What's with the mood shift?

WingardiumLevicoaster

Volunteer Moderator
It is? Which forum?
For real.... I think people get tired of waiting for basic features.

My personal biggest disappointment is something that could be solved easily: lack of diversity: human core systems feel too samey.
For the most part this could be simply resolved by adding different station models for the three main factions and by adding different station models for different functions: for example: a mining station should not have the same external model as an agricultural station, or an industrial station, or a prison station, or a military station.

Adding more models would directly influence our experience of the Elite universe.
I am mystified why this relatively simple problem has not been addressed over the years.
Planet Zoo and Planet Coaster are a little more cheery than Elite ;)
 
Planet zoo is a complete product as well. Most people are just complaining about the animals not being extremely life-like. The problem is, this is a beta.. its not the finished game..
 
It is? Which forum?
For real.... I think people get tired of waiting for basic features.

My personal biggest disappointment is something that could be solved easily: lack of diversity: human core systems feel too samey.
For the most part this could be simply resolved by adding different station models for the three main factions and by adding different station models for different functions: for example: a mining station should not have the same external model as an agricultural station, or an industrial station, or a prison station, or a military station.

Adding more models would directly influence our experience of the Elite universe.
I am mystified why this relatively simple problem has not been addressed over the years.

:D Hey there. Welcome in the section with those animal cazy peeps that get excited about poop physics and squeel about warthog babies. Those gamers who say things like "gosh, why does contraception not work?"

While you are here, get a glass of gulpee while we prepare a chief beef for you. Welcome in our world.
 
I think part of it expectations for Planet Zoo have been extremely high. I played ZT1 and ZT2 as a kid. Loved 1, was meh about 2. I have been hoping Frontier would release a zoo game since got Planco. There are lots of people like me who have been building this excitment and anticipation. Some people get really upset when they start feeling like they are going to be disappointed. I think there is also the feeling among some posters that threatening to refund the game will get the Devs attention.

Have I asked for clarification on features? Yes! Did I get anxious when Frontier was not posting over the weekend to clarify the animal behavior issue? Yes! But I'm glad to hear they just get to take a break in the weekends and be humans not robots.

Complaing, asking questions, refunding the game if you don't like it are all normal and fine in my book. Calling the devs liars like I saw someone doing and making blatantly untrue statements and trying to bring down anyone who has positive feelings about the game or is hopeful is not something I support. I did get discouraged by some of the extreme negativity in the beta feedback forum BUT there were plenty of people calmly expressing their feelings and not being agressive. This makes me understand why the beta is only 2 weeks. Otherwise some people would be freaking out over every little thing the entire way towards launch and just lowering excitment for the game. Frontier seems to be responsive and I do believe the developers are doing their best. I sincerely hope though that if they can't get the game polished by the launch date they delay instead of releasing.
 
Complaing, asking questions, refunding the game if you don't like it are all normal and fine in my book. Calling the devs liars like I saw someone doing and making blatantly untrue statements and trying to bring down anyone who has positive feelings about the game or is hopeful is not something I support.

Not to mention, the people who do this are the same people who got upset about Jurassic World Evolution, because they over-hyped it. Planet zoo does feel like a true spiritual successor to zoo tycoon, and I'm glad. People are honestly expecting too much.
 
Not to mention, the people who do this are the same people who got upset about Jurassic World Evolution, because they over-hyped it. Planet zoo does feel like a true spiritual successor to zoo tycoon, and I'm glad. People are honestly expecting too much.

There is nothing wrong with having expectations. As long as they are realistic indeed.

Also, there is nothing wrong with suggesting stuff, but the same goes here. Don't expect them to deliver (instantly).

To many "activities" or "options" can also lead into unplayable games due to the amount of data and graphics that need to Ben processed.

I believe finding this balance is extremely hard as you need to please as many customers as you want and can.

I think Frontier is doing a excellent job of achieving that.

Yet. Unfortunately. You can't please everyone.

I used to play different games but getting assassins creed every year and battlefield and COD etc I got bored with these game mechanics in new outfits every year.

Yet still I've been playing PLanet Coaster for over 3 years now and I still love it. That says enough for me.
 
Reading through this forum post has just underlined the fact that this community is incredible, for me anyway. I play the Sims a lot, and used to be very engaged in the community there. Lately things have become so toxic and entitled that I've generally stepped back, and have just been enjoying the game on my own. This community in contrast, even when some things get disrespectful, is a breath of fresh air. Wingardium has an excellent point- calm criticism will be heard more effectively. But this game has such a diverse audience, and for the most part, I think everyone is trying to be as helpful and kind as they can be. It's lovely to see.
 
:D Hey there. Welcome in the section with those animal cazy peeps that get excited about poop physics and squeel about warthog babies. Those gamers who say things like "gosh, why does contraception not work?"

While you are here, get a glass of gulpee while we prepare a chief beef for you. Welcome in our world.

I did not realize in which forum I had landed :)
I do look forward to Planet Zoo though :).
 
