Players on Different Versions of DomiNations are Treated Unequally

[aquawind]

Most here probably knows that there are two versions of DomiNations out there, the international version(DomiNations) and the Asia version(DomiNations Asia)

In the past, when someone ask about the differences between both versions, our forum Mods here have always told us that

Players in Asia have the same game the rest of the world has, it just includes different social media connections, etc. that are specific to those countries. In order to provide better service, they also have separate CS and forums.

and the Asia version is

....the same version as everyone else (is playing), its just you have a regional team dedicated to servicing players in that area.

I have been a loyal player of DomiNations Asia for almost 2 years and have been interacting with players from both versions, majority that I interact with are on the international version. From the very beginning since I started playing, I have known that what the Mods have stated regarding this does not show the full picture, the differences between the two versions in fact gives players on the international version an absolute advantage.

In short, what is available on the Asia version is available on the international version(with the exception of some localization features: additional methods of linking accounts, choices of Asian languages interface and a very inefficient Customer Support Service that only provide support services in Chinese and Korean for five days a week), but not vice versa.

Of all, the following two features gives players on the international version a significant advantage but are absent on the Asia version:
1. The ability to disable the "Clean Language Only" filter in the in-game alliance search engine; &
2. The option to "earn" crowns from Crown Offers through completing designated tasks.

The absence of the first feature mentioned above barred players on the Asia version from searching for majority of the alliances, limiting the number of choices of alliances players from the Asia version can join, which isn't a good thing for both players on the Asia version and international alliances. Moreover, many alliances search for their opponent they face in World War to know more and obtain useful information of them that could give them a clear advantage in World Wars.

The absence of the second feature mentioned above provide players that are on the international version an option to "earn" vast amount of crowns in a short amount of time, which let them advance much quicker in game than players on the Asia version and purchase Troop Tatics to gain an advantage in World Wars with no or little monetary cost. This makes the game unfair to those on the Asia version.

This weekend, Marco Polo told me(and all players on the Asia version) that not only are there an absence of certain features on the Asia version but there is also an absence of certain game contents. I was surprised that Marco Polo isn't present in my town after reading posts and messages of other players sharing the items they got from Marco's chests on this forum and other player-initiated communities. I later confirmed with other players that are on the Asia version that I wasn't the only one missing Macro Polo.

Due to the absence of features and contents mentioned above, I feel that I am playing a stripped down version of DomiNations, while the majority that are on the international version are enjoying the complete premium version of DomiNations.

We as players do not have a choice of choosing which version we are on, the version we are on is solely determined by our physical location when we download the game. It is also known that Nexon/BGH does not allow players to bring their game progress to switch between the two version.

As we all know, players from both versions are competing in the same "DomiNations World", the lack of features and game contents without any equivalent substitutes is clearly discriminating those that are on the Asia version.

I request an official explanation regarding this matter.

P.S. The so-called "Asia" in DomiNations Asia in actual means East Asia only, as players in other parts of Asia are entitled to be on the international version


​​​​​​Update: Just received a reply from DomiNations Asia's CS confirming that Marco Polo is not present in towns of players that are on the Asia version of DomiNations this weekend.
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[True God]

I don't receive crown videos on my tablet but i started a new game on my smartphone and get them there. I have no idea why.

 

[Jedi Kurt]

AFAIK those crown video is only available on higher version of android

 

[ReekyBullet]

Is side-loading the international APK possible?

 

[Quovatis]

Well, to promote a game in China, they have to follow their rules, as silly as they may seem to the rest of the world. Don't blame Nexon, blame China.

 

[JMoney]

Yea. The thing with Marco Polo was, when I saw those loot boxes they were adding into the game through him, I wondered if something like that would have to be adjusted for China because (as far as I know it) they have a law regarding stuff like loot boxes/crates over there -- those things have to display exactly what the drop percentages is for each of those items in the loot box/crate otherwise it is illegal. This is the case with DotA 2's loot box system. So maybe they just decided not to bother with the boxes for the Asia client at the moment until they can do something like add in a drop percentage? I don't know.

Though, to be honest, I'd like if they showed the drop percentage for those loot boxes in the international version too. Mostly just to know how good are the odds of getting those rarer items in the boxes.

