Shoutbox

Hello everyone. 


Most of you know about Plus! Games, by Messenger Plus! Live, one of Yuna’s new websites.  www.plusgames.com

This site  has been live for approximately three months, and is a work in progress. What I wanted to tell you about is the developments in the language support.  Right now Plus! Games if fully supported in four languages  - English (source language), Italian, Spanish (European) and French, and partially supported in 7 languages: English, Italian, Spanish, French, Portuguese (Brazilian), Turkish, and German. 

For those of you who asked why you can’t see the language support, the site works in the language (if available) defined in your Internet browser. So to play the games in any of the seven languages mentioned, please change the default language in your browser.

If you're familiar with the site, here’s a quick overview. Let us know what you think!

Plus! Games lets you play games by yourself or challenge other players from the more than 62 million users of Messenger Plus! Live. You can choose from a wide variety of casual games (including classics like chess and 8-ball) and earn tokens to boost your playing experience – all for free. You can also connect to Facebook and invite your friends to play.  Enjoy!

Oh and don't forget you can BUY the tokens by using paypal or a credit card or you can complete "offers"

So you have to pay to play flash games?

You don't have to buy anything to play. You'll earn tokens by just playing for free. Buying is for lazy people.

Sorry, how is English fully and partially supported?

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For those of you who asked why you can’t see the language support, the site works in the language (if available) defined in your Internet browser. So to play the games in any of the seven languages mentioned, please change the default language in your browser.

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I have never heard anything so retarded Just put a damn option in! Pick a language by default based on the browser's, but let us change it for when it screws up. There's no way I'd change by browser's default language just to play some games. Even use the user's choice from the Plus! Network home page, just do something rather than relying on a browser to give you an answer.

The site seems like another way to show adverts (under the "more" link, although these are not even related to messenger, plus or anything people are care about or trust in and also the banner on the plusfun site.). Even the games link elsewhere (Catchphrase being a quick one I noticed again at plusfun seeing as plusgames is down) so I'm gussing you make more money that way too? I'm not saying a company making money is bad, but the fact is the only way Messenger and Messenger Plus! Live is connected is the use of the "Plus" name and the logo. It seems like Yuna is trying to ride the success of Plus! and make money off of it... Why not set up these websites under a different brand?

I'm having a bit of a rant at the moment and I don't really want to. I've kept quite about how I feel about Yuna et al, but these are the kinds of changes I was worried about.

OMG, it gets even worse:

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Originally posted by Some shitty IQ test I could have made in under an hour

4 games for £7.50 per week. A joining fee of £3.00 shall apply.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Aforementioned Catchphrase game

This is a subscription service. You will receive 2 games of your choice for £3 per month until you send STOP to 88000

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From what I can tell, these games are owned and operated by 3rd parties, which could damage the user's trust Plus! has built up, charge people extortionate amounts like the old "mobile phone TV adverts" did (notice you have to text to unsubscribe?). That whole site just shouts a shaky business model.

Is plusgames going to be any better? Will we be expected to download some sort of other Plus client next to be able play other Plus! users?

I'm not saying it's a bad idea to add services outside of the Messenger client, but don't do stupid things. Plus! Games would have been more sensible being dedicated to making games for Messenger. I know there is an SDK for it so why not hire people to do that instead of making multiple generic looking websites.

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Originally posted by discrate

Oh and don't forget you can BUY the tokens by using paypal or a credit card or you can complete "offers"

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Similar to a lot of other games out there such as Mafia Wars (well, all Zynga games really). The fact is people want to buy "reward points" etc to get an advantage and their whole concept works. This is asking people to pay for something I started doing at 11 years old with good old Macromedia Flash 7.

This is probably exactly what many people were afraid of, MP!L is now going to be surrounded by rumours of adverts, adware, spyware etc again because a 3rd party can charge people for a simple mobile download. I always thought Plus! would be free, because I believed in Patchou; so far, I don't put much stock in Yuna

[/WOT]

These are not meant to be hurtful comments, but my opinion on the way things are going. Great respect to Patchou for what he has accomplished with this and I wish Yuna to do well. Just out of curiosity, were any of the community involved at any stage of these sites? Consultation, design, thoughts? It just seems to be "look at what we did" and then silence and unimpressed looks. Maybe you could do something people want next time

quote:

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Originally posted by Spunky
Sorry, how is English fully and partially supported?



