Priority of Social Media over official forums

Discussion in 'General Gameplay Discussion' started by Avirodar, Jul 17, 2014.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. Ahupu Well-Known Member

    Yeah with Rhyashaa on this one, the date of Tinkerfest was changed and the only direct source of it was Smeds tweet. No calendar change, no notice on the forums (except her post in this thread). I love what you have been doing Luperza, but they need to keep you in the loop of communications like this so you can keep us up to date. I think this is more poor interoffice communication than a difference between social media and forum communication. How can you do the best job possible if they don't give you the tools to do so?
    Wirewhisker likes this.
  2. Luperza Community Manager

    The in-game calendar is not something I control, but the plan is to post the notes tonight so you can see what is coming tomorrow. We'll have an article that goes out when Tinkerfest goes live. ;)
    suka likes this.
  3. Rotherian Well-Known Member

    Wouldn't that primary be Holly's responsibility? IIRC, SJ is the Director of Development for the entire EverQuest franchise, so one could reasonably expect many of his tweets to be subjects that affect more than one game.

    I mean, if I were him, I would pass game-specific info to the producer for the applicable game - if for no other reason than to have their name attached to the information so that the producer gets the glory when things go according to plan (and gets the lion's share of the blame if when things go wrong) . :eek:;) But I'm not him, so he may have a different modus operandi.


    Thank you.
    Milliebii likes this.
  4. Ahupu Well-Known Member

    Heh and Bunji did not get the memo either as the notes say Tinkerfest starts in 4 days not tomorrow. Can't Smed open his door and say, "Hey Luperza, Bunji we are moving up tinkerfest!"
  5. Luperza Community Manager

    Tinkerfest starts the 25th. Not sure what Dave G. was thinking. ;)
    Feara, aspekx, Feldon and 2 others like this.
  6. Ahupu Well-Known Member

    LOL ok that's funny....I don't care who you are.
    Luperza and Milliebii like this.
  7. konofo Active Member


    Even money on "I love voxels!"

    kono
  8. Chama Member

    Using the ingame-mail to release game information is not the way to go in my opinion.
    Because:

    Some people don't want to spend their (often) limited ingame time reading info.
    Mailboxes will be spammed. ( imagine people who dont play on a daily basis)
    Roleplayers may feel disturbed
    And finally a good bunch of people simply dont want to be bothered with written information because they rather ask guildmates in vc .... for whatever reasons.

    Result will be that people will no longer bother to read mails at some point.

    If you want to reach MOST (never can say all, that is impossible) of the players, you need to make the launcher your tool.
    Placing relevant links in it should make it. Partly it already does.

    The forums are still my favourite when it comes to where the source of all information should be.
    Still for the same reasons. They belong to SOE and i can use them with my SOE account.

    I dont want to create a fake account on fb just to feel "safe" and being able to read the stuff there properly.
    And i don't want to see contests for existing customers beeing handled via other sites, because my SOE account should be enough to take part in such events.

    @ Luperza
    I love you.
    You are doing great in my opinion and i think you have the portion "love for the people" that is needed to be a good community manager.
    Please don't take facts, ideas or complaints that people state as personal criticism. It is not.
    I think all of us just want to improve what we have.

    @ Feldon
    I love you too.
    Wire is my second source of EQ2 info, right after the official forums.
    Didn't know about the software background from this forum and hope they upgrade.
    Tallithia, aspekx and Feldon like this.
  9. aspekx Well-Known Member


    and this has been the fundamental problem customers have had with SOE for many years now. the communication coordination and dissemination is, at times, appalling.

    i want to reiterate, as a 45 year old, i don't mind social media. my friends and i use it all the time.

    so social media is not my concern. my concern is the lack of coordination combined with a lack of one reliable source of information concerning each game and concerning the company overall.

    i have no reason to be upset with Dave G. over a misstatement or over Smed's continued use of other news outlets in preference to the forums. i am troubled that there is not one aggregated source for all official information. i really do not think this is too much to ask. if a news agency wants to know what's happening at IBM they know which website and which social media outlet to check for an official statement from the company. we don't have that with SOE it appears.
    Tallithia likes this.
  10. Feldon Well-Known Member

    There are two official places you will be able to go to read about Tinkerfest when it's ready to go live: EverQuest2.com, and the News & Announcements Forum. I would expect both of those will be flooded with Tinkerfest info on Friday, and that's if we don't also get a mass e-mail. Plus the in-game mail which includes a free Tinkerfest Cog.

