Guild Wars 2

Vayne.8563:

Pretty much anyone who’s not me. lol

Something that’s a cross between public relations and customer service. Someone who can help to mollify irate fans, or at least assure them their concerns have been listened to.

Not someone that works at Anet now that needs to take time out of their busy schedule. Not moderators. Not a developer.

If people’s complaints are being heard, Anet needs to say so…not just once in a while. They need to keep saying so. Otherwise, people will simply feel disenfranchised.

Yes, I agree, they need to interact us with us more there’s been hardly anything for some time now.

Perhaps if they created a position of a Community Manager who’s main job is to address the Forum concerns and community in general?

While I do agree that we need some more forum interaction… from a PR person, or a CM or something, I honestly don’t think it would change anything in regards to people feeling like they aren’t being heard.

Threads from the forums are referenced constantly via ther interviews and via their twitch steams (which happen every Friday). So it’s obvious they are reading what’s being said, because they address some of it, although perhaps not quite the way people would like. They’ve gone so far as to apologize several times for being busy. Honestly, I prefer having them doing their jobs rather than posting on here.

Well, I just spit coffee all over my keyboard.
multiple + post, Vayne.

I try to watch the twitch streams, but I didn’t care for Pep Squad even in Jr Hi.

Teofa Tsavo.9863:

Well, I just spit coffee all over my keyboard.
multiple + post, Vayne.

LMAO! I’m not paying for a new keyboard.

I’ve said this in other threads, but I felt like this deserves it’s own discussion. It’s becoming increasingly obvious that some people need to know that Anet is listening…which I believe they are. It doesn’t mean they’ll do everything everyone asks, but knowing they heard is a big step in the right direction.

Sorry, I disagree, overall players are a pretty whiny bunch, and if Anet says any one thing, people act as if it’s written in stone.

Players brought the lack of communication on themselves.

I’d much rather have the staff developing new content and features, and fixing bugs, then dealing with the large amount of unreasonable people and their ridiculous, beat-the-dead-horse-some-more topics on the forums.

Erm, isn’t there a community manager already? Regina Buenaobra?

But I agree. It would be nice to have more interaction from someone in the capacity of a community manager.

calyx.9086:

Sorry, I disagree, overall players are a pretty whiny bunch, and if Anet says any one thing, people act as if it’s written in stone.

Players brought the lack of communication on themselves.

I’d much rather have the staff developing new content and features, and fixing bugs, then dealing with the large amount of unreasonable people and their ridiculous, beat-the-dead-horse-some-more topics on the forums.

Darn customers are the bane of business, fersure! Who needs to know what THEY think!!

John Smith for President ^^

Err .. i mean something like the thread that Wanze started where John answers some
random questions would be nice to have also in other forums.

There’s a reason the existing “liaison” doesn’t post here…..

Nobody wants to be the token “dead horse” target….good luck filling that job.

Meanwhile, sharpen the torches and light up the pitchforks!……

Uh yes.

Beldin.5498:

John Smith for President ^^

Err .. i mean something like the thread that Wanze started where John answers some
random questions would be nice to have also in other forums.

I agree, however, the BLTC sub forums appears to be far less QQ than much of the other forums, especially the WvW forums. Opening up that type of thread here I feel would quickly turn into a QQ rant/ugly discussion thread quickly. But it could be interesting if it was done in the same respectful manner as the JS Q and A thread…

I agree with the others who believe it would not have a huge benefit but might send some poor sap around the twist who takes it.

calyx.9086:

Sorry, I disagree, overall players are a pretty whiny bunch, and if Anet says any one thing, people act as if it’s written in stone.

Players brought the lack of communication on themselves.

I’d much rather have the staff developing new content and features, and fixing bugs, then dealing with the large amount of unreasonable people and their ridiculous, beat-the-dead-horse-some-more topics on the forums.

Truer words never spoken.

They tell you they’re listening. “But you’re not acting!”
They tell you they’re acting. “But it’s not what I wanted!”
They tell you that mounts would not fit in the game. “But I want mounts! I PAID for this game! It’s MY game!”
They tell you there’s something big coming. You actually expect something big coming and get disappointed when it’s Scarlet resurrected or something useless. Like the time they said that season 1 of living story was going to remind us all of Game of Thrones. That one still has me laughing.

