.com Forum · Alpha Dog Forum

I have been playing this game for 11 years. Not once have I ever complained. I’ve never called, emailed, or posted publicly about any changes or problems with the game. I’ve rolled with everything this game has to offer, positive and negative, whether I liked it or not. And there is a lot to like, I’ve enjoyed the game, it’s part of my morning routine. I’ve always said, that the day it stops being fun is the day I quit.

With the comment on TH by Jeff, I have now reached this point. (Thanks Sparrow Sighthounds for sharing it.) The only reason I am posting this publicly is so that maybe Jeff will realize he owes a lot of paying customers an apology. Otherwise, I would just leave quietly, without comment.

I have a lot of compassion and empathy. Life is hard, and it sucks fairly often. Jeff, if you had said “Hey, I’m having some family issues, please be patient”, most people would have been fine. But you didn’t. You actually bitched about paying customers wanting to know what was going on, and problems with the game. I was shocked when I read that, and still am. This is no way to talk to people who have supported you and your game for many years.

After I post this, I’ll put every dog in every kennel up for sale, and every boy up for stud. And that will be it. I wish you all and your kennels good luck in the future.

I am sorry you are leaving. I just bought some of your dogs and sent you a pm. You will be missed

I do have to add that some of you are taking his comments somewhat out of context. There was a particular problem that had to do with user behavior on TrophyHorse. I do not believe that the comments were directed at anyone except that particular person/group.

I do agree that he should have alerted all the game sites to the situation.

And it's true that all the sites have been neglected for some time, not just the last two or three weeks.

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posted by gaylanstudio


I do agree that he should have alerted all the game sites to the situation.

And it's true that all the sites have been neglected for some time, not just the last two or three weeks.

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This is the main issue that i have. It also concerns me that in that same post on Trophyhorse, he said that his upcoming family commitments will become more in the near future, meaning that he will have even less time. Im still here, today. But Im taking it day by day. However, while I have sympathy for the current situation, Gaylan summed up my feelings pretty perfectly on this.

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posted by gaylanstudio
I do have to add that some of you are taking his comments somewhat out of context. There was a particular problem that had to do with user behavior on TrophyHorse.

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I fully understand the problems on Trophy Horse, and that they were caused by a certain player and a specific situation. I understand Jeff's statement in regards to that issue.

However, my problem is the lack of communication on these games. If you run a game like this, you either need to:
a. set up a customer service person to deal with players and provide information
b. deal with it yourself
Jeff chose neither option.

For that statement to be the only explanation or communication is awful.

I hate it when people throw a tantrum on a forum as they leave a game or message board, but it looks like this is exactly what I have done, lol. I just wanted to make it clear that I consider this to be a huge issue in this game. And since Jeff rarely responds to emails...

All dogs are up for sale and/or sale, and I am out.

I may be missing something but I dont understand what is going so wrong in the game that people would leave.

I agree with Jeff, some of the posts I've seen on ALL the games make me cringe.

Yes you are paying to play but even with the problems we sometimes have you are getting amazing customer service for $5 a month.

We have DISH and it stopped working, took me over an hour to get a human on the phone. Took a week for a repairman to be available. The repair visit was a $50 charge ontop of the cost of our service!

Jeff has not increased the price to play in 10 years. He has even now created new games with a no pay full benefit format.

I've never seen a legitimate problem that was grossly making the game bad that he's not addressed as soon as he possibly could.

On showrabbit a few months ago he even gave every player $1200 coins in apology for being unable to address a problem ASAP.

I enjoy these games very much and hope that we can play them for many years to come but I wouldn't blame Jeff for shutting them down because of all the haters who don't have patience.

When he launched buckingbullbreeder.com the first time the fights started by players were so bad that he shut it down.

Please don't ruin it for everyone. If you rely feel you have to leave just do so without all the bad remarks.

My thoughts exactly Silk N Denim.

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posted by Silk N Denim Terriers


I've never seen a legitimate problem that was grossly making the game bad that he's not addressed as soon as he possibly could.

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There was the whole Summer/Sweet kennel issue a month or two ago where completely unsessioned starter dogs were winning Best In Show. It was handled, eventually, and he did apologize, but it was an issue that was not address in a very timely fashion, for sake of an example.

"all the haters who don't have patience."

Posting comments such as this isn't helpful either.

The Grand Champion Silver/Gold issue was reported in August, but has never been acknowledged.

We have an issue with points being incorrectly awarded that has been under discussion since Oct 19th - which we believe has been going on without notice for longer than that.

It is not unjustified or impatient for players to expect to hear 'something/anything' even if it's just I can't get to it right now, but I am aware of the problem.

