Microsoft Rewards encouraging bad behaviour, not working as intended

Hjoerleif · March 9, 2024, 10:33am

GAME INFORMATION

^{These details are CRITICAL; DO NOT skip them or your issue may not be reviewed.}

GAME BUILDS #: 101.102.394180.0 (#104954) 1346495, 101.102.42346.0 (#107882) 13720908
GAME PLATFORM: Steam
OPERATING SYSTEM: Windows 10

ISSUE EXPERIENCED

^{DESCRIBE THE ISSUE IN DETAIL (below). LIMIT TO ONE BUG PER THREAD.}
The lobby browser is not working as intended.

Users are abusing a scheme called “Microsoft Rewards” implemented (About Microsoft Rewards) in the game which rewards them for “playing” the game except there’s a problem: It rewards them for not playing the game. And it does so in a way that it ruins it for everyone who actually are playing the game.

How are they abusing the Microsoft Rewards scheme? By hosting lobbies only to sit and idle in the lobby indefinitely and never start the game. They declare their intentions to do this explicitly in the lobby titles.

This harms the user experience because the user expects to find lobbies where the host wants to play a game. If they find many lobbies which take up lobby space for no reason by intention (this is not just someone who’s fallen asleep while waiting for players) and because you’ve encouraged them to (this is not just some random act of malice by some person who wants to make my game experience worse for seemingly no reason), then it will frustrate the user.

The user expects all lobbies to offer a host wanting to play at least some sort of game. And they don’t expect a large number of lobbies to fail this most basic expectation.

Idling in a lobby is not playing the game. When people access the lobby browser in Age of Empires II, they want to play Age of Empires II.

The lobby browser, along with all the menus, is just a shell. It’s the user interface which lets your users facilitate, start and play the actual game. Using that interface is not playing the game.

Encouraging and causing users to conduct unwanted behaviour in the lobby browser is not a desirable feature of the Microsoft Rewards scheme. It is not working as intended. According to the Microsoft Rewards page, users are supposed to be rewarded for “playing games” - not for hosting spam lobbies to idle in and leave on indefinitely to ruin the lobby browser experience of users who actually do play the game.

FREQUENCY OF ISSUE

^{How often does the issue occur? CHOSE ONE; DELETE THE REST!}

100% of the time / matches I play (ALWAYS)

REPRODUCTION STEPS

^{List CLEAR and DETAILED STEPS we can take to reproduce the issue ourselves… Be descriptive!}

Here’s the steps to reproduce the issue:

Step 1. Open the game by left-clicking play in the Steam library page with Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition selected (see image 1 under IMAGE).

Step 2. Left-click Multiplayer (see image 2 under IMAGE).

Step 3. Left-click Find Custom Game (see image 3 under IMAGE).

Step 4. Browse the lobbies by using the scrollbar to the right of the lobby list (see image 4 under IMAGE).

Step 5. Observe the spam lobbies (exhibits A-Q under IMAGE).

EXPECTED RESULT

^{What was SUPPOSED to happen if the bug you encountered were not present?}

Microsoft Rewards is not supposed to cause users to spam the lobby browser with explicitly intentional spam lobbies.
The user is not supposed to receive any rewards for opening and occupying a lobby.

IMAGE

^{ALWAYS attach a PICTURE (.jpg, .png, .gif) or VIDEO (.mp4, YouTube link) that highlights the problem.}
Image 1.

Image 2.

Image 3.

Image 4.

Exhibit A. “MS Daily Points (This is just a Lobby for Points Will Not Start)”

Exhibit B. “Points here! (no play)”

Exhibit C. “MS REWARD POINTS ONLY ~ GAME NEVER STARTS!”

Exhibit D. “MS REWARDS!! GET THEM POINTS”

Exhibit E. “Rewards only - NO PLAY!”

Exhibit F. “xbox rewards no play afk”

Exhibit G. “There is no play, there is only Rewards”

Exhibit H. “MS Rewards NO PLAY AFK”

Exhibit I. “REWARD POINTS ONLY”

Exhibit J. “rewards no play”

Exhibit K. “MS Rewards NOT PLAYING”

Exhibit L. “MS Rewards only”

Exhibit M. “reward points no play”

Exhibit N. “MS REWARDS NO PLAY YAHOOO”

Exhibit O. “ms rewards no play”

Exhibit P. “MS Reward Points No Play”

Exhibit Q. “MS Xbox Rewards | No Play”

GAME FILES (SAVE / RECORDING)

^{Attach a SAVE GAME (.aoe2spgame) or GAME RECORDING (.aoe2record) of the match where you encountered the issue. Link it below if using an external file service.}

Please observe that this field is empty. Every single day there are many lobbies like this but I have not found one single game which has occurred from one of these lobbies. And I have tried.

