Cubic Castles is UNREWARDING!

Yes, I said it. And before you start getting all shocked and upset in the comments, just hear me out. I've been playing this game for years. And in that time, of course, like most older players, I've gone on-and-off. Why? If I'm going to keep coming back, why don't I consistently play? Why don't others? Because; Cubic Castles has become such an unrewarding game, and an unwelcoming community.

Why is this? Well, for one, it seems it is no longer beneficial to be an honest player in CC. Well, what do I mean by that? For one, if you talk to any older player, they'll tell you that the majority of players in Cubic Castles are scammers, thieves, and a large variety of unruly degenerates. And it's sad to say, that most of that majority is successful. Successful? How? Well, it's simple. Scammers are typically successful. Whether they aim to take the cubits of others, gain the trust of others and take all they own, exploit the game and gain an advantage over others, it's all happening, and not enough is being done to stop it. Likewise, if you just go to a lobby, you'll see it. People swearing, taking advantage of others, and recently, an increase in 'inappropriate/adult' activities. And sadly, it isn't being stopped. At all. In fact, it's increasing at seemingly exponential rates. Cubic Castles is becoming a more and more unwelcoming and unbearable platform for old and new players alike.

It is not rewarding to be an honest player. Unless you aim to sink your money into this game, you more than likely will never be 'successful'. And what is successful in this game, anyway? Many would say; 'Well, to get rich,' right? Or to own the most rares. To have the biggest or most complete collection. And maybe they're right. But it's frustrating and often discouraging when players who've cheated others and their way into the ranks of the community are more successful than you. Is it not?

But why is it 'unrewarding'? Regardless of how others view you, you'll inevitably discover that you will never be as successful as someone who exploited their way through this game. Additionally, regardless of how high you rise in levels, none of the perks that come with it, besides a few of the options you receive towards the start, prove to be anywhere close to a game-changer. With half of the options given eventually becoming just short of obsolete, the endeavor to gain a higher level becomes almost a waste of time and effort. I mean, a third of the perks should just be purchasable features anyway. They don't help you in the game in the slightest. Almost as pointless as being able to change your flag.

Cubic Castles is addicting. But it also becomes off-putting after some time. The community needs work. The game needs work. And people need to strive to put in the work. To fix it all. But as of now, that work isn't being put in enough.

This has been my two cents.
Regards,
Pious
«13

Comments

  • UU Member, Forum Moderator, Game Moderator
    I agree 81.37%. I completely understand what you mean about the community, when I started nearly two years ago the community was very nice. As time has gone on the community has slowly been declining and more and more people go to the dark side instead of the good side when they start cc and think it's amazing to curse at everyone and scam any way they can. I like how you said, "Cubic Castles is addicting. But it also becomes off-putting after some time." The first year I played cc I loved it and was extremely addicted to it, I was in a amazing clan called Blue Angles, I had multiple friends, and could actually trust people to not curse at me the moment I meet them. Now I have slowly been playing less and less because everytime I go online somebody comes and brings me down again and again.

    It isn't the Admins/Devs fault, or the mods fault. It's mainly the in-maturity of a lot of the players that play this game. Yes something could be done about it, for example: Adding more mods, adding a recording option for players to institantly start recording scams and players cursing, etc. -Dragon
  • Totally agreed with this, I have been played for a year, and all I have seen the scammers in the community keeps rising over and over again, and more people rather being rude than talking nicely, people starting to cheat at each others, many nice players and old players happened to leave the game... It's true that it's not anyone's fault but it's helpless if these things is ongoing, hope something can be done to fix the issues :(
  • damndamn Member
    edited January 2017
    I'm gonna side with you 100% on this, but I feel like a point skipped is the excessive money spenders. People spend 100's of dollars on C and buy the most expensive items in a matter of seconds without any turmoil while reaching to get those items. On the other hand, the people who grind for hours and months to get to that item just watch them get it in a matter of seconds. We have run out of the players dont brag having alot of C and have a ton of people who openly brag about it. I was in a giveaway realm, and I watched the owner brag about spending 100's of dollars on C. It was truly the most disgusting thing I have ever seen. I've spent a few in the game but not to the extent to that, I've stuck around in this game for about 2 years and seen many people come and go, but this is probably one of the worst trends I've seen in this game so far. I just wanted to emphasize this point and start a conversation on it. Everything I say might not be correct but this is one of the things that really makes me think the community needs more work. -12
  • (Warning, long post, possibly venting)

    Yep... What you say is true.
    I've played this game for a little over a year now, and have spent well more than I probably should on this game. But that was fine, because I enjoyed the game and found community to be alright. Met a few good people and enjoyed building, platforming, and socializing around. Now? eeeh...

