Petition: Keep Timelordess in Pico

How would you feel if you went to Pico World Support (support@ameba.net) for help and they turned around and said they may ban your account? Well, that's what's happened to Timelordess.

Here's what happened:
Timelordess noticed some fishy activity with her account's Gummies balance. She was threatened by a someone who claimed to be a hacker in a GM Games area. Then overnight it changed to a very high amount. She contacted Pico World Support and was told that she might never get access to her account again ... even though she did no wrong.

Timelordess's character:
Those who know Timelordess, know that she's fun and caring ... and hasn't the first clue how to be a hacker or scammer. She reports those who bully and threaten to Pico World Support, and encourages her circle of friends to do the same.

For Timelordess to now face the possibility of being permanently banned simply in asking for help is incredibly unfair. Who's next? You? Me?

Sign a support petition:
If you feel the same, please join the Friends of Timelordess and sign this petition to support her cause. Fill in as much of your personal information as you care to give (you don't have to put your address and if you un-click the 'Display my signature publicly' check box your endorsement will only show to the petition's administrator).

http://chn.ge/timelordess

Each time the petition is signed an email is sent to Ameba (support@ameba.net) and CyberAgent America, Inc. (contact@cyberagentamerica.com).

The letter:

Dear Ameba and CyberAgent America:


Recently, Pico ID Timelordess (also *Timelordess*) reported to Pico World Support (support@ameba.net) that she noticed some suspicious activity with her account. Her Gummies currency balance had ballooned to a very large amount. This happened after an incident in the GM Games area; she was threatened by a players who claimed to be a hacker.


Being a responsible player, Timelordess came forward to you seeking help. Instead, she was told that because of this strange account activity she may be banned.


This would be incredibly unfair and unjust.


As a friend of Timelordess and a concerned Pico player I want to give her my support.


I vouch for Timelordess's character and want to tell you that she:

• is not, nor has she ever been, a hacker or scammer. She does not support this activity and has, in fact, posted anti-hack/scam messages to readers of her Pico blog.
• is a mature and responsible person who does not invest her time in hacking/scamming or the abuse of other players.
• is a positive, encouraging and inclusive member of the Pico game community. She is accepting of people of all ages, genders and cultural backgrounds into her friendship circle.
• encourages all those who come within her influence to resolve their in-game issues by reporting them to support@ameba.net -- instead of taking matters into their own hands.
• supports your organization through purchasing Ameba Gold and deserves a proper investigation into the account activity she has brought to your attention.

Ameba Pico needs to invest in proper safeguards to protect innocent players, like Timelordess, and catch those who carry out wrongdoing through hacking, scamming, abuse and other exploits of the game.


Please assign the blame where it lies.


Please do not ban the accounts of Timelordess.


Sincerely,
[Your Name]

Will Gummies be our downfall?

with contributions from [VE]ςђєzкιє♡

Lately, some Pico players have an abnormal a mount of Gummies. Very high amounts. They can buy all gummy items they want! It's nice to have a lot of Gummies that didn't come from cheating, isn't it?

Some people get millions of Gummies through cheating. Of course, they're very happy .... but they don't know that they might be banned.

Some  users with huge amounts of Gummies are so happy that they are taking photos of their balances to post to Facebook.

When I go to the GM Games areas I see long lines forming at the game stations. It's nice to see ... but not so nice to our Pico accounts. For more reason than one: if you lose or if the game makes you the victim of a hacker.

I assume that a lot of hackers entered Pico this year ... because hacking activity seems to be on the rise. More innocent Pico players are falling victim.

Some hackers have made a home in the new GM Games area. The hackers approach you in GM Games and say they will give you one-million to one-billion Gummies through game play. This is when they make their move. Somehow, they can give you a negative (-) amount of Gummies ... or a huge amount. Either way, this can draw the attention of Pico's community managers ... and you could get banned.

So dont play with strangers. Be careful. If you have an "abnormal" amount of Gummies you'll be in big trouble.

Where did Pico go?

Looks like it's lights out for Pico again. We're not talking about the usual unscheduled maintenance mayhem. It's a blackout as of 7:00AM GMT.

(Thank the gods! I had just finished the secret spy theme Casino Challenge 5 minutes earlier.)

Not even the official blog is working. It's disappeared. This might be a major server problem. The granddaddy of server issues.

Remember the epic maintenance break from two weeks ago? How could you forget? It was almost 36 hours. I have a feeling this server meltdown will put it to shame.

That's all folks. I'm back to watching reruns of Torchwood.

With Pico out of service it's probably a good idea for you to watch reruns of something ... or discover a new Facebook game to enjoy. I'm thinking about The Hunger Games social game app. What about you?

New Changes

It looks like the new Gummies betting function isn't the only thing Ameba has added to Pico.

Changing buttons
This is the most obvious change: the 'Travel' icon has been changed to 'Navi' - short for navigation, of course. I don't really see any benefit for changing this. What if the player doesn't know what the word "navi" stands for? There are other players than just English speakers in this game.



In my opinion, the 'Travel' was more suitable and easy to understand.

