Support Policy Change: Playerworld backups and old project data

[HoudiniMan]

Playerworld data will no longer be released to the public from GraalOnline's backup systems.

There are several reasons for this change:

1) Stefan must personally see to each request for a data retrieval. This is not a quick task, and requires sifting through backups, finding a server to upload it for the player, etc.

2) Permissions for data usage are reserved by GraalOnline, however we have two long-standing policies: Firstly, data usage rights are granted on a first-come first-serve basis. This means that, generally, whatever server a file is uploaded or created on may use that file - and any other servers wishing to use that file must ask the server of origin.

The second policy is that players who want to revive a past project need the permission of the last owner, plus the permission of the Playerworld Administration to revive it. Before giving out playerworld backups, we try our best to establish permission being granted from the last manager of the project. However, this is increasingly done simply by trusting the word of the requester, because there is no good way to ask permission from people who have left the game - either by the PWA or the by player wanting to revive a project.

3) This greatly reduces the originality and stability of new worlds. Ideas are recycled over and over, and old scripts are not re-created for the new scripting engine which can make the server performance suffer.

4) Player satisfaction with the support center's effectiveness has been suffering from these requests. Due to the amount of time required to fulfill a request for a backup to be restored, tickets for this kind of work frequently run over 2 weeks without being resolved. It clouds up the list of support tickets that can be addressed in the present, and frustrates players who are excited but can't get the data they need for the revival.

Thank you for your understanding in this matter, it will help us provide better support and help Graal evolve into new and original forms

-GraalOnline Management