Spokesperson for the devs: Jean Luc Picard

Every so often, someone says the devs shouldn't be allowed to post on the forums, but instead they should be required to communicate through a spokesperson. Apparently, there's something "unprofessional" about the devs talking to the players directly, having opinions, commenting on any part of the game other than the part they work on, having a sense of humor, or participating in discussions.

So I've decided to offer my services to the devs as their spokesperson, so that they no longer get in trouble for saying the wrong thing on the forums. I'm calling it the Dev-o-meter Service. But honestly, I'm not the most impressive speaker in the world, so I've decided that rather than speak directly, I will outsource the actual speaking to someone that I think has unimpeachable presence and eloquence: Captain Jean Luc Picard.

I think this will work. Inspired by a recent thread, I decided to take a couple of examples and see how this might work. For example, given all of the controversy surrounding the reward reductions that were implemented after the Architect was introduced, I think it would have been better if instead of Positron addressing the players directly, he used the Dev-o-meter.

Here's the Dev-o-meter, addressing player concerns that architect rewards were significantly reduced and exploitive farming penalized:


(click to view the Dev-o-meter message)


And here's the Dev-o-meter, speaking for Castle on the subject of PvP changes:


(click to view the Dev-o-meter message)


And although the Dev-o-meter cannot fully articulate every possible dev reaction, it can certainly approximate them. Here's the Dev-o-meter translating BackAllyBrawler's reaction to being asked to spend more time fixing task force bugs:


(click to view the Dev-o-meter message)


It'll take a while to tune the Dev-o-meter to be sophisticated enough to represent, say, the cottage rule, but I'm sure it can be done. And if it'll get the crazies^H^H^H^H^H^H^H justifiably concerned players off the devs' back, I'm willing to give it a shot.

There's nothing to click

EDIT: Wait, now the pictures are showing up

That was cute, thank you.

Thanks, Arcanaville, for a much needed laugh.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

Haha, very good, made me chuckle.

It also made me a little sad remembering that the last two Next Gen. movies weren't as good as the second one.

Ahhh... If only Sir Patrick Stewart would do a commercial for City of.

Unfortunately for us Yanks, he'd play on Union. (That the right one?)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow City of Heroes is a game about freedom of expression and variety of experiences far more so than it is about representing any one theme, topic or genre.

Sir Patrick Stewart is awesome. Honestly though anyone who thinks the devs shouldn't post on the forums is just wrong. Sure occasionally they might say things which aren't entirely kosher and look a bit unprofessional. But that is more than counterbalanced by the immense goodwill that it generates amongst fans of the game. By posting on the forums they give the impression that the developers are real people who actually care about the game rather than soulless automatons. That in turn makes fans feel a more personal connection to the game which generates goodwill and good PR.

Neat! I particularly liked the last one. So succinct.

Approved: This thread
Patrick Stewart: Awesome
D_R: Make it happen, please?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zwillinger GG, I would tell you that "I am killing you with my mind", but I couldn't find an emoticon to properly express my sentiment.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Captain_Photon NOTE: The Incarnate System is basically farming for IOs on a larger scale, and with more obtrusive lore.

Between Arcanaville's Dev-o-meter and D_R's Ads, we really need to launch an offensive strike against marketing for their continued failure to see the awesomeness here.

Ahem. Not to mention the whole flippin' art community on DeviantArt.

And the Writer's Guild, if they're still around.

This is awesome, Arcanaville! And a great potential vid, DR!




<ponders a way to combine the two into the perfect dream woman>