    A lot of friends I used to play with have either stopped playing as reguarly (about once a month) or quit altogether. Found new friends a lot harder to come by. Little groups can feel really exclusive and hard to fit in, unless you already know someone in there. Chances are most of them either want you to boost their own ego, or score a quick buck on your behalf. Not very welcoming.

    I also don't see many platforming challenges or other free events in hollas now. They were great to me as a new player, because I could get some cool new clothes by the charity of a seasoned player, or just someone else who wanted to spread some love. Nowadays you mainly just see "Payaways," "Vending Machines," terrible deals on new/overhyped items and other scams advertised in hollas. Offical building contests included, since they require you have at least 5k to even rent a lot. Most players probably don't have a lot of cubits available to them reguarly, how are they going to participate in these?

    Building I was never particuarly good at, but I built up my realm reguarly with the blocks I could find and made a home for myself to the best of my ability. I was never big on grinding exp by constantly crafting (or grinding in general, really) so I never really went out of my way to abuse the broken "craft all" and wood planks thing. Still, it's a shame it's gone now, because now I have to craft things individually if I don't want to miss out on any exp, because a certain few were exploiting that to earn pharoah hats on alts or something.

    Lastly, I don't really even enjoy platforming in CC as much as I used to. Things like huge phantom foam segments are brutally frustrating to maneuver, as they don't really require much skill on the player's behalf, and more trial and error to find which blocks are safe and which will send them falling to their grave. (I once saw someone do a holla challenging players to reach an opposite end of an impossible bridge laden with phantom foam. they were sitting on opposite side, watching everyone fall, further attributing to that ego thing)

    TL;DR, I don't feel the same about Cubic Castles as I did a year ago. It's not as fun to level up and earn new perks, (due to it requiring constant grinding outside quests,) community can be manipulative and toxic, and additions to the game just give players more fuel to be terrible people.
  • fishstepfishstep Member
    edited January 2017

    HOW TO STOP SCAMMING

    While I agree that scamming is a HUGE problem in Cubic Castles, you have to remind yourself that this is an MMO, with currency and a way to trade with other players. MMOs are a lot like real life, except players reputations don't affect their real life. So there is a lot more scammers, bullies and just outright rude people then in real life.

    This is a problem with all MMOs. And Cubic Castles is no different.

    So how do we stop it?

    Firstly, we can't stop people from scamming. You can't just go up to a scammer and be all like "Stop plz." and then they never scam again. You could use their morals and conscience against them, but that is pretty hard to pull of on a large scale. So, what do you do? How can you stop (or significantly reduce) scammers?

    The answer is quite simple. Educate the players. If the players are well educated about what scams to avoid then they wouldn't do them, thus it would be a lot harder to scam people, making scamming no longer profitable. And if scamming isn't as profitable, then why would people scam?

    "But I thought we were already educating the players on scam!"
    Well, we are not doing a good enough job of it. To be honest with you, I thought vendings were completely safe until someone told me how they could scam. When you have to go out of your way to find the scam warning realm ingame, or go outside of the game onto the forums, I get the feeling that not many players actually see the warnings.

    Instead, we need to scream it at them. My best guess is putting an icon in the pause menu that when clicked on, opens up a book demonstrating all the scams and how to avoid them.

    If nobody got scammed, then nobody would scam. It's a huge problem with an easy solution.
  • I go with this 473645273857452364746% THE COMMUNITY HAS GOTTEN WORSE FRON THE SECOND YEAR.... not all of it.. But most and it makes me unhappy and sad
  • edited February 2017
    I'm too new to really make such an assessment about "then and now", but what I do know is, the tools are there to stop the "Scammers". So how come they keep festering like an unchecked weed problem? Probably because most of the kids who play are more inclined to trust every random stranger they meet. That's not the fault of the developers, or even the game's community. Half of that is simply not being cautious with who you trust. The other half, is how tempting it is to lie and how apparently easy it is to get away with this (something I personally wish were a felony).

