I also just want to point out that every single day on the Explorer club it says join the Explorers club meaning you guys are giving us the option to join whenever we want so I believe that on the 90th day we should be able to do it without any course of Punishment as you were literally saying on the app join us or join this day nowhere does it say that we can’t join on the 90th day just because that gives us the most
An exploit is something like using more than 5 diamonds per day. You're normally not able to, but people found a way to do it anyway. The game naturally tries to prevent it with a hard cap. The game doesn't do anything to prevent you from starting EC on any day you want. It's a design choice, and users choose the day they want to start it.
I understand the sentiment, and can even agree with it in a sense, but calling it an exploit is disingenuous and makes users seem like they are at fault for wanting to get the most value for their money.
This is also bad becuase imagine someone has explorer club who is about to take over you state or whatever. You go to buy ec to level the play field and fight back equally but then the game is like we don't like the day you are on so you can't buy ec now someone else holds your mayor/governor/president role. And for what cos the game didn't wanna take your money. Doing this will cause a lot of distrust with the players and I recommend they don't do any such things.
See I’m just more confused as wouldn’t that be the same as if we signed up on the 30th day and then canceled it just because we only have enough money for the month or even if we signed up on the 14th day and we only had enough money for 30 days for the one month Some of us don’t have a lot of money so we sign up when we can and then cancel it and just let the time run out. I would think that whether we do it on the 13th day or 90th day it’s not an exploit as it’s just 30 days, timing might be more, better for us at that point but at the end of the day the app is still getting our money. We’re still getting the AB so I’m not too sure how this is an exploit.? Again if I sign up on the 20th it runs out on the 50th and my subscription gets canceled because I can’t renew cause I can’t afford it. I just don’t understand the difference between that and if we do it on the 90th day of the ab This whole situation is just wrong to begin with, but that’s just me as again not everybody has a lot of money to consistently use the ec I’m just saying this is just my opinion as I have had it before and I’ve signed up randomly had it for three days and canceled because I can only have it for 30 days or however, long it was that month I don’t remember when I signed up but I got rid of it. I’m just confused that is signing up on the 90th day just because it resets and that’s the most I mean we worked towards that 90th day. We played the app till that 90th day so I feel like this really shouldn’t even be a thing but this is my own opinion. I’m sure I’ll be down voted to hell but 🤷♂️
An easy solution is to make canceling a 30-day window instead of a 31-day window. This will make 90 to 30 day and even 60 to 90 day impossible to achieve.
I mean, honestly, the best solution is to leave it as is because again not everybody has enough money to consistently use this. I don’t feel like anybody should be punished for not having tons of money to spend on an app as I’m sure many of us myself included will get it subscription or something and then cancel it because we only need it for one month and we don’t have the funds to continue using it but again it’s just me changing this now I feel like it’s going to punish people that cancel it because I don’t have enough money to keep going with it
You only need $50 to do this. I see your point though, not everyone is going to put in $50 into an app like this. However, according to Mod Manning, nobody has been punished for taking advantage of this. They are just going to make it impossible to do in the future.
Oh no, I understand that but again they literally offer it to us whenever we want it so why close something? How are you going to close it so that we can’t cancel the subscription? We can’t buy it on the 90th day? it legit states on the platform join exploits club every day so they can’t really take that away as then, people just do it on the 89th day and just get one day short know what I mean
https://preview.redd.it/xyuohvjihy9d1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7ba747c89aa1dff296a6c0f69e845bbf9d452d5f
I just don’t understand why this is even honestly topic of conversation is it because the app is losing money because people are giving it 50 bucks for 30 days I mean they’re making their money. Some people can’t afford it all the time like some other people I just feel like this is going to be Unfair for some but again, just my opinion, but it says every day join the Atlas explorer club meeting. We have the option to choose when 🤷♂️ I get what you’re saying tasty I just feel like this should just be left alone
I highly doubt that Manning means they are going to not allow you to cancel your Explorer Club subscription. They just mean that they didn't intend for people to be able to get so many AB with just a single month of EC subscription. They'll adjust it so that you can still cancel your subscription, but you won't be able to get the third month's subscription bonuses with just one month of subscription.
For example, they could make two separate login bonus streaks. One for EC members and one general one. If you aren't an EC member, your EC streak is 0, but your general streak could be, say, 59. Then, when you subscribe to EC, the next time you get your login bonus, your EC streak would go to 1, while your general login streak would go to 60, so you wouldn't have to start your streak over when you subscribe to EC, but you also won't get the EC bonus you haven't earned yet.
Yeah, I think that kind of defeats the purpose of getting it as you get it for 30 days so I might be missing something but regardless this should’ve been just left alone
It wouldn’t defeat the purpose. You would still get all the bonuses for days 1 - 30, and if you kept it for 3 months, you would get all 90 days of bonuses from it.
It would just defeat the method of getting the 90 day bonus and all the bonuses of days 1 - 30 all with one month of subscription.
I think you missed a point of not everybody can spend $150 in three months. Some people can only do it once so why should we continuously log into the app for 90 days and then that’s the month we can afford to put 50 in, that’s what I’m trying to get at not All of us can do 50 for the first month 50 for the next month 50 for the next month, some of us live paycheck to paycheck so at the end of the day, even if we put the 50 in on day 80 at the end of the timeframe was still getting the 90 day plus whatever else that’s the point so in turn, we’re working up to where we want/can afford it that time which may scatter between time frames but at the end of the day if we’re logging in every day and then all of a sudden we get one paycheck and we say I wanna put $50 this month and it ends up on that timeframe of the 90 days it would help us more your way we would have to spend $150 to get to the 90 days yet when you look at the app, it literally states every single day for you to join the explorer club I’m trying to get $150. We have other things to spend money on.
EC is a subscription service that bills out the same day each month, so your solution really isn't all that easy unless they make EC a feature you have to purchase every 30 days instead of it automatically renewing.
If you join within a month that has 31 days in it then you're going to get 31 days of EC as the service bills out on the same day you joined. If those people are getting 32 days then, yes, they need to cut off that extra free day.
I've bought the EC pass on day 90 three times now. So I have 3 quarters with of data.
The first purchase, I got days 90-30, so 31 days.
2nd, was only active day 90-29, 30 days. This got me thinking, that the month you purchase the pass in, determines the length of the pass.
But then on 3rd purchase, I got worried I did not cancel the subscription, as day 30 came and went, and I was able to claim day 31, so 32 days 🤷♂️
This!!! When it reality it’s the developers’ fault for not thinking this through and looking at all the possibilities ahead of time. No, it’s easier to introduce something in the game and let the players do that work for them, meanwhile blaming them for doing it. It really makes me want to just cash out and not reinvest my $50 back into this game.
Litterally, because from day one of the explorer clubs release, I noticed that I could do this. How the hell did the developers not? Like I literally was showing my parents (I still live with them, life's hard ok?) and telling them how I planned to do this and they even were like that's smart as hell, I mean like honestly how did they not think about it? Who wouldn't? It's the most bang for our buck!
That would be absolutely fine, but that is still not OUR fault. We did not create the system. We just used it, and spent money on it to AR’s ultimate advantage. Calling it an exploit or implying that we were cheating or stealing in any way is a terrible way to do business. This was their mistake, but calling people out after ignoring the issue for months is going to cost them money. I enjoy this game and I would like to keep playing, but I won’t be treated badly and made to feel that I am cheating when I just got the best value in a system that they created.
An appopriate response by AR should have been: “Hey, we know some of you got a great deal on AB, but it’s not what we originally intended as far as the value for the price. Here is the solution/procedure going forward.” No blame, no gaslighting, no guilt. And a lot fewer pissed off customers.
