Mass banning on Godus Steam forum

You butter bullie you!

Mind you even positive threads are getting ignored now, I tried that avenue. Not sure if players are just staying away until an update comes out.

I happen to know, you hate butter and margarine!

Alright I admit. I'm a butter detractor. But that doesn't mean I can't rise to the occasion when I see butter being bullied.

That seems to be the general issue - act out of rash reaction and then blame others for it, then when folks expose the truth behind 22cans' actions the PR shuts down and sulks a bit.

This has been indicative of the entire MO I've been watching upon the Steam forums, and it's started with a routine PR mess being caused by the moderators.  It isn't from their moderation, initially, but their trolling.  Here is how it generally plays out:

1.  Moderators make some wild claims that the PC game (or another feature) will be completely different from the mobile, without offering any evidence to support their claims.  Usually this is done in regards to some of the current development those who paid for the game are expected to playtest for 22cans' eventual mobile version, as we've seen before.  The moderators are apparently allowed to do this without censure or correction because this is apparently 22cans' policy for them to later attempt some claim at plausible deniability - evident by how the production/staff of 22cans do not bother to correct the moderators' claims whatsoever.
2.  Of course, those who have been waiting for that PC game are anxious to know about these details.
3.  Production comes along and offers a few non-answers to then abandon the topic when people ask for clarification.
4.  Minus a developer, people ask the moderator for any clarification.
5.  Moderator runs off behind an NDA.
6.  Topic ends with people asking the actual production/developers/PR again to clarify, to which 22cans has already pulled a runner from the topic and those questions are the punctuation of the threads serving as examples of 22can's horrible PR and routine dismissal of the community.
7.  When someone asks about the development of the game, 22cans finds a convenient excuse to ban the ones dissenting from their public narrative who dare to point out the above.

They have done this so routinely it is intentional at this point, and this time includes libel by 22cans' representatives.  

I'll have to agree with heggers - jobsworths, the lot of them.

A good PR person would try to be proactive to fostering the community's goodwill when the spotlight is upon the developer like that.  They would be doing what Spiderweb has been doing, but even more so because the PR is supposedly drawing pay for doing a specific role for the company.  Bad PR makes it look like it would be more beneficial to the developer if they weren't even there.

Let us not forget that this particular incident started from DefectedZombie asking if the game was still being developed and worth playing - to which they directly insulted users in a way that obviously didn't trigger Aynen as much as seeing "troll" so that he banned and purged Mindless' posts when Mindless didn't even say that word.  Mindless didn't even remotely do what was claimed of him, as evidenced in this thread.  Strangely, the other person (Hardly) who said "trolling" was given a month ban while their posts remain unpurged.  Aynen's such a poor moderator that he banned Mindless for doing exactly what the originator of that topic was doing, conveniently failing to note that it was DefectedZombie who was baiting and insulting folks in any way for their opinions and details provided about the game's development - while also leaving up DefectedZombie's use of "troll" (still there, no warning from Aynen).  

The favouritism is then quite obvious to be suspect of complicity.

They couldn't even ban with a quote to the correct post for me, because that would have made it obvious that they were issuing bans for rubbish reasons, and then to cement the fact of rubbish reason they go for a complete arsepull on Mindless' ban reason, and then banned Hardly because he dared to disagree with the one who was getting insulting on behalf of 22cans.*  As noted in the thread linked to in the Collection thread, this seems to be routine policy of poor community management by 22cans.

Again, DefectedZombie asked for people's opinions, then insulted and then gloated about doing so, for 22cans to rush to the defence of a favourable public narrative no matter how much of a stretch and insulting it actually is.

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As for my involvement, I was rather open about why I was there.

I was originally attracted to Godus because hey - finally PM is going back to what made him famous and legendary instead of trying to half-arse copy Bethesda and completely failing anything that really resembles "open world" in any iteration of Fable (open world was the biggest fable told around that game, really) except for the ability to perform the Fart Dance almost anywhere.  Curiosity I could understand in part, but wasn't interested, as it was a small title to help establish the development pipeline there at 22cans.  

The Kickstarter for Godus sent up big warning signs and so I held off, wishlisted the title later when it hit Steam, but I was wary because even then the reports of trouble around the title were manifesting...and that I knew some of the details in the pitch were...off.

Then the details became complete lies.

Then the whole media storm in Feb, I had to note how the RPS article was more like an intervention than an interview.

Then I made the obvious mistake in trying to figure out the answer to how the PC and mobile versions were different, to which they eventually dangled "Fabs' Secret Project" as part of the routine baiting by 22cans (usually by the moderators).

