Let’s try to estimate the current Auran Trainz staff

[aardvark1]

Hi everyone,

With all the frustration and complaints about Auran PTY, the DLS, Auran websites, content uploads, Tiny Trainz…. And on and on……

So, with all the great minds here on the Forums (I do not consider myself as part of the great minds group), let’s attempt to put our best estimate here on how large the Auran Trainz staff might be at this moment in time….. January 18, 2010. Estimates with documented FACTS will be helpful and informative.

Hopefully, this may give the Trainz Community some reasons why everything that is asked for is not fixed or implemented within the time that some here expect/demand.

My estimate:

Tony Hillam…. CEO… at the office but may be more involved with NeverFail.

http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=7828008

John Lee…..Board Member…. Located in China?

Note…. See that Mr. Lee is listed as a Board Member in the link above. Click on the >People< tab.

https://alumni.mckinsey.com/alumni/default/public/content/jsp/alumni_news/20070103_JohnLeeLBN.jsp

Mike Crossman…. >spiffy< >Community Manager<…at the office. Not sure how directly involved with Trainz.

Chris Bergmann….>windwalkr< at the office… programmer

James Moody…….>bloodnok< at the office…..programmer

G Pavlich……………………. Auran QA…. At the office….Not sure what % directly involved with Trainz.

Zec Murphy…………. Seems to work offsite, not at the office…Community Assistant…. DLS approvals and uploads, etc. A really helpful person.

Auran Admin…. Often referred to for server/service issues…. ??Lionel??... not sure where he is located.

So, my estimate is…. 2 people directly involved with Trainz....Chris B and James Moody from a programming perspective.

And 3 people involved with support issues…. Zec, spiffy and G. Pavlich.

Again, just an estimate on my part…. Please correct my estimate with facts. ....if possible.

Please understant this is an attempt to help the Trainz Community to undersand the limited human resouces of Auran Trainz..... NOT an opportunity to BASH Auran and all the good people there.

Thanks and have fun,

 

[cascaderailroad]

My Guess is...

My guess is @ 10 persons...what is the correct number of employees ?

I'm buying powerball tickets, and if I win, I'm buying Auran ! Just like that guy who liked Norelco so much that he bought the company, (or was that Remington) ?

 

[pfx]

Just like that guy who liked Norelco so much that he bought the company, (or was that Schick) ?

I thought it was Victor Kiam who liked Remington so much he bought the company? That's the line we were fed anyway.

Apologies for being so OT.

 

[clam1952]

It's 15 people involved in Trainz, listed in the 2010 manual.

N3V Games Trainz Development Team

Director Graham Edelston

Lead Programmer: Chris Bergman
Programmer: Terry Palmer
Programmer: James Moody
Programmer: Steve Haliwell

Artist: Rob Shaw

Lead QA: Gareth Pavlich
QA: James Giles
QA: Steven Henderson

Production Head: Paul Olsen

Graphic Artist: Madeline Beekman
Operations: Mike Crossman
Web Lead: Lional Thomas
CS & Community Assistant: Zec Murphy
Admin/HR Support: Chris Green

 

[Edvin1aa]

When a company is able to have their email served down for more then 18 days, and absolute absent of Helpdesk for at least 12 days, then I think you will get the company cheap at the end of this year.

I assume that the staff find it very relaxing to have no email bother them in their doing, that 2010 seems to be a relaxing year.....but maybe that is what kills them?

When a firm put their trust to only one email system, and don't put up safety guards in order to spot irregularity, then they might be good in games...but lousy in running a firm.
The strange thing is that it seems they need programming people to develop games...maybe they should used some of them on their site too?

I have surfed the site since 2 January, the main site is like glue, it don't promote any selling, and I think the company have room for a great improvement....but maybe with other peoples at the controlling end!

My observations build on following facts:
Bought Trainz2010 as download 2.January this year.
The transaction was made....no key..no download link delivered.
Tried every email account that was listed on the net, non was operational...all pointed to Helpdesk.

In order to get into helpdesk, one need a password.
None was delivered....password retrieval was no functional due to the email breakdown.

6 of January I managed to get a password through this forum, and posted a request in Helpdesk.
Posted follow up the 7th.
Posted follow up the 13th
None response what so ever.

