Guild Wars 2

•must live in the USA and be age 18 or older, for legal reasons

Why is this, what about the rest of your playerbase from say Europe, Australia etc.

Who decides on who gets this position etc, I know 1 person on these forums who is ULTRA white knight and will probably love this, but this person annoys and could probably cause several arguments in topics because they cannot see the PoV of other players……

Forum Specialists may make no promises—expressed or implied—about the relaying of information, neither that it will be relayed nor that it has been relayed in the past. Forum Specialists may not divulge information that they may learn about unreleased components of the game, such as upcoming changes or new content.

I appreciate the idea, but what we need is a policy change. Not more people saying “I don’t know” or “I can’t tell you.”

What would the role of these specialists be? Just to point newcomers to existing posts that answer their questions? To serve as a liason between the player and developer communities? To be a friendly face associated with a particular subforum?

If they’re still bound by the “don’t talk about what’s in development” policy, I don’t see this improving anything.

Could you please break down the roles you are looking for? While the 2 examples are fine, I think some of us interested would like to know the breakdown of section you’re interested in. For example is a “Forum Specialist – Guild Wars 2 Discussion” a specialist group?

Ok I Did It.2854:

•must live in the USA and be age 18 or older, for legal reasons

Why is this, what about the rest of your playerbase from say Europe, Australia etc.

I’d also like to know this part. I was thinking of applying but as I live in the UK I’m automatically disqualified. Kitten it I may apply anyway :-P

This sounds like schemes other mmos have and work to great effect. Anything that improves dev and community relations can only be a good thing. Im a UK resident so obv wont be involved, but i still look forward to fruits of this program.

dlonie.6547:

Forum Specialists may make no promises—expressed or implied—about the relaying of information, neither that it will be relayed nor that it has been relayed in the past. Forum Specialists may not divulge information that they may learn about unreleased components of the game, such as upcoming changes or new content.

I appreciate the idea, but what we need is a policy change. Not more people saying “I don’t know” or “I can’t tell you.”

What would the role of these specialists be? Just to point newcomers to existing posts that answer their questions? To serve as a liason between the player and developer communities? To be a friendly face associated with a particular subforum?

If they’re still bound by the “don’t talk about what’s in development” policy, I don’t see this improving anything.

I really don’t think this was meant to solve that at all. Something like this has been suggested in the past and it’s nice to see them gathering volunteers to funnel the massive amount of feedback to the people that need to read it.

Also, Gaile. Will each forum specialist get a breakdown of the type of report structure you would want to receive weekly?

EDIT: and can we get an example of such a report? I’d like to know what i’m getting into and how extensive it would be.

munkiman.3068:

If they’re still bound by the “don’t talk about what’s in development” policy, I don’t see this improving anything.

I really don’t think this was meant to solve that at all. Something like this has been suggested in the past and it’s nice to see them gathering volunteers to funnel the massive amount of feedback to the people that need to read it.

I do appreciate that, and it’s a good start.

To put it another way: will any information flow back, or is this just another one-way route for information to go into ArenaNet?

For instance, the instance ownership system was revamped recently, and it really just added more opportunities for griefing. If something like this was to happen again, would the Forum Specialist have an opportunity to open up the proposed changes for discussion?

Will these Specialists be selected by Anet or by the community?

There are 2-3 posters here who i’m sure Anet would love to makes specialists, but i’ll be frank… if they are selected I will leave the game.

I like that volunteers are being asked for, however, this:

•must live in the USA and be age 18 or older, for legal reasons

is disappointing.

ZudetGambeous.9573:

Will these Specialists be selected by Anet or by the community?

There are 2-3 posters here who i’m sure Anet would love to makes specialists, but i’ll be frank… if they are selected I will leave the game.

I wont leave the game, but I will def leave the forums, I can think of 3 or 4 people off the bat that are so Ultra white knight its sickening, and I tend to leave any topic they post in just because the way they reply and cannot see the PoV of other players makes arguments rapidly start.

Someone just stated to me on TeamSpeak are Anet doing this so that devs don’t have to read the forums at all anymore, they can just get a report sent to them once a week and don’t ever have to worry about posting on the forums again…..

I think a lot of potential good candidates wont be eligible simply because of the USA requirement.

dlonie.6547:

munkiman.3068:

If they’re still bound by the “don’t talk about what’s in development” policy, I don’t see this improving anything.