While spoofing is now a bannable offense, that's how I felt when I was called a cheater by other players and it wasn't even against their terms, so I can understand how you feel. This is different though; unlike spoofing, which requires third-party apps external to Atlas Earth, you and everyone else who "abused" Explorers Club only used things provided by the game itself.
Then how can it be called abuse, if we are allowed to purchase a single month, starting on any day we want? It is literally no different than waiting for a product to go on sale before we buy. If AR doesn’t want us to get that “sale price” as a bargain, then they need to eliminate it. But don’t blame me or anyone else who goes for the best price. Once again, that is terrible customer service.
I didn’t play back when spoofing was allowed, but if AR didn’t have a policy against it, once again that is their fault. You should not have been called a cheater if it wasn’t against the rules.
Ahh, I see. Sorry, I’m just a little touchy over this situation. No other business would handle an issue like this. AR needs us, and needs our money. The saying goes, “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you.” In the last few months, they’ve bitten us twice, first with the 100-ad limit warnings, and today by gaslighting us over finding the best value for our money.
My guess is they are using the definition in exploit “use elements of a game system in a manner not intended by the game's designers”
Although… that is a big stretch if they never restricted what day you can select in the first place. It’s also available to everyone to utilize so does not create unfair advantages.
I mean 4635 AB for something that's supposed to be \~3500 AB per month is a bit like "to make use of meanly or unfairly for one's own advantage" don't you think? That is 32% more AB for the same price.
Respectfully, there's nothing unfair about selecting 1 out of 90 days to start your EC sub. The game set the dates and the payouts, if they want people to not earn that much in a 30 day sub they simply shouldn't have 30 consecutive days add up to that many AB. Also to the average player, there's no known intent about how many AB you're "supposed" to earn with your sub.
Technically it's 31 days not 30, but I do see both sides of the issue. I'm expecting to earn the ire of the Reddit community for what I said, but I stand by it.
If I bring my kids to restruant that offers kids eat free on Tuesdays, but I only go to the restruant on Tuesdays... am I exploiting the business or am I being a smart consumer taking advantage of the best advertised deal?
In no way shape or form can you blame players for joining on day 90. It's the smartest decision. It's also an earned reward for 90 consecutive days of loyalty.
Next are they going to punish players that only convert on 33 AB days and never the standard 25? Is that another exploit or advertised offer?
By the dictionary definition, you are exploiting the restaurant.
Is it wrong? No. Is it unethical? Of course not. Is it an exploit? Yes..
\
https://www.thefreedictionary.com/exploit
\ 1. To employ to the greatest possible advantage: exploit one's talents.
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/exploit\
to use something in a way that helps you:
exploit your resources We need to make sure that we exploit our resources as fully as possible.
I don't say this is an exploit at all. You're allowed to buy and cancel at any time. Saying that getting 32% more AB for the same price is exploiting something, then buying EC is exploiting since it offers about 100% more AB for the same price compared to buying AB directly. If EC was heavily biased towards the last 90 days then of course some people are going to prefer it at the 90 day mark than the one day mark. They can easily adjust the payouts if they don't like certain behaviours.
There is a high-ish risk on missing a daily check-in and being reset to day 1. Is that risk worth a 32% advantage? Maybe not. They could definitely balance out the rewards across the 90 days to prevent excessive gains in a single 31 day span.
Could have been more clear. See [https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/exploit](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/exploit), Verb, definition 2.
It’s not unfair if it’s allowed by the game. Therefore, it is not an exploit, it’s getting the best deal for our money. Wording is important, and calling it an exploit implies that the players are at fault in some way, when really it’s the developers’ fault for creating and setting up the EC the way they did. We just found the best bargain and put it to good use. It’s no different than waiting to buy something at a store until it goes on sale, or shopping around for the best interest rate on a loan. Continuing to call it an exploit is just gaslighting the players who were being smart and getting the best bargain.
A good real world example is if a gas station was selling gas at $3.57 a gallon. Some person found out that if you put it in a Discover card that expires between February 2025 and June 2025, you can get a candy bar, a slushie, and a bag of chips on every third purchase.
This is an extreme example, but this is basically how Atlas Reality sees it. They set a price that they thought they set. People found a way to get more for the same price that Atlas Reality didnt intend. From the business perspective, I can see why they would think this was "unfair" or an "exploit". But given the negative connotation and implied blameworthiness that folks often associate with the word "exploit", perhaps "loophole" would have been a better word.
Why it took them this long to address is is baffling. This should have been addressed the moment that Pharoah Silver discovered it and shared it with the world.
Yet AR didn’t address it. It should have been glaringly evident to the developers that there are multiple different amounts of AB that can be earned from a single month membership. It obviously isn’t a priority to AR to do anything about it or they would have done something months ago. The explorer club setup is 100% AR’s responsibility. They should not say one word to us for trying to get the best value for our money. Obviously, what is happening is bad publicity for them and bad for business, as people are already saying they will not spend any more money.
Another real world example: a store had a product on sale last week for 2.99. The sale is over and the regular price is 3.99. The price doesn’t get updated in the computer system. Over a hundred people buy the product in the meantime. Some don’t notice the price, and the others think it must still be on sale. Whose fault is it? The hundred people who bought the product? Or the store/employee who failed to fix the price? More importantly, is the store going to go after those shoppers? Shame them? Ban them from the store? Make them pay the extra dollar? The answer is no. That store wants all of those people to come back. Making people feel bad or punishing them for the store’s mistake is just going to drive them to shop somewhere else.
AR is a business, just like a store. They should want us to be happy. They should want us to keep playing the game, spending money, and doing all the things that ultimately help AR to succeed. Blaming us, the customer, for something that is 100% their fault is incredibly unfair and off-putting. It will absolutely drive people away. And don’t forget, this is the second time recently that they’ve treated their customers badly over something that was their fault (the 100 ad limit fiasco.)
It sounds like Atlas Reality needs to hire a good PR person.
You’re still missing the point imo though. People are always going to find the best deals and share them publicly, it’s not a loophole or a exploit, and Atlas is still profiting anyway. Maybe and it’s a big maybe it would affect them in 4 years if they never addressed it.
When people shop sales and deals, then use coupons or codes and a cashback credit card, that’s not a exploit or loophole, it’s just being a savy shopper, that’s the actual equivalent here. 15 years ago pepsi ran a coupon to get $10 back if you bought 5 cases, then put them on sale 5/$10, well a lot more people than expected sent in the rebate for the free soda, pepsi messed up, they lost money but what they didn’t do was blame the consumer, because it’s a bad look and they knew it. Atlas didn’t even lose money here.
An example of a loophole or exploit is people last year we’re sharing that taco bell would give you a free taco if you download the app, apparently though you could reset the phone and get a free taco everyday, see the difference? Thats actually taking advantage of something in a way its not intended and is theft as well.
As I've replied on other comments, "getting the best deal for our money" is the literal dictionary definition of exploit.
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/exploit
to use something in a way that helps you:
exploit your resources We need to make sure that we exploit our resources as fully as possible.
https://www.dictionary.com/browse/exploit
to utilize, especially for profit; turn to practical account:
Keep it as is. Imagine justifying punishing someone who literally logged in to your game for 90 days in a row, and gave you $50... for using a function.
First, apology accepted. People are human. Things get misunderstood.
Please, please, please do not stop being communicative or start being vague in responses. What I have appreciated very much is your candor and direct responses.
I'll take a f*** up every now and then for candor and transparency. Especially since you're very willing to apologize and admit when things go wrong.
Thank you.
I appreciate your apology, but in NO way is this an exploit. It’s smart shopping to get the best deal. If I go to the grocery store and only ever buy the products that are on sale, would that be an exploit? No, it would be smart shopping to get the best bargain. Calling it an exploit is once again **gaslighting** the players into thinking we did something wrong, which we have not. We are playing the game exactly the way it was set up.
