Lord Ba'al
Supreme Deity
Posts: 6,260
Pledge level: Half a Partner
I like: Cats; single malt Scotch; Stargate; Amiga; fried potatoes; retro gaming; cheese; snickers; sticky tape.
I don't like: Dimples in the bottom of scotch bottles; Facebook games masquerading as godgames.
Steam: stonelesscutter
GOG: stonelesscutter
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Post by Lord Ba'al on Jun 22, 2015 18:11:12 GMT
If you were in the position of CEO and/or in charge of PR for 22Cans and you were faced with the godus community as it is, how would you approach it and what kind of actions would you plan to take?
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Post by Deth on Jun 22, 2015 18:48:37 GMT
Well first depending on the financials of the company I would look at offering, at least to the kick starter backers a refund minus what physical rewards they had. I would let them keep any keys they had. I would then set down and figure out the short term and long term plans for the game and put out a road map, with out any form of dates just things we want to do and the order we would like to do them, with the disclaimer in big letters at the top saying this is subject to change.
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Post by eddiemonsta on Jun 22, 2015 18:51:17 GMT
it's a difficult question to answer without looking through rose tinted spectacles. The majority of regular contributors on these and the steam forums are obviously coming at this from the perspective of a PC gamer, and not a mobile gamer, so obviously we would make decisions based around improving the PC experience but whether we like it or not (and clearly NOT is the general consensus) the current incarnation of godus seems to be a fairly successful mobile title. I don't want to get into what was promised here (that's been done elsewhere on numerous occasions) so here is what I think I would do going forwards from this point onwards.
I'd start by thoroughly researching all the forums. Gather data on the most common complaints (and compliments), engage with the users and take it from there. Next, I'd make the decision to split PC and mobile development. To this end, i'd hire a couple of programmers to ensure godus mobile could keep getting content updates (new worlds, new voyages, new ages etc.) to keep it going while it was making money. I'd then concentrate the bulk of my efforts into reverting godus to what made it a more enjoyable PC experience (pre V2) but incorporating the lessons learned by doing V2, all the while discussing and iterating with the help of the communities on the forums. (those rose tinted spectacles have slipped back on!) I'd like to think I would be honest about what is achievable going forwards and try to rebuild the confidence in said communities to help develop the best game i/we could.
That would be my manifesto anyways. What sayeth you all?
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Lord Ba'al
Supreme Deity
Posts: 6,260
Pledge level: Half a Partner
I like: Cats; single malt Scotch; Stargate; Amiga; fried potatoes; retro gaming; cheese; snickers; sticky tape.
I don't like: Dimples in the bottom of scotch bottles; Facebook games masquerading as godgames.
Steam: stonelesscutter
GOG: stonelesscutter
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Post by Lord Ba'al on Jun 22, 2015 18:54:59 GMT
Okay, let's now assume that the company is not doing so well financially and refunds are therefore not really an option.
Additional question, how would you try to engage with the community?
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Post by Spiderweb on Jun 22, 2015 18:58:07 GMT
If you were in the position of CEO and/or in charge of PR for 22Cans and you were faced with the godus community as it is, how would you approach it and what kind of actions would you plan to take? Find a way to prove they are listening to feedback and show it makes it into the game. |
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Post by totallytim on Jun 22, 2015 19:00:30 GMT
I would fire Peter Molyneux.
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Lord Ba'al
Supreme Deity
Posts: 6,260
Pledge level: Half a Partner
I like: Cats; single malt Scotch; Stargate; Amiga; fried potatoes; retro gaming; cheese; snickers; sticky tape.
I don't like: Dimples in the bottom of scotch bottles; Facebook games masquerading as godgames.
Steam: stonelesscutter
GOG: stonelesscutter
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Post by Lord Ba'al on Jun 22, 2015 19:02:27 GMT
Now envisage yourself in the situation where the community is sick and tired of giving feedback because it has been seemingly ignored over and over for a number of years. Also imagine that everything you say is getting scrutinized and turned against you, even things that you could have never seen being taken badly and that came from a sincere wish to do good for the community.
