Let us customise game presets

thevrclub

Please?

I had several custom made trailers and screenshots for many of the games I offer in my arcade. Now those have all been reset to default since the new update.

It used to be a very simple thing to edit. While it can still be done for custom manually added titles, it is blocked for games on Springboard's marketplace, and Springboard's "Presets" for manually added titles.

I realise you may have been asked by some game developers to block this to maintain their style, but the arcade operators are the ones who can directly observe what works with our customers, not the devs. It is in everyone's best interest to let arcade operators decide what is the best eye-catching content for their customers (within reason, it can't be defamatory for example but there's no reason an arcade operator would ever do that).

As an example, the recent SUPERHOT VR: Arcade Edition thumbnail has a lot of white and light blue colours, which looks washed out and dull in the Springboard launcher (because the gamma is set too high, but that's another issue). Customers who don't already know what the game is will ignore it because it isn't eye-catching.

This might be a small issue in the big picture, but it has been an unnecessary step backward for Springboard since the CDS update, when this function worked fine before.

Going forward it will be impossible to customise any new games licensed on Springboard's CDS, and this encourages me to look elsewhere to license my games in the first place so that I can add them as a custom title, defeating the point of the CDS: to make things easier for arcade operators.

Jordan

thevrclub

Hey Peter,

This decision went through a lot of internal debate. Ultimately, the IP and its use is governed by the EULA between operator and developer, and Content Creators need to have total control into how their IP is displayed to end users.

Because the industry is still so new, this has not really been policed. I would understand if you wanted to license content elsewhere so you can customize. However, I can say with confidence that content creators are not happy that customization options are available anywhere. There is a day coming in which this type of customization won't be allowed through any store.

We talked through giving Content Creators the option to allow customization, but we realized it would be way to hard to mange. They generally won't just blanket accept customization, and you can imagine the nightmare Content Creators would have to deal with if they first had to approve customization before publishing to your launcher.

We have talked about being more proactive in helping Content Creators develop standardization around trailers and thumbnail images that better serve the needs of operators. If we were to start actively pursuing this angle, how would you communicate some of the fundamental needs to creating a proper image and trailer for your customers?

thevrclub

Jordan

Content creators aren't on site, they don't know what kind of image would look good in the Springboard launcher and couldn't possibly know. That's not their fault it's just the reality of the situation.

Most of the new EULAs I read after the CDS update were incorrectly worded for commercial use anyway, making them completely invalid ("You are not permitted to... reproduce, copy, distribute, resell, or otherwise use the software for any commercial purpose"). It goes to show how we are still treated as an afterthought by content creators.

Yes I understand the reasons for the decision, but I'm saying it's not good enough. If we are to grow as an industry we need every advantage we can get. Meanwhile my competitors just buy any game on Steam with no repercussions and have a much easier time of it (they got the new Beat Saber songs the same time as regular consumers, we who have the commercial license had to wait a month), and when I try to be legit and pay the devs for their work I get roadblocks like this thrown in front of me.

Another example is Serious Sam The Last Hope. I had it when I launched my arcade but no one clicked on it so I dropped it from my menu. I tried it again several months later with a new attractive looking thumbnail instead of the default one and it's now become one of my most popular games. Examples like this require experimentation to see what works. That's not something content creators can do (unless they own their own VR arcade).

Let's grow the industry first, instead of stifling it, and then when it's at a point where we know what the fundamental needs are for things like images and trailers, start imposing a standardised set of rules.

vrcorner

Many of my library titles are with wrong images and no videos and I can't change it. SpringboardVR new changes and updates always upset me. Dislike the new update!!!

thevrclub

Even creating a manual game entry blocks custom content if you use the URI launch method. Springboard matches it to the existing preset and treats it the same way unless using the full file path. This is infuriating, and yet another roadblock I have to find a workaround for.

VREX

I agree with peter, we could use more configuration. It makes our life a lot easier.

thevrclub

Operators, if you want Springboard to bring back this option to customise game presets I suggest voting here: https://features.springboardvr.com/feature-requests/p/let-us-customise-game-presets

KatePlayItVR

I understand the viewpoint of the developers having control on what promotes their software - but this is just not working for arcades... You get the feeling that a lot of these videos have not been made for our purpose but are the developers recycling promo videos they already have, which were created as marketing before the game was released.

Some of the videos are inappropriate. Some of the videos say "free content" or coming soon, or available in spring 2018 or similar that looks out of date, or a cheek that we are charging customers for something we're getting for free (which we are actually paying PPM for).

