Let's all take a deep breath

Right, listen... I know there are issues with the game right now, but we're working on it, and I feel that this forum especially, is getting a tad too overly dramatic.


It is now only 2 days since we released the biggest, most comprehensive update to Virtualmanager in 6 years. Compared to how big this update really is, the issues have been few and minor. But give us some time to sort things out.

Now, if you had been here years and years back, when we released the game we called "Vman 2.0", THEN you'd really have seen a game that was chok-full of extremely serious, game-stopping flaws for months after. "Vman 2.0" was the update that introduced the now scrapped "old match engine" instead of the purely text-based one, we had before then. This was back when the game was only available in Danish.

With regards to bug reports, forum posts, and blog comments and how quickly I respond to them (if at all), I want everyone to consider this. We get information and bug reports in through all of these channels:

• The English forum
• The Danish forum
• The English blog comments
• The Danish blog comments
• The English bug reports
• The Danish bug reports
• The support system
• PMs and emails to me from the crew
• Our own crash logs
• Our own match execution logs
• Our own tests and observations

So if you experience a bug, then odds are that somebody else has also reported it and we're working on fixing it.

This also means that it is absolutely impossible for me to respond directly to each and every person who reports a bug or complains about a player doing something odd. We're only 2 full-time employees here at Virtualmanager, and there simply isn't the time to give everyone immediate, personal feedback and information about their bug report or complaint.

Finally, all the time I spend responding to comments, is time I'm NOT spending actually fixing things. Today, that's over 2 hours of my workday, so far.

There are bugs, yes, but we're fixing them.

There will be things that certain people don't like, which may be fixed or altered in the future, or they may not be. Here at office, we have to look at the big picture and not just unquestioningly do whatever somebody on the forums demands. That's no way to design a game, especially since ALL the people on the forums don't necessarily agree with each other.

And the forums definitely don't represent "the voice of all Virtualmanager users". I did a database lookup just now and found this: for the past 3 months, only 6.01% of all active users have posted anything in the forums... and only 1.44% of them have ever posted a blog comment.

So please, can we tone it down a bit in here? Give us some time and realise that some of your wishes may come true, but probably not all of them.

May I suggest a poll? Or something that forces users to vote? We really need to see that the majority want the new update, because I can safely assume we don't

Foxs wrote:

May I suggest a poll? Or something that forces users to vote? We really need to see that the majority want the new update, because I can safely assume we don't

Calm down and give the man a chance to resolve any issues. If these problems are resolved by new year then I will be happy.

Understated Excellence wrote:

Foxs wrote:

May I suggest a poll? Or something that forces users to vote? We really need to see that the majority want the new update, because I can safely assume we don't

Calm down and give the man a chance to resolve any issues. If these problems are resolved by new year then I will be happy.

But what's the point in fixing something, if that something isn't wanted in the first place?

FC Sunnyvale wrote:

Right, listen... I know there are issues with the game right now, but we're working on it, and I feel that this forum especially, is getting a tad too overly dramatic.


It is now only 2 days since we released the biggest, most comprehensive update to Virtualmanager in 6 years. Compared to how big this update really is, the issues have been few and minor. But give us some time to sort things out.

Now, if you had been here years and years back, when we released the game we called "Vman 2.0", THEN you'd really have seen a game that was chok-full of extremely serious, game-stopping flaws for months after. "Vman 2.0" was the update that introduced the now scrapped "old match engine" instead of the purely text-based one, we had before then. This was back when the game was only available in Danish.

With regards to bug reports, forum posts, and blog comments and how quickly I respond to them (if at all), I want everyone to consider this. We get information and bug reports in through all of these channels:

• The English forum
• The Danish forum
• The English blog comments
• The Danish blog comments
• The English bug reports
• The Danish bug reports
• The support system
• PMs and emails to me from the crew
• Our own crash logs
• Our own match execution logs
• Our own tests and observations

So if you experience a bug, then odds are that somebody else has also reported it and we're working on fixing it.