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Post by eddiemonsta on Jun 22, 2015 19:09:30 GMT
Okay, let's now assume that the company is not doing so well financially and refunds are therefore not really an option. Additional question, how would you try to engage with the community? well this first thing to do is make my presence known (much like simon, colin et al appear to be doing at the moment). I think Spiderweb nails the second step. You grow and build from there. Once the community feels it is being listened to, it will re-engage. Once you have an open dialogue with the community it must surely be easier to discuss sucesses and failures within development, and move forwards collectively from there. I think honesty is the key here to rebuilding the trust. |
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Post by eddiemonsta on Jun 22, 2015 19:12:49 GMT
Now envisage yourself in the situation where the community is sick and tired of giving feedback because it has been seemingly ignored over and over for a number of years. Also imagine that everything you say is getting scrutinized and turned against you, even things that you could have never seen being taken badly and that came from a sincere wish to do good for the community. There is enough feedback from the years of development to be able to prove you are listening. |
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Lord Ba'al
Supreme Deity
Posts: 6,260
Pledge level: Half a Partner
I like: Cats; single malt Scotch; Stargate; Amiga; fried potatoes; retro gaming; cheese; snickers; sticky tape.
I don't like: Dimples in the bottom of scotch bottles; Facebook games masquerading as godgames.
Steam: stonelesscutter
GOG: stonelesscutter
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Post by Lord Ba'al on Jun 22, 2015 19:17:03 GMT
Yes so you have established your presence and you've put out a few info updates and garnered some goodwill with the community. But you know the project is still burdened by a shitload of heavy baggage from the past. You also know that the project is not going anywhere fast real soon, meaning that there are things that are being worked on but it will still take a considerable amount of time before anything significant can be presented to the community. You also suspect that the community may be disappointed by the result when it is finally presented and it is well known that the state that the community is in will likely mean that there will be a severe backlash when it is presented.
What do you do in the meantime (several months) in order to keep the community engaged and interested? What can you do to maximize goodwill and minimize anger and frustration?
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Post by mindless on Jun 22, 2015 19:22:02 GMT
I would start paying byran henderson. Back pay for all the time he should have been a god by now plus compensation for royaly screwing him over.
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Post by eddiemonsta on Jun 22, 2015 19:22:28 GMT
Yes so you have established your presence and you've put out a few info updates and garnered some goodwill with the community. But you know the project is still burdened by a shitload of heavy baggage from the past. You also know that the project is not going anywhere fast real soon, meaning that there are things that are being worked on but it will still take a considerable amount of time before anything significant can be presented to the community. You also suspect that the community may be disappointed by the result when it is finally presented and it is well known that the state that the community is in will likely mean that there will be a severe backlash when it is presented. What do you do in the meantime (several months) in order to keep the community engaged and interested? What can you do to maximize goodwill and minimize anger and frustration? Get the community manager on side to pacify said community?  (just joking Lord Ba'al don't ban me!) Take a lot of class A drugs? I'd probably go back to being a software engineer and be done with it, to be honest. |
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Post by mindless on Jun 22, 2015 19:32:52 GMT
What can you do to maximize goodwill and minimize anger and frustration? Stripper party |
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Post by Spiderweb on Jun 22, 2015 19:32:52 GMT
Discuss ideas and feasibility of implementing them in relevant threads, I think there was discussion of a game council, people the gamers could talk to, to in turn advocate and promote good ideas directly with the dev/designers. Edit: via some sort of openly readable forum, where everyone could see these discussions.
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Lord Ba'al
Supreme Deity
Posts: 6,260
Pledge level: Half a Partner
I like: Cats; single malt Scotch; Stargate; Amiga; fried potatoes; retro gaming; cheese; snickers; sticky tape.
I don't like: Dimples in the bottom of scotch bottles; Facebook games masquerading as godgames.
Steam: stonelesscutter
GOG: stonelesscutter
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Post by Lord Ba'al on Jun 22, 2015 19:35:17 GMT
Discuss ideas and feasibility of implementing them in relevant threads, I think there was discussion of a game council, people the gamers could talk to, to I turn advocate and promote good ideas directly with the dev/designers. Isn't that sort of what the mods are supposedly already doing? Explain more about this game council, how would that work exactly? |
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Post by 13thGeneral on Jun 22, 2015 19:36:54 GMT
Honesty, not hyperbole about the features they are working on and the future ideas they have. Let it out, and don't pour soy milk in our cereal and call it "exciting" without explaining why; if you are working on some feature that has the potential to be I'll received, but is a necessity for the overall process, tell us why and ask for a bit of patience in the meantime. As long as you are being genuine in that regard, and not bullshitting just to drag things out as long as possible,then the majority of people will at least be pleased you were upfront about it and providing information.
