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Poll: Communication - Too Little or Too much?
One of the things that has become a Pet Peeve of mine throughout MMO history has been Development teams and their communication with the fans. An example would be SWTOR discussing same-sex romance arcs, neutral (gray jedi) and gear with it, or Open World PvP. So much was said about these topics and ALL of them fell horribly through.
How do you think Developers should communicate with you the fans and what information do you think they should push? I for one do not like when items are brought up and then quietly swept under the carpet as the companies eyes were bigger than their stomach in terms of development and content releasing.
Let us know your vote, opinion and why you feel that way!
EDIT: Assume the game is within a 2 year release period and already scheduled for a release. Cut down on variables :P
Comments
With Mark at the helm, trust me, there will NOT be too little communication.
If anything, I hope Mark will be able to focus as much attention as possible on development without feeling obligated to spend hours each day communicating with testers and fans, though it is highly appreciated and one of the reasons I have faith in the studio and want to be a small part of the development process.
Too subjective for me to respond. Are they giving big updates every other month? Are they giving developer blogs every other week?
Personally, I would like to see a live chat or video chat once a month for people that contribute at or above a certain tier. And then access to the internal forums for everybody that contributes at a certain tier (which I believe Mark is doing). Those should be enough for those that really want to feel a part of the development.
If I didn't care about that, and just wanted to kickstart the project and play the final game, an update every few months would be fine.
'I think that there are certain crimes which the law cannot touch, and which therefore, to some extent, justify private revenge.' -Sherlock Holmes
Weekly updates via a Herald type of page and monthly video chat would be fine.
The theory behind this is rather open ended as we know so little about the game.
For starters, I love the blog posts and "principals" that is setting the foundation for the community to understand the game and the development philosophy.
Considering the game is completely RVR centric there is a very reduced amount of information that can be passed along to us the fans. There is no end game dungeon or PvE etc so that opens up room for other communication avenues.
However if anyone understands sales then becoming distant from your client baser is A BAD IDEA. Constant engagement will keep the name in the fans mind and may directly translate into a sale or KS backing. Its all about promotion and the only way to do that is through Communication.
Blogs / Videos / Fan Art / Concept Art etc etc are all viable means. The response part is what do YOU the community feel would best be the way to relate that information, keep interest high and at the same time keep us drooling over the game.
I'd always have more communication than less. Especially important is communication coming from the designers and decision makers, not just the corporate mouthpieces. What is so nice about the way this project is progressing is that you have the head guy spending a ton of his time sharing as much info as he can. I haven't seen this level of interaction with any developer in a long time and its refreshing.
Too little communication scares the hell out of me with the way all these recent crops of AAA MMO's have turned out. I'll take smaller scale and more communication from the head guys for $1000 Alex.
I LOVED the Herald. There were very few days when I wasn't on the HErald either checking weekly realm point totals, Relics and keeps or some other information that could be found there.
With a sandbox world this would once again be possible! One of my favorite aspects of DAOC. Especially if you got to top the weekly realmpoints list etc.
^ This
The reason a lot of games suck these days is because a corporate businessman that only looks at numbers tries to build a product without truly understanding the target audience. WAFFLES, WAFFLES, BUY MORE WAFFLES!
And this is why I can see myself dropping a big tier KS donation. Communication is the key for people to get involved early, staying interested and wanting to be a part of the 'process'.
I dont think we need to neccessarily cover 'odd' topics from a dev stand point but gameplay/mechanics and ongoings would be great to hear about as would open forums of suggestion.
Vymm
The best communication I have seen so far is the way Roberts Space Industries dos it with Star Citizen https://www.robertsspaceindustries.com/.
They got weekly shows, ppl from the com. can ask questions and the dev. answer them. All the backers can be a part of the process, but the devs still focus on their vision.
Well EA would star in my "Most Usual Publisher Suspects" movie for screwing games up. With the lack of publisher oversight are there any new avenues of communication that people would like to see?
I personally would love some concrete details on the development process of the game. Every month it would be reallyspecial if MJ would address what the Team is currently working on. Even if it's fairly general and subjective I wouldn't mind as long as the information was being updated.
I enjoy the way Chris Roberts is handling the Star Citizen community. I'm a backer there and look forward to seeing what they bring us. Roberts is one of the old school devs and I really like and respect the guy.
Mark, have you met Chris Roberts? if not, you two should get to know each other.
He's a big time space guy so I can already see it now...Imperator Unchained!
I'm to the point where I absolutely can't stand EA (I still hate Activision more though).