 

[Bobby lucky]

ohh!! That's why i can't receive crowns!! That's not fair in this case. Nexon should think about new ways about that, i think. Or we should move from Asia. Lol

 

[aquawind]

I don't think there's a China issue here. Firstly, the first week when Marco Polo introduced the Mystery Chest(dubbed as Premier Chest), it was available on the Asia version. Secondly, the mainland China versions of Android does not have Google Play Store shipped with it(Google Play Store is banned in mainland China) and the mainland China Apple's App Store is also known to be heavily monitored and controlled by the mainland authorities; moreover, DomiNations Asia only provide Traditional Chinese interface but not simplified Chinese interface, which in other words DomiNations is very probably unavailable to be downloaded and played in mainland China through legitimate methods. Thirdly, if there are legal issues regarding Marco Polo trade items, Nexon/BGH can always adjust it instead of removing Marco Polo on the Asia version in order to be in accordance with the law with their targeted markets.

Update: After doing a quick search, mainland China has their own version of DomiNations which is currently on public beta.

 

[aquawind]

I believe it's possible. But that doesn't change the fact that players on the international version have a significant advantage over players on the Asia version.

 

[aquawind]

I doubt DomiNations is available to be downloaded and played in mainland China through legitimate methods.

Update: After doing a quick search, mainland China has their own version of DomiNations which is currently on public beta.

 

[LordJestix]

My best guess on the crowns not being offered:

When it comes to companies running international contests, some countries are excluded because of the strict guidelines those countries have on contests. I would say this is a similar reason. The company that they use to provide the free crowns may not be able to offer the videos in said countries. If there is no 3rd party service that is allowed to operate in those countries it just simply cannot be offered in those countries.

Just like google opinion rewards app, they cant offer it in all countries and some people in better locations will get more surveys than others even in the same country.

 

[aquawind]

I do understand that there maybe commercial reasons for the absence Crowns Offers, since both versions are published and managed by different subsidiaries of Nexon. However, that doesn't explain why the other features and contents are available on the international version but not on the Asia version. It is also worth noting that although Crown Offers are not available on the Asia version, I do see pop-ups of events notifications of Crowns Offers rewarding double crowns whenever those events are active.

 

[Nb4powerup]

Hi,

"Of all, the following two features gives players on the international version a significant advantage but are absent on the Asia version:
1. The ability to disable the "Clean Language Only" filter in the in-game alliance search engine; &
2. The option to "earn" crowns from Crown Offers through completing designated tasks.

The absence of the first feature mentioned above barred players on the Asia version from searching for majority of the alliances, limiting the number of choices of alliances players from the Asia version can join, which isn't a good thing for both players on the Asia version and international alliances. Moreover, many alliances search for their opponent they face in World War to know more and obtain useful information of them that could give them a clear advantage in World Wars.

The absence of the second feature mentioned above provide players that are on the international version an option to "earn" vast amount of crowns in a short amount of time, which let them advance much quicker in game than players on the Asia version and purchase Troop Tatics to gain an advantage in World Wars with no or little monetary cost. This makes the game unfair to those on the Asia version.
"

First, laws are different in almost every region. In some places, its mandatory that some language is blocked. While we would love to keep things as organic as possible, it does not interfere with finding alliances. To be honest, if an alliance used nothing but profanity in their name, I wouldn't want to join them.

On point number 2 - This comes down to region, laws and if those services are available from third party providers.

"This weekend, Marco Polo told me(and all players on the Asia version) that not only are there an absence of certain features on the Asia version but there is also an absence of certain game contents. I was surprised that Marco Polo isn't present in my town after reading posts and messages of other players sharing the items they got from Marco's chests on this forum and other player-initiated communities. I later confirmed with other players that are on the Asia version that I wasn't the only one missing Macro Polo."

I've confirmed with the team and yes, Marco Polo is in the 'Asia' build for DomiNations. Remember, both regions are playing together but it could have been deactivated this time due to mystery boxes. Again, that's most likely due to the regions laws regarding 'gacha' style mechanics in games.

 

[LordJestix]

Thanks for the clarification.

 

[aquawind]

​​​​​​First and foremost, I appreciate the time and effort you( Nb4powerup ) have spent to obtain the related information and clarify some of my queries. I understand that there are laws and regulations that have to be met and things get complicated when involving a 3rd party service provider.