Similar to a lot of other games out there such as Mafia Wars (well, all Zynga games really). The fact is people want to buy "reward points" etc to get an advantage and their whole concept works. This is asking people to pay for something I started doing at 11 years old with good old Macromedia Flash 7.

This is probably exactly what many people were afraid of, MP!L is now going to be surrounded by rumours of adverts, adware, spyware etc again because a 3rd party can charge people for a simple mobile download. I always thought Plus! would be free, because I believed in Patchou; so far, I don't put much stock in Yuna

[/WOT]

These are not meant to be hurtful comments, but my opinion on the way things are going. Great respect to Patchou for what he has accomplished with this and I wish Yuna to do well. Just out of curiosity, were any of the community involved at any stage of these sites? Consultation, design, thoughts? It just seems to be "look at what we did" and then silence and unimpressed looks. Maybe you could do something people want next time

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My thoughts EXACTLY. (the position I'm in atm i didn't say anything)

quote:

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Originally posted by Spunky
Sorry, how is English fully and partially supported?

quote:

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For those of you who asked why you can’t see the language support, the site works in the language (if available) defined in your Internet browser. So to play the games in any of the seven languages mentioned, please change the default language in your browser.

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I have never heard anything so retarded Just put a damn option in! Pick a language by default based on the browser's, but let us change it for when it screws up. There's no way I'd change by browser's default language just to play some games. Even use the user's choice from the Plus! Network home page, just do something rather than relying on a browser to give you an answer.

The site seems like another way to show adverts (under the "more" link, although these are not even related to messenger, plus or anything people are care about or trust in and also the banner on the plusfun site.). Even the games link elsewhere (Catchphrase being a quick one I noticed again at plusfun seeing as plusgames is down) so I'm gussing you make more money that way too? I'm not saying a company making money is bad, but the fact is the only way Messenger and Messenger Plus! Live is connected is the use of the "Plus" name and the logo. It seems like Yuna is trying to ride the success of Plus! and make money off of it... Why not set up these websites under a different brand?

I'm having a bit of a rant at the moment and I don't really want to. I've kept quite about how I feel about Yuna et al, but these are the kinds of changes I was worried about.

OMG, it gets even worse:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Some shitty IQ test I could have made in under an hour

4 games for £7.50 per week. A joining fee of £3.00 shall apply.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Aforementioned Catchphrase game

This is a subscription service. You will receive 2 games of your choice for £3 per month until you send STOP to 88000

---

From what I can tell, these games are owned and operated by 3rd parties, which could damage the user's trust Plus! has built up, charge people extortionate amounts like the old "mobile phone TV adverts" did (notice you have to text to unsubscribe?). That whole site just shouts a shaky business model.

Is plusgames going to be any better? Will we be expected to download some sort of other Plus client next to be able play other Plus! users?

I'm not saying it's a bad idea to add services outside of the Messenger client, but don't do stupid things. Plus! Games would have been more sensible being dedicated to making games for Messenger. I know there is an SDK for it so why not hire people to do that instead of making multiple generic looking websites.

quote:

---

Originally posted by discrate

Oh and don't forget you can BUY the tokens by using paypal or a credit card or you can complete "offers"

---

Similar to a lot of other games out there such as Mafia Wars (well, all Zynga games really). The fact is people want to buy "reward points" etc to get an advantage and their whole concept works. This is asking people to pay for something I started doing at 11 years old with good old Macromedia Flash 7.

This is probably exactly what many people were afraid of, MP!L is now going to be surrounded by rumours of adverts, adware, spyware etc again because a 3rd party can charge people for a simple mobile download. I always thought Plus! would be free, because I believed in Patchou; so far, I don't put much stock in Yuna

[/WOT]

These are not meant to be hurtful comments, but my opinion on the way things are going. Great respect to Patchou for what he has accomplished with this and I wish Yuna to do well. Just out of curiosity, were any of the community involved at any stage of these sites? Consultation, design, thoughts? It just seems to be "look at what we did" and then silence and unimpressed looks. Maybe you could do something people want next time

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I completely agree. I had the same reaction when i came across the site a couple of weeks ago.

