Open Letter to Frontier Developments

Texas DeLuxe

T
Dear Frontier Developments, from Texas DeLuxe, General representing Mors Universalis Demolition Division player minor faction,

Firstly, let me acknowledge what an amazing game and community we have in Elite: Dangerous. That is not disputed. Many thousands of hours of entertaining and captivating game play have been enjoyed.

But...

I was concerned today to check in on my squadron's Discord server to much disdain, lament and frustration. You see, our squadron recently gained a monumental achievement by topping the Elite: Dangerous season leaderboard in both AXI and Combat. An achievement that involved a tremendous amount of coordination, organisation, recruitment, combat, strategy, grinding, sweat and tears.

The achievement was glorious and well deserved.

Yet, the disgruntlement and frustration was in response to the latest Galnet News article praising the work of coalitions known as ‘AXI’ and ‘XSF’. I wonder if FDev have lost touch with grass roots player involvement. While we don't expect undue kudos or favouritism, it is disheartening to have others commended despite our efforts. Is it too much to ask for a little recognition? Some tidbit of acknowledgement? So little would give so much!
 

varonica

varonica
DYSEQTA said:
The guy literally writes an open letter and you deride him for calling it what it is. slow clap
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There's a long history of "Open Letters" on the forum such that most long time players see the title and immediately think, "Oh no, not again!" and skip straight past it. It might indeed be an "Open Letter" but putting that in the title almost guarantees 90% of players, and probably 100% of devs will just scroll straight past it. Also I didn't see any derision there, that's entirely your imagination, it was well meaning advice!
 

Agony_Aunt

Agony_Aunt
Texas DeLuxe said:
Why?
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Varonica covers part of it.

Another part is because open letters tend to have had an history of people speaking as though they are speaking for the whole community or expecting the devs to give them special consideration.

Basically, it evokes an eye-roll from veterans of the forums whenever they see the words "open letter to the devs", an immediate dismissal, and i suspect, from developer reps who read the forums as well.

You didn't know this, so nobody is deriding you for that, its just long term forum cynicism based on a long history of people writing "open letters".... none of which, as far as i know, have ever been acted upon by the developers.

Regarding your specific issue, you might get better results by reaching our directly to a community manager and discussing the situation directly with them.
 

fennster

fennster
varonica said:
There's a long history of "Open Letters" on the forum such that most long time players see the title and immediately think, "Oh no, not again!" and skip straight past it. It might indeed be an "Open Letter" but putting that in the title almost guarantees 90% of players, and probably 100% of devs will just scroll straight past it. Also I didn't see any derision there, that's entirely your imagination, it was well meaning advice!
Click to expand...
How did you come to that conclusion?

Considering you have 15 regular forum users and mods liking the second post of this thread they clearly haven't 'scrolled right past it'. It probably has the opposite reaction by having a crash effect where people can't help but look. Glad you can speak for 100% of devs too!
 

BackToTheMud

B
varonica said:
There's a long history of "Open Letters" on the forum such that most long time players see the title and immediately think, "Oh no, not again!" and skip straight past it. It might indeed be an "Open Letter" but putting that in the title almost guarantees 90% of players, and probably 100% of devs will just scroll straight past it. Also I didn't see any derision there, that's entirely your imagination, it was well meaning advice!
Click to expand...
100% of the devs scroll past everything.
 

varonica

varonica
fennster said:
How did you come to that conclusion?

Considering you have 15 regular forum users and mods liking the second post of this thread they clearly haven't 'scrolled right past it'. It probably has the opposite reaction by having a crash effect where people can't help but look. Glad you can speak for 100% of devs too!
Click to expand...

Considering the second post was stating exactly that feeling, and there are so many people agreeing, maybe that should be a hint. Keep in mind there are people here who will click on anything just to find something to laugh at so the forum regulars like myself and Agony_Aunt aren't a recommendation for anything other than a, "this might be interesting" sentiment.
 

