Change of times?

[Vangelis Parginos]

I want to ask RD Owners, Admins, Moderators or who ever gave that order.
Why you change the times at the Raceroom club races this year?
The raceroom club timing is the only one that fits my schedule. Thats why i become premium.
Last year we didnt change the timing, so with that in my mind i renew my premium membership.
Now with out asking no one you order to change that, so me and many others not at GMT or BST cant race so late. Race time for my time is 23:00............ its a 2 hour change for no reason!!!
Please give us the reason for that change.

I think these races is for the premium members, and if something is changed the premium members must have a say....

 

[Maddog77]

Right, so let's assume they change the times away from the never-changing GMT timezone, so all races then start earlier to accommodate the people on GMT+2 or whatever. That would then mean that others may not be able to race as often as earlier times are too early for various reasons... work, dinner time, kids bed times, etc etc.

So what then? They post complaints too just like the ones above, RD are still considered to be in the wrong, and no resolution can be found to suit everybody. Remember that it's always the people negatively affected that are the most vocal. What about the 100's that are perfectly fine with RD's races always being based on GMT?

As I already said, the time "change" (based on BST) does not suit my schedule at all, but it's just one of those things. You can't expect an online community to change everything for a small minority which are inconvenienced. They have to do what is best for the majority, especially since the move to paid membership. Yes, I know you guys and myself pay too, but in this case we're not the majority. If I'm wrong and we are the majority, then more people need to speak up here.

I agree, the thing is, suddenly 2 hours of change is alot for anyone. 1 hour change would most probably have suited most people.

 

[UMC 22]

Ross you continue to talk with out thinking...
*snip*

Please dont take it to the argue way... its not

Excuse me, but don't start getting personal with insults, ok? That is NOT the way to discuss any issue you may have, regardless of how frustrated you may feel. Just because I disagree with your "thinking", it does not make me stupid or my point any less valid. I'm not arguing, I'm discussing, which is exactly what you said we needed to do. A discussion is not a discussion when only one point of view is accepted. Try to remember that.

 

[Vangelis Parginos]

Excuse me, but don't start getting personal with insults, ok? That is NOT the way to discuss any issue you may have, regardless of how frustrated you may feel. Just because I disagree with your "thinking", it does not make me stupid or my point any less valid. I'm not arguing, I'm discussing, which is exactly what you said we needed to do. A discussion is not a discussion when only one point of view is accepted. Try to remember that.

Where is the insult??? If i wanted to get personal i will take it to private message and not in here.
You are saying things that is not correct and thats what im pointing out.
If you have any other problem with me send me PM

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

The other clubs are used to this timing, not the raceroom club.

RaceDepartment has been online since 2006 where we started with RACE and RACE 07 the WTCC game which as you know are the predecessors of RaceRoom. We have a 11 year history of online racing and over the course of those years the format of a starting time of the practice of 19:00 GMT has always worked best for the majority of people.

Ill copy paste the following from our staff forums, maybe that will calm you down a bit as I really don't like or will allow your tone towards other members that have been nothing but helpful in this discussion.

Races used to be on average 2x20 minutes (with WTCC) or max 1x40 minutes in the RACE 07 days.

For some reason some of our racing clubs are running races of 60 minutes or longer which doesn't suit anybody other than a super small minority of hardcore racers and not newcomers or average Joe.

Average Joe on RD is around 35 years of age. Has a job, a wife, kids and can't spend 120 minutes per racing event on an evening. Our clubs are a casual place to race, to relax, to have fun, to talk and drive with likeminded average Joe's and an event from A - Z should'nt be longer than 90 minutes in total.

If you leave people free to join the practice and make qualy mandatory a night away from the wife never takes you more than 60 minutes and that is exactly the time most people can justify without their wives getting freaked out.

With the above format you will reach a whole lot more people than with hardcore events that should be in a league. See what it currently does in the AC and AMS racing club. In the former it was met with scepcis and of course some firm heels in the sand but that club has been booming in less than two weeks.

R3E has the exact same potential as AC and if we make some small tweaks and stick to it you will be happy with the result in less than a month I guarantee you
​

Bottomline, have a bit of patience and trust please as we are here to please the majority of sim racers. Not to piss people off. I hope you would get that by now.

 

[Vangelis Parginos]

Thank you

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

Here is another reason why I think our staff forums should be public domain so everybody can read what we are discussing. Saves me a lot of time having to type the same messages twice.

Our staff is more than welcome to deviate from the original start time with extra events. As a matter of fact our servers are running idle 23 hours out of the day so for my part they run 22 events per day. Even better.

