Update on Communication

[Deleted member 182079]

But is player engagement on this forum == in game engagement? It comes down to the amount of players who visit these forums / watch livestreams- and....its not huge going by the sidebar. Back after KS and pre 1.0 the forums mattered because the entire audience were in that forum. As time has gone on thats dwindled and now places like Discord (where there are many more people- at least from my own experiences) live and don't give a monkeys about this forum unless its for something relevant (and simply ignore everything else).

The majority of livestreams are tiny views wise (live at least) when there is no news, so you (with these 'low ebb' streams) are spinning wheels really. Its only when the big announcements come where viewers really engage with them- and generally its having devs chat, new art etc to look at which brings people in.

So really to me this forum, its drama etc is simply a vestigial concern for FD. People may feel despondent and leave (sometimes several times over) but its not a place FD need to worry about.

In the end FD need to build hype around things that have a solid foundation. I'd be happy if we had a packed stream before a release with devs etc, and then a stream playing the release with art etc to show what went into the new feature. Everything else is frankly pointless fluff very few people want to engage with- watching someone play ED is dull, livestreams are generally popular for Drops or something other than playing the game ironically. If it were me? I'd have concept pic of the week (from the archives but also new upcoming content), more written dev interviews (with real questions, not - "What is your ideal Sunday?") and when devs ask for balance ideas we clearly see input gathered, the devs thoughts and a defined outcome across several areas that can vary in size.

I hold my hand up and confess that I had to google what vestigial means.

But you raise fair points - and yes, I don't really watch the live streams these days (calling one of them supercruise news, with barely any news in them is maybe nice word play, but not much else) and watching people who don't seem very familiar at all with the game that their employer created just pure cringe and not very entertaining.

For me though, when I talk about engagement I refer more to providing an insight of where we are with the game, the challenges (technical and game-design wise), ideas, future plans and events, and so on. That's what I'm personally interested in, because if I want to see the game played on my screen I just boot it up myself.

I guess though, if there really isn't any news at all, or rather none that they want to share with us, well that's unfortunate. I've started playing X4 again recently because a new paid-for DLC is coming out soon, which is pretty much an insta-purchase for me, and it feels exciting to get some previews around what's coming already, in a "the future is bright" kind of way.

In turn, I've come out of the Elite-Feet gear grind and apart from grinding credits for getting my FC back there's very little that motivates me to play right now - don't feel the need to scavenge more EDO mats as my gear is now mostly where I want it to be, ground CZs get very repetitive very quickly, I don't care for the BGS and the ship content in the game hasn't changed in years so is also pretty stale.

Some news on what's in the pipeline for the game, even if it's not imminent, would probably give me that push to keep going until it happens, but it's just tumbleweed (and FC interiors are locked behind the aforementioned credit grind that I have little motivation to get into right now with all the silence going on - it might get delayed by several months, who knows really).

 

[Rubbernuke]

Well this is a bigger trainwreck than the next console announcement.

Maybe its the COVID talking (or I'm just grumpy IRANOUTOFBLOODYMARMITE) but, having a focus on livestreams has made everything really hard for CMs. With the written word, reward codes etc, pictures and have a 'bank' of new things to upload / send (say with newsletters) you could smooth out quiet spots with things that are new / interesting.

That, or have weekly treasure hunts like you did with The Winking Cat / ALD ice ice baby beacons with a paint / module of the week linked into finding a clue on something that was sent to you.

I don't know. I'll get back to rubbing Vicks over myself and have some tea and calm down.

 

[LeoBartlet]

I don't know. I'll get back to rubbing Vicks over myself and have some tea and calm down.

I know what you need in this trying time...

Spoiler

 

[Rubbernuke]

I hold my hand up and confess that I had to google what vestigial means.

But you raise fair points - and yes, I don't really watch the live streams these days (calling one of them supercruise news, with barely any news in them is maybe nice word play, but not much else) and watching people who don't seem very familiar at all with the game that their employer created just pure cringe and not very entertaining.

For me though, when I talk about engagement I refer more to providing an insight of where we are with the game, the challenges (technical and game-design wise), ideas, future plans and events, and so on. That's what I'm personally interested in, because if I want to see the game played on my screen I just boot it up myself.

I guess though, if there really isn't any news at all, or rather none that they want to share with us, well that's unfortunate. I've started playing X4 again recently because a new paid-for DLC is coming out soon, which is pretty much an insta-purchase for me, and it feels exciting to get some previews around what's coming already.

In turn, I've come out of the Elite-Feet gear grind and apart from grinding credits for getting my FC back there's very little that motivates me to play right now - don't feel the need to scavenge more EDO mats as my gear is now mostly where I want it to be, ground CZs get very repetitive very quickly, I don't care for the BGS and the ship content in the game hasn't changed in years so is also pretty stale.

Some news on what's in the pipeline for the game, even if it's not imminent, would probably give me that push to keep going until it happens, but it's just tumbleweed (and FC interiors are locked behind the aforementioned credit grind that I have little motivation to get into right now with all the silence going on - it might get delayed by several months, who knows really).

The thing is, inside these forums we are like this monkey and go crazy at silence / magic tricks / words

Outside the forums, on Discords, games websites- no one cares until something actually happens- and all the silence / drama is ignored.