I assume that I am not the only customer that have experienced this, and it flabbergast me that even today, 18 days after it started have still no of the official Auran noticed the fault...it is still the same error messages today....
I wonder what will happen when next VISA settlements comes to them....I know that my money is on withdraw!

 

[ish6]

Chris Bergmann and Zec are the only two I see around these forums ... as for the rest, let's just call them ... MIA's:hehe:

 

[JRT]

When a company is able to have their email served down for more then 18 days, and absolute absent of Helpdesk for at least 12 days, then I think you will get the company cheap at the end of this year.

I assume that the staff find it very relaxing to have no email bother them in their doing, that 2010 seems to be a relaxing year.....but maybe that is what kills them?

When a firm put their trust to only one email system, and don't put up safety guards in order to spot irregularity, then they might be good in games...but lousy in running a firm.
The strange thing is that it seems they need programming people to develop games...maybe they should used some of them on their site too?

I have surfed the site since 2 January, the main site is like glue, it don't promote any selling, and I think the company have room for a great improvement....but maybe with other peoples at the controlling end!

My observations build on following facts:
Bought Trainz2010 as download 2.January this year.
The transaction was made....no key..no download link delivered.
Tried every email account that was listed on the net, non was operational...all pointed to Helpdesk.

In order to get into helpdesk, one need a password.
None was delivered....password retrieval was no functional due to the email breakdown.

6 of January I managed to get a password through this forum, and posted a request in Helpdesk.
Posted follow up the 7th.
Posted follow up the 13th
None response what so ever.

I assume that I am not the only customer that have experienced this, and it flabbergast me that even today, 18 days after it started have still no of the official Auran noticed the fault...it is still the same error messages today....
I wonder what will happen when next VISA settlements comes to them....I know that my money is on withdraw!

I am guessing you don't look around hard because in the helpdesk has an email address in case you cannot get your password auransupport@auran.com.

To answer a few question marks, to my knowlege thare is no Auran Pty, it all N3V Games Pty which owns copyright to Auran logos websites and so on. Tony Hilliam was CEO of Auran Games. There is no Auran games anymore, trust I have read the copyright statement and done research so I don't think Tony is around anymore. John Lee, became board of director when his company from China invested in Auran (to be exact 3.1 million in Auran) during the Fury days, take a look here:http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=13347.

Do you consider me one of the "great minds group"?

Cheers,
JRT

 

[Rob]

... as for the rest, let's just call them ... MIA's:hehe:

Lurkers?

~R~

 

[aardvark1]

.....
Do you consider me one of the "great minds group"?

Cheers,
JRT

Sure do!!

Have fun,

 

[Edvin1aa]

I am guessing you don't look around hard because in the helpdesk has an email address in case you cannot get your password auransupport@auran.com.

Cheers,
JRT

Well, I am not English so I might not have given you the right information....or...maybe not.

In order to get into "Helpdesk" What Do You Need?????
Answer : A password.
What is the help to ask for password inside a place where you need password to go?
Maybe another clever invention of Auran!

But again...the above email address was found by me 3 of January, and an email sent them....it was at once returned with the message:

Thank you for contacting Auran. This email address is no longer
monitored. Please redirect your inquiry to our Helpdesk at
http://www.auran.com/helpdesk

 

[JRT]

It always works for me. And here is a image of the helpdesk area.

The toolbar is called Trainz Webs you can download it here: http://trainzwebs.toolbar.fm/ it is owned by Trainz Magazine so you can trust it.

Sure do!!

Have fun,

Cool!

Thanks.
JRT

 

[Edvin1aa]

Okay...seems I made a mistake there, I had <email>

Sent a new follow up, and haven't got a return so it might go through.

Not that is has so great impact on my opinion though.

I managed to get into help desk 6 Jan, and have received their automatic confirmation mail.....but from then on it has just been silence!

Let see if it moves now :mop:

 

[Winglessbird]

I agree with this statement 100%

Well, I am not English so I might not have given you the right information....or...maybe not.

In order to get into "Helpdesk" What Do You Need?????
Answer : A password.
What is the help to ask for password inside a place where you need password to go?
Maybe another clever invention of Auran!

