Cubic Castles is UNREWARDING!
Pious
Member
in General Chat
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
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
This discussion has been closed.
Comments
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
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.
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 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.
Should we do something about it, the problem that we can't stand will disappear.
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
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.
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...
Please read my post I made above, I believe it has some valid points to significantly reducing scams.
If they were right infront of you from the start of the game, it would be a little different.
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
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?
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 based this suggestion from this ^^'.
::::builds away, or would if i could enter me realms XD:::::
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
if you can't find something nice to say... mebbe find somewhere else you'd be more happy to play?