There's a great old saying that applies here: "Attack the problem, not the person."
I am glad for your posting this, especially in the foul mood I've been in after watching someone handle a dev screwup in a way that was so vile and beyond the pale that it turned my stomach.
The way I see it, we have three options:
1) Attempt problem-focused discourse
2) Withhold money
3) Leave
The idea being that if we have communicated clearly and seriously, the reasons for 2 and 3 should be readily evident without resorting to hateful ad hominems
Christian Gaming Community Fleets--Faith, Fun, and Fellowship! See the website and PM for more. :-) Proudly F2P.Signature image by gulberat. Avatar image by balsavor.deviantart.com.
The vitriol can get overblown sometimes, but ultimately we're only human. For every troll there are probably ten guys who are just that passionate about the game.
To the devs, communication can only be a positive thing. If your reasoning is explained, even if it is a callous business decision at least we'll know where you stand.
I think a lot of the people on these forums feel that the Devs' silence is a kind of default dishonesty. Making the decisions in the shadows because you know they'll be unpopular and don't want face the backlash, or not feeling any desire to argue points with peons.
i don't blame the devs they arent the ones that make the decisons. i blame the the guys that said oh lets stop making content for kdf and romulans. star trek isnt only about the feds. and don't go pulling the whole feds spend more money bs. only reason they do is they always have more/new stuff to buy. kdf/rom players would spend just as much if not more if we actualy had the content to spend it on. cant spend money when everything has been bought already.
I respectfully disagree. Star Trek is not only about the Federation, it is specifically about Starfleet. To the point that some people can't tell the Federation the nation apart from Starfleet its exploratory/military organization.
Starfleet doesn't exist in a vacuum and as a result we've been shown many varied, multifaceted, and iconic races.
As this is an expanded universe kind of game, we get to play as Romulans and Klingons and see the universe from their perspective.
But there's never been a show or film that played out with someone other than Starfleet as the protagonists. Not a Romulan, not a Klingon, not even a civilian in the Federation. Individual episodes? Yes. But by and large, Star Trek is about Starfleet.
All that said. I hear your point. If we're going to have Romulan and Klingon playable factions, then it is certainly worth the energy to actually give them an equal amount of content to the Starfleet side players. The Romulans haven't been around as long as the Klingons so they may take some more time, but they shouldn't take their foot off the pedal on that either.
Just leaving this here for all those cryptic White Knights
Hey I like the artwork in that video thanks
"Rise like Lions after slumber, In unvanquishable number, Shake your chains to earth like dew, Which in sleep had fallen on you-Ye are many they are few"
the main problem is that the devs who do all the bull**** decisions are too coward to face the players directly
they are too coward to discuss with the players, too coward to lay down their metrics or explain why decisions are done, too coward to admit mistakes
players focus their bad feelings on the devs which are interacting with them because the decisions makers hide in the background
Can't agree more.
And if people do want to hate a Dev....Al Rivera deserves it in boatloads...
The PWE/Cryptic sweatshop...not where the game is made,but where the game is played!
Take back your home,end the grind!
Volunteer moderators policing the forums is like a mall cop trying to solve a murder.
... and even a lot more spineless, bootlicking fanboys celebrating even the biggest failure as a sign of love from their precious godlike devs. 8-P
And no. I don't "hate" either.
As an IT-Professional in a, well, similiar but adult* work environment, what i feel is rather sadness and empathic embarrassment.
If my colleagues or me would "perform" on our jobs the way Cryptic "Devs" "do" theirs we'd be fired quickly And justifiably so.
And that is what PWE should do with those Cryptic "Devs" : Fire them and hire some that are able to do the job.
Cheers
bemblega
*No, not talking about TRIBBLE. 8-) But compared to "real life" IT this here seems like a kindergarten to me. Well maybe more like a mixture of kindergarten and madhouse....
I guess if someone makes a valid point on the forums it'll be considered hate now?
Ok, look, respect is earned, it's not handed out. The devs / people who make design decisions need to show the player base they want the job that they are charged with. I see lots of valid concerns and some good alternatives or suggestions that get lost to time. Look at the bugs that are years old. When everyone is posting concerned like this, it's time to ask "maybe we are TRIBBLE up in (this) area".
Just to clear up what I mean when I say "devs" when providing negative feedback, I'm not targeting the entire staff, just those responsible. However if the art guy happens to come on and discuss something not related to art then he may get comments directed at him as part of the discussion.
I think the biggest frustration is how free to play games make money. When this was a subscription based game the content was designed to draw people into the game so they would subscribe and make money.
Now, it's how we interact with that content which is how they make money, hence all the grinding and other painful decisions they've been making.
I hope someone at cryptic is doing some serious brainstorming on how to make money for the company without resorting to the commonly used "F2P" revenue tactics. There has to be a better way than the direction this game and others are taking.
Funny you mention our beloved and overworked CMs. 8-P
See, i don't mind them not doing their "job" - or what they think is their job - when it comes to censoring negative posts on the forums.
To quote a Julian Dawsnon song "I like your absence better than your presence". 8-)
But below there's an example on how CMs could do a good job. From Neverwinter forums.
And believe it or not they even got another CM (Murphy or so) that does a good job as well.
