IMVU over time...

[WingedZephyr]

I'm bored. So I felt like making a completely random post. I've been curious. I feel like rambling, so ignore me as you wish and skip to the last line.

I've been on IMVU since '05. Whether that makes me dedicated or just stupid, I'm not sure. Most people I met on IMVU when I first joined have been long gone. IMVU used to be completely different from what it is today. Not that I never expected it to be worked on and improved, of course, but I have to say I kind of miss the "old days." Most of you I imagine are '06 or '07 IMVU users, so none of you probably even know what I'm babbling about. But imagine, if you will, an IMVU like this:

- There is no such thing as "promo credits."

- There is no such thing as "dev tokens."

- Buying out your wishlist (for you shop-a-holics) is still achievable without paying real money for credits.

- You don't have to pay $7.95 to be a developer ...or any amount of money for that matter.

- You can enter a chat with someone you haven't even met yet and already be sure you won't hear "asl?" or other such hideous conversation starters.

- You aren't bombarded with credit sale ads every day.

- There is no such thing as a developer being any more "pro" than the next.

- You can actually click "chat now" without fearing for your life. Every person you get matched with has a decent personality.


Back when I first signed up, all of the above were true. I personally loved the way it was. Yeah, you can all tell me that I'm being unrealistic because IMVU has to get more notice in order to make money and all that, but that's not what I'm talking about here. I'm talking about IMVU's atmosphere. I used to love Chat Now, believe it or not. Meeting new, pleasant people was loads of fun. Sure, IMVU has made improvements over the years. The catalog was nowhere near what it is today (WaltzingMouse did a great deal to help that... it's a shame she doesn't release anything anymore). I mean, back then, Buckstars was the place to be. But anyway, what's the point of having all the fun clothes if it's hardly any fun to chat anymore? I speak for myself on that of course, but I'm sure many of you have had your own difficulties finding people on IMVU that can keep up a decent conversation.

And I'm rambling, I know. The point I'm trying to make is that IMVU used to be a very warm and friendly place to chat, where now it feels like a constant barrage of advertisements, slogans, and annoying people. It's so... commercial. Such is expected with the growth of any chat program, but what do you think? If you had the choice, would you choose the smaller, friendlier IMVU community with the little catalog options and the only buyable "perk" being the AP, or would you rather have an IMVU that is constantly expanding both in population and catalog items, being content with the decent people you manage to find, and just ignoring the chunk of the community that doesn't suit your conversational needs?

And if you chose to ignore everything I've written up to this point, I'll sum it up for you:

What's more important to you in IMVU? The people and atmosphere, or the advancing "features" and the clothes?

[Vosur Aekira]

Well... I hadn't been in IMVU's chat client in quite a long time... the last I went in was the update that allowed a Memory Tracker. ((I'll explain if no one understands))

I used to be able to catch friends online, but no I can't anymore.

[EQINOX]

Well i joined in 12/12/06 and for me it started of fun and has been well that is untill imvu started changing the rules and stealing peoples items becuse the items no longer fit the new image of IMVU and the fact that IMVU has made it perfectly clear on many ocasion that they realy dont care what there customers think nor do they want there opinion add this to the fact that they keep adding new features the the 3D client without fixing the broken ones first and then after awile you find that its slowed down and full of bugs and there is a new pre-release every 5 min that just messes it up even more and then the pointles eye candy new features adding all this to IMVUs double standards on the content in the catalog (i refure to the fact that physicle violence against another avi is against the new TOS right and all items like that have been removed so why is the client its self full of violent moves like *nuts* *punch* *kick*and there are more and i personaly find it strange that IMVU find it more acceptibal for some girl to kick a guy between the legs (this i have no control over) /  than it is for me to lie down and kiss my girlfreind (both concenting to do this)

**wait there is more lol**

The catalog / product pages we were asked our opinon on the forums about these new things and dispite more than 90% of the responces staiteing that they did not like nore want the new catalog / product pages IMVU went ahead with the change and further upset devs / users by provideing them with a useless broken catalog thats way to laggy/slow and is badly set out.

and whats that some one spends nearly 3000pc on one of my items and i only get 1 stinky DEV token worth 10c

and with people that may not be in a good mood comeing on imvu to have fun and being confrunted with a deteriating service it will inevitably upset them further and pritty soon every one is going around angry and only complaining about imvu in chats.

