Hello again from the Community Relations Manager

Hello Entropians! This will be a short and sweet message, but I’ve been looking through the forum and it has come to my attention that the last AMA MindArk had with you was quite a while ago. Therefore I was wondering if you would be interested in another AMA in the future? Would that be something you would like to happen?

My Antonsson

Community Relations Manager
MindArk
That would be great - i just hope that it isnt going to be a 'give one answer and forget the thread' type aproach again, if you look through the AMA threads with most recent bumps you will notice that i am still waiting on some answers to my questions from the last AMA ;)
 
My,

An AMA would definitely be welcomed by me! More communication from MindArk is generally a good thing. Thanks for checking back in.

Considering some of the recent exploits, and what most people feel like was a lack of an appropriate response on MindArk's part, you should expect some more difficult questions this go around.
 
As long as you actually answer questions, otherwise it is pointless.
We understand there are a lot of things you can't tell us, but for features and other things that were started and we are still waiting on (space, land plots, the list goes on), just tell us if you still actually have plans for them or not.

Better yet, give us some sort of roadmap, even if the roadmap changes (as most do), we at least know what you are working on or have in the plans.
If you do ever decide on doing a roadmap, make sure you also update it frequently. If something is pushed to the following year, note it, even if it keeps getting pushed then we know and are not anxoiusly waiting for Q4 in 2020 as an example.
We will be happier with the game knowing what MA is working on with the PEDs we lose daily.
 
Is it possible that the reason we get so little communication is because we behave like we do when they try to communicate? I mean, I would be scared as hell if I had to address this community and my job was on the line.

Just a thought, I don't mean to offend anyone.

PS: To clarify more and better communication is much needed, go ahead with the AMA @My|MindArk :)
 
My opinion is I don't see much point in new questions, or old ones repeated again, when there are a vast number of issues right here on this forum going back years and mostly 'unanswered'. How much of our communication is even looked at by anyone in any seriousness, and how much have you passed on to people in the time you have been with us? Have you had any proper answers to your questions, or ours passed on?
 
When we had the first AMA it was proposed it would be a regular feature, with no definition of what MA felt would qualify as regular, since then until now silence on the subject.
The idea of the AMA was fundamentally sound, but sadly after a promising start, it fizzled and faded away like a cheap firework.
A few questions were answered directly and completely (y)
MA even revised their own plans re delivery of codex and gave greater overlap with the old system (y) (y)
They intimated that the codex would roll out soon, under the same terms for other planets.. a year on we are told it will happen in September, but have not been told if their will be a similar overlap for the other planets, which it should be in order to be fair to those dev teams and the regular residents of those planets.. sadly we are not hopeful of this :unsure:

Ideas here about a permanent AMA section are likely to lead (as suggested in one of the replies) to many questions that can be answered by the community or even by 'live support, assuming they have any answer other than 'please write a support case'.

So perhaps if this is to work as a genuine attempt at 2-way communication then you first need to set a time frame for the regular AMA sessions, yes actual calendar dates
then perhaps have 3 or 4 threads for the AMA,
  • Bug Fixes / Reports
  • Ideas for game development
  • reports of game abuses Though this should ofc always be done immediately, at least the messages could be re-inforced, and if it is not an exploit but a game feature this could be explained.
  • A feedback from MA section, where they remind us of which questions from previous AMA have been answered or dealt with by MA in game. That way at least you get to show us your progress and make us feel less neglected
  • An 'ongoing issues' thread where MA recognise things from previous AMAs or other feedback that have yet to be resolved, and give us some idea what is causing the delay, and when or if it may ever be fixed
There is no shame in admitting defeat, it at least shows you listened and tried, the majority of players also understand that priorities in any company can change, or be superseded by more recent issues. Be honest with us and you will get far less whining, bitching and trolling. If you can genuinely communicate, listen yes but also give feedback, do this perhaps quarterly, then MA may find the players themselves will willingly help them prioritise issues that could if left unattended cost them player retention, help by offering suggestions for new development ideas, because if we can learn to feel loved and wanted and respected then we will want to help, and we will want to give MA the chance to put the poor communications of recent years firmly in the past
 
Is it possible that the reason we get so little communication is because we behave like we do when they try to communicate? I mean, I would be scared as hell if I had to address this community and my job was on the line.

