25 replies to this topic

[Conal Pierse]

(Polish, French, and German announcements follow)

 

After great consideration, we are closing down the BioWare forums, effective August 26, 2016. The Star Wars: The Old Republic forums will continue to operate; however, our public boards for Dragon Age, Mass Effect, and legacy BioWare titles will no longer be available.

This wasn’t an easy decision.

Our players are important to us. Your feedback, stories, and love for our games drive and inspire us.

In the past, our forums were the only way we could speak to you directly. They allowed our developers to talk with fans, and gave our players the opportunity to talk with each other about our games. But with the rise of social media and geek culture, there have never been more ways for us to connect.

Now we can travel around the world, meeting with you face-to-face at events like PAX, SDCC, and even shows in our own backyard. We can share stories with you on the go, giving you a look behind the scenes on sites like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.

In turn, you’ve built your own fantastic communities in places like Tumblr and Reddit. You’ve created comprehensive Wikis and countless pieces of fantastic art, fiction, and cosplay.

With so many great things so widely available, our developers today find themselves spending more time on other sites, and less time in our own forums. And to our fans and players who came to those boards looking to talk to us, it was a great disservice.

So it is with a heavy heart that we will close our public forums on August 26, 2016. We will maintain some private boards, and may use these in future for beta feedback or other special projects.

Because we know there is a lot of information on there you may want to keep, the public boards will remain in a read-only state until October 25, 2016. After that date, they will be taken down.

While we are saying goodbye to this venue, we remain committed to our community and will always be here to listen, share, and support you. Online and in person, we will continue to seek out opportunities to interact and share in our combined love of games.

 

Deutsch

Nach reiflicher Überlegung haben wir beschlossen, die BioWare-Foren zum 26. August 2016 zu schließen. Die Foren von Star Wars: The Old Republic wird es weiterhin geben, aber unsere öffentlichen Foren für Dragon Age, Mass Effectund ältere BioWare-Titel werden nicht mehr verfügbar sein.

Diese Entscheidung ist uns nicht leicht gefallen.

Unsere Spieler sind wichtig für uns. Euer Feedback, eure Geschichten und eure Begeisterung für unsere Spiele treibt uns an und inspiriert uns.

In der Vergangenheit waren die Foren unsere einzige Möglichkeit, direkt mit euch in Kontakt zu treten. Unsere Entwickler unterhielten sich mit Fans und gaben unseren Spielern Gelegenheit, sich untereinander über unsere Spiele auszutauschen. Aber der Aufstieg der sozialen Medien und die Geek-Kultur haben uns neue Kommunikationswege eröffnet.

Heute reisen wir um die Welt und treffen euch persönlich, bei Events wie PAX, SDCC und sogar bei Shows direkt bei uns. Wir können jederzeit Geschichten mit euch teilen und euch auf Sites wie Facebook, Twitter und Instagram Einblicke hinter die Kulissen geben.

Ihr wiederum habt fantastische Communitys an Orten wie Tumblr und Reddit aufgebaut. Ihr habt umfassende Wikis und unzählige großartige Werke in den Bereichen Design, Fiction und Cosplay erstellt.

Es ist so viel überall verfügbar, dass unsere Entwickler immer mehr Zeit auf anderen Sites verbringen und immer weniger in unseren eigenen Foren. Und das war natürlich nicht gut für die Fans und Spieler, die diese Foren besuchten, weil sie mit uns reden wollten.
Darum haben wir schweren Herzens beschlossen, unsere öffentlichen Foren am 26. August 2016 zu schließen. Es wird weiterhin einige private Foren geben, die wir künftig für Beta-Feedback oder andere spezielle Projekte benutzen werden.

Wir wissen natürlich, dass auf den Foren viele Informationen liegen, die ihr vielleicht aufbewahren wollt. Daher werden die öffentlichen Foren noch bis zum 25. Oktober 2016 zur Verfügung stehen, ihr könnt allerdings nicht mehr posten, nur noch lesen. Nach diesem Datum schalten wir sie ab.

