Player Council to Fdev

[Viper2kUK]

Yeah just not going to work. There's feedback threads and discussions that allow everyone to voice their opinions and you know what - one of my ideas was incorporated and to that I'm made up because it does show that FEDV (don't know why we always put that in capitals) do listen.

What's not to say that the smallest voice doesn't have the greatest impact - would a committee recognise that small voice - I don't think so.

V2k.

 

[krylite]

I don't get "honor the feedback". What obligation or assumed response does FD have to 'honor' ideas posted, only what some posters want changed or implemented? every idea from everyone? FD have to set priorities as Sandro already said due to "time and resources". There's ample indication FD does read the suggestions and feedback so they hear and have seen most ideas posted I'd wager.

 

[Poonjabby]

I would like to see a player council (council name TBD) drafted that coordinates player suggestions and concerns with the Devs involved with that council. This system has been pretty effective at QC during the process of development with other developers that have tried this method. The Player Council just pretty much voices the validity of our suggestions and concerns with the game's development with a team of players that have knowledge of the game mechanics, play styles and/or exploits. I threw out some guidelines and suggestions and everyone is welcome to add or modify any of the below in their post.

Player Council (name TBD)

• The Player Council shall be elected by the player community to represent the player community's interest in development.
• The Player Council shall have at the most, annual term limits. (max number of terms to be served - TBD)
• The Player Council shall have as many positions available as there are aspects (or offices) of the game with each member of that council occupying each aspect (office). (e.g. C&P, Power Play, third-party devs, etc.)
• Fdev may dictate the offices to be occupied per their development structure (as needed). I feel this may help Fdev streamline feedback from the council.
• The Player Council shall communicate with Fdev directly during scheduled council/dev meetings and before scheduled releases of new content, betas and/or features.

Player Council Restrictions

• Council nominees cannot be; currently employed or formerly employed by Fdev; a moderator for Fdev; relatives or friends of any staff member of Fdev.
• Council nominees must be active in the community forums
• Player Council members must have knowledge of the aspect they are representing when nominated and elected.
• Council nominees must have purchased, at least, Elite : Danergous (Non-horizons) to qualify for nominations.

Maybe council members can have a special in-game tag for their commander like, Counselor BLAH instead of CMDR?!
I hope this suggestion may help the devs and the community communicate better.

Lol the only thing they will do is nerf engineering.

Poon

 

[rp198419]

Lol the only thing they will do is nerf engineering.

Pity the don't just remove it.

As for the Council...FD have enough trouble replying to suggestions on the forum; I don't think they would ever countenance such an idea as a 'council'.

Far too democratic.

 

[rootsrat]

This thread is merely a suggestion and I laid out some points and guidelines I thought viable to the post. There is no right or wrong answer to this thread but it's rather a brainstorming exercise to see if a council would be viable or even necessary. A few of you got the point and provided feedback to further the discussion and I appreciate that as that's what this post was intended.

A player council wouldn't be the end-all in the design process because Fdev has total rights to their product but it would be nice to have a voice(s) in a more official capacity to Fdev than thousands of individual posts on often multiple threads. I don't have all the answers and I don't need to because if this idea ever became a thing it would have to be built by the community, not by myself. And the real question would be if we did build a council would Fdev honor the feedback and experience of the individuals we elect to represent us?

Let me give you an example - a real world scenario actually.

Ship transfer - instant vs timed. Some players prefer the former and some the latter. There is no right or wrong answer here, both have pros and cons. How do you ensure that the council is objective and presents the case in an objective way, without lobbying their own subjective opinion?

With open feedback on the forums, the developers get to see all of the feedback, from all of the players (that are interested in providing it). With the council serving as the middle-man, they may only get to see some of that feedback, selected by the council members and based on their own criteria.

And if the counter argument here is that even with the council the developers can still read the forums for feedback - why do we need the council in the first place?

Also, coming up with an idea and then saying "I don't need answers" when people start asking questions and engaging in the discussion is not the best way to have that discussion

 

[Iskariot]

Player Council to Fdev

You are currently posting this on the many voiced Player Council.

 

[MadDogMurdock]

Let me give you an example - a real world scenario actually.

Ship transfer - instant vs timed. Some players prefer the former and some the latter. There is no right or wrong answer here, both have pros and cons. How do you ensure that the council is objective and presents the case in an objective way, without lobbying their own subjective opinion?

With open feedback on the forums, the developers get to see all of the feedback, from all of the players (that are interested in providing it). With the council serving as the middle-man, they may only get to see some of that feedback, selected by the council members and based on their own criteria.

And if the counter argument here is that even with the council the developers can still read the forums for feedback - why do we need the council in the first place?

Also, coming up with an idea and then saying "I don't need answers" when people start asking questions and engaging in the discussion is not the best way to have that discussion

Well, actually this is one of those things that can have a wrong and right.
What is needed is some kind of statement of principles about the game universe, and its internal logic.

Things like:
- Nothing travels through the galaxy faster than a player can in their ship.

That gives you a design principle that can inform every design decision.
So, based on that ship transfers should not be instant.

The only exceptions to the principles come when the gameplay requires it - e.g. Instant data recovery by the KWS Scanner

 

[DocLooshkin]

Hello, LuxÆterna.

What a fascinating idea! I find it both attractive and horrifying, in equal measure. In the best cases, I can see it potentially being useful for amplifying issues that FD have overlooked, for one reason or another, helping to focus their attention on necessary things. I can also see it being fairly redundant next to the forum - and I can see it being misused and abused like nobody's business.

As with any system that attempts to exemplify the voice of the community, I suspect it would suffer very badly from improperly getting lots of people's hopes up over things that will never happen, for one reason or another.

I think, in the end, it would sadly just add an extra layer of forum politics to the feedback, amplifying already-popular-but-impractical ideas and discussions, while drowning out new ones that have more potential to actually benefit the game and the community.

 

[Starwolfe]

Yes, what we need is more direct mob rule that can be abused via anonymous online voting to skewer the outcome for whomever wants FDev's ear.

I can't possibly see how this is a bad idea. /sarcasm