I have seen community relations delve right into a forum and try to talk about topics. Instead entire posts were typed up but nothing was said. It just got people angrier. The problem is “We might do this” becomes concrete “It will happen by the end of the week.”

So what do you think someone being here will accomplish? You want transparency? Ask for a blog at the end of every month of what’s to come. Nobody needs them to spend more money on more staff to tell you weddings aren’t coming. That’s how we end up with the 1650 gems cosmetics bundle we have now.

pdavis.8031:

Beldin.5498:

John Smith for President ^^

Err .. i mean something like the thread that Wanze started where John answers some
random questions would be nice to have also in other forums.

I agree, however, the BLTC sub forums appears to be far less QQ than much of the other forums, especially the WvW forums. Opening up that type of thread here I feel would quickly turn into a QQ rant/ugly discussion thread quickly. But it could be interesting if it was done in the same respectful manner as the JS Q and A thread…

Yeah .. sadly true .. and thats why the devs seldom tell us anything anymore.

However i have exerienced the same in nearly every MMO i played.

Also it looks like they started something like that with the Dolyak Express threads, but sadly that kind of died out so…..

actually i cdis were a good thing it provided an intereaction between anet and the people of the forum. people whined there but the person who did that those were quick to pint out the reason of them. i know the wvw one didnt go so well. but more of the cdis would be fine as intereaction for me. i felt the only proble was the person who did those cdis was trying to do his regular work along with posting and it burned him out by having a person dedicated to them, only as a work thing would have been better

I think that communication and discussion about major things in the game would go a long way toward building up some good will. Certainly it would with me.

Once upon a time, fairly long ago, Gail Gray (sorry for misspelling) was sorta the internet PR/Liason.

She was promoted out of that position and I am not sure if anyone filled it (I stopped playing GW1 very long ago).

Unfortunately, this is a player created problem. ArenaNet cannot say anything without everyone interpreting it as a “promise” and then lambasting them if they have to change course for any reason.

What I would most like to see from ArenaNet is some kind of general communication about short term plans for the different aspects of the game.

From a purely selfish POV, I would like to hear anything they can tell us (knowing that they are not making “promises”) related to ongoing plans for guild missions, dungeons, new traits/utilities, spvp and WvW, none of which have gotten a lot of airtime lately. Will those aspects get the same attention we are currently seeing for open world and living story instances in the foreseeable future?

These may seem like small issues, but I know alot of people play the game specifically because of those areas and are probably starting to feel like nothing is being done (when it most probably is).

Teofa Tsavo.9863:

calyx.9086:

Sorry, I disagree, overall players are a pretty whiny bunch, and if Anet says any one thing, people act as if it’s written in stone.

Players brought the lack of communication on themselves.

I’d much rather have the staff developing new content and features, and fixing bugs, then dealing with the large amount of unreasonable people and their ridiculous, beat-the-dead-horse-some-more topics on the forums.

Darn customers are the bane of business, fersure! Who needs to know what THEY think!!

Unless you are buying gems on the regular, you aren’t really a customer, you are a past customer. They’ve already got your money, and they delivered what you paid for, which is GW2 as it was exactly at that time, so what more do they owe you?
.

Blaeys.3102:

Unfortunately, this is a player created problem. ArenaNet cannot say anything without everyone interpreting it as a “promise” and then lambasting them if they have to change course for any reason.

What I would most like to see from ArenaNet is some kind of general communication about short term plans for the different aspects of the game.

From a purely selfish POV, I would like to hear anything they can tell us (knowing that they are not making “promises”) related to ongoing plans for guild missions, dungeons, new traits/utilities, spvp and WvW, none of which have gotten a lot of airtime lately. Will those aspects get the same attention we are currently seeing for open world and living story instances in the foreseeable future?

These may seem like small issues, but I know alot of people play the game specifically because of those areas and are probably starting to feel like nothing is being done (when it most probably is).

I created this thread (https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Questions-about-GW2-for-devs/first#post4266691) for just that purpose. Maybe if we can get enough respectful posts and questions, maybe Anet will be more inclined to respond? At least heres hoping.

Lets see…
As I write this, Gaile Gray posted as recently as 4 minutes ago… and numerous other times over the past hour.
Evan Lesh posted about 2 hours ago. As did John Smith.