Hjoerleif · March 9, 2024, 10:39am

Note that the exhibits A-Q are from a single snapshot. I have not compiled anything. There were 47 lobbies in total. 17 of these were spam lobbies while only 30 were real lobbies.

Because of Microsoft Rewards, 36% of lobbies found in the lobby browsers at the moment of me checking for this report today were spam lobbies.

Hjoerleif · March 9, 2024, 10:01pm

Addendum March 9th 2024, 23:42 UTC+2

14 out of 48 (29%) lobbies are spam lobbies.

Lobby from exhibit A is still there and has presumably been occupying that lobby slot since my report (soon 12 hours and counting).

Lobby from exhibit B is still there and has presumably been occupying that lobby slot since my report (soon 12 hours and counting).

Lobby from exhibit C is still there and has presumably been occupying that lobby slot since my report (soon 12 hours and counting).

Lobby from exhibit F is still there and has presumably been occupying that lobby slot since my report (soon 12 hours and counting).

A new instance has appeared. Exhibit R: “MS Points No Play”

A new instance has appeared. Exhibit S: “MS Rewards - no play”

A new instance has appeared. Exhibit T: “Microsoft Reward Points Only No Play”

A new instance has appeared. Exhibit U: “MS REWARD POINTS ONLY.GAME WON’T START”

A new instance has appeared. Exhibit V: “ms rewards NOT PLAYING”

A new instance has appeared. Exhibit W: “MS REWARDS!! GET THEM POINTS”

A new instance has appeared. Exhibit X: “MS REWARDS [NO PLAY]”

A new instance has appeared. Exhibit Y: “Rewards only no play”

A new instance has appeared. Exhibit Z: “123 rewareds”

A new instance has appeared. Exhibit AA: “rewards points”

post scriptum
I took also took a look earlier at 16:23 UTC+2. I didn’t count the totals but there were at least 16 spam lobbies at that point:

Hjoerleif · March 10, 2024, 8:18am

Addendum March 10th, 09:58 UTC+2

15 out of 49 (30%) lobbies are spam lobbies.

Lobby from exhibit B is still there and has been occupying that lobby slot since my original report (soon 22 hours and counting).

Lobby from exhibit R is still there and has been occupying its lobby slot since the previous addendum (soon 10 hours and counting).

Lobby from exhibit T is still there and has been occupying its lobby slot since the previous addendum (soon 10 hours and counting).

Lobby from exhibit U is still there and has been occupying its lobby slot since the previous addendum (soon 10 hours and counting).

Lobby from exhibit W is still there and has been occupying its lobby slot since the previous addendum (soon 10 hours and counting).

Lobby from exhibit Y is still there and has been occupying its lobby slot since the previous addendum (soon 10 hours and counting).

A new instance has appeared. Exhibit BB: “Ms points only, Game will not start”

The lobby of exhibit E has returned.

A new instance has appeared. Exhibit CC: “MS Rewards nostart”

A new instance has appeared. Exhibit DD: “AFK reward points not play AFK”

The lobby of exhibit K has returned.

The lobby of exhibit J has returned.

The lobby of exhibit L has returned.

A new instance has appeared. Exhibit EE: “Microsoft rewards - no play”

A new instance has appeared. Exhibit FF: “MS REWARDS NO PLAY”

Hjoerleif · March 10, 2024, 8:31pm

Addendum March 10th 22.10 UTC+2

12 out of 46 lobbies (26%) are spam lobbies.

Lobby from exhibit B is still there and has been occupying its lobby slot since my original report (34 hours and counting)

A new instance has appeared. Exhibit GG: “NO PLAY MS rewards NO PLAY Game Will Never Start”

A new instance has appeared. Exhibit HH: “MSRewards”

A new instance has appeared. Exhibit II: “NOT PLAYING MICROSOFT POINT ONLY”

Lobby from exhibit C has returned.

A new instance as appeared. Exhibit JJ: “MS Rewards Points No Play”

Lobby from exhibit T is still there and has been occupying its lobby slot since March 9th 23:40 UTC+2 (22 hours and counting).

