Community Team Update – The Sequel (Return of the Update)

Zac Antonaci

Head of Communications
Frontier
Hi all,

You may remember that almost 2 weeks ago I posted a thread asking for your feedback as we move from 1 Community team member up to 4 (currently 3 – advert is on the frontiers job page) *nudge nudge*.

On that thread I promised that I would make a follow up post highlighting some of the things the community team are going to be working on based directly on your feedback. So I just wanted to give you a quick update.

As always, it’s a two way conversation and I’m always happy to get your thoughts. Also, remember that these are areas we would like to focus on more than detailed specifics of what activities specificall and when we will have them by, just because I don't want to promise anything that might change later.

Community site: one thing that came up a lot was the regularity of content on the community site. We really do want to make sure that the community site has loads of really awesome content and is a home for everything community based. That’s why this week you will have noticed that there has been a new piece of content every day and we aim to continue and expand on this. New news features such as community spotlights, Meet the Team, top 10’s and other content in addition to the features you already know about are either introduced or being considered.

Communication with the Frontier: We want to increase our time spent communicating in general. Firstly on the forums, hopefully you’ve strated to notice this, but once the new role is filled (again, go check out the jobs page) ;) on social media sites too. In addition, a lot of people have specifically said that they wanted to get more interaction with developers. On the other hand the developers are busy making the best darn game on the planet. What we want to do is create a way for more people to benefit from the developers replies and highlighting the information from them. This has already started in Q&A’s and developer answers such as this thread launched today. We want to do more here also, but always with the aim of making sure that answers from the team are made available for as many people to see as possible.

Player groups: One thing that is really obvious to me is that there is a huge, thriving community of hugely dedicated players and we want to support them. One element is player groups. There are thousands of players who enjoy playing together in groups. We want to make sure that whatever way you enjoy playing in your groups you feel supported and that we’re having good communication with people who run groups. In addition to player groups we’re also keen to make sure we are communicating well with fansite owners, video makers, player ran radio stations... basically anything that players are running, we want to be supporting. keep an eye out next week for some information that I think groups specifically (although not exclusively) will really enjoy.

Richer content: Another element we heard a lot of was that you would like to see more streaming and video content. This is a slower process to set up but we would definitely like to do more. Ed is hoping to start a more regular stream series shortly and more details will follow but also using streaming and video occasionally to highlight behind the scenes, streamed developer interviews or other community driven events would be great.

Events and competitions: We really want to run more in game events and competitions for people to get involved in. We also want to promote more of the events and competitions you’re running and get involved. If you check out the newsletter you will see a really nice competition launching Monday which will let you name a rare item in the game and we would like to make sure there is frequently an interesting event or competition, either from community members supported and promoted by us or through us ourselves, that the community can get involved in.

New and old users (as in play time, not age): Finally, we would like to work closer with both the veterans of the game and the newer players. For veterans we would like to find a way to make getting to Elite in a skill something that you aspire to and really want to achieve as well as reward or recognise in some small way those that have been so dedicated to the game. On the other end of the spectrum we'd also like to help and support new players to both get into the game and find a way of playing that they enjoy. This could be getting into a group, participating in an event or finding other community members to chat to.

So that’s a few things we would like to focus on generally over the coming months. Again there is a disclaimer that much of these are ideas and things we would like to do, but after such a great response of feedback, I really wanted to make sure you heard back on some of the ideas at the moment.

There are some more things on top of that which would be nice to do as well but we will let you know once we have more detail on them.

Again, feedback very welcome. Please do let us know what you think.

Zac
 
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Unfortunately this role is in the Cambridge office. :(

Being in the wrong country scuppered my hopes in that regard. Because obviously, the community here would LOVE IT if I had any kind of Frontier badge. Although, if you pay me in rich tea biscuits I'll proof your posts for spelling. ;)

It's wonderful that we'll be hearing (and seeing) more from everybody at Frontier. I can't speak to any details specifically until we see the fruits of these labours, but I'm quietly optimistic while hearing a lot of the right sorts of sounds.

However, in particular regarding new players, which is a subject that really matters a lot to me - I think a form of volunteer/ambassadorial role, a bit like MMOs have had 'advisory' flags, that new players could direct their initial questions and problems towards would be a useful step for smoothing out the players first introduction to Elite. I know each of the people I've introduced and 'hand-held' through their early steps has been very grateful and expressed how valuable receiving assistance in pointing them towards options that help facilitate the direction they want to take has been.
 
