Nova Knife
Seituoda Taskforce Command
Caldari State
1888
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Posted - 2013.09.05 06:51:00 -
[1] - Quote
Quote:
I think it is incumbent upon CCP to step up and take on the role of the adult in the playpen. Or, umm, sandbox. And not one of the combatants.
I think this is the wrong mindset.
Historically, over-moderation just leads to the perception of company tyranny and almost always leads to more discourse than before the moderation effort began. Along a similar line, I have never seen a community team taking an authoritative stance that has resulted in a well behaved community, or that community team being well loved by the playerbase at large.
Both points can be expanded to include an entire company and remain relevant.
In order to win over the hearts and minds of players and change the tone of the forums, CCP must first change their own. "Talk more" is a loaded point, tbh. Yes, they need to communicate with us. But the difference between frequency and efficiency & tone is everything. They don't need to tell their entire staff to post daily with meaningless quips like Logibro and Mintchip do. They just need to make more down-to-earth posts, toned with respect and treating the players as peers, not as underlings in some non-existent pyramid of control and smugness.
Logibro is the key example, here. He approaches the players as peers, and easily comes off as 'one of the guys' as the entire playerbase knows he was a pretty well known player before he was hired, and (mostly) retains his humility and stuck true to his roots of first and foremost being a bro to the community. This is what the entire structure of CCP needs to learn and emulate. What is important is not how /often/ you engage your community... The important bit is the /how/ you engage with your community.
The entire game industry treats their customers like mentally disabled vermin who only exist to feed them money, and gamer nerds are sick of it and despise the companies that treat them so. (See: EA being voted worst company in the world two years running)
What people want more than anything is honesty, and humility. They don't want a company that comes off as haughty. They want a company that will give it to them straight. They want a company that will treat them with respect, and if given will respond in kind. Gone is the age when the majority of gamers were mostly children. Now is the age where many of those children who grew up with a NES in their living room have grown into intelligent adults, and look in vain towards companies to recognize and engage with them as such. Yet, the majority of companies out there (CCP included) still refuse to see the intelligence in their players, and treat them as though they were still inferior children.
CCP needs to
- Address players as peers, not as underlings - Treat players with respect, never talking down to them.
- Assume their customers are (mostly) intelligent capable people, and when communicating with informative posts always assume they can (or have the capability to) understand the nitty gritty. Offer an explanation for the layman if felt necessary but never 'dumb down' a post, as players find this insulting. The devil is in the details, and if you don't include the details for the sake of simplicity.... key points can easily be overlooked by all.
- Never take a defensive, reactionary stance to player discontent. (I won't expand on this as I've bitched CCP out in private over this enough)
And in turn, the Playerbase needs to
- Cut CCP some slack ; I know they are terrible at this communication thing, but we need to help each other here. If things are ever going to get better.
- Discourage the mentality of being banned from the forums as being a 'badge of honor'
- Confine shitposting to the locker room and war room forum subsections. It's okay to be a jerk in the right places. Being a jerk everywhere doesn't help anyone.
- Continue to provide excellent, well-thought feedback. Despite the perception of being ignored all this time, if we want CCP to change... They cannot be able to look to us and say "Well, the players are being little *****, we're supposed to listen to THEM?" (Not saying they do, but I think this illustrates the point) If we want respect and maturity from CCP, we've got to give as good as we expect to receive. We cannot truly complain about CCP not taking the players seriously if we don't have strong ground to stand on. We always must be the strong link in the feedback chain, for that process to be truly valuable and desired by CCP.
TL:DR
CCP needs to learn how to talk to their community, just as we need to learn to talk to them (AND each other) in a way that is efficient, timely, and actionable. This is a bridge that requires both sides to build in order for it to function. Only then can we have peace on these forums. Only then can CCP take their rightful place as a beloved hero in the gaming industry. |