Guild Wars 2

Cont’d from above.

So let’s move on to an alternative scenario where ANet uses good communication and good transparency.

What Could Have Happened

Step One

What ANet Does: Decides behind closed doors to streamline the Gem Conversion process. Recognizes immediately that the changes would have a profound impact on the playerbase. Chooses to be transparent and to communicate to avoid a conflict.

What Players Hear: That ANet wants to change the system. But that ANet wants to make sure the players are aware of the change, and have the opportunity to point out possible oversights on ANet’s part. This leads players to conclude: ANet cares about how its decisions impact its players.

Step Two

What ANet Does: Proposes a set of changes in a Dev Blog or PBE (we need a PBE) for the playerbase to interact with. Admits the potential negative impact that some changes may have—asks for input on avoiding those potentialities.

What Players Hear: That ANet wants to avoid a misstep with the change. Enlisting the feedback of players via a Dev Blog or PBE (we need a PBE) creates open and transparent lines of communication. The playerbase concludes: ANet is a company for the players, and wants to build the best possible game for the players.

Step Three

What ANet Does: Ships the initial change. Patch notes reflect not only the change, but the thought process behind them. ANet explains why the change helps accomplish its development philosophy, and how the change addresses the concerns or criticisms players raised in the Dev Blog or PBE (we need a PBE).

What Players Hear: ANet is still concerned about the players. The patch notes “put it all out there” for the players, and the transparency removes a substantial justification of tinfoil hats. The players, having had excellent communication thus far, are willing to give the change a shot even it if produces problems.

Step Four

What ANet Does: Apologizes if necessary. Despite all the best efforts to the contrary, the change still may have had some sort of negative impact on players or the game. Rather than explain it away, ANet immediately apologizes for the problem, and sets out to rectify what they can.

What Players Hear: ANet truly cares for its playerbase. It’s not above admitting issues—and it will even apologize for something that’s tiny. Why? Because ANet strives to put out the best game possible. Players are more than willing to show grace because ANet has communicated well and been transparent through the whole process.

So there you have it—a proposal for a pattern of transparency and communication that would take huge steps in the right direction.

Will it solve all problems and make all players happy and turn the forums into a place of rainbows and magical unicorns? Probably not. Will it help?

Definitely.

That whole “communicate with you” program of Anet is probably a distraction for the players so they can buy themselfs more time to drain the last money of us players. Now that the chinese version of GW2 is failing hard they need that cash urgently.
Meanwhile they simply delete all too harsh criticism from the forums, trying to create the illusion that everything is fine so everyone keeps buying gems.
They wont see a single cent from me now after this patch.

Phenn.5167:

_
What ANet Did: Chastises the playerbase and demands suggestions for possible changes. Despite the near-universal outrage across all forums of communication (FB, Twitter, in game, Forums here, etc.), the only response from ANet was, “We may consider changing it, but only if you stop ranting and start suggesting changes.”

Yeah, this is the best part, or rather worst. I went to that official feedback thread, saw this kind of attitude from that Gaile or something knight of theirs and thought, yea okay, let’s see where you’ll end up with that kind of attitude. It’s like they think they walk on water or something.

I just can’t understand why they fail so much at things that work?!? Every patch coming out is worst than the previous one. It feels like someone is paying them to fail on purpose.
After so many years in the mmorpg history I still don’t understand how come devs never learned to listen to their playerbase.
GW2 compared to other games in the genre is still the best one. The path that it’s taking, I don’t see it how it will pace next year.
Atm it’s like watching Star Wars Episode 3

I think someone from NCSoft needs to step in and protect there investment. This current group is a totally mess.

Unfortunately there’s quite a few people in the behemoth forum who believe NCSoft encouraged or forced this change. So not likely to get help from them if that’s true.

I would really enjoy a live patch stream or at least someone from the company explain changes.

Even if they do it behind doors (as it is their policy to not talk about things in progress, no matter what…. even moving an NPC… okay too harsh, they announce some little things, but that is only the one who is actually doing it mostly), they can talk about the why afterwards.
However the outcry never seems to be enough to varrant that.

Come on, get a stream on, as soon as the patchnotes hit and talk with the community together about it.
Answer questions, do an AMA… do something …
hey, an AMA would also be nice as well…

GW2 really really needs two things:

1. A Public Test Environment where these kinds of changes (along with balance, etc.) can get vetted by the public. That the devs think they predict every single ramification of a change, and that their ideas will actually accomplish their goal smacks of a hubris of epic proportions.
2. A clear and consistent design philosophy for each significant area of the game. ANet needs a benchmark whereby all changes and additions/subtractions are measured. A good design philosophy would allow ANet to justify the decisions they make, and give the playerbase the “roadmap” ANet keeps clamoring about.

Anet, read this thread. The deconstruction of where you’ve been going, in our perspective is all laid out right here.

Let me expound a bit further even into the real world perspective of authority people generally have and how it effects you.

Most people spend their lives trying to deal with a world littered with liar, cheats, thieves, scalpers, opportunists, chiselers, demagogues, stone-wallers, deniers, and every other form of degenerate scum bag there is.

