I don't play as many games online that I used to, and only two of those games are actually competitive against others. One of them, SongPop Classic, has become very successful for me lately. After just one week, I am already past halfway on the monthly challenge path, having already finished most of the daily challenges, all of the weekly challenges for the first week, and even the expert challenge for the period. I haven't been as successful on my other competitive game these last few weeks, Golf Clash, but not for the same reasons. About three weeks ago, the game vanished from my Facebook page where I exclusively play it. I noticed that another game vanished as well, but later on in the day. That game was back the following day, but Golf Clash was nowhere to be found. I searched on various social media sites for information, and it appeared that the game was completely taken off Facebook everywhere. Not only that, but many players who didn't play on Facebook were experiencing other problems as well. After two days, and missing the opening round of a tournament, the game's publishers finally updated everyone that there were problems, but they did not comment on what the problems actually were. Rumors were rampant on social media, but nothing was confirmed although a consensus was growing. The main reason seemed to be that Facebook changed some of their guidelines, and my game no longer met them. Other effected games either made fixes faster or had greater difficulties. Players who weren't seriously effected by the lockout berated those who were non-stop, basically blaming them for not securing their accounts by multiple ways or from not playing on mobile devices like they were. The hatred was intense. It was only after five days that the publisher confirmed the rumors were true and that they were still working on the issue, this after a major tournament had ended. It was at this time that I finally caved in and decided to finally recover my account on my phone. Well, it turned out that while I had started the process, I never did complete the recovery security set-up. My account was still locked out, but I had a new account set up. It didn't allow me to contact the other players in my group. It didn't allow me access to the improved gear and resources I had accrued. It didn't allow me to play in all of the special events that were going on. However, I now could see the special deals that phone players had had for a few months, if I just downloaded games, took surveys, or made online purchases. I just stayed with looking at ads. After twelve days, the friend who got me started on the game finally contacted me to see why I hadn't been playing. I described the problems with the lockout. He offered to help, but there really wasn't anything he could do. Meanwhile, the publishers finally came out with a third statement mentioned that they were close to fixing the problems, as well as that they would be offering compensation to the affected players. The hatred between affected and unaffected players began to bubble up even higher, as the two groups complained about each others playing styles. Apparently, the second tournament during the lockout may have seen a sharp drop off in performance, as the overall lack of players became noticeable. Then, last Tuesday, while I was checking on social media, someone mentioned while they were trolling another poster that the game had came back. I quickly checked, and the game had indeed returned. It turned out that not that most of the players in my group had any problems other than no pictures in their profiles turned the lockout. I explained my absence and was able to start playing again that night. I also made sure to secure my account a second way. A day or so later, I received my compensation. I got all of the resources I used for the tournament I missed out on back. I would be getting a free run for the next season of challenges. I also received about half of the amount of resource I would have gotten for free if I hadn't been locked out. Whatever on that one. I was actually able to do well on the past weekend's tournament, as well as playing quite good the past week. Then, the next shoe dropped yesterday. The publisher announced that they would be pulling Golf Clash from Facebook in April. Now, I prefer to play on the three-times bigger screen of my MacBook with a mouse than on a phone. I've tried to ask my teammates about how to get two accounts on the same device, as well as how to run an emulator so I'll be able to play my own way, but I have had no luck so far. There are even rumors that the game will be taken down completely later on this year, as the company behind the publisher has a new golf game of their own that they might want the focus to be on instead. That company has already cancelled a few games this year, so the rumor might have a little truth to it. So, in two months time, I'll be playing still. Maybe not as well as I used to, but I'll at least have something.
No comments:
Post a Comment