I really don’t think this was meant to solve that at all. Something like this has been suggested in the past and it’s nice to see them gathering volunteers to funnel the massive amount of feedback to the people that need to read it.

I do appreciate that, and it’s a good start.

To put it another way: will any information flow back, or is this just another one-way route for information to go into ArenaNet?

For instance, the instance ownership system was revamped recently, and it really just added more opportunities for griefing. If something like this was to happen again, would the Forum Specialist have an opportunity to open up the proposed changes for discussion?

That’s a very good question. I’m curious of the more in-depth guidelines to being a specialist as well (not what info they’d be privy too, just an outline). It seems some of the stuff in the post is pretty general. However i’m sure that info stream would be relied to the person at acceptance.

Ok I Did It.2854:

ZudetGambeous.9573:

Will these Specialists be selected by Anet or by the community?

There are 2-3 posters here who i’m sure Anet would love to makes specialists, but i’ll be frank… if they are selected I will leave the game.

I wont leave the game, but I will def leave the forums, I can think of 3 or 4 people off the bat that are so Ultra white knight its sickening, and I tend to leave any topic they post in just because the way they reply and cannot see the PoV of other players makes arguments rapidly start.

Someone just stated to me on TeamSpeak are Anet doing this so that devs don’t have to read the forums at all anymore, they can just get a report sent to them once a week and don’t ever have to worry about posting on the forums again…..

If ANet is any kind of clever, they will avoid making ultra defensive forum members specialists. It will cause way too much trouble, if anything they say is recognized as half-official, even though it isn’t. This will put more pressure on ANet than they hope to shift away from themselves actually.

But who knows, let’s wait and see. Some people want to see the forums burn anyway. ^^

nottsgman.8206:

I like that volunteers are being asked for, however, this:

•must live in the USA and be age 18 or older, for legal reasons

is disappointing.

Undoubtedly, but ANet’s hands are tied in this respect. They’re a US-based company, so they’re constrained to obey applicable US laws and regulations.

• may not be employed by ArenaNet within 12 months of acting as a Guild Wars 2 Forum Specialist

Poof, there goes my interest in the program.

joe.7684:

nottsgman.8206:

I like that volunteers are being asked for, however, this:

•must live in the USA and be age 18 or older, for legal reasons

is disappointing.

Undoubtedly, but ANet’s hands are tied in this respect. They’re a US-based company, so they’re constrained to obey applicable US laws and regulations.

That would mean that US based players must follow different rules from every other player outside the US, I don’t think this is the case, if I had to guess its because Anet HQ is in the USA, but really this reads more of a we don’t value the input from players outside the USA, I have seen several cases ingame where players have shouted in map chat that they are American so get off there servers/map because the other people are not…….

DanteZero.9736:

• may not be employed by ArenaNet within 12 months of acting as a Guild Wars 2 Forum Specialist

Poof, there goes my interest in the program.

You mean you prefer to get paid for doing your job?

“•must live in the USA and be age 18 or older, for legal reasons”

I can see the age 18 part but; there are US laws restricting who a company can have as a Forum Specialist on a privately run forum to only United States residents? That’s hard to believe.

Unless there are really laws against it, this is something ANet should reconsider as this part doesn’t make sense to me.

Ok I Did It.2854:

•must live in the USA and be age 18 or older, for legal reasons

Why is this, what about the rest of your playerbase from say Europe, Australia etc.

Who decides on who gets this position etc, I know 1 person on these forums who is ULTRA white knight and will probably love this, but this person annoys and could probably cause several arguments in topics because they cannot see the PoV of other players……

If they are in California, I’m pretty sure state law governs volunteers.

I for one am 100% against this program, as there’s no one that regularly posts on the forums that is suitable, and the current moderation program works just fine.

Inviting players to a moderation structure is inviting bias in to the system.

The forums aren’t active enough to need any more moderation than they already have.

Absolutely no one that regularly uses the forum fulfills the requirement “Links to 3 forum posts made in the past 3 months that demonstrate your ability to provide good feedback as well as your community leadership”

• must live in the USA and be age 18 or older, for legal reasons

More Anet myopia?

rapthorne.7345:

Ok I Did It.2854:

•must live in the USA and be age 18 or older, for legal reasons

Why is this, what about the rest of your playerbase from say Europe, Australia etc.

