managing expectations

[caaahl]

^Jordi's alt account^

Then this would be at least alot more dev-player communication than we get in certain other games, JCatano... *cough*

Since i am still somewhat new to Xsyon and like being part of a evolving sandbox this game still has some close season for my rants and raging.

[fatboy21007]

shava isnt jordis alt account. its Ani and she my tribe!. good posts ani!

[Cracky69]

So far I've been playing this game (beta admittedly) for almost a year and still only paid once.

As far as I've concerned this is the best value for any online game I've ever played - really, in my view it is!

The problem for many is that new content is slow to materialise but if you're prepared to play this game casually you may find the rate of development is just fine. If your a 24/7 gamer (not sure how so many people can be, but it seems a fact of life in MMOs) then play this game in tandem with something else. Or keep an eye on it and check back later. Whether you like the game or not it's unrealistic to expect miracles and Shava/ani is right.

This game is genuinely much better than it was this time last year, but the progress is slow. If it's too slow for you then back off a bit but don't bad talk the whole concept.

[aliksteel]

NOW, all that said, let me say a few things to Notorious Games: reputation counts. It's no longer 2003 (when SWG launched) where the gaming community tended to stay on their own game's forums. What I am seeing (and sometimes refuting) is that this game is being slammed for being DOA, and for a lack of transparency.

There is a difference between a game that expects the community to discover the game mechanics as part of the game (and help refine both the community and mechanics in the crucible of experimentation) and a game that can't talk to their community meta-game. We need to know more about how things are going. We need to be involved. We do not need to be told the outcome of your weekly scrums, but it would be nice to know if you have them, and how people were, authentically, feeling at the end of it.

We'd like you to present this game to the market more authentically too. We'd like to see you manage expectations of folks buying in, so they have less likelihood to call it a scam upon ragequitting (assuming the folks calling it a scam for over a year weren't right -- I actually believe this is more of an understaffed dream, myself).

We'd like policies put in to update the splash screen for the launcher with *current* server status (not wishful) and a log of when the servers have been down and why and with what rollbacks on the launcher.

If you can't manage these things because 150% of your staff time is on the code, then you're doing it wrong.

If the community didn't do due diligence on the game, you haven't done your part as the game company to be transparent.

Shava/Ani

First off, I agree with you shava 100%, But it's the second part that I think that needs to be heard by Notorious Games (AKA Jooky). I understand, And I think the gaming community understands how much work Jooky is putting into Xsyon day in and day out. We get you are working your butt off for us Jooky. But we feel like we are hanging in the wind on a lot of whats going on. We don't really know whats coming next. Jooky did a update and told us some things to come and what he is working on now. Thats great, But we should have already knew what was coming, What the team is working on.

We are past what most people would call beta, There will not be any more wipes. The ones of us that has been here for over a year, Knew that we would not know everything that you was working on, After all it was beta, But now, We are not in beta. We are in prelude, And that means the game is live. You(Jooky) have more players than you ever did in beta, And with as much stuff that could go wrong, And did go wrong with the start. People are very jumpy, Even with fanboys like me telling everone every thing is going good. Give them time and all will be OK. People need to hear from the team. There needs to be someone that can do this for us. I know we have a CS now, But this does not seem to be part of there job. There has to be a team member that can update on the fly the patcher with real time info on server being online or off. If the server is down, Why? If it's a patch, What went into the patch. This same person needs to be posting here on the forums giving us daily updates of what is being worked on and ETA's on what is next to come. This person would have to be in the loop with Jooky so that he knew everything. I know NG only has so much money, But I would rather it take a little long for stuff to go live, And us know what is going on. Than for us not to know anything till it happens.

[shava]

^Jordi's alt account^

Nope. I know a lot of folks separate their RL and gaming identities, but I don't care if I do. I have an industry blog on Gamasutra, and regularly write about the games industry.

http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/ShavaNerad/2778/

I do social media and PR consulting for games companies, but Notorious is not paying me for this (altho IMNSHO they need someone like me! ), I'm doing this as a fan.

I am a professional. Do not try forum aikido at home. On second thought, please do.

Heh.

Shava/Ani

[orious13]

I was the VP of Marketing and BizDev of an entertainment licensing dotcom during the bust. While many of our friends and competition fell around us, we grew from an unrated company in 2000 to the 3rd fastest growing private company in Oregon in 2003. One of the major differences between us and the deadpool is that our investors were level headed, trusted us, and bothered to learn a bit about our business and how we worked.

A lot of dotcoms had no business being in business. But a lot of the really really good companies died because the investors (usually VCs) panicked and pulled out, leaving all possible plans for survival gone for the good companies as well as the dotscams. So, what kind of investor are you?

yrs,
Shava/Ani

When I start getting an income (if I get this job), I'm staying.

I don't see any shares being given out - so we are not investors.

An investor commits money for financial return (value).

[JCatano]

Nope. I know a lot of folks separate their RL and gaming identities, but I don't care if I do. I have an industry blog on Gamasutra, and regularly write about the games industry.

http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/ShavaNerad/2778/

I do social media and PR consulting for games companies, but Notorious is not paying me for this (altho IMNSHO they need someone like me! ), I'm doing this as a fan.

I am a professional. Do not try forum aikido at home. On second thought, please do.

Heh.

Shava/Ani

Uhhh... Thanks for clearing up a jestful comment with your bio.

[mmogaddict]

An investor commits money for financial return (value).

I'm trying to work out, if you somehow missed the point / don't understand.