LIMITED-TIME CONTENT Muscle March! 💪🏼😎🔥

[Carrie]

I told myself I was already done with my comments on this, but after reading more, there are some other things I'd like to say.

Despite the tone on my first post, I want to state that I don't agree with the position Marcie assumed on the replies. I appreciate that the thread is being read, but we could have done much better without the condescending tone and the "spice". I think that even something short but serious could have calmed the waters a bit, but instead it's an even bigger mess now. It was truly unnecessary and nothing good came out of that, since it seemed to be out of spite.

Of course I don't approve of people name-calling or anything like that. I'm a firm believer that rudeness gets you nowhere and I stand by the thought that everyone should articulate their opinion in a respectful manner. Being nice costs nothing and kindness goes a long way. You can complain without being offensive.

But regardless of what happens, personal frustration should never be put over professionalism.

Speaking for yourself is one thing: you are only representing your own opinions and moral compass, so act however you want. But when you get into Public Relations, you are no longer speaking for yourself when addressing users. Now, as long as you're working, your words always reflect the posture of the employer. So, speaking on behalf of a business requires a different attitude.

I think some people need to remember that before anything else, A Thinking Ape is a company offering you a service. Just like any other, they deserve credit where credit is due, and I have never hesitated to compliment something when I like it. It's important to recognize good work and I am more than happy to do so. But that doesn't mean they are immune to criticism or that crew members should be applauded for everything they do. I will never understand the obsession with putting those people on a pedestal and almost worshipping them. Seems odd to me. (Nothing personal, I'm speaking solely from a client-business point of view, which is the relationship we have with them).

Again, I will end by saying that I hope things change for the better, and I believe they will. Sorry for the long post, the journalist in me ended up writing a lot again.

 

[Oasis]

I told myself I was already done with my comments on this, but after reading more, there are some other things I'd like to say.

Despite the tone on my first post, I want to state that I don't agree with the position Marcie assumed on the replies. I appreciate that the thread is being read, but we could have done much better without the condescending tone and the "spice". I think that even something short but serious could have calmed the waters a bit, but instead it's an even bigger mess now. It was truly unnecessary and nothing good came out of that, since it seemed to be out of spite.

Of course I don't approve of people name-calling or anything like that. I'm a firm believer that rudeness gets you nowhere and I stand by the thought that everyone should articulate their opinion in a respectful manner. Being nice costs nothing and kindness goes a long way. You can complain without being offensive.

But regardless of what happens, personal frustration should never be put over professionalism.

Speaking for yourself is one thing: you are only representing your own opinions and moral compass, so act however you want. But when you get into Public Relations, you are no longer speaking for yourself when addressing users. Now, as long as you're working, your words always reflect the posture of the employer. So, speaking on behalf of a business requires a different attitude.

I think some people need to remember that before anything else, A Thinking Ape is a company offering you a service. Just like any other, they deserve credit where credit is due, and I have never hesitated to compliment something when I like it. It's important to recognize good work and I am more than happy to do so. But that doesn't mean they are immune to criticism or that crew members should be applauded for everything they do. I will never understand the obsession with putting those people on a pedestal and almost worshipping them. Seems odd to me. (Nothing personal, I'm speaking solely from a client-business point of view, which is the relationship we have with them).

Again, I will end by saying that I hope things change for the better, and I believe they will. Sorry for the long post, the journalist in me ended up writing a lot again.

I think you put my sentiment better than I did. I wholeheartedly agree.

 

[Fairness]

No good change was ever made by being silent, so I encourage you all to keep it up.

This. This whole post is pure gold and it's about keeping it up until our demands are listened to, or we at least reach a middle ground. It's easy for them to wait, hoping we forget or get tired, and then keep making decisions that aren't good for us. But we won't let it keep happening. Enough of accepting crumbles and lowering our heads to them.

Spread the word about this, spread the word on #NoMoneyMarch, get more people to bring feedback here and everywhere else. We will be heard! And remember to save your cash, because at the moment ATA doesn't deserve a penny of it.

 

[Cecillia]

Marceline you are posting on a company account. This means that you are speaking for said company, A Thinking Ape. So are you saying that these are the views of the company? That us users who are upset at the recent decisions of the company are childish and bitter? That we are allowed to be belittled by employees of their company when said employee feels like it?

Are these things that you're saying supported by A Thinking Ape?

Because it's not our job to be nice to you, that's the backbone of customer service. It might not get us as far, but we're allowed to be upset, whatever action that entails.