So yeh so me imvu is getting worce and quickly


meh rant over  

[WingedZephyr]

Well i joined in 12/12/06 and for me it started of fun and has been well that is untill imvu started changing the rules and stealing peoples items becuse the items no longer fit the new image of IMVU and the fact that IMVU has made it perfectly clear on many ocasion that they realy dont care what there customers think nor do they want there opinion add this to the fact that they keep adding new features the the 3D client without fixing the broken ones first and then after awile you find that its slowed down and full of bugs and there is a new pre-release every 5 min that just messes it up even more and then the pointles eye candy new features adding all this to IMVUs double standards on the content in the catalog (i refure to the fact that physicle violence against another avi is against the new TOS right and all items like that have been removed so why is the client its self full of violent moves like *nuts* *punch* *kick*and there are more and i personaly find it strange that IMVU find it more acceptibal for some girl to kick a guy between the legs (this i have no control over) /  than it is for me to lie down and kiss my girlfreind (both concenting to do this)

**wait there is more lol**

The catalog / product pages we were asked our opinon on the forums about these new things and dispite more than 90% of the responces staiteing that they did not like nore want the new catalog / product pages IMVU went ahead with the change and further upset devs / users by provideing them with a useless broken catalog thats way to laggy/slow and is badly set out.

and whats that some one spends nearly 3000pc on one of my items and i only get 1 stinky DEV token worth 10c

and with people that may not be in a good mood comeing on imvu to have fun and being confrunted with a deteriating service it will inevitably upset them further and pritty soon every one is going around angry and only complaining about imvu in chats.

So yeh so me imvu is getting worce and quickly


meh rant over  

I agree with all that, too. Though the catalog may be improving, the TOS has gone completely out of whack. Sure, there needs to be some restrictions. That's why the AP has been there. But hugging your boy/girlfriend? (Or, *gasp* god forbid people want to be any more romantic and actually kiss!) It's ridiculous. 13-year-olds have boy/girlfriends and it's not like it's illegal. Items allowing them to get more "intimate" should of course be restricted because it would be wrong to promote something like that to kids, but simple cuddle poses? I don't get it.

And also that thing about IMVU asking our opinion really irritates me too. Every time they ask for "the people's opinion," they say everything we suggest is a stupid idea (because it isn't the option that makes them the most money, I suspect).

IMVU doesn't really seem to care for their customers at all. They just keep coming out with new clubs and new promotions just to put more money in their pockets.

Sure, they deserve to make a living as much as anyone, but I think they've just gone overboard...

[Vosur Aekira]

If IMVU were into moneymaking... they would realize that the 'bad things in life' such as intimacy and romance actually do sell quite well.

[WingedZephyr]

If IMVU were into moneymaking... they would realize that the 'bad things in life' such as intimacy and romance actually do sell quite well.

But if they want to keep their company which makes them money, they can't afford to get sued for promoting that kind of stuff to kids. By making cuddling poses restricted, they're trying to save their tails from complaints they could get from parents who find out their kid (who may even be under the minimum age of 13) is getting romantic with someone online that they (in many situations) haven't even really met before. That's a legal issue.

Though I still think resticting hugging poses when IMVU lets you use a kissing action for anyone on your buddy list is a bit hypocritcal...

[Vosur Aekira]

IMVU has a 'failsafe' to prevent that... it's called parental negligence. They are the ones who allow the children (under the age of majority) to get on IMVU in the first place then allowing the minor to get their card to get what they want from IMVU in the first place.

[ephemral]

started changing the rules and stealing peoples items

Did you read the TOS you agreed to?
It irritates me every time I hear some one saying that (taken out of any context for example purposes) about IMVU.
Whether it's from IMVU fixing a bug that allowed users to keep items removed(Disabled) for breaching the TOS or
items be set to APO to coincide with a new policy. IMVU is still in beta. That also applies to the web site and rules.
There is no theft or hypocrisy. IMVU needs time to work out bugs and adapt to changes.
You might some time see these violent actions vanish.(Just like the wedgie which can still be used..) When one part of IMVU changes the other parts need time to catch up.
IMVU is evolving not only in the program and the TOS you agreed to allows for that.
If you think they are so shoty then report them to the better business Bureau.
http://www.bbb.org/
I've always noted how poorly their site is laid out. They may not be the one's in the wrong, but they certainly didn't
do a spectacular job helping to keep it from looking that way. :p