Some PR can figure out that when the spotlight is upon them...such is an inappropriate time to show their backside and to be secretive, when the entire Early Access program implies open and honest development.  As a result of cataloging the errors of other companies, I now have folks approaching me on tips and pointers on what to avoid doing.  As a result of answering these points over time, I have nearly finished my own guide for how to be an Early Access title worth respect.  One of those things is to not compare your own title to anything else in Early Access as an excuse, particularly not any of the good titles, while also avoiding "At least we're not as bad as ____."

I'm fairly sure that they would love to blame anything upon me, but I'm here to watch and document their actions like I said, and it was their previous abuses that prompted me to look closer.  I also offered suggestions for improvement, which were ignored.

That scrutiny is now being documented for the media to pick through.

* - tikigod was banned for presumably the same reasons, since we've not heard from them about their ban reason nor has 22cans offered any explanation besides the offered libel of "bullying" for daring being called "entitled" and such for sharing our opinions and disagreeing with the one who asked for our opinions and details around the game's development in the first place.

If 22cans was a marathon runner and godus was the marathon they'd be 5kms in after 3 days and claiming to everybody's disbelief "I'm going to finish." If they finish it will be pulling out after 7kms and claiming that was a good effort.

A certain anniversary is coming up, along with that schedule Peter offered at when people could expect to see the game they paid for in a few months.

It will be interesting to see which of them pick this back up.

On the other hand, since it looks like 22cans is flogging this on sale almost routinely, some media might be wary of exposing anyone to the steaming pile of Godus this game has become compared to when it was first put into Early Access - until it is eventually Spacebased.

Then they'll probably jump on that point, of another Early Access con job that threw buyers of the game under the bus for a bit of cash - the current state of the game DEVOLVED into a crappy mobile port compared to when it was first put upon Early Access*, and I still can't find any record on the Steam forums of anyone asking or suggesting that.

All 22cans is really doing is using Early Access for free bughunting, and that's clearly an abuse of the program when it doesn't include the full interaction the program requires, though I have to note as I have before that despite how the rest of 22cans is unwilling or not allowed to work with the community that the technical support is quick to respond and diligent in their efforts to minimise those problems.

* - So much for the Early Access caveat of "My advice to you is to watch Steam broadcasts of the game being played so that you can see what the game looks and plays like in its current form.
If it looks like something you would enjoy playing, then consider purchasing it."  Muir posts in reply to "is this game worth buying?" topics:  steamcommunity.com/app/232810/discussions/0/620712999984612194/#c620712999985376206

There he is...and yeah, I have to agree that tikigod's ban was simply for daring to challenge the party line offered by Muir (again it has to be noted that his caveat is a load of crap when the "current state of the game" went from something that looked promising into unapologetic mobile shovelcloneware during the span of Early Access), given "reason" to be banned simply by continuing to post while not agreeing with the OP calling folks entitled, confused, and impatient...by using evidence. Tons of it.

22cans really doesn't like it when you call them out on their lies and for being the liars they have proven themselves to be through plenty of evidence, which I suspect is the real ban reason.

So with the Copy+Paste ban reasons that are pure rubbish in your case...we can add laziness to 22cans' moderation mistakes as well.


Edit:  The part that people were really objecting to was not that the fellow liked the game - though there were some remarks about that being just a matter of time (OP hasn't returned to the game since that topic and saying "trolls" in another thread, I've noticed) - but that the state of the game is not really that exceptional when someone has to invent gameplay because what is offered is otherwise so dull.

I got the permaban and purge, just like Mindless.  The ban reasons and the bans offered don't match up:

Mandrake - Permaban and purge, "direct personal attacks on another person (i.e. calling them a troll and a lier). You've been warned numerous times about this. No more."
Mindless - Permaban and purge, "baiting, intentionally disagreeing with others to cause an argument, and criticizing others for having an opinion you disagree with. You've been warned about this several times.  Enough."
Hardly - Month ban,"direct personal attacks on another person (i.e. calling them a troll). You've been warned numerous times about this several times in the past"
Tikigod - Month ban, "baiting, intentionally disagreeing with others to cause an argument, and criticizing others for having an opinion you disagree with, despite being warned about this in the past."

DefectedZombie- Gets to use "troll" after baiting and intentionally disagreeing with others to cause an argument, and criticizing others for having an opinion they disagreed with, not even warned.  Made blanket attacks upon the community.
FRA - quite snide to a moderator while admitting to trolling and doing what Mindless and Tikigod were banned for, received a "see you tomorrow" ban to continue baiting and intentionally disagreeing with others to cause an argument, and criticizing others for having an opinion they disagreed with.  Similarly made blanket attacks upon the community.