Yo Peter and Jack and the dev team! Let's jam!

Okay, so I'm not going nuts here thinking there's something in what I've been pushing and Jack's response that somehow flipped things on their head. All these past few responses have been having me scratching my head (and are part of the reason my questions amount to blunt hammers on past issues), because I'm going...Wait what guys, there's nothing more we can do here. We can polish these questions however we want, it's all on them now and we've seen how they've behaved in the past so I don't have the faintest idea how we can have this be any different.

All I've got to work with are the questions/requests you guys have posed and the possibility of organizing them about and maybe tossing in something to do with some shared expectations from us, which on that last point I'm not really sure what we could put there that isn't already implicit in the questions.

Yeah...I honestly expected significantly more of Stony's responses. Not to say I also didn't expect Tigrismorte, Morsealworth, and CrumpySix's responses here, but I seriously thought the Steam thread would get torn to shreds with yet another, "Okay guys, we hear you, now please fill out forms A-0 and list any concerns in the appropriate areas. Thank you for your time."

No... they won't... Not all of them...
They'll stick around figuring they've already paid and things can't get worse, they might get better.

I'd like to add (although we're probably already pushing past the limits of a 30min video):

Regarding poor communication, do you understand our concerns that this video is not doing anything to help that? Where's the back-and-forth?

Here's the updated list of questions with a few new additions, with asterisks beside them..

Questions:
What are they planning with the Settlement Feature since we're left with awkward Homeworlds filled with farms/mines? -Aron.
Are you ever going to make the game that you described in the Kickstarter for the PC hardcore gamers that backed this game? -Qetesh.
Can we finally start to expect some degree of consistency in communications? -Danjal.
What are you working on right now? -Hardly
What's the current status of Hubworld's development? -Hardly.
When is the PC sprint expected to be worked on now? -Hardly.
When do they envision starting the PC sprint and how long will it last? -Spiderweb75.
How will you thoroughly remove free to play mechanics [free to play design from existing mechanics] from the PC version? -Qetesh.
What will be different about PC compared to mobile? -Hardly
Why the hell would I still give a shit? [Why would I continue to follow this game, if it remains along its current development path?]-Ba'al.
Why did you not publish yourselves instead of going via DeNA and Mobage?-ChillCore.
Why are we not given the option to buy in and have a full game experience without microtransactions?-ChillCore.
Do I really need to be online at all times if my only desire is to play single-player?-ChillCore.
How can I communicate intent, using the powers at my disposal in multiplayer/Hubworlds?-MindPirate.
How do they intend on improving communication going forward?-Spiderweb75.
*Will we see addition settlement types or building types that offer more strategic gameplay and functionality? -Subliminal214.
*Will we experience a greater sense of "choice"? -Subliminal214.
*Why haven't they revealed the design for hubworld? -Hardly.
*How is hubworld going to work? -Hardly.
*What analytics do you gather from PC Godus, besides those George has told us of? -Hardly.
*How much is forum feedback that is within the scope of the game fully taken into consideration, if at all, and to what extent is some dismissed dependent on the tone of the post? -Gmr Leon.
*Did the initial community resistance and backlash lead to the current situation in regards to the PC community, and if so, how was it any harsher than the internal resistance/backlash against ideas pitched to publishers/investors/development team members? -Gmr Leon.
*To whom does 22cans feel more obligated, its publishing partner DeNA, its mobile audience/backers, and/or its PC audience/backers or its own/Peter's indescribable, ever-changing vision?  -Gmr Leon.
*Why has communicating the development process to both PC and mobile audiences been such a challenge to keep clear and consistent, setting aside the company mantra of iterative development/suck it and see/discovering the game and excluding also being utterly overwhelmed working? What are/may be the plans to improve this in the future? -Gmr Leon.
*Do you feel we're succeeding in our effort to make a more harassment free channel of communication? -Gmr Leon.
*What other types of gameplay are planned between Voyages and Hubworld to keep players interested while other Homeworld projects are underway if they don't enjoy Voyages? -Gmr Leon.

Requests:
Could there be a single of the Cans assigned to work on the PC version of the game, at any given time, for bugfixing/general maintenance and content adjustments to make it suitable for PC? -Danjal.
Could the CMs be given more flexibility to gather answers without needing to pass someone else for permission? -Danjal.
Could Peter and Jack discuss feature/mechanic testing failures for a small amount of time in either this or future video updates?-vv [FuMM]
*Could 22Cans start doing a weekly/monthly recap of features/mechanics tested/tried and a rundown of what they liked/disliked and why, as well as why/whether they decided to include or scrap it from further development? -Zayfard/Gmr Leon.