You can see them right here… https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/info/devtracker

While I would personally love to see more open communication and transparency between them and us, I have to agree with what others here have said, I don’t think it would matter much if they did have someone on these forums trying to talk to us. Anything they say here is twisted and used as fuel for the Anti Anet snark and name calling-fest that forums usually end up devolving into…

You know, the sort of thing they talk about here… http://youtu.be/n9A8VJBh_Yc

ShinjoNaomi.1896:

Lets see…
As I write this, Gaile Gray posted as recently as 4 minutes ago… and numerous other times over the past hour.
Evan Lesh posted about 2 hours ago. As did John Smith.

Gaile’s posts are 100% customer service issues. John’s are economy issues. Evan’s are PvP issues. The majority of the posts by other devs are customer service.

These are all great, but they’re not what OP is asking for.

I do not think ANet should have someone dedicated to talking to the forums, or even just dropping “we are aware of it” on things. Why?

I seem to recall someone who went by the name of “Abashi” once upon a time . . .

calyx.9086:

Teofa Tsavo.9863:

calyx.9086:

Sorry, I disagree, overall players are a pretty whiny bunch, and if Anet says any one thing, people act as if it’s written in stone.

Players brought the lack of communication on themselves.

I’d much rather have the staff developing new content and features, and fixing bugs, then dealing with the large amount of unreasonable people and their ridiculous, beat-the-dead-horse-some-more topics on the forums.

Darn customers are the bane of business, fersure! Who needs to know what THEY think!!

Unless you are buying gems on the regular, you aren’t really a customer, you are a past customer. They’ve already got your money, and they delivered what you paid for, which is GW2 as it was exactly at that time, so what more do they owe you?
.

When and how much I spend is none of your concern, I’m sure Anet knows.
What defines a “customer” here isn’t your call.

Vayne.8563:

Pretty much anyone who’s not me. lol

Something that’s a cross between public relations and customer service. Someone who can help to mollify irate fans, or at least assure them their concerns have been listened to.

Not someone that works at Anet now that needs to take time out of their busy schedule. Not moderators. Not a developer.

If people’s complaints are being heard, Anet needs to say so…not just once in a while. They need to keep saying so. Otherwise, people will simply feel disenfranchised.

I’ll do it! I think I could do it out of my house. Would not even have to go to Seattle. I work at a very popular vacation area and I can deal with tourists from all over the world. I think I can handle this position!

It’s obvious that ANet keeps their employees on a very short leash when it comes to what they can say to the public. Anything that can be remotely construed as a “promise” has bitten them in the butts a number of times so I’m not sure someone showing up every few days and post in the “hot” threads to “please remain calm, you are a valued customer, we listen to all suggestions” is going to do a whole lot but make the jaded even more jaded.

Lately John Smith has been answering very general questions about the game’s economy but it’s obvious that he can’t really talk about specifics and he has little or no say in design. His job is more about spotting problems in the economy, some due to changes, and notifying “the authorities” who might seek his input as to possible fixes.

But nobody from ANet is going to show up and tell off the mount crowd or the dualing crowd or any of the other crowds that are pushing one thing or another that fundamentally goes against the core design of the game. Stringing the disgruntled along will only make them madder later.

So I don’t know how much goodwill a reassuring “official” voice is going to help here.

Both sides are to blame. Anet took great pleasures in over-hyping their game and the playerbase always loved to try and find the tiniest detail in the most mundane things.

Right now everything is completely pointless : Anet barely shares anything because they grew tired of people throwing the Manifesto video in their face every single day and getting a “we’re listening” is utterly useless because it doesn’t mean anything.

They’re listening ? Yeah but are they working on it ? If so is it a priority ? And what the hell does “priority” mean anyway ? Will we see anything in a month, a year, 3 years ? By the time they give up on GW2 and launch GW3 ?

Oh and it’s great to have the “what we are planning for the year” blog posts. But since they seem to have a tendency to not really stick to it, those are pointless too.

Let them act as they wish. They are not listening, you are disappointed customer, stop playing gw2, find another game. After 400k disappointed customers, the game will crash or they will start changing something to get back those players.
If you start protesting by not playing things will change. If you play the game you support them in all ways.

It won’t work. Having someone running around to the different departments while they are working and interrupting them because people feel ignored wouldn’t be productive.

