If the King is naked, make him clothes or should you?

[Aamer Khan]

Here we are a year later, and what do we find?

We have various players "bravely" declaring the king has no clothes, ( listing the various problems that Horizons has ) and others saying that he does, ( defending the Developers for their efforts ).

It doesn't take bravery to notice problems, nor to alert the developers. Most are already known by them. What is happening, is that many longtime players have started to find extra fault with the game they call the "king". We know they really ( albeit secretly ) love the game since they are still in the kings court, close enough to see his nakedness. It's true that the king need clothes.That is obvious. But what is needed, is to have someone show more than blind devotion, or false "bravery" ( translates to fanboi's and malcontent finger pointers ).

Those that truly care for the "king" have shown it by stepping up and calmly and most efficaciously, in a quiet voice, told the "king" he is naked, and then proceeded to make the king some clothes. Now, the finger pointers don't like this because it undermines there efforts to point out flaws. We all know that the king has flaws, just like we do. And despite the flaws, we enjoy being in his court daily. And since we truly want to see the kings "rule" continue, should we not lend a hand?

Our "king" is the developers behind the kingdom of Horizons. They rule what our world is and what it will become. Like it or not, they alone make the choices, we are their sujbects.
Blindly pretending the king has clothes when he is naked, only makes us and the king look foolish. Merely pointing fingers at obvious flaws doesn't help either. But should we even try to help our king? He doesn't seem to notice the draft around his knees...

We can help our "king" in a number of ways.

First off, realize these boards DO have an influence on the new players joining the game. I have been polling any new players I can find, and without exception, they all have read such negative reports in the boards that they are discouraged before they start. Once they tried the game and got involved, thet have a blast. SO... think about WHY you are posting here. Just to point fingers? ( I fully expect the some ones to flame me over this concept )

Second, put your efforts where your mouths are. Too many feel justified to lament, but don't want to actually help out. "We shouldn't be required to" they will say. No, you shouldn't and are not required to help. The developers should make the content. BUT, Why not help? The new quest made by Klaus is a fine example. It gives content to lower level players, and assists the dev's by letting them work on tougher things to do than just quests. If you want it all fixed, and fixed asap, then jump in and help! Come up with quests, make suggestions of things that you would find fun. Thes things are not mere fluff. They are what make the world around us seem alive.

Third, Support what efforts players make to improve the situation. If they have started a channel, join it and participate. If they want to have a gnaked gnome race, go make an alt and have fun! If they want to have a shard wide festival day, fasion show, newbie tour of the western deadlands... why not be a part of it?

We are as much a part of the soultion as the dev's. Our opinions, reactions, viewpoints drive it along too. Express your opinion that the king is naked, React with positive efforts, share your viewpoints about how things can be improved and try to help it come to pass.

[Seranthor]

I'm not going to flame you. One however, can not clothe the King until he himself accepts the fact that he is in fact naked. No amount of clothing provided by the subjects will clothe him until that occurs.

[Amerelium]

...I've been trying to make that point for 8 months...

Here we are a year later, and what do we find?

First off, realize these boards DO have an influence on the new players joining the game. I have been polling any new players I can find, and without exception, they all have read such negative reports in the boards that they are discouraged before they start. Once they tried the game and got involved, thet have a blast. SO... think about WHY you are posting here. Just to point fingers? ( I fully expect the some ones to flame me over this concept )

[Mordoth]

Good stuff Aamer, I like what you have to say. I know at times members of my guild have hosted server wide events on Order; i.e. Dragon Bonding Ceremony, Bardic Gatherings, etc. I believe that we the players who love the game, also have some responsibility to ourselves to keep the game fun.

BUT (not a flame) did you have to use the Naked King analogy and pointing out flaws? Got some mental imagery there that I could have done without. [:O]

(Meaning that in the spirit of fun)

[Kulamata]

I think morale should take a turn upward now. The recent changes have been positive. No nerfs trying to stretch the content further, but rather the removal of irritants. Reduced requirements for decorative construction. Increased silo capacity. Anchors aweighed. Cleansing for dragon heals. And tech comp drop rates increased.

Further, I've seen a greatly improved bug ticket response speed, and the devs are posting here (a bit) more.

We know that from a business standpoint, the game has had two overwhelming problems; players leaving, and new players trying the game and leaving soon. I've felt that resource constraints were only part of the problem, a negative attitude towards gameplay was the largerissue. Makingdragons (themost popular race, and a unique Hz feature) difficult in order to limit their numbers lost us a lot of players; new players would try dragon, get frustrated, and leave rather than try another class. And as many have pointed out, crafting and adventuring have undisguised grinding too close to the surface. The increased unpleasantness was the result of deliberate design decisions; the removal ofmachines from the field, nerfing the WD crystals, cutting cash back severely, upping Vielo prices, and reducing comp drops. Players obviously remembered how much fun the game was before these changes, so thecumulative effect was very negative. And until quite recently this was how gameplay was affected by changes; consistently negatively.

Getting rid of the petty, unnecessary irritants helps address the players' frustration. And we have been told that a major overhaul of the initial experience with new training islands, tutorials, and improved access to game information is being worked on which will helpretain new players.