Who decides on who gets this position etc, I know 1 person on these forums who is ULTRA white knight and will probably love this, but this person annoys and could probably cause several arguments in topics because they cannot see the PoV of other players……

If they are in California, I’m pretty sure state law governs volunteers.

ArenaNet HQ is just outside Seattle, Washington.

It’s actually a very beautiful area where it’s located.

I am not able (nor have the time) to volunteer, however I am on edge with the “no compensation” thing.

You want them to turn a hobby into a job, with rules and regulations.
You give them authority, but you are not willing to back them up (everyone is essentially on his own with what he does, as long as he plays by the rules)

Don`t get me wrong. I like the idea of involving high profile forum members in your efforts to regulate and control the forum, as well as using them as a way to gather feedback etc.
All nice things.

I just have to ask what these people get, beside the obvious?

This “no compensation” thing is something that I find always highly doubtful, even if I understand the reasoning behind it.

Can they get any other benefits? Written recomendations maybe if they do good work?

I’m honestly against this program. There’s no one on our forums that has the qualities sought, and those that are potential candidates polarise and dramatise the community far too much and too often.

I’m all for player ambassadors. Players who can directly interface with GM’s and offer feedback from the community, but if that is what is needed, what has been the point of all the feedback and suggestions posted on the forums thus far, and what’s to stop these players only relaying things they themselves want?

To me, this seems unnecessary and just a way for ANet to interface with the community directly even less, which is one of the biggest critiques a large number of players have.

Don’t make players do your work for you, it doesn’t end well for any company that I have seen use a player ambassador system like this.

US-only means only time for US players, time differences makes it impossible to do anything properly outside US times.
a clue: we can do allot of horrible things from the EU while the US is still sleeping.

Remember, a Forum Specialist is in no way a Moderator, nor has access to any Moderation tools. I don’t think they have any power whatsoever. They merely gather feedback, much like those that created those consolidation threads/posts for the CDIs.

Ok I Did It.2854:

ZudetGambeous.9573:

Will these Specialists be selected by Anet or by the community?

There are 2-3 posters here who i’m sure Anet would love to makes specialists, but i’ll be frank… if they are selected I will leave the game.

I wont leave the game, but I will def leave the forums, I can think of 3 or 4 people off the bat that are so Ultra white knight its sickening, and I tend to leave any topic they post in just because the way they reply and cannot see the PoV of other players makes arguments rapidly start.

Someone just stated to me on TeamSpeak are Anet doing this so that devs don’t have to read the forums at all anymore, they can just get a report sent to them once a week and don’t ever have to worry about posting on the forums again…..

Like you, I wouldn’t leave the game, at least not until I get my legendary haha. There’s at least one “Ultra white knight” that will not be eligible since they are not in the US

Who watches the watchers?

Would they get new, separate forum accounts for this? Or would they use their own forum accounts but not be allowed to express any personal opinions for 6 months?

Why is it limited to 6 months with no consecutive terms?

A bunch of responsibilities and restrictions, no perks, may be terminated at any time for any reason, doesn’t sound very appealing to me.

Forum Specialists may make no promises—expressed or implied—about the relaying of information, neither that it will be relayed nor that it has been relayed in the past.

This part really bothers me. They wouldn’t even be able to say “I’ve let the devs know” or “I’ll put this in my report”?

Can you expand on the reasoning for this a bit, Gaile?

Pixelpumpkin.4608:

Would they get new, separate forum accounts for this? Or would they use their own forum accounts but not be allowed to express any personal opinions for 6 months?

Why is it limited to 6 months with no consecutive terms?

A bunch of responsibilities and restrictions, no perks, may be terminated at any time for any reason, doesn’t sound very appealing to me.

i think they can toggle the red banner like the devs can.
We had multiple occasions of that, where a dev posted something in white and then excused him/herself for not having the red activated

Gaile Gray.6029:

munkiman.3068:

Could you please break down the roles you are looking for? While the 2 examples are fine, I think some of us interested would like to know the breakdown of section you’re interested in. For example is a “Forum Specialist – Guild Wars 2 Discussion” a specialist group?

We’re looking for someone with a less general view, someone who has a particular area in which s/he has developed expertise. It might be a specific profession, dungeons, PvP, crafting… we would not be looking for someone to serve as a generalist.

That leaves me out then. This is kind of sad, especially since general discussions is one of the more communication areas that gets a lot of feedback. Oh well, good luck!

