General / Off-Topic We have a problem! - What's happened with this community?

I took the liberty to create a new thread because there's been multiple posts about this over here and it seems like a discussion worth having. [up] [yesnod]



Originally Posted by jamesviago View Post (Source)

And this infighting is why they [= the devs] don't need to respond, they know we will bicker until the question is crowded out. If only 30 people would say "hey yeah, that's a good question! What's the answer?" But no. So what use are these threads? Reasonable questions are asked, the infighting rages, there are no answers, and slowly the thread dies, only to have an identical one spring up within days and suffer the same fate.

A year ago, many threads got answers. And, if someone tried to duplicate a topic, the members would link to the original and shut down the infighting.

To me, that was a community. That was what I signed up for. It's what I paid for. That community is dead. What is missing? Answers. We know we won't like a lot of the answers, but so what? I'd rather know the truth.


Welcome back James. We've missed you. It's good to see a bit of objectivity and logic around here. And what you say is spot on.

It's a shame that nearly every thread is reduced to the same never ending circle of arguing, usually by the same small minority, ( or as I call them, the usual suspects), copying and pasting the same points , regardless of the threads subject heading. It results in some people not feeling like they can post an opinion for fear of being shouted down, and that's a real shame.
 
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My guess is the huge disappointment happened when the game turned out to fall short on a bunch of things. IMO unavoidable after 10 years waiting for the next (true) RCT.
 
To be honest this seems like a fairly average gaming community. There is always going to be a little in-fighting as people post opinions and others disagree, that's just the way it goes!

I think the way things were before, we were all too absorbed by the new stuff we were being shown and perhaps hadn't seen enough of the game to form an opinion on it. Now with the fully released game, people are going to post about the things that they feel are not up to par. I myself have voiced a few issues I have with the game but that's as far as I take it. I try to avoid replying to someone to disagree with them because I acknowledge that it is their opinion and they have just as much right to voice it as I do! If the developers are taking feedback on-board, I suspect they’re intelligent enough to sort the good feedback from the bad anyway!

I honestly don’t feel that the community is worse nowadays, it has just moved on and is more vocal as a consequence.
 
It results in some people not feeling like they can post an opinion for fear of being shouted down

Well, I certainly feel that way. I'm still posting though, but I get a lot of crap for it. There's a lot of hypocrisy going on.
 
I agree. Sometimes I don't know why I bother reading the threads because more often than not the thread turns into ❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎ about some other point that the original poster had no intention of discussing.
It really ruins the entire point of these forums because you end up getting nowhere.

There is a severe lack of positivity at the moment compared to what was around 6 months ago. It needs to come back.
Before anybody says "But if the game was better", stop. There are ways to write your opinion on how to improve things and some people don't know how to do it. They write it in a non-constructive manner so it looks like whining rather than giving proper criticism.

Those are the two biggest issues for me on this forum.
 
why would you start another thread like this and then use james as your example? If i was him I would not want to be quote in such a way [knockout] this stuff really needs to stop its getting to the point of trolling
 
why would you start another thread like this and then use james as your example? If i was him I would not want to be quote in such a way [knockout] this stuff really needs to stop its getting to the point of trolling

He just wants to argue with people and tell them they're wrong over and over and over again. Mods really need to put a lid on it because it's this kind of behavior that drives away the people that are actually capable of having a mature discussion with constructive feedback.
 
why would you start another thread like this and then use james as your example? If i was him I would not want to be quote in such a way [knockout] this stuff really needs to stop its getting to the point of trolling

He just wants to argue with people and tell them they're wrong over and over and over again. Mods really need to put a lid on it because it's this kind of behavior that drives away the people that are actually capable of having a mature discussion with constructive feedback.

Wow. Talk about negativism and non-constructive feedback.

Another thread like what? This is the first and only recent thread about it, is it not? I didn't "quote" anyting as an "example", I copied the most recent post at that time from the other thread and opened a new topic because the discussion was going off topic amd I thought it would be good idea to keep the discussions separate (just like I did for the pop-up-window-idea, btw.)

It's not like I've posted something from a private chat, it's a post everyone can read. Why don't you let James decide for himself how he feels about being quoted?

Cereal, again you're attacking me personally calling me a troll when your own post is - what? Mature? Constructive?
No idea why you're so ❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎-bent on picking a fight with me.