People these days don’t grasp the concept that if you are standing around, talking on forums or to another person, then work isn’t being done. In my younger years as a front end manager, it was my duty to make sure cashiers weren’t standing around doing nothing and either help bag or clean. Yes, I had to be the bad guy, but if I didn’t do it, then the store manager came down on me.

Developers have deadlines, goals, etc, they are told to meet and get working. And one falling behind can really screw it up.

So, players need to ask themselves, would you want the revs spending more time on here if it meant a longer development cycle for the same amount of content we are getting?

But Vayne isn’t asking for a dev. He’s asking for an “official” voice to pop in the the popular complaint threads and reassure the players that their voice is being listened too. No promises, no interruption in developer’s time, just someone to acknowledge we aren’t just typing at each other.

Serophous.9085:

It won’t work. Having someone running around to the different departments while they are working and interrupting them because people feel ignored wouldn’t be productive.

People these days don’t grasp the concept that if you are standing around, talking on forums or to another person, then work isn’t being done. In my younger years as a front end manager, it was my duty to make sure cashiers weren’t standing around doing nothing and either help bag or clean. Yes, I had to be the bad guy, but if I didn’t do it, then the store manager came down on me.

Developers have deadlines, goals, etc, they are told to meet and get working. And one falling behind can really screw it up.

So, players need to ask themselves, would you want the revs spending more time on here if it meant a longer development cycle for the same amount of content we are getting?

I’m sure each department has a weekly meeting to discuss how things are progressing. These topics could be reported on during that meeting and discussed to see if they can find a solution or if it is just not going to happen.

pdavis.8031:

sirflamesword.3896:

pdavis.8031:

Beldin.5498:

John Smith for President ^^

Err .. i mean something like the thread that Wanze started where John answers some
random questions would be nice to have also in other forums.

I agree, however, the BLTC sub forums appears to be far less QQ than much of the other forums, especially the WvW forums. Opening up that type of thread here I feel would quickly turn into a QQ rant/ugly discussion thread quickly. But it could be interesting if it was done in the same respectful manner as the JS Q and A thread…

The reason the BLTC forums seems to have less QQ posts is because you learn quickly that if you have ANYTHING bad to say about the way the economy is run you get attacked. Usually it starts off with some type of example as to why the economy is awesome(usually some random “facts” that JS posted that are wrong if you look at them with a little common sense), once you refute those “facts” they start to attack the OP personally and berate him/her till they never post there again. Of course JS usually posts some condescending remark that makes you wonder how he has a job in the first place, but as customers we have nothing to say about that.

Umm ok…I don’t see it that way at all. Usually someone comes in with “The economy is broke!! Precursers are through the roof!!! Anet sucks!! QQ” Then the community will try to explain how the economy is NOT broke. But is generally met with “white knights and sheep and you are stupid” by the OP and of course it escalates from there. JS comes in and will try to expain why it isn’t broken, but of course is generally met by the OP or other anti anet folks, as he is lying and doesn’t know what hes talking about. But what the QQers fail to realize is that they only have PART of the picture of the economy as a whole, while JS (who may in fact be more than one person) has a much better and clearer understanding of whats going on. So even after it’s been thoroughly explained by people who have a good understanding of economics AND the games economist, the one who designed the thing, the OP will sometimes continue his/her rant that it’s broken and QQing about it. There are also some who were mistaken, and learn something, and move on.

Also there is NO evidence to suggest that JS is lying, or misrepresenting information so that it can appear that the economy is working well. All of the information that JS has posted, and his personal comments on the matter, shows that the economy is in fact working well and as intended.

And the thing is, John KNOWS that the information he has and can’t release is BECAUSE there are people who would know how to use and abuse it, screwing up the economy.

Behellagh.1468:

But Vayne isn’t asking for a dev. He’s asking for an “official” voice to pop in the the popular complaint threads and reassure the players that their voice is being listened too. No promises, no interruption in developer’s time, just someone to acknowledge we aren’t just typing at each other.

Sadly, I think that we are just typing at eachother

Galphar.3901:

Serophous.9085:

It won’t work. Having someone running around to the different departments while they are working and interrupting them because people feel ignored wouldn’t be productive.

People these days don’t grasp the concept that if you are standing around, talking on forums or to another person, then work isn’t being done. In my younger years as a front end manager, it was my duty to make sure cashiers weren’t standing around doing nothing and either help bag or clean. Yes, I had to be the bad guy, but if I didn’t do it, then the store manager came down on me.