Gaile, I really do hope the devs aren’t just gonna pack up and wander off as soon as they have some volunteers onboard. I echo the sentiments others are expressing here because that’s exactly what it appears as, from a distance.

There’s only one problem I have with this. The requirement that they be actively playing the game and here’s why. In every title, the reason why people stop playing is directly due to some terrible practice of the development team that has crashed and burned the part of the game that made the game fun for the players. When this occurs it’s a common practice to not login not because they are protesting or because they simply don’t have the time but because whatever the development team did or didn’t do to make the game less fun has caused a rift in the experience of the player.

I can see them logging in once a week if necessary but having only people who login everyday who are 100% all the time cheerful about the game’s development is where I see this going and as we all know, this is already being handled by the blinded media that continues to put out rainbow and sunshine and unicorn reports about this title instead of talking about the real issues so you already have that side covered.

I think the suggestion and practice that’s already in place by many games and their development team, to have an in game system of categorizing and accepting responses from players and feedback on improvements should be in place. I am appreciative that you all are looking for solutions but I can tell you that sometimes even with the best intentions even the player council (which is how I see this) can be ignored on major issues especially when there’s such a large number of things to repair in a game that’s been out this long.

The suggestion practice would be a button in game to submit feedback for improvements, it would have a popdown menu for which aspect of the game to improve and any subcategories in a secondary menu. It would then have a brief 600 character or 1000 character field to post the improvement thought of. This data could easily then be compiled and sent directly to the developers so they can see the most popular requests instantly.

I think if you put together a team, that’s fine, but one of the first things I’d have that team do is go through the archived suggestions folder because as we’ve all seen posts in these forums that are new suggestions are just repeats of the same requests that have been mentioned since the game’s launch. If we start there, you’d have done the ground work on many of the requests players are repeating even today and it would save your team time.

I do however like the idea of a temporary position, that part is very good in the sense that sometimes the same people in the same spot will corrode the process.

One thing I didn’t read there in your linked post however Gaile is when the selection is done will these people be from all walks of mmo life because the other issue I can totally see coming from this would be a team of all E-Sports enthusiasts which would do absolutely nothing for all other aspects of gameplay including WvW, PVE dungeons, PVE open world, RP, the players who prefer non-combat activities, and the new 1% addition of raiders. Everyone should be represented in this team?

munkiman.3068:

Gaile Gray.6029:

munkiman.3068:

Could you please break down the roles you are looking for? While the 2 examples are fine, I think some of us interested would like to know the breakdown of section you’re interested in. For example is a “Forum Specialist – Guild Wars 2 Discussion” a specialist group?

We’re looking for someone with a less general view, someone who has a particular area in which s/he has developed expertise. It might be a specific profession, dungeons, PvP, crafting… we would not be looking for someone to serve as a generalist.

That leaves me out then. This is kind of sad, especially since general discussions is one of the more communication areas that gets a lot of feedback. Oh well, good luck!

Except since general discussions is a catch all, having specialists is various areas within it is needed, especially with all the current boards being merged into that one.

I’m confused by your response, tigirius.

On the one hand, you don’t feel the player should have to log into the game, or, at least, not regularly, and, on the other hand, you want the player to use in-game reporting of feedback.

That would suggest having to log into the game. Confusing. =)

Behellagh.1468:

munkiman.3068:

Gaile Gray.6029:

munkiman.3068:

Could you please break down the roles you are looking for? While the 2 examples are fine, I think some of us interested would like to know the breakdown of section you’re interested in. For example is a “Forum Specialist – Guild Wars 2 Discussion” a specialist group?

We’re looking for someone with a less general view, someone who has a particular area in which s/he has developed expertise. It might be a specific profession, dungeons, PvP, crafting… we would not be looking for someone to serve as a generalist.

That leaves me out then. This is kind of sad, especially since general discussions is one of the more communication areas that gets a lot of feedback. Oh well, good luck!

Except since general discussions is a catch all, having specialists is various areas within it is needed, especially with all the current boards being merged into that one.

As I posted in my reply Gaile, even with the ruleset you have put in place, people will most likely try to even with the best of intentions, improve the game for their own purposes or community. I think because of that fact, that you should designate each 5 people to be specialists in the community they represent. That they do actually focus on these particular parts of the game in which they play often. It should definitely be evenly spread out each time there is a selection process yes.

munkiman.3068:

Gaile Gray.6029:

munkiman.3068:

Could you please break down the roles you are looking for? While the 2 examples are fine, I think some of us interested would like to know the breakdown of section you’re interested in. For example is a “Forum Specialist – Guild Wars 2 Discussion” a specialist group?