There are a couple of questions in this thread that I'm not sure if I should include or not, as I think we already kind of have an answer for them, but if you think we should toss them in, give me a heads up. A note, Seeker214 and Subliminal214 are the same person. As to this thread, all I can really say is that the best we can do, I think, is try to receive what answers/responses we do get as coolly as we can, so as to not feed into their existing mindset of us being an insatiable mob. I think while our response to the balance tool wasn't terribly unreasonable, that it may have only served to somewhat worsen the situation.

Edit: We're currently sitting at 26 questions total, with 4 requests. In a separate file I have the 26 questions organized under the categories Meta for those relating to general design questions/business decision questions/etc. (13), General Gameplay for all gameplay stuff not Hubworld related (6), Communications for those questions relating to comms (3), and Hubworld for all those questions related to multiplayer stuff (4).

I give you guys props on doing the work. Not that I expect anything to come of it, which is why I did not put forth any questions. I just hope the CMs and Devs that do put here will return/keep posting so we can gleam some little incite into whats going on. AS to this latest video all I really expect is another Peter putting his foot in his mouth as he dances around the questions because we are bullying him again.

I can somewhat appreciate that, as it sounds somewhat similar to when I was an community 'emissary' for Jumpgate Evolution years back.


On the European side overseen by Codemasters there was 4 English reps, 2 French community reps, 2 German community reps.


On the NA side overseen by the Netdevil (developers), there was 4 English speaking reps.

There was a single Skype channel we'd hang out with Codemasters and developer CMs and chat about the game what was going on and other generic BS day in, day out.


But at the same time, whilst we 'emissaries' were directly involved with the CMs, we in no way identified ourselves as officials nor aspects of the official community team. We were tools for the community, not tools for the community staff... and yes this did also involve us being blunt and honest even when posting on the forums. If there were massive problems with a certain information release the producer spouted off in a press interview (The 'TV theory to MMO economies' comes to mind), and if we felt the whole thing was BS... we'd be right there with everyone else in the community posting the problems and fears held over what that means. But also at the same time contributing alternatives and ways to salvage what was said to make it work.

We were there as active and involved members of the community, discussing the highs and lows of the project. Answering any posts or private messages where information was publicly released, and if information was known and not yet 'public' vetting what could be said with the CMs to try and answer as well as could be done given the information release restraints. We would keep track of the pulse of the community and feed back immediate concerns or keep the CMs aware of the frequent trouble makers (Vocal and worried not being the definition of trouble maker), and did other odd job tasks.

That's why what seems to be happening with Godus is so baffling to me, as I've actively been involved in a effort several magnitudes larger and more involved than the one in place here, yet we were kept firmly as members of the community serving to ease the efforts of keeping the community involved and engaged. Not as quiet community overseers who only pop-up to parrot a subject matter previously brought up by an official elsewhere, but now less to get discussion and more to be a tool for the CMs to make indirect statements.

Or as recently seen, to just tell the community as a entity they apparently don't see themselves part of, how they should act and behave to get 'one of us' to communicate with the community.

The entire thing has quietly and swiftly gone from community reps brought in to involve and give you guys ties to the community, to just spawning more disconnected individuals who no longer really even involve themselves with it and don't identify themselves as being just reps of the community, instead they've time and time again identified themselves as part of the community team, tied to 22Cans and officialised.

And I don't get why that would have been encouraged or allowed to take root.

Don't want to derail the thread by quoting the entire thing, but you make some extremely valid points, Tiki. I actually really like the kind of culture of moderators that you're talking about having. Under the premise that you've described, we'd be able to get the best of both worlds; mods who are kept in the loop internally but mods who are able to be members of the community in a more authentic way. Gonna brainstorm on this and chat with everyone tomorrow. Cheers for that post, Tiki. Glad you wrote it.

What I'd like to see is that you email us a PDF and that we forward that PDF directly onwards to Jack/Peter. We'll be happy to chime in and provide some input prior to saving the final list of questions as a PDF, but I think that optimally we arrive at something you guys are happy with and that we then send that onwards unaltered.

Regarding some of Danjal's points up above, I say try to achieve a balance of both. Get answers to things you want answers on (order them by priority and cut anything that can't be handled within 30 minutes) and try to include some verbiage that will future proof both parties so as to promote this kind of interaction to continue. I want this to be a first step, not a one-off.