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Let's Try Something Different, Cryptic!
sirokk
Member Posts: 990 Arc User
I would like to see Cryptic propose major changes to the game in a more open and diplomatic fashion before acting upon them. The following is a long read that is intended to be fair and constructive in hopes to appeal to Cryptic/PWE in fostering a more positive and proactive two-way communications in a manner that would create a better relationship with the customer-base going forward. What I am about to propose would be a win-win for everyone and easy to implement, if Cryptic/PWE is willing to implement it.
You see it every time, more times than you care to remember, even with the slightest change, someone will be in an uproar. Mainly because people don't like change. Its human nature to be uncomfortable about changes, as a result reactions can be anywhere from sour to sweet, usually sour. It makes you not want to disclose even the slightest change because of the rage that would likely to erupt within the forums. But if you do that, they are likely to find out about it anyways, with even more rage. If you respond to the forum postings from the enraged customer, especially if you are not careful in your response, you are likely setting yourself up for more negativity.
On the flip side, youre the customer/player, major changes to something that you have enjoyed and invested time and money into suddenly seems to be becoming something else; not what it originally was either by function or by ideals or worse, being removed! You have little to no direct say in those changes, you feel helpless, maybe mad. What do you do about it? The only place that you have to communicate and share your concerns is in the forums.
Both sides feel the fear of change, unsure about the outcome of the changes. The only consistent thing is that feedback from form threads cannot be interpreted in a quantitative manner and quickly circumvent themselves through heated discussions.
We need a way that can allow Cryptic/PWE to propose a major change to the customer-base that allows customer feedback and produces clear results (filtering out the unnecessary emotional reactions) that can be analyzed logically and clearly expresses the direction that the customer-base wants to go in; maybe even improve moral by giving them a sense of being in some sort of control. At the same time, it would be made clear to the customer-base that Cryptic/PWE has ultimate say in the direction taken.
(Ok, get to the point, already!)
I would like to see Cryptic use the Polling function of vBulletin to get customer feedback on major game changes, on a regular basis.
Pros:
Cryptic/PWE owns Star Trek Online. The players are not stockholders; they don't legally own any part of the game and therefore truly have no say in how the game is operated. The players are simply consumers; consumers come and go. It just might be more favorable that most of them stay to build up to larger and more purchases, so it might be a better idea to find ways to keep the players happy so that they do stay longer.
At the same time, it would obviously not productive to have a poll about every major decision about change to your product, but those that might very easily create a large amount of dissatisfaction from the customer base might need to be shared. However, some things shouldn't be shared ahead of time, like a new big addition to a game or releasing news that might have unintentional and possibly detrimental shifts in the game's internal economy.
Lastly, communication is necessary, whether good news of bad news is better than no news at all.
You see it every time, more times than you care to remember, even with the slightest change, someone will be in an uproar. Mainly because people don't like change. Its human nature to be uncomfortable about changes, as a result reactions can be anywhere from sour to sweet, usually sour. It makes you not want to disclose even the slightest change because of the rage that would likely to erupt within the forums. But if you do that, they are likely to find out about it anyways, with even more rage. If you respond to the forum postings from the enraged customer, especially if you are not careful in your response, you are likely setting yourself up for more negativity.
On the flip side, youre the customer/player, major changes to something that you have enjoyed and invested time and money into suddenly seems to be becoming something else; not what it originally was either by function or by ideals or worse, being removed! You have little to no direct say in those changes, you feel helpless, maybe mad. What do you do about it? The only place that you have to communicate and share your concerns is in the forums.
Both sides feel the fear of change, unsure about the outcome of the changes. The only consistent thing is that feedback from form threads cannot be interpreted in a quantitative manner and quickly circumvent themselves through heated discussions.
We need a way that can allow Cryptic/PWE to propose a major change to the customer-base that allows customer feedback and produces clear results (filtering out the unnecessary emotional reactions) that can be analyzed logically and clearly expresses the direction that the customer-base wants to go in; maybe even improve moral by giving them a sense of being in some sort of control. At the same time, it would be made clear to the customer-base that Cryptic/PWE has ultimate say in the direction taken.
(Ok, get to the point, already!)
I would like to see Cryptic use the Polling function of vBulletin to get customer feedback on major game changes, on a regular basis.