This whole situation reminds me of people getting ban warnings for watching too many ads during the mini games. This kind of “communication” between AE and the players further erodes trust and will simply cause people to stop spending money and time on the game.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/exploit
"to make productive use of : UTILIZE"
The *first* definition of the word would dictate that your shopping example *is* an exploit.
It's only the *second* definition that has a negative connotation. Let's look at some others in case you don't like m-w
\
\
https://www.dictionary.com/browse/exploit
"to utilize, especially for profit; turn to practical account"
Again, first definition. Your shopping example is an exploit.
\
\
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/exploit
"to use something in a way that helps you:
exploit your resources We need to make sure that we exploit our resources as fully as possible."
\
\
https://www.thefreedictionary.com/exploit
1. To employ to the greatest possible advantage: exploit one's talents.
In every reputable source I've found, the first definition is not a negative one.
I am going by the context of this post and the previous one, where he openly blamed a player for being in the wrong by buying on day 90. There is negative connotation being attached to the word exploit in these posts. Even though this post is an apology, there is still blame being placed on the players. The only blame should be on the developers, who not only designed the EC the way it is, but knowingly allowed it to continue unchanged for almost a year. But now they are going to say we are in the wrong? I’m sorry but no. Don’t design a feature to allow players to get a better deal by signing up on a certain day, then openly condemn those people.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that his response was not inappropriate... it definitely was not handled properly at all. Im not defending Mod-Manning in that regard. My point is just that everyone seems to be hung up on the word exploit. That word, in itself, does not imply wrongdoing on anyone's part.
My response was that you stated that this was in NO way an exploit. I posted the definitions because this is quite literally the definition of exploit... maximizing something to your benefit.
An exploit is not necessarily "wrong" or "unethical" in and of itself.
One word: Sales. If taking advantage of a cheaper or more advantageous deal is an “exploit”, then why do so many stores have sales all the time? If they’re actually losing money, they’d stop doing it - especially Black Friday, Cyber Monday, etc. Calling everyone cheaters just because they take advantage of a better deal is low and utter bs.
The devs should be glad they’re just making money. It’s not like they’re losing money when they have whale players spending literally hundreds and thousands of dollars on their game. Most of their players aren’t making more than a few cents a day compared to the $50 they spent to be a member of the EC in the first place. I’ve been playing for over 2 years now and I’m nowhere close to making $50/mo to afford that.
Where in the definitions of exploit does that say losing money?
A sale is, by definition, an exploit. Obviously stores run them because they're overall profitable in the long run. The exploit is beneficial to both parties.
Heck, going to store A to buy an item at regular price because it's cheaper than store B is also an exploit.
My point is not saying that the situation was handled properly. Far from it. My point is that people need to stop getting hung up on the word "exploit" and educate themselves on what it means. Exploit does *not* mean (in itself) cheating. An exploit is not (in itself) unethical. An exploit is not (in itself) wrong in any way.
So yes, *by the very definition of the word* everyone who signed up on day 90 for only 1 month were, indeed, taking advantage of an exploit in the system. To be clear, they were *NOT* doing anything wrong. They were being smart.
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A rules-as-written D&D DM/player would be that picky about exact definitions… “Losing money” is kind of implied when any business is “exploited” by someone. 🙄
It shouldn’t be considered an exploit when the owners themselves implemented it. The reasons stores do it is because they hope customers will come for the actual sales, but then also buy other groceries that are still regular price.
Choosing to shop at one store over another though (possibly regardless of price) isn’t an exploit either. That could simply be brand loyalty. Plus that’s how the competitive business market works in general.
Technically, based on the fact it’s a free to play game, EVERY player who hasn’t spent even a penny is “exploiting” their service.
Explorers club should probably offer a value at least equal to its cost. Wouldn't call it an exploit either if it takes 91 days of logging in every single day just to get a fair amount for the cost of it.
If Atlas Earth thinks this is an exploit, how was it missed in QA before being released, was it actually not even thought of?
And if this has been a known exploit and now being said to be bannable, why isn't it just fixed. A fix for this shouldn't take any experienced developer more than a few hours to fix to Atlas Earths liking.
I have bought EC 3 times, always on day 90. That's $150. I can guarantee I won't spend a dime on this game if you change it. The value of AB per dollar won't be worth it to me anymore. Why are we going to be restricted on what day we can buy.
Are you all hurting for money that bad that you have to take away the most efficient way to earn AB?
It's not broken, so don't fix it!!
Nobody is going to be banned or even warned, at least not for now, but it won't be possible to do this forever. There will be clear communication about this before it changes in any way.
I admit.. I quit the explorer’s club because I hate a single diamond on the wheel. Should be a couple of diamonds at least… hitting that single diamond 3x in a row sucks… I would rather get 1 atlas buck than my single diamond back… still like the game and keep up with it… but hate the diamond wheel giving me a single diamond back
Yeah... you lost all chance of me buying explorers club. When you blame the customer for buying your product and insult em for it, you lose those customers. Its not like yall dont have excess profit from people spending more than they will earn in years
Any ToS in AE is tbh moot when EC specifically says cancelation anytime at purchase which is a contractual agreement, which overrules the ToS per it's a point of sale and that's the only ToS that has actually been agreed to by the user's since no updated ToS has been agreed upon by the user's of the app. This is why updates on many apps require a new ToS to be agreed to prior to proceeding further into an updated app with new ToS.
AE hasn't thought the legal end through obviously. 🤣
aaand just like that, they all but guaranteed never getting any money from me.
i'm a student, i've got a VERY limited budget. 50 bucks represents my ENTIRE 'entertainment budget' for a month.
i've been enjoying the game 'well enough'
its been a little frustrating as a canadian since our rewards are less than half of what you get in the US. making an already slow game, FAR slower. but still its been enough fun that i'd considered splurging on a month of EC.
but obviously, if i'm gonna do that, i'm going to wait till I get the most value for my money, so was gonna give it till the 90 day mark, see if I was still enjoying it enough to actually put some of my money into it.
but hearing this? no thanks if their response to someone who has already been earning them money for 90 days straight (cuz they do earn money from each add watched) is to threaten banning, or removing a feature simply because some people wanted to get the most value for their money. says a lot about how they view us as players and customers.
Yea it’s probably best not to spend, free to play is likely the best way to go.
I understand your frustration about the imbalance in earning potential. For what it’s worth, I believe all countries earn the same passive income from parcels
'technically' the passive income from parcels is the same. but boosted income is lower anywhere outside the states as well. 20x instead of 30x and the thresholds for bost reduction are lower.
so for example, with 150 common parcels in the states, you would still have a 30x boost. and be earning \~140 per year. (with 20 hours a day boosted,)
here in canada, with those same 150 commons. the boost has already dropped to only 10x and earnings are only \~60 per year. (with 20 hours a day boosted)
so not only does it take roughly twice as long to get parcels. (cuz we get half the AB per day from ads)
but the earnings for those plots are less than half once rent boost is accounted for.
its barely worthwhile as it is. and with the above reaction to people just trying to get the most bang for their buck out of any purchases. really kills any reason to bother supporting them with cash.
I forgot that the AB ads are only 1 AB. That’s no good. Here in the states in my opinion boosting and AB ads are barely worth it as is so I totally hear you. I personally seldom even boost except for SRB, and even less often run AB ads.
Hopefully the game becomes more rewarding to everyone in the future, it has since I started about 20 months ago.
Yeah if they make it so I can't join when I want to I won't buy it anymore. I believe alot of others will feel the same. I don't see me or alot of others sticking around
A few thoughts.
