Talk to the... Skype???

Ok, Firstly I need to make it clear that I am not against the idea that Skype is being used to bounce ideas at us players or from us to the devs. It is NOT an attack on the channel (Thank you Rackie for setting it up). Nor am I against the changes this chat has helped bring about. Infact I would go so far as to say I absolutely LOVE that the devs come and speak directly with us (thanks Amon and the other devs who use it) What does worry me however is that a couple of these changes got discussed on there then went straight into a blight (galewind being the one that strikes me specifically).

I thought the Idea of Talk to the team is that once an idea had been thought on the Devs would present it to everyone or everyone can present it to the devs so that the rest of the community can see it and discuss any unforeseen pro's and Cons.

Also before anyone thinks this is butt hurt because I am not in the loop (chat) that's only partly true. I can't run it on this computer and run other games because it causes me to crash but I Do have access indirectly to whats discussed. What this is about is inclusion and I am worried that there maybe others out there who are not getting an ear or a voice.

Oh and one final thought before someone points it out. I know the WHOLE community does not use these boards either but they ARE official and anyone who plays istaria/Horizons are welcome here.

ok just my two pence!

Galewind and the changes that were made actually came from this thread: http://community.istaria.com/forum/s...Caster-version

There will always be those who are "not in the loop" for some reason or another whether its because we're on Skype, we're on the forums, or we're in-game. I'm sorry you feel left out, but the chat room is available to everyone to join and discuss and not everyone has to be posted to the forums. It is a small subset of players, similar to Skype, that responds to forum posts anyway.

After some thought, I wanted to add to this thread that I understand your concerns and that I will take them into account. Skype is not and will not be the sole method of communication with the player-base. Skype, forums, and in-game will all be sources for discussion. But, not everything discussed in one place will necessarily be discussed in the others. I also reserve the right to make decisions based upon feedback acquired in one or more locations without consulting the others. They are all publicly available to players so this seems like a fair and reasonable system.

Maybe there should be then a place in the forum to post for example a Skype log about what has been discussed so others know about it as well?

That's not a bad idea Phar! It would include those who can't or don't use skype, and it would keep everyone else in the loop who really only looks for discussions here on the forums. Failing that, if it takes up too much space in a thread, someone could always post it to their blog maybe for those who can't get into the chat to input or discuss? Or maybe open a group here on the forums where such could be posted up?

I can understand the OP's concerns. I for one don't want to go back to a time when you had only a couple of players discussing input and ideas with the devs whilst the rest of the community was kept in the dark and forced to accept changes that we didn't ask for nor agreed with as a majority. There is a lot of great input and ideas I've seen this community come up with over the years since that time, and its brought us so many good changes. Its important that what we have here now also remains open like this as a communications port with the devs. I do like the idea of using a skype chat as another means to discuss things, but it shouldn't be the only method nor should it feel forced upon those who don't want it.

What I'd really like to see is maybe a pre planned monthly in game chat session or chat even quarterly chat with the dev session. That way it is just a matter of putting aside the time and logging into game, which we can all do. Also it ensures that the people contributing are active players who have an interest in keeping the game going and will be using the live changes.

Its one of the things I love about this game, that we as players can communicate with our devs and they ask our opinion and input, and even allow us to offer ideas where its not asked for.

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Originally Posted by AmonGwareth

After some thought, I wanted to add to this thread that I understand your concerns and that I will take them into account. Skype is not and will not be the sole method of communication with the player-base. Skype, forums, and in-game will all be sources for discussion. But, not everything discussed in one place will necessarily be discussed in the others. I also reserve the right to make decisions based upon feedback acquired in one or more locations without consulting the others. They are all publicly available to players so this seems like a fair and reasonable system.

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Thank you Amon thats all I wanted and I understand you reserve the right to make whatever changes you deem appropriate.

As I said previously I wasn't concerned for myself because I am personally aware of what was being discussed (even if it is indirectly) my concern was for people who may have something to contribute but can't for one reason or another.

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Originally Posted by Pharaxes

Maybe there should be then a place in the forum to post for example a Skype log about what has been discussed so others know about it as well?

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Players are more than welcome to log and post the skype chat to the forums. Since it is not an official chat source for Virtrium, we won't be doing this ourselves.

I don't use skype myself but, I was reading this thread and thought of something. I was thinking about how long a skype thread could be and thought how nice it would be to have a recording linked so you could just listen to it? Just a thought, not sure where the info could be stored though. Maybe title it for content.
-Kor

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Originally Posted by Korchak Strongbone

I don't use skype myself but, I was reading this thread and thought of something. I was thinking about how long a skype thread could be and thought how nice it would be to have a recording linked so you could just listen to it? Just a thought, not sure where the info could be stored though. Maybe title it for content.
-Kor

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All of the skype chatting has been text, currently. Copying and pasting the entire chat log whenever something is discussed would be - well easier for whoever is doing it, but maybe not so much for people to sort through it. I'll be trying to put up a summary of whatever goes on, along with quotes and such.

I understand the wish for Skype logs to be posted onto the forums but I hate to say that half the time includes random side-conversations and other unrelated topics within it, so posting the entire log could be troublesome and almost spammy if literally every word was included. Important posts, including Q/A with Amon and whatnot probably could be sorted out but conversation happens nearly every hour of the day except for certain parts of the night (something like 12am-4am EST), so finding every single post might be a bit of an issue. @Alisto: Considering what I just said, it'd be appreciated if you took the time to do that. I don't think I'd find the time to myself.

Furthermore I don't think anything is directly brought in from the Skype chat anyway - I know Amon already pointed to the topic about Galewind but whenever a point is made, usually someone brings it up on the forums in a suggestion topic or it's a reply to the Talk to the Team topic. (I can't be 100% sure for everything, though.)

Anyway I know everyone can't run Skype and that not everyone even wants to join, but I don't want anyone thinking that we have any special privilege because we don't. ^^;

PS - We only write in text because calling is kind of troublesome due to the amount of people around (Skype's call notification pops up over everything, anyone who just lurks to read what the devs say would be irritated). Also, Skype calling to a group is limited to 20 people unless you have a premium account from what I've heard. The chat has, at the moment, 42 people.