2483 ответов в этой теме

[CHRrOME]

I just want to talk about something I love with like-minded people. I have no one irl to talk to about dwarves and dragons and crap.

This is all I have, and it'll be gone.

/12th post whinging

 

I know right. 

[JobacNoor]

Things like video games may have become more popular, but being a gamer or any kind of geek/nerd/whatever is still a bad thing, according to society. Seriously, if you have any non-geek friends and you play tabletop games, don't tell them or they'll probably stop interacting with you. You have people like Devin Faraci wanting to return to the days when nerds were bullied in school (little does he know, they still are) and Robyn Vinter who thinks someone striking up small talk about Pokemon Go is sexual harassment. Personally, I blame The Big Bang Theory more than anything, people aren't wrong when they say that show is blackface for geeks.

 

It's blackface for comedy as well.

[o Ventus]

I have yet to post on a game related forum that didn't suffer from some level of toxicity, some far worse than others. (I'm looking at you, Black Desert Online.) 

 

Anytime you have a large group of people who are emotionally invested in something, and gamers definitely fall into that category, drama will rear its ugly head. Unfortunately, some people just can't grasp the art of constructive criticism - they have to resort to insults and threats, and those people I just straight up ignore. Maybe I have a thicker skin than some, but that kind of behavior amuses me rather than upsets me. I ignore it and move on. I have to wonder why a dev can't do the same?

 

One thing that has surprised me about this forum is how seemingly meaningless this warning point system is. I've come across threads where people were actually bragging about how many warning points they've accumulated - from a few to hundreds. I've seen posters repeatedly get warned or at most a 24hr ban for pornographic fanart. The moderation here seems so hit and miss. It's difficult to moderate a forum accused of high levels of toxicity  when the moderators themselves are so inconsistent. 

 

The warning point system is entirely pointless. Some days I'll be given a warning point for disagreeing with somebody (and being kind of a d**k about it, I'll admit), other days I'll straight up be banned for a day or two. As of right now I have 8 warning points, and nothing has ever happened to my posting privileges outside of the aforementioned bans. The warning points aren't even mentioned in the site rules, so who knows what kind of arcane formulas they follow.

[Heimdall]

That's kinda what I'm hoping for. I'm hoping the community team gets bombarded with so much respectful and constructive feedback about needing this type of setting that a new forum is launched later. IDK, I'm probably hoping for something that may never happen, but I can't really do much else.

it could happen. I could see them trying for a clean slate, wiping away the previous threads and starting entirely fresh after a few months, everyone starting with new profiles. Maybe they'd make separate forums for each franchise? Keep the fanbase more segregated? Whatever that would accomplish...

[The Qun & the Damned]

But, this is where i can get weird about games and make terrible inside jokes with people who, for some wonderfully hideous reason, enjoy them :'(

[LPPrince]

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

 

 

And I'm sorry for the million reports I sent you via PM back in the day.

[Kaidan Fan]

Well, I've saved all 140 pages of the thread, for what it's worth. I've been considering the option of immortalizing them in an imgur album as the "lazy solution" when I've more time to spare. Maybe they'll be up on whatever-forum us BSN-ers deem as this forum's successor.

Let's have a final moment of silence for Mass Effect Paint Adventures.

Spoiler

As for what's in the future of these BioWare Paint Adventures... I don't know. I've always wanted to do a Dragon Age series and had a couple of templates prepared for that (the different races of Thedas). Right now, I'm busy with the on-going sequel to Old Republic Paint Adventures. I'll probably have to finish that one first before starting something new.


It's been a good run, folks! I'll meet you over at the new place when the time comes!

I forgot about this and how much I LOVED it.  I'm going to have to see if I can dig it up tomorrow.  I laughed to tears over this just now. 

 

We're going to lose all these little gems

[Iakus]

That's kinda what I'm hoping for. I'm hoping the community team gets bombarded with so much respectful and constructive feedback about needing this type of setting that a new forum is launched later. IDK, I'm probably hoping for something that may never happen, but I can't really do much else. 

Eh, didn't work for the Off-Topic section.  But maybe it'll be different this time?

 

it could happen. I could see them trying for a clean slate, wiping away the previous threads and starting entirely fresh after a few months, everyone starting with new profiles. Maybe they'd make separate forums for each franchise? Keep the fanbase more segregated? Whatever that would accomplish...

Like "a cleansing fire"?  

