Be Specific When Giving Feedback on Rejected Missions

[Penguin Disco]

I recently submitted a mission for approval that got rejected on the basis of "tasks are not updating or completing properly, making it difficult for users to finish them." They continue to suggest the following: "We recommend reviewing and testing each mission task to ensure all interactions, phrases, counters, and triggers update correctly for players. Consider simplifying or rechecking any steps that may fail to register consistently, as task progression issues can make the mission confusing or impossible to complete. Thoroughly playtesting the mission from start to finish before resubmitting may help identify where the progression is breaking."

However, the mission has been tested multiple times by myself and others. I re-tested the mission, and everything worked fine. Other players have done the same. By all accounts, the mission works as intended, so this kind of feedback is frustrating because it is so vague, and seemingly untrue. This is not the first time I've received feedback of this nature. My request is that this type of feedback needs to be more specific: what task did the tester get stuck on, and what exactly was the issue that the tester experienced?

Were the instructions unclear? In my case, other players were able to figure it out, so I don't believe that was the case.
Was the task just too challenging? While there are guidelines surrounding this, what constitutes a "challenge" can be subjective, and again, seeing as the mission was able to be completed by other players without issue, perhaps a second opinion is needed from another tester in these situations.
Was there an issue related to mission codes/artifacts/interactions? Sometimes the game just bugs out and doesn't do what we want it to, even if everything is setup correctly. Would it be possible for the tester to debug and restart the mission, just to be sure that this didn't occur?

I want to stress that I really appreciate the time and effort that the SV Mission Testers put into testing our missions. I know it's not an easy job, and hey, we're all human - sometimes things get missed. But in my situation, I have no idea how to move forward. If the mission has proved to be playable by others, what needs to be changed before we can resubmit? It's a frustrating situation to be in at the best of times. I'm especially frustrated because this particular mission was submitted for the contest; so now I'm anxious that unless a different team is judging it, I will be disqualified for an issue that doesn't seem to exist for any other players who have played the mission. I did contact support, but in any case, the bottom line is that more specificity is needed.

[Aribella Lafonte]

I agree that if a tester is having a problem with a specific task, that they should provide more information about what task it was and what they were encountering. They need to provide more information specifically to why a mission is rejected for the reason itself.

What they DO NOT need to do is put more effort into providing suggestions in order to fix those issues, which has been what has been happening. This only confuses the person creating the mission that is having to resubmit it. For example, a suggestion to add a NPC or use a bigger space to help add more engagement, (real example) it makes the creator think that adding those things are required to get their mission approved when that isn’t the case, the were merely suggestions. But focusing more time/effort on suggestions (which gives a rather snobbish impression) takes over what is the main focus of why the mission was rejected since it goes overkill on details whereas the reason for it’s rejection is more simple.

I also have to add that testing has been more nit picky lately and for reasons that are not mentioned or clarified in the Mission Guidelines. How are mission makers supposed to have their missions meet the satisfaction of testers if they are not given clear and detailed guidelines to follow, it starts there. And another thing, when a question is directed to Staff on forums to clarify information on when a mission is rejected, and when the thread is reported, it not only goes ignored by Staff, it goes ignored being answered by the mod. Then requiring contacting support for an answer. There is absolutely no reason or excuse for this. The question should have been answered on the forums to clarify the information for mission makers if a mission is rejected multiple times since obviously, it has been a problem recently. Idk not many of us that aren’t complaining about mission rejections lately …… and it was a simple question to answer. Just refer the question to the appropriate team for clarification and post the information.

* Provide more details to rejection involving specific tasks or the issue experienced by the tester, even mentioning specific tasks if they are highly problematic

* Do not overwhelm the mission maker with numerous subjective suggestions on fixing the mission (providing more information than the rejection)

* Improve Mission Making Guidelines to include specifics/clarification of each guideline since there have been more rejections lately and many not mentioned in the existing guidelines. We are not mind readers and it isn’t fair to us rejecting a mission for a reason not mentioned.

* When there is a question directed toward a Mod/Staff, and if it is a fair question to answer, for the love of God, ANSWER IT! This isn’t just directed towards missions for a topic, this goes for any. You guys, as a business, need to have better communication and understanding from your players, so some clarification and transparency go a long way. Don’t just ignore having that communication, especially when it is not beneficial to you to keep your silence. SW Staff/owners would have never conducted their business this way. We had terrific communication between Staff/players. And that communication made us feel that we/issue were important to them. And I can also say that the mission making community is feeling like missions/our concerns are being close to ignored right now since very little has been done (and rather slowly) to fix those issues. That on top of the rejections are making us feel discouraged. And I don’t want it to be so discouraging that my fellow mission makers leave the game because of it. Please step up and speak up. Thank you.


@Penguin, message me, I’ll go in and test it.

