42 replies to this topic

[littlejohn33]

Richard Thanks

I sent that link to my mother their also having a tough time Dad had cancer a while back apparently over it but left a lot of bills. May even look into it myself.

The first thing Mom asked was do they charge up front?

John

[Rebirth]

Since I dont feel like starting arguments, I wont say what some of the comments make me think.

But, Im glad that PGI gave enough of a **** about their audience that they gave you the refund you needed, Good luck with the second child and hopefully you can find a well-paying job so you can support your family.

And awesome job to PGI for not soulless and taking care of even one person that needed it. If I hadnt already bought a founders pack, this alone would be enough for me to grab one.

[Arfer]

Have you tried signing up with temp agencies? It is basically their job to find jobs so they're usually better at it than you and me.

[Stalephreak]

I'm sorry, but I'm less than sympathetic here. I do find it great that PGI did refund your money. That really is going above and beyond on their part in terms of customer service, and I think that bodes well for the game. I'm not going to say how my dated system is handling the beta, but I know an upgrade is in order.

I keep hearing about how hard it is to find a job, and I'm sorry, but I cannot relate, or sympathise with that statement. I work for a wonderful company with plenty of job openings nationwide. I'm even hiring myself. My problem is that I cannot find any decent candidates/applicants. We have a basic skills test for our staff. It's common sense stuff that you learn in high school, and you have to be over 18 to work here. I have a 50% fail rate!

Like dating, when times get tough, lower your standards. When I decided to bail from teaching, I went to something as cheesy and low pay as Walmart. It was lousy, poor work conditions, for next to no pay, and no benefits. HOWEVER, it directly led me to a job which paid better, and had all housing expenses included, which led to a better position at quadruple that with full benefits.

Tip: Get a job, doesn't matter if it's part time, moonlighter, whatever. Just get a job, even if it's outside your field. You'll cushion the hard times a bit, and it actually helps to land other jobs. Sounds stupid, but it's true. Out of work people have a harder time finding work. People who already have a job, nomatter what the job, have a much easier time finding work. HR managers tend to go "OOOOO, somebody likes this guy", making having a job your best reference on your application.

[Stalephreak]

Rebirth, on 29 August 2012 - 08:13 AM, said:

Since I dont feel like starting arguments, I wont say what some of the comments make me think.

But, Im glad that PGI gave enough of a **** about their audience that they gave you the refund you needed, Good luck with the second child and hopefully you can find a well-paying job so you can support your family.

And awesome job to PGI for not soulless and taking care of even one person that needed it. If I hadnt already bought a founders pack, this alone would be enough for me to grab one.

Actually, that's exactly what I'm doing. I'm buying a founder's pack as a gift for my wife after this. PGI really did go above and beyond, and it'd be a shame for them to lose revenue over this. (doing the right thing)

[SK8 ZION]

Have you been on oDesk, and elance.com?

[Stone Profit]

I feel ya OP. I bought a founders pack. I have no computer, no internet, and have been working seven days a week for the last several months. I hope to have the money to buy a computer soon along with internet and hopefully cable (man i love tv). I have no desire to obtain a refund. I wish to support this IP. I say this not to admonish you, merely to commiserate. I wish you well, sir, and congratulations one the new child.

[Triggerhippy]

Stalephreak, on 29 August 2012 - 08:38 AM, said:

I'm sorry, but I'm less than sympathetic here. I do find it great that PGI did refund your money. That really is going above and beyond on their part in terms of customer service, and I think that bodes well for the game. I'm not going to say how my dated system is handling the beta, but I know an upgrade is in order.

I keep hearing about how hard it is to find a job, and I'm sorry, but I cannot relate, or sympathise with that statement. I work for a wonderful company with plenty of job openings nationwide. I'm even hiring myself. My problem is that I cannot find any decent candidates/applicants. We have a basic skills test for our staff. It's common sense stuff that you learn in high school, and you have to be over 18 to work here. I have a 50% fail rate!

Like dating, when times get tough, lower your standards. When I decided to bail from teaching, I went to something as cheesy and low pay as Walmart. It was lousy, poor work conditions, for next to no pay, and no benefits. HOWEVER, it directly led me to a job which paid better, and had all housing expenses included, which led to a better position at quadruple that with full benefits.

