3173 réponses à ce sujet

[LPPrince]

Woke up, Off Topic is still closed. C'mon now

[AresKeith]

Woke up, Off Topic is still closed. C'mon now

I highly doubt they would've reconsidered in a day

[EarthboundNess]

I completely agree.

 

That's why I think there are specific things that Bioware's community managers- or whoever is in charge of this place ultimately- could do to foster goodwill. It's both of our faults, really. Not "us" specifically, but there are some people who just can't let well enough alone and make the forums miserable- threatening devs, being generally disruptive and trollish for the sake of being trollish.

 

But it's really all about the moderators.

 

The anonymous moderator system is broken and does not work. It doesn't foster an open line of communication, first of all- and doesn't allow for the moderators themselves to have any accountability. Delete, delete, delete, ignore, delete. What they need is moderators who swiftly ban people who make any sort of threats at all. Named moderators we grow to get to know. Moderators who are active, responsive, and encourage conversation while striking down those who do not foster appropriate conversations.

 

There should also be a handful of volunteer mods- mods without banning capabilities so they don't go around with a power-hungry personal vendetta- , but mods from the posters themselves that can be trusted with the responsibilities such as moving  threads, adding spoiler tags where needed...duties that keep the actual mods from having to do "forum cleanup" daily.

 

Each sub-forum should have at least one mod, possibly more, depending on how busy the forum is. And that way each person isn't running all over the place trying to keep an eye on the whole place. Don't string them too thin, but instead give them specific areas that they are responsible for. 

 

Wish I had likes, because yeah, that's about all of it summed up.

 

I swear though, didn't we actually once have a lot of that? I can remember a thread less than a year ago where I had a good discussion about moderation here with someone and actually backed Bioware up on it. Looking back, that was probably done due to staying within off-topic even then... But as I remember it, we did once had stuff like prolific community managers. Who as LPPrince has pointed out, did definitely give a crap. And named mods, who would actually engage in discourse when needed.

 

It was hardly perfect, but I never really cared because it at least worked. For the most part.  

 

 

I have lots more ideas but I'm wasting my breath I think lol.

 

 

Heh, at this point its hard not to see that as the thread in a nutshell.

 

But I'm not giving up hope just yet, mind. I'll stick around with Prince and the like to the last, even if it just becomes an echo chamber in here. There's just too much history there to let it go quite so easily! 

[Fast Jimmy]

I highly doubt they would've reconsidered in a day

I highly doubt they will reconsider it at all.

Again - this isn't to make the forums a better place. It's to make the forums low maintenance. It's too much work to have a forum where people can talk about any topic they want. Bioware doesn't care if every person on these forums gets up and leaves... that's the bottom line. They want it to exist so they can say they have a forum, but they don't actually want anyone posting here. Because people who post require effort.

They want to put the absolute, bare-bones, bottom-of-the-barrel amount of effort into this place. In terms of manhours, actual dollars, server space, creative drive... you name it, they don't want to spend it. It's not worthwhile to them. YOU aren't worthwhile to them. Unless you have a Reddit account, at least. Then they think you have an opinion worth expressing.

[LPPrince]

Imagine how it feels to be top poster here yet constantly hear and see Bioware naming Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Reddit, and other such places as their go-to's instead of their very own forum where their most dedicated reside.

 

I feel like Bioware sees their fans at different values- the cosplayers and others at conventions are first class citizens, those on twitter, Facebook, and other social media sites are second class citizens, and everyone here is a resident of a third world country or homeless person on a street corner that occasionally has a coin or two put in their plastic cup.

 

I keep hearing how Bioware employees lurk, lurk, and lurk some more, but then whats the point? Why even have the Bioware tag on their profiles if we're never gonna see them?

 

Its not the case with everyone;I loved my interactions with many Bioware employees over the years here. I already mentioned Jessica Merizan as being an incredible person but she was just one;there were quite a few back in the day. Now they either left Bioware entirely or at the very least don't appear here anymore.

 

Back then, it appeared like they actually had fun coming here. Like they enjoyed it. Smiled even.

 

But now I only see that stuff in pictures they share with cosplayers. Thats it. Its been cosplay cosplay cosplay for years now. I've gotten the impression that they feel coming here and being open about it is a chore.

