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Title Change Transition
AmazingAvery
Age of Conan AdvocateMember UncommonPosts: 7,188
Greetings all.
Recently I was accepted as an "Advocate" for Age of Conan under part of Funcom's Program in delivering and channeling the right feedback from the community directly to the developers. The nature of this role is a pure voluntary one and it's duties are forthcoming from a more of an 'Officia'l viewpoint. The "Class Leads" for the game that have accepted the role so far have had been updated on the Offical forums today with new Avatars. In the future there will also be other types of Advocate for the different systems in the game.
What I wanted to do was let the community know here of my choice in accepting to become an Advocate and also to step down from the role of Correspondent for mmorpg.com. The main reason for doing this is that I didn't want the potential for members here to think that there was a conflict of interest by maintaining both. I wanted to be upfront and honest about it. Mmorpg.com have decided to change my title to "Advocate" to reflect this which we would be more appropriate. Since the official forum update was an automatic one and we are waiting on an official announcement at the moment I felt it approprate to make this post here as questions are already being asked.
More details on my particular role will be forth coming once the official announcement has been made. This also gives me access to the EU official forums as well as currently the US ones, where I know some of you folks post. Until then I wanted to give all a heads up and my profile changed automatically today on the official boards with the Adovcate title. This has already caused a few questions and I wanted to pose some answers in this thread for that.
All I can say for now is that the whole point of my accepting this Volunteer role for the game is to give as much feedback that encompasses not only mine but what I feel is the general consensus on this with the community as a whole. This I have always done, primarily from feedback from here and elsewhere, both positive and negative and in a constructive way, which after all is most important.
Funcom have 'geared' up and really want to make the game a better place for all. They want feedback from the community at large but whilst to a degree that is there already, it is more of a case of in the way it is presented on an open floor format. This means it is directly a two-way process. With this comes an NDA agreement naturally.
As for continuing in providing information and to help our the community at large and especially here, I will continue to do so. I will also be approachable for anyone wanting to give direct feedback and wanting that feedback to be infront of the right people. That is something that I have the ability to do so now. If anyone would like to present some, feel free to PM myself. For the moment Funcom will be starting with the onus from the Class Leads and taking it from there. For anyone that has class specific questions again please feel free to forward this.
Famine has already made a blog / post / entry here: www.mmorpg.com/blogs/FC-Famine/032009/3514_The-Advocates which details a little bit more for those that haven't seen it yet.
Before accepting this role, I have had a good history of providing feedback to Funcom since right back before the game launched. I have taken questions to them directly from the community here, questioned on changes and direction of those, provided feedback in all forms from players here both past and present. This gives me more of an opportunity to continue to do this for a game I love to play. It also gives Funcom an opportunity to take that feedback and do something with it, part of that previously mentioned "two-way" process is thrashing out the details here in open floor dialogue.
Well that is much as I can say now and I am sure over the next few days there will be more to come. Like I said I wanted to be upfront and honest here and also approached mmorpg,com to show I didn't want that conflict of interest to be questioned by our community here too.
The majority of people that post here want what's best for the game I believe we can achieve this in better light now as more opportunity has opened up and I see this as a good thing for the game, whether I accepted the role or not.
Regards
Ben "Avery"
Comments
First, I'd like to say best wishes to you in your new role Avery!
Second, after reading your post; I am admittedly not clear as to what, if anything, changes for you on this site. Will you:
My initial thoughts are now that you're serving Funcom in an official capacity as a community representative; (you're not a class advocate to my understanding, you're something else altogether) the tenor and content of your posts will change on this site.
Where a correspondent could argue that they walk the line between the title they represent and mmorpg.com's interests; that will not be the case moving forward as you now officially represent Funcom in much the way their volunteer mods and gm's do. And you'll be able to do it on a third party site; like community reps for other MMOs do. For me, that changes the nature of our dialogue with you on this site; as for me you're no longer "one of us". (one of us...one of us!)
That being said, I'm proud of you man. You've put a lot of hours into this title, and I can't think of anyone better suited for the role.
Congratulations to you man. I just hope they pick you up for a payed position for their next MMO or something.
Too much volunteering doesn't put bread on the table.
Thanks for taking the time to reply!
Ok, so from my perspective not much will change other than the fact that with the new role comes new responsibilities. There was a post I made a few days back in general conversation here about something altogether different, but in it I said something like it would be nice to know where we all stand with each other that way would lead to less confusion and better debates / conversation. This is very much true here and I wanted to say that being upfront and honest I clarified with Jon Wood that I think there would be a conflict of interest now attaining this voluntary role and I wouldn't want that to spill into the forums here in bad light and thought dropping the Correspondent title is the best thing to do. Jon suggested an Advocate title to better clear things up which we went with.