And while I'm not saying you aren't allowed to be upset, you should not be allowed to say these things you're saying on a company account, because it puts a stain on the company and its supposed values.

Make an alt if you want to be condescending to your userbase.

But not only did you make condescending remarks to users you deem are not important enough to have an opinion, because they said things in a way you didn't like, you defended this action and your words. Not only with "you shouldn't dish spice if you can't handle it" but also with a later post admitting you were being condescending.

Does the company, A Thinking Ape, also support you defending them in such a way? Did they want you to post about how you're allowed to say what you want in response to "bullies" or was this what YOU wanted?

Here's some constructive feedback Marceline, maybe the next time this kind of outrage happens, and we all know it will, you try not to take your anger out on your playerbase who are just upset. Or make and alt to do it. Or just have someone else who can be professional to make a response.

But maybe you won't deem me worthy of your time because I refuse to roll over and agree with you

Any “customer service” person to reply to this constructive feedback, please?
P.S.: Call your CUSTOMERS’ (that is what we are) point of view/feedback childish did not sound very nice.
Let’s see what comes next.

 

[QueenOfLove]

I have this last thing to say even though it may get me banned since players are supposedly getting banned now but, there are a lot of changes this game can have that can be enjoyable to ALL players. I have been seeing for quite awhile that players who spend big cash, stay on lb, or high stats are usually the ones who gets atas or mods attention and gets spoiled while players like me who barely spend money and other players who are low stats, it’s quite difficult to stay on top or upgrade or enjoy the game cause there’s always some type of competition being played. Especially with the new update to getting 16k drops for an avi is nearly impossible for new players and again, or low stat players. And it wouldn’t hurt once in awhile to listen and take players/customers suggestions and ideas for new things or what they want, since that will make them actually want to spend money. I know a lot of players (even me) have been wanting another dark/ or horror hunt, since it’s very popular. And with the “new updates for better the game” is technically just new updates for big spender players to stay on top or spend more money. I have not once seen a stat player like mine or even lower to have a mod crate or things from the crate while high stat top players have multiple of them, and yes maybe they bought them but those things go around for like 40 bentos which is unlikely. And people who are around 100 and 200mcs are not complaining (not surprised) because the new updates aren’t affecting them as much as lower stat people. I remember it used to be more diffult and take longer to get the vip version of an avi in a hunt story but now I’m getting the vip way before I get the regular one. And I forgot these peoples names, now I feel stupid but people with the green names that have the power to “keep chats clean and better the game” literally abuse their power. 1) they’re barely in chats 2) they’re biased with punishments cause of “friends” or whatever 3) they ignore situations that are silenceable in front of their face half the time 4) they have such a huge ego thinking they are celebrities or something now (this is not all of them but most). And it’s not a new thing that ata doesn’t like us promoting other social apps in the chats for some odd reason but while ATA mods come on in the chats, i see some promoting their socials and saying “oh it’s different” when being called out. And with the 6hr timer boxes dropping way less drops is ridiculous as well, shouldn’t have changed that, it was fine the way it was. It’s rare getting even 100 drops from a timer box. Ata wants new updates and ideas for pimd, then listen to your players/customers cause a lot of them have great ideas that actually mostly everybody would enjoy and like. There’s my last 2 cents.

 

[LeeJarrett]

Response to my review on Google Play Store:
"While the changes may not work for every single player, without them, we can't find the best ways to make the game its best self! We are always going to be open to feedback from the community and will continue to make adjustments to create a game that everyone can enjoy."

The changes don't work for a MAJORITY of your players, which ultimately means you should be open to our feedback and adjust them, but you really believe in your hearts that these adjusts are best for us.

#nomoneymarch #nomoneyever

 

[KILLERCOLD]

Damn I remember how this game was 4 years back. It has become so ridiculously p2p nowadays

Same. 6 years running on my 2nd account after resetting my main.
OGs like myself have seen the steady decline. Gone are the days where it was more about working as a team and a club which encouraged community and camaraderie. That has been replaced with selfishness, greed and bullying. All of which ATA has contributed to with things such as overpowering miscellaneous, pandering to wealthier players for LBs, giving the appearance of showing favoritism to certain players who seem to have a back door communication to devs even (rumors but still) and just generally seeming a little shady. Appearances are everything.

You're better than this ATA... or are you?

 

[RoseMilkTea]

Response to my review on Google Play Store:
"While the changes may not work for every single player, without them, we can't find the best ways to make the game its best self! We are always going to be open to feedback from the community and will continue to make adjustments to create a game that everyone can enjoy."