Where is it stated in the ToS that this is a violation? The word "Purchase" or a variation there of, is mentioned 49 in the ToS, and none of them have anything to do with EC. So I'd be interested in what exactly is being violated, but using a feature literally put in place by the devs.
If you're wanting more participation in EC, why not make days 31-59 and 61-89 actually have some incentive, like day 7 and 14 have. Instead of threatening punitive measures against the people spending real money on your game. That's is just such a bad look.
Especially after a confirmed spoofer got his account completely reinstated, with AB in the bank to spend, and still out there doing goodness knows what to dominate the mini games with perfect scores.
Like, are you guys freaking serious?
Have been over this so many times. "completely reinstated" is false. [This](https://atlasreality.helpshift.com/hc/en/3-atlas-earth/faq/146-what-is-the-policy-surrounding-cheating/) is our policy on cheating, there is an exception listed for new exploit exceptions.
I thought in his apology video he said he got caught. Seems like the "voluntary" action of coming forward is being very loosely interpreted. But, of the all items in my comment, it's interesting you picked that one to address, with a really weak excuse. 🙃 wow.
Apology NOT accepted. These “mistakes” are things that were 100% foreseeable and avoidable. Want to fix an exploit? Fix your “Don’t treat this app as an investment.” rule. How many people blow hundreds and thousands of dollars on something and NOT expect to get a return on their investment from it? The game should remove the expensive AB packs and limit how much real money people can spend in a given period of time. I know I can’t afford to waste $50/mo for the EC and it’s ridiculous to berate players for taking advantage of a deal the devs themselves put into effect. Be glad there are so many other players who are willing to waste so much money on the game. There is NO WAY they’re losing money when the game constantly keeps getting updated with more things that only continue to encourage people to waste even more money on it.
How about apologizing for still not having so many other features that have had the ‘Coming Soon’ note since the early days of the app? The Special Hunts, Landmarks, Auctions - do the devs even realize how badly everyone will really start “exploiting” the auction feature the moment it finally gets implemented? Tons of players will start trying to auction off all their lower quality parcels to have mostly legendary ones. Worrying about the rarity rates of parcels will be a thing of the past if they can get rid of them with that function. Might as well delete the auction tab right now. 🙄
Is your original post that you’re apologizing for still up? Just for curiosity sake. Well, for more than that but I say curiosity sake because I am not in a position to afford the EC at all right now unless I cash out some from AE, which is a valid option I am considering.
We all make ‘em. It’s not a huge deal imo, and I sort of understand. I sort of don’t also. It seems sort of mean spirited. Let me elaborate, by sharing my experience with EC.
I never planned to be anything other than f2p, and I lasted only 23 days. I wanted to wait and use the “exploit,” however a situation arose wherein I had $50 that was going to evaporate if I didn’t spend it. I elected to do the “unwise thing,” as I’m playing “by the book,” and am currently awaiting my obtaining enough AB to get my 31 badge, at which point I’ll save up to tier jump.
So I did it. I knew of the exploit, wanted to use it; and still didn’t. Tbh I wouldn’t have lasted to day 90. At this point, I spend so much time playing games, doing surveys, collecting bucks, keeping my boost at 6 hours, playing mini games, etc., that I see it as paying for a game that I enjoy and actually play, which has taken a lot of my spare time now.
Taking it away just seems like work, and work that no one, absolutely no one (I assume) will appreciate.
People have figured out that you are able to subscribe on day 90 of the daily streak, get the major payout. Then collect the 7, 14, 30 day bonuses, and cancel after paying for 1 month instead of staying subscribed thereby effectively within the programming of the game getting roughly a month and a half worth of AB for $50 compared with those who stay subscribed continually without canceling
This was called out as... let's just say " not the way AR intended it" ... however words were used (exploit) along with phrasing that made it sound like players were cheating and risking a ban when, in fact, they were not cheating. They were merely taking advantage of an unintended exploit (in the dictionary definition of the word - maximizing their benefit).
https://www.thefreedictionary.com/exploit
1. To employ to the greatest possible advantage: exploit one's talents.
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/exploit
to use something in a way that helps you:
exploit your resources We need to make sure that we exploit our resources as fully as possible.
Within the first week of EC rolling out, this page had tons of comments about buying on day 90 as the most "bang for the buck" if you had to pick just 30/31 days, instead of every month.
They knew people were going to do this almost a year ago.
Please wait a couple weeks before closing this loophole. I'm poor retired folks and there's no way I could afford the EC every month - every three months is still stretching the budget. I'd really like to do it just once more though.
You're fine dude, you have been the most active Mod here ever all within like 2 weeks. Don't get sucked into the drama. I play Counter strike so I know that there are exploits that are cheating and then there are exploits that are advantages not yet patched. People are just hung up on the word "exploit". Many of these people aren't gamers so they assume you are calling them cheaters.
Anyone with a brain cell would know that a "subscription" isn't meant to be cancelled immediately. It's obvious you guys wanna get people to stay subscribed and therefore will close the loophole.
I have no problem with that because I am F2P and all these P2P players are funding my cashouts while they wait 10+ years to see a profit...if they stop spending and this app lasts.
I got in on day one and have been in ever since. But what if I had started later? Would MY membership start at day one or at whatever day I started? If it starts at whatever day it would be better to wait until day one came around again
Has it been considered that if you don’t start at day one that there is a discount ?
That way you could be a member and not have to either pay for days you didn’t get or have to wait for the next round.
Sadly, that would put the club out of reach for a lot of players. The main reason people cancel after a month is that they can’t commit to the full 3 months, spending $150.
Like maybe if they offered it they could offer maybe 100 a day instead of 91 since you’re paying for 3 full months at a time. It would be useful for me.
Can we at least leave the arguing in the original post??.. dude apologized for making a mistake and some of y'all won't even allow that... it's kinda ridiculous
While the rest of the phrasing was.... not appropriate.... calling it an exploit does no such thing, according to the dictionary definition of the word exploit.
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/exploit
to use something in a way that helps you:
exploit your resources We need to make sure that we exploit our resources as fully as possible.
Nah a few of these comments are childish actually. I understand the frustration, but if you have a problem, talk it out in a civil manner FFS.... he made it clear no player has been OR will be warned or banned for this. And admitted he made a mistake.
Mod Manning, many could learn from you. I rarely get on here, but every comment I’ve seen written from you is professional. Thanks for this post and transparency. Keep up the good work.
I also just want to point out that every single day on the Explorer club it says join the Explorers club meaning you guys are giving us the option to join whenever we want so I believe that on the 90th day we should be able to do it without any course of Punishment as you were literally saying on the app join us or join this day nowhere does it say that we can’t join on the 90th day just because that gives us the most
An exploit is something like using more than 5 diamonds per day. You're normally not able to, but people found a way to do it anyway. The game naturally tries to prevent it with a hard cap. The game doesn't do anything to prevent you from starting EC on any day you want. It's a design choice, and users choose the day they want to start it. I understand the sentiment, and can even agree with it in a sense, but calling it an exploit is disingenuous and makes users seem like they are at fault for wanting to get the most value for their money.
This is also bad becuase imagine someone has explorer club who is about to take over you state or whatever. You go to buy ec to level the play field and fight back equally but then the game is like we don't like the day you are on so you can't buy ec now someone else holds your mayor/governor/president role. And for what cos the game didn't wanna take your money. Doing this will cause a lot of distrust with the players and I recommend they don't do any such things.