I will continue to post just the same as before here, the only real different is now the capacity and title change. If I am allowed to post news here in official capacity then I will do, I have restrictions from Funcom in this area. I am not aware of any new AoC correspondent or any incoming that want the role. Lately I have penned some correspondent pre articles which I might post just in the forums here, depends on a few things really. I have also been testing the game a lot and also was prepping a DX10 guide ready for the release in that part and a few other things up the sleeve.
With regards to my role specific I do have class experience with ToS that meet the requirments for the role for example, but I am awaiting clarification from Famine, who I understand has been unwell the past while. In this area, that is really all I can say for now.
I am also bound by an NDA for the medium and contents on which the open floor two way feedback process is done, coupled with other privacy things.
I would still like to think I am just a normal guy who is happy playing this game and has the time to help out to make it better. Plus I like these boards, have some good friends here and appreciate general conversation, debates and in depth talk too. I really like the differences of opinion which I reflect upon often and take in, also I might not always convey that regularly enough if at all! I'd also like to add that I have never worked for Funcom, but appreciate the opportunity to make the game better via that feedback input. I have frequently taken feedback from these boards from all posters that argue strong points in a civil manner across to the right people before, now I can do it in better capacity. At the community event I was very vocal with some key dev's in the approach of the wishes of the community here just like Jon was, but I put a bit more emphasis on key mechanics / specifics in game, some which personally was not to my taste, but was nevertheless conveyed as a whole as it was what is was.
The decision was quite straight forward for me as I get to do the above, plus I can relate that back here as a frequent visitor too therefore enhancing both forums and sides of the coin but with certain stipulations. I have always appreciated the feedback in providing news and current event topics right through the developement from people all over here.
All I want is for the game to get better, I feel it has great potential that can and is being realised, there will always be issues for some and not so much for others as is the nature of personal preference. Getting the right stuff traversed over to the right people more so is what I am looking forward too. This is my only incentive and it works for me. I didn't need an incentive for the correspondant role, I have never accepted anything and don't need to, being honest. I also don't have any ulterior motives either. Just genuinely want to help out and a good opportunity arose that I weighed up over a while with responsibilities here. I can come close to the best of both worlds, but the main thing is letting people know here so as not to cause unrest and we all know where we stand upfront.
Grats on this. I will as well try to be a better advocate. The community here has been less than satisfactory dealing with a less than admirable contingent, and I think it is time for a change.
I cannot begin to count how many people are pleased when they return to this game, and it makes me pleased to play such a great game. Thus, positive outlook is needed for all of us who post here that love this game.
There is no doubt the game still has many concerns to take care of, so I hope this Advocate program works out well to make AoC an even better title.
Good luck Avery
Gz AmazingAvery:)
I will never play another Funcom title or do anything but warn folks about how they and several of its hard core fanbois hype and do not deliver what they promise. LET THE BUYER BEWARE
MAGA
Congratulations on the new role
While I may disagree with some of your views I am also convinced that your dedication and positive attitude will be a great asset for the continued development of AoC.
It seems you have put a lot of thought into the transition - Maybe more than you needed to, not all of us so-called "haters" are completely blind
Anyway: Some respectable thoughts there I and wish you all the best with your new role.
We dont need casuals in our games!!! Errm... Well we DO need casuals to fund and populate our games - But the games should be all about "hardcore" because: We dont need casuals in our games!!!
(repeat ad infinitum)
I vote for this guy to pick up the title of "AoC correspondent."
Funcom has reviewed all of its assets relevant for
impairment testing. This process has led to
recognition of an impairment loss of around
3,1 MUSD for Age of Conan due to a decrease in
numbers of subscribers for the game. Funcom Q4 10 report.
http://forums.ageofconan.com/showpost.php?p=2926123&postcount=7 500 mains/alts on Tyranny in past 30 days - instead of merge servers let's open a new PvP server, again! http://forums-eu.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=106427
Congrats Avery!
You were one of the first to get behind AoC in the early days, your passion for the game, and your diligence in communicating between the community and Funcom has paid off!
Knowing that there is someone that loves AoC from a player's perspective that is working really hard to help get the game in to better shape is great!
Good luck man, I look forward to your upcoming posts!
Current Games:
Hehe even here the "haters" can help them self but to post. More Fail to them:D
The way you handle them should come in handy when advocating the class you are assigned to:)
I really think you will be a great asset to funcom, but hope you will come back here and post every now and then(reading your post it seems you will; but not as a correspondent).
BTW: When do you start posting conserns as an "official" on the AoC forums and wich class are yours to handle?