Thanks to a note from Kidcodiwise, I found a bug in the system that kept donators longer at their donator status than intended. I originally made it so that a user’s donator level is being checked and downgraded (if applicable) when the user logs in. This would however keep users forever a donator in case they just never come back after being upgraded.
I now included that check in the lot reset process that runs every night, so your lot will reset properly if your donator status has expired. Tonight a couple of lots will reset accordingly.
Hey are we able to give a short grace period after expiration? Or maybe a reminder of sorts?
Ok so there are 2 things at play here:
1) When will you be “inactive” (i.e. you have not logged in) and then
2) When will your donator status expire.
I will not make a grace period for those.
1) The inactivity is an issue, since a lot of things depend on activity, more than “only” a lot reset. I remember that we decided NOT to send a reminder for the inactivity. For example, people can abuse other player’s deposit as an extension to their own (sending stuff to someone end then retracting it later), specially when the other user is actually not playing anymore. If we send people reminders that they are inactive, there is a certain risk that they re-login to make sure that their friends can abuse the deposit – and then not show up anymore. Also, if people put a dib on a lot, players might just come back for a second to extend and block the resources for others. On the other hand, there is a chance of course that they start playing again. So it’s a tricky question what to do here. Do we only want really active players? Or do we want to get any chance of someone coming back with the risks attached?
2) The donation status is therefore similar to the above, but of course a different check since the donator status is tracked independently from the inactivity. Just not being a donator for example does not take something like a lot away from you. So your donator status could expire while you are still an active user. This would be a much better reminder since people have to actually donate to get this back instead of just logging in for 1 second.
I guess what I mean is, is it possible to only set a reminder for donators, whose donations expired, to come back and donate?
Yeah I think this should happen. See https://github.com/uncovery/uncovery_me/issues/334
Yup I don’t think a grace period would be necessary either if there is a reminder!
I like the idea of a warning for the donaters. Seems like a good middle ground to help players who are looking to stay but have to take a break, while at the same time keeping the possibility of abuse lower. As always, thank you Uncovery for all the hard work you put into this server. As someone who had to take a longer leave of absence from the server, I can’t tell you how amazing it is to come back after four years off and find the same great community that made this server what it is. This is only possible with an amazing host. We who play on the server are ever in your debt. Thank you.