I'll reply here because despite what's going on in the other thread I feel it makes more sense to talk about it here. This is what you wrote:
It's not harsh criticism that they have a problem with it's the people that offer nothing of value and just constantly repeat,

Planet Coaster sucks!
They'll never fix anything!
They never listen!
They don't care what we think!
You're all just a bunch of sheep!
The devs are liars!
The devs are deceiving the community!

over and over and over again.
Source

You're making broad generalisations and accusations but what is that based on? There are a few single posts that include things like "The devs don't listen and don't care." But that's it. I don't read the other stuff you claim to get "repeated constantly". This is a very distorted view on reality.
 
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just my 2 pence, I only check a few threads each day, one being the rctw thread because, its funny, then sometimes suggestions and ideas, and occasionally I'll go into the bug part of the forum and see if I can reproduce bugs.

Someone said before that there was a lack of rides, I personally don't think there's a lack of rides compared to previous games in the series, someone even went through and counted and I was like "Ok, but thats a recolor of this i.e. spider top spinner / monster round a bout" and so on, and there's less in RCT3 (without expansions)
However, if that thread means we end up with more flat rides, then I'm not against it, I just think they should have worded better and asked for more instead of saying there was a lack.

Reading cereal's "follow the sheep" thing, whoever did say that, I don't follow the sheep, I just enjoy the game~ still... I don't see why this thread was made when there's already a thread that you could have commented on.
 
Reading cereal's "follow the sheep" thing, whoever did say that, I don't follow the sheep, I just enjoy the game~ still... I don't see why this thread was made when there's already a thread that you could have commented on.

Sigh. That was my whole point, I'm sure there never was anyone saying "you're all just sheep".

And there is no other thread discussing the issues of forum culture on here, it was an off topic discussion in anther thread (there's a link in the OP).
 
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Wow. Wasn't hoping to get a whole new thread of members infighting about the infighting.

Not sure if there's multiple James's on the forum but I don't mind being quoted.

The comment about "He just wants to argue with people and tell them they're wrong over and over and over again" seems harsh since I didn't post at all for 4-5 months and then come back and answered honestly one question in that other thread, about why I stopped playing...?

I think this thread proved itself. Took less than a page to become valueless infighting that does nothing to advance the conversation towards a useful conclusion.

Here's a thread template that would add value to my playing experience:

OP asks a question or poses a suggestion.
If it's a Question...
Players try to answer the question, and if they cannot, Frontier staff offer an answer or a reason they cannot. Players don't attack the question or the OP, and stay on topic. Provide links to earlier threads if already answered.
If it's a Suggestion...
Players agree with, disagree with, or extend the suggestion, without hijacking or taking it off on tangents. Players don't attack the suggestion or the OP, and stay on topic. Provide links to earlier threads if already suggested. If the suggestion is software related, Frontier staff offer a rough indication of the likelihood of the suggestion ever making it, like "already under discussion / will be discussed / unlikely due to ...." and we understand timing and promises are not required or commercially sensible most of the time.

If even 20% of threads were like this, I'd be a forum addict. And we'd all know a lot more about how to play well, what is happening in the future, and why.

That's my suggestion regarding the OP and what has happened to the forum community.
 
OP asks a question or poses a suggestion.
If it's a Question...
Players try to answer the question, and if they cannot, Frontier staff offer an answer or a reason they cannot. Players don't attack the question or the OP, and stay on topic. Provide links to earlier threads if already answered.
If it's a Suggestion...
Players agree with, disagree with, or extend the suggestion, without hijacking or taking it off on tangents. Players don't attack the suggestion or the OP, and stay on topic. Provide links to earlier threads if already suggested. If the suggestion is software related, Frontier staff offer a rough indication of the likelihood of the suggestion ever making it, like "already under discussion / will be discussed / unlikely due to ...." and we understand timing and promises are not required or commercially sensible most of the time.

20%? I think at least 50% of the forums are actually very supportive. There are many threads in the suggestions section that go exactly as you said. Some agree some disagree. There are also many helpful threads in the how do I section.