I don't even know why they did this. Well, dear me! I mist be going blind to not see the tabs at the top of the menu that say 'Travel', 'Park', 'Games' and 'Event'. Ameba decided to make them even bigger for us.

Get productive, Ameba!
These changes are really harmless. But they also don't benefit any of us either. Or, even more, they are a complete waste of time. Why can't they use the time that they put into these useless adjustments to create something productive? - like a trading system. Yes! A desperately needed trading system for all the doubles and triples in my 'Closet' from Gachas. They give me pain every time I look at them. (Of course, I am too money-loving to recycle any of them for as little as 10 Gummies.)

New language park
But don't get me wrong. Not all the changes are bad.

For example: Ameba added a new park area to World Community Parks - Vietnam Park - and I give them credit just for this one. There are more than just a few Vietnamese-speaking Picos here. I have actually seen quite a few myself. Creating Vietnamese Park is indeed a good idea.

Bugs in the system
Well, there are not only a little changes that have been made by Ameba, but an error has been going on for a very long time now. We can only wait for the day that Ameba notices this annoying little bug and fixes it.

Here's the error I'm talking about:



Oh, a ring error! Just fantastic! (Yes, I'm being sarcastic.)

With this error, whenever people ring you the "An unknown error has occurred" bubble pops up. This means the person who rang you won't show up on your 'Today's Rings' list ... unless you reload your browser.

Whew! Enough said. It is indeed a pain in the neck.

---

Scarlett has her own blog, Scarlett's Pico Life. Check it out!

The Gummies Fashionist

&

In the Pico world, it seems that some people are Gummies Fashionists and others are Ameba Gold Fashionists.

For us - Rica and Alexa - it's better to be a Gummies Fashionist  'cause we won't waste real money for our Picos. Some people think that when Picos wear clothing bought with Gummies (sometimes called "newbie" clothes by condescending people) it means that they are poor. The people with this attitude are what we call AG Elitists.

An AG Elitist is someone who always wears clothing purchased with AG and they think they are the best. Not everyone who wears AG clothing is an "elitist"; only those who put down players who don't. Only those who feel and act as though Gummies clothes - and the people who wear them - are worthless.

Gummies clothing is absolutely worth it! Even decor and foods.

Putting together outfits with Gummies fashion requires a lot of creativity. It takes imagination to create a set of clothes out of the simplicity of Gummies items.

How do you know if you are a Gummies Fashionist?

• You prefer to wear items purchased with Gummies instead of AG clothes.
• You take time an have great pride in creating fashionable styles with Gummies.
• You're not not interested in wearing AG clothes.

Are all Gummies Fashionists poor? No, because they have to have a balance of money - earned money - to buy their Gummies items. If Gummies Fashionists were poor they'd be naked.



Don't be afraid or ashamed. You too can make your own sense of fashion sensibility by using clothing items bought with Gummies. While you're throwing together a look, don't forget to set a good example for your fellow Gummies Fashionists: don't be arrogant, be polite and treat others with fairness.

Not all "rich" Picos are bad to Gummies Fashionists. But many do act arrogant and put down others who aren't "rich". Sometimes we have seen this happen.

You can't judge a person by his or her clothing. Get to know the person behind the appearance.

What you wear isn't who you are. Your words and actions tell the kind of person you are.

If you ask us which is better - Gummies Fashionist or AG Fashionist - we would pick Gummies. We like it because we earn the money and don't any real cash. Not to mention Gummies fashion is colorful, challenging and fun.

Photo Credits: Pictured:

• sweety 0.<
• M.A.R.C.E.L
• l é  ｄ ｅ ｒ ｐ
• ♥нαιℓєч♠αиgєℓ♥

A Token gesture.

By now you've probably collected your 3 free Tokens and forgotten all about the 33 hours that Pico was down for unscheduled maintenance last week. If you didn't log in to grab 'em too late. The offer has expired.




I bet they're burning a hole in your pocket right now ... if you haven't spent them already.

Personally, I plan to hold on to my Tokens. Save 'em up for a later date when something I feel is truly Token-worthy comes along.

But what will you buy with your 3 Tokens? Have you decided yet?

Will it be something you wear, place in your room, or fill your pet's belly with?

Teddy bear balloons? Dance to the Beat action? Funny Clown Hat? Joke Star Party Glasses? Stage Cube? Night Club Floor? Puppy Ears? Eco Friendly Laundry Machine? Rice Steamer? Flower Cactus for Tortoise?

How will you let Ameba buy your love and silence back?

Comment on Facebook or here on the blog if you're willing to share.

(When I decide what to spend my dirty money on I very well may post about it.)

Slotting challenges linked to childhood obesity?

Okay, maybe that is a far stretch... but I don't know!

Unless you're buying those slotting gems, I'm guessing these things take days to complete.  Personally, I never get past the first two blocks.  At least if I decide to sit my booty down long enough to complete the second level I would get a chair this time instead of gems..  A chair that looks like it's an old gacha item :/

But any who, this is all besides the point!  My point is... Ameba needs to stop making these crazy slotting challenges that requires a kid to sit for hours every day for a week to complete. Childhood obesity may not exist in Japan but it's real yo.

Don't even get me started on gambling addiction...