The changes don't work for a MAJORITY of your players, which ultimately means you should be open to our feedback and adjust them, but you really believe in your hearts that these adjusts are best for us.

#nomoneymarch #nomoneyever

Who's to say they aren't gonna be making adjustments in the future though?

Changes unfortunately can't always be immediate. As unhappy as you guys are to the response it's likely just gonna be a waiting game until they can actually implement any changes if they go that route.

 

[Aphire]

Response to my review on Google Play Store:
"While the changes may not work for every single player, without them, we can't find the best ways to make the game its best self! We are always going to be open to feedback from the community and will continue to make adjustments to create a game that everyone can enjoy."

The changes don't work for a MAJORITY of your players, which ultimately means you should be open to our feedback and adjust them, but you really believe in your hearts that these adjusts are best for us.

#nomoneymarch #nomoneyever

Same response here. A bit frustrated they'll take the time to copy/paste that response to negative reviews on Google but won't make an official statement on here. (Unless you count marcelines response, which I don't).

I'm not expecting immediate changes, but a response would be good

 

[HisAssassinQueen]

I can name changes that could be helpful for the whole community
1 they want to up the Avis on the main story then up the drops on all potd ppotd and cat and kini parties give everyone a chance to get Avis at least
2 they could put Avis in timer boxes and Molly's corner and ec and if doing that at least add DNS and ecs to it

 

[Fairness]

ah, I have a lot to talk about so here we go. I'll try to make it as brief as possible but it will be long since there are many points to be raised. First, two replies:

It feels like a lot of people in this thread just want to feel like part of a revolution. Think about what you are choosing as your cause. An avatar. It’s so easy to just not buy the avatar.

Really? Hah. I refuse to believe you're genuinely thinking this. You either didn't read the many pages and lists of complaints here, or you did but decided to reduce it to "one avatar" just because you don't agree. Everyone knows this is about much more than those gym rat avatars. It's about disregarding players and constantly making changes that are bad to everyone. This post is dishonest.

Bullying a company into getting what the "community" wants.

I agree with the part of your post that says to have an adult discussion and all that. But come on now. There is no such thing as "bullying a company" lmao. Companies exist because they have clients who spend money, so those people have the right to reivindicate things. It has always worked like that and it doesn't fit the definition of bullying. ATA is not a victim.

Second: Marceline's response was not funny, it was not cute or quirky and it's time to stop acting like she was right. As mentioned by many others before me, Marceline is working. She wasn't writing on her own personal blog, she was making a statement on a professional account that represents ATA. So, her feelings don't matter. If it's so important for her to express what she really thinks, do it with another account where she can speak as Marceline, not as [ATA]Marceline. Responding that way to backlash from your userbase makes the whole company seem petty and unprepared to deal with feedback.
Like I said before, every business receives complaints and most of them are way more aggressive than what is seen on this thread. If it was the right thing to act with emotion and impulsively, the PR staffs of every super huge company out there would be punching clients in the face because of the much more awful things being said about them by billions of people worldwide. See how disproportionate and weird this reaction is? I'll say again, never seen a company respond like this to feedback.
I wish we could get another response. We don't want spice, we want seriousness when tackling serious matters. Community Management isn't a job where you get to act like you're in Mean Girls.

Third: Other people have been pointing this out and I think this is a perfect timing to bring it up. I will quote some posts and then get to what I want to say.

Obviously she's only replying those that back her up. She has a whole fanbase of anyone willing to say anything to get her attention. Incase you've not realised, There's quite a handful of players who fetishize the attention of admins & mods.

They're a company, and they're faceless game developers. They're not Royalty or celebs.

I think some people need to remember that before anything else, A Thinking Ape is a company offering you a service. I will never understand the obsession with putting those people on a pedestal and almost worshipping them.

This. The developers, the crew members and employees of A Thinking Ape are not your friends, they are not celebrities and newsflash: they don't even remember your name because you're one in a billion users. So if you are one of these people who will take every single opportunity available to be a brown noser and treat them like gods, please explain why. Seriously, I want to know what goes through your head. What do you think you'll be getting out of this? Special treatment, a mod position, gifts? What? Do you treat other companies and employees like gods too? If you go to a restaurant and pay for some expensive food that tastes like crap, do you applaud the chef and ask them to autograph your forehead? You're making fools of yourselves and it's hilarious.