Pros:
- Cryptic/PWE still remains in control
- Simple way customers to express opinions
- Easy to publish
- It's fast to get results
- Results can be counted and easily tallied
- No emotional and unclear feedback
- Increase moral on both sides of the fence
- Cryptic/PWE still remains in control
- Having to be more open about major changes with the customers?
Cryptic/PWE owns Star Trek Online. The players are not stockholders; they don't legally own any part of the game and therefore truly have no say in how the game is operated. The players are simply consumers; consumers come and go. It just might be more favorable that most of them stay to build up to larger and more purchases, so it might be a better idea to find ways to keep the players happy so that they do stay longer.
At the same time, it would obviously not productive to have a poll about every major decision about change to your product, but those that might very easily create a large amount of dissatisfaction from the customer base might need to be shared. However, some things shouldn't be shared ahead of time, like a new big addition to a game or releasing news that might have unintentional and possibly detrimental shifts in the game's internal economy.
Lastly, communication is necessary, whether good news of bad news is better than no news at all.
Star Trek Battles Channel - Play Star Trek like they did in the series!Avatar: pinterest-com/pin/14003448816884219Are you sure it isn't time for a "colorful metaphor"? --Spock in 'The Voyage Home'
SCE ADVISORY NOTICE: Improper Impulse Engine maintenance can result in REAR THRUSTER LEAKAGE. ALWAYS have your work inspected by another qualified officer.
SCE ADVISORY NOTICE: Improper Impulse Engine maintenance can result in REAR THRUSTER LEAKAGE. ALWAYS have your work inspected by another qualified officer.
Post edited by sirokk on
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Not saying any set of priorities and wishes are better than any other, just that they are so different. I know what I like, and what aspects wouldn't bother me if they were completely removed. I would like to see improvements that everyone would like, but I don't see the diverse interests of players ever truly coming together, sad as that is.
if I stop posting it doesn't make you right it. just means I don't have enough rum to continue interacting with you.
instead of asking for ideas from those whom you wish to buy for
Saphire.. Science ground......Ko'el Romulan space Tac
Leva........Tactical ground.....Koj Romulan space Eng
JJ-Verse will never be Canon or considered Lore...It will always be JJ-Verse
Look what happened with the swimsuits that people were asking for last year.
Cryptic isn't going to make the most vocal complainers happy no matter what they do because it'll always be wrong or not exactly what the posters imagined.
This. As rabid and rage-induced as they are now, letting them guide the game in any form would end up being a disaster.
Now I think that would be a great idea, but if I am correct, I've heard somewhere (Maybe STOKED before it went offline?) that the Devs won't disclose anything anymore because they are forced to stay quiet by the superior powers that are worried about their money. The reasoning behind this I guess is that if the reveal something, someone is going to copy it ahead of time...
In any case, hoping this is not true, I'd really love for there to be a poll again, after all we are diverse, but statistically, it's impossible to not agree on some things, and if we don't hey! More freedom for the Devs! And if we do, everyone that rants on the forums can just get mauled by the community.
Everyone lives happily ever after!
Really though they know what they're doing and do have focus groups (not to mention read the forums constantly, different podcasts, chatting with players etc) so polls while helpful, really imo wouldn't do much but confirm their suspicions that they are on the right direction.
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We have a similar situation going on with the Crafting revamp right now, but it's hard to get constructive feedback out amid the sea of 'change is scary/I don't want it' posts.
As for more openness, I would appreciate knowing about some upcoming things a month or two in advance. The only reason I'm still around right now is because the Undine box leaked early. I had about 2 months to come to grips with the possibility that it was coming. If it had just landed without warning, I have no doubt that I would have just up and quit the game outright.
So, I'm guessing you missed the last time they used a poll in such a fashion. It went about the same way things go now, except there was a poll involved for the "winnners" to gloat about and for everyone else to cite as "what's wrong, and why we're getting stuck with [species/sector] instead of what [non-winning group] wants."
Nice idea on paper, changes nothing of significance in reality. No supposition, it's already been tested and seen to function about the same way as the current system with an extra helping of nerd rage and butthurt.
So then having polls more often shouldn't hurt anything.
If nothing else, at least having polls would give the players an outlet to voice their opinions (otherwise sometimes it just feels like you are yelling at a brick wall), while at the same time Cryptic can still take whatever direction they want - with just some justification given would be nice.
Thanks.
