What.
In.
The.
Actual.
Hell.
While bringing my new computer up to speed, I got around this morning to installing my Gamersgate copies of Pride of Nations and Rise of Prussia. These had been installed on my old computer without any problem (and still are there, btw).
Now the site says these games aren't found on my account anymore.
Granted, I bought Pr0N ;) cheap when Paradox inflicted it on the market in its buggy condition, but still. Rise of Prussia wasn't all that cheaply released.
Who should I contact about this?--Gamersgate or Matrix? Would GG even have any recourse now? How could I prove to Matrix I bought the games, assuming they don't just tell me they're keeping (their cut of) my money and too bad?
Insert rant against non-physical games here. >:(
Both of these still show up for me, although after each title it now says (old), not sure what that means but is still downloadable
If you gave Gamersgate money for access to a product, if the product can't be downloaded it's up to Gamersgate to give you the product or make you whole.
Your contract was with a merchant, not with the publisher.
So you have no standing with Matrix, nor is there any reason why you should have.
My own experiences with Gamersgate support have been life-affirming and stellar.
I suggest you contact them and explain what you bought and when you bought it as calmly as possible. Depending on your level of addiction they'll get back to you in a day or two.
I needed support from gg this past week and they told me it would be over a week before they could get back to me....said due to volume with spring sale. I'll be patient, but waiting a week plus regardless of the situation is not that great. In the past, usually resolved in a day or two.
I think a lot depends on the nature and urgency of the problem, how well you explain it to them, and how many games you have bought from them in the past.
They perform triage for urgency before they drop everything and get back to you, so if the problem is serious and you've described it adequately you should get a good response.
I think the celerity of response also depends on your level of membership, a function of your level of addiction (aka how many games you've bought from them). They seem to be rewarding good customers with better service, which is commendable.
I too have Rise of Prussia and it is currently uninstalled. I just tested it and both the installer and the download seemed to be working perfectly. If you ever find out what (old) means, please let me know. Not my favorite word, especially when applied to myself.
I also have the main game, now named (old) and the DLC is still there. Both of them downloadable 8)
Quote from: Philippe on May 05, 2013, 12:04:18 PM
I think a lot depends on the nature and urgency of the problem, how well you explain it to them, and how many games you have bought from them in the past.
They perform triage for urgency before they drop everything and get back to you, so if the problem is serious and you've described it adequately you should get a good response.
I think the celerity of response also depends on your level of membership, a function of your level of addiction (aka how many games you've bought from them). They seem to be rewarding good customers with better service, which is commendable.
I too have Rise of Prussia and it is currently uninstalled. I just tested it and both the installer and the download seemed to be working perfectly. If you ever find out what (old) means, please let me know. Not my favorite word, especially when applied to myself.
Not sure I agree basing customer service on how many games a person owns. Person will never likely purchase a lot of games if they get poor service to start with. In my case, I have a healthy library (although I am sure not as many as others) and I was very clear in what the issue was and the support person acknowledged that. Just said they didn't have time to address it until a week later. Is my issue critical, absolutely not. Is this going to stop me from buying games from GG, absolutely not. Just think a week plus for any level of support is a little on the extreme side. I am guessing they only have a couple support people since I have only ever seen two different people respond to any of my tickets.
Quote from: Philippe on May 05, 2013, 12:04:18 PM
They seem to be rewarding good customers with better service, which is commendable.
That's hardly what I consider commendable.
Quote from: Huw the Poo on May 05, 2013, 01:03:20 PM
Quote from: Philippe on May 05, 2013, 12:04:18 PM
They seem to be rewarding good customers with better service, which is commendable.
That's hardly what I consider commendable.
Gamers Gate has always given me excellent Customer service.. This just dropped Matrix down another notch for me... I mean.. going an telling other people they can't sell it anymore, because they bought the rights... but telling people they can't get a game that they already paid for!!!..
