Round Table - Gamer/Developer Talk

[halberd388]

One item that I have brought up to nearly every single developer of a game I enjoy to play/read/participate in is a dev talk. I don't mean static IRC or board, I mean a real-time sit down with the men and women who are making the game.

I enjoy posting on the forums, but I feel they are too static... there is not connection with the people you talk with. You don't understand the person, you don't know how to speak to them, you can't grasp their true feelings on a situation with only written words.

Where I work, we have ALOT of conferance calls, and I myself take part in 2-3 every single day. Many think this hurts productivity, but I can honestly say that after listening to other people I can understand more of what report matters more than another and how to prioritize just by how much the person talked about it. I feel that, we as potential testers/consumers, should be given that same chance to speak with the people that are making the game... not just write down our thoughts and hope someone takes a glance at it.

Of course the devs at EOE are very active here, I applaud them and put them in higher respect, but they could go that extra step and have a conferance call once a month with a select group of forum posters. I suggest http://www.freeconference.com/ due to their free options, as I know that EOE isn't exactly a publisher backed endevor so money is tight at best. This could be VERY productive for them as well as those posters who participate.

[Fenris]

Interesting idea but honestly the only people that would need to be in on this are the Dev's and the MOD's of the forums. As the Mods are the ones who are representing the company and the game in the absence of the Devs or until the Devs can get to the thread to answer fully any questions.

I do not aggree that regular posters should participate in this in any way. If they did they should simply have a once-a-month or once every 2 months general update Q&A with the Devs.

But I certainly think that the MoDs should have weekly/bi-weekly meetings with SOMEONE on the "Inside".

Also, if your going to do something like this why not simply setup a TS or Ventrillo server that everyone can connect to.

[halberd388]

The Devs and Mods I'm sure already speak on a regular basis, however the idea behind the sit down is so the gamers can speak directly to the developers instead of just a CM to relay the messages of the ideas brought up.

I myself have tried a TS sever for such an event and it worked well enough, but not everyone has broadband or highspeed (Acctualy 60% of the US doesn't last survey I saw) and it caused major latency in the event.

This is not so much for a sheer productivity as it is for gamer morale. With few screenshots and lack of news, this would be an effective way to spark more interest from the community as well as let the devs give direct insight instead of the normal hoop-la.

[ShininShado]

Halberd has a solid point. The morale and expectation of players is a good aspect to think about. When I first read your first post Halberd, I thought the idea shakey and uneeded, but it might help pict the interest of other gamers and get more pre-orders to do something like this bi-weekly. Even though Sykoi and crew read the boards and post everyday, pretty good idea once I see the justification.

[halberd388]

Indeed, however you have the tiers mixed up. :) Gamers go on top as they are the consumer... customer is always right, customer comes first. However since the idea is a round table... no one person is more important then the other.

Eh, I'm a Dell guy, what can I say?

[connick]

We aren't shareholders in some corporation here, I think conference calls are a little more than is necessary. Between the Wiki and this forum you have more information than you could possibly want and all of it is stored so you can go back and read it again! This is more Dev involvement than I've ever seen in a game.

[ShininShado]

I see where you are coming from Connick. I could care less about updates, I am already sold on the idea. However, I think that the average person just interested in the idea would become more interested and more likely to buy the pre-order, thereby helping move along overall progress of the concept, if something like this was done. No one would deny the involvement and day to day interactions from the developers.

[halberd388]

I don't deny the devs involvement, nor am I pushing that we're shareholders, we're potential customers. Put it like this... would you put your faith into a COMPANY and buy products from them if you never saw a commercial, never heard a radio commercial, never got word of mouth from a friend, but all you had to work on was an ad in the newspaper? Possibly if it was a good ad, but you wouldn't feel any connection to the company... JUST the product.

I'd like to feel that we, the gamers, could have a good connection with them, the devs, to better associate what they are thinking/doing... instead of having them write down their thoughts. Things are more spontaneous in a conferance call, things happen, people crack jokes, and it's just all around fun to sit and TALK to your freinds (gamers and devs alike)

So don't think that this would be only for productivity... think of it as another way to entertain eachother while we wait for more news.

[Sykoi]

Well the thing about this is... None of us get paid at all, and as such - we can't dedicate our entire lives to this, or constant schedules - so something like this wouldn't work out.

However, we'll probably hold dev-chats... This way everyone can be involved, and we can post the transcripts online for everyone to see.

[Kuraku Hideaki]

Sykoi, i believe there is dedication enough. If this were to be completed within the next few years or so, it will mean a very good comeback for all the people who contributed to this project. ;)

[Smith782]

I have used another conference service which gives you the option for web conferencing at no charge. AccuTalk.net - http://www.accutalk.net provides free conference calling with the ability to share a PowerPoint presentation. The parent company is AccuConference - http://www.accuconference.com

[Delerium]

I am just glad the devs actually post on almost every page of every post here. It is unheard of in many online games. Or when you do post a question they give you a one word response if one is given at all. To me, that is very disrespectful to your customers. I don't expect anyone to hold my hand all day long on the forums but letting the public know that you care and support their concerns is vital in any business. Kudos guys. The only other game company I have ever seen this good with their customers is Bioware. That is good company to be in.