Neverwinter Scheduled Maintenance 1/29 at 6 AM PST
Hey Everyone,
We'll be having our weekly scheduled maintenance tomorrow 1/29 at 6 AM PST. Estimated downtime is 4 hours but could be extended due to unforeseen issues. UPDATED
For a full list of patch notes, check here.
Update 1 (6:10 AM PST) Maintenance has begun.
Update 2 (6:45 AM PST) Maintenance is progressing as planned. If anything changes we'll let you know.
Update 3 (7:21 AM PST) Looks like the maintenance time that we posted here is incorrect. The estimated downtime is actually 4 hours and not 2. Meaning the estimated return time is 10 AM PST not 8 AM PST. Sorry for the confusion.
Update 4 (8:22 AM PST) - Maintenance is ongoing. Estimated downtime is still 10 AM PST. If that changes, we'll let you know.
Update 5 (9:05 AM PST) Entering the final stages of maintenance, should be done soon if everything checks out. We'll keep you posted.
Update 6 (9:31 AM PST) Ran into a few issues, including the foundry, but we're looking into it and hopefully we can bring the servers back soon.
Comments
I am glad for your posting this, especially in the foul mood I've been in after watching someone handle a dev screwup in a way that was so vile and beyond the pale that it turned my stomach.
The way I see it, we have three options:
1) Attempt problem-focused discourse
2) Withhold money
3) Leave
The idea being that if we have communicated clearly and seriously, the reasons for 2 and 3 should be readily evident without resorting to hateful ad hominems
Christian Gaming Community Fleets--Faith, Fun, and Fellowship! See the website and PM for more. :-)
Proudly F2P. Signature image by gulberat. Avatar image by balsavor.deviantart.com.
To the devs, communication can only be a positive thing. If your reasoning is explained, even if it is a callous business decision at least we'll know where you stand.
I think a lot of the people on these forums feel that the Devs' silence is a kind of default dishonesty. Making the decisions in the shadows because you know they'll be unpopular and don't want face the backlash, or not feeling any desire to argue points with peons.
I respectfully disagree. Star Trek is not only about the Federation, it is specifically about Starfleet. To the point that some people can't tell the Federation the nation apart from Starfleet its exploratory/military organization.
Starfleet doesn't exist in a vacuum and as a result we've been shown many varied, multifaceted, and iconic races.
As this is an expanded universe kind of game, we get to play as Romulans and Klingons and see the universe from their perspective.
But there's never been a show or film that played out with someone other than Starfleet as the protagonists. Not a Romulan, not a Klingon, not even a civilian in the Federation. Individual episodes? Yes. But by and large, Star Trek is about Starfleet.
All that said. I hear your point. If we're going to have Romulan and Klingon playable factions, then it is certainly worth the energy to actually give them an equal amount of content to the Starfleet side players. The Romulans haven't been around as long as the Klingons so they may take some more time, but they shouldn't take their foot off the pedal on that either.
Hey I like the artwork in that video thanks
Can't agree more.
And if people do want to hate a Dev....Al Rivera deserves it in boatloads...
Take back your home,end the grind!
Volunteer moderators policing the forums is like a mall cop trying to solve a murder.
... and even a lot more spineless, bootlicking fanboys celebrating even the biggest failure as a sign of love from their precious godlike devs. 8-P
And no. I don't "hate" either.
As an IT-Professional in a, well, similiar but adult* work environment, what i feel is rather sadness and empathic embarrassment.
If my colleagues or me would "perform" on our jobs the way Cryptic "Devs" "do" theirs we'd be fired quickly And justifiably so.
And that is what PWE should do with those Cryptic "Devs" : Fire them and hire some that are able to do the job.
Cheers
bemblega
*No, not talking about TRIBBLE. 8-) But compared to "real life" IT this here seems like a kindergarten to me. Well maybe more like a mixture of kindergarten and madhouse....
Ok, look, respect is earned, it's not handed out. The devs / people who make design decisions need to show the player base they want the job that they are charged with. I see lots of valid concerns and some good alternatives or suggestions that get lost to time. Look at the bugs that are years old. When everyone is posting concerned like this, it's time to ask "maybe we are TRIBBLE up in (this) area".
there are some stupid mistakes in this game, but the anger is directed at the wrong people. many of these guys do a good job.
you think the artwork and map designers have anything to do with gameplay bugs or the fact pve and the reward system have been nerfed.
that is an admin decision not a dev or moderator decision
I think the biggest frustration is how free to play games make money. When this was a subscription based game the content was designed to draw people into the game so they would subscribe and make money.
Now, it's how we interact with that content which is how they make money, hence all the grinding and other painful decisions they've been making.
I hope someone at cryptic is doing some serious brainstorming on how to make money for the company without resorting to the commonly used "F2P" revenue tactics. There has to be a better way than the direction this game and others are taking.
Captain Ariel Trueheart Department of Temporal Investigations
U.S.S. Valkyrie - NCC 991701
=/\= ================================= =/\=
Funny you mention our beloved and overworked CMs. 8-P
See, i don't mind them not doing their "job" - or what they think is their job - when it comes to censoring negative posts on the forums.
To quote a Julian Dawsnon song "I like your absence better than your presence". 8-)
But below there's an example on how CMs could do a good job. From Neverwinter forums.
And believe it or not they even got another CM (Murphy or so) that does a good job as well.
Trendy? Smirk? AWOL again?