 

So why not make this place fun again? Why not take the initiative to make this place great? No more questionable decisions on the forums, no more getting our hopes up for garbage like the Bioware Bazaar, no more lying to try to get us to buy an insult to our intelligence like Mass Effect Deception, no more lurking in the shadows instead of being open and vocal with us on a regular basis, no more unnecessary snarkiness(looking at a few people in particular that are guilty of that), etc etc etc

[Degenerate Rakia Time]

I feel like Bioware sees their fans at different values- the cosplayers and others at conventions are first class citizens, those on twitter, Facebook, and other social media sites are second class citizens, and everyone here is a resident of a third world country or homeless person on a street corner that occasionally has a coin or two put in their plastic cup.

uh.......i am a resident of a third world country...

[Sylvius the Mad]

We will of course be monitoring how it goes. In our experience this tactic does work on other boards, it just takes a bit of getting used to and a bit more mindfulness by posters. We will continue to keep the Dragon Age: Inquisition spoiler/non-spoiler sections separate for now, but will be merging them down the line at some point.

Other communities are significantly less sensitive to spoilers.

BioWare's focus is ostensibly making story-based games. Spoilers are a way bigger deal here than in other forums.

[Sylvius the Mad]

Unless you have a Reddit account, at least. Then they think you have an opinion worth expressing.

And with Off-Topic closed, I can't even start a thread asking for help using Reddit (having never before even considered going there).

[mousestalker]

Well I moved to the Shelter over the last blowup concerning off topic groups. But I had to come see this latest idiocy with my own eyes.

What is this Shelter you speak of?

[Avejajed]

Wish I had likes, because yeah, that's about all of it summed up.

 

I swear though, didn't we actually once have a lot of that? I can remember a thread less than a year ago where I had a good discussion about moderation here with someone and actually backed Bioware up on it. Looking back, that was probably done due to staying within off-topic even then... But as I remember it, we did once had stuff like prolific community managers. Who as LPPrince has pointed out, did definitely give a crap. And named mods, who would actually engage in discourse when needed.

 

It was hardly perfect, but I never really cared because it at least worked. For the most part.  

 

 

 

 

Heh, at this point its hard not to see that as the thread in a nutshell.

 

But I'm not giving up hope just yet, mind. I'll stick around with Prince and the like to the last, even if it just becomes an echo chamber in here. There's just too much history there to let it go quite so easily! 

 

We did have that, or a version of that. But they changed the forums all weird with Jessica Merizan who was just as pointless a community manager as whatever non-entity they have now. No offense. But it was clear she was more interested in being on TV.

 

Your last point is so important though- we don't give up. It's clear the people here want better for these forums. We want to have a positive place we can come and talk about our favorite games- to develop a community, friendships, relationships...hell, I even met one of my bridesmaids here. Why should we be left to rot while the devs migrate to freaking reddit. And the Facebook page is really just nonsensical, there's no real interaction there. This is their forum. This is their official forum.

 

If there are troublemakers- people that consistently make it miserable for the developers- people that do death threats and other nonsense- get rid of them! How hard is it to ban an IP? If that's what the problem is- well...I know how to take care of the problem.

 

I used to be a member of a website forum that had this thing we called a "zot". If someone was zotted it means they, and all of their posts, were deleted and banned from existence. 

[LPPrince]

And with Off-Topic closed, I can't even start a thread asking for help using Reddit (having never before even considered going there).

 

You were literally JUST in my thoughts. I was considering why it seems they would have more fun or find more value at a convention looking at a cosplayer as opposed to being here and discussing ideas and gameplay mechanics with say you in particular.

 

Not saying going to conventions and meeting cosplayers can't be fun because I'm sure that it is, but that is what ALWAYS gets attention. This place gets none. Its as if we don't exist.

 

We're the Isla de Muerta from Pirates of The Caribbean:The Curse of The Black Pearl. You can only find us if you already know where to look.

[Jeremiah12LGeek]

The biggest change to BSN was when the site staff and moderators stopped being members of the community. Having a forum community run by people who aren't members of that community is the biggest problem this place has. Practically everything wrong with it can be traced back to that.

[DaemionMoadrin]

I feel like Bioware sees their fans at different values- the cosplayers and others at conventions are first class citizens, those on twitter, Facebook, and other social media sites are second class citizens, and everyone here is a resident of a third world country or homeless person on a street corner that occasionally has a coin or two put in their plastic cup.

 

Yes, that's how I felt when they published their "reactions to the trailer reaction videos" video.

Uh BioWare? We had dozens of threads reacting to the ME:A teaser trailer in your very own forum and instead you recorded yourself watching youtube videos of fake reactions. Not even a single post in the forum.

 

I also love how you announce news on your blog... but not in the forum. Why even have a News & Announcements subforum if you never use it? We certainly can't.