Just a thought, I don't mean to offend anyone.

PS: To clarify more and better communication is much needed, go ahead with the AMA @My|MindArk :)

Yeah I agree with this, but this also due to the lack of actual communication, that is why a strategy is needed and with a bit of work, I believe that within a few months up to a year most of the stuff could be cleared, tackled. There are very sensitive topics that I understand they do not want to discuss mainly due to their focus not being there (space, plots etc.); to a degree it is understandable but people need closure on these topics, they need to know there's no development planned for at least 5 years. With such a statement, ofc it would cause some to be upset but at least we know where we stand and ppl stop asking every week for answers that won't come too soon. Yeah, the way they started to own some of the mistakes made and move on was really good and we mostly appreciated it but they need to push a bit harder in the forums too, be a bit bolder and make statements every time something important pops on the forums. Everyone has their own vision of where the game should head but what we all have in common is the passion for the game, even if some are in a love-hate relation with it, we still like it and want it to thrive, don't forget that, MA. We are on your side, step up and accept to make light in some of the most sensitive topics so we can all move on and focus on more important issues.
 
There should be an AMA thread/subforum on this site. Then weekly the devs will answer the previous weeks postings. The community manager would be responsible for gathering and summarizing the questions. No need for the devs to read/respond to a dozen questions on botting.

I'm not optimistic however. I expect a lot of half answers like 'soon' when the issue of space delivery missions comes up.
 
That would be great - i just hope that it isnt going to be a 'give one answer and forget the thread' type aproach again, if you look through the AMA threads with most recent bumps you will notice that i am still waiting on some answers to my questions from the last AMA ;)

All space questions get priority / answered 1st this AMA!!
 
An AMA is always welcome. In fact, it should be a regular practice by MA to answer questions asked here on the forum. Or rather My should take note of questions, bring them to MA’s attention and answer them as best you can in forum discussions.

I also miss the annual “State of the Universe” reports MA use to put out for their roadmap each year.
 
AMA every quarter from now on..
 
My opinion is I don't see much point in new questions, or old ones repeated again, when there are a vast number of issues right here on this forum going back years and mostly 'unanswered'. How much of our communication is even looked at by anyone in any seriousness, and how much have you passed on to people in the time you have been with us? Have you had any proper answers to your questions, or ours passed on?

I think a ' Quarterly Report Card' would be nice to do, I also think in this day and age for 2-sided Q&A that you could actually designate a Official Twitch Stream and someone can moderate the chat if someone starts trolling or can't behave in a mature fashion and not letting other's get their questions & answers answer'd , they can be immediately banned or muted/timeout etc

I also think if some lingering questions such as any future game development maybe even on a stream, showing how it would look on prototypes of 'what's to come." That would be exciting getting input from the community straight off.

You could during this Q & A, start a "Everybodys Avatar" and start a new avatar and go through beginning process and starting areas and instances while players ask about gear/instances etc..From creation on. Possibilities are endless. ( You can't use any MA mojo on the avatar though..lol )

If some promises made in past years won't come to fruition and may upset players, then at least they know and can plan around it accordingly.

P.S.

We may even buy some bitties and subscribe to your Twitch Channel ;) Win/Win
 
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Hello Entropians! This will be a short and sweet message, but I’ve been looking through the forum and it has come to my attention that the last AMA MindArk had with you was quite a while ago. Therefore I was wondering if you would be interested in another AMA in the future? Would that be something you would like to happen?

My Antonsson

Community Relations Manager
MindArk


Since we have a CRM now, it's good to do a AMA on quarterly basis.
 
- How can that support take days/weeks to answer?
- When will the lag spikes/game stopping that started in March be fixed?
- When the CP events?
- How much energized fertilizer so far have been bought in order to fill CP domes?
- When the tier skills will be compensated as promised?
- Why mix shared loot mobs with no shared loot mobs? (Old Fred)
- Why ghost orders on auction? (Do I need to check EVERY offer with bid before try to fill a order? If so, how do I know that is the same guy, since orders don't tell who he is?)
- Why so few ESI on auction? (There were 4 last time I checked. This directly means that we are not allowed to sell skills. WHY?)
- Why the admins of this forum aren't payed since this is THE official forum?
- Why so much time in hibernation from your part? (Communication isn't a thread every 3 months!)
- Where are the things promised on your apparently ONLY work here, the video interview?