    I personally don't mind "adult" content seeing as how I'm an actual ADULT. THAT SAID, this game is aimed at a far younger audience, so I can't really argue, either. This awkwardly thrusts me into a position of neutrality.

    There are definitely free events, from the staff-sanctioned Winter Weekly Event, to lots of player-sponsored "Bomb games" though prize values may vary with the player events. I will agree I see so many shops and not many parkours...Truth is, I am personally annoyed with how many players ask me to buy/sell something or other and I just say, "I don't care." Back to Parkour, the phantom foam is meant more as a test of determination than wit, and if done right, is fine for demonstrating that Paladin virtue. At the same time, I can see where excessive usage will result in frustration. But we're in the age of "Mario Maker" where most "community-generated content" is meant to make you pull your hair out, but then when you win, you earn that inner glowing feeling once you've beaten that kind of absurd challenge.

    I agree about how tiny the effects of perks are. But Merchant can have a dramatic impact if you're rich (or have a part-time job while still living with parents). A million Cubits can be stretched for an extra 50k, or even an extra 100k, if you stick to the Cubit Store for all your needs. That might sound comparatively small, but no matter what, 50k Cubits is nothing to sneeze at.

    And, what I find so rewarding is the glory and pride of leadership. Founding and running a massive clan/club/guild is an experience I have only FANTASIZED about before! And here, I can use that to full effect. To think, I found this game from pure chance (or divine intervention, depending on personal philosophies), and if it weren't for that, I wouldn't have ever enjoyed that kind of role.

    As for the mods, I perfectly understand why selection is so tight. With the age-gate alone (something that made my blood boil as a kid, and still does today), staff have slim-pickings just from that 1 restriction, never mind what OTHER hoops it takes to fully induct a player into the prestigious title. If it were *MY* call, I'd be absolutely content with picking an *EXTREMELY* mature 12-year-old as a mod. Yes, such kids DO exist. Believe me, I've met a couple. Yet at the same time, I see mods issuing broadcast warnings about (for example) keeping drama out of hollas. But I am unsure about the severity of levied punishments for issues with regards to proven liars and scammers. So mods *ARE* trying to work on these issues.

    In conclusion, if you like hanging out with others but aren't comfortable sharing all your worldly goods like some kind of Commie, you'll do just fine. Ironic since Qbees are probably the MOST Capitalistic race I have ever encountered! And since I've been to many galaxies and alternate existences, that's saying something. But bragging about Cubits, that again shows how Capitalistic this community is. You can argue that also shows a certain vanity in the community, and as one of those "rich" players, I do not quite care for this. Sure I bought the tens of thousands of resources to construct about 6 Realms (and counting), but I still had to work to bring them to life.
  • We all know the problems existing in the game now. While the developers can solve some of them (Ex: Something special and hard/rewarding challenge for experienced players), most of the others might be too hard for them to do anything, and it now relies on players' hands, on OUR hands.

    Should we do something about it, the problem that we can't stand will disappear.

  • I agree with everything.
    When I first joined (10/1/2014)
    Everything was nice. Community was welcoming and great. As if 2015. Mods did their work and banned players who scammed and did like things such as curse excessively and yeah. Great.
    But 2016 was just.
    Stop,
    Community became horrible and people just acting like animals and what ther people said, taking advantage of each other.
    The only mod thing I see is keep player arguments out hollas and I see no one in jail which surprises me a lot. I hope things get better this year.
    Or they will get a lot worse
  • I've been playing for a while now and I always distrust people. So for me not much have changed since I started because I have experience form other games. I agree with the fact that the scammers are getting away with it. Everything I Have is made by grinding the mining areas and by merchantng ( I am not that good at it). It is quite sad to see scammers being richer than me. but it is common truth and situation. people who spend are richer and most qbees want more c and stuff and try to gain as much as possible.

