/ Register

MindArk: 16k loot missing, MA logs show nothing?

Discussion in 'Entropia News' started by NotAdmin, Dec 20, 2011.

Page 1 of 2
  1. Dec 20, 2011 #1
    NotAdmin

    NotAdmin Administrator

    Please note that the issue described below has since been resolved by MindArk.​

    Note: The information in the post below is the story as it was told by the person this happened to. We have no way to actually verify the claims or the support ticket he lists, but think that this is important enough to report about.

    December 3rd, @JacktanCap was struck by the touch of luck we all hope to achieve at some point in our EU career; Lootius smiled down upon him and gave him a 26000 PED loot. To be precise, he hit a 26771 PED crafting HOF on a Jasonich AP. Under any other circumstances, this would be a good reason for any EU participant to scream out in real life while doing a few fist pumps. Unfortunately, JacktanCap was not at his keyboard the moment it happened, and when he later on checked his inventory, more than half of the loof was somehow missing.

    So he did what every sensible person would do: He filed a support ticket asking what happened to his loot.

    He received the following back from support:


    The reply from support seems odd. Note how the list sent by them does not include the 10000 PEDs of residue in the chronological list. Rather, it is mentioned under "also". A second point to note is that the "also" is exactly 10000 PED. Apparently such a nice round number is no reason for whoever answered the support ticket to raise an eyebrow, though, as their last comment indicates that all is fine and dandy as far as MindArk is concerned.

    And yet, people reported seeing the HOF in their chatlogs. It also appears on EntropiaTracker:

    Jasonich_26k_01.png ​

    And here's a screenshot showing the in-game HOF on the globals list (screenshot courtesy of LuckyCharm):

    Jasonich_26k_02.png ​

    (One more interesting fact is that the screenshot shows the Jasonich AP with a value of 180 PED, which differs from the amounts reported in the support ticket)

    Yet, MindArk's "extensive logs" apparently failed to register this HOF, which surely raises a few questions about how trustworthy their logs truly are, and whether this is an iisolated incident, or perhaps more loot has gone missing without the participants involved ever noticing they were short-changed.


    Kim responded with the following:


    We'll keep you updated in case anything new develops in this story.

    Please note that the issue described above has since been resolved by MindArk:​
    ​
    ​
     
    • Like Like x 1
  2. Dec 20, 2011 #2
    NotAdmin

    NotAdmin Administrator

    Here's an actual picture of the support ticket, rather than a copy/paste:

    support.jpg ​
     
  3. Dec 20, 2011 #3
    AlphaGeek

    AlphaGeek

    Interesting. Back in the pre-Typhon days, there was a bug that would sometimes lock movement for a player opening a storage box during a beacon mission. We had a severe case of it once, where a number of our team was locked in place for over a minute... an amount of time that is precious during a beacon run.

    Our initial support case was met with a similar answer. We were polite but insistant, and provided additional proof in the form of a youtube video showing the problem as it occurred during the mission. FRAPS is our friend.

    Upon reviewing the video, reading support cases by other beacon team members, etc., MA or FPC... whoever... did proffer a replacement beacon.

    Hopefully armed with the tracker info and other data, the OP can recover the lost prize.


    AG
     
  4. Dec 20, 2011 #4
    RAZER

    RAZER Custom title ... uh ...

    Well I can see no reason why Ma should not pay up, there is substation proof to support Jackarius, but we are talking about Ma of course, but I would love to see them talk themselves out of this one.
     
  5. Dec 20, 2011 #5
    narfi

    narfi Lost

    Looks like it was reslved to his satisfaction.
    I have a lot of respect for this guy who kept his cool, and behaved very maturely even in such a crappy situation.

    narfi

     
  6. Dec 20, 2011 #6
    RAZER

    RAZER Custom title ... uh ...

    Indeed the expected outcome and I'm very happy for the guy.

    Still wonder if stuff like this happens more often though.
     
  7. Dec 20, 2011 #7
    Mandel

    Mandel

    Good the issue is solved :)

    But on the other side i'm a bit worried on how some of my fellow EU participant behaved in the thread over at FPC.

    More then a handfull of the "replayers" cursed MA/Kim/God and a few others before MA had a chance to look in at it.

    I agree that first answer from support wasn't the best one but on demand they took it further (to MA developer team) and it all sorted out.