Last thing that I wasn't even going to bring up but will mention as a warning for you all. My account was banned and I still haven't seen a valid reason for that. It's curious, because people who used words such as "idiot*c" or even worse towards ATA still have their accounts, meanwhile I wasn't even cussing at anyone. Was it because I discussed #NoMoneyMarch on campus? Real classy and not one bit suspicious.
And then there is the snarky remark against people who "use alts to write feedback", right? Yeah, I know it included me and I am proud to say that I'm smart enough to avoid having my main banned because you can't handle being criticized, since you've gotten used to all the blind fanaticism. Well, things are changing and we won't treat you like royals anymore, so get used to it.

 

[IridescentRose]

It's sad to see that ATA would rather cut off almost all forms of communication with their playerbase rather than just listen to what we're trying to say.

And to anyone who thinks they listened, they didn't. They may have made attempted a statement through marceline, but it was just to placate us. It was a mere "we see you" that turned into an absolute mess.

And everyone saying "change takes time" ATA is being very clear about the fact that they will not change. They are only taking feedback that they can make a quick buck on. They gave EVERYONE the same copy and pasted message for their reviews. If they can stand their ground then we should also be able to.

I've put almost 2 years into this game, and I shouldn't have to fear for my account just by having an opinion and wanting even a modicum of transparency.

I still want to know if ATA supports Marcelines comments, but will I be ignored making a help ticket to ask? Or even worse be banned? For simply asking a question someone from the press would ask a person of power.

Maybe certain people don't care, but do you care so little that you would want to see people banned about it?

And why don't you care? Do you think this is actually going to be helpful in the long run of PIMD? Does it not affect you and the way you play, so it's of no importance if you're able to continue playing how you would normally play? Please I truly want to know, I would love to see your opinions on these changes outside of "ATA can do whatever they want"

 

[Oasis]

And everyone saying "change takes time" ATA is being very clear about the fact that they will not change.

Where?

 

[Queenpotatofries]

Okay tbh what I feel is that even though Marcie commented but still the problem will be UNSOLVED at all we will get back the same treatment and stuff. To ata please start doing your job properly and if you want us to spend money to feed your please at least give us a good looking avi with a decent price not lousy looking avis that can be worth maybe 1-2 good buffets hereAnd for xc please change it so that all the players can participate it in. Talking about feedback and stuff doesn't work because your need to IMPLEMENT IT not HEAR it and do nothing

 

[InvaderKeeng]

So proud of the PIMD community Stay angry. Stay tactful. #Nomoneymarch is a valid way to protest these changes, and ATA’s behavior. Keep it up.

 

[Aphire]

So proud of the PIMD community Stay angry. Stay tactful. #Nomoneymarch is a valid way to protest these changes, and ATA’s behavior. Keep it up.

100%. It will only be once they realise we aren't letting this drop that they start working with us/ ACTUALLY listening to us. Everyone has done amazingly minus the usual random few who don't approach it in the right way.

 

[Aphire]

My account has now been silenced, with no notification, no reasoning, after speaking about nomoneymarch on campus. This has honestly dismayed me so much, and enforced so many if the previous comments on things

 

[bugsy]

My account has now been silenced, with no notification, no reasoning, after speaking about nomoneymarch on campus. This has honestly dismayed me so much, and enforced so many if the previous comments on things

Were you possibly sending the same message every time? Unless you were cursing (evading the censors) or “spamming”, then I can’t think of a reason to silence. Though, I wouldn’t be surprised if it were more of an unfair silence, as multiple people have now spoken of bans or silences for unfair reasons. Hopefully, this’ll stop soon when they see we aren’t going to simply roll over and suck up.

 

[Aphire]

Were you possibly sending the same message every time? Unless you were cursing (evading the censors) or “spamming”, then I can’t think of a reason to silence. Though, I wouldn’t be surprised if it were more of an unfair silence, as multiple people have now spoken of bans or silences for unfair reasons. Hopefully, this’ll stop soon when they see we aren’t going to simply roll over and suck up.

No, I posted maybe 6messages about it, posted a fair amount of time apart from apart from each other (like an hour at the least). No swearing, no hashtag, just telling people to check the forums for more info. They also usually send you a pm with a quote/message about what you did, which I did not recieve

 

[bugsy]

No, I posted maybe 6messages about it, posted a fair amount of time apart from apart from each other (like an hour at the least). No swearing, no hashtag, just telling people to check the forums for more info. They also usually send you a pm with a quote/message about what you did, which I did not recieve

Ugh, that’s horrible. I know people have been silenced unfairly before in the past, so I wouldn’t be too surprised at this point if someone is doing it since this could be labeled at us doing something “wrong” or “inappropriate” in some way.