Communication is key

dyon101

D
This is a post about the current state of the community and communication with all the leaks happening / planet zoo ect.

My main concern here is communication, Frontier hasn't addressed any of the questions the people on the forums and edit currently have. (for example: are the leaks for real? Will we get some of the stuff of planet zoo in JWE as well?) Now I get that Frontier can't answer all the questions people have, for one reason or another. But when nearly every post is about leaks or a sequel to JWE I do start to wonder why Frontier haven't addressed any of these matters.

Frontier have adressed however that they are planning to continue to update JWE, but some confirmation here and there would be appreciated.
Same goes for the feedback people have, I personally feel like all the feedback goes into some empty void, (I do believe Frontier actually see all the feedback posts but a simple ''noted'' would go a long way.)

I'm not a community manager, nor do I know what Frontiers business plan is, but with everything going on an open communication would be best. (I think)

And last but not least, the dlc's: why not announce that a new dinosaur pack is coming out, why would you release them out of the blue? (pun not intended)
The reddit went ballistic when they found out the update would ''only'' contain bug fixes and a camera mode.
I don't know, that's just my opinion on things, I do believe ALOT of the anger and frustration could have been avoided with a better and clear line of communication.

That being said I would love to hear your opinion on this!
And ofcourse thanks for reading :)
 

Sokar

Sokar
I believe the same ... continue to hide under "we will announce something when it is ready to give no illusions" but this is not a policy this is an excuse ... I can not believe that photomod was ready only 2 days before release and the carnivores pack only a day before release ... this is unbelievable. No, they don't tell us anything to keep hype up, but there is a problem with doing this, if you don't say anything people will start to have dreams, and when something different will inevitably come out, they will be problems
 

Mithrelit

M
dyon101 said:
This is a post about the current state of the community and communication with all the leaks happening / planet zoo ect.
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Please don't speak in the name of the community to justify your own opinion. Sure there are people who will agree to this, but it's not the community. Thank you.

dyon101 said:
And last but not least, the dlc's: why not announce that a new dinosaur pack is coming out, why would you release them out of the blue? (pun not intended)
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I personally liked the suprising announcement both times.

dyon101 said:
The reddit went ballistic when they found out the update would ''only'' contain bug fixes and a camera mode.
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And that`s Frontiers fault? They always talked about a SMALL Update, but for no reason some people expected a game-changing mega-dlc with all they ever wished in it. So the Carnivor-DLC surprise was actually more than I (I - I'm not speaking for the rest of us) personally expected to see.

Sokar said:
No, they don't tell us anything to keep hype up, but there is a problem with doing this, if you don't say anything people will start to have dreams, and when something different will inevitably come out, they will be problems
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Again, is this Frontiers fault? I also have wishes/dreams for the game (and many other things). To cry every time things don't play out as someone wishes is childish, not more.
 

dyon101

D
I said the post was about the current state of the community and communication, I've never said anything about speaking in the name of the community.

Now for the reddit ballistic thingy, was it Frontiers fault? Yes and no,
Yes: After months of down-time announcing a small feature it is quite logical that people would be upset. While if Frontier would've announced the Carnivorous dlc at the same time, people would most likely not have fallen out so badly.
No: I agree lots of people set themselves up for disappointment by allowing there expectation to raise to the roof, however, they did indeed say a SMALL update was coming, then again small is not much to go by. Standards differ, hence the communication part.

And for the last part, while this comment wasn't meant for me, please don't call people childish

Anyway thanks to the both of you for your insights and opinions on this matter :)
 

Snowden

S
I played it for awhile at launch, loaded up again recently, it was the exact same game... sure, there is a list of updates, but nothing remotely game changing. It’s been a year... hype? More like desperate denial due to the obvious potential that really wasn’t fully realized. But I still like it for what it is, a high quality licensed casual game meant for the masses.
 

gabeluna27

G
dyon101 said:
This is a post about the current state of the community and communication with all the leaks happening / planet zoo ect.

My main concern here is communication, Frontier hasn't addressed any of the questions the people on the forums and edit currently have. (for example: are the leaks for real? Will we get some of the stuff of planet zoo in JWE as well?) Now I get that Frontier can't answer all the questions people have, for one reason or another. But when nearly every post is about leaks or a sequel to JWE I do start to wonder why Frontier haven't addressed any of these matters.