But again...the above email address was found by me 3 of January, and an email sent them....it was at once returned with the message:

Thank you for contacting Auran. This email address is no longer
monitored. Please redirect your inquiry to our Helpdesk at
http://www.auran.com/helpdesk

I have to agree 100% because my account went belly up at Auran just prior to Xmas,and no matter what I did I got the same response as quoted above.Fortunately I hadnt registered my copy of 2010 and I did so with a new account. THEN I was able to contact Auran and tell them of the mess.I have heard from Zec twice but am still waiting patienly as I cant use the DLS to get what i want until they fix my account. Frustrating Isnt it ?

Rusti

 

[Winglessbird]

corrupted user name or password

It always works for me. And here is a image of the helpdesk area.

The toolbar is called Trainz Webs you can download it here: http://trainzwebs.toolbar.fm/ it is owned by Trainz Magazine so you can trust it.

Cool!

Thanks.
JRT

And as in my case if your user name or password has been corrupted at Aurans end, YOU CAN NOT GET IN believe me.Im still waiting

 

[meatloaf747]

Hi everyone,
John Lee…..Board Member…. Located in China.

Are you inferring that Mr Lee is now the chief puppeteer at Auran and pulling all the strings... :hehe: (along with his fellow board members)???
If Mr Lee is on the board (& Tony isn't) you don't have to be a genius to work out where the controlling interests lye... The big "C"

So it was Chinese money that bailed Auran out !!! Great that they did get bailed out and that our beloved Trainz's is still alive and kicking... (even with a few battle scares)... - - Which is more than I can say for one of it's main Train Sim competitors.
Does anyone know who the directors of N3V GAMES PLY Ltd (N3VRF41L Publishing) are then? - http://www.n3vgames.com/productpage.php?id=82

Getting back to Tony, Tony who??? - Haven't seen or heard from him in months, or is it years ??? We usually hear from him prior to a new launch. Deafening silence...
Happy Trainzing.
Cheers, Mac...

 

[EdrickV]

According to something Zec said in December, auransupport@auran.com is supposed to be usable. The one that doesn't work is supposed to be helpdesk@auran.com which hasn't been usable in years. Are you sure the e-mails you tried to use were auransupport rather then helpdesk?

As far as the helpdesk activity, I do know that one of my bug report tickets, from the 6th, got closed on the 14th. (Dates are western hemisphere.) Tickets I created after that (mostly low priority bug reports) are still open. And that includes a high priority ticket about losing DLS access that I only submitted a couple days ago, on what I think would have been Sunday there.

So the end result is that I think they're still wading through a mass of bug reports and for all I know Zec may be the only one working the helpdesk.

Edit: A little something I just noticed: As of the 14th (US date) the helpdesk still had over 200 tickets waiting to be dealt with. And I think that would be Friday the 15th for them, so it's likely there are quite a few left now and Zec is also apparently involved in the DLS approval process which has been quite busy.

 

[Sourdough]

Are you inferring that Mr Lee is now the chief puppeteer at Auran and pulling all the strings... :hehe: (along with his fellow board members)???

Cheers, Mac...

No...he's not inferring that....you are inferring it...he just stated that Tony Hilliam was CEO and Mr Lee was a board member...you alone are the author of your version...

 

[Scitimar]

Nothing better to do ??

It's another warm day in Brizvegas .. maybe I should leave some cold brown drinks on the doorstep and count the heads for ya .

 

[JRT]

Does anyone know who the directors of N3V GAMES PLY Ltd (N3VRF41L Publishing) are then?

I do!:wave:

Paul Olsen is CEO of N3V Games Pty and used to be CEO of Never Fair Publishing. Co-founder Graham Edelsten whom is now director of N3V Games Pty.

Graham Edelsten

Graham Edelsten oversees all aspects of Aurans' financial activities, including the new Australasian publishing business and is responsible for developing strategies to create growth opportunities for the Company. Mr Edelsten Co-founded the Auran Group of Companies in 1995 and brings with him over 30 years of extensive international business experience.
http://www.agdc.com.au/about/advisory_board.php

JRT

 

[WindWalkr]

It's another warm day in Brizvegas .. maybe I should leave some cold brown drinks on the doorstep and count the heads for ya .

I'm sure no-one here would mind the, uh, "intrusion" ;p

You do realize that we moved offices a while back, though?

chris