Quote from: Grim.Reaper on May 05, 2013, 12:57:06 PM
Quote from: Philippe on May 05, 2013, 12:04:18 PM
I think a lot depends on the nature and urgency of the problem, how well you explain it to them, and how many games you have bought from them in the past.
They perform triage for urgency before they drop everything and get back to you, so if the problem is serious and you've described it adequately you should get a good response.
I think the celerity of response also depends on your level of membership, a function of your level of addiction (aka how many games you've bought from them). They seem to be rewarding good customers with better service, which is commendable.
I too have Rise of Prussia and it is currently uninstalled. I just tested it and both the installer and the download seemed to be working perfectly. If you ever find out what (old) means, please let me know. Not my favorite word, especially when applied to myself.
Not sure I agree basing customer service on how many games a person owns. Person will never likely purchase a lot of games if they get poor service to start with. In my case, I have a healthy library (although I am sure not as many as others) and I was very clear in what the issue was and the support person acknowledged that. Just said they didn't have time to address it until a week later. Is my issue critical, absolutely not. Is this going to stop me from buying games from GG, absolutely not. Just think a week plus for any level of support is a little on the extreme side. I am guessing they only have a couple support people since I have only ever seen two different people respond to any of my tickets.
The fact that they have Customer Service Available and that they 'acknowledge' your ticket these days is a big plus.. Try doing that with Steam!
Quote from: Tuna on May 05, 2013, 01:16:03 PM
. This just dropped Matrix down another notch for me... I mean.. going an telling other people they can't sell it anymore, because they bought the rights... but telling people they can't get a game that they already paid for!!!..
Where does it say this? The OP said he couldn't find the games. Several others have said they are still there. I checked and mine are too.
Quote from: Huw the Poo on May 05, 2013, 01:03:20 PM
Quote from: Philippe on May 05, 2013, 12:04:18 PM
They seem to be rewarding good customers with better service, which is commendable.
That's hardly what I consider commendable.
I hope you aren't suggesting that good customers
shouldn't be rewarded.
Not rewarding good customers is neither commendable
nor smart business practise.
Quote from: Philippe on May 05, 2013, 03:08:50 PM
Quote from: Huw the Poo on May 05, 2013, 01:03:20 PM
Quote from: Philippe on May 05, 2013, 12:04:18 PM
They seem to be rewarding good customers with better service, which is commendable.
That's hardly what I consider commendable.
I hope you aren't suggesting that good customers shouldn't be rewarded.
Not rewarding good customers is neither commendable nor smart business practise.
Good customer service should be for every customer, not just special ones. You can reward good customers in other ways but everyone has the right to quality service. Otherwise new customers will never stick around long enough to earn the right to good service.
By the way, I own about 90 items from gg, how much does one need to own to get different treatment? Again, not really picking on gg since I do like the service, just using as an example.
I have a ton of games with them, and they used to be my go-to source for games, particularly niche and strategy titles, but ever since I got a new computer and it took them over two weeks to get back to me on resetting my password, I told them that I would never purchase from them again.
FWIW, I have no problem retrieving my old Ageod titles that I got from GG.
Quote from: challerain on May 05, 2013, 01:49:08 PM
Quote from: Tuna on May 05, 2013, 01:16:03 PM
. This just dropped Matrix down another notch for me... I mean.. going an telling other people they can't sell it anymore, because they bought the rights... but telling people they can't get a game that they already paid for!!!..
Where does it say this? The OP said he couldn't find the games. Several others have said they are still there. I checked and mine are too.
Mine is still there as well... still don't like it.. I don't mind them saying that someone can't sell a game that they own sole rights to, but I paid full price for PON when it came out from a company that has always guaranteed unlimited downloads.. They already had to pull it from their sales shelf per Matrix.. if it disappeared from my library I would be very upset... We have seen a few games for that once people mentioned a sale on the Matrix site or Wargamer.. next thing you know the games disappear from that site... I would be very upset if Achtung Panzer disappeared from Gamers Gate, but it does not look like Matrix is really interested in that one.