SCE ADVISORY NOTICE: Improper Impulse Engine maintenance can result in REAR THRUSTER LEAKAGE. ALWAYS have your work inspected by another qualified officer.
It seems the focus groups are players that don't play the game which results in some changes that no one wanted or cares for like the doff system. Yes, the doff system needed fixes(success/crit logic fix, pick always the best doff fix), but the UI worked fine. The new one takes up too much space.
In fairness to them though, they have tried on a couple of occasions (the cruiser armour slot idea being the most recent one I can think of); but it usually doesn't work out (in the case of the armour slot, half the community was arguing about how it should work, and the other half was raging at Cryptic for wasting time on that when they could be fixing bugs or something instead).
I can't help but think that if it were done in a more formal manner it might work out better though.
So is there a more formal manner than polling?
SCE ADVISORY NOTICE: Improper Impulse Engine maintenance can result in REAR THRUSTER LEAKAGE. ALWAYS have your work inspected by another qualified officer.
Well, I just mean more in the manner of 'This is the rough concept for what we ARE doing next. What do you think?'
Just get the community's take on it while the idea is still taking shape; gather some ideas, get some feedback.
--EDIT--
It might also help them with the post launch raging. 'Why did you do it like that?' 'Because that's what most of you asked for.'
When I read the threads, I see so many people wanting the same thing.
Polling is the most constructive and viable solution that I see. There is always some people (the people's vote that didn't rise to the top) that don't like the results of any poll. It still indicates the direction that the majority want to take.
If nothing else, I think what I really want to see is some sort of official acknowledgement that Cryptic is listening when people are getting concerned in the forums. Even if it's just something like this at least:
"We at Cryptic/PWE have been reviewing the forum threads and have seen a great concern over the current changes that are being proposed and will take your opinions into consideration as all your opinions are important to us."
Even if there weren't any truth to the statement, it would at least provide the illusion that we aren't just yelling at a brick wall.
SCE ADVISORY NOTICE: Improper Impulse Engine maintenance can result in REAR THRUSTER LEAKAGE. ALWAYS have your work inspected by another qualified officer.
Last year they started giving us polls about what we wanted to see most after Legacy of Romulus. Voyager came out ahead and thus we started getting content that was placed in the Delta Quadrant. It's very possible that the Krenim will be a major player in X2 since we also had a poll on which species we'd want to encounter and they were the winning choice. It's because of all of these polls that we're in the direction that we are now. We only have ourselves to blame for pushing the Devs in this direction.
Yeah, that's pretty much why I don't feel that polls would be the way to go. A poll just identifies a thing players would like to see included; but it's how that thing is implemented that matters.
This sort of statement is the reason that the hateful and the bitter thrive in every thread.
There will always be bitter, hateful, resentful people who "love" the game but feel "it could be so much better, if we set the Devs on fire and started over". No statement you make will ever be taken seriously by this group of people.
On top of that, if you have no intention of actually taking any advice to heart, you just lied to the players that honestly want to believe you. This increases the size of your "eternally bitter" playerbase. Let's not say to Crypic "Just lie to us. Everything will be much happier on the forums if you just lie to us."
Yes, yes they should, because statistics says they should, and because those 2070 players were the only ones that cared enough to actually be active on the forums of this game.
I can identify a major flaw with that line of thought: The people who tend to post the most on official video game forums are the ones who think the game sucks, think the devs suck, and/or just like to hear themselves talk.
Absolutely not true, have you ever heard of users like Dahminus, Olivia 211, noblet etc...? They are players that are always active on the forums, the people that don't like the game aren't always on the forum, but they are on it only when there's something that they don't like going on. So only when something is new, or something is broken.
ive seen a few games do this, direct business money correlations are not always the best choices for the customer base as a whole .
the problem with this route is that game companies bet on that youll quit one game to play another in there library , which is why you see companies with there own login services like ARC , Origin, U play etc in the end when you alienate your veteran players which in alot of cases players end up never playing another title by that company .
i have quite a few friends that wont play games by one company or another , due to how they handled another game in there library .
this is a fine line and each player has there own when the company crosses it we are done and move on to the next game . the circle of the MMO player continues .
The dev are so intent in making this in to a other farmville game. That they forgot why most people started playing this game in the 1st place. For me it was not to play a other game like them on facebook. I like story i like being able to use ships that look like there from my favorite show.