Let us customise game presets

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...

Jordan

Kate - Thanks for messaging her. Let us know what she says.

KatePlayItVR

@Jordan

Just received a reply from Jenna at Beat Saber.

No Video for Beat Saber:

Jenna says that Springboard has always had the media kit that is available to download from their website. She says she has spoken to you and asked you to check today, as she has uploaded many to the platform before.

Age Rating of 13:

Jenna says that is from the HTC hardware having a 13+ age rating. I screenshotted a pic from online which says that HTC Vive is actually 7+ and not 13+ as originally thought. That we have numerous games that content creators have 5+, 6+, 7+ age ratings. I was comparing to the E rating on PSVR, and she said that ESRB isn't required for Occulus of Vive, and Springboard doesn't have the option to apply ESRB. Although ESRB is American for us in Europe the related PEGI for E would be 7+...

She then said "But I went in and changed it to 1+. So it should take effect". She also said she's check with Prague to do with the distance between pupils for different headsets.

So I'm not sure from this if we should see a low age rate on Beat Saber and the video soon?

aaronsawyer1

How did this all sort out? it looks like we didn’t get anything we need.
does anyone know if the major competitors allow this kind of customization? There is not much point to spring board If I can’t use it to sell games and aid customer flow properly.

Jayson_Paglow

aaronsawyer1

Hey Aaron,

Thanks for following up on this! We do support customized game presets now.

HunterLaneSBVR

aaronsawyer1 Hey Aaron, you should be able to customize game entries from My Library! Just click “Edit” on the entry.

Thanks!

thevrclub

aaronsawyer1 Yep this issue was resolved some time ago. It’s good to have this thread here as a reminder, and I’d update the title of the post to reflect that it’s been resolved but I can’t see a way how to edit it.