    I'm glad that i'm not an MA employment because I would have act ALOT more immature in a thread like that then Mr Kim did.
    ........................................................
    I'm glad the forum here at EntropiaPlanets behave a lot more mature!

    (to much of topic?)

    Sorry for bad spelling/grammar
     
  8. Dec 20, 2011 #8
    NotAdmin

    NotAdmin Administrator

    Indeed, a nice and satisfactory solution to a problem. Still odd their logs did not show the HOF exceeding 10k.
     
  9. Dec 20, 2011 #9
    Puck

    Puck Puck

    Cooler heads always prevail. :cool (2):
     
  10. Dec 20, 2011 #10
    Bizarrick

    Bizarrick Otherwise Engaged

    It's not that odd, actually. Bugs happen all the time.
    It is, however, unacceptable. This is real money we're talking here.
     
    • Like Like x 1
  11. Dec 21, 2011 #11
    Shadowsong

    Shadowsong Born Again Noob

    Dealing with the questions raised by this should be high priority for MA. It would be a mistake for them to hope that this can be ignored into oblivion.

    Perception can be as powerful as fact, particularly when there is actually something at stake. If this is allowed to fester, it will add fuel to negative perceptions, and that will be catastrophic. There is a tipping point beyond which it becomes impossible to regain the trust of your client-base. I hope they act swiftly to prevent things reaching that point.

    Clearly they don't have an easy answer, or it would have been forthcoming. They must know, however, that silence will not do. Without a satisfactory explanation from MA, it is going to be impossible for any player to defend the integrity of the Entropia Universe real cash model. Every doubt about that model will be bolstered by the cold evidence of this case, and that's tough to overcome.

    MA relies heavily on word-of-mouth, and are now facing the other edge of that sword.
     
    • Like Like x 2
  12. Dec 21, 2011 #12
    RAZER

    RAZER Custom title ... uh ...

    Well I think this is something for all the PP's to ask questions about.
     
    • Like Like x 1
  13. Dec 21, 2011 #13
    NotAdmin

    NotAdmin Administrator

    Indeed. And the next big questions would be whether this is a stand-along case, or whether this kind of stuff is actually not uncommon at all. And how it could happen to begin with. And how long it has been in the system without being noticed.

    Let's hope these questions will be addressed.
     
  14. Dec 21, 2011 #14
    NotAdmin

    NotAdmin Administrator

    If only globals and HOFs provided end-users with a unique identifier, that'd make it plain easy to guide the support people in the right direction with this kind of stuff...
     
  15. Dec 21, 2011 #15
    Tass

    Tass Administrator

    It's indeed good to see that this issue has been solved in that way.

    And I completely agree with Shadowsong.

    I'm just not sure what I should consider more concerning: the fact that those issues occur or the fact that support had to be persuaded patiently to further investigate in a 1600 $ case.
     
    • Like Like x 1
  16. Dec 21, 2011 #16
    Shadowsong

    Shadowsong Born Again Noob

    It just occurred to me that you could approach MA for comment, as a journalist for this site. Would be a nice front page scoop if you could open dialogue with them.
     
    • Like Like x 1
  17. Dec 21, 2011 #17
    MindStar9

    MindStar9 Floating in Space

    .
    I've always liked how you think. :thumbsup:
     
  18. Dec 22, 2011 #18
    NotAdmin

    NotAdmin Administrator

    I have just done that. Not keeping my hopes up, but who knows.
     
  19. Dec 22, 2011 #19
    Shadowsong

    Shadowsong Born Again Noob

    Posted by Bjorn|Mindark on pcf :

    "I have spoken with the developers who investigated this issue, and can report the following:

    The situation where this bug could possibly occur was very unique, and only affected certain rare loots with a value of more than 10000 PED.

    Fewer than five participants were affected by this bug. All of the affected participants have been contacted by the support department, even if they had not filed a support case about the issue.

    The development team has fixed the internal systems responsible for this bug, and testing shows that the issue is now corrected.

    Thanks to everyone who provided information and feedback on this issue via support. "
     
  20. Dec 22, 2011 #20
    Tass

    Tass Administrator

    Thanks Bjorn|MA for again providing information about these obviously platform-related issues solely and repeatingly on a privately owned forum dedicated to MA's very own planet...
     
Page 1 of 2
  1. This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
    By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.
    Accept Learn More...