I would say that most of my posts have been "negative", or at least highlighting problems I see. But that criticism comes from a place of love. I'm super happy with the game, so I want it to be the best possible game it can be. I'm not critical because I hate it, I'm critical because I love it.

Criticism is different than rudeness. There is 0 problem bringing up issues and that is the whole point of the beta. I think people who are saying we should not expect promised features are doing a disservice. BUT there is a big difference between being critical and calling people names. Criticism of the game does not have to equal personal attacks and the personal attacks are what I find brings the mood of the community down.
 
Another point that came to my mind that might be the reason for mixed reviews: The game appeals to a LOT of players with LOT of different playstyles. While my playstyle is pretty much represented (in the full game at least and as long as the animals get more personality), not every is. In my opinion Frontier is making an AWESOME job catering to a huge player base with different playstyles. But my opinion is not facts and especially players that are highly interested in the management of the game often find it to easy. This is something you have to expierience. No one could have known this before the beta. And of course these players are disapointed if they are used to a higher level of management and money issues, while for me the money-making is almost too frustrating already. Because I am clearly no manager.

This really hit home for me though- I hadn't thought too much about the folks who came here for more of a planet coaster kind of experience- building/design heavy players. I'm personally interested in the game for the animals and detailed enclosure designs. I loved Zoo Tycoon as a kid, and that's the kind of gameplay I came to PZ for. I'm personally, very pleased with this beta. It's buggy, sure, but nothing that really ruins anything for me. You're very right- what one particular person came to this game for might be something entirely different to what someone else wanted, and the fact that PZ serves such a diverse taste is...really cool. 😁
 
:D Hey there. Welcome in the section with those animal cazy peeps that get excited about poop physics and squeel about warthog babies. Those gamers who say things like "gosh, why does contraception not work?"

While you are here, get a glass of gulpee while we prepare a chief beef for you. Welcome in our world.

Swjosdotschka, you made me laugh. 😂
 
Reading through this forum post has just underlined the fact that this community is incredible, for me anyway. I play the Sims a lot, and used to be very engaged in the community there. Lately things have become so toxic and entitled that I've generally stepped back, and have just been enjoying the game on my own. This community in contrast, even when some things get disrespectful, is a breath of fresh air. Wingardium has an excellent point- calm criticism will be heard more effectively. But this game has such a diverse audience, and for the most part, I think everyone is trying to be as helpful and kind as they can be. It's lovely to see.

This community is a whole lot better than the state of the pokemon community right now.. Believe me, the pokemon community right now is basically a dumpster fire.
 
Pretty pleased with the Beta, some issues are annoying. But 100% sure they will be fixed.

Played games in Alpha and Beta, some people vent their anger/annoyance a lot faster and harsher. Most of them don't read the announcements or other info and expect a fully working game. At least we have some input in the game atm (offline franchise)
 
I would say that most of my posts have been "negative", or at least highlighting problems I see. But that criticism comes from a place of love. I'm super happy with the game, so I want it to be the best possible game it can be. I'm not critical because I hate it, I'm critical because I love it.

This! This is exactly how I feel, and I think critiquing the game from a place of love comes across very differently than when it comes from a place of anger or dislike.
 
As it stands out, as Beta draws to a close, things get a little bit heated up in here and Steam. I see arguments and trashtalks and that really hurts. I'm good with people with conflicting thoughts with you, but as I said in someone's thread some time ago, you might have the right message, but you delivered it wrongly. That is why people gets annoyed with you, like someone in the wishlist section who wants animal murder animation for 'realism' measures. Some of you might know who that user is.

My fellow users, will you extinguish the flames of discontentment and ungratefulness with me? Will you help me keep the peace in the FD forums? I know you would.
 
To the extent that there is one, the mood shift is mostly because the mood is no longer set by trained narrative makers such as community managers, but rather people's actual experience with the game. Having said that, I think the game is fantastic, even in its current buggy form.

Emphasis mine...

Frontier actually uses people trained to guide forum discussions, influencers? That's downright scary. 1984 ish. Sheep lead around by the virtual rings in their noses.

<shiver>
 
To throw my own 2 cents in here.

I think a lot of the issue with the Beta in particular is most people have gotten used to what I like to call "Fake Betas". Betas that are basically the full game and their only real purpose is to stress test servers at most, and generate hype at the least.

This Beta feels like an actual Beta to me. It has bugs, it has server issues, it has missing features. Its not just a glorified demo version of the game. And personally, I find it actually kind of fun to try and break the game, discover bugs, try to guess whats causing it, and watch as the game evolves as the developers fix issues. But I can see where others who are not like me can be frustrated, but them being frustrated is kind of the point of this Beta. (So they can be less frustrated when the game releases)

In addition, part of the issue may be that the Beta access was not free (boy, could you imagine how terrible the servers could have been at first if it was!?). I get that people want to feel that they are getting their monies worth, but this is what they signed up for.

At the end of the day, there's a way to give feedback and criticism without being a jerk about it. The best way to deal with those kinds of negative posts is to ignore them. Responding only rewards and reinforces the bad behavior. Only reward good/positive/constructive behavior with a response, not bad/negative/meaniehead behavior.
 
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