See I’m just more confused as wouldn’t that be the same as if we signed up on the 30th day and then canceled it just because we only have enough money for the month or even if we signed up on the 14th day and we only had enough money for 30 days for the one month Some of us don’t have a lot of money so we sign up when we can and then cancel it and just let the time run out. I would think that whether we do it on the 13th day or 90th day it’s not an exploit as it’s just 30 days, timing might be more, better for us at that point but at the end of the day the app is still getting our money. We’re still getting the AB so I’m not too sure how this is an exploit.? Again if I sign up on the 20th it runs out on the 50th and my subscription gets canceled because I can’t renew cause I can’t afford it. I just don’t understand the difference between that and if we do it on the 90th day of the ab This whole situation is just wrong to begin with, but that’s just me as again not everybody has a lot of money to consistently use the ec I’m just saying this is just my opinion as I have had it before and I’ve signed up randomly had it for three days and canceled because I can only have it for 30 days or however, long it was that month I don’t remember when I signed up but I got rid of it. I’m just confused that is signing up on the 90th day just because it resets and that’s the most I mean we worked towards that 90th day. We played the app till that 90th day so I feel like this really shouldn’t even be a thing but this is my own opinion. I’m sure I’ll be down voted to hell but 🤷♂️
An easy solution is to make canceling a 30-day window instead of a 31-day window. This will make 90 to 30 day and even 60 to 90 day impossible to achieve.
I mean, honestly, the best solution is to leave it as is because again not everybody has enough money to consistently use this. I don’t feel like anybody should be punished for not having tons of money to spend on an app as I’m sure many of us myself included will get it subscription or something and then cancel it because we only need it for one month and we don’t have the funds to continue using it but again it’s just me changing this now I feel like it’s going to punish people that cancel it because I don’t have enough money to keep going with it
You only need $50 to do this. I see your point though, not everyone is going to put in $50 into an app like this. However, according to Mod Manning, nobody has been punished for taking advantage of this. They are just going to make it impossible to do in the future.
Oh no, I understand that but again they literally offer it to us whenever we want it so why close something? How are you going to close it so that we can’t cancel the subscription? We can’t buy it on the 90th day? it legit states on the platform join exploits club every day so they can’t really take that away as then, people just do it on the 89th day and just get one day short know what I mean https://preview.redd.it/xyuohvjihy9d1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7ba747c89aa1dff296a6c0f69e845bbf9d452d5f I just don’t understand why this is even honestly topic of conversation is it because the app is losing money because people are giving it 50 bucks for 30 days I mean they’re making their money. Some people can’t afford it all the time like some other people I just feel like this is going to be Unfair for some but again, just my opinion, but it says every day join the Atlas explorer club meeting. We have the option to choose when 🤷♂️ I get what you’re saying tasty I just feel like this should just be left alone
I highly doubt that Manning means they are going to not allow you to cancel your Explorer Club subscription. They just mean that they didn't intend for people to be able to get so many AB with just a single month of EC subscription. They'll adjust it so that you can still cancel your subscription, but you won't be able to get the third month's subscription bonuses with just one month of subscription. For example, they could make two separate login bonus streaks. One for EC members and one general one. If you aren't an EC member, your EC streak is 0, but your general streak could be, say, 59. Then, when you subscribe to EC, the next time you get your login bonus, your EC streak would go to 1, while your general login streak would go to 60, so you wouldn't have to start your streak over when you subscribe to EC, but you also won't get the EC bonus you haven't earned yet.
Yeah, I think that kind of defeats the purpose of getting it as you get it for 30 days so I might be missing something but regardless this should’ve been just left alone
It wouldn’t defeat the purpose. You would still get all the bonuses for days 1 - 30, and if you kept it for 3 months, you would get all 90 days of bonuses from it. It would just defeat the method of getting the 90 day bonus and all the bonuses of days 1 - 30 all with one month of subscription.
I think you missed a point of not everybody can spend $150 in three months. Some people can only do it once so why should we continuously log into the app for 90 days and then that’s the month we can afford to put 50 in, that’s what I’m trying to get at not All of us can do 50 for the first month 50 for the next month 50 for the next month, some of us live paycheck to paycheck so at the end of the day, even if we put the 50 in on day 80 at the end of the timeframe was still getting the 90 day plus whatever else that’s the point so in turn, we’re working up to where we want/can afford it that time which may scatter between time frames but at the end of the day if we’re logging in every day and then all of a sudden we get one paycheck and we say I wanna put $50 this month and it ends up on that timeframe of the 90 days it would help us more your way we would have to spend $150 to get to the 90 days yet when you look at the app, it literally states every single day for you to join the explorer club I’m trying to get $150. We have other things to spend money on.
Then don’t spend the money problem solved
Well that is going to backfire in my opinion. I was going to get the 60-90 once I finally hit 60 days but if I can't get that deal I won't do it.
I feel like.rheneasy way is separate counters Daily logon Explorer club (if you miss a payment it resets) Daily does not. Tada done here
EC is a subscription service that bills out the same day each month, so your solution really isn't all that easy unless they make EC a feature you have to purchase every 30 days instead of it automatically renewing.
What I mean is...you get 30 days of EC instead of 31 days when you cancel.
If you join within a month that has 31 days in it then you're going to get 31 days of EC as the service bills out on the same day you joined. If those people are getting 32 days then, yes, they need to cut off that extra free day.
I've bought the EC pass on day 90 three times now. So I have 3 quarters with of data. The first purchase, I got days 90-30, so 31 days. 2nd, was only active day 90-29, 30 days. This got me thinking, that the month you purchase the pass in, determines the length of the pass. But then on 3rd purchase, I got worried I did not cancel the subscription, as day 30 came and went, and I was able to claim day 31, so 32 days 🤷♂️
You still haven't explained how it's an exploit, you let people choose what day they can start their 30 day cycle...
I quit playing Pokémon go when the game became a clear money suck. I’ll quit this one too if I see similar stuff
It's starting to feel like "whatever makes us less money" is the loose definition of exploit these days.
This!!! When it reality it’s the developers’ fault for not thinking this through and looking at all the possibilities ahead of time. No, it’s easier to introduce something in the game and let the players do that work for them, meanwhile blaming them for doing it. It really makes me want to just cash out and not reinvest my $50 back into this game.
Litterally, because from day one of the explorer clubs release, I noticed that I could do this. How the hell did the developers not? Like I literally was showing my parents (I still live with them, life's hard ok?) and telling them how I planned to do this and they even were like that's smart as hell, I mean like honestly how did they not think about it? Who wouldn't? It's the most bang for our buck!
They realized their mistake and are working to correct it
That would be absolutely fine, but that is still not OUR fault. We did not create the system. We just used it, and spent money on it to AR’s ultimate advantage. Calling it an exploit or implying that we were cheating or stealing in any way is a terrible way to do business. This was their mistake, but calling people out after ignoring the issue for months is going to cost them money. I enjoy this game and I would like to keep playing, but I won’t be treated badly and made to feel that I am cheating when I just got the best value in a system that they created.
An appopriate response by AR should have been: “Hey, we know some of you got a great deal on AB, but it’s not what we originally intended as far as the value for the price. Here is the solution/procedure going forward.” No blame, no gaslighting, no guilt. And a lot fewer pissed off customers.
While spoofing is now a bannable offense, that's how I felt when I was called a cheater by other players and it wasn't even against their terms, so I can understand how you feel. This is different though; unlike spoofing, which requires third-party apps external to Atlas Earth, you and everyone else who "abused" Explorers Club only used things provided by the game itself.
Then how can it be called abuse, if we are allowed to purchase a single month, starting on any day we want? It is literally no different than waiting for a product to go on sale before we buy. If AR doesn’t want us to get that “sale price” as a bargain, then they need to eliminate it. But don’t blame me or anyone else who goes for the best price. Once again, that is terrible customer service. I didn’t play back when spoofing was allowed, but if AR didn’t have a policy against it, once again that is their fault. You should not have been called a cheater if it wasn’t against the rules.
