing anything about them other than the way they play the game

when i first started playing i got attacked regularly and plundered quite a bit, i accepted it as part of the game
i learned to to collect on time and make it difficult for the attacker, i grew stronger and my city expanded, now i don't get attacked and plundered nearly so much
i was faced with a challenge and i found a way to beat it, if i can do that so can anybody else
 

DeletedUser117706

My main point here is this... If INNO does as you ask, how [would] they target the players you are referring to without also "punishing" the players who are just playing the game the way it was (a ) meant to be played or (b) in their own way.

Obviously Inno Games can address this issue. Even if it is hard, it is worthwhile to expand and retain customers of Inno Games. Revenues are tied to customer retention and allowing a few bad customers (era-trolls/cyber-bullies) to drive away a large number of customers is bad business and impacts investors revenues negatively. It is important the game moderators encourage solutions and support ideas that improve customer retention rather than lower it. Era-trolls are a significant source of damage to Inno Games revenues within Forge of Empires because the cause new customers to quit. This can significantly harm future revenues.

Who are bad customers? They are customers who cause other customers to seek other vendors due to negative behaviors.

Who are good customers? They are customers who do not interfere with other customers but rather encourage participation.
---------
To answer your question, did you not read the section of the Original posting "Solutions?"

Also, tell me what is wrong with "punishing" as you call it (I have never used such a term), era-trolls (cyber-bullies). You acknowledge these players engage deliberately in their bullying behaviors because they get pleasure from upsetting others and even making them quit. Terms like "fan mail" or dismissive commentary, like "This is just an old issue that everyone argues about" shouldn't be part of this discussion. This discussion is precisely about finding solutions. If your reply is, a fatalistic, "Accept the game" or a negative "They can't" change it, a more positive response in the discussion would forward the matter of addressing cyber-bullying by era-trolls; using your position of authority as a moderator to discourage others not to speak up about cyber-bullying being practiced by era-trolls, frankly can't be the purpose of the Forums. In that case, the Forums would not be for discussion, but would just devolve into Tokenism.

To answer the two questions you proposed (somewhat rhetorically):
(a) see "(B)" of the original post 2 through 4 points . . . which do you think would not work and why?
(b) era-trolls who by your admission are deliberately engaged in cyber-bullying should not be allowed to play "in their own way" as that way is cyber-bullying. That said, read point "(B) 4." of the original post to see if that would solve the problem with as little interference as possible.​

I have two further questions for you:
  1. Do you feel that if something is hard to do, one should not attempt it?
  2. Are you speaking officially for Inno Games position when you say "They can't" target cyber-bullies?
----
Original Post: Points B. 2 through 4

(B)
Possible Solution
s:
  1. . . .
  2. Inno Games could base local neighborhood placement on age-of-player, not era. Example: A player who has been in Early Middle Age for 2 years will be placed in a local neighborhood populated by players of an era equivalent to 2-years of play (like Virtual Future era) when neighborhood rotations occur;
  3. Leave neighborhood rotations the same but if a player has been in a specific era (like Early Middle Age) for more than 3 months, limit who they can attack/plunder/sabotage to only players with similar numbers of months in the game. Example: A player who has been in Early Middle Age for 4 months, will only be able to attack or plunder players that have been in that Early Middle Age era for at least 3 months.
  4. Limit plunder/sabotage ability to only players who have an equal number of months in the game. Example: A player who has been playing for 2 years in Early Middle Age attacks a player who has only been playing one month - the era-troll can only win the battle and cannot plunder the new player's city or sabotage it. The era-troll can get a battle win, but can't take resources or slow the new player down by sabotage.
 

DeletedUser117706

This discussion has been taking place for years, and probably will continue for years to come.
. . .
So the answer is simple. Accept the game and play it as best as you can. Everyone has different opinions and ideas, As i believe i have said before. You can argue about facts and figures, you cannot argue about the way another player plays the game. You can disagree, ( but only based on your own strategy ) you cannot say they are wrong and you are right. or visa versa.

. . . I feel based on the last two moderator responses to my original posting, I should clarify that I sent this issue to Inno Games in a Support Ticket Request after several new players I know through the game began expressing significant upset and disgust over being exposed to era-trolls who were insulting them in reply to messages the new players had sent asking the era-trolls to stop since the era-trolls clearly held an unfair advantage from being in the era for what appeared to be at least two years.

Inno Games replied to my support ticket by suggesting I post into the Forums, which is what I have done here.