Tip: Get a job, doesn't matter if it's part time, moonlighter, whatever. Just get a job, even if it's outside your field. You'll cushion the hard times a bit, and it actually helps to land other jobs. Sounds stupid, but it's true. Out of work people have a harder time finding work. People who already have a job, nomatter what the job, have a much easier time finding work. HR managers tend to go "OOOOO, somebody likes this guy", making having a job your best reference on your application.

A tad cold here dude but sadly essentially true, I used to head hunt into the top end IT market (various top IT Multinationals have VP's and EVP's I placed there) That said I always used to do a fair bit of "bread and Butter" placements as well - Tech support roles etc. As a rule of thumb candidates that had been out of work for more than 6 months were far more difficult to place than a guy who sweeps up and Maccy D's on a Saturday night. Pad up your CV to fit the role you want - don't lie - you get caught out, but there is no harm in making yourself sound like the Dogs Sphericals as much as you can.

Good luck mate

[VinnySlick]

I wont touch on any of this personal situation stuff, I don't feel a general discussion forum is the proper venue for that kind of thing given the trolls it usually manages to bait...

I do want to share a small message that I have previously mentioned in private to one of the mods who helped me out on a game/forum issue.

I am thrilled to see that MWO has a top-*******-notch mod, dev and csr staff, player support is such a HUGE part of gaming and so often over-looked... when I think about almost any game, especially mmo's, I can't help but think about the innumerable times I have seen a fantastic game subsequently sabotaged (dare I say, legged) by absent or terrible community support.

PGI is A1 in that category, which should be take-away from this thread.

Edited by VinnySlick, 29 August 2012 - 09:57 AM.

[Monolith]

Freeride Forever, on 29 August 2012 - 12:36 AM, said:

Life's a lot harder & more expensive with kids, but they're not the result of a ****** hand.

Monolith you might wanna try some kind of birth control. Don't make problems you can't afford. You seem like a pretty literate guy. Moreso than most of the fucktards cruising around the internet, and I must say very very impressive for somewhere like Tenessee. Your country **** all over itself in 2008. It doesn't sound like the situation you put yourself in is a "blessing" to me. You sound like you're one step away from the sidewalk with a cup in your hand. Smarten up & organize your life responsibly like an adult is supposed to & don't **** off more than you can chew.

I am a fan of the truth, no matter what it may be & I don't know what it is here, but one thing everyone can afford is a sob story when they need one. The situation you described above, in no way as I see it, absolves you of the situation. You thought that a 7-8 year old system would run a CryEngine 3 game that will be FTP so you spent money on it anyway even though you're jobless with a 2nd baby on the way? There's a serious deficiency of forethought here that I've only ever seen in people that can not articulate a message to an audience nearly as well as you do. I know it's not impossible, but it's at least a bit odd. Everyone makes mistakes, but that is a seriously faulty thought process, unless I'm missing something?

Call me an ******* if you want, but the truth is still the truth even if it's ugly (if it is what you say it is). I wonder what you'd say about PGI if they decided differently. Maybe PGI wondered the same. Maybe after you got a taste of it you just decided you'd rather wait for open beta? Only one of us knows the truth.

If you bought more than a Veteran then I would've suggested that they downgraded you. If you only bought a Veteran then I really have to wonder how far someone who should have the kind of income necessary to support a family of four, thinks $30 stretches nowadays.

I hope we see you in the game someday. Good luck & props to PGI on that one.

I almost said screw it, and did not answer this. Given the limited information in the OP it is understandable why you would draw not some, but all of these conclusions.

Just a little more background... Almost a year ago I enrolled in a local trade school to learn HVAC. I found out after I signed up that an old friend of my family's actually teaches at said school and so I asked him if he thought I could get the same education going nights at reduced hours. (therefore eliminating any potential financial aid, but allowing me to work to support my family...) He said yes, he thought come spring I could probably get a job with a local HVAC company doing 'grunt' work. I thought this would be the ideal setup, as I could learn the trade in both a classroom and an applied, real world setting. I understood that it would be hard, hot work. That does not intimidate me. The elements are easily prepared for.

I actually started looking for HVAC work in February, long before most HVAC companies are actively seeking help. (late march is usually when that happens.) I hit the local supply houses, asking around about anyone who might be hiring. This is actually a good way to find work in this field. The supply house I bought some of my tools from actually gave my name to a local company, who called me (much to my surprise) and said that they were looking for help and wanted to know my situation. Told them I had no field experience, but was halfway through my second trimester at trade school. Wanted some field experience. They said fine, come in tomorrow and we will see if we can put you to work. (I thought they were bringing me in for a formal interview process, but to my surprise/delight they put me to work that day. Was lucky I had a change of clothes handy because crawling around on rooftops in shirt/tie was not really appealing.)

