Imryn Xaran
Coherent Light Enterprises
2
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Posted - 2011.11.17 12:28:00 -
[1] - Quote
CCP Greyscale made the following comments in his Dev Blog feedback thread:
GÇ£Second, yes, there was a huge angry forum thread for the first blog and I ignored it. That was also a mistake (obviously, in retrospect). This happened partly because I was too focused on looking for reasoned critiques to appreciate the significance of the huge outburst that it generated, but mainly because I've been increasingly withdrawn from the forums for the last year or two. It's a pretty draining experience reading page after page after page of angry posts, about all kinds of topics but all ultimately driven by the same core concerns of abandonment and neglect, and agreeing with those concerns, and not being able to do much of anything about it. As a result, I've been avoiding listening to the forums and focusing on doing the best work I can, but the former occasionally precludes the latter. On the bright side, it feels like the mood on the forums has been improving hugely in the last month or two, and I'm making an effort to read and post more as a result. Whether or not this is a good thing is of course a matter of personal opinion ;)GÇ¥
I am not singling him out, but he has raised several very good points that I would like to address.
1. The player community will never provide uniformly reasoned responses. For every reasoned response there will be 50 unreasonable responses. Almost every single post made here is motivated by selfish concerns, self interest, ego, and spite. The number of posts where the poster is attempting to provide honest feedback and is able to maintain separation from their own narrow view of the game is miniscule. In this regard the EVE forum community is no different to any other.
2. CCP takes the unusual position (at least in the game development world) of engaging with their customers in a meaningful manner. Nowhere else will a game developer give their customers such an honest and open view of the workings of the game they are playing. I believe this stance is a consequence of CCP's (justifiable) pride in what they have built here, but it does have a downside. When talking to the community CCP devs don't have anywhere to hide. The community expects and demands specificity in their statements, and can't be fobbed off with generalisations and BS.
3. The kind of relationship CCP has built with their customers is hard work to maintain - especially when things are not going well. Nobody likes to be criticised, and some of the comments that have been leveled at CCP devs go way beyond just criticism, BUT it is unrealistic to expect the community to change. In order to maintain the relationship CCP need to keep posting, despite the criticism. In EVE terms they need to HTFU.
Again, I would like to state that I am not singling CCP Greyscale out here - he just happens to be the guy that has been open and honest enough to post about what is, I am sure, a very common attitude amongst CCP employees.
TL:DR CCP need to HTFU and never stop posting |