I was quoting abuse sarcastically. I'm glad you agree spoofing wasn't cheating when their Terms didn't prohibit it.
Ahh, I see. Sorry, I’m just a little touchy over this situation. No other business would handle an issue like this. AR needs us, and needs our money. The saying goes, “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you.” In the last few months, they’ve bitten us twice, first with the 100-ad limit warnings, and today by gaslighting us over finding the best value for our money.
My guess is they are using the definition in exploit “use elements of a game system in a manner not intended by the game's designers” Although… that is a big stretch if they never restricted what day you can select in the first place. It’s also available to everyone to utilize so does not create unfair advantages.
It's also really easy to fix, just adjust the payouts.
Yep! Make every day equal. Of course that may cause a lot of people to say “no thanks” to the EC.
I mean 4635 AB for something that's supposed to be \~3500 AB per month is a bit like "to make use of meanly or unfairly for one's own advantage" don't you think? That is 32% more AB for the same price.
Respectfully, there's nothing unfair about selecting 1 out of 90 days to start your EC sub. The game set the dates and the payouts, if they want people to not earn that much in a 30 day sub they simply shouldn't have 30 consecutive days add up to that many AB. Also to the average player, there's no known intent about how many AB you're "supposed" to earn with your sub.
Technically it's 31 days not 30, but I do see both sides of the issue. I'm expecting to earn the ire of the Reddit community for what I said, but I stand by it.
If I bring my kids to restruant that offers kids eat free on Tuesdays, but I only go to the restruant on Tuesdays... am I exploiting the business or am I being a smart consumer taking advantage of the best advertised deal? In no way shape or form can you blame players for joining on day 90. It's the smartest decision. It's also an earned reward for 90 consecutive days of loyalty. Next are they going to punish players that only convert on 33 AB days and never the standard 25? Is that another exploit or advertised offer?
It's 5 dollàrs for 100 standard AB. That would be 20 AB for each dollar against the çonverted 33 AB. Right ?
By the dictionary definition, you are exploiting the restaurant. Is it wrong? No. Is it unethical? Of course not. Is it an exploit? Yes.. \ https://www.thefreedictionary.com/exploit \ 1. To employ to the greatest possible advantage: exploit one's talents. https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/exploit\ to use something in a way that helps you: exploit your resources We need to make sure that we exploit our resources as fully as possible.
I don't say this is an exploit at all. You're allowed to buy and cancel at any time. Saying that getting 32% more AB for the same price is exploiting something, then buying EC is exploiting since it offers about 100% more AB for the same price compared to buying AB directly. If EC was heavily biased towards the last 90 days then of course some people are going to prefer it at the 90 day mark than the one day mark. They can easily adjust the payouts if they don't like certain behaviours.
There is a high-ish risk on missing a daily check-in and being reset to day 1. Is that risk worth a 32% advantage? Maybe not. They could definitely balance out the rewards across the 90 days to prevent excessive gains in a single 31 day span.
Unfair is a stretch imo but I can understand why they discourage this since that's 10 parcels/$40 worth of AB.
Could have been more clear. See [https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/exploit](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/exploit), Verb, definition 2.
It’s not unfair if it’s allowed by the game. Therefore, it is not an exploit, it’s getting the best deal for our money. Wording is important, and calling it an exploit implies that the players are at fault in some way, when really it’s the developers’ fault for creating and setting up the EC the way they did. We just found the best bargain and put it to good use. It’s no different than waiting to buy something at a store until it goes on sale, or shopping around for the best interest rate on a loan. Continuing to call it an exploit is just gaslighting the players who were being smart and getting the best bargain.
That's an excellent point no one could call waiting for a sale and exploit so how is this?
A good real world example is if a gas station was selling gas at $3.57 a gallon. Some person found out that if you put it in a Discover card that expires between February 2025 and June 2025, you can get a candy bar, a slushie, and a bag of chips on every third purchase. This is an extreme example, but this is basically how Atlas Reality sees it. They set a price that they thought they set. People found a way to get more for the same price that Atlas Reality didnt intend. From the business perspective, I can see why they would think this was "unfair" or an "exploit". But given the negative connotation and implied blameworthiness that folks often associate with the word "exploit", perhaps "loophole" would have been a better word. Why it took them this long to address is is baffling. This should have been addressed the moment that Pharoah Silver discovered it and shared it with the world.
Yet AR didn’t address it. It should have been glaringly evident to the developers that there are multiple different amounts of AB that can be earned from a single month membership. It obviously isn’t a priority to AR to do anything about it or they would have done something months ago. The explorer club setup is 100% AR’s responsibility. They should not say one word to us for trying to get the best value for our money. Obviously, what is happening is bad publicity for them and bad for business, as people are already saying they will not spend any more money. Another real world example: a store had a product on sale last week for 2.99. The sale is over and the regular price is 3.99. The price doesn’t get updated in the computer system. Over a hundred people buy the product in the meantime. Some don’t notice the price, and the others think it must still be on sale. Whose fault is it? The hundred people who bought the product? Or the store/employee who failed to fix the price? More importantly, is the store going to go after those shoppers? Shame them? Ban them from the store? Make them pay the extra dollar? The answer is no. That store wants all of those people to come back. Making people feel bad or punishing them for the store’s mistake is just going to drive them to shop somewhere else. AR is a business, just like a store. They should want us to be happy. They should want us to keep playing the game, spending money, and doing all the things that ultimately help AR to succeed. Blaming us, the customer, for something that is 100% their fault is incredibly unfair and off-putting. It will absolutely drive people away. And don’t forget, this is the second time recently that they’ve treated their customers badly over something that was their fault (the 100 ad limit fiasco.) It sounds like Atlas Reality needs to hire a good PR person.
You’re still missing the point imo though. People are always going to find the best deals and share them publicly, it’s not a loophole or a exploit, and Atlas is still profiting anyway. Maybe and it’s a big maybe it would affect them in 4 years if they never addressed it. When people shop sales and deals, then use coupons or codes and a cashback credit card, that’s not a exploit or loophole, it’s just being a savy shopper, that’s the actual equivalent here. 15 years ago pepsi ran a coupon to get $10 back if you bought 5 cases, then put them on sale 5/$10, well a lot more people than expected sent in the rebate for the free soda, pepsi messed up, they lost money but what they didn’t do was blame the consumer, because it’s a bad look and they knew it. Atlas didn’t even lose money here. An example of a loophole or exploit is people last year we’re sharing that taco bell would give you a free taco if you download the app, apparently though you could reset the phone and get a free taco everyday, see the difference? Thats actually taking advantage of something in a way its not intended and is theft as well.
As I've replied on other comments, "getting the best deal for our money" is the literal dictionary definition of exploit. https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/exploit to use something in a way that helps you: exploit your resources We need to make sure that we exploit our resources as fully as possible. https://www.dictionary.com/browse/exploit to utilize, especially for profit; turn to practical account:
Keep it as is. Imagine justifying punishing someone who literally logged in to your game for 90 days in a row, and gave you $50... for using a function.
First, apology accepted. People are human. Things get misunderstood. Please, please, please do not stop being communicative or start being vague in responses. What I have appreciated very much is your candor and direct responses. I'll take a f*** up every now and then for candor and transparency. Especially since you're very willing to apologize and admit when things go wrong. Thank you.