It is bad, it is really bad out there. I’m not saying that because I don’t think you’re people with lives and you don’t experience these things. I say it because I think sometimes your forget when you get into “GW2” mode.

So we, as people, expect a company to lie to us, cheat us, not communicate with us, etc. Because that’s what we’ve gotten out of a lot of the people we’ve dealt with in real life, and it’s the general M.O. of other game companies.

So when you’re silent on issues, when you move forward with drastic changes that alter the economy of the game, in your favor, and when you show seemingly no interest in taking responsibility or apologize for this action; it looks like the very model of a modern major-bully.

We don’t like that, because we come to our virtual worlds to get away from that sort of behavior. We’re sick of it. We will riot over it. We will get visceral and vitriolic over it. Most of all we will feel we are perfectly justified to do so because we feel so impugned by the forces controlling/influencing our regular lives that we will fight any of them with think we can actually take on.

So, going forward, here’s your checklist:

-Did we tell the player base about the idea?
-If no, Did we tell the player base in an well written, concise, and articulate fashion, explain WHY we can’t tell the player base?

-Did we tell the player base specifically what will be effected by the change?
-If no, Did we tell the player base generally what will be effected, and explain why we can’t be more specific?

-Did we tell the player base what patch the changes will come in?
-If no, have we explained why we’re unsure of our time frame?

-If there is a delay in release, have we explained why there is a delay?

-If there is a delay in release, have we put up a very tentative timeline for how long the delay might take?

-If there are bugs, does the player base consider them small, large, or game/community breaking? (You judge this by both in game communication and forum reaction.)

-If there are bugs, have we communicated the best subject to list the bug report under so we can track it properly, and get a better gauge of where the problem might come from?

-If there are bugs, have we communicated what stage of the correction process we “think” we’re in?
-If in data collection phase, remind the players of the best ways to send bug reports, and thank them for their assistance in collecting that data for you.
-If in bug tracking phase, specify what instances of events/actions seem to be causing the problems, and suggest ideas to get around the issues till a bug fix is out.
-If in bug fixing phase, specify a general timeline for bug fix release.

-We have just released a large or game/community breaking sized bug.
-Step 1: Apologize, seriously.
-Step 2: Proceed with above bug fix-procedure for communication.
-Step 3: Make amends. As in, you release a bug where loot doesn’t generate 50% or more of the time, you give your players 10 Champ Bags, or maybe 20 Gems, or some small event related gift, etc. (Do this about an hour or two AFTER you fix the actual bug, don’t dedicate your programmers to anything but the actual bug, before that.)

You did the above things with the Karka Event. You recognize the release of a single time big event, was a bad idea. You apologized. You explained why you couldn’t fix it. So, instead, you just gave everyone the standard loot everyone else got. It was right, it was fair, and it worked.

Phenn.5167:

GW2 really really needs two things:

1. A Public Test Environment where these kinds of changes (along with balance, etc.) can get vetted by the public. That the devs think they predict every single ramification of a change, and that their ideas will actually accomplish their goal smacks of a hubris of epic proportions.
2. A clear and consistent design philosophy for each significant area of the game. ANet needs a benchmark whereby all changes and additions/subtractions are measured. A good design philosophy would allow ANet to justify the decisions they make, and give the playerbase the “roadmap” ANet keeps clamoring about.

I agree with those two things but sadly I don’t see either one happening. Instead you are going to see more CDIs that lead to little or nothing. Just to keep hope going for those few that don’t realize its really just more smoke being blown up their kitten. Arenanet won’t do a PTE because they know nobody wants the crap they want to introduce. They won’t deliver a clear and consistent design philosophy because they know that no one wants to be told that dev time is better spent on monetization schemes(the latest being the new gold/gem converter) rather than making the game more fun.

Yeah. I know we’re most likely not going to get the first. But what bothers me is that ANet keeps talking about having or providing the second.

But as yet, ANet has either 1) Not given us a design philosophy at all, or 2) if they do give us one, they end up ignoring it anyway in design decisions.

Well done analysis of what’s been going on. It definitely gives a good perspective on how a good chunk (or at least what seems to be a good chunk) of the player base is viewing Anet’s actions with this whole patch and gem store release.

Honestly? It comes across as playing chicken with the playerbase. Who’s going to cave first, the players who decide to keep playing anyway because they love the game….or the company who needs the players to keep their game going and profitable?

The question then, is what now? All this has happened, so where do we go from here? I think what the OP outlines as a possible solution is certainly a step in the right direction, and may take steps to help repair the relationship that Anet has with its playerbase. In the end though, it needs to go further with transparency.

As an ~ishly side note, I’d be quite interested to see these “metrics”, “surveys” and “other data” that Anet is using to change and tweak their game. It may provide some insight into why Anet is doing what they are doing.

Seems like Anet is going to kill this game series…

Hodori.1068:

Seems like Anet is going to kill this game series…

We will milk the cow even if she is long dead!!!!

One more post demonstrating how the Gem Conversion debacle has been handled poorly.