Wir verabschieden uns zwar von diesem Medium, bleiben aber unserer Community verbunden und werden immer da sein und euch zuhören, Informationen teilen und euch unterstützen. Wir werden online und persönlich Möglichkeiten zur Interaktion schaffen, damit wir auch in Zukunft unsere gemeinsame Leidenschaft für Spiele teilen können.

 

 

Polski

 

Po długim namyśle zamykamy fora BioWare z dniem 26 sierpnia 2016. Nadal będą funkcjonować fora gry Star Wars: The Old Republic. Publiczne fora serii Dragon Age i Mass Effect oraz starszych tytułów BioWare nie będą już jednak dostępne.
To nie była łatwa decyzja.

Gracze są dla nas ważni. Wasze uwagi, historie i miłość do naszych gier stanowią dla nas inspirację.

W przeszłości fora były jedynym sposobem, w jaki mogliśmy nawiązać z wami bezpośredni kontakt. Pozwalały naszym developerom rozmawiać z fanami i dawały graczom możliwość dyskutowania o naszych grach. Rozwój mediów społecznościowych i kultury geekowskiej sprawił jednak, że mamy teraz znacznie więcej kanałów komunikacji.

Dziś możemy podróżować po całym świecie, spotykając się z wami twarzą w twarz na imprezach takich jak PAX, SDCC czy nawet na naszym podwórku. Możemy dzielić się z wami historiami na gorąco i pokazywać wam naszą pracę od kuchni na portalach takich jak Facebook, Twitter czy Instagram.

Wy z kolei stworzyliście własne wspaniałe społeczności w miejscach takich jak Tumblr czy Reddit. Stworzyliście obszerne wiki i niezliczone, fantastyczne grafiki, teksty i cosplaye.

Tak powszechna dostępność różnorodnych materiałów sprawia, że nasi developerzy coraz więcej czasu spędzają na innych stronach, a coraz mniej na naszych forach. To nie było w porządku w stosunku do naszych fanów i graczy, którzy przychodzili na fora, żeby z nami porozmawiać.

Z ciężkim sercem podjęliśmy więc decyzję o zamknięciu naszych forów publicznych z dniem 26 sierpnia 2016. Część forów prywatnych będzie podtrzymywana i może zostać w przyszłości wykorzystana do zbierania komentarzy do wersji beta lub innych projektów specjalnych.

Wiemy, że fora publiczne zawierają dużo informacji, które moglibyście chcieć zachować, będą więc podtrzymywane w trybie tylko do odczytu do 25 października 2016. Po tym dniu znikną.

Żegnamy się z tym miejscem, ale nadal mocno stawiamy na kontakt ze społecznością – zawsze chętnie was wysłuchamy, podzielimy się z wami informacjami i pomożemy wam rozwiązać problemy. Będziemy nadal szukać okazji do interakcji, w sieci i na żywo, żeby wspólnie z wami cieszyć się naszą miłością do gier.

 

Français

 

Au terme de longues réflexions, nous fermerons les forums de BioWare à dater du 26 août 2016. Les forums de Star Wars: The Old Republic resteront opérationnels, mais ceux de Dragon Age, de Mass Effect ou d'autres titres plus anciens de BioWare ne seront plus disponibles.

Ça n'a pas été une décision facile.

Nos joueurs sont importants pour nous. Vos commentaires, vos histoires et votre passion pour nos jeux sont pour nous une source d'inspiration et d'encouragement.

Avant, nos forums étaient le seul moyen pour nous de communiquer avec vous directement. Ils permettaient à nos développeurs d'entrer en contact avec les fans et offraient la possibilité à nos joueurs de parler de nos jeux entre eux. Mais avec l'apparition des réseaux sociaux et l'avènement de la culture geek, on n'a jamais eu autant de moyens d'échanger.

Aujourd'hui, nous pouvons faire le tour du monde et vous rencontrer en personne lors de salons comme le PAX, le SDCC voire de nos événements à nous. Nous pouvons partager des anecdotes avec vous et vous faire entrer dans les coulisses sur des plateformes telles que Facebook, Twitter et Instagram.