[Kissy My]

wait? what? your contest entry mission?
Where did they have an issue? I found the mission completely understandable, clear directions and really great... other then that 1 guy LMAO
and believe.... if someone can get lost, confused, glitched in a mission, its me

I think something that would be a huge help is if they at minimum identify which mission task they had a problem with, they dont have to go into detail..
just the name or number of the task to narrow down where they had or found a problem ... so a person knows what to focus on...

I am with Ari on the.. suggestion to add a NPC or use a bigger space to help add more engagement.. dont do that!

[Penguin Disco]

676c8945a69abc71d2cdb4c8 Exactly! I feel like this convo comes up among us MM several times a week lol. And yeah, I can see how subjective suggestions like that can be unhelpful, but the bare minimum is just saying where the issues occurred and giving a clear direction for what changes have to be made to meet their requirements.

696eca07cff50c30f36c84a8 Thank you! And that's exactly where my frustrations come in. Several players have completed the mission with no problem at this point, and it has >20 plays, so for them to suggest that I "thoroughly playtest the mission" when I already have comes across as insulting. I know that one part can be a bit challenging, so I'm wondering if they got tripped up on that, but it's certainly not impossible, and again, maybe a second pair of eyes is needed during the approval process if one person is having issues.

[Adriella Spencer]

I am personally shocked that the Mission Making Elite haven't revolted and started an Approval boycott because...FIREBUN BABYLON...and all that...

To me, the very idea of having to subject yourself to a process which can result in you getting denied is discouraging, demoralising and dehumanising. I am genuinely shocked that so many went along with it for so long.

I think it's high time people wake up and decide not to let others have all the control; purposefully do not submit your masterpieces for 'approval'; it's not like it helps them get that many plays anyway. People who desperately need XP/tokens/loyalty points will continue to grind with the quick 'n easy mini-mishes. People who genuinely enjoy the missioning experience will play your creative missions regardless of the payout. Know your audience!

[Penguin Disco]

I am personally shocked that the Mission Making Elite haven't revolted and started an Approval boycott because...FIREBUN BABYLON...and all that...

To me, the very idea of having to subject yourself to a process which can result in you getting denied is discouraging, demoralising and dehumanising. I am genuinely shocked that so many went along with it for so long.

I think it's high time people wake up and decide not to let others have all the control; purposefully do not submit your masterpieces for 'approval'; it's not like it helps them get that many plays anyway. People who desperately need XP/tokens/loyalty points will continue to grind with the quick 'n easy mini-mishes. People who genuinely enjoy the missioning experience will play your creative missions regardless of the payout. Know your audience!

I totally get them wanting to maintain some level of standards, and featuring missions who meet them. It's fine when communication is clear, but when the goalposts continue to move or aren't well defined in the first place, it can disillusion us mission makers, for sure. There certainly are benefits to having your mission approved, but I appreciate your encouragement, and I think it helps me to remember why I create missions in the first place, which is to share a good story with the people who play them.

[Aribella Lafonte]

699b50a0466a931c4e533bca I finished testing your mission and there is absolutely nothing technically wrong with this mission. I did have to complete it on a different avatar since I encountered a technical issue not related to your mission itself though. I loved this mission; it is very discouraging to put so much effort into a mission and putting out a higher quality mission for a contest only to have it rejected like this. Hopefully you get some clarification to what task was giving the tester an issue because I couldn't find any. Each task completed correctly with no issue.

[Oscar SmallVerse]

Hi Penguin,

In relation to your anxiety regarding disqualification from the contest, I can confirm your entry was verified and you have not been disqualified.

Entries will be disqualified by the Events Team during the verification process if they do not meet the contest rules, which is a separate process from scoring. Disqualifications will only occur after verification in exceptional circumstances. I hope that provides some reassurance.

Oscar
SmallVerse Events Lead

[Grace Judes]

I recently submitted a mission for approval that got rejected on the basis of "tasks are not updating or completing properly, making it difficult for users to finish them." They continue to suggest the following: "We recommend reviewing and testing each mission task to ensure all interactions, phrases, counters, and triggers update correctly for players. Consider simplifying or rechecking any steps that may fail to register consistently, as task progression issues can make the mission confusing or impossible to complete. Thoroughly playtesting the mission from start to finish before resubmitting may help identify where the progression is breaking."

However, the mission has been tested multiple times by myself and others. I re-tested the mission, and everything worked fine. Other players have done the same. By all accounts, the mission works as intended, so this kind of feedback is frustrating because it is so vague, and seemingly untrue. This is not the first time I've received feedback of this nature. My request is that this type of feedback needs to be more specific: what task did the tester get stuck on, and what exactly was the issue that the tester experienced?

Were the instructions unclear? In my case, other players were able to figure it out, so I don't believe that was the case.
Was the task just too challenging? While there are guidelines surrounding this, what constitutes a "challenge" can be subjective, and again, seeing as the mission was able to be completed by other players without issue, perhaps a second opinion is needed from another tester in these situations.
Was there an issue related to mission codes/artifacts/interactions? Sometimes the game just bugs out and doesn't do what we want it to, even if everything is setup correctly. Would it be possible for the tester to debug and restart the mission, just to be sure that this didn't occur?

