Thanks for this post, I appreciate everyone's support.
Regarding our "censured for keyword spam" I just want to mention a few things I thought were relevant -- one, we hadn't changed the game descriptions in 15 months.
Two, Google refused to explain the issue for over a month -- total radio silence from Google support.
Third, our "keyword spam" was perhaps bad form but it wasn't intentional. Was it wrong? Judge for yourself -- here is one of the lines that got us in trouble:
"If you enjoy adventure, Action RPG or SciFi RPG with complex depth (such as Master of Orion or Mass Effect) you may enjoy Star Traders space role playing game."
and this one too
"Fans of games like Syndicate, Fallout Tactics and ShadowRun for SEGA should enjoy this turn-based quest for urban power."
Fortunately for us, the day after Wired ran the story Google started writing us back and explaining how we could fix the text.
Fix it we have and hopefully we can stay on the good side of Google going forward.
To everyone who was disappointed in our story, I apologize.
To everyone who has supported our games, I thank you.
We never intended to violate Google policy or manipulate rankings, only to describe our game in a way that was accessible to players who had never heard of us.
Techdirt has not posted any stories submitted by corytrese.
Re: Game Developers and Descriptions (as Cory Trese)
However, I *really* do appreciate Tim's post and the attention it has brought to the issue.
A few minutes after it went out, Google wrote us back and clarified the issue at hand.
Thank you for taking the time to reply to my post with your opinions. Much appreciated!
Game Developers and Descriptions (as Cory Trese)
Regarding our "censured for keyword spam" I just want to mention a few things I thought were relevant -- one, we hadn't changed the game descriptions in 15 months.
Two, Google refused to explain the issue for over a month -- total radio silence from Google support.
Third, our "keyword spam" was perhaps bad form but it wasn't intentional. Was it wrong? Judge for yourself -- here is one of the lines that got us in trouble:
"If you enjoy adventure, Action RPG or SciFi RPG with complex depth (such as Master of Orion or Mass Effect) you may enjoy Star Traders space role playing game."
and this one too
"Fans of games like Syndicate, Fallout Tactics and ShadowRun for SEGA should enjoy this turn-based quest for urban power."
Fortunately for us, the day after Wired ran the story Google started writing us back and explaining how we could fix the text.
Fix it we have and hopefully we can stay on the good side of Google going forward.
To everyone who was disappointed in our story, I apologize.
To everyone who has supported our games, I thank you.
We never intended to violate Google policy or manipulate rankings, only to describe our game in a way that was accessible to players who had never heard of us.
Techdirt has not posted any stories submitted by corytrese.
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