    Plus as per episode 3 of EQ2 Insider (around the 5 minute mark), the dates for Tinkerfest (and Nights of the Dead, and Frostfell) have been programmed into the in-game calendar, so anyone who wants to know what day these events will go live only has to open the in-game calendar and the dates are right there.

    I think it's really disingenuous to try to say that we're being kept in the dark about Tinkerfest. By the end of this week, you won't be able to swing a Kerran without hitting some news about this annual event.

    I just see us getting bent out of shape about little sneak previews and teasers posted on social media. Are we really saying we don't want any sneak previews or hints until all the i's are dotted and t's are crossed and the official marketing announcement is ready to go?
    Luperza, Spindle, Feara and 1 other person like this.
  11. m4v3r Member

    Hi,
    I didn't read the entire thread but I'd like to voice my opinion too:
    Choosing social media to post information that concerns us EQ2 players over the official forums that they already have is, in my book, just plain thoughtless.
    It's double the amount of work and it requires double maintenance and therefore workforce.

    I myself am absolutely against facebook, twitter and what-they-all-aren't-named...
    Never used them, never going to.
    There's alot of people thinking like me out there, so I conclude that these platforms are no doubt not the way to reach most people (not most players anyway) because always, the first place to go to if you want information is the official website.
    If the official site has info (much) later than social media and in some cases not even at all, this looks to me like the officials don't care (sure, the individual worker thinks he does by posting on their accounts, but this is individual, personal and not at all official.

    greetings ;)
  12. Deveryn Well-Known Member

    This attitude of not liking what you have never used or understood never got anyone anywhere in life and never made anyone look better for it. You have this pre-conceived notion of what each one is but that's just because people like to draw attention to the ugly things that happen within each realm. If you were to actually open your mind and take that step into that world, you would find you have all the control over what comes and goes. You think there are a lot of like minded people out there. While that may be true, you're still outnumbered by the many people that don't come this way for their news and info. Have fun in your little bubble. :p
    Feldon likes this.
  13. Griff Well-Known Member

    That's extremely rude to say the very least.

    Many people, including my wife who uses job actually uses social in her business to actually investigate insurance fraud, are well informed and won't touch twitter or FB.

    To add to that many well informed people that have used social media have managed to hurt their career in a moment of passion that lacked comment sense and restraint.

    It does not take a lot of research to discover the many pitfalls of social media and simply avoid it, by choice. Being outnumbered by a bunch of people that choose to take the risk is fine. Saying that one has to join that group or be left behind is not.
    Wirewhisker likes this.
  14. Deveryn Well-Known Member

    Social media is not to blame for people's lack of impulse control. It's like blaming video games for violence. Crazy has existed for years and always found a way to hurt people. I'm not saying you have to join a group or be left behind. I'm simply pointing out a flaw in someone's logic.
    Feldon likes this.
  15. Feara Well-Known Member

    Deveryn and Spindle like this.
  16. Feldon Well-Known Member

    You believe something strongly, therefore it must be true?
    aspekx, Deveryn and Rhyashaa like this.
  17. Rhyashaa Member


    I don't think that is what I or anyone else was trying to say. :)

    Apparently SJ posted on Twitter that it would be starting today, presumably after the patch downtime. Which I'm sure you also heard about. I heard about it in game in the AB HS channel so I came here (these forums) to investigate. After not finding anything, I went searching for SJ's twitter... which wasn't as straightforward as I thought it would be. Found the tweet. Remembered this thread. Thought about how perfectly the situation provided a current example for this thread and brought it up.

    A few (hours?) later, it is discovered that SJ must have been confused. TF does start on the 25th as usual. And patch notes will be posted to that effect. However, that also provided another example of how information behind the scenes isn't happening as well as it should. And checking just now it seems that SJ never followed up his tweet with an "Oops I was wrong" so I won't be surprised if there are people ranting about it not being turned on today.

    The whole debacle just provided perfect examples of why we need *ALL* the official channels to either be copied here nearly same-time or for the officials to post here as well as to whatever social platform they choose. I would rather information be repeated a half dozen times over as many platforms than only once in a place I never look.

    I'm sure there will be a plethora of information about Tinkerfest when it gets here. Hopefully I'll be able to participate this year.
    aspekx and Rhodris like this.
  18. Ziggs New Member

    If this is the kind of stuff the player base is complaining about nowadays then hats off to the EQ2 team! I mean seriously folks, does everyone have such boring lives that you're making THIS an issue? It's like crying because you got a 14oz. filet mignon instead of a 14.1oz.