From our own Gaile Gray:

Gaile Gray.6029:

Here’s an update for you:

It’s clear that quite a lot of you would like to have greater flexibility in using the Currency Exchange. Our intention when we designed the new interface was to streamline large volume purchases, which make up the majority of transactions.

In light of your feedback, we will update the Currency Exchange so that you can decide how you want to use it. We will keep the new streamlined system and also offer a new “Custom” button on the panel that you can use to exchange any increment of gems or gold.

We anticipate rolling this out soon. Stay tuned!

~~~~~

Sorry for the delay in posting this, but out of respect to our international community, we wanted to be able to post in several forums at once.

As far as communication and transparency goes, this post is too little too late. Though I, along with the entire playerbase, am grateful that changes are coming, here’s the problem.

1. No apology at all. This was a colossal mistake that should never have made it to the live build. An apology is due.
2. We finally get a rationale for the change after over 24 hours worth of well-founded opposition, and that rationale is at apparent odds with the practical experience of the players.
3. This, and two other posts, are worded as if the Devs have condescended to acquiesce to the playerbase on this, as if they are the ones taking the higher road.

And here’s the kicker: it took less than a few hours for players to suggest adding the “custom amount” button. It took less than a day for the Devs to decide it was doable.

SO WHY, BY THE SIX GODS, DID THE DEVS NOT THINK OF THIS ON THEIR OWN?

Madness? This is not madness. This is ANet.

Further examples of non-communication that’s being labelled as communication:

Gaile Gray.6029:

As of today, Friday, the developers have been actively working on creation of the Custom option. They then will put it through a testing pass after which it will be rolled out into the game. We think you’ll like the option, and I believe you’ll be pleased with the timeframe for this implementation, as well.

Once again, “We think you’ll like the option,” and “you’ll be pleased with the timeframe for implementation” are not communication. They’re pedantic instances of informing the playerbase what they should feel, and how ANet expects them to respond. This implies that, if the playerbase does NOT like the option, or is NOT pleased with the timeframe of implementation, it’s the players’, not ANet’s, fault.

Secondly, this response in no way communicates that ANet is truly listening to its playerbase. Why? I’m glad you asked.

• The posts on October 22 saying that the change was en route came only after two prominent gaming critics, and Dulfy herself expressed extreme displeasure with the change. What’s this communicate? It communicates ANet cares only about its PR, not about its players.

• It took two days for the developers to actually start working on a change. That the option was never even considered in the design phase says that the Devs were content to let things slide the way they were until enough outrage (read, bad PR) couldn’t let them continue. Now that the Devs are working on a change, it’s two full days after the acknowledgement was posted. Maybe this is a fast turnaround for ANet. But either way, it certainly doesn’t communicate that the player’s opinions are valuable—especially with how fast hotfixes have come down for other content.

• (THIS IS FOR THE PLAYERS) Stop congratulating ANet for listening! The reversion of this change does not in any way prove that ANet has changed its stance or practice on listening to and communicating with the playerbase. All it proves is that, when ANet’s bottom line is threatened by external bad PR, it’ll get its rear in gear.

Once again, in the interest of communication, here’s what Gaile’s post could have been to solve many of the above issues:

Sorry for the slow start, but we finally have a team working on a fix for the gem converter. The proposed solution looks like <blank>. Despite starting on it today, we anticipate rolling out the change <specific release date>. If experience any setbacks, we will notify you ASAP with an update.

Would that be so hard?

Two days? Are you kidding me? It’s ‘too little, too late’ after TWO DAYS? Traits have been wrecked for six months. You should be on your knees, praising treesus that this was addressed at all. Two friggin’ days.

Guhracie.3419:

Two days? Are you kidding me? It’s ‘too little, too late’ after TWO DAYS? Traits have been wrecked for six months. You should be on your knees, praising treesus that this was addressed at all. Two friggin’ days.

For sure—two days is impressive when compared to things that have been flat-out broke for months, even years.

I’m not saying “too little, too late” to the timing of the change. I’m simply pointing out that the urgency with with the community respond to the change merits a similar urgency on the part of the developers. I’m saying communication is near-always too little too late.

I’m far more interested in the aspects of this whole debacle that reflect on ANet’s communication and transparency (hence, the OP) than the actual actions and mechanics. I’m trying to highlight the discrepancy between ANet’s apparent resistance to admit wrong and immediately fix the issue and ANet’s self-congratulation on good communication.

Actions versus words. Gemgate is only an example.

It’s almost like Anet needs someone to ask the question, “what will Reddit think?”.

Reddit is the home to hive-mind fanboys for almost every online game. The power of that downboat button ensures that anything critical of a company or game will never be seen by large numbers of people, and the fanboys use it.

When Reddit goes ballistic it’s obvious that Houston didn’t know there is a problem, but needs to be told, and that has happened three times in recent weeks.

Commander tags for 300g?
Removing crossed sword indicators when a WvW objective is attacked?
Gem/Gold conversion changed, not for the better, with a lousy excuse?

Yeah, what will Reddit think?

By the way, I’m posting this here because if I posted this on Reddit it would downboated to the bottom of the lake, immediately.