Zac, it all sounds outstanding. I think I complimented you in another thread but you are moving fast imho and I already feel a difference in information flow and interaction. Maybe it's an illusion but I hope:

your presence frees up Michael, Sandro and all the Devs to spend the majority of money and time on developing the game while still being able to interact with the community and get more value for both sides from the communications.

Anyone still saying FD and devs don't communicate or read the forums is crazy-talk! And your role and actions show that FD have been listening for long.

I hope you find a solution together with DB to the more thorny questions like "direction of the game" that seem to also be important topics on the minds of many forumites at least.

Keep rolling with it, all great stuff so far!

*can you get a page on the community site that links all the newsletters in numerical order in a compact list and test that they all load properly? The third party you guys use is hard to find older newsletters and the images and content are hit-and-miss loading for me lately when I go back to look up something from the past. A compact and simple list with short note about main topics would be appreciated as I loathe the new massive tiles format it seems all websites are moving towards (maybe due to mobile, but I still hate it).
 
Hello Zac,

maybe it is only my opinion, but when it comes to "Richer content", I am not sure if streaming and video is a way to go. Videos are nice, but what the ED lacks now is a playable content. Not only more interesting missions, bounty hunting which is real bounty hunting and Combat Zones which will have meaningfull start and end, but also a central evolving story (maybe based on Thargoids or some other ETs) which will be really playable in-game, not only read-about on GalNet.

Under the term "playable in-game", I mean systems attacked, CG missions for evacuation (passenger transport), stations destroyed, another CGs for founding (and funding) military and scientific outposts which will need to be constantly supplied (food, metals, machinery) by players and which will help the fights, will develop better ships (maybe based on some salvaged alien technology), better weapons etc. Things like that.


P.S. I hope that my post is readable and understandable. English is not my native language.
 
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Zac Antonaci

Head of Communications
Frontier
Being in the wrong country scuppered my hopes in that regard. Because obviously, the community here would LOVE IT if I had any kind of Frontier badge. Although, if you pay me in rich tea biscuits I'll proof your posts for spelling. ;)

It's wonderful that we'll be hearing (and seeing) more from everybody at Frontier. I can't speak to any details specifically until we see the fruits of these labours, but I'm quietly optimistic while hearing a lot of the right sorts of sounds.

However, in particular regarding new players, which is a subject that really matters a lot to me - I think a form of volunteer/ambassadorial role, a bit like MMOs have had 'advisory' flags, that new players could direct their initial questions and problems towards would be a useful step for smoothing out the players first introduction to Elite. I know each of the people I've introduced and 'hand-held' through their early steps has been very grateful and expressed how valuable receiving assistance in pointing them towards options that help facilitate the direction they want to take has been.

You don't know how on the mark you are. I do think some sort of ambassadorial hand holding would really work with Elite. Does that mean you would b e volunteering to help out. ;)

P.S My text went through MS word spell checker. I have done all I can...
 

Zac Antonaci

Head of Communications
Frontier
Hello Zac,

maybe it is only my opinion, but when it comes to "Richer content", I am not sure if streaming and video is a way to go. Videos are nice, but what the ED lacks now is a playable content. Not only more interesting missions, bounty hunting which is real bounty hunting and Combat Zones which will have meaningfull start and end, but also a central evolving story (maybe based on Thargoids or some other ETs) which will be really playable in-game, not only read-about on GalNet.

Under the term "playable in-game", I mean systems attacked, CG missions for evacuation (passenger transport), stations destroyed, another CGs for founding (and funding) military and scientific outposts which will need to be constantly supplied (food, metals, machinery) by players and which will help the fights, will develop better ships (maybe based on some salvaged alien technology), better weapons etc. Things like that.


P.S. I hope that my post is readable and understandable. English is not my native language.

I understand your point completely. We do plan to help support player led content into the game (like community goals). But we were specifically asked about our Twitch channel a number of times. I think it's a channel and way of making content that people want to engage with.
 
Player groups: One thing that is really obvious to me is that there is a huge, thriving community of hugely dedicated players and we want to support them. One element is player groups. There are thousands of players who enjoy playing together in groups. We want to make sure that whatever way you enjoy playing in your groups you feel supported and that we’re having good communication with people who run groups. In addition to player groups we’re also keen to make sure we are communicating well with fansite owners, video makers, player ran radio stations... basically anything that players are running, we want to be supporting. keep an eye out next week for some information that I think groups specifically (although not exclusively) will really enjoy.

Maybe Frontier can include a section on their community site that links to some of the fansite owners, video makers and radio stations that are out there (I'm not saying this to be self-referential :p ). Discoverability of these things isn't always very easy, and making that process easier would help both the content creators and the players as well. There's a number of places out there that are serving up great content, but seemingly a relatively small percentage of the community are aware of them. You do a pretty good job of linking some of them in the newsletters, but those are easily missed, and not necessarily the places people go to in order to discover such content.