Developers have deadlines, goals, etc, they are told to meet and get working. And one falling behind can really screw it up.

So, players need to ask themselves, would you want the revs spending more time on here if it meant a longer development cycle for the same amount of content we are getting?

I’m sure each department has a weekly meeting to discuss how things are progressing. These topics could be reported on during that meeting and discussed to see if they can find a solution or if it is just not going to happen.

But then there is the player mentality problem. For example, let’s say in the notes it discusses adding two handed axes. The players would read that and get excited. But they never come out, instead later on, another release says it got ‘axed’ and isn’t coming. Suddenly, the players would be screaming ‘Anet promised! Anet lied! Anet doesn’t care!’ Etc.

If anything, I have the sneaky suspicion that the backpack crafting from the LS is either a test for precursor crafting, or a scrapped idea for the precursor crafting.

I would be amused more if they just had a weekly rundown of what they are actively doing posted here.

Not like specifics but an outline for what each team has on their plates and what topics have a priority. Kinda like CDI but less collaborative and more informative.

If anything, I believe more posting from the Anet side on the forums will only bring out more of the vitriol in people that don’t get what they want. Aside from some very specific knowledge (I like how JS handles things), they shouldn’t say anything.

Obtena.7952:

If anything, I believe more posting from the Anet side on the forums will only bring out more of the vitriol in people that don’t get what they want. Aside from some very specific knowledge (I like how JS handles things), they shouldn’t say anything.

Which, if I remember correctly, is what happened to the CDIs. And now look, those are gone. I miss Chris :’(

As for john, I know why he got flack for his one comment, but I thought it was so cool that he did it.

^^ Good example … that guy DESERVED the smart remark JS made to him because the question was intended to incite a disagreement. Unfortunately, seems that JS’s handlers will do anything to treat the most belligerent forumgoers nicely, including making JS eat crow.

Obtena.7952:

^^ Good example … that guy DESERVED the smart remark JS made to him because the question was intended to incite a disagreement. Unfortunately, seems that JS’s handlers will do anything to treat the most belligerent forumgoers nicely, including making JS eat crow.

Sadly, even in my current job, the nastiest people I deal with I still have to kiss kitten because ‘we wouldn’t want to upset them or they’ll stop coming back’

Behellagh.1468:

But Vayne isn’t asking for a dev. He’s asking for an “official” voice to pop in the the popular complaint threads and reassure the players that their voice is being listened too. No promises, no interruption in developer’s time, just someone to acknowledge we aren’t just typing at each other.

Exactly this. I’m looking for someone who’ll never make a promise and never hype the game.

Do you know what kind of good feeling Anet would have if someone just said, I understand what you’re saying, I acknowledge this is a problem for some people. I’m not saying it will change, but it doesn’t mean we’re not listening. It would go a long way to satisfying some people.

Face it, some people are never satisfied, and never will be. But some of the post read, hundreds of responses on this topic and not one from Anet.

If Anet came in and said, look we understand certain people have problems with the megaserver, but new people coming in have a much higher stay in the game rate since it’s been implement (which I believe would naturally be the case) it’s an answer. They have those stats and we don’t.

Without them, it feels like Anet isn’t listening or hasn’t heard. I’m pretty sure we all know that Anet is aware that thread exists. They’re not blind and deaf. They simply act in their OWN best interests, which oddly enough are usually the interests of the game as well as a whole. Not the interests of every individual fan, which indeed would be impossible.

Anet needs to help mollify without promises and without hype.

I used to do that sort of thing in my old job. People would call on the phone and complain how long their repair was taking and I’d get on the phone and explain to them the situation. We have a huge number of machines right now because of a lightning storm that shorted out modems far are near. We’ll get to it as soon as we can. I know you’re inconvenienced and I know you’re waiting. That was all it took. Knowledge we weren’t ignoring their machines, but that a lot came in because some stupid storm shorted out dozens of modems. It happened.

Or to say, yes I know that your machine is taking a long time to repair, but the parts on order have to come from Company X. There is nothing I can to do it, if that company won’t send the required part. We’ve called them several times and they say it’s on order. It will be repaired as soon as we get that part. And yes, the person might still be upset, but they know we’ve done our best…if they believe me. If they don’t, at least I told them. On a forum it would mean that other reasonable people would see the response and only the unreasonable people would be left. You couldn’t convince them anyway.