Shadowsnog

Shadowsnog
id like to think that AXIs place in the acknowledgement isnt disputed, right?
XSF is mechans iirc and and id like to think that the recognition is for the guidance mechan provided to the general public.
both are pretty well known for their contributions to the war effort
congratulations on placing your sqadron high amongst the ranks, but to be honest ive never heard about you. so welcome amongst others, enjoy your bling, but otherwise no cigar...
 

BDelacroix

BDelacroix
There was also no mention of random partisans, leaving the impression that those two groups did all the work alone. No big deal, though.
 

Dragsham

Dragsham
Defo "open letter" header invokes cynicism from the regulars. With good reason tbh.
But in Ops case l do think his squadron does deserve some form of recognition for its achievements.
But that's just a humble lifetime member of the hotel california club (pvper)s opinion
 

HRDiagram

HRDiagram
I don't think there an intention from anyone to deride the OP, as the feeling is legitimate, and shared by many (by different degrees). It was also pointed out in another thread, yesterday, by a coordinator of the AXI (iirc). I can see how it can feel demeaning.

The point is that open letters on these forums are the equivalent of crying wolf (through no fault of the OP).
So many in the past have been open, several with no legs to stand on, that they've become a meme, no matter the content.

Again, the backlash is not against the OP, just the form.

Some of them have a theme, some others have a generic title, just like this one.

Here's a sample.


 

rootsrat

Volunteer Moderator
rootsrat
Texas DeLuxe said:
Dear Frontier Developments, from Texas DeLuxe, General representing Mors Universalis Demolition Division player minor faction,

Firstly, let me acknowledge what an amazing game and community we have in Elite: Dangerous. That is not disputed. Many thousands of hours of entertaining and captivating game play have been enjoyed.

But...

I was concerned today to check in on my squadron's Discord server to much disdain, lament and frustration. You see, our squadron recently gained a monumental achievement by topping the Elite: Dangerous season leaderboard in both AXI and Combat. An achievement that involved a tremendous amount of coordination, organisation, recruitment, combat, strategy, grinding, sweat and tears.

The achievement was glorious and well deserved.

Yet, the disgruntlement and frustration was in response to the latest Galnet News article praising the work of coalitions known as ‘AXI’ and ‘XSF’. I wonder if FDev have lost touch with grass roots player involvement. While we don't expect undue kudos or favouritism, it is disheartening to have others commended despite our efforts. Is it too much to ask for a little recognition? Some tidbit of acknowledgement? So little would give so much!
Click to expand...
I get the sentiment. Been there before, albeit long time ago. Ultimately, you just have to accept that Galnet praises extraordinary achievements.

Getting 2 gold LB medals is not one of them, sorry. Our squadron is still the only one out there after all these years that has a gold medal in every single LB available to us (see my signature). No Powerplay, as we're independent - other than that we got them all, multiple times - and not a single word about it from FDEV or Galnet. I am not moaning, just proving that even greater LB related achievements went with no mention at all, so expecting official praise from FDEV just because you managed to get 2 gold medals is a bit... well.

I think you simply has to temper your expectations of what FDEV classifies as extraordinary :)

It's harsh, but it's the facts, whether you (or we) like it or not.
 
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Ian Doncaster

Ian Doncaster
Texas DeLuxe said:
Yet, the disgruntlement and frustration was in response to the latest Galnet News article praising the work of coalitions known as ‘AXI’ and ‘XSF’.
Click to expand...
While it's been commented elsewhere by AXI officials that they feel a little uncomfortable getting named credit for what was a much wider team effort ... was your squadron's specific AX/Combat work carried out at Oya, or elsewhere?

marx said:
As far as I know, Frontier have never talked about the results of any squadron leaderboard season in a GalNet article, nor probably anywhere.
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The first two seasons did get a post in the News section of the forums congratulating the winners on each platform. The other 33 seasons haven't, though.
 
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