Answer this questions then you can do all the AMAs that you want!

Smells different but the taste is always the same.
 
tenor.gif


...the questions have all been asked already.

It is time for a random list of demands...
  • Ability to sit under a tree.
  • More than one melee attack or more than one use for melee weapons.
  • Thrown weapons.
  • Ranged weapons with intensity sliders that let you slightly vary how much ammo the weapon burns.
  • Dual wielding of both melee weapons & pistols, even if it's just a visual effect.
  • Multi-person emotes.
  • Meat, the meat cutter, and the fishing pole.
  • Beer on all planets.
  • Consuming any form of alcohol should wobble the screen & auto-slur your chat in public channels. Effect should scale with consumption.
  • Move the point at which the camera clips faces out of the picture to a point much much closer to the face.
  • Put all the cosmetic items in the game in the web shop...including the empty masks.
  • Tattoos!
  • Make the various interfaces of the game like one another.
  • Fix all the broken chairs. Next Island Rattan Sofa should seat three people. It currently seats zero people.
  • You should be able to lay down on a bed.
  • For their own sake, pets need to start dropping some dung. They've eaten way too much Nutrio already...
  • In addition to taming creatures for pets, allow us to genetically experiment with creature DNA & create hybrid / mutant pets.
  • All armor should be (C).
  • Clear the obvious roads of all invisible rocks.
  • Ability to buy a goat from a stable for the sole purpose of sacrificing it in the name of Lootius.
  • You should not be able to walk through rocks.
  • Portable auction terminals.
  • Moving clothing items out of your inventory should not cause the hot button to disappear. This does not occur with vehicles or pets.
  • Put all housing upgrades in the web shop as well.
But before they do any of that, have them fix these irritating lag spikes. Please?

BTW...nice forum upgrade. :)
 
Hi MY
I would strongly suggest the CEO make a statement. We as your clients have no idea what the current roadmap is. We asked many questions in the previous AMA and it would be pointless unless we get clear answer. I will give you an example

Question: MindArk created Landplots/Snug buildings and basic farming. What happened to greater development of these buildings as per the adverts? Why does farmed products have little to no use?

Answer: We we had graphical issues with larger buildings and were unable to code within CryEngine to attain the results we wanted. This project is on hold until other options can be worked out. - MY this sort of answer at least lets us know what the hold up is.
Answer: Farmed products were intitally used in some Limited weapons blueprints. We are currently looking at diversifying the blueprints which use farmed goods to simulate this profession to supply the crafters.
- MY again an answer that makes sense.

Overall the biggest issue players (clients) have is that many of us are veterans of the game over 5, 10 years or more. We are not your 6 monthly try and leave type players. We want to invest in the real cash economy, develop businesses that are profitable and be assured that the MindArk ingame economy manager carefully reviews the economy to ensure it remains viable, which many of us are very concerned about, especially with how loot is balanced.

The moral of the story is, be transparent, be honest and as the community manager post something at least once per week.

Regards
Bjorn
11 year EU veteran
 
In this moment i don't need an AMA , all i want MA is to be more drastic against exploiters and didn't change in 8 years, i think atm its even worse considering they stole from other players quite a lot of tokens. Over the years i admit i saw some measure against exploiters but not enough.
 
Yeah why not? There might be new questions out there that could be answered.
Seen other alternatives to communicate between MA and community in this thread that might be a good
idea to consider also, just because we get one alternative doesn't mean others should be neglacted.
 
Maybe you should ask us some things...
Im not so sure what an AMA is going to accomplish except giving the community more fodder and things to hold over your head.

Besides, what are you gaining from that? Its pandering to public at best.

Feels like we could all learn alot more if you guys polled us about our priorities.
 
Question: MindArk created Landplots/Snug buildings and basic farming. What happened to greater development of these buildings as per the adverts? Why does farmed products have little to no use?