De votre côté, vous avez bâti de fantastiques communautés sur des plateformes comme Tumblr et Reddit. Vous avez créé des wikis complets et produit d'innombrables chefs-d'œuvre : dessins, récits, costumes…

Devant autant de moyens de communication, nos développeurs sont aujourd'hui amenés à passer moins de temps sur nos forums que sur d'autres sites, ce qui n'est guère pratique pour nos fans et les joueurs venus sur ces forums dans le but de nous contacter.
C'est donc le cœur lourd que nous fermerons nos forums le 26 août 2016. Nous ne conserverons que quelques bulletins privés que nous utiliserons éventuellement à l'avenir pour la publication de commentaires sur une version bêta ou pour d'autres projets particuliers.

Conscients que ces forums contiennent de nombreuses informations que vous souhaitez peut-être conserver, les forums publics resteront ouverts en lecture seule jusqu'au 25 octobre 2016, après quoi ils seront désactivés.

Cet adieu à nos forums ne change rien : nous restons fidèles à notre communauté et serons toujours là pour vous écouter, échanger avec vous et vous aider. En ligne ou en personne, nous serons toujours ravis de communiquer avec vous et de partager notre passion commune pour les jeux.

[Conal Pierse]

Does this impact the group forums at all?

Yes, sadly, the groups will no longer be available. We know many people have used groups or other sections of the boards as a way to meet with their friends for a long time, so we want to make sure you have time to exchange information and transfer anything you might want to keep.

We will still have some private boards, which may be used for things like special projects or private betas, but I'm afraid we don't have any further information on that at this time.

[Conal Pierse]

This is sad, but expected.

 

No Forums at all though? Is there a Gamestudio out there that doesn't have some sort of social platform?

We are still very committed to actively engaging our community. Through both social media, at live events, as well as through community run sites, we will continue to solicit feedback and listen to what our players are saying.

Our community has always be a cornerstone of how and why we make games, and we will continue to engage and listen to what you are saying.

[Conal Pierse]

What is "actively engaging our community" exactly? I'm just wondering because that used to happen here and then it didn't.

You are absolutely right on that point. As the years have gone by we have been spending more time on other sites and spaces and less time on our own boards. This was unfair to those of you who use our forums.

We took a hard look at how we were engaging our community, and made the difficult decision to focus on fostering conversations in these new spaces, and to close our forums.

[Conal Pierse]

This is a serious question. Where are people supposed to go for technical support for BioWare games and things like Dragon Age Keep?  Twitter is not even close to realistic for that.

 

My other big concern is when playing old games I often find answers to questions on old posts here.  Will those no longer be available?

For technical support, that is still officially provided by Answers HQ. These forums have not had official tech support for some time.

You can also tweet to the official Dragon Age or Mass Effect accounts with a description of your issue and someone will provide you support, either by reaching out directly or by pointing you to the answer or solution.

 

The old posts will unfortunately no longer be available after October 25, 2016.

[Conal Pierse]

You don't see CDPR shutting down the Witcher forums and many other publishers/devs have their own forums. Paradox are great as are Blizzards and they put a lot of work into theirs alongside maintain social media. It's not like the games are on Steam where they do have a sort of forum, which is helpful for indie devs who can't afford what EA can. Sure Reddit is okay but there's a lot of interesting history and discussion on these forums. 

 

Plus the ability to set up hidden forums for beta testers back during the days of the keep testing before DA:I was out. 

 

Sure these forums can be a bit mad but with proper moderation they can be good.

 

With regards to betas, we are still maintaining our private boards and may use them in future for special projects or betas. We don't have further information on that at this time, however.
 

[Jesse Reid]

I hope everyone here shows Jesse Reid the love he deserves for being the one employee who never left the forum. Like, no cheeky insults or trying to be funny, I mean genuine appreciation for his dedication to this place.

Is this because I just gave everyone 1000 likes a day? I figure it is like a going out of business sale, we only have a month left to use up all our excess "like this" inventory!

[Conal Pierse]

I drive past BioWare Edmonton all the time. I wonder what would happen if I just showed up at the door.