Frontier have adressed however that they are planning to continue to update JWE, but some confirmation here and there would be appreciated.
Same goes for the feedback people have, I personally feel like all the feedback goes into some empty void, (I do believe Frontier actually see all the feedback posts but a simple ''noted'' would go a long way.)

I'm not a community manager, nor do I know what Frontiers business plan is, but with everything going on an open communication would be best. (I think)

And last but not least, the dlc's: why not announce that a new dinosaur pack is coming out, why would you release them out of the blue? (pun not intended)
The reddit went ballistic when they found out the update would ''only'' contain bug fixes and a camera mode.
I don't know, that's just my opinion on things, I do believe ALOT of the anger and frustration could have been avoided with a better and clear line of communication.

That being said I would love to hear your opinion on this!
And ofcourse thanks for reading :)
Click to expand...
They do this for multiple reasons:

1. They want to make updates or possible new features like surprises, kind of like how when you get a birthday or Christmas present and you don't know what it is because the giver wants to see your surprise reaction, just as you would if you did the same (even if there have been some teases). This is subjective to anyone, of course. Not all will like or dislike this decision, and that's all it is, and you can't force them to do things you want them to do.

2. They can't say all of these "leaks" are true or not because there may be some things that may be true that they want to keep secret as any company would until they're revealed as a surprise. And if those subjects are a work or idea in progress, they're not going to publicly show it off or reveal too much about it if anything about them are not truly publicly ready for reveal or confirmation yet (but exceptions do exist if it's something the can confirm). That's how business companies typically work.

3. Certain questions can't be truly answered because either aren't aware of of it yet. Secondly, they may be working on something similar that they want to keep secret until its revealed like a surprise gift just so get the surprise and hype reaction when it's ready for the public knowledge. Third, you're questions may already be answered else where and they don't plan to respond to the same thing over and over again all of the time, or they can be answered easily already though human logic and studying. Fourth, if they are considering such ideas already, they don't want to say straight out they are or aren't planning or working on similar stuff because it might contradict their current ideas and projects in the future if they are to happen (these can become outdated as time goes and not to say they are indeed working on what the "supposed leaks" might say, keep that in mind). Your concern and the concern of some seem to fall in the third, fourth, and partly on the first category of this third reason.

If Frontier Developments or any other mainstream business company wants to address a question they can answer, it has to be in the most neutral and/or positive response they can give without intentionally trying to start a fight, beg, or something else negative in that sense.
So, it's really just a case of subjective response and surprise plans, legal business laws, and unspoken rules of communication in general all together. The general business environment is way more complex than you think about what or what not to reveal to public knowledge, and I know this because I work in (but not for) such one myself.
 
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dyon101

D
Thank you Snowden and Gabeluna for your insights and opinions,

Gabeluna you've made a solid statement (and explained it very well), I do understand that from a business point of view a company wouldn't want to release precious information to the public, however I do believe it is unwise to keep your playerbase in the dark. Especially considering the recent leaks and all. More speculation, more frustration, more disappointment.

The surprise dlc's does just seem like a bad business plan, why not announce them a few weeks prior? Get the hype going, perhaps it would calm the people continuously asking for new content down a bit as well. <--- but that is my opinion on things.

Still, I'm eager to see what kind of future lies ahead for JWE, although the rumored sequel would feel like a bit of a kick in the teeth IMO, but then again...We don't know if it's true or not yet. :p
 

Sokar

Sokar
dyon101 said:
More speculation, more frustration, more disappointment.

The surprise dlc's does just seem like a bad business plan, why not announce them a few weeks prior?
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That is the point. we are not asking a full road map of the game but maybe some general info of what we can expect for JWE in the middle future and maybe for example an announcement of the dlcs and updates one two week befor they go live... not the same day.
In my ignorance I don't see where the problem is.
 

Snowden

S
I think the carnivores dlc was a reaction to the communities “what” about a “tiny” update after so much time. I’m sure they have a mess of partially complete Dino’s to pull from. Otherwise with no lead up time and just dropping dlc is an indication they aren’t targeting new users, and one year out, that’s totally understandable.
 

Alan_Grady

Alan_Grady
Snowden said:
I think the carnivores dlc was a reaction to the communities “what” about a “tiny” update after so much time. I’m sure they have a mess of partially complete Dino’s to pull from. Otherwise with no lead up time and just dropping dlc is an indication they aren’t targeting new users, and one year out, that’s totally understandable.
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You know, I did think the Acro wasn't finished when I first saw it lol
 
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