Adunh Slavy
Ammatar Trade Syndicate
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Posted - 2008.02.14 19:51:00 -
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Edited by: Adunh Slavy on 14/02/2008 19:51:20
 Originally by: CCP Nozh
We really want to re-build a community around game design and balancing.
Some attention to features and ideas forum may help in this regard. Some of the threads and/or ideas there are more than two years old and still active, but remain with out comment.
Comments can be good or bad, the wrong comment could start off a whine war, or stifle an idea because the answer could be perceived as a "CCP will never do this, idea is bad." It could be good because a dev may have insight to something of which the posters are unaware, such information may further the idea or help refine it. Not all ideas can be implemented of course, some are genuinely bad or simply too big or difficult to be implemented, but some are good but seem ignored and could do with comment.
To help mitigate the possible problems, you guys (devs) could participate in that forum and game dev forum more, but with the added step that at the beginning of every post it is made very clear that your comments are personal opinion, leave the official statements for the dev blogs. It's a matter of managing expectations. Create a big fat sticky, in that forum, right at the top, that sates, "ALL DEV COMMENTS IN THIS FORUM ARE NOT OFFICIAL!!!" and anyone that whines can be pointed to the sticky and told to STFU.
I've heard it said before, by an insightful poster, that many older players get frustrated because they see potential in the game, they have an idea but see very little opportunity to discuss that idea with anyone at CCP in a meaningful way. I personally experience this myself, and not just with my own pet crusade against gates, but with other odd little bits and pieces here and there and wonder, "How can I get this idea across, doesn't CCP see this too, how could they possibly miss this?"
Another thing to consider is a white paper about fundamental design goals of Eve. Many of us can only guess at core game design goals, we can attempt reading ancient threads or pouring over eve-search.com in dark rooms with incantations and tea leaves, but this doesn't help too much. If the community had a better understanding of the goals, the "whys", then our ideas and comments may be more help than distraction.
The Real Space Initiative - V5 (Forum Link)
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