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Post by eclosis on Mar 22, 2018 11:28:17 GMT -5
See how long it takes for my comment to be deleted
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Post by lordkensington on Mar 22, 2018 14:07:18 GMT -5
Yes! I can't stand it. Mailings are taking at least twice as long to reach me than they used to. and cost 1.5 times as much and as they have somehow screwed up my zipcode, not only has my recent purchase taken over two weeks to deliver rather than one, it is now even further delayed. Yay? Sigh.
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Post by kas814 on Mar 22, 2018 15:32:50 GMT -5
So they actually posted a statement... Attachments:
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Post by wortelboer on Mar 22, 2018 15:35:54 GMT -5
Interesting.
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Post by eclosis on Mar 22, 2018 15:43:08 GMT -5
Smells fishy Edit: Also I'm not sure why that took so long to be communicated, they could have done that two-three weeks ago and saved a lot of trouble
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Post by Todd on Mar 22, 2018 16:02:25 GMT -5
So Curios and Conundrums is unsustainable, but we're making our Experiences more active and involved?
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Post by Todd on Mar 22, 2018 16:04:43 GMT -5
Also, they started 2016 with four Experiences. The Weeping Book came out in Summer 2015.
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Post by eclosis on Mar 22, 2018 16:29:33 GMT -5
Also, they started 2016 with four Experiences. The Weeping Book came out in Summer 2015. Was doing yard work and that dawned on me as well... Also to note their choice of words," new items", not necessarily new Experiences.
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Post by dmikester on Mar 22, 2018 17:10:11 GMT -5
I just don't know what to think. It's certainly good that they made a statement, albeit roughly three months after they should have. But...
It's one thing to archive old things and appeal to people to trust them and look out for exciting new things. It's another thing to appeal to people and to be cheeky about it after several months of incredibly sketchy business practices, including making their shipping process worse while charging the same amount of money (and often more), completely botching their website relaunch including an Orders page that at least for me is still impossible to decipher, not answering customer emails for weeks on end, and doing things that on the surface seem to be deliberate attempts to aggravate their oldest fans like getting rid of The Vault with no warning or explanation (sure, it went back up, but only after we reconstructed it). And let's not forget Ryan's anecdote about them firing their entire creative team just before Christmas last year. Also, keep in mind that the last three times they've announced something new there have either been outright cancellations (Vulcan Dragon Tooth, Cold Signal) or it has been modified from its original design without any communication (Filigree). They don't exactly have a good track record.
I don't think I can in good conscience continue to support them despite having a complete collection of their Experiences and having opened all of the Vaults.
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Post by thegenii on Mar 22, 2018 19:07:31 GMT -5
Easier to read:
Is this thing on... hel... hello?? Hi. This is weird... I'm more used to reacting to your comments, so it's different and confusing to be the first one to...
Hi. It's me, the Messenger. I've been relentlessly "not answering" your questions on Facebook for years now. Some of you have confused me for the Curator, which is flattering, but we are very different. For example, if I were the Curator, I'd be writing on parchment right now and asking again why we have to write anything it's just a book full of faces.
Let's get this out of the way quickly: No, we aren't going out of business. No, we haven't been sold to a shady investor who is liquidating the company. Yes, that's exactly what a company doing both those things would say, right? After all, we have been running frequent sales and archiving some of our older Experiences.
While we won’t reveal all our secrets—that has not changed, nor will it ever– we do want to let our biggest supporters know what’s happening... which has changed, I'll admit. I'm not used to this "dispensing real information" thing. But here goes nothing!
The truth — about the big sales and archiving — is somewhat more mundane. Some of our existing experiences are showing their age, and you, our members, have repeatedly told us that you want more active, involved Experiences. We began 2016 with three Experiences available in our store and were one short of four times that many by the end of 2017. Keeping all the old Experiences is a lot of work and makes it harder to start up new projects.
Hence, we are clearing out our old inventory to make way for the new.
... I have just heard the sound of thousands of ears perking up. For the curious, the sound is off-putting and quite nauseating, though lovely at the same time, like a choir of angelic children struggling to hit a five-part harmony at a school pageant.
Yes, you have heard correctly. New items are coming later this spring, and they are unlike anything we have ever done before! It has been an adventure keeping our cards so close to our collective chests, all the while staying in the zone to uphold the mystery, but it will be worth it. Perhaps you saw the breadcrumbs we left for one?
In any case, that's all I have for today. Honestly... I'd like to get back to being helpfully unhelpful, now!
~ The Messenger
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Post by Geodus on Mar 22, 2018 19:09:40 GMT -5
One thing struck me when I read that post: they obviously are reading the forums here. That's a good thing, and I hope they understand the reasons for our recent criticisms and take heart to our suggestions. Collectively, members (over 1,500) of this forum have probably spent somewhere between $300,000 and $500,00 on MPC Experiences and C&C, and while that may be a small faction of their total revenue, it's still pretty significant. A smaller fraction of the forum (myself included) have purchased every offering ever made available by MPC. We are obviously vested. So, MPC, if you're listening, keep in mind that while we may have been your biggest fans based on your successes of the past, we're also your sharpest critics when you misstep. Oh, we can certainly forgive, overlook, and even be apologists for the occasional missed date, misplaced shipment, and even cancelled experiences. But when you stumble and alienate your core fan base with inadequate and insulting messaging, clumsy web site updates, and change the very persona of the company we lauded, it's not surprising that many of these patrons are saying "No more." You can turn the ship around, but it won't be easy to regain our trust. I'd recommend the following: - Work on improving the quality of communication with your customers. Style and elegance used to be hallmarks of MPC, but recent missives and communiques have seemed uncomfortably amateurish. We expect far, far better.
