Originally players contacted me on my private mobile phone in case of energencies. I made clear it was for emergencies only. Most players respected this. But some called at all hours of the day (including while I was sleeping), and some called to ask questions that were not urgent, and could easily have been asked via email. Because the availability of my mobile phone was abused, I stopped taking calls and now use a second phone.
Now for urgent matters, I use the encrypted chat app. It alerts me instantly if there’s an urgent problem, like a remote uber or hybrid server down. Originally the app make a very loud sound that would wake me. But some players started sending messages at all hours again, and even to ask non-urgent questions.
So now I’ve changed the alert sound and lowered the volume, so I would only be woken if there were repeated messages (in case of a real emergency). The problem is then occasionally I wont hear the messages.
A genuine emergency may happen around once every 3 weeks (between all teams combined). This is something like a server is genuinely down, but it takes me about 1 minute to fix.
Most of the time when a player sends me an urgent message, it’s not a server issue. It’s usually because they didn’t connect the VPN on the server.
To make this clear, only use the messaging app if:
* The server is down (ie you cannot connect to the server to control it with the remote control software).
* One of the two programs on the server has crashed, and is displaying an error.
* If you are in a real-play situation, AND something is not working, AND you have fully checked everything explained in instructions but can’t resolve the issue.
Most of the time, "urgent messages" are things like the server is offline (when actually it is, and the player just didnt connect the VPN).
I will continue to give dedicated support. But players that continue to abuse the messaging app will need to be restricted.
It’s ok if you genuinely made a mistake and didn’t know that what you perceived to be a critical issue was easily fixed by you, if it wasn’t explained in instructions. Because then that would be my fault for not including it in instructions. But if it was explained in instructions, and the player repeatedly fails to read the instructions and then contacts me via the messaging app , I have no choice but to block your messages so the level of support is not reduced for other players.