A new instance has appeared. Exhibit KK: “MS Rewards only - no play”

A new instance has appeared. Exhibit LL: “MS REWARDS - NOT PLAYING”

A new instance has appeared. Exhibit MM: “for ms rewards points - the game won’t start”

Lobby from exhibit V has returned.

Lobby from exhibit AA has returned

Hjoerleif · March 11, 2024, 1:51pm

Addendum March 11th 2024, 15:05 UTC+2

26 out of 49 lobbies (53%) are spam lobbies.

Lobby from exhibit B is still there and has been occupying its lobby slot since at least my original report (51 hours and counting).

Lobby from exhibit C is still there and has been occupying its lobby slot since at least the previous addendum (17 hours and counting).

Lobby from exhibit U has returned. It was last seen on March 10th 2024, 09:57 UTC+2 when it had been occupying its lobby slot for at least 10 hours (since March 9th 2024, 23:40 UTC+2).

A new instance has appeared. Exhibit NN: “MS Rewards no play”

Lobby from exhibit N has returned.

A new instance has appeared. Exhibit OO: “rewards 250 daily”

A new instance has appeared. Exhibit PP: “Rewards Only: NO PLAY”

Lobby from exhibit R has returned. It was last seen on March 10th 2024, 09:57 UTC+2 when it had been occupying its lobby slot for at least 10 hours (since March 9th 2024, 23:40 UTC+2).

Lobby from exhibit O has returned.

Lobby from exhibit HH is still there and has been occupying its lobby slot since the previous addendum (17 hours and counting).

A new instance has appeared. Exhibit QQ: “rewards no play”

Lobby from exhibit L has returned. This is the third day consecutive day it appears.

A new instance has appeared. Exhibit RR: “rewards points no start”

A new instance has appeared. Exhibit SS: “MS rewards points”

A new instance has appeared. Exhibit TT: “RewardsQ (no pl@y)”

A new instance has appeared. Exhibit UU: “MS Rewards NOT PLAYING”

Lobby from exhibit EE has returned.

A new instance has appeared. Exhibit VV: “MS Points No Play”

A new instance has appeared. Exhibit WW: “rewards - no play”

Lobby from exhibit X has returned.

A new instance has appeared. Exhibit XX: “MS REWARDS NO PLAY”

A new instance has appeared. Exhibit YY: “MS rewards no play”

Lobby from exhibit T is still there. It has been occupying its lobby slot since 2024-03-09 23:40 UTC+2 (39 hours and counting).

A new instance has appeared. Exhibit ZZ: “MS REWARDS no play”

A new instance has appeared. Exhibit AAA: “rewards no play”

A new instance has appeared. Exhibit BBB: “MS Rewards no play”

Hjoerleif · March 12, 2024, 9:50am

Addendum March 12th 2024, 11:01 UTC+2

18 out of 48 lobbies (38%) are spam lobbies.

Lobby from exhibit B is still there and has been occupying its lobby slot since March 9th 11:46 UTC +2 (70 hours and counting).

Lobby from exhibit HH is still there and has been occupying its lobby slot since March 10th 22:10 UTC +2 (36 hours and counting).

Lobby from exhibit UU is still there and has been occuyping its lobby slot since March 11th 15:05 UTC+2 (19 hours and counting).

Lobby frome exhibit S has returned.

Lobby from exhibit U is still there and has been occupying its lobby slot since March 11th 15:05 UTC+2 (19 hours and counting). It has previously been seen occupying its lobby from March 9th 23:40 UTC+2 to March 10th 09:57 UTC+2 (10+ hours).

Lobby from exhibit E has returned. It has previously been seen on March 9th, 11:46 UTC +2 and March 10th, 09:57 UTC +2.

A new instance has appeared. Exhibit CCC: “no start, reward points only”

A new instance has appeared. Exhibit DDD: “MS Rewards NOT PLAYING”

Lobby from exhibit G has returned.

Lobby from exhibit II has returned.

Lobby from exhibit J has returned. It has previously been seen on March 9th, 11:46 UTC +2 and March 10th, 09:57 UTC +2.

A new instance has appeared. Exhibit EEE: “AFK - REWARDS ONLY”

Lobby from exhibit I has returned.

A new instance has appeared. Exhibit FFF: “ms rewards no play”

Lobby from exhibit OO is still there and has been occupying its lobby slot since previous addendum (19 hours and counting).