    Luperza, Feldon, and other voices of reason who try to do nice things for the community: Thank You. People who are complaining for the sake of complaining, do what I do in a case like this. Poor yourself a stiff drink and relax!
    Luperza and Feldon like this.
  19. Feldon Well-Known Member

    Ahupu and Deveryn like this.
  20. Rotherian Well-Known Member

    The important thing is that the information would be available - that it be a primary source of information directed to the people that are currently playing the game (and thus contributing to the continued operation of the game). Given that a 'physical' mailbox is required only to receive attachments, a player could check their mail for updates anywhere in the game world, on their own schedule - while they are waiting for a friend to make it to them (in the event that CoV doesn't work for whatever reason), for example. The info would still be there whenever they had time to read it. It isn't like the messages would decay if someone waits a few hours or days to read something.

    If they implement a way to make the mails not count against the limit, why would a large amount of mail matter? You don't even have to read the mail to have it marked as read, you just have to click on it. So if you are an intermittent player and you've already found some information out from a different source (because sending the info to the in-game mail doesn't preclude the information from also being sent to other sites after the info is distributed within the game), you can look at the title (assuming that they give them relevant titles), and if it is a subject with which you are already familiar, click on it, then click on the next one.

    Furthermore, if we were to apply the reasoning (that the existence of folks that don't play on a daily basis should prevent a feature from being implemented) to the rest of the game, then the existence of players that only log in once a month, once every six months, once a year, etc., should then logically prevent any changes from being made to the game - ever. Since that would not be in the best interests of the game, nor of the game's players, then the reasoning that folks that spend any time away from the game should prevent changes (of any type) isn't really something that should be taken into consideration during the development of any feature (to include this one).

    Given that they aren't required to read their mail, I don't see how that is relevant. Regardless, even some that do play on the roleplaying-preferred server don't roleplay. So the fact that some might feel that their immersion is somehow diluted is not a sufficient justification to deprive the remainder of the game's population of an efficient means to receive information.

    Just so I'm clear on what you are saying here, are you seriously suggesting that the lack of desire to get information first-hand on the part of a portion of the populace is a good reason to not make the information available in-game to anyone else? If so, then that doesn't make logical sense. If not, then perhaps you could clarify what you did mean.

    If you had put the word 'some' in there, I wouldn't take issue with that statement. Regardless, as indicated above, I don't believe that the lack of desire on the part of some should keep information from being disseminated to the remainder of players.

    The problem with that is that the info would still have to initially be posted to one of the sites, which would then spark yet another debate about which site should be the primary site. Making the information available within the game first, then propagating the information to the other (external to the game - which includes this forum) sites precludes the necessity for the debate, since none of them would be the primary medium. So someone arguing that their favorite medium should have primacy wouldn't have a logical reason to do so, since the information would be initially released to the in-game population. If you didn't want to use the in-game mail, then so be it - it would be an opt-in function - you could easily just wait until the information made it to your favorite medium to find out the information. That shouldn't, however, stop them from providing information through the game.

    The forums are your favorite. It doesn't then follow that the forums are everyone's favorite (or even the favorite of a majority of players). I'm not stating that the players that are on the forums definitely do not comprise a majority (although I have reasons to believe that they don't, those reasons aren't really relevant to this point) of the player base. I'm merely stating that no matter whether or not the players on the forums comprise a majority of the player base, it isn't a logical consequence of you preferring the forums.

    Those also apply to the in-game mail. So they aren't a clear argument for precluding the use of in-game mail as the primary medium to disseminate information.

    If in-game mail is used as the primary information medium, then there is no need to follow twitter, create a fake facebook account, participate in reddit, or even have a forum presence in order to get information. Those remain available options for those that choose to use them, but they will not be a necessity to stay informed. So, if anything, having in-game mail be the primary medium expands the options available. And more options (unless the 'more' part is taken to extremes) are hardly ever a bad thing.

    Again, the info posted within the game would make it to all the other sites, so it isn't like it is an either/or proposition. The in-game mail would just be the first one to receive info.

    As for the contests, they should be announced through in -game mail, then posted to the most relevant site for the contest. So if it was about a facebook contest, it would go to the in-game mail, then facebook, then a link to the facebook post would be made available at the forums, on twitter, on reddit, etc. Likewise, a forum contest would be in-game mail -> forums -> the rest.

    I'm not responding to the remainder of the post, since the rest was specifically directed towards people that aren't me. ;)
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.