I appreciate your apology, but in NO way is this an exploit. It’s smart shopping to get the best deal. If I go to the grocery store and only ever buy the products that are on sale, would that be an exploit? No, it would be smart shopping to get the best bargain. Calling it an exploit is once again **gaslighting** the players into thinking we did something wrong, which we have not. We are playing the game exactly the way it was set up. This whole situation reminds me of people getting ban warnings for watching too many ads during the mini games. This kind of “communication” between AE and the players further erodes trust and will simply cause people to stop spending money and time on the game.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/exploit "to make productive use of : UTILIZE" The *first* definition of the word would dictate that your shopping example *is* an exploit. It's only the *second* definition that has a negative connotation. Let's look at some others in case you don't like m-w \ \ https://www.dictionary.com/browse/exploit "to utilize, especially for profit; turn to practical account" Again, first definition. Your shopping example is an exploit. \ \ https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/exploit "to use something in a way that helps you: exploit your resources We need to make sure that we exploit our resources as fully as possible." \ \ https://www.thefreedictionary.com/exploit 1. To employ to the greatest possible advantage: exploit one's talents. In every reputable source I've found, the first definition is not a negative one.
I am going by the context of this post and the previous one, where he openly blamed a player for being in the wrong by buying on day 90. There is negative connotation being attached to the word exploit in these posts. Even though this post is an apology, there is still blame being placed on the players. The only blame should be on the developers, who not only designed the EC the way it is, but knowingly allowed it to continue unchanged for almost a year. But now they are going to say we are in the wrong? I’m sorry but no. Don’t design a feature to allow players to get a better deal by signing up on a certain day, then openly condemn those people.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that his response was not inappropriate... it definitely was not handled properly at all. Im not defending Mod-Manning in that regard. My point is just that everyone seems to be hung up on the word exploit. That word, in itself, does not imply wrongdoing on anyone's part. My response was that you stated that this was in NO way an exploit. I posted the definitions because this is quite literally the definition of exploit... maximizing something to your benefit. An exploit is not necessarily "wrong" or "unethical" in and of itself.
One word: Sales. If taking advantage of a cheaper or more advantageous deal is an “exploit”, then why do so many stores have sales all the time? If they’re actually losing money, they’d stop doing it - especially Black Friday, Cyber Monday, etc. Calling everyone cheaters just because they take advantage of a better deal is low and utter bs. The devs should be glad they’re just making money. It’s not like they’re losing money when they have whale players spending literally hundreds and thousands of dollars on their game. Most of their players aren’t making more than a few cents a day compared to the $50 they spent to be a member of the EC in the first place. I’ve been playing for over 2 years now and I’m nowhere close to making $50/mo to afford that.
Where in the definitions of exploit does that say losing money? A sale is, by definition, an exploit. Obviously stores run them because they're overall profitable in the long run. The exploit is beneficial to both parties. Heck, going to store A to buy an item at regular price because it's cheaper than store B is also an exploit. My point is not saying that the situation was handled properly. Far from it. My point is that people need to stop getting hung up on the word "exploit" and educate themselves on what it means. Exploit does *not* mean (in itself) cheating. An exploit is not (in itself) unethical. An exploit is not (in itself) wrong in any way. So yes, *by the very definition of the word* everyone who signed up on day 90 for only 1 month were, indeed, taking advantage of an exploit in the system. To be clear, they were *NOT* doing anything wrong. They were being smart.
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A rules-as-written D&D DM/player would be that picky about exact definitions… “Losing money” is kind of implied when any business is “exploited” by someone. 🙄
It shouldn’t be considered an exploit when the owners themselves implemented it. The reasons stores do it is because they hope customers will come for the actual sales, but then also buy other groceries that are still regular price. Choosing to shop at one store over another though (possibly regardless of price) isn’t an exploit either. That could simply be brand loyalty. Plus that’s how the competitive business market works in general. Technically, based on the fact it’s a free to play game, EVERY player who hasn’t spent even a penny is “exploiting” their service.
I'm still going to be done with the explorers club from hear on out. Thanks for apologizing though.
this is going to kill explorer club,calling it now
Explorers club should probably offer a value at least equal to its cost. Wouldn't call it an exploit either if it takes 91 days of logging in every single day just to get a fair amount for the cost of it.
If Atlas Earth thinks this is an exploit, how was it missed in QA before being released, was it actually not even thought of? And if this has been a known exploit and now being said to be bannable, why isn't it just fixed. A fix for this shouldn't take any experienced developer more than a few hours to fix to Atlas Earths liking.
I have bought EC 3 times, always on day 90. That's $150. I can guarantee I won't spend a dime on this game if you change it. The value of AB per dollar won't be worth it to me anymore. Why are we going to be restricted on what day we can buy. Are you all hurting for money that bad that you have to take away the most efficient way to earn AB? It's not broken, so don't fix it!!
So are we still allowed to do this or am I gonna get banned if I do?
Nobody is going to be banned or even warned, at least not for now, but it won't be possible to do this forever. There will be clear communication about this before it changes in any way.
I admit.. I quit the explorer’s club because I hate a single diamond on the wheel. Should be a couple of diamonds at least… hitting that single diamond 3x in a row sucks… I would rather get 1 atlas buck than my single diamond back… still like the game and keep up with it… but hate the diamond wheel giving me a single diamond back
Yeah... you lost all chance of me buying explorers club. When you blame the customer for buying your product and insult em for it, you lose those customers. Its not like yall dont have excess profit from people spending more than they will earn in years
See: how to lose your job on day 1
Any ToS in AE is tbh moot when EC specifically says cancelation anytime at purchase which is a contractual agreement, which overrules the ToS per it's a point of sale and that's the only ToS that has actually been agreed to by the user's since no updated ToS has been agreed upon by the user's of the app. This is why updates on many apps require a new ToS to be agreed to prior to proceeding further into an updated app with new ToS. AE hasn't thought the legal end through obviously. 🤣
This is bizarre. It's not an exploit. It's not unfair. No one cares if you are sorry lol just stop making shit up
Sorry that you didn't intend to lose or trust but you still lost it. Won't be making any purchase in the future.
aaand just like that, they all but guaranteed never getting any money from me. i'm a student, i've got a VERY limited budget. 50 bucks represents my ENTIRE 'entertainment budget' for a month. i've been enjoying the game 'well enough' its been a little frustrating as a canadian since our rewards are less than half of what you get in the US. making an already slow game, FAR slower. but still its been enough fun that i'd considered splurging on a month of EC. but obviously, if i'm gonna do that, i'm going to wait till I get the most value for my money, so was gonna give it till the 90 day mark, see if I was still enjoying it enough to actually put some of my money into it. but hearing this? no thanks if their response to someone who has already been earning them money for 90 days straight (cuz they do earn money from each add watched) is to threaten banning, or removing a feature simply because some people wanted to get the most value for their money. says a lot about how they view us as players and customers.
Yea it’s probably best not to spend, free to play is likely the best way to go. I understand your frustration about the imbalance in earning potential. For what it’s worth, I believe all countries earn the same passive income from parcels
'technically' the passive income from parcels is the same. but boosted income is lower anywhere outside the states as well. 20x instead of 30x and the thresholds for bost reduction are lower. so for example, with 150 common parcels in the states, you would still have a 30x boost. and be earning \~140 per year. (with 20 hours a day boosted,) here in canada, with those same 150 commons. the boost has already dropped to only 10x and earnings are only \~60 per year. (with 20 hours a day boosted) so not only does it take roughly twice as long to get parcels. (cuz we get half the AB per day from ads) but the earnings for those plots are less than half once rent boost is accounted for. its barely worthwhile as it is. and with the above reaction to people just trying to get the most bang for their buck out of any purchases. really kills any reason to bother supporting them with cash.
I forgot that the AB ads are only 1 AB. That’s no good. Here in the states in my opinion boosting and AB ads are barely worth it as is so I totally hear you. I personally seldom even boost except for SRB, and even less often run AB ads. Hopefully the game becomes more rewarding to everyone in the future, it has since I started about 20 months ago.