Serophous.9085:

It won’t work. Having someone running around to the different departments while they are working and interrupting them because people feel ignored wouldn’t be productive.

People these days don’t grasp the concept that if you are standing around, talking on forums or to another person, then work isn’t being done. In my younger years as a front end manager, it was my duty to make sure cashiers weren’t standing around doing nothing and either help bag or clean. Yes, I had to be the bad guy, but if I didn’t do it, then the store manager came down on me.

Developers have deadlines, goals, etc, they are told to meet and get working. And one falling behind can really screw it up.

So, players need to ask themselves, would you want the revs spending more time on here if it meant a longer development cycle for the same amount of content we are getting?

this doesnt seem to make sense, you realize that it should already be in place that they have records of what is being worked on, what is not, how far along everything is, and a general overview of what is being expected.

They also should already have some one who gathers feedback in here, who can boil it down and give devs some of the bullet points. ( i think some mods say they already do this)

The major difference would be people speaking, and deciding what has reach the point it should/could be mentioned in a general fashion.

You are implying they are working in a lot of different bubbles with poor communication between each other and the outside world, with poorly developed time lines and projections. That is bad if it was the case and should be changed even without us.

essentially all of this should already be in place and should be occuring internally. Figuring out how much they can communicate to players should be a matter of using a highlighter on already existing documents. Anyone reading this document and sharing player feedback should have a pretty good idea the overall vision, and focuses of the team just as a matter of course

If these type of processes are not already in play, it would be worth it to the workflow, and the overall team to get this type of communication going between each other. Giving some of it to players at that point would be fairly easy.

I think the real problem is we have no real concept of where the game is going from here. Feature Pack 1 was awesome for the most part, and the improvements to the Living Story in Season 2 and the Story Journal were great. But now no one really has any idea of what their vision of the game is going forward.

Story and open world stuff is pretty strong and getting stronger. We can expect a slow but constant evolution on that front it seems safe to say. But it DOES feel like every other part of the game is being ignored. The team swapping in sPvP ruins hot join which is the mode most people will actually use, Dungeons are nothing but a “stacking up” farming experience, and WvW has a lot of cool elements that just don’t quite come together yet. Even the removal of Daily Activities from being a daily every day seems to isolate that game type for no reason at all. It feels like every play style other than open world/living story has a fatal flaw that keeps it from being a fun experience.

I think ANet’s focus should remain on the open world and the living story as that is what sets them apart, but the complete lack of information on the other play styles is disheartening.

It also feels like they should let us know what they are working on for Feature Pack 2 so we can give feedback NOW when it’s still useful and they can change things.

We don’t need them on these forums to constantly reassure us. But we DO need the blog posts back that let us know where we’re going. Yes, not everything will make it in, yes you will be blasted on that by more ignorant fans (no fan more ignorant or childish than a precursor fanatic) but that’s the price of doing business. The silent majority of their player base should have some idea of their vision for the near future.

Between the old blog post road maps and the CDI’s I used to feel ANet was a very transparent and communicative company, and that made me root for them as a company. I still love GW2 but I don’t feel that way anymore. They feel really distant as if we’re dealing with an EA dev house or something. It makes me a little sad.

I DO like the two different shows they do “Ready Up” and “Points of Interest”. I like giving a face to the devs, it’s always a joy to see creative people who are passionate about their work, and the ANet devs are obviously that.

Lothirieth.3408:

Erm, isn’t there a community manager already? Regina Buenaobra?

But I agree. It would be nice to have more interaction from someone in the capacity of a community manager.

I have always been curious about this. I honestly don’t mean this at all in a nasty way, but…what exactly does our Community Manager do? From what I’ve seen, she rarely interacts with the community (at least on the forums…maybe she is more active on other social media that I’m not plugged into?).

I’m actually wondering if ANet has defined the role of “Community Manager” much differently than most other gaming companies. With most games, it usually seems like the Community Manager is right out front, posting on the forums and engaging with the community. But here…eh, not so much. I wonder if they have given her other tasks to perform that preclude her from doing so.