I don't have TrophyHorse anymore. Could someone summarize what the heck this is all about for those of us who don't?

OK, I found this on another thread.

<<Over the past two weeks my mother in law has been in the hospital for five days, my grandmother passed away, and I spent three days at a state chess tournament with my seven year old.

I hate, hate, hate the fact that I'm answering e-mail regarding somebody and their obsession with this game and antagonizing certain users while sitting in a hotel the night before a funeral.>>

I certainly sympathize with Jeff, but he needs to have someone run the business when he is not available. Is Laura still around?

And I almost feel like I should apologize for my 'obsession' with the game.

This does kind of tick me off a little. I realize it was directed at someone specific on TrophyHorse but still... This is all obviously too much for one person to handle.

There was an issue with the behavior of a user or users that came to such a head that Jeff said in no uncertain terms that such behavior would not be tolerated.

I may have used the wrong words when I said "haters" but it still stands that while it is a bother you can still play the game.

Why give up over such a matter? It might not be fixed as far as it could be but it will be fixed. I've never worked with code for a game like this but I have worked with massive HTML files and it can take a long time to find what is wrong.

I don't know the numbers but I would guess that probably 95% of the problems that he is sent messages about could be dealt with by asking for help in the forums.

that has to create huge amounts of clutter he has to sort through to find the real problems.

As to why he hasn't posted anything that is his decision, but I do know that as far as I can remember he has always fixed issues and I'm sure this time will be no exception.

If I'm not mistaken isn't Laura is wife?

I too can empathise with Jeff's family problems but the issues within SD that have been there for months even years ARE NOT dealt with. That is FACT.

For example, the 'stay logged in' feature doesn't work. We've asked and asked, and given up asking.

On the plus side Jeff does get around to answering private messages (eventually), and sorting individual players problems whenever he can.

The Barktober events have given me a reason to stick with the game over the past month but all the hard work for these events has been down to SD members organising and sponsoring it - nothing has come from Jeff, by way of support.

I have a family membership, I'm not happy with the game, I'm seriously considering cancelling my subscription.

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posted by Silk N Denim Terriers
If I'm not mistaken isn't Laura is wife?

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No, Laura is not his wife.

Arrosa, sorry to see you go but I don’t have a single e-mail from you to respond to.

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You actually bitched about paying customers wanting to know what was going on

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No, I didn’t.

What I bitched about was an ass hole that was harassing our users.

It’s a paying user that has harassed the hell out of some of our better players on the game. I mistakenly gave him a second (it might have even been a third) chance and he blew it with multiple accounts that were he was using in his obsession with another user.

He was a paying user, and he can….well….I want him gone and top frickin stop coming back over and over. You don’t get a free pass to harass people on our sites just because you pay a subscription.

If you’re defending him, I’m not sorry for what was said and I’m not going to sugar coat it for those that don’t understand there are people on the internet that don’t belong on these sites. I don’t have tolerance for it and our users shouldn’t have to put up with that type of ass hole.

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And it's true that all the sites have been neglected for some time, not just the last two or three weeks.

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That’s true but there’s not incredibly much more I can do about it and I’ve tried to be clear about that. I’m not going to pretend I can put other stuff aside and focus all of my time on the games. There are aspects of the business that allow the games to continue that I have to focus more time on.

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It also concerns me that in that same post on Trophyhorse, he said that his upcoming family commitments will become more in the near future, meaning that he will have even less time.

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That is true. I’m a one man shop with three kids and there’s a reason you don’t see a bunch of competition in this niche. I can do what I can but I can’t do much more.

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a. set up a customer service person to deal with players and provide information
b. deal with it yourself
Jeff chose neither option.

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“A” is not going to happen. The games are not big enough. I don’t know how else to say it.

“B” is what I try to do but as I’ve tried to be clear over and over, I’m stretched pretty damned thin right now and when I get the kids to myself because my wife goes to her mother’s when she’s in the hospital, I’m stretched even more thin.

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And since Jeff rarely responds to emails...

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There was not a single e-mail in my inbox when you posted that comment and I don’t have a single e-mail from you from before that.

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There was the whole Summer/Sweet kennel issue a month or two ago where completely unsessioned starter dogs were winning Best In Show. It was handled, eventually, and he did apologize, but it was an issue that was not address in a very timely fashion, for sake of an example.[/quotes]

That’s correct, and there will be more issues like that were I’m not able to get them as soon as I can. I really just depends on when it happens. Some stuff can be taken care of in five minutes. Some stuff can’t be addressed for a week because of other commitments.

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I certainly sympathize with Jeff, but he needs to have someone run the business when he is not available. Is Laura still around?

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It’s not going to happen, the games are just too small. I’ve tried to be clear regarding this.