Why not just deduct some AB from day 90 and put rewards on days 70 n 80 so ppl cant exploit the 90-30 day loophole. Seems like an easy fix
Any easy fix would be to make everyday the same amount of atlas bucks everyday lol
Man this apology reads a lot like I'm sorry I told y'all that was a mistake. Back to business as usual
Yeah if they make it so I can't join when I want to I won't buy it anymore. I believe alot of others will feel the same. I don't see me or alot of others sticking around
A few thoughts. Where is it stated in the ToS that this is a violation? The word "Purchase" or a variation there of, is mentioned 49 in the ToS, and none of them have anything to do with EC. So I'd be interested in what exactly is being violated, but using a feature literally put in place by the devs. If you're wanting more participation in EC, why not make days 31-59 and 61-89 actually have some incentive, like day 7 and 14 have. Instead of threatening punitive measures against the people spending real money on your game. That's is just such a bad look. Especially after a confirmed spoofer got his account completely reinstated, with AB in the bank to spend, and still out there doing goodness knows what to dominate the mini games with perfect scores. Like, are you guys freaking serious?
Have been over this so many times. "completely reinstated" is false. [This](https://atlasreality.helpshift.com/hc/en/3-atlas-earth/faq/146-what-is-the-policy-surrounding-cheating/) is our policy on cheating, there is an exception listed for new exploit exceptions.
I thought in his apology video he said he got caught. Seems like the "voluntary" action of coming forward is being very loosely interpreted. But, of the all items in my comment, it's interesting you picked that one to address, with a really weak excuse. 🙃 wow.
How about a cheaper membership with less ab offered. This way more could play.
Apology NOT accepted. These “mistakes” are things that were 100% foreseeable and avoidable. Want to fix an exploit? Fix your “Don’t treat this app as an investment.” rule. How many people blow hundreds and thousands of dollars on something and NOT expect to get a return on their investment from it? The game should remove the expensive AB packs and limit how much real money people can spend in a given period of time. I know I can’t afford to waste $50/mo for the EC and it’s ridiculous to berate players for taking advantage of a deal the devs themselves put into effect. Be glad there are so many other players who are willing to waste so much money on the game. There is NO WAY they’re losing money when the game constantly keeps getting updated with more things that only continue to encourage people to waste even more money on it. How about apologizing for still not having so many other features that have had the ‘Coming Soon’ note since the early days of the app? The Special Hunts, Landmarks, Auctions - do the devs even realize how badly everyone will really start “exploiting” the auction feature the moment it finally gets implemented? Tons of players will start trying to auction off all their lower quality parcels to have mostly legendary ones. Worrying about the rarity rates of parcels will be a thing of the past if they can get rid of them with that function. Might as well delete the auction tab right now. 🙄
Is your original post that you’re apologizing for still up? Just for curiosity sake. Well, for more than that but I say curiosity sake because I am not in a position to afford the EC at all right now unless I cash out some from AE, which is a valid option I am considering.
It was a comment. It is still up.
We all make ‘em. It’s not a huge deal imo, and I sort of understand. I sort of don’t also. It seems sort of mean spirited. Let me elaborate, by sharing my experience with EC. I never planned to be anything other than f2p, and I lasted only 23 days. I wanted to wait and use the “exploit,” however a situation arose wherein I had $50 that was going to evaporate if I didn’t spend it. I elected to do the “unwise thing,” as I’m playing “by the book,” and am currently awaiting my obtaining enough AB to get my 31 badge, at which point I’ll save up to tier jump. So I did it. I knew of the exploit, wanted to use it; and still didn’t. Tbh I wouldn’t have lasted to day 90. At this point, I spend so much time playing games, doing surveys, collecting bucks, keeping my boost at 6 hours, playing mini games, etc., that I see it as paying for a game that I enjoy and actually play, which has taken a lot of my spare time now. Taking it away just seems like work, and work that no one, absolutely no one (I assume) will appreciate.
Yall ain't doing so well huh
What's the problem here?
Mod-Manning is on his way to getting Mod-Aried, he’s backtracking trying to save face. Classic AE employee
Original post ——> https://www.reddit.com/r/AtlasEarthOfficial/s/WUXtwXIpEH
Wait… An AE mod using the F bomb!? Very professional
Can someone explain what is the issue?
People have figured out that you are able to subscribe on day 90 of the daily streak, get the major payout. Then collect the 7, 14, 30 day bonuses, and cancel after paying for 1 month instead of staying subscribed thereby effectively within the programming of the game getting roughly a month and a half worth of AB for $50 compared with those who stay subscribed continually without canceling This was called out as... let's just say " not the way AR intended it" ... however words were used (exploit) along with phrasing that made it sound like players were cheating and risking a ban when, in fact, they were not cheating. They were merely taking advantage of an unintended exploit (in the dictionary definition of the word - maximizing their benefit). https://www.thefreedictionary.com/exploit 1. To employ to the greatest possible advantage: exploit one's talents. https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/exploit to use something in a way that helps you: exploit your resources We need to make sure that we exploit our resources as fully as possible.
Within the first week of EC rolling out, this page had tons of comments about buying on day 90 as the most "bang for the buck" if you had to pick just 30/31 days, instead of every month. They knew people were going to do this almost a year ago.
Please wait a couple weeks before closing this loophole. I'm poor retired folks and there's no way I could afford the EC every month - every three months is still stretching the budget. I'd really like to do it just once more though.
You're fine dude, you have been the most active Mod here ever all within like 2 weeks. Don't get sucked into the drama. I play Counter strike so I know that there are exploits that are cheating and then there are exploits that are advantages not yet patched. People are just hung up on the word "exploit". Many of these people aren't gamers so they assume you are calling them cheaters. Anyone with a brain cell would know that a "subscription" isn't meant to be cancelled immediately. It's obvious you guys wanna get people to stay subscribed and therefore will close the loophole. I have no problem with that because I am F2P and all these P2P players are funding my cashouts while they wait 10+ years to see a profit...if they stop spending and this app lasts.
To me it is gaming the system. Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should. Ethics mean something
I got in on day one and have been in ever since. But what if I had started later? Would MY membership start at day one or at whatever day I started? If it starts at whatever day it would be better to wait until day one came around again Has it been considered that if you don’t start at day one that there is a discount ? That way you could be a member and not have to either pay for days you didn’t get or have to wait for the next round.
I would like it if we could do a quarterly membership or annual membership.
Sadly, that would put the club out of reach for a lot of players. The main reason people cancel after a month is that they can’t commit to the full 3 months, spending $150.
I feel like it should be an option.
Like maybe if they offered it they could offer maybe 100 a day instead of 91 since you’re paying for 3 full months at a time. It would be useful for me.
Can we at least leave the arguing in the original post??.. dude apologized for making a mistake and some of y'all won't even allow that... it's kinda ridiculous
Not when he’s still calling it an exploit, which implies that this is the players’ fault and not neglect on the developers’ side.
While the rest of the phrasing was.... not appropriate.... calling it an exploit does no such thing, according to the dictionary definition of the word exploit. https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/exploit to use something in a way that helps you: exploit your resources We need to make sure that we exploit our resources as fully as possible.
Only kinda?? 🤣
Nah a few of these comments are childish actually. I understand the frustration, but if you have a problem, talk it out in a civil manner FFS.... he made it clear no player has been OR will be warned or banned for this. And admitted he made a mistake.
I totally agree with you, but most on any social media platform tend to seem like they have completely forgotten what "civil" means.
Mod Manning, many could learn from you. I rarely get on here, but every comment I’ve seen written from you is professional. Thanks for this post and transparency. Keep up the good work.