    whenever a new scam arrives, people are uninformed and will be able to scam more until he scam is known. also trusting players will definitely find themselves getting scammed more often than people like me. scammers need to be punished more severely and there should be a bigger group of people that can actually jail scammers.
    Personally it would be great if scammers would have to pay with the spoils of their scams and that these items would somehow be deleted or brought back into the game in a original event way.
  • Im gonna have to agree with you here. I started the game on 7th of July 2015, and everyone (strangers) gave me a warm welcome to the game. They gave me items, and we even share permissions in our realms. But since the additions of warp bumpers, payaway risks became higher, and many people lose their cubits in the process. You all must be thinking... "What do I get from being good to the community? Scammers ruin everything". I think that a lot of times too. This game is getting too hard to control. I know and I am aware that CC gives bans and warnings, but can't this game think of a better idea? Like a reputation system. That way, people will be willing to help others in need. I can't believe that we need to slap people in their faces just for them to realize that they have gone too far. More than half of my ingame friends quitted because of this, and I don't wanna lose more. To be honest, people are just behaving like animals and act like poor beggars. At this state, I don't even know if the community is in good shape... This game needs better crowd control, and I know many people aswell do agree.
  • I am not a person that talks much, but i agree too!
    In 2015 i had too much friends TRUE friends, i helped newbies because they were nice and smart
    In 2016 i lost most friends, some quit but most betrayed me or became aggressive/scammer, and the newbies, became true n00bs, they ask for your stuff (i mean rares not simple stuff), swear to everyone, and some innocent newbies are kids who dont know how to play well, but isnt their fault as they are kids.
    And obviously the scammer number increased ALOT, and some "pros" that i see doing hollas such "______ is a nice guy! He/she gave me things" are scammers from 2015...
  • SirKewberthSirKewberth EdenForum Administrator, Forum Moderator, Game Developer
    I think the concept of a reputation system is a good one and something we've considered adding for a long time. Part of our reticence to do it, is because it's difficult to come up with a system that won't be abused/misused. But it's something we're looking into.
  • I think the concept of a reputation system is a good one and something we've considered adding for a long time. Part of our reticence to do it, is because it's difficult to come up with a system that won't be abused/misused. But it's something we're looking into.

    Reputation system? That would just increase alt account scamming.
    Please read my post I made above, I believe it has some valid points to significantly reducing scams.
  • Hmm well fishstep, even there's guidebook about scamming, people won't read them due to laziness, even if they do, u can't make sure they will follows them, and it's your choice to get scammed or not, and there's greedy people around who wanna to get rich out there, that's y scamming happened.
  • Hmm well fishstep, even there's guidebook about scamming, people won't read them due to laziness, even if they do, u can't make sure they will follows them, and it's your choice to get scammed or not, and there's greedy people around who wanna to get rich out there, that's y scamming happened.

    Yes while that's true that people are lazy, but the game makes you go out of your way to find out about the different scams.

    If they were right infront of you from the start of the game, it would be a little different.
  • fishstep said:

    I think the concept of a reputation system is a good one and something we've considered adding for a long time. Part of our reticence to do it, is because it's difficult to come up with a system that won't be abused/misused. But it's something we're looking into.

    Reputation system? That would just increase alt account scamming.
    Please read my post I made above, I believe it has some valid points to significantly reducing scams.
    I agree that better educating the players is valid. But we can also deal with alt accounts pretty easily. I am not going to say how, but Kewberth and I addressed that one pretty well in our discussions.
  • People are struggling with their love for CC and I am over here going lalala while building lol.
  • People are struggling with their love for CC and I am over here going lalala while building lol.

    XD Ofc Cora. Ignore the negativity! Focus on your builds. XD
  • People are struggling with their love for CC and I am over here going lalala while building lol.

    mvp

  • elemental godelemental god The netherlandsMember
    Please keep in mind the mods are trying to do everything about it to stop the scamming. But without the help of players it wont be possible to do something about it, also scamming happens on such a large skill its almost impossible to stop them since they will come back anyways... also even if you find a way to get around the scammers they will always find a way to scam you with the solution against scamming

    A reputation sounds great, though people has to knoe how to see if he is good or bad. My bad was to put a pop up when you play for the first time that it explains it
  • edited January 2017
    I'd be more than eager to help crush this "scammer" scum! However, there is little I can do about it when I'm awfully busy in my cute enclave of a fort, where everything is nailed down and I'm tucked in with my few friends who honestly earned my trust.