It appears that the overwhelming majority of responses have been from era-trolls/cyber-bully supporters who feel it is their right to make other customers of Inno Games feel bad, insult them, and even make the new players quit. There is no doubt era-trolls cost Inno Games significant future revenues when these era-trolls cause new players to quit. This is disturbing, as not a single commenter offered a solution response to my original post that in it's last line asked for solutions.

My understanding of forum moderators is they are tasked with promoting interaction among the members of a forum . ... The members of a forum convene to discuss specific topics and it is the duty of the moderator to encourage lively debate and discussion that is enriching to all participants.

I'm not sure how saying Inno Games "can't" and "Accept the game" the way it is promotes any discussion. In fact, it appears to kill discussion.

I again ask if the moderators represent Inno Games formal position that the cyber-bullying that era-trolls are engaging in is acceptable and will not be considered or addressed?
 
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DeletedUser117706

Bullied in the message centre? It’s not the plunderers that send bullying messages via the message centre, it’s the plundered

That seems like a pro-cyber-bully stance for sure. It is impossible for a 1 month old new player to exploit the power imbalance between them and an era-troll who has been playing for 2 years.

Blaming the victims of bullying is nothing new.
 
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Thomas Covenent

Lieutenant-General
So here's my last few days...
1. I was happily sitting by, 'lurking in the shadows' so to speak, on a Summer event prize wheel that had a Lv.1 Crow's Nest as the 'gold' prize.
I had been patiently waiting for over 40min, watching other 'hoodies clean out the 'rubbish' prizes so that I would be able to snipe the gold prize using far fewer doubloons.
NB: This. Is. Not. A. Toolbag. Move!
This is just common bloody sense, saving your own event currency, and letting others spend theirs to take non-desirable prizes, thus giving you better odds (and typically more!) of the better prizes.

2. Some idiot 'hoodie comes in, and refreshes the wheel, erasing the Lv.1 Corw's Nest for a near useless Store Building kit.
They don't take any more spins - they literally just refreshed the wheel and walked away.

3. I have now spent the last 5 days since this happened, attacking and plundering them daily, as I feel that they are the fiend, having ruined my event play for no apparent reason!

Obviously, the OP will call me a filthy, trolling cyber-bully and likely go full Godwyn...
But look at it from another point of view: is not just randomly refreshing the prize wheel an equal form of 'bullying' in the game? There's plenty of players who freely admit that their only goal during this event is to enrage other players by constantly hitting the refresh button, just to screw them out of the 'good' prizes.
So why not say, "fair is fair", and hit them back if you're able too?!

I might spend some of my (albeit free) diamonds on this event. But if I can't even win any gold prizes because a 'hoodie likes to just come in and refresh the wheel whenever they see Crow's Nests, or Ship upgrades, or SoK's, etc... as the gold prizes, I'M NOT SPENDING ANY DIAMONDS!
So instead, if I am able to, I will renlentlessly hit them back daily and plunder what I can since I'm not getting much shot at winning anything valuable in the event due to either their sheer stupid ignorance and/or desire to troll other 'hoodies through the prize wheel.
 

DeletedUser108359

Obviously Inno Games can address this issue. Even if it is hard, it is worthwhile to expand and retain customers of Inno Games. Revenues are tied to customer retention and allowing a few bad customers (era-trolls/cyber-bullies) to drive away a large number of customers is bad business and impacts investors revenues negatively. It is important the game moderators encourage solutions and support ideas that improve customer retention rather than lower it. Era-trolls are a significant source of damage to Inno Games revenues within Forge of Empires because the cause new customers to quit. This can significantly harm future revenues.

Who are bad customers? They are customers who cause other customers to seek other vendors due to negative behaviors.

Who are good customers? They are customers who do not interfere with other customers but rather encourage participation.
---------
To answer your question, did you not read the section of the Original posting "Solutions?"

Also, tell me what is wrong with "punishing" as you call it (I have never used such a term), era-trolls (cyber-bullies). You acknowledge these players engage deliberately in their bullying behaviors because they get pleasure from upsetting others and even making them quit. Terms like "fan mail" or dismissive commentary, like "This is just an old issue that everyone argues about" shouldn't be part of this discussion. This discussion is precisely about finding solutions. If your reply is, a fatalistic, "Accept the game" or a negative "They can't" change it, a more positive response in the discussion would forward the matter of addressing cyber-bullying by era-trolls; using your position of authority as a moderator to discourage others not to speak up about cyber-bullying being practiced by era-trolls, frankly can't be the purpose of the Forums. In that case, the Forums would not be for discussion, but would just devolve into Tokenism.