The videos need to show the name of the game at the beginning and the end and what game play is like, and be no more than 1 1/2 minutes long.These are the things people want to see coming into an arcade. We are often asked "what game is that?" when a video is playing - and it doesn't tell the viewer at the end of the video.

We don't even have videos for all the games in our library now. Beat Saber and Creed to name two - I haven't spent time going through our huge library. Previously, when a game didn't have a video on the game preset, we added one from Steam. This now creates inconsistencies when we're showing new customers that they can hover over a game image in the launcher to watch a video of it...

Missing videos is my biggest issue with this. Our customers should not be able to see any difference coming in the day before the update release to the day afterwards. But now they are unable to see videos in the launcher on the games that don't have them. Why would you switch on this part without making sure you have videos for all game presets? If this is something that is mandatory in new CDS content from Content Creators - why not switch it on when all content is switched over?

We are currently having issues with our idle video reel, having cleared the cache and tried other fixes, we suspect the reel falters and fails when it gets to a game that doesn't have a video.

This is such a disappointing shame that a fantastic tool as idle videos and showing them in the launcher when you hover over the game image is unreliable and broken.

Jayson_Paglow

@KatePlayItVR @thevrclub @VREX @vrcorner

Thank you for bringing this up. We understand this is extremely frustrating; especially since you had the ability to do this before the update.

You're also 100% correct when you say the developers do not know how to market to your customers the way you do as you see them every day. You're the ones who should be making the decision as to how they're marketed to and what works best. With that being said, we do have to respect the developers and their right to decide how their content is presented.

We would love to strike a compromise by making strict guidelines as to what marketing assets developers can upload to the marketplace at the direction of our operators. There have already been some great suggestions here. If you could please list any guidelines you'd like to see implemented we can adapt our policy to make sure marketing assets represent the brand of the content developers while also serving the interests of our arcade operators.

thevrclub

Jayson_Paglow

@Jayson_Paglow The thing is that you're not the ones presenting the developer's content, it is the arcade operators who are, and it us who must agree to the EULA. By taking away our control you're effectively making yourselves the content police, though only for those operators on your platform who are already paying commercial fees (unlike some others who may not be paying, and are not on your platform). This only hurts those who play by the rules. I'm not interested in a compromise, it's not your place to enforce one. Or maybe I'm missing something...? Do you sign contracts with developers on the condition that you do enforce certain things like this? If so that's seems like something your operators should know about.

Besides that, this action taken by Springboard sets a bad precedent which shouldn't be brushed away so quickly. You've taken away functionality from your customers without prior warning or consultation. This erodes trust. What feature could be removed next? Someone pointed out in another thread that we now can't change the age rating for titles on the CDS. Will Springboard one day only work with titles on the CDS and stop launching Steam games entirely? We don't know, we shouldn't have to worry, and that uncertainty is bad for business.

Sorry if I sound harsh, I'm just disappointed. This is only a small issue on the surface, but the implications run far deeper and I think perhaps many arcade operators may not realise it yet.

gameovr

thevrclub

Some of us do realise it. When we had open huddles we were told how it would make our lives easier. There was no mention of taking away the ability to change the video, or the image, or the age restriction, or the ability to set where the game installs, or the launch arguements that some games rely on. All of these changes put the developers ahead of the arcades and make it harder for us to be successful. Had Springboard mentioned any of these things prior to release we could have worked to a resolution BEFORE it was jammed down our throats.

We are Springboards customers not the developers so i am wondering why they put so much effort into making the developers happy and give them whatever they want at our expense without even consulting us.

Jayson_Paglow

thevrclub

@thevrclub @gameovr Hey Peter and Eric,

I understand your frustration and tone. There's a lot at play here and Jordan will be reaching out to you shortly to discuss this on a more personal level. We definitely want to make sure our operators are taken care of and it pains us when we don't do a good job enough of communicating.

We agree, as a company, we need to do better on this front and we will be working hard to make sure there aren't more surprises like this. You're absolutely right and we need to be more vocal, clear and detailed about what changes are coming and how they will impact you.

We appreciate your voice and hope to make this right in the future.

KatePlayItVR

Thank you for the update. I'm really chuffed to see that age has already been added back in!!

@Jayson_Paglow Is there any guarantee that all game presets will have to have videos provided by Content Creators in the very near future?

