5592 réponses à ce sujet

[Solas]

I'll add my voice to those that say this is a huge bummer. I've met people here, had great conversations, learned quite a few things, and looked at things from different perspectives.

 

It's a great shame you aren't keeping these around as read-only. Please reconsider that.

 

While I doubt that anything I say will change the mind of those responsible for the decision, I feel I should point out that most people have kept coming here and posting in these forums even after the devs disappeared. Sure, I've even made posts lamenting that fact, but talking about the game and characters I love with other players, sharing knowledge with them, and learning from them is what kept me coming back here, not the illusory promise that a developer would pop in.

 

I'm primarily familiar with the Dragon Age forums. I think it was pretty clear to most players that the devs just had little to no interest in posting here very shortly after DAI's release and most of their posts dropped off dramatically. But players have kept posting for nearly two years singe the game's release without that developer connection on these forums. That should say something.

 

 

I'm not going to use Facebook. I'm not going to use Twitter. I'm not going to use Reddit. I do have a Tumblr, but that is not the place to have conversations. Reblogging with comments is not conversational.

 

All of those other media listed don't afford the opportunity to have real conversations. Also, they are all third party. A AAA gaming company should have their own forum where they communicate with their players and disseminate information in that unified manner, not piecemeal over different apps. Also, players who have an Origin account, required to play certain games like DAI, already have access to these forums and don't have to do anything special or sign up for yet another service.

 

To be perfectly honest, despite the words in the OP, it just seems like there is no effort or drive to maintain these forums any longer. Since the developers don't post here anymore, I guess the fact that there is a thriving community, despite the few bad apples, has no significance whatsoever.

Quoting for emphasis! Really good points and wellwritten.

[TheRatPack55]

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.

 

Oh, ok, so I guess I now just have to ask one of the devs on twitter about how to kill off a specific party member in the suicide mission, and they'll give me a detailed response in 30 tweets.

[Solas]

Relevant: Does anyone know a way to archive a thread fairly easily without having to go through and save it manually? It's thousands of pages long. I'm not tech-savvy, sure you can tell by this post. Can it even be done?

[BoscoBread]

This is a real shame. I haven't been super active here since my last playthrough of DA:I but it's been a great place to come talk with fellow fans about Bioware games. We never really expected BW Devs to communicate with us through the forums.

 

And, like other people have pointed out, none of the other suggested sites are very good for in-depth discussion. Tumblr's a blogging platform, and it's a lot of yelling into the void while hoping nobody takes issue with what you're saying. Twitter is terrible for trying to have any sort of nuanced conversation. As is Facebook (especially if you don't want to broadcast your real name). Reddit is intimidating and many places on that site are pretty toxic.

 

Plus, I don't know about you but people use multiple social platforms. I can be active on tumblr and also come on BSN to discuss new Mass Effect info. They're good for different things. So saying that we can just go to tumblr or twitter or reddit, etc, is missing the point. People came to BSN for a reason.

 

Anyways, I'm saddened by this move and hope there's a way to fix the problems you have with the forums in a way that keeps the community together. The old BioBoards was my first forum and I have fond memories of my time both there and here.

This.  I have exactly ZERO problems with this site.  I feel that all discussion has been FOR THE MOST PART civil and chill.  Conflicts tend to resolve themselves. It has been wonderful to discuss the games on here. To really dig into the lore and it has brought large swathes of the community together in one place. What you're doing is encouraging it to splinter.  You make games that people LOVE to talk about.  You should keep the space where they congregate together to talk about them. While I know it's been some time I've been on here, I fully planned to be in the thick of it again for Mass Effect and then DA4.  

 

And here are the problems with the other platforms you are looking at:

 

Twitter - you can't put up long form debates there. 

 

Tumblr - It's a cesspit that was created by Satan to punish man for his sin.  It's a site where everything[and i mean everything] is offensive while also encouraging stalking behavior because their staff doesn't do anything.  So you're relegated to posting pictures if you want to be left alone. It also is just not logistically able to handle DISCUSSION.  It's not a good community. 

 

Reddit - It allows hate groups post on there.  I mean seriously. While it can be helpful to find tech. support issues or questions answered, I think the community is even more toxic. 

 

Conventions - While I would love to cry at Jo Berry's feet for writing such a wonderfully sad character as Samson(also can someone answer what happened to him).  I feel like you can't really be honest at a con and you can't really get into actual discussion. 

[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.

[Hanako Ikezawa]

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.