Its the threads that discuss management and balance that get heated because everybody looks at it differently. But it has been suggested many times before that when somebody creates a thread with the intentions of posting criticism, they need to keep it short concise and to the point. If somebody finds a problem, or wants something fixed, the best way for the devs to know is to have that topic be very specific in how things should be fixed. Thats why they mainly focus on the bug report section

Threads about improving the community, or attacking the marketing team or the games "slogan" dont get anywhere (and we all know its the OP creating that problem)
 
20%? I think at least 50% of the forums are actually very supportive. There are many threads in the suggestions section that go exactly as you said. Some agree some disagree. There are also many helpful threads in the how do I section.

Its the threads that discuss management and balance that get heated because everybody looks at it differently. But it has been suggested many times before that when somebody creates a thread with the intentions of posting criticism, they need to keep it short concise and to the point. If somebody finds a problem, or wants something fixed, the best way for the devs to know is to have that topic be very specific in how things should be fixed. Thats why they mainly focus on the bug report section

Threads about improving the community, or attacking the marketing team or the games "slogan" dont get anywhere (and we all know its the OP creating that problem)

Ok. I'll keep reading and keep trying to learn and contribute. But in the threads I've read in the past few days I've not seen this pattern more than a few times.

So I've learned very little about what's changed, or what's coming. Just a whole pile of complaints about the same stuff over and over.

Am I missing something?
 
So I've learned very little about what's changed, or what's coming. Just a whole pile of complaints about the same stuff over and over.

Am I missing something?

If you want news about what's coming in the future from the devs? That is a pretty vacant area. I can't say I have any idea of what is planned for the future, and I do wish that was something the devs would announce.

We knew about the game several months before alpha even launched, and we had an outline of what to expect in the updates for those 8 months from alpha to full release. A lot of hype was built, but after beta people realized a lot was actually missing. So that is a big reason why the forums have seemed so heated the past few weeks. The winter update added a few things which were nice, but there are a lot of things people would like to see fixed, and a lot of the responses we get are not hopeful.

Security and vandalism was delayed because the devs didnt think it was fun, but we have not heard any news on if they are still improving it. Terrain restrictions are due to "technical limitations" and the way they balanced the ride aging feature was to enable an on/off switch. Many things that should be very simple, are overly complex (but its great for those who enjoy it!). It really is not the best way to start off a new IP if they plan on releasing future add-on content. But I am still hopeful things can be improved [up]

My point about the forums being all negative was, it certainly could be better, but I have seen worse forums
 
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Ok. I'll keep reading and keep trying to learn and contribute. But in the threads I've read in the past few days I've not seen this pattern more than a few times.

So I've learned very little about what's changed, or what's coming. Just a whole pile of complaints about the same stuff over and over.

Am I missing something?

A new update was announced on Wednesday's live stream that featured Sam Denney. The update will hopefully drop next week.

It should feature the new coaster support system that has been shown, and new ride light animations.

Anything else? well, we will just have to wait and see. [hehe]
 
I've just been having a read of this and would like to put my 2 cents in (and if I don't come across clearly, that may be partly what I am due to being autistic unfortunately). I will try and keep it on topic as well.

The way I see criticism lately is that there are two types - constructive and destructive.

Constructive criticism is the better of the two particularly if it includes details on exactly what the problem is (like a bug report does). From what I see this kind of criticism is normally helpful in my eyes as long as it doesn't devolve into personal attacks.

Destructive criticism on the other hand (for example blatant accusations) isn't going to help anyone and usually lowers the reputation of the one doing it.

Personally, whilst I like the game, I know there are issues with it and I've mentioned a few myself.

The other thing that really doesn't help is if a conversation denigrates into personal attacks - this doesn't help anyone either.

I've a feeling that another thing that isn't helping (which I mentioned in another thread) is that some subjects seem to end up in loads of different threads. I can understand confusion resulting from something like this although it may be a case of pointing users to an existing thread (if one exists) for that subject which is something the moderators or even Frontier could be involved with as well.

Just my two cents.

Shane
 
the fixed supports and other small updates are pretty necessary and a standard to any new game, a lot more balancing tweaks are needed. I think most people are expecting more than just new lights in the future
 
A new update was announced on Wednesday's live stream that featured Sam Denney. The update will hopefully drop next week.

It should feature the new coaster support system that has been shown, and new ride light animations.

Anything else? well, we will just have to wait and see. [hehe]

Thanks. I love Sam's passion and joy. He's a legend.
 
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