Statement on "Gate Hogging"
A short time ago a number of players got banned from Airline Mogul as a result of an admin requesting they release gates. There was some confusion about whether the gates were required to be released or whether it was a voluntary release. There was also a lapse of communication in the incident and the parties involved didn't quite understand each others well enough. After a long and serious consideration, we have decided to re-instate the accounts for those players.
The gate hogging has come to a level where it requires admin intervention. While there are no in-game controls on gate hogging a request was made to release gates. We understand that there is no rule currently in game against gate hogging but it is in the interests of all players that airlines should be able to pick up gates at a chosen airport where possible, without one or two dominant carriers controlling the gate availability.
We will be looking at the situation with gates again in the near future. Out of respect for the game and other players we ask that all "gate hogging" routes be closed. When we review if gates have not been returned we will close the "gate hogging" routes and return the gates ourselves. If the routes then return we will enforce a ban.
The request to close one way frequencies, otherwise known as "0.5"s can be left alone for the moment. It is basic economic theory that shows the most economic way to operate is where you are maximising profit. These routes maximise profits so it is reasonable to expect people to use these to their advantage. However over use of them, (ie more than 1 per route) is going beyond reasonable and should not be used. We want the game to be in some way realistic and from a codeside we are working on that too. In the next reset there will be code modifications made to enure that these routes loose their appeal and that it will be more economic to operate multiple freqencies instead.
I would like to take this time to apologise for the delay in this statement, I understand that at the best of times an instant response is ideal but we felt that things needed to settle first, let everyone cool off then tackle the issue head on. Steps have been taken so an incident like this does not arise again. I would also like to use this opportunity to encourage all of you to be considerate towards your fellow players and help maintain the harmony in AM. I have come across an interest quote in the past couple of days that I would like to share with you all;
"Rule No. 1: Use your own good judgment in all situations. There will be no additional rules."
--Bruce, Jim and John Nordstrom,
co-presidents of Nordstrom department store, in the employee handbook
I think we could all reflect on this quote as well as learn from this experience, which hopefully would have some impact on some of your lives.
Finally I'd like to confirm that we are not "commie-pink-bastards", we just need to make sure the game is fair to everyone, but this is not always possible.
All the best,
Stephen Murphy
Airline Mogul Founder