Answer: We we had graphical issues with larger buildings and were unable to code within CryEngine to attain the results we wanted. This project is on hold until other options can be worked out. - MY this sort of answer at least lets us know what the hold up is.
Answer: Farmed products were intitally used in some Limited weapons blueprints. We are currently looking at diversifying the blueprints which use farmed goods to simulate this profession to supply the crafters.
- MY again an answer that makes sense.
...
Regards
Bjorn
11 year EU veteran
I'm assuming those answers are made up as examples only of what could be answered? I sure don't remember anything as useful as that being answered ;). If those were genuine answers, then sorry, my bar is set a little too low...
 
They already know what players vote for with their money.
Yes but they don't know or seem to care where we would spend it if the right things were developed, this is why they should ask....and listen
 
Yeah I agree with this, but this also due to the lack of actual communication, that is why a strategy is needed and with a bit of work, I believe that within a few months up to a year most of the stuff could be cleared, tackled. There are very sensitive topics that I understand they do not want to discuss mainly due to their focus not being there (space, plots etc.); to a degree it is understandable but people need closure on these topics, they need to know there's no development planned for at least 5 years. With such a statement, ofc it would cause some to be upset but at least we know where we stand and ppl stop asking every week for answers that won't come too soon. Yeah, the way they started to own some of the mistakes made and move on was really good and we mostly appreciated it but they need to push a bit harder in the forums too, be a bit bolder and make statements every time something important pops on the forums. Everyone has their own vision of where the game should head but what we all have in common is the passion for the game, even if some are in a love-hate relation with it, we still like it and want it to thrive, don't forget that, MA. We are on your side, step up and accept to make light in some of the most sensitive topics so we can all move on and focus on more important issues.

Yeah, I didn't want it to sound like the community is to blame here. Regardless of how we behave MA should communicate a lot more (a lot !), because we are their (paying) customers in the end.

It's just that for the last few years every time they try to make a move we tend to completely shut them down with requests, demands, insults even.... and I got fed up personally. It's one of the reasons I barely post anymore.

MA has the bigger blame on this situation, I'm sure. I didn't mean it otherwise, some days I can't express myself correctly :)

Apologies.
 
Yes but they don't know or seem to care where we would spend it if the right things were developed, this is why they should ask....and listen
I normally try and explain why I don't like something and don't participate, or only half-heartedly, but there is almost never any response. Admittedly, it hasn't been MA directly that I have aimed at recently, but where I am at the moment, namely NI, where so much is not making planetary economic sense in my opinion. But it's true all over EU that stuff is added, but badly, and initial enthusiasm to try things out just dies a quite quick death.

Short list: pets, harvesting, fort events, beacons, land plots, ...space - it doesn't matter whether old or newish - things we could love are closer to being meh! because of minor problems. AND we have told them... but they don't listen, indeed...
 
Road maps are always nice and if things go out of scope just let people know. I am a part of two other games one in Alpha and one in initial concept design and both have lofty road maps but they do their best to address why things have taken longer to implement or why things have changed throughout the process. They are by no means excellent on communication but what they both do well is give the players confidence that things are "in the works" so to speak or may be to lofty to implement. In both situations there are grumpy customers but the game developers try to do their best damage control to come to an outcome that is usually in both parties interests.

AMA is nice if pertinent things are addressed and even fixed given time. I've had a couple Kickstarters that have taken many years to fulfill but what kept me from asking for a refund was the creator addressing the delays in a professional manner and showing progress towards completion. Somethings are worth the wait as long as you know there will be a conclusion.

I am not sure about jumping into EU feet first again, I had my "straw that broke the camel's back" moment due to an auction exploit that was met with apathy from support at the time. I've never quite recovered from that loss of confidence and ultimately doesn't everyone want to have confidence in a form of entertainment that has a RCE? I was never a huge investor but I did deposit decent sums to upgrade gear and probably didn't play in the most eco fashion which led to more depositing over time.

Will an AMA restore my confidence as well as other older and newer players?

What is it that MA will actually bring to the table these days that will sway my attention from other games that have similar mechanics and the game play that is actually based on player skill and they are ripe for RCE elements out of the box? MA has been doing this a very long time and they should have their game dynamics dialed in so they make a decent profit while still entertaining their customers.

I also think they just need to own their mistakes and rectify the problems incurred by them. I do that all the time, even more so now that I am older. You know what, my clients are happy which has lead me to be more profitable doing something I really like as a career.
 
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