Kevall Longstride
DUST University
Ivy League
438
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Posted - 2013.08.12 09:38:00 -
[1] - Quote
This is pretty much an accurate summation of the current situation with the game. But what the CPM and CCP are having to deal with is that poor decisions made two years ago are still having a ripple effect within the game and have slowed the pace of development within it.
Uprising 1.2 should've been the beta build first released to us for evaluation, so by my reckoning this game is roughly 1 year behind where it should be. There has been a catalogue of errors in design judgement made by CCP and left in the game too long before fixing and compounding other problems in later builds.
Without exception, every one of these mistakes could've been prevented with faster communication and feedback to the players in the forums, an actionable plan drawn up with a publicly accessible and regularly updated roadmap for the game on the forums, much like the one for Planetside 2.
I find it encouraging however that in recent weeks there seems to be a increase in community interaction from some members of the Dev team (no need to name them, we all know who they are) and this seems to be spreading to other members of the team as they begin to see the benefits of player feedback earlier in the design phase.
The move that CCP have made that gives me real hope and a raises my opitislm is that CCP Flying Scotman is now in Shanghai and part of the Dust team. With one of CCP's most senior designers now in place we should see a real change in the pace of development of Dust. But the positve effects of him being over there is unlikely to bear real fruit until 1.5/.6, so I would ask the players to give him a little time to get settled and see what changes he has to make before giving him any static.
That said however CCP should still be free to come up with ideas and plans without feeling that they should check with the CPM and community for EVERY design choice. It gets dangourously close to design by committee which is never a good thing and I believe goes slightly beyond the remit of the CPM should that end up being the case. CCP should bring in comment from the CPM and by extension the community after preparatory work is done on a feature but BEFORE resources are committed to actioning them. That way a healthy balance is struck and CCP can save time and money if the CPM can tell them that it needs more more work or if there is a problem with it.
Now, there are a number of players still out there who think that statements like this are not what CPM0 should be doing and all they should only be concerned with coming up with a way to elect CPM1.
They're entitled to that opinion but I feel that they have missed the point of CPM0 entirely. There is little point in coming up with an election plan if by the time that elected body starts their term, they're being stonewalled by a undifined process of communication and protocol for dealling with CCP. CPM1 should be able to start work on day one of their term doing what they're going to be elected to do without having to discuss who and how they should be talking to to get something done.
As someone who has decided to stand to for CPM1 when the time comes (and yes, that time will come naysayers) I'm incredibly grateful for the work that CPM0 have done so far and glad CCP didn't pick me for the gig. I would've had to say no anyway. Getting DUST University up, running and stable was something that I felt would be a better contribution for me to make to the game in the long run. Particularly as the game has zero NPE at this point, something I will be pushing very hard for should I get elected.
As to the calls from some, for CCP to start again, well thats just impracticable at this point. 18 months ago it would've have been viable once details of the next gen consoles were known (one of those ripple effect decisions I spoke of earlier) but now it would be the death of Dust.
So broadly speaking I support this statement from the CPM and the recent posts since from members of the CPM since its posting regarding conversations that they've had with CCP is encouraging and seems to have lit a fire under Shanghai. |