Nathalie, I think you should at least read your post before posting it; you can't fully support English and then at the same time only partially support English. As for the website, you contacted testers about things recently and never got back to any of us (whether it was questions, interest, etc.). Thanks for caring.

Don't forget that Yuna Software is a company which does not only develop the Messenger addon called 'Messenger Plus!'. This was explained several times already in other threads.

That there were going to be more things than just the Messenger addon was something long ago announced by Patchou also, before the whole Yuna-takeover was announced. And later, after the takeover, it has been repeated several times too.

Second, Plus!Games != MsgPlus!...

Messenger Plus! will always be free. This is, again, said numerous times before. The games aren't forced upon you either. If you like to play more games, or want more stuff for your games you are free to buy some tokens. And in the future there might probably be more stuff you can do with such tokens too than just getting some extra credits for such games. The games are from 3rd parties, and in that way Yuna gains revenue. This is 1000 times better than a forced adware sponsor in Messenger Plus! itself, imho. In fact, many people have suggested doing exactly such thing before, back in the day the C2Media sponsor was there. This whole concept and business model is also exactly the same as so many other online game companies successfully use, there is no difference.

quote:

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Originally posted by Spunky
This is probably exactly what many people were afraid of, MP!L is now going to be surrounded by rumors of adverts, adware, spyware etc again because a 3rd party can charge people for a simple mobile download. I always thought Plus! would be free, because I believed in Patchou; so far, I don't put much stock in Yuna

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So, I don't see how this is "exactly what many people were afraid of". Some people were/are afraid that Messenger Plus! would become payware, or riddled with adware. Although you have a point that it is under the same trusted branding of "Plus!", it is something different.

"Plus!" is not just the Messenger addon anymore; "Messenger Plus!" is, but not "Plus!". This is the same as the branding "Windows Live" (or the former "MSN"), which is way more than just an IM client.

quote:

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Originally posted by Spunky
These are not meant to be hurtful comments, but my opinion on the way things are going. Great respect to Patchou for what he has accomplished with this and I wish Yuna to do well. Just out of curiosity, were any of the community involved at any stage of these sites? Consultation, design, thoughts? It just seems to be "look at what we did" and then silence and unimpressed looks. Maybe you could do something people want next time

---

In regards to ways to gain revenue: it is one of the ways people want it to be. As for the involvement of the community: if we have comments, suggestions, etc, we can always contact Yuna (and please do, as the site can use improvements, like the language selection as you rightfully pointed out), that is exactly why Nathalie made that post. So why give the impression that you accuse Yuna for not getting the community involved? That announcement was _exactly_ made to get this community involved in the first place :/

Note also that the amount of players of those games already shows that they are on the right track with something like Plus!Games, at least for now. What the future will bring, nobody knows I guess (although a lot of such online game portals seem to spring alive in a burst with a massive user count before the active user count settles down)...

So, is it perfect? Of course not, and logic dictates they don't expect it to be perfect either. As Nathalie said so herself: "it is a work in progress". But that also doesn't mean you need to look at it in a big negative way just because it comes from Yuna, imho. Because from seeing some comments (not only in this thread or on this forum) it seems that for some people Yuna can't do anything good at all, no matter what they do.

I expect we can see more online services (beside games) to come our way in the future too.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Nathalie
For those of you who asked why you can’t see the language support, the site works in the language (if available) defined in your Internet browser. So to play the games in any of the seven languages mentioned, please change the default language in your browser.

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That seems nice, but it is unfortunalty way too limited. As Spunky has suggested: the user should always have the choice. Not everybody has the browser installed in their native tongue (especially in Europe). I strongly suggest to implement a system like the current Messenger Plus! site has, where the user always has the choice to switch languages and where the selected language is stored in a cookie for example.

Personally I think the Plus!Games site is a great alternative way to gain some needed revenue.

I highly feel like commenting on the subject, but since I've been up for over 20hours, I'll just say I agree with cookie, and edit this post sometime tomorrow.