To answer the two questions you proposed (somewhat rhetorically):
(a) see "(B)" of the original post 2 through 4 points . . . which do you think would not work and why?
(b) era-trolls who by your admission are deliberately engaged in cyber-bullying should not be allowed to play "in their own way" as that way is cyber-bullying. That said, read point "(B) 4." of the original post to see if that would solve the problem with as little interference as possible.​

I have two further questions for you:
  1. Do you feel that if something is hard to do, one should not attempt it?
  2. Are you speaking officially for Inno Games position when you say "They can't" target cyber-bullies?
----


My post was this.
( My main point here is this... If INNO do as you ask, how do they target the players you are referring to without also "punishing" the players who are just playing the game the way it was (a ) meant to be played or (b) in their own way.

I will answer that myself. They can't.)

A) If you are going to quote my posts, please be so kind as to quote the complete section, and not take a small part of it and use it out of context.
B) If you think it is possible to determine who are, as you call them, cyber bullies and "punish" them and not the people who are just playing the game. Please feel free to inform us of how this can be done.

2ndly i am not speaking for Inno, when i say they can't. I am speaking for myself, because i see no simple way that they can 'target' your 'cyber bullies' .

There is nothing wrong with punishing players who break the rules of the game. The question here is, where did these 'bullies' of yours break the rules.
You call these players cyber bullies. here is the definition of cyber bullies....
noun
noun: cyber-bullying
the use of electronic communication to bully a person, typically by sending messages of an intimidating or threatening nature.
Also there is no such thing as an "era-troll"
Now the rules of the game allow a player to "threaten" another by saying ( for example ) "i'm going to attack and plunder you daily". The rules do not allow players to make personal threats against other players. ( again for example.. I'm going to come to your house and bash your head in ) If such a thing takes place, there are procedures for dealing with these.
I see nowhere that you have said a player is breaking the rules of the game.
I am not using my position as a player nor as a moderator to discourage people from discussing things.

Finally you say that these 'bullies' of yours are stopping other people from playing the game. i see in fact you repeat this often, do you have any statistics of how many people stopped playing because of this ?
 
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Emberguard

Legend
That seems like a pro-cyber-bully stance for sure.
I’m anti cyber bullying. I’m pro play the game. If someone is abusive in messages then that’s an entirely different matter and needs to be addressed.

I’m not at liberty to discuss tickets here. However as a player I’ve received abusive messages without ever contacting the other person simply because I plundered a single item once.

Based on personal experience and what I’ve seen of other players on forums I’m not so certain anti-plunderers are interested in solutions so much as removing a component of the game altogether. But that would render at least a third of the game obsolete without major redesigning.

The devs have already put a lot of effort into giving defenders more options and I wouldn’t be surprised if that trend continued.
- Tavern shield
- Motivated event buildings
- Set pieces with immunity to plundering
- Changing the way neighbourhoods are balanced so you’re all same era where possible
- Adding immunity to plundering until 3/4’s through Iron Age
- The most recent event building can’t be plundered and doesn’t need motivating.
 

DeletedUser108359

. . . I feel based on the last two moderator responses to my original posting, I should clarify that I sent this issue to Inno Games in a Support Ticket Request after several new players I know through the game began expressing significant upset and disgust over being exposed to era-trolls who were insulting them in reply to messages the new players had sent asking the era-trolls to stop since the era-trolls clearly held an unfair advantage from being in the era for what appeared to be at least two years.

Inno Games replied to my support ticket by suggesting I post into the Forums, which is what I have done here.

It appears that the overwhelming majority of responses have been from era-trolls/cyber-bully supporters who feel it is their right to make other customers of Inno Games feel bad, insult them, and even make the new players quit. There is no doubt era-trolls cost Inno Games significant future revenues when these era-trolls cause new players to quit. This is disturbing, as not a single commenter offered a solution response to my original post that in it's last line asked for solutions.

My understanding of forum moderators is they are tasked with promoting interaction among the members of a forum . ... The members of a forum convene to discuss specific topics and it is the duty of the moderator to encourage lively debate and discussion that is enriching to all participants.

I'm not sure how saying Inno Games "can't" and "Accept the game" the way it is promotes any discussion. In fact, it appears to kill discussion.

I again ask if the moderators represent Inno Games formal position that the cyber-bullying that era-trolls are engaging in is acceptable and will not be considered or addressed?