[Ardent Blossom]

Dear Bioware,

 

I have been playing Bioware games since KOTOR, but I only became active in the forums after playing Inquisition. That game ripped out my heart, and so I sought comfort HERE. I kept coming back to this forum because I found the perfect nook for discussing the rich lore in your games HERE. We, the forum users, want to stay HERE. We want to continue to discuss the amazing things you will offer us in the future, HERE. Twitter, Facebook, and whatever newfangled stuff the kids are using is just not the place for in depth discussions on the many topics Bioware games touch from LGBTQ issues and diversity to religion and politics. They are fine for sending off random little complaints or compliments to developers, but that is not what this forum was largely used for. Just look at the wide variety of thread topics. New social media cannot fill the void which will be left by the closure of BSN.

 

Please reconsider, Bioware. These threads are where your most devout fans gather. They are a safe place where we learn, grow, and share our love for the art you make. We have woven together a fine tapestry over the years, and it would be a terrible shame to find it unraveled and lost.

 

With Warmest Regards,

A Disappointed Fan

[Rifneno]

 

Speaking of Priestly, here's a little exchange from EAware's Facebook page:

 

(Poster A) "I guess BioWare doesn't value community or the feedback that community provides...
That or Andromeda is really going to s*ck and they just don't want to deal with the criticism (I say this as a long time fan of the Mass Effect games - including ME3 - who was / kind of still is looking forward to Andromeda)."

 

(Poster B ) "Or maybe they are tired of being torn about by people who clam to be their fans. Constructive criticism is one thing but right now you have people who act more like online bully's then fans who want to give legit feedback."

 

(Poster A) "Sure there are some bullies - every forum has those - but most of the people I've conversed with on the BioWare forums have provided some great insights. Or, at the very least, provided some great discussions."

 

(BioWare) "We value and seek out the feedback our players give us. Despite the closure, we will always be listening."

 

(Poster A) "Since you're closing your own forums, where exactly will you be doing this listening?"

 

(Chris Priestly) "[Poster A] being a prime negative example of why the forums need to be closed. Instead of looking for new opportunities, dwell on negatives and criticize without factual basis."

 

Apparently asking them where they plan to listen to the fan feedback they keep saying they care about so much is a prime example of why the forum needs to be shut down.

 

 

It's ironic that they talk about the community being toxic when they made this guy a community manager.  Priestly is far and away the most toxic and combative person I've seen on BW's forums.

[o Ventus]

It's blackface for comedy as well.

 

This too, but then I've never actually seen a primetime sitcom that was legitimately funny.

[Alamact]

I forgot about this and how much I LOVED it.  I'm going to have to see if I can dig it up tomorrow.  I laughed to tears over this just now. 

 

We're going to lose all these little gems

I've always considered threads like these a pure product of how good a community actually is.

So many inside jokes were built inside that thread alone - and they weren't made by just one guy, but by a grand collective that was the BSN.

[duckley]

Seconded. I work in tech, but I've never done community manager jobs. In one of my earlier jobs, I made the mistake of looking at user reviews unfiltered.
Let me tell you, it's completely different when you work for the company that's bearing the brunt of all the "joy" the internet offers. You start to feel personally responsible for every bad experience users have, no matter how trivial or dumb. It whips you into this insane frenzy of self-loathing and desire to read more and more, to know everything anyone has ever disliked about your product.
Nonwithstanding that, I ultimately still had the option to stop reading. And - eventually - I did. I had to. I don't have the patience or the fortitude. But I'm well aware that other teams in my company don't have that option. It's their job to drink from the sewage hose. To wade through the criticisms and the bile for stuff that can actually be turned into bug reports. To polish the one or two diamonds in it, as gifts to the other teams when morale flags.
Community managers, user support, and all those kinds of people, ARE SAINTS. If Allan and Conal say it's become impossible to deal with the forums, I believe them. A selfish part of me is hoping there's some way of making it work by picking community mods, but I understand where they're coming from.

I just wish they would have said this was the reason in the first place

[o Ventus]

It's ironic that they talk about the community being toxic when they made this guy a community manager.  Priestly is far and away the most toxic and combative person I've seen on BW's forums.

 

I actually cheered when I heard he was leaving Bioware. He left CDPR sometime fairly recently too (still as a CM) and now he's unemployed IIRC.

[Masque]

The warning point system is entirely pointless. Some days I'll be given a warning point for disagreeing with somebody (and being kind of a d**k about it, I'll admit), other days I'll straight up be banned for a day or two. As of right now I have 8 warning points, and nothing has ever happened to my posting privileges outside of the aforementioned bans. The warning points aren't even mentioned in the site rules, so who knows what kind of arcane formulas they follow.

 

Heh. Joke's on me then. When I signed up I was under the impression that warning points were bad and accumulating too many of them would result in a ban. 

[vertigomez]

Like "a cleansing fire"?  

I'M READY.