    Without having actually been able to *witness* scamming firsthand, I only see it through forum posts and hollas and such. If it weren't for that kind of communication, it'd be like none of it were ever happening from my point of view. I could write reports, sure, but if I didn't actually witness the incident, how could I defend its validity?

    What can I, as an "average" individual with no special privileges to speak of, do differently to help crack down on this problem?

  • Piratax10Piratax10 Member
    edited January 2017
    Another annoying thing is those "fake giveaway" hollas, they are becoming too much frequent and most of them are Rent Machines... idk if anyone got scammed
  • elemental godelemental god The netherlandsMember
    piratax10 said:

    Another annoying thing is those "fake giveaway" hollas, they are becoming too much frequent and most of them are Rent Machines... idk if anyone got scammed

    yeah but that are those people that try to get customers....
  • It is a game filled with liars, cheaters, scammers. Having people to lie about stuff like prices just for cubits. I have seen a lot of people who bought cubits and got taken advantage of other people leaving them with nothing and having to pay for it. Along with the Players who are a higher level with very little respect for a lot of strangers not known and the community is so unequal and kind of mean to everyone in a way (not most of the time). I do agree we should have a reputation system and player profiles in-game.

    The reputation system can be like in a player profile which can be viewd either by friendlist or holding their qbee ;w;.....

    It could have like trust reputation ranks given by mods or admins like a 3 star could be like "Admin Trusted" and have a cute little thing on their name on the qbee ;w;.. and 1 star could mean like recognized player or something ;w;.... Also there can be Warning reputations showing if the person has been muted before, banned, or something else (;w;' scared to suggest this and people see my reputation) like 3 black skulls is like banned multiple times, 1 means muted before.. So any player can know how much should they trust a player...

    The Player Profile could be preview-able by anyone showing their perks, how old their Qbee is( #Qbee B-day), the Reputations,

    I think the concept of a reputation system is a good one and something we've considered adding for a long time. Part of our reticence to do it, is because it's difficult to come up with a system that won't be abused/misused. But it's something we're looking into.

    I based this suggestion from this ^^'.

  • It isn't welcoming at all. People with high profiles are ignorant, they only care about themselves.
  • People are struggling with their love for CC and I am over here going lalala while building lol.

    IKR?!?
    ::::builds away, or would if i could enter me realms XD:::::

  • scorto7scorto7 BelgiumRetired Moderator
    This whole topic is a huge wall of negativity... as if this game seems to be the worse thing that has ever happened in your lives.
    I actually having a really hard time to find even a half sentence that speaks positively about this matter.

    The only one i saw that looks at the bright side of thing is Grey. ....btw: nice :D nothing to add to that :P
  • i agreed w grey! i think if ppl complaining so much n eel so negatively, they should find another game... i, for one, have a great time playing CC. and i am a higher level- 45- player who does my best to be nice n respectful to all players, even ones being quite un-nice n disrespectful to me :) and i know other upper-levels who are the same. i think if you put negativity in, that's what you tend get back. if you put positivity in, that's what you tend to get back.
    if you can't find something nice to say... mebbe find somewhere else you'd be more happy to play?
  • i agreed w grey! i think if ppl complaining so much n eel so negatively, they should find another game... i, for one, have a great time playing CC. and i am a higher level- 45- player who does my best to be nice n respectful to all players, even ones being quite un-nice n disrespectful to me :) and i know other upper-levels who are the same. i think if you put negativity in, that's what you tend get back. if you put positivity in, that's what you tend to get back.
    if you can't find something nice to say... mebbe find somewhere else you'd be more happy to play?

    Ignoring these issues will not make them go away. In order to stop them we need to acknowledge they exists and we need to say we want them gone. Now that we all acknowledged that these issues are there, we can now talk about solutions of how to fix these problems.
    CosmicCow said:

    I agree that better educating the players is valid. But we can also deal with alt accounts pretty easily. I am not going to say how, but Kewberth and I addressed that one pretty well in our discussions.

    I really hope it isn't checking if your on the same IP, my friend and I play this quite often in the same house.
This discussion has been closed.