I want to stress that I really appreciate the time and effort that the SV Mission Testers put into testing our missions. I know it's not an easy job, and hey, we're all human - sometimes things get missed. But in my situation, I have no idea how to move forward. If the mission has proved to be playable by others, what needs to be changed before we can resubmit? It's a frustrating situation to be in at the best of times. I'm especially frustrated because this particular mission was submitted for the contest; so now I'm anxious that unless a different team is judging it, I will be disqualified for an issue that doesn't seem to exist for any other players who have played the mission. I did contact support, but in any case, the bottom line is that more specificity is needed.

I had the same experience with my mission recently, which really was so discouraging.. However, to be honest, my mission did have some tasks that may have been confusing to players, so I enriched it with hints and got a positive response on my resubmission. I still agree that troublesome tasks should be specified in the response in case when the mission fails the approval process, because otherwise we're mostly blind to what needs to be fixed/improved when everything seemingly works fine.

[Penguin Disco]

Hi Penguin,

In relation to your anxiety regarding disqualification from the contest, I can confirm your entry was verified and you have not been disqualified.

Entries will be disqualified by the Events Team during the verification process if they do not meet the contest rules, which is a separate process from scoring. Disqualifications will only occur after verification in exceptional circumstances. I hope that provides some reassurance.

Oscar
SmallVerse Events Lead

Thank you for the clarification Oscar! I figured as much, but in the heat of the moment after the receiving the rejection, I think I spiralled a bit lol.

[Et Helthethird]

I’m so glad you weren't disqualified from the contest, because your mission was AMAZING. You recreated scenes that truly captured the feeling of being in a world where they crush your spirit by taking away your creativity, forcing you to make things boring and ugly just to fit their pointless guidelines. Your mission encouraged us not to give up and to fight against those things....... I’ll just say your mission is like an oasis in the desert, perfectly capturing the desert we came from and where we are right now. It makes it clear to me that it’s people like you—who are few and far between in this game nowadays, but they do exist—who take the time to pick up the pieces of others and encourage them to keep going. Thank you. Penguin mission makers like you, who are creative and share messages that teach us something real for life, are a relic—the true treasures of this game. Best of luck in the contest!!!! Many of us managed to complete your mission, and in my case, I was deeply moved.

[Penguin Disco]

I’m so glad you weren't disqualified from the contest, because your mission was AMAZING. You recreated scenes that truly captured the feeling of being in a world where they crush your spirit by taking away your creativity, forcing you to make things boring and ugly just to fit their pointless guidelines. Your mission encouraged us not to give up and to fight against those things....... I’ll just say your mission is like an oasis in the desert, perfectly capturing the desert we came from and where we are right now. It makes it clear to me that it’s people like you—who are few and far between in this game nowadays, but they do exist—who take the time to pick up the pieces of others and encourage them to keep going. Thank you. Penguin mission makers like you, who are creative and share messages that teach us something real for life, are a relic—the true treasures of this game. Best of luck in the contest!!!! Many of us managed to complete your mission, and in my case, I was deeply moved.

That you so much Et, that means a lot to me <3

A little update on the situation... I re-submitted the mission with a specific request in the description to provide me with the task they get stuck on if they encountered more issues. It did get rejected again (same reasoning... tasks not updating, etc.), but this time they said that that the task causing them issues was "It's a SmallVerse After All," and that it was only updating to 3/6 without showing the notifications that provide further instructions. Now... I still don't know why they were having issues since no one else seems to be having problems there, but I do know that particular task relies on a counter that updates when you finish the first 3 tasks written out in the description. Once the counter reached 3, the next steps would be revealed via notifications. Originally, I had some artifacts that prevented you from updating the counter if you did the same action twice, ensuring that you did all 3 of the required actions. Now, I've removed that mechanism, so hopefully that fixes the issue for them. Again, it's weird that the testers appear to be the only ones having issues here, but I wouldn't have even thought to make that adjustment if they didn't point me to that task. All that to say... thank you to the tester for providing me with that info! I would've been so lost without that. If the testing team could be consistent in doing that EVERY single time, we'd be golden.

[Et Helthethird]

I'm glad they gave you a clue for the puzzle, and that you were able to look for a different option for your task. Hang in there with the patience, and good luck!

[Jamie Bondason]

Hi Penguin, I think your idea has actually been listened to! Recently I had my mission The Code rejected due to duplicate NPC interaction and they specified a lot of information so that I could fix it and resubmit. Definitely seems like they're implementing your suggestion

[Kissy My]

Hi Penguin, I think your idea has actually been listened to! Recently I had my mission The Code rejected due to duplicate NPC interaction and they specified a lot of information so that I could fix it and resubmit. Definitely seems like they're implementing your suggestion

oh! I really do hope that is a new policy... it really would be a tremendous help!