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Post by Aynen on Jun 22, 2015 19:37:48 GMT
If I was in charge of the whole thing, I'd aim for making a symbioticly related pair of games, so the mobile version and the PC version can be different but both benefit from each other. Even if there would be more money to be made in mobile, the Steam version would thus still be viable as it contributes to the success of the mobile version while allowing it to be different from it. Imagine if mobile players and PC players were 2 different types of god, who can benefit from working together. If I'd only be in charge of the community team, it gets much harder. I would have no control over where development goes. A lot of it is waiting for content to be ready so we can actually show you proof of progress. And I wouldn't have control over what that content ends up being. Yet 'going dark' until new content is ready is not a very E.A. thing to do either. On top of that, no matter how I'd change things, I'd inherrit the past, and the attitude that comes along with it. Even with a new CEO, people don't let go of the past easily. Without finished new content, I don't think there's that much a community leader can do in this situation. Persevere, hope that design makes all the right decisions. Keep trying to get a constructive dialogue going. Basically to be more stubborn than everyone else  And I'd insist that I have to be part of every single meeting held at 22Cans ever, so I can represent the community's interests where it matters most; during meetings where decisions are being made. It wouldn't change how it looks on the outside, but I do think it's the best way to keep Godus going in what the community feels is the right direction. You would probably not notice anything for a good long time though. |
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Post by Spiderweb on Jun 22, 2015 19:47:31 GMT
Discuss ideas and feasibility of implementing them in relevant threads, I think there was discussion of a game council, people the gamers could talk to, to I turn advocate and promote good ideas directly with the dev/designers. Isn't that sort of what the mods are supposedly already doing? Explain more about this game council, how would that work exactly? I edited my OP, but basically, a larger group of active community members 12 maybe?(invited from all the forums By 22 cans or voted for by players), talk to and collect, advocate refined suggestions from all players suggestions, discuss among themselves (but still visibly) to target the current most important items to the community, then actively engage the devs with questions in another viewable medium on a semi-regular basis. Get their opinions/feasibility, all in an open medium. End product being items hopefully making it into sprints. |
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Lord Ba'al
Supreme Deity
Posts: 6,260
Pledge level: Half a Partner
I like: Cats; single malt Scotch; Stargate; Amiga; fried potatoes; retro gaming; cheese; snickers; sticky tape.
I don't like: Dimples in the bottom of scotch bottles; Facebook games masquerading as godgames.
Steam: stonelesscutter
GOG: stonelesscutter
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Post by Lord Ba'al on Jun 22, 2015 19:51:17 GMT
Not noticing anything for a long time is not a good thing though. The community grows restless awfully quick. Even if they get an information update once a week there is generally not enough information to keep people satisfied.
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Post by Deth on Jun 22, 2015 19:53:33 GMT
Yes so you have established your presence and you've put out a few info updates and garnered some goodwill with the community. But you know the project is still burdened by a shitload of heavy baggage from the past. You also know that the project is not going anywhere fast real soon, meaning that there are things that are being worked on but it will still take a considerable amount of time before anything significant can be presented to the community. You also suspect that the community may be disappointed by the result when it is finally presented and it is well known that the state that the community is in will likely mean that there will be a severe backlash when it is presented. What do you do in the meantime (several months) in order to keep the community engaged and interested? What can you do to maximize goodwill and minimize anger and frustration? For this I think I would go back and dig through all the suggestions but out and get a master list, or pull out the master list that that our community managers were gathering and giving to someone on the development side........ I would then pick x number a week and go over them say what the team like and don't like about each and maybe rate them on likely hood of them ever making it into the game. This might help the community understand where the game might be heading. |
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(just joking 
And I'd insist that I have to be part of every single meeting held at 22Cans ever, so I can represent the community's interests where it matters most; during meetings where decisions are being made. It wouldn't change how it looks on the outside, but I do think it's the best way to keep Godus going in what the community feels is the right direction. You would probably not notice anything for a good long time though.
Aug 21, 2024 19:32:37 GMT
Aug 21, 2024 19:32:37 GMT