Lobby from exhibit QQ is still there and has been occupying its lobby slot since previous addendum (19 hours and counting).

A new instance has appeared. Exhibit GGG: “MS Rewards AFK.”

Lobby from exhibit L is still there and has been occupying its lobby slot since previous addendum (19 hours and counting).

NightFury8985 · March 12, 2024, 10:27am

this should be fixed

spanky3959 · March 13, 2024, 12:19am

Yes this is a huge problem. Given the limit of lobbies that display on one page, I genuinely think this is killing lobbies, especially Custom Scenarios.

I regularly used to check for CS I wanted to play only to see nothing and give up. It was only when I discovered the 3rd party tools (Spec Dashboard etc) that i realised there were often dozens of ‘real games’ that were being hidden from the main initial view. I’m now able to join them quickly but often I find I’m still waiting for ages with the host for others to join - I can only assume this is when it eventually makes it onto the front page and others who don’t use these tools can see them.

CoffeeKitten305 · March 13, 2024, 8:23am

Keep it up. These should be removed and players banned.

Hjoerleif · March 13, 2024, 4:10pm

Addendum 2024-03-13 17:52 UTC+2

9 out of 49 lobbies (18%) are spam lobbies.

Lobby from exhibit II is still there. It has been occupying its lobby slot since at least the previous addendum (30 hours and counting).

Lobby from exhibit A has returned. It was last seen on March 9th 23:40 UTC+2, at which point it had been up for at least 12 hours.

A new instance has appeared. Exhibit HHH: “I am the Reward Points”

Lobby from exhibit C has returned. It was last seen on March 11th 15:05 UTC+2, at which point it had been up for at least 17 hours.

Lobby from exhibit N has returned. It has last been seen on March 11th 15:05 UTC+2 and March 9th 11:46 UTC+2.

A new instance has appeared. Exhibit III: “MS Rewards not playing”

Lobby from exhibit S is still there. It has been occupying its lobby slot since at least the previous addendum (30 hours and counting).

A new instance has appeared. Exhibit JJJ: “Microsoft Rewards No Play”

A new instance has appeared. Exhibit #### “MS Rewards not playing”

Hjoerleif · March 14, 2024, 8:51am

Addendum 2024-03-14 10:12 UTC+2

13 out of 47 lobbies (28%) are spam lobbies.

Lobby from exhibit II is still there. It has been occupying its slot since at least March 12th 11:01 UTC+2 (47 hours and counting).

Lobby from exhibit A is still there. It has been occupying its slot since the previous addendum (15 hours and counting).

Lobby from exhibit HHH is still there. It has been occupying its slot since the previous addendum (15 hours and counting).

Lobby from exhibit C is still there. It has been occupying its slot since the previous addendum (15 hours and counting).

Lobby from exhibit III is still there. It has been occupying its slot since the previous addendum (15 hours and counting).

Lobby from exhibit S is still there. It has been occupying its slot since at least March 12th 11:01 UTC+2 (47 hours and counting).

Lobby from exhibit U has returned. It has last been seen on March 12th 11:01 UTC+2 (at which point it had been up for at least 20 hours) and on March 10th 09:57 UTC+2 (at which point it had been up for at least 10 hours).

Lobby from exhibit BB has returned. It has so far only been observed once, on March 10th 09:57 UTC+2.

Lobby from exhibit Q has returned. It has so far only been observed once, on March 9th 11:46 UTC+2.

A new instance has appeared. Exhibit LLL: “reward points no play”

Lobby from exhibit NN has returned. It has so far only been observed once, on March 11th 15:05 UTC+2.

Lobby from exhibit N is still there. It has been occupying its slot since the previous addendum (15 hours and counting). It has also been observed on two separate occasions (March 11th 15:05 UTC+2, March 9th 11:46 UTC+2) before that.

Lobby from exhibit I has returned. It has previously been observed on March 12th 11:01 UTC+2 and on March 9th 11:46 UTC+2.

FloosWorld · March 14, 2024, 9:30am

Also, remember to report these lobbies.

Hjoerleif · March 14, 2024, 10:15am

Thank you for the reminder, I forgot to do that today (but think I have done it every time at the past 7 occasions!) I will do it now.

Also for anyone else every passing through the lobby browser, take a minute/30 seconds out of your day to do a good deed and report every “ms rewards no play” spam lobby you see.