As from above you can see part of my view on my experience.
When i joined ,Oct. 2006, I hadn't run into anything negative.
My chat now experiences were either one of two things.
A normal conversation or no conversation. I didn't use the feature much at all.
Most of the times I did the other avatar just left after loading.
I assumed it was from people questing or new members getting their 5 first chats in.
One of the first people I had met introduced me to the AP.
Neither of us had male attachments or love beds and we're fine with it.
This was how it was for me. I found people to talk to myself.
Later came the addition of the fury pride web ring to my page.
This helped me further to find others. Things were fine.
Then came the more recent changes.
The bug fix(deletion of disabled items from user's inventory). I'm fine even though I miss using the items that were disabled.
Most of them I got via my wishlist after they were disabled. I got my refund.
Scenes changed to locked rooms. Nothing special, just a name change.
A free room for everyone. A bit later than they announced, but I like having another room and more furniture than I had before.
Gold pass try it. I didn't know about it till too long before everyone got it.
Gold try it pass for everyone. Nice.
Groups.Cool, but once they added the new panel to everyone's pages(going from alpha testing to beta) swarms of noobs infected the groups.
This is the community. Just like the IMVU forum, people can't read well enough to post in the right places or know not to post.
New catalog. Here's the old one. http://www.imvu.com/catalog/index.php
The new one's slower, but not too slow. I'm in no rush.(plus I'm on DSL)
The recent catalog bugs are just bugs. Things get fixed life goes on.

In all it's the community that's pushed IMVU's development in the direction it's been heading lately.
More teens with money or their parent's money than adults means they have to cater to their bread winner, the teens.
That and IMVU has no spine or brain.

[EQINOX]

started changing the rules and stealing peoples items

Did you read the TOS you agreed to?
It irritates me every time I hear some one saying that (taken out of any context for example purposes) about IMVU.

Yes i did read the TOS when i signed up and i was asked like every one to tick the little box stateing that i aggree to them and at the time all the items were not against that version of the TOS.  It was only when the new TOS was forced on us that the items were removed and remember was anyone acualy asked to agree or sign these this new TOS becuse no one was and as the TOS is a form of contract they are supost to get you to sign and accept befor it can be applied to you and at the same time given that it also afects items you have payed for they also canot force the TOS on you and altho i admit the legal part of digital media isnt clear but it is still stealing as *removal of  property or content or an item were you have paid in full with real cash with out your concent under the eyes of the law is concidered theft.

*for example*
say sony sell a brand new lcd 48" tv to you but 3 months later they come to your house and say were sorry but were no longer suporting lcd tvs and we will be takeing it from you and well the refund well you will get this wenever we get round to working out a system.

So tell me if i was to walk into your house when you werent there and remove items would you be happy and what would you do.

and atleats 40 people on my buddy list have had stuff moved to APO and not had refunds and looking back it was an average of 2000c per person so lets see 1000c costs $1 so that would be 2000c over 40 people = $80 right now lets add in the hundreds of thousends of other people that havent yet had refunds and pritty soon the number of items / creds (your hard earned cash) adds up.

[ephemral]

You payed for/signed up for a service with the stipulation that certain terms would not be set in stone.
That's the general idea. If I remember right. (it's half past 2AM so I'm not going to check)
If an item is moved to APO then you still have the item. You had knowledge before hand that items could be reset to different levels(including UFI) without notice. And way back when an ejaculating phallus was still UFI. This kind of thing isn't supposed to happen though.
It's like when applying for almost any job when they make you sign a thing saying they have the right to terminate you without reason.
They can do it, but it's still in bad taste.

[DaiRraito IS, FurryLAE.]

I think they should change EVERYTHING, I mean EVERYTHING, back to the '05 version..
I joined in mid '06 and I met a group of friends..
We were all Naruto fans, of course..
About 6 months later..half the group quit/was kicked off..(GoldenSphinx)
It sucks...I wish my crew was back...they were the only reason I ever got on...

[The Lone Wolf]

I joined early 06 and became a developer in the same time period and I agree that IMVU has deteriorated over time, the quality of people and conversations are no longer what they once where and all the people who I used to love talking with have moved on, fortunately many of those people gave me their MSN addresses when they left. I still reminisce about the golden period of IMVU, I understand what went wrong though and that for the most part it was a foreseeable eventuality.