I am afraid that i need to correct you because you are saying that players who camp in certain ages and attack and plunder other players are cyber bully's. Unfortunately your definition of cyber bullies does not coincide with the universally accepted definition of the term.
As was stated before, it is usually the player that was attacked who truly is the cyber bully, as they are the ones who normally send the rude, offensive or threatening messages.

It does look like this is a case where you have been attacked and plundered, you see no way to deal with this and have posted your discontent with the situation.
You are actually acting like a cyber bully yourself here, as you are attacking every post made by anyone which does not fall into your line of thinking, or which displeases you.

To answer your final question, again, I am speaking here as a player, one who has been in the position of being attacked, sometimes by multiple players and plundered by them as well. Yet i am still playing and progressing, as are a great deal of other players.
 
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DeletedUser108359

cyber-bullying that era-trolls are engaging in is acceptable and will not be considered or addressed?

Cyber bullying is never acceptable and is always addressed. However what you are talking about is not cyber bullying. It is players playing the game, and it appears you don't like that aspect of the game and want it removed or changed.
If you have instances where a player broke the rules of the game ( actually broke the rules, not just did something you didn't like ) then i encourage you to report them through the appropriate systems.
 

Agent327

Overlord
Why would you ask for personal information from a person online Agent327? What's next, do you want my age? My home address?

It is rather obvious you have a lot of bully experience. You exactly know how they think and what they feel. That can only come from being a bully, so I just wonder what made you do it.
 

Agent327

Overlord
Obviously Inno Games can address this issue. Even if it is hard, it is worthwhile to expand and retain customers of Inno Games. Revenues are tied to customer retention and allowing a few bad customers (era-trolls/cyber-bullies) to drive away a large number of customers is bad business and impacts investors revenues negatively. It is important the game moderators encourage solutions and support ideas that improve customer retention rather than lower it. Era-trolls are a significant source of damage to Inno Games revenues within Forge of Empires because the cause new customers to quit. This can significantly harm future revenues.

Can you show the numbers that support that statement?

I'm a little disturbed that you would give a pass to cyber-bullies as "utilising" a loophole

I see I have to ask again. What loophole and what is the hard work Inno did to prevent this according to you?


but then next suggest Forge of Empires is a teacher of life lessons. What's the lesson here, taking advantage of others is ok and authorities will just shrug their shoulders until an 8 year girl commits suicide after begin bullied in the message area of Forge of Empires when all she wanted to do was build a pretty city?

Wow! How low can you sink. Can't wait for the Godwin comming up nest.

Every single poster in reply to my original post seem oblivious to the reality that there are a variety of very diverse players who come to Forge of Empires for a positive experience. Getting cyber-bullied by some era-troll who in real life is a killer on death row with an ipad of some country's prison system is not that positive experience customers are seeking.

Okay, you can go a little lower before the Godwin.

Already know where it is going after that. You will take Inno to court, cause you have the UN on your side.
 

DeletedUser

That seems like a pro-cyber-bully stance for sure. It is impossible for a 1 month old new player to exploit the power imbalance between them and an era-troll who has been playing for 2 years.

Blaming the victims of bullying is nothing new.
Any Player who puts themselves in such a vulnerable position after so short a time is entirely to blame for anything that befalls them. This is a long-term strategy game and not a race to the finish. Learn that and act and play accordingly. If a Player chooses to race up the Tech Tree they have nothing and will never have anything, nor will they ever learn a damned thing about the Game itself or gaming in general. There are many OGs out there where a Player can lose everything in a day that they have taken months or more to build. FoE is easy going in that aspect. You stated that you have never spent more than a month in any Era: BIG mistake Dude. Have you never heard of "Defence in Depth"? Learn to play the bloody Game and pls quit whingeing about others being better set up after years of competent play and years of assiduous application of the knowledge gained whilst doing so.
Learn from it and live with it.
LOL, just read the "8 year old" comment. I built my daughter her first computer age 4, introduced her to OGing age 5 and by the time she turned 8 she'd have eaten you for breakfast. You poor creature, how you must suffer.
 
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Thomas Covenent

Lieutenant-General
Collect on time?
Nah, that requires minimal effort and being able to read how a clock works...

It's way easier just coming onto the forums and spending hours typing out novels worth of posts to whine and moan about how you're being plundered in the first place and those who do so are obviously just evil, vile, twisted, cyber-bullying, psychotic murderers.;):rolleyes::rolleyes:
 
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