This is a place of business where people are working. if you show up unannounced I am afraid we will have to turn you away.

 

i understand you are upset, but there are more constructive ways to communicate that.

[Conal Pierse]

What if he showed up with pizza though?

While a kind gesture, we would prefer any donated food be given to local shelters or people in need instead.

[Conal Pierse]

Rest assured, this is about money and money only. The OP and staff replies are pure doubletalk, the oldest damage control move there is.

 

Frankly, if the company is this pressured for money, it really calls for questions about their future. Forums don't cost very much to maintain at all, even when big and fairly famous. And like one poster said, these forums are the heart of their community.

 

Pretty disheartening to see this happening.

 

 

 

PS: I'm a poster since the old Bioware forum days, and haven't logged in for years. But this called for a comment.

No, this was not a monetary decision. It also was not an easy one for us to make.

 

We understand that there are people who use and love these boards. And like them, we are sad to see them go. However, many of our players and staff now use other sites and networks outside of these boards, and we want to foster these interactions and support the great fan communities our players have built.

 

As always, we are committed to our players, and will continue to seek out and solicit their feedback. All of you are why we make games and what we love about gaming. This is the end of an era, but we will always, always listen to our players.

[Conal Pierse]

Conal I'll have to handwrite you a letter then with my Andromeda feedback because it won't fit on Twitter 

 

It's nice to hear it's not a monetary decision.

We actively follow and seek out what our players are saying, whether its here or on other websites, blogs, or social media. We also get the odd handwritten letter, and we read those too.

Closing these boards does not mean that stops, nor does it mean we expect you to give us 144 character reviews or feedback. We encourage all of our players to talk about our games in the way that best suits them and the discussion they are wanting to have. Sometimes that's on Twitter, sometimes that's via a blog, or Reddit, or community forum.

[Conal Pierse]

The fact that nobody from Bioware has yet to come to respond to this thread at all clearly shows how much they don't care for fans nor it's forums.

 

Well I spoke somewhat too soon.

It's okay, dog. We all miss things sometimes.

[Conal Pierse]

You clearly don't understand. I'm not upset.

I just always wondered what would happen if I walked in and said hi.

I'm not suggesting that you are upset. But you must understand that someone showing up unannounced at a business with no clear intentions could be potentially alarming to our front desk staff.

[Conal Pierse]

Seriously?

 

PLEASE explain to me how another site is better designed to discuss the lore, characters, and such?

 

Twitter with its 140 character limit?  Tumblr that's terrible for the back and forth discussions on here, or Reddit where everything gets buried.  We know its not really about "players and staff using other sites" at east do us the courtesy of an honest answer.

 

We aren't suggesting you use Twitter, or Facebook, or any other platform that you don't want to. Each has its advantages and disadvantages, and we encourage our players and studio members to use the sites that suit their preferences.

 

There are many places where you can still have in-depth discussions about lore, such as the wikis, fan run community boards. And yes, there is even Reddit, which while these discussions may sometimes get buried on the main subreddit, there is nothing precluding the creation of a lore or character-specific subreddit.
 

The discussions you are referring to are already happening in many other spaces and in many other forms. Some ephemeral and quick, others in-depth and at length.

 

We understand and appreciate that the people who use these boards enjoy them, but there are a lot of great things out there waiting. And while we are sad to see them go, we are hopeful for the future, and remain committed to talking with and listening to our community.

[Conal Pierse]

So can you at least explain why weren't the devs spending time on their own forums? How is Twitter or Reddit or Facebook better than BSN? How can it be easier to get fan feedback from multiple 3rd party sites? 

 

Our developers are not spokespeople, and for those that choose to interact with fans (which a great many do) we want them to be able to do so in a way that makes sense for them. For some, they like meeting people face to face. For others it's Twitter, or NeoGaf, or Twitch, or any number of other sites.

 

We respect the rights of both our developers and our fans to use social spaces in ways that are right for them.

 

While once our forums were the sole direct line we had to our players, that has become increasingly untrue over the years. And as these conversations moved elsewhere, it was an increasing disservice to those who came here to reach us.