No offense, but your words about being committed to us and appreciating us rings hollow when it comes as you are kicking me to the curb and leaving me out in the cold. This was the only site I could discuss Bioware stuff with other fans, and now I have nothing. 

[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.

[TobiTobsen]

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.

 

By neglecting and ultimately sacrificing your self made and official one?

 

I'm sorry but that sounds a tad strange.

[Pearl (rip bioware)]

I called it all the way back in 2013.

 

[nightscrawl]

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.

 
THIS was our community forum!

[LastFadingSmile]

If the decision was not monetary, then that means you've just decided to cut loose a subset of your fans who wish to and are engaging in a community that you have unilaterally deemed valueless. That's...really not any better.




 

[Fredward]

Yah know, reading between the lines here, this forum has over half a million members. Now I'm sure the vast majority of that is inactive accounts but it IS, by far, the central hub of all things Bioware. As you'd expect from official forums. So I imagine the major backlash over ME3's ending and other poor choices (and potentially future poor choices) gestated here. I wonder if that's playing a role in this? Decentralize your fanbase, take away a 'unified' voice/official platform and it's easier to discard negative opinions as sour grapes for the media.

 

Hopefully this isn't precursor to MEA sucking.

 

 

[llandwynwyn]

While I relish the idea of so many BSNers being sent scrambling back to Tumblr, I'm concerned about where I'll go to find out the game mechanics. Since Bioware typically doesn't understand their own games, I've had to go to users here for an explanation. Thank you Peddro, Cyonan, and a bunch of you others for all the help.

 

Seriously.

 

I'd also like to thank them and all the others that helped us.

[Kroitz]

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.

 

If you're actively reading here, why are you closing the forum down?

[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.

[lynroy]

Also but what I don't understand is why you can't foster interactions on other sites while also having these boards.

"Supporting the great fan communities we have built" - this is a great ambition and ideal, but I don't see how it's being served by completely deleting the main one.

If BW listens to fan feedback, listen to our feedback on the idea of closing the BSN.

This is what I don't understand. Plenty of forum users also use reddit and tumblr. It makes no sense to support such communities while closing a long established one here.

[Killroy]

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.

 

Call me a doomsayer, but I suspect this move is happening in response to a lack of faith at EA/BioWare in the success of MEA and a forthcoming announcement that Dragon Age is over. If things were going great at BioWare and everything was business as usual this wouldn't be happening. EA hasn't released sales figures for DAI for a reason, and BioWare hasn't shown off MEA for a reason.

[ladyofpayne]

Pleaase don't do it!

There are materials for DAO modders. I am one of them and I need this forum to contact with my collegues!

[Sylvius the Mad]

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.

If you want to consolidate discussion elsewhere, somewhere you think promotes better discussion, that makes perfect sense. If you're concerned that the people remaining on BSN are being left behind in the collective move elsewhere, and you're closing the forum to give them a nudge in the right direction, okay.

But that's not really what you're saying. I don't think BioWare had a particularly strong communications strategy surrounding this decision.

[byne]

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.

 

It stops for me. I'm not going to use twitter or reddit or tumblr on the off chance a BW employee randomly sees it and responds. I will simply no longer give feedback about your games, and I imagine many other people will as well. In your focus on other websites, you are alienating your biggest fans. I legitimately dont see how you believe this is a good idea.

 

Four years ago when Mass Effect 3 came out, I started the Indoctrination Theory thread. I made great friends in that thread. Many of which I still talk to every single day. I have never made a single friend in the impersonal atmosphere of reddit, tumblr, or twitter. Had there not been official forums, I would have missed out on meeting all those people, and missed out on the great experience of discussing the game with people genuinely invested in the setting. You are destroying your community, and dont seem to care.

[Sylvius the Mad]

Pleaase don't do it!
There are materials for DAO modders. I am one of them and I need this forum to contact with my collegues!

They're not going to change their mind.

You've got 4 weeks. Work with your colleagues and rescue what you can.

[prosthetic soul]

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

That's Bioware for you.  First they turn away the collective then they turn away individuals.  You should be ashamed.

[MisterJB]

[Steelcan]

They're not going to change their mind.

You've got 4 weeks. Work with your colleagues and rescue what you can.

[nightscrawl]

This is what I don't understand. Plenty of forum users also use reddit and tumblr. It makes no sense to support such communities while closing a long established one here.

I'd like to know what devs actually use Tumblr. David Gaider had one, but he closed his, and of course he's gone now. I already follow Matt Rhodes for the awesome art, but I don't know of anyone else.