Poll results: Pico Maintenance

We're approaching the 36 hour mark on Pico's most epic period of server maintenance ever.

Reading comments from the most recent notice of extending the maintenance it seems as though the game came back for a brief moment, but was so laggy that admins has to shut it down again.

People commenting are mad, upset, frustrated and totally out of their minds.

It's been more than a day since Pico went grey. No doubt the situation is a fiasco for Ameba.

When the break first started we asked 'What do you do when Pico is down for maintenance?'. Here are the results so far from our Facebook poll:



For those who keep refreshing the page ... your mouse clicking finger must be really tired. We feel badly for you.

It seems that most people to to other games. Some took the time to comment to tell us which ones:



Why not join in with these guys and gals while Pico is still down?

• Ameba Pigg online (in Japanese)
• Magical Saga on Facebook
• Nightclub City on Facebook
• Pet Society on Facebook
• Pocket God on YoYo Games
• Pokemon World on Facebook
• Transformice online
• Vampire Wars on Facebook

(My personal fav is The Sims Social. They're constantly adding new stuff and it has never had a maintenance break since I started playing 6 months ago.)

Maybe you could also listen to some music, watch wacky videos on YouTube or read a book while we hunker down and wait for the grey veil of server maintenance to be lifted away.

However you spend your time during the break, have a great day. Hopefully, we'll see you soon in Pico.

Taking all bets ...

I went to sleep, woke up and Pico is still on maintenance. Wasn't this supposed to be an unscheduled 6 hour break in game play? We're heading to the 12 hour mark in a little while, actually.

It really looks as though the recent GM Games function (which is utter nonsense) has killed Pico. I hope that when the game comes back up - if it does - that this new area will be gone, that some coding error makes implementing it impossible.

As you can imagine people are annoyed. They're taking to the maintenance notice on Facebook to vent their anger and frustration. Do you feel the same?



I've browsed through a bunch of the comments. The best (and most incoherent) rant - by far - was from this girl:



You can thank The Young Gun for digging up this comment. This is the reason you should stay in school and take grammar/spelling seriously, kids.

Maybe we should start taking bets on when "server maintenance". Ameba likes it when kids gamble, right?

What do you do when Pico is down for maintenance?

We're curious to know what you do when Pico throws up the grey page and you can't get into feed your pets or loiter in the casino.

Do you ...?:

• Play another game
• Keep refreshing the page until it's back up
• Turn off the computer and go out
• Chat with your friends by chat, text or phone
• Curl up into a ball and cry Curse about how you'll never play Pico again Replace this line with your post's 
• Something different

Let us know by answering the poll on our Facebook page. Or you can comment below.

Getting kids addicted to gambling?

As most of you know Pico was down for a very long period of unscheduled maintenance yesterday. Today, there's a whole new layer to playing games. Nice of them to let us know that the big "lights out" was coming. There's a bug now that has the entire area closed for the time being.



The new function involves the gaming rooms - Match Card, Reversi, Pirates RPS and Math Battle. This does not apply to the casino.

Gummies gauge to enter game rooms
You must now gain 100 Gummies each day to get into the gaming area. The Gummies gauge has returned to the top right of your game screen. This let's you track your progress - gaining props, rings and food points. Once it's full (all pink) you can enter any of the four game rooms. Once you get there you can now wager with your opponent.

Is there anyone else who thinks that encouraging gambling in a social media community that is primarily used by girls aged 9-17 is ... just ... wrong? As if the casino wasn't enough.

Read more about it (ignore Ameba's obvious poor spelling):

• Ameba Pico FAQ: What is Gummie Gage?
• Ameba Pico blog: [New Function!] Bet Gummies in Mini Games!!!

New Gacha and GM Cashier bots
The game room layout is a little different.



Each room now has a new Gacha machine (3,000 Gummies/spin) and a GM Cashier robot. Yes, Ameba wants you to actually buy Gummies to gamble. In case your gambling addiction takes your balance to zero.

There are non-betting rooms within each game for people who still want to play for fun.

Do you think it's reasonable to charge several thousand Gummies for a spin at Gacha or to even charge AG to buy Gummies?





Wager display
With the news changes, when you play Match Card, Reversi, Janken or Math Battle the amount currently being bet shows at the bottom of the game station.



Game ranking
To add even more competition to the game, there's now a player ranking. You can see how your scores match up with your fellow Picos.



User agreement
With these changes, there are user terms that you must agree to in order to play. The first time you enter the GM Gacha area the information will pop up and you are given the option of agreeing. It requires players to be over 13 to enter the area. As we already know with the casino - which requires players to be 18 and older to play - this is not really much of a safeguard.



Silly little things
As well as promoting gambling habits to minors, there are a few little - pretty much completely unnecessary - changes to the game that I noticed.

• The 'Travel' button is now called 'Navi', short for navigation
• Pirates RPS (rock, paper, scissors) is now called 'Janken' - the Japanese word for the game. 

My thoughts
Personally, I think this is all a waste of time. Not to be an obviously shallow way to get players to spend AG money on free Gummies. I think Ameba could spend their time developing and adding more interesting things to Pico.

I'd rather have fishing. What about you?