 

[Rubbernuke]

I know what you need in this trying time...

Spoiler

View attachment 290962

Drastic Kaleotherapy? I want my chakras realigned, not blown clean out my body.

 

[Deleted member 182079]

The thing is, inside these forums we are like this monkey and go crazy at silence / magic tricks / words

View attachment 290961

Outside the forums, on Discords, games websites- no one cares until something actually happens- and all the silence / drama is ignored.

True dat.

This is the only forum I'm active on these days - and the only one ever that was specific to a game (the other was a general gaming site, and ended up talking about everything but games towards the end). I don't actively follow what's going on with my other games beyond their Steam landing pages, and it seems a much healthier approach alright. Food for thought.

But then again, nothing, absolutely nothing works better for procrastinating during work hours so there's that.

(also, hehe funny monkey)

 

[CMDR Ylion]

OK, I'll discuss the topic. How come players are getting chastised for bringing up ED's (non-existing) streaming schedule in the official FDEV streaming schedule thread?

Weekly Streaming Schedule - w/c 07/02/2022

Heyo Frontier Fam! Welcome back to Monday and a new streaming schedule for our games. We've been having so much fun playing and chatting with everyone, and we're looking forward to another great week of streams. Join our streams on our official Frontier Developments Twitch channel, or on the...

forums.frontier.co.uk

If I may be so bold as to quote our own Ubermick -
'Just so we're clear, the "Frontier Developments Streaming Schedule" is not the place to discuss the (lack of) streaming schedule of a flagship Frontier Developments game, and Elite Dangerous talk should be kept to the Elite Dangerous subforum? (as opposed to the subforums of Planet Zoo, Lemnis Gate, or JWE2)'

And his reply from FDEV -
'Yes, exactly what I asked, you said it perfectly. Talking about Elite is done in Elite. Jens isn't on the ED team'

And whilst I acknowlege that CMs are people too, aren't they being paid by FDEV (not the volunteer ones, obviously)? What is their actual job, if not to engage with the community? What have they done for the last 2 months?

 

[SCiARA]

hahaha, in the spirit of "communication" todays generous forum offerings already has me proper belly laughing
wonderful stuff

 

[zimms]

I know what you need in this trying time...

Spoiler

View attachment 290962

Instructions unclear. Started frying thyme.

 

[Rubbernuke]

Instructions unclear. Started frying thyme.

Slap some seasoned meat on that fragrant oil

 

[Deleted member 182079]

View attachment 290965

Thanks for spoilering that, very considerate.

 

[Riverside]

Of course a post has to be reported to be noticed... Look at how many remain here that are obviously "off-topic" when the topic is a communication from the "Lead Community Manager" that discusses their own communication strategy change.

Arf was kind enough to drop in to pass on a few words to "the community" and here we are, 30 pages in, discussing pretty much anything but the content of that post.

So you have no issue with what I wrote in reply to another contributor's query.

How are you defining 'we' in this context?

 

[xzanfr]

It keeps the forums readable and followable

Can someone please tidy up the News & Bulletins section.
It's an unreadable mess full of out of date sticky threads and really hard to actually find the current information that FD are trying to relay to us.

 

[Rat Catcher]

How are you defining 'we' in this context?

Oh, the usual trolls and regular posters... The posters who are quick to hit the "report" button when a response is given that matches their own, "we" as a "community" who respond to a post by the "Lead Community Manager" with comments totally outside of their own topic.

At least I didn't use the old fallback of "everyone", a favourite...

Of course, if you take issue on:

So you have no issue with what I wrote in reply to another contributor's query.

Feel free to join in the reporting of "off-topic" posts.

 

[Cmdr Derzelat]

Can someone please tidy up the News & Bulletins section.
It's an unreadable mess full of out of date sticky threads and really hard to actually find the current information that FD are trying to relay to us.

As stated by OP, on topic there's nothing to relay other than there is something to relay, but there is nothing to relay.... {Play loop}

 

[Rat Catcher]

How are you defining 'we' in this context?

Is not the inclusive "we", when used in a thread in which you have also participated a correct assessment?

If you wish, I could edit the original post to exclude those contributors who are comfortable to make a post but have no wish to be included in an assessment of said responses, in order to not fall foul of the "discuss the post, not the poster" rule.

Participants of the thread who are discussing an 'interesting' statement made by the "Lead Community Manager", which has generated 32 pages of responses so far, might, logically, be part of an inclusive, surely?

 

[Bottom Hat]

Oh, the usual trolls and regular posters... The posters who are quick to hit the "report" button when a response is given that matches their own,

Some people seem to take a perverse pleasure in reporting others when it suits them. It's quite nauseating really.

As we are ontopic, what is your opinion on the ADS? I really like the way it improved exploration personally, but perhaps it isn't for everyone.

 

[LeoBartlet]

Can someone please tidy up the News & Bulletins section.
It's an unreadable mess full of out of date sticky threads and really hard to actually find the current information that FD are trying to relay to us.

Excellent idea and should be quite easy as there will be no news for the next several weeks.

 

[SCiARA]

 

[Marziano Inside]

The team and I are working incredibly hard behind the scenes to gather this information and provide these answers.

​

I don't get this. Why is it needed to work "incredibly hard" to get information out of your own company. This is an indicator of how things are working in frontier.