I worked overtime the first two weeks. They had a few commercial accounts that required alot of preventive maintenance so that was mostly what I did. Changed filters, cleaned condenser coils, swapped belts... Easy stuff. Not the sort of learning experience I had in mind, but hey, you gotta' start somewhere. As the weeks progressed they had less and less regular work for me. Turns out, they had hired someone else right after me and told him they would get him work as soon as possible. I never had a regular schedule. It was always they would call the day before to find out when I could work. To make matters worse, about 5 weeks later they hired another full time tech who had years of experience. My hours dropped to almost non-existent. I told them I needed more hours. They said they could only give me what they had. Told them I appreciated the work they had given me and everything I had learned so far, but I had a family. My wife had recently gone on maternity leave and if I wasn't working... no income. While 'working' there, I started looking elsewhere. I was not picky; anywhere that could give me hours. I did however, do research on the companies I wanted to work for. There was a short list of local HVAC companies I considered to be ideal. Again, much to my surprise, I heard back almost immediately and began the interview process with them. It took almost 3 weeks due to their busy workload and some family emergencies that cropped up with the ownership, but they told me finally that they would put me with some of their guys as sort of a dry run at $10/hr and see if they felt I was at a place where they could hire me on permanently. These guys really were great to me. They kept me busy full time for two weeks but in the end the owner said he felt I just was not far enough along with my skill-set for them to keep me on the rest of the summer. Try back in spring when we are not quite as swamped and you have a little more time to learn in the field. (not to mention I would have another 6 months of school under my belt.)

I am actually still nominally employed as an 'as-needed' subcontractor for the first HVAC company that hired me. I am also signed on at a seasonal Halloween store that I have worked at the last 2 years, but that has not picked up yet.

When I mentioned my personal roller coaster, this is what I was referring to... They say hope wells eternal, and there have been a couple of times in the last 5-6 months when I really thought things were finally going our way. It was during one of those times that I thought, hey, this is going to work... I will be able to build a new PC soon at this rate and I will be able to play mechwarrior again, like the good old days. (Mind you with family and kids not nearly as much as in the good old days, but life does offer you compensation in those sorts of things.) This delusion was helped along by the fact that I have a best friend who offered to buy the parts for me and let me pay him back when I could. I will not let him do this unless I have steady, gainful employment. Like I said, there were a few shining moments when I thought it was all coming together.

When I ordered my founders pack, I was actually working steady hours at a job I thought was going to last. We still had about 2500 in the bank from our tax return, but it was not being drained anymore. I knew the founders program was going to end at some point, but I was not sure when, and I thought, hey... I can get in on this now. Then came the dip in the roller coaster... Things were not going according to plan, but we had some resources to fall back on and I was still working hard to find work. I was sure something would work out. Life likes to tell you never to be sure of anything except love, so, here I am... still looking for steady work.

As for the purpose of my OP, it was partly to vent, but mainly because I realized that any resource not utilized is a resource wasted. Since I made the post, I have received a private message from someone local saying they were keeping an eye out for me for job opportunities, an email from someone else saying they might have a possible source of income for me even though it is about 60-90 minutes away, and 2-3 replies as of this writing with online resources I was not yet aware of in my search. Judge me all you want, but that more than anything was the result I desired with my original post. I had already emailed support, and I fully expected my refund. I also expected to thank them for it publicly with just the kind of follow up post that I did. I was not trolling for anything but possible job leads. (Although I also anticipated just these sorts of responses as well...)

Would I be saying anything different about PGI if they had not refunded me? I probably would not have said anything else on these forums about it. I still think they are making a great product for us to enjoy. And I still plan on investing in it when I have the means to do so. And by investing, I am talking dollar amounts: mech bays, skins, extra mechs... Whatever resources I feel I can afford to keep these guys churning out awesome mech warfare for years to come. We as a community deserve it, and they as developers deserve all the support we as a community can give them for giving us one of the most crystal clear views from the cockpit of a battlemech that has ever been seen on any platform. These were the sentiments more than anything else that led me to pre-purchase the founders pack before I even had a computer to play it on.

