Are OCR (and Marketing) missing the marks?

I may be able to offer an insight here. During the Party Pack debut debacle, a PM from one of the OCR (who shall remain nameless) stated that the community team "anticipated this response" but "must present a united front."

The OCR saw this coming but couldn't (and probably can't) say anything about it because of the "team." I suspect marketing's dark hand in this.

I was thinking about this last night... IMPO, it's starting to become less of a "community" and more of "just another box on the shelf." It kinda saddens me to think of it like that, since there are a lot of cool people that work on the game. But recently, when there's been vocal concern over additions or changes to the game, posts fall on deaf ears.

As small as some claim the forum community is, it is still a microcosm representative of the total player population. And although there are some events that OCR puts on in-game, I don't think asking for a few extra posts here or there is asking too much, IMPO.

Indeed...it seems like Marketting have told all the OCR and anyone else for that matter to 'shut up and say nothing'.

Which is probably making the situation WORSE because the arguements about the pack are still going on.

It does look like Marketting has suddenly stepped up into a massive position of control, the lack of response on the pack AND the recent Culture forum changes all smack of marketting going about their dubious ways.

Prehaps Obsidius is right, we've caused this, we complained that marketting did bugger all and now marketting seems to be the one incharge, atleast a lot less subtle than they were before.

I'm simply going to say that I agree with Obsidius' original premise, for a LOT of reasons that haven't been gone into publicly. I hold nothing against our current staff because some huge changes have been happening in the company over the stretch, but there was most assuredly a trend toward more and better communications back during the days of Lighthouse and Ex Libris, and it's reversed itself quite heavily.

Not just in terms of these forums, but overall. I've had good relations with our Community Reps, Devs and GMs the entire time I've been here. However there were some great projects going on and community initiatives that just sort of withered and died because of lack of OCR support.

While some players will never be satisfied regardless of what a redname says, I think most of the regulars would have appreciated a short post saying "We hear you. This pack won't change, but we have passed on your concerns to be evaluated in creating future packs."

From my point of view, this community is disintegrating, splintering under the random use of power for which are receiving absolutely no answers. COMMUNITY is one of the single best parts of this game, and one of the great things that sets us apart from virtually every other game's forums. Go visit some of them, I dare you.

They seem to have some sort of draconian marching orders, but we can only try to infer what those are, because from this side of the screen the behavior of some of our community leads is random and capricious.

I come here to escape. I'm getting annoyed. Some of you know that I was in the hospital recently, and I almost died twice last week (I'm not kidding) and I'd like an escape, please.

Overall, I agree with the OP. While there have been announcements a-plenty, and David (Noble Savage) seems to be trying to cover the same amount of dev posts we used to get in total all by himself, there has been a serious downward trend in the quality of communication on the boards, particularly as it relates to reacting to community response to official threads. This concerns me greatly.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Caligdoiel I may be able to offer an insight here. During the Party Pack debut debacle, a PM from one of the OCR (who shall remain nameless) stated that the community team "anticipated this response" but "must present a united front." The OCR saw this coming but couldn't (and probably can't) say anything about it because of the "team." I suspect marketing's dark hand in this.

Very interesting, and very disappointing.

Looks like the example set by what happened to LH has had the effect NCSoft wanted.

Not that this is a good thing...

In their defense, these forums can be pretty intolerant to dev communication. Some of us twist their words, accuse them of being lying, lazy, incompetent idiots and others worship the ground they walk on and attribute god-like infallibility to them.

Some of us do treat them like ordinary people, but it must be hard for them to communicate to the group as a whole when that whole includes such extremes.

But the level of snarkiness from some of the community reps is uncalled for. They're being paid, we're doing the paying, so we get to act like petulant children if we like, they have to be professional.

But at the same time, you're asking them not to show any levity. That really doesn't engender a casual atmosphere with the player base, IMPO, which is what most posters find appealing with our player/ red name rapport.

That being said, I don't think that the "paying customer" argument gives one carte blanche to not act in a civilized manner in regards to communicating with the OCR or dev teams. If I were to deal with a customer who only acted rash, rude, or childish, I would just stop giving them the time of day. Sometimes there are customers that one just doesn't need in a healthy community (hence why customers can be banned).

On the other hand, when many customers of varying temperament show a sizable concern for additions or changes to the game (such as the Party Pack), it's the OCR's duty to facilitate communication, even if the ultimate response ends up being "Nothing will change, but we definitely hear and note your concerns."