The problem is the industry is changing and big the giant corporate slug they are, they are reluctant to make the needed changes to keep pace. Too afraid of losing revenue that they've come to expect to receive annually. They're clueless about how to make microtransaction and F2P models work well. They want to have their cake and eat it too, and that's just not going to fly for much longer. If you want to be sustainable over the longterm as new business models are adapted and become the norm, you have to be in touch with your consumer, and they aren't by a long shot.
That, and almost all the big corporates are complete dead ends when it comes to innovation. Their course of action seems to consistantly be to follow what made the other guy money. See the steaming pile of crap that is Origin.
And sorry for getting so off topic. The more communication the better for me. but that has to include honesty and integrity. Shoot me straight, no BS and I won't give you any guff.
What happens when you log off your characters????.....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFQhfhnjYMk
Dark Age of Camelot
since gw2 --- as little as possible ... getting "info" every week or so wich doesnt contains anything but its done when its done is pure bullshit
and most of the time when the company gives any info the whole gaming crowd cries about how its up op not worth the money or how it makes em leave the game ... just do what ever is needed the patch notes will tell everyone what he has to know the day things go live
I have never played EVE so not too sure what they do, but I can say it doesn't necessarily have to come from MJ.
I personally voted for Bi-Weekly communication as I don't think they need to take away from development time. But I am very much in favor of releasing these principles to build the foundation of what this games all about. It's difficult now because we are in between an actual launch and promotion to get backers so information will be limited to start, but even MJ coming here on the forums to clarify or see what people are saying makes me feel much more comfortable in supporting/backing the development of the game.
Communication remember doesn't necessarily have to be content information releases. Setting up a MAIN forum hub and building a community and interacting is often times a great way to keep in steady contact with the fans. Yet, one thing by titself is not going to be enough. But I'm also getting ahead of myself haha.
With MJ constantly looking for feedback and in pretty steady communciation with us between the blogs and these forums I already am feeling confident that a new way of development is coming. He even revealed a ROUGH date for when people would have access based on the KS's highest tier for testing. This also fits perfectly in with their 2 year development time. Granted the dates could never be concrete it feels refreshing to be in such direct communication, even if it's only because we are a small foundation for a community that may contain millions one day.
Communication FTW!
I voted bi-monthly updates which puts me in the huge minority.
The reason is not because I don't want info as fast as they can give it but rather I realize that there will be times when there isn't anything to say. Giving a mandate of weekly updates just isn't practical, that is over 100 new pieces of info and frankly it would be really hard to create that much stuff.
I'd rather them not have information deadlines, but rather when they get a new concept ready to go they just release it. Maybe that means you have 5+ release of info in a month while other months you might only see 1 new concept.
I healed Mistwraith and all I got was this stupid tee-shirt!
As a backer I will expect to get updates. I give my cash for a kickstarter game (way more then I would for a pre order or a collectors edition), so they can develop their game without the money grabing publisher. On the other hand I think the kickstarter project that gets founded by the pledgers need to involve the supporter in the process. Even if its just a regular up date on how far they are with the project. The news don't have to be groundbreaking. But maybe if they get new staff, or concept art, or they are on a crossway and not sure if they whant to head this way or the other, they can let the com. vote.
This gives the chance for the devs to see what the community really whant's and don't invest time in a gimmick no one whant's. It sure not a easy way to interact with the com. and it sure as hell needs a thik skin, but in the end its a win win situation.
PS: my english gets worse day by day :-)
Communication is key, but too much can hurt too. I love seeing devs (not CM's) posting on forums and talking via their own website, but I wouldn't want to see them on the forums and site constantly. I prefer they work on the game
CM's should post often, not every hour or even every day, but enough to know what's going on with their game (this part does apply with devs too) and community. If the community feels their being listened to, it makes for a happier, in a way, community. If they feel ignored, it all goes to pot.
I would say regular commuication during the week from CM's and a few times a month tops from devs would be ideal.
Internal forums where the devs/leads/even cm's at times talk with testers is also key.
Dark Age of Camelot Community Lead
Postcount.net Admin
Ex IGN.com Board Moderator
Ex VN Board Senior Manager, Camelot Vault SM, Warhammer Vault SM, IGNVault Editorial Coordinator.
Thanks for the continued feedback!!
Just want to point out that you don;t need to focus so heavily on major communciation releases and base the poll off that. You can devise your own system that YOU would prefer or something else entirely.
Remember communication is VERY broad and encompasses forums/press releases/blogs etc etc.