This is the long version of the story that I did not want to burden support staff with. I appreciate all the job leads thus far and the only other thing I would ask of this community is prayers to whatever deity you believe in, be it Jesus, Allah, Buddha, the entire Greek Pantheon, or the Flying Spaghetti Monster. I am pretty sure they all fall on the same ears anyway. (Nuts, I am probably opening a whole new can of troll bait with that last, but I guess that is that. If you do not believe in anything like that, just pray to nothing... I am sure it will still work out.)

[Dymitry]

Thanks for clarifying, not that you had to... Anyway, I hope that someone feels like an ant now, or even better, learns to think before judging.

I appreciate your courage, and feel your struggle. Again, keep strong, I am sure that eventually the tide will turn.

Well done to PGI and whoever has proposed concrete solutions. You make us proud of the comunity!

Edited by Dymitry, 30 August 2012 - 04:27 AM.

[KaikuPen]

I was on the fence about getting a founders pack until I read this. Being a young Canadian with a steady influx of money and a screaming fast gaming rig I have never paid attention to those less fortunate than me (Because I'm a Stupid Stupid Baby) and after reading about PGI and what they did even thou they may not of had to, I just cant stop thinking: These guys deserve my $60 because other people my not have that money to give. And even if I end up not liking the game at least I know my money went to people who care about their community unlike some other developers I could list.

[Mordino]

I was in similar position not so long ago, had to change a couple of countries, work was scarce. Terrible experience. You just focus on something exclusively, and keep your head sober. You`ll be ok, Best of luck to you!

PS. You`ve got two kids, you are already a happy man. Everything else will come. :] Tree, house...mechwarrior...
PSs Hope to see you in MWO in no-time.

[SakuranoSenshi]

Monolith, on 30 August 2012 - 02:54 AM, said:

<quote purely to get your attention in a busy thread>

For freelance stuff, especially over the internet, use this site: https://www.odesk.com/

I have nothing useful to say on anything else, I'll just satisfy myself with rolling my eyes at some of the commentards.

[Skinflowers]

Good luck to you Monolith and props to PGI for giving the refund. In this day and age it's quite heartening to see some software houses still remember us gamers are people first, not money pots. $$$ might buy you a Founder's package but you can't put a price tag on good will.

My respect for you (for what it's worth) went up a few notches today.

[Felicitatem Parco]

You can pull in small-value purses from textbroker.com for freelance writing, and I've personally pulled thousands of $ doing freelance patent research at articleonepartners.com

Edited by Prosperity Park, 30 August 2012 - 09:51 AM.

[Monolith]

Rebirth, on 29 August 2012 - 08:13 AM, said:

Since I dont feel like starting arguments, I wont say what some of the comments make me think.

But, Im glad that PGI gave enough of a **** about their audience that they gave you the refund you needed, Good luck with the second child and hopefully you can find a well-paying job so you can support your family.

And awesome job to PGI for not soulless and taking care of even one person that needed it. If I hadnt already bought a founders pack, this alone would be enough for me to grab one.

Yeah... One of the folks who responded with a private message of concern and advice on how to get my refund was none other than our very own Garth Erlam of 'ask the devs'. Imagine that. A dev who took time out of his busy schedule to give a fan advice on how to get a refund​ of all things... I already had things in motion, though he may not have realized it because billing is a completely separate department from his own, but did I appreciate a personal response from someone so noted in our community.

[SakuranoSenshi]

Times are tough if you're unfortunate enough to be somewhere that's lacking opportunities, which is why internet work is so promising. Seriously, put some time in and I am sure you'll start bringing money in. I'm lucky enough to be in Texas, which is doing pretty well (it always does and it's the largest state economy after California) but still has people who are having trouble finding work, or at least the work they want.

[Lampshade 1]

I wish I could help you some way, but I'm blessed enough to live in San Diego, CA. But so I could be of a bit of assistance, what do you like to do? What have you studied for? You have a wife and two children, and a lifetime to improve your situation, so don't be worried. My prayers to you.

~LampShade

[Ducks Guts]

Here is, at the least, a little hope for you. Earlier this year (long story short), the wife and I both lost our jobs, unexpectedly, in the same week due to our wonderful economy. We had a crazy idea to start our own business cleaning rental homes. Got a license, $175 bucks, drove around and sold ourselves for a day, and before we knew it we had contracts, with realty companies, coming out of our arses. We've grossed over $15,000 in three months. No bosses, make our own hours, and are making some sweet sweet cash. We have 4 children and yes they are expensive. Especially as teenagers. Just an idea for you n the fam. It wasn't that hard to do. Good luck in the future. I feel your pain but you have to make it happen, whatever it takes, for your family. Cheers.