Game devs and toxic fanbases.

[golstat2003]

I'll just leave this here. If a game as loved as FFXIV still has this issue . . .

I've always tried to be kind to devs on any game I play even if I'm angry. Cause as someone who works in IT, I know how working in any type of IT environment is a completely thankless job at times. Be kind everyone.  🙂

 

 

 

[biostem]

A certain percent of people are jerks.  A game's fanbase is no exception to this.  The larger the fandom, the more jerks there will be in it.  It's just math...

[Glacier Peak]

Man I am seeing this in another game that was released recently, Halo Infinite. Lots of angry folks expressing themselves in a way that doesn't help the folks who do the tinkering and have livelihoods tied to the success of that game.

[biostem]

10 minutes ago, Glacier Peak said:

Man I am seeing this in another game that was released recently, Halo Infinite. Lots of angry folks expressing themselves in a way that doesn't help the folks who do the tinkering and have livelihoods tied to the success of that game.

As much as some people may deride gamers, they do take their pastimes seriously;  Emotions run hot, and some people do not know how to temper that and express themselves in a creative way.  All you can do is be a calm, informed player/member, and either ignore or try to defuse the situation, (though in the case of the latter, it can sometimes make things worse). 

[Glacier Peak]

3 minutes ago, biostem said:

As much as some people may deride gamers, they do take their pastimes seriously;  Emotions run hot, and some people do not know how to temper that and express themselves in a creative way.  All you can do is be a calm, informed player/member, and either ignore or try to defuse the situation, (though in the case of the latter, it can sometimes make things worse). 

Yeah this same line of thinking works wonders in other areas of life too!

[Fira]

It's easy to dehumanize things to oblivion when it comes to fanbase reactions - I do volunteer dev'ing for a smaller stupid fangame and i found out that if I just had one single hot word to highlight in casual conversation to spot things that players will think important - it's "they".

 

"They" haven't fixed this, "They" are not nerfing this/that, etc. There's some kind of problem and it is (supposedly) out of your reach, it must be "their" fault ! It's doubly frustrating when stumbling on this randomly but it's stuff that never was actually brought up. And no matter how much people faces you try to put forward, it's always "they" when you can't quite tell who caused the problem.

 

It's something I came to witness that way but pretty sure you can see it on just about every online community to an extent...

 

... Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not gonna wish said broken community's state of ambient grumbling on anyone, but I really think this is something that should be balanced out with critical thinking. You can't simply avoid important issues just because it might make someone unhappy - if you feel like you have to, it's all the more reasons to talk about it. Of course, both are neither exclusive nor fully overlapping...

 

So my take is that the important part is to ensure it's brought up properly, and not just toxic background noise and anger... Cool it down, process it, think it over, get it across, and make it useful.

[biostem]

11 hours ago, Fira said:

It's easy to dehumanize things to oblivion when it comes to fanbase reactions - I do volunteer dev'ing for a smaller stupid fangame and i found out that if I just had one single hot word to highlight in casual conversation to spot things that players will think important - it's "they".

 

"They" haven't fixed this, "They" are not nerfing this/that, etc. There's some kind of problem and it is (supposedly) out of your reach, it must be "their" fault ! It's doubly frustrating when stumbling on this randomly but it's stuff that never was actually brought up. And no matter how much people faces you try to put forward, it's always "they" when you can't quite tell who caused the problem.

 

It's something I came to witness that way but pretty sure you can see it on just about every online community to an extent...

 

... Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not gonna wish said broken community's state of ambient grumbling on anyone, but I really think this is something that should be balanced out with critical thinking. You can't simply avoid important issues just because it might make someone unhappy - if you feel like you have to, it's all the more reasons to talk about it. Of course, both are neither exclusive nor fully overlapping...

 

So my take is that the important part is to ensure it's brought up properly, and not just toxic background noise and anger... Cool it down, process it, think it over, get it across, and make it useful.

 

People get heated.  Some people can't or won't temper their expectations.  The use of a generic "they" is just shorthand for "the game developers", or similar groups of people responsible for the game in question.  I don't think it's a matter of dehumanizing things inasmuch as it is simple shorthand and general ease of use.

[golstat2003]

And I will say not every piece of feedback that comes from the "community" is useful. There are some things that are out right not. That shouldn't be ever be listened to. And I'm not just talking about trolls, I'm talking about some suggestions that would lead to bad things happening for a subscription based game or completely change a game from what it's about. Just as there is useful feedback, we have to acknowledge there most certainly is feedback that should be put straight in the trash can.

[ThaOGDreamWeaver]

I'm not a game dev, but an app dev and (back in the day) a bulletin board mod for a talk show.

And have been on the receiving end, including being called a Nazi in a newspaper for banning "free debate and discussion".

(ie: overt racism, sexism and deeply unpleasant jokes about cancer,amongst other things. Then again, if they didn't want that reported back to their boss, they should have taken note that we displayed their origin server address to them when they posted, which had the name of their newsroom on it).

 

...ahem.

 

There are fine lines between fan appreciation, enthusiasm, participation, expectation, entitlement, activism and hate.

Some people step over them now and then and can be gently nudged back where you need them.

Some people bulldoze them.

And some people are just trolls.

Not taking this stuff personally is damn hard, especially when (a) you're not actually paid to deal with this stuff and (b) they think, say, and occasionally make legal claims that "the fans created this more than you did".

I set the rules for the sandbox. They play in it. Without people playing, it doesn't work: when the kids play rough, it doesn't work either.

And when they whine, I get a headache, and consider whether having these kids play in my back garden is what I want to be doing.

(Though yelling GET OFF MY DAMN VIRTUAL LAWN tends to produce negative responses too...)

 

Edited January 14, 2022 by ThaOGDreamWeaver
Didn't finish as got distracted by THOSE DAMN KIDS

[Shadow Raven]

While I agree with the original premise of being kinder, I do want to offer another perspective.

 

My first go around with CoH ended up being a very unpleasant experience because of incompetent moderation. 

 

I was getting death threats and harassed from the second I logged on until I logged off. I got a lot of excuses and even when pointing out that one of the people was a serial bully on the boards just did not work. All the proof and evidence in the world did nothing because one Mod didn't want to do his/her/their job.

 

If the same thing happened today, it would be called bullying and is against almost all ToS on games or social media.

 

Some of it was new and some it was just sheer incompetence by an overwhelmed Mod who was more interested in chumming with forum regulars.

 

Having said all this, unfocused rage at "They" isn't constructive. Pick clear logical arguments and stick to your guns and that feedback will be taken more seriously, usually.