Deleted

To swear allegance you just click on an emoticon.

I think it's to prevent bots... or something.

View attached image.

Me it's even asking for my phonenumber, such bullshit.

Did you answer the bot captcha question ? You need to do that first to unlock #swear-allegiance.
Rank doesn't matter

Go in the #lootbox channel and type !getkey. A bot will send you a message.

This is just a waste of time it seems.

That won't help for this tho as you need to verify phone number and you don't get that with an emulator

Android emulators only emulate android [that is, the computer-side part of smart phones], and not the elements associated with phones. You can get calling/texting virtualization with chat/calling programs [eg, Skype], however, but as a rule that costs fees. Likewise, there are websites which offer a service wherein they can receive texts for you, but those almost always reveal the replies publically, rather than associating to any kind of account.

So yeah, any site that requires a phone or texting, and associates to any kind of account [versus, say, "text for a promo code!"] is generally a no-go if you don't have an actual [mobile] phone on hand. I think you can configure tablets for calling and texting, however, so that could maybe be an option for some? I don't recall the details on that, though.

I see, though I think it's tough to sift out bots and multiple accounts on discord.

The "best" method I've seen to avoid bots/reselling is the direct activation onto Steam account, recently Cities skylines Parklife did that. Not sure if that's a AAA Company privilege.

but you will still get your key

To be fair, I- and presumably others- still can't even access the server properly.
So.. not really? :P

Nevermind that it has gotten to the point where you're essentially paying in effort, time, and possibly even self-respect to further engage with the developer's metaphorical murder dungeon. Even if the server issues do resolve, it's probably best to take the chance to escape The Cube when it appears. :P

Thought so, too. Especially that last paragraph comes across a bit power trippin.

A simple "refer to the announcements" or something more neutral would have sufficed and would have been the more appropriate response.

There is no excuse for that kind of reply from someone who is responding to the public IF they cared for their image/customers at all.

Glad I left the discord from day one when it was clear the GA, the devs, the discord was totally unorganized to the point they left people spam text-to-speech in the chat and post nsfw materials non stop for hours.

If I may change your metaphor a little, to me it feels like they've invited you to a pizza party at their college dorm promising you to have fun, you go there and find out that the dorm is a mess, everyone is running around naked and drunk, the dorm supervisor is unconscious because he also got drunk (aka the bot was not up to the task) and the people who organized the party tell you "You want pizza? YOU WANT PIZZA?! LOOK AT ALL THIS MESS, HOW CAN I POSSIBLY GET YOU A PIZZA RIGHT NOW? STOP BOTHERING ME OR I WILL KICK YOU OUT", all of which could be avoided if the party host didn't bring and distribute vodka carelessly without even making sure everyone would still behave (or, more literally, if they made a giveaway the same ways most devs do).
Three days later, they managed to kick out most of the aggressively drunk people but the dorm supervisor hasn't still recovered from hungover, and those who are left are still waiting for the party to start but if they try to ask the host he will jump at them like a madman. Sure, he's stressed and you are free to leave without being entitled to have the pizza party you came there for, but that doesn't make the host's lack of partymaking skills and rude behavior any less remarkable.

This would have been a very different conversation without the 'i believe i should have an answer' comment. Imagine the commentary and interactions the guy has had with the "community" over this event has probably left him with very little patience for people who feel that they are entitled to have something from him.

This is the classic mistake of trying to do something nice, not realizing what you're getting into, being woefully underprepared, having a significantly annoying and or toxic community develop around it. Afterward, being left with a server that is barely usable due to all the spam and constant messaging from people who are still following the unedited original instruction of 'enter channel type command' who have not taken a moment to go read through the channels. Not to mention those who are there solely for the purpose of being disruptive because they didnt get something and now want to make trouble.

And then theres going to be the people who will then review bomb and leave negative feedback not based on the validity of the game, but the fact that the guy (developer?) got fed up with some of the people whom he'd interacted with. Been around for enough giveaways that I've seen this happen entirely too many times, and then people wonder why small developers dont do more giveaways. With that said there have been missteps along the way, and some things could have been handled better.