The "(old)" tag just means they don't sell it in their store anymore. Everyone who purchased it in the past should still be able to download it.
There seems to be some publisher deals popping up lately that we should pay close attention to. Namely these post-release agreements that switch exclusive distribution to a different publisher. Another good example is the Star Drive ordeal and how the earlier Beta buy-ins at Desura have been left far behind, those that have even received updates at all. Let's hope that such future publishing deals don't end up in similar circumstances for those who've already purchased.
Hell.. I wouldn't put it past a few publishers to cut off the free future updates to the same program puchased anywhere else, after the fact. It's happened at least once that I know of. I highly doubt the guys at AGEOD would go for any such suggestion, however, and I don't recall Matrix doing that with anything recently.
Just checked again, and neither of them are in my library at all. But I still have the download exes (which was when I saw the message to begin with, that they weren't in my library).
GG not only explained the recent Steam question I had (albeit not as fast as others here did, but I told them it wasn't a rush), but they took steps to make it clearer to customers when the game would be a Steam download before and after the sale. That was just last week. So my customer service experience so far has been good.
On a hunch I checked my order history: both games are missing from that, too. That's just surreal... :o ??? ??? ???
Edited to add: now I'm starting to wonder if I accidentally created a second account for those games, since I bought them some time after the first games I bought and also well-before my recent splurging this year. That would explain what happened -- I managed to relog in with my first account when I started buying from GG again, and I have no idea what my brief second account was! (Or even that it ever existed. ::) )
Out of curiosity I checked the place on my computer where I store usernames, passwords, activation keys etc. GG wasn't there, but the activation codes for PoN and RoPrus still are!
Quote from: Philippe on May 05, 2013, 03:08:50 PM
I hope you aren't suggesting that good customers shouldn't be rewarded.
I won't even dignify that with a response. Basically...what Grim said.
Since Ageod's exclusive partnership with Matrix, Matrix is actively looking out for the games in third party stored and asks them to take it down.
If you ask me, this is Paradox's fault for not treating ageod right.
If you're feeling lucky, send a mail to Matrix and maybe they'll send you access to the latest version.
Just wanted to add that I too have Pride of Nations and Rise of Prussia via GamersGate, and both titles still show up as downloadable for me (albeit marked as "old" like others have said).
In related news, Matrix is juicing up a gold edition of Rise of Prussia with much niftiness (Groghead thread discussion here (http://grogheads.com/forums/index.php?topic=5829.msg140470#msg140470)). People who bought the original version can have the update at a reduced cost.
...
.......
AAAAGGHGHGGHHHH!!!!!!
(I'm going to end up having to rebuy this thing, aren't I? And Pr0n, too, before it's over. Well, I guess I paid a pittance originally to have the full games available on demo for a year or so, maybe that isn't a bad deal in the long run, especially for Vainglory.)
I've still not even played much of the original ROP yet! Aghhh!!!
I suppose this Matrix discount for previous owners is only for a limited time????
Also.. if they ever manage to fix up PrON, where it's using extra cpu cores for turn calculation while still in player planning stages for much faster turn resolutions, I'd probably buy it again. At a reasonable price. Sure.. there are still bug fixes to be made but the big concern has always been the massive turn resolution times.
Quote from: Nefaro on May 06, 2013, 07:38:20 PM
I've still not even played much of the original ROP yet! Aghhh!!!
I suppose this Matrix discount for previous owners is only for a limited time????
Also.. if they ever manage to fix up PrON, where it's using extra cpu cores for turn calculation while still in player planning stages for much faster turn resolutions, I'd probably buy it again. At a reasonable price. Sure.. there are still bug fixes to be made but the big concern has always been the massive turn resolution times.
I fired up PrON on my Gaming PC.. first turn took too long.. so moved on to something else.. I want to like it, I love the mechanics.. but the amount of time for turns is just too much.. lol.. it's bad enough when it takes oneself a long time to do a turn, a lot worse when you're waiting on the computer!