Or perhaps I am mistaken and she is more active than I realize?

minbariguy.7504:

Lothirieth.3408:

Erm, isn’t there a community manager already? Regina Buenaobra?

But I agree. It would be nice to have more interaction from someone in the capacity of a community manager.

I have always been curious about this. I honestly don’t mean this at all in a nasty way, but…what exactly does our Community Manager do? From what I’ve seen, she rarely interacts with the community (at least on the forums…maybe she is more active on other social media that I’m not plugged into?).

I’m actually wondering if ANet has defined the role of “Community Manager” much differently than most other gaming companies. With most games, it usually seems like the Community Manager is right out front, posting on the forums and engaging with the community. But here…eh, not so much. I wonder if they have given her other tasks to perform that preclude her from doing so.

Or perhaps I am mistaken and she is more active than I realize?

I remember in GW when Gaile Grey was Community Manager she would show up in LA or Kamadan at least once a month and “chat” with players. During Prophecies she was showing up in LA once a week. When Regina took over the position after the announcement of GW2, she showed up and talked to the players but not as much as Gaile did.

Vayne.8563:

Pretty much anyone who’s not me. lol

Something that’s a cross between public relations and customer service. Someone who can help to mollify irate fans, or at least assure them their concerns have been listened to.

Not someone that works at Anet now that needs to take time out of their busy schedule. Not moderators. Not a developer.

If people’s complaints are being heard, Anet needs to say so…not just once in a while. They need to keep saying so. Otherwise, people will simply feel disenfranchised.

Why? They used to have folks doing that. When they told posters they forwarded there thread to an applicable team, posters claimed they were being dishonest.

Similarly to what your doing here. They point out regularly how often they read the forums, yet you are implying they are not, or that they do not “prove it to you” regularly enough.

coglin.1867:

Why? They used to have folks doing that. When they told posters they forwarded there thread to an applicable team, posters claimed they were being dishonest.

Similarly to what your doing here. They point out regularly how often they read the forums, yet you are implying they are not, or that they do not “prove it to you” regularly enough.

Because it’s like maintaining eye contact when someone is talking to you or making affirmative noises (hmm) after each of their points. They could be listening to everything you are saying without doing either of these but doing these things reassures the talker that they have the listener’s attention.

coglin.1867:

Vayne.8563:

Pretty much anyone who’s not me. lol

Something that’s a cross between public relations and customer service. Someone who can help to mollify irate fans, or at least assure them their concerns have been listened to.

Not someone that works at Anet now that needs to take time out of their busy schedule. Not moderators. Not a developer.

If people’s complaints are being heard, Anet needs to say so…not just once in a while. They need to keep saying so. Otherwise, people will simply feel disenfranchised.

Why? They used to have folks doing that. When they told posters they forwarded there thread to an applicable team, posters claimed they were being dishonest.

Similarly to what your doing here. They point out regularly how often they read the forums, yet you are implying they are not, or that they do not “prove it to you” regularly enough.

They don’t need to prove it to me. I’m 100% sure they read the forums, due to dev interaction I’ve had personally. Someone spoke to me about one of my posts (beside the usual moderator thing I end up attracting lol).

I worked in retail management for 10 years. I had a lot of contact with customers. Sometimes, when you are trying to help a customer out, they misinterpret what you are trying to say and have a negative reaction. It happens. Sometimes it was the way I phrased something. Sometimes it was just that that particular customer was, well, kind of a jerk and would have been unhappy and complaining no matter what I did or said.

But I never said to myself, “Hey, you know what? Since a few customers react negatively and treat me poorly, I’m just not going to interact with any of my customers at all.”

Why? Because that would be silly.

I keep seeing in various threads ad nauseum that ANet can’t possibly tell us anything because then people will take it as a “promise” and get mad if anything goes awry. And some people do, no doubt about it. But be honest, it is a small percentage of people that do this, and that does not justify excusing yourself from communicating with the rest of your customer base.

I absolutely believe that the Devs and Community Team have every reason to expect to be treated respectfully, and I fully support their right to not engage with those who refuse to do so. So my advice to them would be…don’t.

Don’t engage with the hostiles. Let the mods delete their posts and ban their accounts if necessary. Problem solved.

But using a small percentage of rude people to justify not communicating with everyone else is a flimsy excuse that I could not see working in any other kind of business/client relationship, and it shouldn’t be here, either.