[LPPrince]

The biggest change to BSN was when the site staff and moderators stopped being members of the community. Having a forum community run by people who aren't members of that community is the biggest problem this place has. Practically everything wrong with it can be traced back to that.

 

You mean with the Biomod system? Because issues stemmed WAY before that. Like years before. It started when DA2 came out and people who were pissed conveyed it and caused Bioware to do a double take. Then the back and forth happened and suddenly it wasn't fun for them to be around anymore.

 

The community was split in two, Bioware disappeared from the forums, and it led to where we are now. A wasteland devoid of Bioware involvement(there's very little remaining) and Biomods patrolling to do the work assigned to them.

 

Its basically Fallout 5:The Bioware Forums.

[Avejajed]

The biggest change to BSN was when the site staff and moderators stopped being members of the community. Having a forum community run by people who aren't members of that community is the biggest problem this place has. Practically everything wrong with it can be traced back to that.

 

Exactly.

 

But what caused them to leave to begin with? That needs fixed. If they left because of death threats and generally awful human beings- how do you fix that?

[mousestalker]

Some relevant statistics:

I have posted 16,932 times 
received 8,175 likes 
subject to 1,621 profile views
and most importantly
186 friends

That represents a lot of time. Some might say it was wasted, but getting to know some very nice people is never time poorly spent. It just won't be happening here anymore.

[Reznore57]

You were literally JUST in my thoughts. I was considering why it seems they would have more fun or find more value at a convention looking at a cosplayer as opposed to being here and discussing ideas and gameplay mechanics with say you in particular.

 

Not saying going to conventions and meeting cosplayers can't be fun because I'm sure that it is, but that is what ALWAYS gets attention. This place gets none. Its as if we don't exist.

 

We're the Isla de Muerta from Pirates of The Caribbean:The Curse of The Black Pearl. You can only find us if you already know where to look.

 

I don't think Sylvius the Man spam his facebook , tumblr and twitter with his ideas.

Cosplayers do , they are free walking advertisement.

 

Last big publicity the BSN generated was the ME3 ending ...I'm sure Bioware were overjoyed.

They had to go full crunch to create a free DLC as a result.

[LPPrince]

The ME3 ending was on them, Bioware can only blame themselves for the end result. The forum wasn't the one who acted, the forum was just one side that reacted.

[Silversmurf]

What the hell?!??!!

 

Taking of the Off Topic?

 

Did you guys finally lose it or what?

 

problem solved

 

http://forum.bioware...obby-off-topic/

[LPPrince]

Some relevant statistics:

I have posted 16,932 times 
received 8,175 likes 
subject to 1,621 profile views
and most importantly
186 friends

That represents a lot of time. Some might say it was wasted, but getting to know some very nice people is never time poorly spent. It just won't be happening here anymore.

 

That makes me sad.

[TheRevanchist]

Exactly.

 

But what caused them to leave to begin with? That needs fixed. If they left because of death threats and generally awful human beings- how do you fix that?

 

If pressed for reasons, that is likely what they would say, as my Open Letter suggests. The reality is a mix of both that, and an unwillingness to listen to criticisms. 

[Fast Jimmy]

And with Off-Topic closed, I can't even start a thread asking for help using Reddit (having never before even considered going there).

The irony.

The fact that they shut down Off Topic within mere minutes of the announcement is the real kicker here. No way to organize, no way to help people transition. Just a "don't let the door hit you on the way out."

[LPPrince]

The irony.

The fact that they shut down Off Topic within mere minutes of the announcement is the real kicker here. No way to organize, no way to help people transition. Just a "don't let the door hit you on the way out."

 

"Over the course of the day"

 

12 minutes later

 

rofl

[Degenerate Rakia Time]

The irony.

The fact that they shut down Off Topic within mere minutes of the announcement is the real kicker here. No way to organize, no way to help people transition. Just a "don't let the door hit you on the way out."

judging by peoples posts the door didnt hit them on the way out, they leave at all and are now being held hostage in the locked off topic section!!!!!

[Dio Demon]

Off-topic is a very useful marketing research tool if the marketing team actually existed beyond "MOAR MONIES AT ADS!" they could easily peruse and figure out why some of their former customers don't want to purchase their product... maybe the could put a spin on things to entice them?

 

But BioWare/EA's being doing a lot of shady things such as making PC DLC more expensive then console DLC.

 

If I was working for marketing I'd go around and slap a lot of people and tell them goodwill is important. It's not something you should scoff at. But knowing how things are going, I'm going to be ignored.

 

I'm  a student in marketing and know more about marketing than your whole marketing division... tis kinda sad.