Winterblink
Body Count Inc.
Mercenary Coalition
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Posted - 2006.11.21 18:38:00 -
[1]
Very eloquently put, thread starter.
In my experience playing MMOs, which I would peg as "considerable" since I play practically every major one that comes out for some amount of time, I would rate CCP's communication with the community very highly.
I base this on several things. Most MMOs have an appointed community communications person, and most if not all of the major communications between the developer and the folks on the forums goes through this person. This takes place usually in the form of semi-regular posts detailing some answers to common questions, that kind of thing.
Rarely is a real developer seen or heard of in the forums directly. Here, it's like they're in the trenches with us, answering questions as much as they can. They're reasonable, and as forthcoming as they can be without giving out information they shouldn't.
We get dev blogs often, and not just from the same one or two guys. A wide spectrum of information is given out that a lot of developers would never release (details on infrastructure, for instance).
We're always encouraged to comment and give feedback on those blogs, and anything in EVE. Nicely formulated discussions are like devnip (a Winterblink-coined term, like catnip but for devs), almost attracting them to chime in with some additional remarks.
They're quick to communicate when there are issues, giving us information on what might be going wrong beyond just "server's down, we're working on it". We get causes, solutions, and everything in between.
All told, the level of communication I've seen from CCP on a regular basis far outweighs ALL that I've ever seen in any other game I've played, combined.
In terms of the Kali expansion, I'm ok with them being a bit secretive or absent. First off, they're probably busy, and if I were there with them right now I'd be the guy running out for pizza and drinks as necessary, maybe giving shoulder-rubs for the ladies. Back pats for the guys, of course... gotta keep it manly. Second, a little mystery never hurt anyone. I'm ok with some details of Kali being held back a while, we'll get the full story soon enough. It's not all coming in one huge patch, but in staged releases.
Anyway that's just my, admittedly long-winded, opinion. :)
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