This also means that it is absolutely impossible for me to respond directly to each and every person who reports a bug or complains about a player doing something odd. We're only 2 full-time employees here at Virtualmanager, and there simply isn't the time to give everyone immediate, personal feedback and information about their bug report or complaint.

Finally, all the time I spend responding to comments, is time I'm NOT spending actually fixing things. Today, that's over 2 hours of my workday, so far.

There are bugs, yes, but we're fixing them.

There will be things that certain people don't like, which may be fixed or altered in the future, or they may not be. Here at office, we have to look at the big picture and not just unquestioningly do whatever somebody on the forums demands. That's no way to design a game, especially since ALL the people on the forums don't necessarily agree with each other.

And the forums definitely don't represent "the voice of all Virtualmanager users". I did a database lookup just now and found this: for the past 3 months, only 6.01% of all active users have posted anything in the forums... and only 1.44% of them have ever posted a blog comment.

So please, can we tone it down a bit in here? Give us some time and realise that some of your wishes may come true, but probably not all of them.

Dave likes this

what an incredibly short sighted and arrogant statement. 'take a deep breath'.... so i cant think it sucks calmly?

you released something that isn't finished and was widely unwanted, then get pissy when they complain it doesn't work, how about refunding everyone for this week? no?, then take the perfectly fair criticism on the chin.

there are 2 problems:
1. the new game is not as good as the old one
2. the new game doesn't work

number 2 is massivley compounded by number 1, and paying customers are allowed to complain.

edit: well done for replying to the complaints.

It may take as long to revert back to the old system. To be honest if I had been here when it started(and spoke Danish) then I probably would have said that I am happy with text commentary as I was happy with that on Football Manager.

Games do evolve and move on. If they can't try new things then how can they improve the game? I'm sure if people cancel their subscriptions in numbers then they will have a rethink but most people are waiting to see what happens(begrudgingly in some cases).

It is their business, they aren't try to harm it's sales. They are trying to give us a better product. I do think you need to wait and judge the finished product. If the problems are minor then once they have resolved them they may be free to work on some of the ideas people have come up with.

All this negative talk on forums will dissuade new users from joining and will kill the game.

I'm not a paying user but the only problems I feel I now have are the fact you can no longer pause games in the middle of watching them and the fact my players seem to be tiring out more than before (my fault for getting the new match tactics wrong it has to be said!) I like the new way games are shown and I feel it gives the players of each team far more of a human appeal.

I was disappointed when the update first came out but I would now be one of its biggest supporters. Keep up the good work VM and you'll see my subscription very shortly!

Foxs wrote:

May I suggest a poll? Or something that forces users to vote? We really need to see that the majority want the new update, because I can safely assume we don't

We DID have a poll, before we started work on the new match simulator, and lots of people DID want it. It wasn't the number 1 choice; I believe it's was in the number 2 spot after Youth Academy, but I could be wrong.

Please read this post by Rasmus, from about a year and a half ago, where he explained why we chose the match simulator from among the top 4 wanted features:

http://www.virtualmanager.com/blog/510

FC Sunnyvale wrote:

Foxs wrote:

May I suggest a poll? Or something that forces users to vote? We really need to see that the majority want the new update, because I can safely assume we don't

We DID have a poll, before we started work on the new match simulator, and lots of people DID want it. It wasn't the number 1 choice; I believe it's was in the number 2 spot after Youth Academy, but I could be wrong.

Please read this post by Rasmus, from about a year and a half ago, where he explained why we chose the match simulator from among the top 4 wanted features:

http://www.virtualmanager.com/blog/510

Thanks for responding, but it shouldn't be Rasmus' decision any more; he's left. However, the main reason a lot of people are annoyed is because of what this new simulator has brought to the table: new abilities and new (less advanced) tactics editor

Bugs: loss of energies, results been unrealistic, players doing ridiculous things, the referee being in no-man's-land, unnecessary highlights (throw-ins), players running at the same pace, amongst MANY others