I know that this is something that won't change, and it seems to be the direction that the gaming industry as a whole is headed, but I still feel the need to bring it up because it's been the cause of so much friction.
I seriously question the wisdom of having the people who work on a game field questions and complaints about it just to generate interest for marketing purposes. (I've just stated that it's good for marketing which pretty much ends the practical discussion right there, but I'd still like to talk about why it's such a terrible idea; for our edification, if nothing else). Some of these people are defensive, evasive, edgy and cagey. And I totally get it. It would be stupid to expect them to behave otherwise. I've done creative work for money, and when you have developers and creative types directly addressing the fan criticism against a whole corporation, it's really not a good environment.
That isn't to say that they should be inaccessible to us, but (to me, at least) it seems kind of stupid to have the executive producer or the creative head of game answering questions from individual customers. You guys need a dedicated PR team (or a larger one, if you already have one that's been invisible to me so far). Hear me out on this, because I know PR is often code for "bullshit". EA already has a marketing team so expert at lying their asses off it's not even funny. I'm talking about people to liaise between the fans and the developers and exchange important information, while still having the developers directly address the fans in certain capacities.
I think most of the Bioware guys are fairly good at staying polite, but I know there have been problems in the past including employees who have left the company or the entire industry because they had to deal with fan fallout. Even with the Inquisition release, where, to the best of my knowledge, no serious incident has occurred, I just hear answers from the development team and think, "That's not how a PR guy would have answered that question". Like they're trying to hold back snapping out while discussing a product that they're obviously emotionally invested in. They shouldn't have to deal with a myriad idiotic fan questions and paying customers really shouldn't have to hear annoyed answers from stressed out developers who haven't been professionally trained to deal with idiots and shouldn't be expected to have. Because even when a paying customer is being a total tool, most companies have guys to deal with that kind of thing. There's just no insulation and it causes too much grief.
Having read what I just typed out, though, I'm struck by the realization that an EA PR team could never be anything but a total bullshit factory. They COULD, in theory, have people who just shrug off the sort of vitriol that's characteristic of Internet comments while managing to still filter useful information through, but that would never happen in a million years. So I guess that less than satisfactory answers from the horse's mouth are better than nothing.
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