Silence on the 22Cans forum

That seems more than likely given that noone from 22Cans actually uses that forum.

Fair enough, there is a lot of negativity there.  

Was as it negative because the project team didn't deliver what people expected?
Was it that things were over promised?  Smoke and mirrors?
Did folk want more than they bought?
Was everyone just horrible because they could be?

interested in your perspective.

Thanks Umbra. Godus certainly has raised some passion! Thank you for your answers.

I think that all I ever wanted was for communication, good, bad or indifferent. I don't care for a refund and if what was / is delivered is as was described on the Kickstarter blurb then I'll live with that. Even if I didn't initially read it properly enough.

It sounds like you think we should feel bad for them for getting upset over them screwing us over. They got their cash by lying and so they made this bed and now they have to lie in it. It is really immature that they have to HIDE from their backers, because we are so scary to them. In the business world if you don't provide what you promise investors there are consequences. I respect EA for at last facing it's problems with it's players and owning up to it's shortcomings. I don't respect Godus for pulling up the drawbridge and hiding in their castle of silence. They are not children and there is no excuse for not handling this situation as adults do. I don't like what my patrons tell me sometimes in business, but you have to take the calls and answer them accordingly or soon won't have anymore patrons.

The internet is a tool, almost like a sword. It can be double edged. If you are going to use it as 22cans did to obtain their funds, then you should also be prepared for the downside to it. You should hire someone adept at managing people and you should know that anything you ever post on the internet stays there forever. If you promise X, you better provide it, or be prepared to account for why. You should know that people are more likely to not hold back via the internet and you should have contingency plans in plans for when things go awry. They have never provided a person like that.

It is not just the backers forum. They handled it so poorly that now they have people screaming at them at Steam and Facebook as well. They have repeatedly said they would provide something and then provided something different. They did not want to hear the input many many Alpha backers tried to give them, that had nothing to do with negativity. They yanked the Alpha away after only a few updates and very short period of time. They opened up for more backers conveniently just in time for Beta to now be available. Another brief period of time and they opened up Steam early access. Each time they did so, they ticked off the backer tier they screwed over by doing so.

As far as the delay and timing for game. I don't really have an issue with an actual delay. Stuff happens and you have to take the time you need to take. I never would have donated the amount I did I had known they were going to act this way. I also think that the game as it stands is nothing like any game most backers wanted. I think if they wanted backers for a F2P game, they should have been honest with the presentation of what the game was going to be.

Their next biggest mistake was trying to quiet the masses. The more you try to put out that fire, the hotter it will burn.

Qetesh - you make a few points but I am wondering how 22Cans could ever win? Them going onto Kickstarter, on reflection, was never going to work.

You produce something you are proud of, call it an Alpha and the masses don't like it. You carry on as you have invested too much and may not agree with the points people are making and release it as beta. It gets worse. What do you do?

If it had not been launched on Kickstarter, maybe you'd have a rethink and rework and widen out to an Alpha audience and see what happens. They find it difficult to do this now as whatever they do now is likely to be seen as polishing a turd.

I have no idea what Peter is like. Probably driven and motivated with a strong desire to succeed. The only thing Jupiter sized is his ego and his ability to promise the world whilst being accompanied by sycophants and those stupid cigarettes.

Buying in at a low level gives me the option of being philosophical. If the shutters come down, I'll be disappointed but accepting.

I moved this chunk of posts out of the welcome thread because it was sort of going off topic there.

Fair point. I can agree it is much deeper than the forum. It did not help though. I was quite disappointed by what happened with the forum and was pissed that I gave someone a gift that ended up not being what they wanted. For me it is like I went and bought a loved one an "awesome" gift like a sports car that the dealer tells me it has ability to handle curves and go off road and then after they get it, they find out it actually is a four cylinder they can neither go off road or handle the curves well but instead I should be happy because it is great on gas. If I wanted to buy him a car that was good on gas, I would have. I wanted to buy one that ate up the gas, handled the curves and could go off road.

I also loved the idea that was presented about him having this input to the game and the Alpha, Beta and everything else it offered. When the forum was neglected it felt like a slap in the face. Then the censorship began, which as said before, made it ten times worse. I look at the forum as a big part of why I picked this gift for him. I would have most likely still made the pledge for a gift, but it would have been much much less.

I will say, the only regret I don't have from the experience thus far has been a group of amazing and interesting people we have gotten to know on the forum. That is the brightest silver lining I see so far. I hope at some point they release a better game, time will tell.

I ate it, and gave you one that sucks.

You mean to say, Poo is inte-... no, that is rude of me. Godus isn't poopie.