It is done by selecting the lobby by left-clicking the name in the list:

The report button is found near the bottom-right corner of the screen, here:

Then check “Inappropriate Lobby Name”:

Write reason for reporting:

Since, the reason is the same for all the reports, select the reason and copy it:

Then send the report.

Click OK.

Then repeat this process for all the spam lobbies (just paste the same reason in the text field).

Report all the spam lobbies (repeat step 8 for any remaining spam lobbies you see).

Hjoerleif · March 15, 2024, 1:43am

Addendum March 15th, 03:00 UTC+2

6 out of 48 (12%) lobbies are spam lobbies.

A new instance has appeared. Exhibit MMM: “ms rewards lobby only”

Lobby from exhibit CC has returned.

Lobby from exhibit O has returned. It has previously been seen on March 11th 15:05 UTC+2 and on March 9th 11:46 UTC+2.

Lobby from exhibit U is still there. It has been occupying its lobby slot since at least the previous addendum (16 hours and counting). It has previously had uptimes of at least 10 and 20 hours. (March 9th 23:40 UTC+2 - March 10th 09:57 UTC+2 and March 11th 15:05 UTC+2 - March 12th 11:01 UTC+2)

Lobby from exhibit E has returned.

A new instance has appeared. Exhibit NNN: “rewardo points”

Bonus round! Let’s visit the old patch and see if there are any MS Reward rejoicers still hanging around.

Addendum March 15th 03:20 UTC+2 (Previous Live Build - 104954)

5 out of 11 (45%) of lobbies are spam lobbies.

Lobby from exhibit II is still there and has been occupying its lobby slot since March 12th 11:01 UTC+2 (64 hours and counting).

Lobby from exhibit A is still there and has been occupying its lobby slot since March 13th 17:52 UTC+2 (32 hours and counting).

Note the lobby titled “rummers’s Game” next to and between many of the exhibits. Look familiar? It has been seen in every addendum since March 13th (possible uptime of 32+ hours and counting). If we were to count this lobby, the number of spam lobbies would be 6 out of 11 (54%).

Lobby from exhibit III is still there and has been occupying its lobby slot since March 13th 17:52 UTC+2 (32 hours and counting).

Lobby from exhibit C is still there and has been occupying its lobby slot since March 13th 17:52 UTC+2 (32 hours and counting).

Lobby from exhibit B has returned. It holds the current uptime record of 70+ hours (March 9th 11:46 UTC+2 to March 12th 11:01 UTC+2).

SadBearFVDCLUB · March 15, 2024, 5:43am

Its a known issue and it has been reported by others previously.

Hjoerleif · March 15, 2024, 7:46am

and we know more about it with every day and my report is about to be the first and so far only one with demonstrable long-term data.

FloosWorld · March 15, 2024, 7:50am

True, however, noone before made the effort to track those lobbies on a daily base.

Hjoerleif · March 15, 2024, 1:10pm

Addendum March 15th 14:12 UTC+2

17 out 48 lobbies (35%) are spam lobbies.

Lobby from exhibit MMM is still there. It has been occupying its lobby slot since at least 03:00 UTC+2 this morning (11 hours and counting).

Lobby from exhibit CC is still there. It has been occupying its lobby slot since at least 03:00 UTC+2 this morning (11 hours and counting).

Lobby from exhibit E is still there. It has been occupying its lobby slot since at least 03:00 UTC+2 this morning (11 hours and counting).

Lobby from exhibit EEE has returned.

A new instance has appeared. Exhibit OOO: “rewards points no play”

Lobby from exhibit R has returned.

Lobby from exhibit RR has returned.

Lobby from exhibit L has returned.

Lobby from exhibit WW has returned.

Lobby from exhibit S has returned.

Lobby from exhibit K has returned.

A new instance has appeared. Exhibit PPP: “MS REWARD POINTS NO START”.

A new instance has appeared. Exhibit QQQ: “MS REWARDS NO PLAY”

Lobby from exhibit TT has returned.

Lobby from exhibit JJJ has returned.

Lobby from exhibit VV has returned.

Lobby from exhibit GGG has returned.

Hjoerleif · March 16, 2024, 9:47am

Addendum March 16th, 10:47 UTC+2

15 out of 49 lobbies (31%) are spam lobbies.

Lobby from exhibit S is still there. It has been occupying its lobby slot since the previous addendum (20 hours and counting).

Lobby from exhibit A has returned to the live patch. It was last seen in the old patch a day after the update (March 15th 03:20 UTC+2), at which point it had an uptime of at least 32 hours.