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EACHDRAIDH RP ([personal profile] fairyfoes) wrote2014-06-25 09:29 am
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( 22 ) FEEDBACK



∞ . . . GAMEPLAY SUGGESTIONS

How To Leave Feedback:


Interested in making ED better for one and all? All for one? Here's where you can help your Awkward Tree-house! The Locations & Bestiary suggestion post is for what it says on the tin, and the FAQ deals with any general fly-by questions, with any long-term suggestions popped here for consideration by at least four-to-six of the main gameplay-orientated mods.

↓ HERE ↓


You're all our fairybros and we love to help! Post as many suggestions as you like, but please do number them clearly so we can respond in kind and keep from muddling up replies once everything has been processed.

Have at thee, EDwardians!
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falconkick: (Default)

[personal profile] falconkick 2015-05-17 04:06 pm (UTC)(link)
That is a very heartening thing to know, and thank you so much for taking the time to respond! You guys have always been super gracious in engaging players when they come to you, which is a really wonderful thing to have especially right now because I think a lot of people are feeling overlooked. It's encouraging to know that we can come to you when we need to!

One suggestion I may have for you as a team is that - I think the game would highly benefit from having intermittent temperature checks to touch base with the players and see how they're feeling about things. I have received a truly surprising number of support and thanks for my feedback here, which says to me that there are people beyond my plurk hemisphere that are struggling with the same issues. If there's that kind of disconnect between the players themselves, there's absolutely going to be a bigger one between the players and the mods. It's a difficult thing to bring complaints forth in a formal manner for most people, as wearing the mod hat inherently makes you a slight enigma of an authority figure, so I think it's important to create that forum for people that might be less likely to word vomit on you than I am ( mea culpa, friends ).

The way we did this in Asgard was by a generic poll with room for written feedback in the comments, in case anyone did feel so inclined to air their grievances more expressly. Having solid data helped a lot; I could look at the numbers and figure out what exactly my players wanted and how I could rework my game not necessarily to suit their needs but to try and make my ideas jive with their playing standards. When you have over a hundred players in a game, and well over that number in player characters, being able to collect their viewpoints without asking each of them to independently approach us on the mod feedback page made things infinitely easier - I think for both of us, as players and as mods. Running periodic temperature checks like asking how everyone felt about the pace and the plot helped me make sure my game wasn't running a fever and burning everyone out.

I'm not at all saying you guys have to adopt my modding practices; this is your game and you have your own modding style that works for you! But I do think it would help a lot to try and bridge the gap between the mod platform and your playerbase in whatever manner you think best, because people are really struggling right now and I can't speak for all of them. Those that've come to me to thank me for addressing our shared issues may very well be in the minority, but there's no way to know for sure because there are so many people in this game and I sadly can't reach them all.

But you can, and as mods of a game we want to be in, that is absolutely something you could take advantage of for the benefit of everyone. Especially right now.

Like I'd mentioned, people are feeling overlooked and - quite frankly - some are feeling like they're being punished. With the huge gap between what's going on behind the scenes on your end and what little we see on the player end, it feels a lot like we're being steamrolled by this new direction the game is taking without any room to yell for help before it hits us. It was mentioned on my plurk that each new update is incredibly discouraging, as it comes across as yet another thing we can't change and are simply being told to deal with it. One thing in particular someone said that struck me was: "this is it. This is the future of this game." Which is a very bad thing for a player to be thinking! It's a bleak outlook on what I am positive you guys intended to be new and invigorating, but it is sadly falling short of that.

I really want to point out again here that I am not saying these things shouldn't be happening in game. I think what happened in Diasbaile is awesome, especially with the player initiative behind it, and it is really interesting to see more of the game lore revealed as with the business about the gods and their effect on the world.

But the way these things are being implemented one thing after the other with very little communication between us and you is - well, discouraging. It creates the impression that the things players have been doing or have done in the past don't account for much, as they can be tossed aside at any given moment without a second's notice or forewarning. It's like a punishment for not being able to see through the mod veil and account for your plans to make ours accordingly, which is unfair and discouraging for anyone that had an idea of what they wanted to do here. It very much feels like there is less room to choose your own adventure and more like we need to tiptoe around every new rule and game mechanic. The game is becoming less playable, essentially, which I think is maybe not what you were going for here.

The compromise you guys reached with the new fire god is a good example of what I think people want more of right now: that middle ground between what you want to push as mods and what the players want to see. It was very heartening, in a time when little else is, to see that you guys are willing to work with people around the mechanics you want to set. It's a step in the right direction, and everyone seems really hopeful that you will continue to take those steps to making this an enjoyable experience for as many people as possible. I know you can't change everything someone doesn't like to try and please everyone, good lord do I know, but I do think that there is a way to be more mindful of the possible effects things will have on your playerbase.

Temperature checks would help with this! Letting the players in on more of your tinkering behind the scenes would also help. You've done an incredible job of disseminating as much information as possible without giving up your golden goose and you always maintain a friendly and inviting presence, which is important to have and I never want it to seem like we aren't absolutely grateful for all of your efforts. Modding is a hard job - and it is a job, it's oftentimes more legwork than storytelling and I know how stressful that can be. If you let us in on the process a little bit more, I can almost guarantee that it will help lighten the burden. It will lessen the blow of changes we can't predict and create less resistance for you when those changes come. I think there is absolutely a way for us to be able to work together without spoiling the end of the movie, and I hope that I can in any fashion help with the process, because I love this game and I don't want you to burnout any more than the players I am trying to speak for here, myself included. We can make it work!!
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