Richer content: Another element we heard a lot of was that you would like to see more streaming and video content. This is a slower process to set up but we would definitely like to do more. Ed is hoping to start a more regular stream series shortly and more details will follow but also using streaming and video occasionally to highlight behind the scenes, streamed developer interviews or other community driven events would be great.

Seems to me, that there is possibly room for some overlap between the Richer Content and Player Groups?
 
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You don't know how on the mark you are. I do think some sort of ambassadorial hand holding would really work with Elite. Does that mean you would b e volunteering to help out. ;)

P.S My text went through MS word spell checker. I have done all I can...

This sounds like the sort of thing that could be part of the mythical (and still missing) near Gold-like powers promised to DDF backers by DBOBE.
 
I would apply in a heartbeat, however, my commute of 4,600 miles would most likely make me late for work a few times and wouldn't want to get fired ;)

But if you guys are ever looking to expand into the States, including data center space (I have two) let me know :)
 
Although, if you pay me in rich tea biscuits I'll proof your posts for spelling. ;)

P.S My text went through MS word spell checker. I have done all I can...

Then you both missed this:
Hi all,

You may remember that almost 2 weeks ago I posted a thread asking for your feedback as we move from 1 Community team member up to 4 (currently 3 – advert is on the frontiers job page) *nudge nudge*.

On that thread I promised that I would make a follow up post highlighting some of the things the community team are going to be working on based directly on your feedback. So I just wanted to give you a quick update.

As always, it’s a two way conversation and I’m always happy to get your thoughts. Also, remember that these are areas we would like to focus on more than detailed specifics of what activities specificall and when we will have them by, just because I don't want to promise anything that might change later.
I charge plain hobnobs for my spell checking services :p

Oh and I could fill the advertised role, but I know I'd never get it ... call it a hunch ;)
 
Sadly, I cannot apply for the job. My wife has make an executive decision, stating my offspring come first, apparently, along with something called 'real life'.

That, plus I would be like a schoolgirl at a One Direction concert if shown top secret stuff like planetary landings, no use to anyone;)
 
Maybe Frontier can include a section on their community site that links to some of the fansite owners, video makers and radio stations that are out there (I'm not saying this to be self-referential :p ). Discoverability of these things isn't always very easy, and making that process easier would help both the content creators and the players as well. There's a number of places out there that are serving up great content, but seemingly a relatively small percentage of the community are aware of them. You do a pretty good job of linking some of them in the newsletters, but those are easily missed, and not necessarily the places people go to in order to discover such content.



Seems to me, that there is possibly room for some overlap between the Richer Content and Player Groups?


How about support in-game when it comes to player-group communication and management. You would have to put in an application, and then you could (if you so desired) flash your group affiliation publicly or hide them as you please (except from other group members of course). You would also have the ability to see where your group-mates are in the galaxy as well. Player groups just have NO WAY of identifying each other other than on a voice chat program or friending each other, so what often happens is that you ONLY become friends (mostly) with people who are in your group and no one else just so you can see each other. Which is ok for small groups, but not so good when you are a new guy and have to add 20-200 people to your friend list.

If you want to show player groups some love, this is what you have to do:

PROVIDE PLAYER GROUPS THE TOOLS TO CREATE, MANAGE, AND COMMUNICATE WITHIN OUR GROUPS AND SHOW OUR AFFILIATION, JUST LIKE EVERY OTHER MMO ON THE FACE OF THIS PLANET!

This alone would be a HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGE improvement. Until this happens, and until you find ways to MASSIVELY increase incentives to play in OPEN (as opposed to solo or private group) or at the VERY LEAST dampen the effect of solo play on the BG sim or PP, player groups aren't going to feel supported.

Is this what you are planning to give us FD? If not, why not?!?
 
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Then you both missed this:

Actually I didn't, but I was withholding solutions until the biscuits were supplied. There's another one though. See if you can spot it!


until you find ways to MASSIVELY increase incentives to play in OPEN (as opposed to solo or private group) or at the VERY LEAST dampen the effect of solo play on the BG sim or PP, player groups aren't going to feel supported.

Please don't turn this particular thread into a solo vs open debate - solo and private group play will not get thrown under the bus to satisfy open players.
 
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Actually I didn't, but I was withholding solutions until the biscuits were supplied. There's another one though. See if you can spot it!
.

I've strated (sic) looking ;)


Oh and for real pedantry, there's a capitalisation issue.......
 
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