 

It's never easy or simple to collect feedback from our players, which is why we go to great lengths to do it. We have teams of people like me who actively scour the web looking for what people are saying. Through many, many different avenues we gain an appreciation for what our players are saying as a whole, as well as what different groups and individuals are saying.

 

This may not always be publicly visible, but it is something that we actively work on behind the scenes.

[Conal Pierse]

This is a general reminder to please be civil to your fellow posters. Personal insults and attacks are a violation of the site rules and will not be tolerated.

[Bryan Johnson]

As one of the Dev's that have more or less moved off of here, I am still sad. 

 

I recognize some names but see new ones as well, I wish you all well.

[Conal Pierse]

What are you going to do? Ban us from a site that is closing in less than a month anyways? ANYTHING BUT THAT!

No, I am going to ask you politely to be civil and respectful of others. Threat of banning or the closing of the forums should not weigh in your decision to be respectful of your fellow human beings.

You have every right to be upset by this decision, and I won't tell you how to feel or express yourself. But I kindly ask that you not be disrespectful or take things out on others.

[Bryan Johnson]

I'll miss you too BroJo. Don't be a stranger if you ever come across a place where Andromeda MP is being discussed

Reddit is my primary home now.

 

Basically short story for me, being on the forum was causing me stress. Reddit allows me to supplement between "work" and enjoyment naturally.

[Bryan Johnson]

So as long as you are happy, who cares about the fans being happy right? What kind of entertainment company wants their customers to be entertained? 

The nature of my work is that I am not really exposed to "what people want", so not sure what you were hoping for from me.

 

I simply stated where I had gone, to those who were curious and why I did what I did

 

Plus the general nature of my posts were very technical, and not Person X doesnt like Feature Y.

 

I can understand your frustration and the 'cheekiness' of your post, but I am probably the least productive person to direct it at.

[Allan Schumacher]

Reddit is my primary home now.

 

Basically short story for me, being on the forum was causing me stress. Reddit allows me to supplement between "work" and enjoyment naturally.

 

This was largely the case for me as well, although Twitter instead of Reddit.  I was starting to feel some fatigue as well and then ended up acting as an interim community manager for a few months post launch which was a whole other beast.  It was an interesting experience but it's definitely a lot more difficult than I imagined.

 

That said I am sorry for all of those that are hit hard by this news

[Allan Schumacher]

Stress?  Really? 

 

There's a variety of angles that it can come from.

 

Post release, as someone that works in QA, seeing the issues that I cannot help resolve weighs on me because part of me feels I've let people down.  (not the fan's fault, but is something that weighs on the mind for sure).

 

As someone that tried to be active in community building, it also meant not ignoring obvious transgressions.  I remember when the Cullen thread received dozens of pages of porn image links spammed into it, and I felt I couldn't ignore it and went through cleaning up the thread and banning those responsible and investigating alt accounts and the like.  I could have ignored it, but that probably would have been more mentally worse for me.  I think I went to bed around 4 AM that day.  I could have just closed/deleted the thread, but that was what the trolls wanted so I didn't want to just take the easy road out.

And maybe I need tougher skin?  I'm probably not the best judge of that.  I don't think I had soft skin, just more that my armor wasn't impregnable and for better or worse me posting somewhere was a lightning rod for people to derail threads to get my attention and vent their frustrations at me.  So in that sense given enough time it just became, if not "stressful" then certainly much less fun.

[Allan Schumacher]

If you thought this place was fatiguing, good luck with social media. 

 

I actually still engage on places like Twitter.  I actually find it easier to have conversations in some capacity due to Twitter's nature of not showing posts unless you follow the person and at least one of the people tagged in the message.  So it's unlikely a random person will interject to derail something.

 

That said I also like Twitter because it's a bit easier to talk with people as friends rather than explicitly as dev-fan.  Sometimes that latter relationship is fine and even desired, but sometimes I don't want to be talking with any sort of symbol of authority and whatnot.