This would be my input for guidelines:

All game presets have to have a video Videos are less than 1.5 minutes long Videos are appropriate for all ages to watch They have the game name/logo at the beginning and the end Must contain mostly game play Must not contain any wording inappropriate to arcade setting such as "coming soon", "free", "available on Vive/Occulus/Steam", "video is beta gameplay", release dates, "new to 2017" etc.

thevrclub

KatePlayItVR

@KatePlayItVR weren't you using the age ratings as a way to customise your library for student groups? If so how will you do that now that you can't change the age rating down?

@Jayson_Paglow I'd still like to see full customisation of the age ratings brought back. As we discussed yesterday, I hope you can keep this issue open and bring it up with the content developers again.

As for input on trailer guidelines I'd agree with Kate's ideas, with one exception I'd like to see the game name/logo only at the end of the trailer (or at least very quickly at the start, no more than 2-3 seconds, since this trailer also plays in the springboard launcher when a customer hovers the controller over the tile)

KatePlayItVR

thevrclub

Yes. Fortunately at the moment the only games we need to ring fence are any age. So we will put the age of "any" to 2, and then change the age of the games when needed to 1, then switch back if needed.

Here's hoping SBVR has another solution if we need to use games with a higher age limit in future...

:grimacing:

thevrclub

KatePlayItVR

I can't change Job Simulator to a lower age rating under 10 years. The option is there, but when I select 6+ I get an error saying "There was an error saving your changes". It does work when saving a higher age. This is on a Springboard "preset" (I have a Steam Site License for it). @Jayson_Paglow is this a bug?

At my arcade the minimum age to play is 6 years old and I have had tons of 6 year olds play Job Sim, it's the primary target audience for this game and never had an issue with them playing it.

This is a perfect example of the current age rating system still not working for us, it's a broken feature. Now I'll have to create a manual entry using a file path as a workaround. Good thing I don't have it licensed through Springboard or I wouldn't have even this option. (For example I have Beat Saber licensed through SB and the age is locked to 13. I used to have it set to 8+ and it was never a problem with that age group either).

KatePlayItVR

thevrclub

@Jayson_Paglow @Jordan

Oh my flipping days!!!

Job Simulator age 10+ - This is an outrage!!

We are going to have MANY unhappy customers. We do not have a minimum age in our arcade and have had many 5-6 year olds who are in love with Job Simulator. Why does this have a small human mode if this is not meant for the little ones?? This is the ultimate go-to game for youngsters who can't get to grips with any other game.

And Beat Saber as 13+!

This will also have serious issues with our customers as another one of our top games for all ages! Some of the young ones might not do well at it, but they love it on no fail and just waving around light sabers. There is no inappropriate content or complicated game play.

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE speak with the Content Creators on this. This is absolutely INSANE! And we are going to lose customers.

Also - PLEASE explain how I am to arrange Springboard to only show Beat Saber for our Beat Saber only class? I was going to use ages as a quick way of switching, but now I can't do this as I can't put Beat Saber to age 1 and put an age restriction on the stations as 1. My first class is Thursday evening (tomorrow 17:00 UTC) So I need advice URGENTLY.

We really needed to know which games would suddenly have a age put on them when they didn't before. We never changed the age (apart from using it to filter games) or the difficulty - but I am now seeing lots of changes we haven't done.

I am currently going through all our games (over 100) to provide info for you on videos, for Jordan's other post. Please could you offer the same courtesy and provide us with a list of games with age changes you've suddenly changed?

To further how insanely crazy this is Epic Roller Coasters has no age limit yet has a PEGI rating (European) of 12+. Yet Beat Saber has an E (Everyone) PEGI rating. This makes NO SENSE :rage:

Jayson_Paglow

@KatePlayItVR @thevrclub

Thank you for the suggestions above. I just wanted to let you know I see this and I'm looking into Job Simulator right now. I'll get back with a longer response once I get more information.

Jordan

Jayson_Paglow

Also @KatePlayItVR - we unfortunately have no control over the age ratings. The devs do. We do see the problems this is causing however, and are discussing internally, will keep you all posted.

KatePlayItVR

Jordan

@jordan Today I messaged Jenna LBE Advisor on Twitter about the age of Beat Saber, how our customers will be disappointed and questioning why the PEGI rating on the PSVR game is Everyone, but the version for us through Springboard is 13. I really hope this is some oversight or disconnect on their part and not another thing that makes us as arcade owners feel we are disadvantaged over their home market...