The recent changes seem to signal a shift in basic attitude towards the players and the game experience. Making the day-to-day game experience less frustrating isas important as adding content, and the new emphasis on doing that is very very welcome. And I think it will substantially improve the business prospects for Tulga.

[Aamer Khan]

In other words Kulamata,

The king KNOWS he is naked. ;)

[Varangaard]

Yes, the king is starting to notice he has no clothes. He is however still dithering over what to wear, and if he is an exhibitionist after all.

It's the nature of the beast that forums mostly get negative posts. If you have an issue, you will vent over it here. People do not go out of their way to post "Birds are singing and everything is swell, I'm so happy I have no bugs or issues to get angry about right now."[;)]

Case in point however. Here's a pep-talk to new players reading this forum: I've been here for well over a year and I have a maxed-out dragon and two multiclassed biped alts. I've no plans to quit anytime soon. Horizons has a lot of potential, and at the end of the day, the good sides cancel the shortcomings. So try it out, don't be afraid to ask questions or join chat channels for help. I'm sure you'll have good time. You can always take the 7-day trial so you won't lose a thing if you decide not to pay to play.

[Pharcellus]

It doesn't take bravery to notice problems, nor to alert the developers. Most are already known by them. What is happening, is that many longtime players have started to find extra fault with the game they call the "king".

Up until VERY recently, there were still significant issues that had been reported many times in the past which the devs STILL didn't know about (from their own queries about the problem when it was brought up yet again). I find it hard to quantify "most", but yes, they do know about many of them. Few people are trying to come up with "extra fault". A problem is pointed out, and the problems getting any feedback on that problem or a resolution for that problem are also pointed out. All part of the logical precession of issue notification.

Those that truly care for the "king" have shown it by stepping up and calmly and most efficatiously, in a quiet voice, told the "king" he is naked, and then proceeded to make the king some clothes. Now, the finger pointers don't like this because it undermines there efforts to point out flaws. We all know that the king has flaws, just like we do. And despite the flaws, we enjoy being in his court daily. And since we truly want to see the kings "rule" continue, should we not lend a hand?

I find that a little incorrect and not a little offensive. Implying that those who follow "other" methods to accomplish the same ends can't "truly care" rings hollow to me. Especially since many of them have gone that route before and long ago realized their "calm and efficacious words" fell on the king's deaf, uncaring ears. Further, presuming that the "finger pointers" don't "lend a hand" is also ludicrous.

Merely pointing fingers at obvious flaws doesn't help either. But should we even try to help our king? He doesn't seem to notice the draft around his knees...

I can't quite agree with that. The first step towards progress is to recognize one has a problem. That, and there are no true "obvious" problems. Everyone perceives things differently. We can assume that the developers use common sense, but sometimes one cannot see the forest for the trees, obvious though it may be to everyone else. Thus, "finger pointing" out flaws is a big and important first step.

First off, realize these boards DO have an influence on the new players joining the game. I have been polling any new players I can find, and without exception, they all have read such negative reports in the boards that they are discouraged before they start. Once they tried the game and got involved, thet have a blast. SO... think about WHY you are posting here. Just to point fingers? ( I fully expect the some ones to flame me over this concept )

Great. Caveat Emptor. I, for one, would appreciate candid and even brutally honest feedback by the players in the community forums of a game I would consider playing. I cannot say it would make my decision for me, as I am kinda one of those "gotta see this for myself" kind of people. I listen to movie critics, too, but I don't let a double thumbs-down taint my desire for something I really am interested in. However, reading a forum filled with the ravings of sycophants tells me nothing. I would have strong suspicions about playing a game where the community forums have nothing but glorious depictions that would put Michelangelo to shame.

As for why I am "pointing fingers", it has proven to make the game all that much better for it when other methods have failed.

Second, put your efforts where your mouths are. Too many feel justified to lament, but don't want to actually help out. "We shouldn't be required to" they will say. No, you shouldn't and are not required to help. The developers should make the content. BUT, Why not help? The new quest made by Klaus is a fine example. It gives content to lower level players, and assists the dev's by letting them work on tougher things to do than just quests. If you want it all fixed, and fixed asap, then jump in and help! Come up with quests, make suggestions of things that you would find fun. Thes things are not mere fluff. They are what make the world around us seem alive.

I don't think I fit into the category of "not helping" any more than I fit into the category of "not caring". However, until they can come up with more than a token effort in considering the incorporation of player-generated content (yes, I am aware that it is coming Real Soon Now, just after Lairs and ARoP). One quest from one contest months ago. Why not a contest every month? Why not more than one entry per month? Short answer: because they don't have the resources to do it. Thus, generating tons of quests is nice and all, but they will simply get shoved into a dusty tome and put onto the dusty shelf until they can consider using them. What they need is input and guidance regarding the things they can consider and are working on now.

The other issue is that "helping out" doesn't mean only through ADDING to the game, but also FIXING and COMPLETING what is already there. In fact, I daresay the latter two should have a higher priority than the former, but that is just my opinion.

