Fortunately for us as a community, I can tell you that the current Elite CM team care about Elite very, very much. Way more so than most of us realise.
The issue isn't about the CM (they are great), it's not about the devs (they are also good), it's about the policy set by Frontier as a company. That policy is to "not talk" about development.
Now I'm 100% certain Frontier will release news at some point - maybe soon, maybe not so soon. But even if they do release news and updates, that doesn't fully address the problem. It all comes down to whether or not Frontier can consistantly release information and engage with the community over a period of years at a time without going radio silent on a regular basis.
Bottom line: The CM do care (a lot), news will come. Those two things aren't even in question. The question is how long will it be until Frontier go radio silent again, and stop engaging with the community. It's this last part which is doing a lot of harm to the Elite community.
And isn’t just that really?
Engaging with the community? I’m new to the gaming community but have been a fan of Elite since 1984 when it helped get me through some difficult childhood times. Here as someone entering his mid-life crisis I’ve been surprised at how negative the forum can be to each other and to Frontier. Can’t help but think of the phrase ’don’t bite the hand that feeds you’ and it seems applicable both ways. Communication works both ways. Effective , cleaver, respectful communication works both ways. I was a solely console player (Xbox) and was very disappointed at how we were treated by Frontier. I thought the customer support and communication was and is appalling, its not been respectful or effective simply in its oblique and closed tone; its not been cleaver either, intelligent communication with your customer base encourages customer loyalty, recommendations and greater revenues, and I expect the CM appreciate that, I do get the impression that they want to communicate more than they are allowed to, but then what is it that the community wants them to communicate? I read so much here about us needing more information about development but really, on a weekly basis? How is that possible? Maybe Fdev need to be a little secretive about plans so as not to leak good and exciting ideas out to a competitor? Does any game out their have 52 exciting new developments a year that need to be shared? Do we, the community need to be drip-fed pre-engineered ‘good news’ in order to be effectively managed? Only they know their reasons behind not meeting what appears to be a demanding clamour from this community for more news. They could be more open and direct in answering concerns about problems, even if the answer is going to be unpopular, but I cannot be surprised that aren’t given the reactions they get. I was angry about console development being dropped but I was totally floored when in a livestream Arthur said the team had reviewed death threats, and then again when OA got such criticism for just calling things out that someone suggested attacking Obsidian Orbital in game. I mean its a game ! And its a game we’re all meant to like and want to see go on.
So having been jilted at the console altar I’ve moved on. II’ve wiped away my tears and I’ve purchased a gaming PC and have been blown away at the improvement in graphics, sound and gameplay compared to my Xbox. Yes I’m having to start all over again but I’m having fun and that surely is the point? I’ve engaged with the forums and while I’ve seen some surprisingly dissapointing and nasty stuff I’ve also been helped by community members, and that’s what I thought it was all about.
If the livestreams were about issuing development news each week then I can understand there would be multiple reasons why that cannot be delivered. If the livestreams were about community engagement then lets engage. We can engage with each other in more ways than demanding more new. We can celebrate what, arguably I know, is still the best spaceship game there is.
Drama and clickbait are not the same. Although I appreciate some people don't see a difference.
