Guild Wars 2

What if:
The current team working on sPvP in all its glory were to make a short two minute video to be posted every Monday giving us a simple update on features they are working on and how last weeks features have come along?

How would you feel about this if it were a possibility?

They won’t do it, they barely reply on PvP forums anyway..

If the video was to cover just the PvP portion, then 2 minutes would be WAY too long.

and it would only be like: coming soon – wait for it to be ready – thanks for your patience

Interesting point Felivear, perhaps it could be shorter with defined segments that would each take somewhat of an equal portion of the video.

sPvP Features in developement this week – 30 sec
One random sPvP team member introduces themselves to community – 10 sec
Update on features that have made progress since last weeks video – 20 sec

Surely there is an intern out there with a camera phone and the heart enough to reach out to the players, or a developer with the passion enough to set aside 50 seconds of their entire week towards a project that just MIGHT make the player base, happier.

What you’re imagining is a few devs plopping down in front of a webcam for an impromptu update on their recent development.

What you don’t understand is that any media developed for the public would have to go through various edits/validations/etc. within the organization before it is OK’d for publishing. Your 2-minute video would most likely require several man-hours.

If they deemed it a good business move, they could justify such a production. However, a software development sprint can be longer than a week, so the fact that you expect them to report in to the masses every week is borderline insanity.

I get it. You spent your $60. You feel entitled to suit up and have your voice heard at every project management meeting to cast your vote on the priorities of the various stories they have in play. Just consider though, for one second, the possibility that you aren’t entitled. Perhaps you purchased a surf board, and you’re just riding the waves as they come. You can go to the beach and wait for the right kind of waves, or you can ride the ones that are available.

I’ve spent $60 on Glenfiddich scotch, and I’m not sending e-mails to the distillery to ask them to report to me weekly just to give me an idea as to how things are going. I purchased their product, enjoyed their product, and then the transaction was complete. If they changed their recipe, I’d be bummed. I may stop purchasing. However, it’s not my choice to make, and I have no say in the family’s business decisions, even though I’ve purchased their product and given them money.

Maybe I’m wrong, and we’re all so important that everyone should listen to what we say and give us what we want all the time. I’m not a doctor. I’m just entertaining the possibility that we are less than entitled to the level of effort involved in a weekly production, even if it’s only 30 seconds. Even if they put it together, it would just be a more granular review of how slow the development process in general can be for a major software project, and I doubt many people would be happier.

TL;DR – Entitlement in MMO communities riles me up, so a bunch of robble robble later, yes, I think it’s an actually crazy idea.