However, you may have misunderstood my point on the absence of the ability to disable the "Clean Language Only" filter in the in-game alliance search engine of the Asia version. The "Clean Language Only" is one of the alliance settings which is only available for players on the international version of DomiNations to change it, and it does not necessarily means the alliances that are not set to "Clean Language Only" use profanity language in their names or messages. In fact majority of the well known alliances that are created and managed by players on the international version are not set to "Clean Language Only", I can easily name a dozen of them if you wished.

Moreover, the use of profanity language within the game and on its official forums is against the Terms of Use of games published by Nexon and its subsidiaries, which the player who violates it will result in being banned for 3 days to up to a year. By default, all in-game messages and players'/alliances' names of the Asia version are subject to censorship for "unclean words" defined by Nexon/BGH. This censorship system on the Asia version overrides the alliance settings and cannot be disabled by players.

It is also untrue that the absence of options for disabling the filter in the search engine "does not interfere with finding alliances", this has been confirmed by DomiNations Asia's Costumer Support.

I am not sure if you have access to the DomiNations Asia app, below is a screenshot of the in-game alliance search engine of DomiNations Asia, which you should be able to spot the difference at first sight: http://imgur.com/a/MUnWO

To illustrate the situation better, below is a screenshot of an attempt to search for the current highest ranking active alliance that is not set to "Clean Language Only", Dutch Warlords®, using the in-game alliance search engine of the Asia version: http://imgur.com/a/LRCmu

Based on the above example(which applies to all other alliances that are not set to "Clean Language Only") and the response from CS, unless there are new methods for searching alliances that CS was not able to suggest to me when I enquired about it a few months ago, the inability of disabling the "Clean Language Only" filter of the search engine certainly interferes with finding alliances.

Ironically, players on the Asia version can join, war against and battle against members of alliances that are not set to "Clean Language Only", those alliances even show up in the featured alliances list that appears when one is not in any alliances, but they are unable to be searched through the search engine on the Asia version.

I have also noticed that this issue has been enquired and briefly brought up by several other players on different boards of this forum in the past months, but I have not seen any assistance or explanation provided to any of them by any official representatives.

On the other hand, I would like to suggest that, in the future, shall certain game contents be unable to be released in certain regions due to legal issues, comparable contents should be provided for players in those regions, so that all players can compete on a more equal ground and no players would feel left out.

 

[LordJestix]

you are complaining to the wrong people. you need to complain to your government about their strict laws towards video games. these companies have to follow those laws and may even go beyond what is required by law just to make sure they have nothing comes close to breaking the law and thus them being blocked or fined by those governments.

 

[Nb4powerup]

Thanks for the follow up. I'll look into this some more. Dutch Warlords should populate when searched and I don't believe that their name is any where near violating any policy. Give me some time and I'll get back to you.

 

[aquawind]

Any updates regarding the inability to search for non "Clean Language Only" alliances on the Asia version?

Nb4powerup

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[Bloodaxe]

Thanks for an amazing post. I have encountered every single issue you mentioned - not being able to search on alliances, having innocous words censored in chat, not being able to receive offers and no Marco Polo for weeks on end. I have tried the Korean support and it's a joke - it's in Korean and I don't speak Korean. The international support are useless, they just tell me to log tickets to the Korean support using Google Translate. Utterly asinine. I downloaded Dominations while in Hong Kong, albeit from the UK app store.

Now, I am stuck in a rubbish version of Dominations and no way out.

 

[Bloodaxe]

"First, laws are different in almost every region. In some places, its mandatory that some language is blocked. While we would love to keep things as organic as possible, it does not interfere with finding alliances. To be honest, if an alliance used nothing but profanity in their name, I wouldn't want to join them."

This is just completely wrong. I've pulled my hair out trying to join the same alliance as my friends, and in the end they all had to quit and join a new alliance i started. It is simply impossible to search some alliances in Asian mode.

Also, the biggest current bugbear is Marco Polo doesn't show up, and when he does the offers are inferior to what my clan mates get.

I have no way of contacting support because they only accept tickets in Korean and I don't speak Korean.

Also, Facebook connect doesn't work properly, that is another issue.

Marco Polo is a real gamebreaker though, I have had a full Gate of rubies for a month and nowhere to spend them. All my clan mates spend them on troop cards to help their games but I'm denied them just because of where i originally downloaded the game. Really rubbish.