4 réponses à ce sujet

[TUHD]

I'll start to reiterate some history, so all can follow where my point is coming from.
About 3/4 of a year back, Dragon Age 2 got announced - at that time not all the DLC for DA:O was released. Followed by that, the months after interviews followed, CGI-generated trailers and screenshots started hitting the net. The majority of the people who had bought DA:O started to pay attention to DA2 (whether they liked DA:O or not).
However, when the gaming magazines got their hands-on time with the game, some doubt started to linger in the minds of some people - since according to some of the journalists, DA2 didn't feel like an successor to DA:O at all.

Despite that, the expectations were still positive in general, leading to an massive request on the forums for an demo of the game the weeks before the release of the game. Looking back, that was an request maybe better not honored... since after the demo got released an serious amount of people on the Internet started to wonder 'Is this bleak style the style of DA2?'
We got assured that it would be better, even so, that it would be 'awesome'. Note to Bioware: don't make such promises, it tends to cause backlashes if you can't keep the promise up.

Launch day. Reports of people who didn't get their package from the shop they ordered from, or got the regular edition instead of the SE they ordered. Total chaos - Bioware helped to solve some problems, but the amount of chaos was too big to handle by them alone.
After the launchday... both massive joy and disappointment starting to wave in. People who like the game, and people who disliked the game. This already lead to an potentially explosive situation.
Mike Laidlaw's first interview after the launch of the game. When asked about the disappointed fans, he delivered the fire to ignite the spread fuel around the internet - he told indirectly the disappointed fans to 'deal with it'. Big mistake. Multiple forums around the Internet, including this one, started to explode. People who already were disappointed, became majorly pissed-off. The tone became more grim on all forums regarding DA2.
This forum completely exploded, since due to the effort of pissed-off, disappointed fans who posted negative threads, trolls who just for the heck of it posted such threads too and fanboys/girls who didn't appreciate the negativism, an massive amount of flames started to lighten up. Not helping it was the fact the mods locked down threads of people who just were venting frustration, leading to more frustration.
Up to this day, Mike Laidlaw has refused to recognize the fact that the disappointed fans have any kind of point - keeping on indirectly insulting them over and over again. The flames are still raging, since the mods still let any pro-DA2 flaming go unchecked unless attented on, but keep on crushing down hard on people who are posting slightly offending threads just because the posters are massively frustrated and worry about the way the DA-series are going.


My points now...
- I am a worried fan/customer. I understand that if I were about the only one worried, I'd have no say in it. But come on, if only already over half of the posters on the Internet aren't satisfied with the way DA2 went, that should tell you SOMETHING how to approach your customers?
- Those forums. I know that different kinds of people come here - but my personal golden rule is 'Live and let live'. Flamers on both sides ('pro' and 'anti') are personally attacking people because of their valid opinions....
- Interviews. (Indirectly) Insulting customers is a great way to ****** people off and drive them away from your company. Laidlaw, I am mostly looking at you - but also Zeschuk and others.
- Replies on PMs and emails. I've had several interactions with Bioware-staff now on those forums, and while some were pretty neutral (John Epler, I might not like what you say and what you mod from time to time, but at least when requested to look at certain threads you look neutral at it), some are overtly hostile. Note to David Gaider: next time you tell me 'to suck it up, princess', check back whether your collague hasn't already complied with an request. I don't take kindly to such PMs.
(Edit here: to take away some confusion, that line from Gaider was when I asked John Epler, David Gaider and Stanley Woo in an PM  (whomever would come online first) to take a look at certain posts in an topic that I considered trying to incite a flame war. An screenshot of it should be on page... 2 if I recall OK)

TUHD

Modifié par TUHD, 22 avril 2011 - 06:08 .

[John Epler]

Half dozen or so bans and warnings handed out. Perhaps some of you are of the impression that these discussion forums are designed so that you can score points off of your fellow posters through insults, ad hominems and strawmanning.

They are not. They are designed to foster and encourage discussion and feedback, to allow fans and critics of the game alike to discuss their points, talk about Dragon Age 2 and other BioWare games and to act as an informal conduit of information to the developers.

Those of you who wish to discuss and debate with your fellow posters, will, as always, be welcome, so long as you remain respectful towards each other and follow the Terms of Service. And once again, this applies regardless of what your feelings are on DA2.

[David Gaider]

With regards to the link to the discussion regarding conversations, I think it's only fair to point anyone interested to some follow-up discussion I had here. I certainly wasn't bashing DAO or suggesting that wanting to talk to your companions is bad, simply that there are better ways of doing it than Q&A dialogue. As you'll see in that post, I'm also not suggesting that DA2 did everything perfectly. As always, this kind of work is a challenge -- and the writing team is going to have to keep in step with the changes that the rest of the project undergoes.

Naturally it's not really in my purview to discuss anything outside of the writing, but I'm always willing to listen to reasonable feedback-- and occasionally be baited into arguments even when I shouldn't. Comes with the territory, I guess, as does being called arrogant by anyone who dislikes my opinions. I don't really mind. If my only option was to interact with the community like I was their waiter (which I am not) I frankly would not come here at all. Thankfully there are a great number of peope here who make thoughtful posts, if occasionally empassioned ones, that make my occasional participation worthwhile.

As for the "moderator" thing, my job isn't to moderate these forums. I'll come here from time to time, and I'm listed as a moderator because I have the power to moderate if I so choose. I don't employ it very often. If someone wishes to contact an official channel, they should send a PM to the community liaison, Chris Priestly -- or customer service.

Modifié par David Gaider, 25 avril 2011 - 03:36 .

[David Gaider]

erynnar wrote...
I wish I had been in on the discussion about the convos. Apparently I missed the boat.

The thread I linked to is recent. I don't always have the time to jump in and post, but I'll be reading it if you care to put in your two cents.

[David Gaider]

Sabriana wrote...
But if people do mistake you for one of the mods, then couldn't it simply be because they see your name on the list?
That was not a critique, it was simply meant to point out that there was a cause for some people to think that you were the perfect person to PM.

Sure, but someone listed as a moderator is not an official channel of any sort. It just means we can moderate the forums. If someone intends to treat any moderator like a customer service agent, particularly when they only choose to act like a customer when it suits them, then quite frankly they've only themselves to blame.

I get that some people think I should be more polite, even when people aren't being polite to me. For the most part I'll respond in the same tone that someone speaks to me with. Beyond that, if "suck it up, princess" is the worst thing I can be accused of saying today, I doubt I'll lose any sleep over it.

Heck, I may even put it on a t-shirt.

Of course it would be most reasonable to contact Chris or John, and personally, if I had something to PM, John would be my first choice. But that's because I simply know from years of board-going that your interaction with the forums is mostly done to as the lead-writer, and to tweak our noses from time to time.

I'll point out that John is also a developer (a Cinematic Designer) who comes here out of personal interest, like myself. He just happens to be nicer than I am. He's no Ferret, of course, but who is really?

Modifié par David Gaider, 25 avril 2011 - 05:39 .