They're probably annoyed at this point which is kinda understandable since this whole giveaway went out of hand pretty fast and some people just like probably DM them and demand the key like it's some sort of privalege.
But I agree that it comes off as rude, they could've used better words for it.

there is a response. Just not the one we were hoping/waiting for

To be fair, it's never "Here's your voucher for a lifetime supply of free cake!", so I'm already pretty used to responses not matching up to the one I'm hoping for. :'(

nor a friendly one ;)

..sadly, pretty used to that aspect, as well. x_x

Thank you for being helpful, but not working for me...
when I accept it just sends me back to front instead of their discord channel, which is odd, that never happened before.....

:( :(
Everyone getting keys and I only saw this now after being sick and no one willing to help out, except you. 😢

I don't know why it isn't working for me....

thanks

^This. I can sympathise with what they went through from the flood of bots and trolls and having to deal with all the garbage that came with it, but when that dev turned around and threw it at people who had nothing to do with the problems they experienced then they become no better than the bots and trolls. I probably would have stuck around on the server because I had some really good conversations with people but after the behavior I saw from some of the server staff I left as soon as I got a key.

Nevermind that if their aim was Indonesian players then as soon as they noticed issues, they could have simply released Indonesia-locked keys (and then handled non-Indonesian players in a more controlled manner, if still desired), so the first paragraph's "So that everyone knows, this large-scale giveaway was not really meant to happen in the first place. The developer is an Indonesian company that intended the giveaway primarily for Indonesian players during the Covid-19 pandemic. " aspect doesn't benefit the developer at all, in terms of offering them a defense.

Moreover, after the initial issue, they kept making issues for themselves by not taking enough time to redesign the event in a controlled manner. Instead, they rushed into ever more messy setups. Nor do they have grounds to attack the community, as that they're the ones who opened themselves up to it, nevermind didn't set the Discord channels in a way that prevented chatting (if they were to the point where they were snapping at most everyone to begin with). "I keep going to a place that's bad for me and engaging with people who are bad for me even though I have full abilities to change those circumstances, but it's actually entirely their fault" just doesn't work as a vaild argument.

Heck, that setup is in line with the mentality of someone who decides to have a child, then screams at the child for being too loud and insisting that their existence is their own fault, and yet refuses to ever hire a babysitter to mitigate their stresses. (Though, of course, this situation isn't comparable to that same level of inexusable conduct and irrationality.)

Those factors, in conjunction to what you mentioned, means that if we take Dave's post as a defense rather than just as an informative post, then only the second and third paragraphs would have any weight (as far as contributing to a defense). And since none of us are arguing against the "the developer had a mishap in their initial giveaway plans and shut down things as a response to that" aspect, it's not a defense with any bearing to the elements we're actually criticizing: That is, the developer's continued bungling, escalating (and ever more unreasonable) hostility, and self-sabotage they weren't willing to take credit for, following the initial circumstance.

As far as I know, the developer never scaled their behavior up to ttruly deplorable levels, nor have I seen anyone indicate that level of criticism towards the developer. So, as I noted before, it's not a matter of the developer being taken as a villain, or anyone being out for their head. Simply, it's the fact that the developer inarguably acted unprofessionally, regardless of whatever justifications they may feel they had, and that they have some degree of accountability for that.

Even if a better defense could be offered for the developer, it still wouldn't get them out of owing an apology and out of deserving lingering criticism, however mild. I mean, unless their account was hijacked, that'd probably work as a full defense. Can even try and pull the whole "That's not me in that photo, even though it's clearly me in that photo!" defense Trump has been throwing out of late. [>>] :P

To put things in another way, if a child throws an explosive temper tantrum because he didn't get a cookie, even though he had been misled into thinking he'd get a cookie beforehand, then his disappointment would be justified but his behavior would still be inappropriate to the level where it should be criticized and emphasized as needing to be controlled for the future. Saying the developer deserved a cookie [let's say, that represents that they were inexperienced on multiple fronts?] or that the developer didn't punch anyone in the face helps, but it doesn't counter the fact that the presented behavior was still out of line and needs to be corrected.