- Bring back the Mystery into MPC. What many of us enjoyed about C&C was the idea that behind this simple package company was something much more complex, connected, and even sinister. We would often scour each bit of communications looking for hidden messages and secretive hints. We just don't see that anymore. Keep in mind that being uncommunicative is not really mysterious, it's just uncommunicative.
- Be more exclusive. MPC used to feel like a private club with an application, but now it just feels like another web site hawking products. Don't mass produce so many of your experiences that you need to discount them to get rid of your inventory -- that just makes them feel cheap to anyone who bought them at full price. Make them in limited quantities so that you sell out completely in 3 months or so. For anyone who missed out on a purchase, the next one will seem that much more exclusive and more valuable.
- Utilize your fan base. You're obviously here on the forum. Use us for research. Ask us for questions about what we'd like to see in the future. Ask us for feedback about your shipping. Drop cryptic hints to entice us and get us speculating on the new things you're doing instead of speculating about your demise.
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Post by eclosis on Mar 22, 2018 19:39:29 GMT -5
One thing struck me when I read that post: they obviously are reading the forums here. That's a good thing, and I hope they understand the reasons for our recent criticisms and take heart to our suggestions. Collectively, members (over 1,500) of this forum have probably spent somewhere between $300,000 and $500,00 on MPC Experiences and C&C, and while that may be a small faction of their total revenue, it's still pretty significant. A smaller fraction of the forum (myself included) have purchased every offering ever made available by MPC. We are obviously vested. So, MPC, if you're listening, keep in mind that while we may have been your biggest fans based on your successes of the past, we're also your sharpest critics when you misstep. Oh, we can certainly forgive, overlook, and even be apologists for the occasional missed date, misplaced shipment, and even cancelled experiences. But when you stumble and alienate your core fan base with inadequate and insulting messaging, clumsy web site updates, and change the very persona of the company we lauded, it's not surprising that many of these patrons are saying "No more." You can turn the ship around, but it won't be easy to regain our trust. I'd recommend the following: - Work on improving the quality of communication with your customers. Style and elegance used to be a hallmarks of MPC, but recent missives and communiques have seemed uncomfortably amateurish. We expect far, far better.
- Bring back the Mystery into MPC. What many of us enjoyed about C&C was the idea that behind this simple package company was something much more complex, connected, and even sinister. We would often scour each bit of communications looking for hidden messages and secretive hints. We just don't see that anymore. Keep in mind that being uncommunicative is not really mysterious, it's just uncommunicative.
- Be more exclusive. MPC used to feel like a private club with an application, but now it just feels like another web site hawking products. Don't mass produce so many of your experiences that you need to discount them to get rid of your inventory -- that just makes them feel cheap to anyone who bought them at full price. Make them in limited quantities so that you sell out completely in 3 months or so. For anyone who missed out on a purchase, the next one will seem that much more exclusive and more valuable.
- Utilize your fan base. You're obviously here on the forum. Use us for research. Ask us for questions about what we'd like to see in the future. Ask us for feedback about your shipping. Drop cryptic hints to entice us and get us speculating on the new things your doing instead of speculating about your demise.
Number 4 big time
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Post by thegenii on Mar 22, 2018 20:41:47 GMT -5
A bad business model would account for having so much excess inventory on hand. Either the experiences have sold much more poorly than we expect, or they made far too many. Either way, a poorly executed business.
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Post by stupidstupiddan on Mar 23, 2018 6:26:18 GMT -5
If they have so much inventory just sitting around, then why did it take two weeks to "prepare" the first mailing of Rise of the Cult?
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Post by thebardess on Mar 23, 2018 16:08:58 GMT -5
One thing struck me when I read that post: they obviously are reading the forums here. That's a good thing, and I hope they understand the reasons for our recent criticisms and take heart to our suggestions. Collectively, members (over 1,500) of this forum have probably spent somewhere between $300,000 and $500,00 on MPC Experiences and C&C, and while that may be a small faction of their total revenue, it's still pretty significant. A smaller fraction of the forum (myself included) have purchased every offering ever made available by MPC. We are obviously vested. So, MPC, if you're listening, keep in mind that while we may have been your biggest fans based on your successes of the past, we're also your sharpest critics when you misstep. Oh, we can certainly forgive, overlook, and even be apologists for the occasional missed date, misplaced shipment, and even cancelled experiences. But when you stumble and alienate your core fan base with inadequate and insulting messaging, clumsy web site updates, and change the very persona of the company we lauded, it's not surprising that many of these patrons are saying "No more." You can turn the ship around, but it won't be easy to regain our trust. I'd recommend the following: - Work on improving the quality of communication with your customers. Style and elegance used to be a hallmarks of MPC, but recent missives and communiques have seemed uncomfortably amateurish. We expect far, far better.
- Bring back the Mystery into MPC. What many of us enjoyed about C&C was the idea that behind this simple package company was something much more complex, connected, and even sinister. We would often scour each bit of communications looking for hidden messages and secretive hints. We just don't see that anymore. Keep in mind that being uncommunicative is not really mysterious, it's just uncommunicative.
- Be more exclusive. MPC used to feel like a private club with an application, but now it just feels like another web site hawking products. Don't mass produce so many of your experiences that you need to discount them to get rid of your inventory -- that just makes them feel cheap to anyone who bought them at full price. Make them in limited quantities so that you sell out completely in 3 months or so. For anyone who missed out on a purchase, the next one will seem that much more exclusive and more valuable.
- Utilize your fan base. You're obviously here on the forum. Use us for research. Ask us for questions about what we'd like to see in the future. Ask us for feedback about your shipping. Drop cryptic hints to entice us and get us speculating on the new things your doing instead of speculating about your demise.
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