 

I also felt it easier to mute/block because, as the forums are a BioWare thing, I felt a stronger degree of responsibility and that I shouldn't make anyone's posts invisible to me lest they be doing Terribad™ things on the forum.

[Allan Schumacher]

They're being defeatist and painting themselves as the stressed out victims, when in reality they're just giving up while simultaneously screwing over their own fans.  Giving up is giving up.  It's pathetic.

 
To be clear I definitely do not consider myself a "victim."
 
One thing I always tried to be while on the forum was as honest as I could possibly be. In this case, I'm describing how over time I felt fatigue from remaining engaged with the forum and I needed to disengage for my own well being.
 
I can understand that you feel my disengaging with the community means I gave up on the fanbase but unfortunately it's not a perspective that I share.  I'm sorry.
 

Allan, back during the ME3 ending fiasco you're one of the few Bioware people I knew even trying to engage in conversation, which I know wasn't easy at the time when emotions were running hard and despite the fact you weren't even on the ME team. For that I just wanted to say thank you.

Even if we were a pain in the ass I did respect you for whatever it's worth

 

Thank you.

[Allan Schumacher]

I don't think even they believe that but they had to give a reason and that's the one they ran with.

It happens a lot more as we get closer to release (and especially right after release) but even then it wasn't uncommon for long time forum regulars to get upset at, for example, why Hrungr even needed to have a Twitter thread when devs could be posting those comments and messages here on the forum.

 

I suspect the forum is a bit quieter at the moment so it might not be as obvious right now.

 

I was a mod at a very famous anime board run by the translator. I know exactly what you went through especially with porn spam and breaking the news to fans about things they did not want to hear regarding fav pairings, etc... and I quit and had a breakdown.

My brief stint as Community Manager was very eye opening. It's very challenging to try to keep ahead of the curve for that sort of stuff.  I try to be more diligent when I see very bad stuff on other forums I go onto now just to help out as much as I can.

 

Seems like in instances of actual moderation needing to be done, it should be with those generic "BioMod01" type accounts. That way people can't get mad at an actual name.

I actually did start to do that, although to limited effect as I didn't change how I wrote any moderator comments

 

That said though it's still me seeing stuff and taking care of it.  I actually found explicit retaliation when I moderated with this account limited (and rare enough that it was more humorous than aggravating).

 

From the mods own keyboard.

 

 

For context, if someone comes up to me on twitter and says that I should be aborted as a fetus so that competent QA would have been available to work on the game, I consider that unproductive and I am not interested in facilitating a discussion with that person.  On a place like twitter, I can happily block and move on.  On the forum, however, blocking people that were rude wasn't a thing.  I could (and would) moderate them, but unless it was a permanent ban they'd eventually return. If I had them muted/blocked then I'd be unable to see if they were being bad on the forum.

 

Twitter is certainly not ideal for lengthy feedback unless you are able to send direct messages, but people do still report issues they have with games as well as general critiques.  I can still facilitate discussion with those people.

 

As for the "random interjection" I'm referring to, when on the forum, I'm helping people who have specifically problem X.  Sometimes see that I'm actively helping those fans with their problem and get annoyed that they are getting all the attention, so they then come into a thread about Problem X to discuss problem Y, and sometimes even state that they will not leave because obviously Problem X thread is where devs are hanging out and it's the only way to bring attention to problem Y.  Unfortunately this usually ends up breaking out into a fight between fans as they get upset over thread derailment etc.  It also creates work for me (and the moderator team) if we decide to clean things up.

 

 

I don't know if you know me, but I've always had the utmost respect for you and the effort you put in for us here. I'm glad you're with us for the end

 

I do remember you and thank you for the kind words.

 

I think what you need is someone who does that job for you on a forum.

 

We had moderators, but honestly I asked for moderator powers from Chris back in the day because having it sit there and wait for moderators to see the report was often too long for my liking.

 

For a bit it was actually my job to help coordinate this as I was a temp Community Manager between DAI shipping and me joining MEA.  I was surprised how different my interactions felt simply by having it be my job.  I definitely prefer interacting with fans as a "volunteer gig" on my own time (such as right now).