[o Ventus]

Heh. Joke's on me then. When I signed up I was under the impression that warning points were bad and accumulating too many of them would result in a ban. 

 

That's what I thought, but then I read the site rules and warning points were nowhere to be seen, like they were introduced after the rules were written and they forgot to update the rules.

[LPPrince]

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.

 

 

I talk to Barrett Rodych regularly as a friend rather than dev-fan interaction, so thats a solid point for Twitter.

 

I just wish we could have Twitter AND this, rather than either/or.

[BigEvil]

Well, it's a shame the place is going, had a lot of fun times here. This is (was) the only forum I still used to discuss anything, or to read discussions others were having even if I didn't participate, keep up to date on news for the upcoming games, etc. Hell, outside of Bioware I've never really followed the development of a game closely. 

 

All the other social media alternatives are ultimately useless to me. You can't have a proper discussion involving two people on Twitter, let alone dozens. I don't use Tumblr, and it doesn't seem to be a worthwhile place for a myriad of discussion topics in one place involving many different people. Youtube, again, the comment system is not set up in a way that works like forums like this work. 

 

The only use I've gotten out of Reddit is occasionally finding topics on bugs/glitches I'm encountering or tips and tricks type stuff.

 

Having now learned of the forum Vroom set up, I'll maybe check that out.

 

This all seems less like Bioware engaging the community elsewhere and more like sticking their fingers in their ears "la-la-la, can't hear you." Perhaps a bit harsh, and most of the Bioware folks seem nice enough I don't mean to insult them. The point is, the "community" on Facebook or Twitter falls into two categories, people saying "I hate this", that Bioware can easily ignore on those platforms and people saying "I love this", which might be nice to hear but won't tell them anything of substance. Maybe they have people going out there gauging the fan's interest in things, paying attention to things fan's want. But will they hear fans on social media telling them things like "Please give us a storage chest in Skyhold" or will they just hear rage and adoration about romance options?

 

I'll miss the fun I had in the Twitter threads from time to time, seeing information gathered in a central place and the enthusiasm of the posters there. I'll miss the theories people crafted about so many things, like who or what Flemeth really was before we knew, connections between the Old Gods and the Elven pantheon and more. I'll certainly miss the bad screenshot thread for DA:I and all the laughs found there-in. Well, I already missed Off-Topic.

 

The only song I could think of for walking away

 

[Mlady]

I've always considered threads like these a pure product of how good a community actually is.

So many inside jokes were built inside that thread alone - and they weren't made by just one guy, but by a grand collective that was the BSN.

 

I think what the company is missing out is that to us this isn't a forum. It's a home. It's OUR home. And we are a bickering insane and lovable family that can/can't tolerate each other on the best or worst of days. Yes we can chat anywhere about their games but this place is where we found each other and though we are all different this place accepted everyone. I've joined a forum mostly for my Solas group pals but what of the others? I can't chat with them because they are all about ME or don't like Solas. That leaves me having to join 5-6 boards just to keep up. That's why we are sad and angry and hurt.

[SPACE_GREASER]

Hey guys, you know what would be funny? Is if we got conal lepew or whatever to lock his own thread

[o Ventus]

I talk to Barrett Rodych regularly as a friend rather than dev-fan interaction, so thats a solid point for Twitter.

 

I just wish we could have Twitter AND this, rather than either/or.

 

For around the last 5 or so years (just going by my presence here, I've been here for around 5 years) it WAS Twitter and this, which makes this decision all the more baffling. It's not like Bioware can only have X amount of social media platforms in use.

[Cassandra Saturn]

Today was the first day I posted in roughly 17 months or so, so don't read too much into my being here on the forum.  I came back because I had heard the news and after reading through this thread decided to log back in again.

Allen, you and Brojo are only ones that actually made most of us, the community to respect, love you for what you have done for us all. although i honestly will miss our talks on the forum. it would be nice to talk to you again should Bioware decides to be its own entity again and maybe reopen the forums.

[Sylvius the Mad]

Hey guys, you know what would be funny? Is if we got conal lepew or whatever to lock his own thread

That would make their point for them.

That's a terrible idea.

[Zehealingman]

Alright, I'll be serious for once.

I regret it that I've only been lurking on the BSN. Sure, I had a more active forum phase before the DA:I release. Afterwards, I was a little bit active on the DAMP forums. But that's really it, save for some sh*tposts.

Yet I never really participated in a character thread. I'd have loved to talk to you guys about some
of my favourite characters (Miranda ftw) but now it's too late. And that's a shame. Sure, there are plenty of ME/DA fans on the BW subreddits, but those aren't really places where you talk about specific characters for about 3000 pages. This is why message bords are so great.