But we do need to have an event on prime time and that is 19:00 GMT Practice followed at 20:00 GMT by a Race. Why? Because it works for the majority of the European members. Does that mean one or two drivers are not pleased, for sure but we can't please everybody.

 

[Don Rudi]

Whoever that guy is from the "I guarantee you" quote, he obviously is not from anywhere east of the UK and obviously does not have to go to work at 6am the next day.
I considered myself an average Joe, but maybe I am not average enough. Good look with this - pardon - arrogant new philosophy.

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

That would be me and indeed average Joe doesn't need to work at 6am. Average Joe starts working at 9am.

Have you even read the post I wrote above yours or you just hit the "angry" button without even reading the actual content?

 

[Don Rudi]

That popped up when I was finished writing my post. And sorry to say, but calling 2200 CEST "prime time" is a joke.
But as you said, you can't (neither want) please everyone.

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

But as you said, you can't (neither want) please everyone.

Of course we want to try and please everybody but that is of unfortunately not possible. If you read my post again you see that the solution is actually in there but you just don't want to see it I think.

 

[Vangelis Parginos]

Bram help us out, we re not all so good to understand the English language.

 

[Don Rudi]

Of course we want to try and please everybody but that is of unfortunately not possible. If you read my post again you see that the solution is actually in there but you just don't want to see it I think.

Yes I did read it, I am one of the two drivers who are not pleased according to it. Though looking at the reactions, I have a hunch there are more unhappy fellas than just 2. But that is still a good trade for the 100s new guys that are expected to join. Does that hit it?

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

Whatever @Don Rudi I tried explaining why I asked Kenny to adjust his time but you aren't receptive to it.

I never said I expected 100s to join. But i do know we have 100s of people, mainly newcomers to the genre, sitting at the sideline being afraid to join online events or can't race because they are actually at work, traveling home, having diner with their family, putting the kids to bed when some of our events have already begun.

I'll leave it with this, you can hit a few more angry buttons if that makes you feel better and keep overlooking the solution given that also should suit you and others that start working at 6am.

Have a good weekend!

 

[Vangelis Parginos]

Dont bother any more Carsten, i hope everything turns up well for RD.
They decide that after they saw that raceroom is starting to get some attention.
Thats why last summer no one is bothered to change the times. Cause no one cared for our game.
Its good business.

Have fun guys, and see you around.

 

[Don Rudi]

Just a side note about the so called prime time. While RD for whatever reason thinks it is 2000 GMT, the upcoming large Raceroom eWTCC event starts at 1800 GMT. With live broadcast and everything, they obviously judge prime time differently.

 

[Dave Stephenson]

They decide that after they saw that raceroom is starting to get some attention.
Thats why last summer no one is bothered to change the times. Cause no one cared for our game.

This is not that case. I spent a whole bunch of time looking for staff and supporting them during the time from when Kjell stepped down. The reality of R3E is that it had technical limitations and missing features that did not allow for it to be run in the same way as other games. The lack of in-game session voting for instance meant that someone needs to setup the server and join it immediately to keep the schedule correct. Leaving would reset to zero and result in the need to restart the server again with a new practice length and rejoin.

This in real terms meant practice had to start at a time when the staff can be sure they can consistently be at their machine in between getting home from their own jobs, feeding their own ids or whatever other RL duties they may have to slip in. We also try to avoid connecting to the servers remotely for administration during event times to avoid any chance of introducing additional lag or spikes of load that affect the various other events that may be in progress at the time.

 

[Kenny Paton]

Gentlemen @Lars Hansen (the brains in the team) has come up with a temporary solution. We will run an event before the prime-time one.
Same car and track, times of practice and qually adjusted to make sure we are finished by the time the main one begins. How does that sound.

 

[Don Rudi]

Sounds great to me Kenny and Lars

 

[Vangelis Parginos]

@Dave Stephenson Yes i know all that, thats why myself many times have stayed inside the server long before the official timing begins, so the times dont change, and to help the Staff members with their RL schedule.
And i want to thank you Dave and all other staff from our club. because i know its not so easy.

And that is why today i didnt like the treatment from some Staff. Im always there for what ever i can help at our club, Staff or other racers and today that have been translated not to like my tone to other members, with no sign of insult to someone. Just pointing out my view, and tell those members with facts, that what they are saying is wrong.

No worries. It is what it is.

 

[Vangelis Parginos]

Gentlemen @Lars Hansen (the brains in the team) has come up with a temporary solution. We will run an event before the prime-time one.
Same car and track, times of practice and qually adjusted to make sure we are finished by the time the main one begins. How does that sound.

Thank you Kenny i would like that. But only if its not a trouble for someone of you. I prefer not to race than to cause you any kind of problem.

But anyway thank you both so much.