We’re looking for someone with a less general view, someone who has a particular area in which s/he has developed expertise. It might be a specific profession, dungeons, PvP, crafting… we would not be looking for someone to serve as a generalist.

That leaves me out then. This is kind of sad, especially since general discussions is one of the more communication areas that gets a lot of feedback. Oh well, good luck!

I felt I would not be appropriate, either, as my ‘field of expertise’ is being merged with other fields I have no real working knowledge of, whatsoever. Sigh.

Best of luck, though, to those that qualify! =)

Pixelpumpkin.4608:

Would they get new, separate forum accounts for this? Or would they use their own forum accounts but not be allowed to express any personal opinions for 6 months?

Why is it limited to 6 months with no consecutive terms?

A bunch of responsibilities and restrictions, no perks, may be terminated at any time for any reason, doesn’t sound very appealing to me.

This. Even if I would live in the US I would not be interested in this task. Too mand requirement, restrictions etc and no perks. At bare minimum Anet could give specialists 8000 gems per month for their work if they do their role good.

And BTW — thanks for actively looking for solutions to the communications issues. I know a lot of the response has been negative so far, but I (and I’m sure many others) genuinely appreciate the effort you’re putting in.

I’ve repeatedly made it clear that, IMO, the solution to the issues will require a policy change on ArenaNet’s side, so I won’t start beating that dead horse. But I think it’s great that you’re looking for new things to try, and most importantly, running them past the community before implementing them. That’s the sort of approach we’d like to see applied to changes in other areas of the game, not just PvF!

Kudos high-fives

krall for forum specialist 2015.

So.. you’re creating an impotent position of volunteers… A position with no real authority, influence, or voice. The players are in fact LESS capable than the normal forum poster, who will be able to make personal opinions known, attempt to influence things for the better, and the like. Everything that you’re saying the the Volunteers can do should already be within the realm of the forum poster anyhow.

This position is one that nobody asked for, and fewer people wanted.

So the forum specialists, in their area of expertise, while not official, will be considered a player “authority” on the subject. Their main purpose would be to collect and send reports about certain subjects to the devs, but are unable to say whether or not they will, or have sent on such information. While I am for this paticular idea, it seems that their hands are tied too much and the title and responsibility are mainly in name only.

They won’t be able to do anything that we, as normal posters, can’t already do. While I can understand that having such people condensing the feedback would make it easier for the devs to look at and act accordingly, this might actually hamper the efforts of the devs communicating with the player base. People like to see a red post. But with this, I feel there will be little to no red posts anymore, and we’ll see the specialists commenting instead of the devs. However they will still be unofficial. There are already instances of the unoffical “specialists” commenting on a certain subject being dismissed, and the OP insisting on a red post to confirm or comment.

Unless the specialists can get a special tag, have the backing of the devs, and be able to confirm that a report has/will be made to the devs about a paticular subject, there really isn’t much that will change.

I don’t understand the part about not expressing personal opinions. I am of the opinion (hah) that expressing good feedback often requires sharing your personal opinions.

Is this role to be like an automaton or a debate moderator (not to be confused with a forum moderator) who only acts as a go-between and doesn’t get personally involved or invested?

In a way, I can understand what you might be getting at; that you don’t want people who will distort player feedback by being like a biased individual with more credibility than most.

But I don’t fully understand how one provides objective feedback about markedly subjective experiences in a game.

If I had more time, I would be intrigued by this position and possibly apply, but time aside, I’m uneasy about the notion of being asked to be objective. Not because I have any problems with being objective, but because staying objective seems to imply that my feedback will not be truly authentic.

Astral Projections.7320:

“•must live in the USA and be age 18 or older, for legal reasons”

I can see the age 18 part but; there are US laws restricting who a company can have as a Forum Specialist on a privately run forum to only United States residents? That’s hard to believe.

Unless there are really laws against it, this is something ANet should reconsider as this part doesn’t make sense to me.

In some countries a volunteer of this sort would be considered, by law, to be an employee of the company requiring adherence to local labor regulations.

I know there are a lot of questions about the whole USA citizen thing, but in my case I am a US citizen but I am currently attending University in Canada…I feel like I’m in some limbo zone. Would I qualify for this program? Or do I have to be a US citizen living in the US to qualify?