Third, Support what efforts players make to improve the situation. If they have started a channel, join it and participate. If they want to have a gnaked gnome race, go make an alt and have fun! If they want to have a shard wide festival day, fasion show, newbie tour of the western deadlands... why not be a part of it?

Can't speak for others, but I have, when I could make the scheduled times, and when I haven't had other guild events going on. We also have plans on doing some shard-wide events once we get our guild hall completed.

[Aamer Khan]

[8-)]

Let me make a better reply.

You know that I too point a finger when warranted... And even though you took this as some sort of personal afront, I assure you I was NOT thinking of you.

We are all ( TG/dev's/players ) in an uncomfortable place. If what I wrote does not apply to you, then take it for what its worth. If it does apply to you then it made you think ( even if just to defend ) and thus also serves a purpose.

We don't have to agree, nor even view it the same way. We will have to accept what the dev's do, whether we like it or not. We don't know what they have to do to make things happen. We don't know how easy or hard anything really is. We can only guess.

I'm just saying that we can do more than point out the obvious.

[Khoal]

I've noticed that, no matter what MMO, the community forums are loaded with people voicing discontent.

The WoW forums, for instance, have such a huge amount of whining and complaining you'd think the game is about to fold, with the corporate headquarters imploding like the house in the movie Poltergeist. But for some odd reason, despite all the posts saying how bad it is, and how such-and-such class is useless, the game seems to be hanging in there and making money.

Perhaps it'srelated to the number of people viewing the forum. Over at Penny Arcade, they've basically hit the nail on the head when it comes to this kind of on-line behavior (whether in-game or on a forum): it's called the John Gabriel Greater Internet F*ckwad Theory. Look it up - there's even been a research paper written on the topic.

[Mordoth]

I've noticed that, no matter what MMO, the community forums are loaded with people voicing discontent.

The WoW forums, for instance, have such a huge amount of whining and complaining you'd think the game is about to fold, with the corporate headquarters imploding like the house in the movie Poltergeist. But for some odd reason, despite all the posts saying how bad it is, and how such-and-such class is useless, the game seems to be hanging in there and making money.

Perhaps it'srelated to the number of people viewing the forum. Over at Penny Arcade, they've basically hit the nail on the head when it comes to this kind of on-line behavior (whether in-game or on a forum): it's called the John Gabriel Greater Internet F*ckwad Theory. Look it up - there's even been a research paper written on the topic.

Really it boils down to basic human behavior. I work in a customer service center, we have nearly 5 million customers. MOST customers never call to customer service because things work well and they are happy with our product. However, the primary reason I have a job is due to the small percentage of customers who have a problem or an issue that needs to be solved.

This translates in this way when it comes to forum posting. The happy players who are not having issues or don't mind/notice the issues don't post. The players who are unhappy or have issues with the game are the ones that post.

My customer service center would have to have 400,000 + employees if we expected most of our customers to call us on a regular basis.

[Bulgrim StoneCleaver]

Well, maybe if the "King" would consider giving us an audience regularly.....we would realize the king knows we exist and that it is important that he even wear clothes.

Aamer - I understand where you are coming from, I still play this game almost daily and support it but everything you listed is a two way street. These boards quiet down when dev/staff of TG post - its that simple. I just wish I could see more posting from staff in regards to player concerns (that list is long). And IRC isn't what I want....if I'm thinking about Horizons - I should be PLAYING it - not reading a chat for tidbits.

Limiting Company Communication has been the biggest mistake of Horizons developers. I've said that for 12 months in my private chats with some of them. Response I often get is a shrug - that's like saying, "oh well" or "whatever". If they would post regularly you wouldn't have the "pot boiling over" syndrom that exists right now.

If the company is losing support or players are rioting on the boards - its not the fault of the paying customer - its the fault of the ones being paid. I'll finish by saying, I love this game - enjoy it everytime I get to play, these boards and others are what get be down about Horizns sometimes but its not any customer's job to be silent about problems - be fair, yes - be silent - no.

[Aamer Khan]

I think it has to do with the innate annonimity the internet provides.

Players will often say things on the boards, that their ingame personalities would not dare. The only difference between the two is, in game, you chat directly with a character that you interact with and thus there is a degree of reputation in game that can be removed by posting on boards.

It has always been interesting how the most vocal malcontents on the boards will try and conseal who they play as ingame. Or even attempt the do it on the boards by creating a new name.

But such is MMORRG life. :)

[Hasai]

....Over at Penny Arcade, they've basically hit the nail on the head when it comes to this kind of on-line behavior (whether in-game or on a forum): it's called the John Gabriel Greater Internet F*ckwad Theory. Look it up - there's even been a research paper written on the topic.

In order to be unnecessarily helpful, I hereby offer this link to an excellent synopsys of this excellent term.
[G]

[Aamer Khan]

Bulgrim, thanks for the perspective. I always appreciate your posts.

Just to make sure I'm clear, I never think/feel/believe that we as players should be silent. Feedback is the lifeblood of fixing bugs and improving gameplay. We must NOT be silent.

One thing you said is very true. Once the Dev's will "reveal" their plans or whats in the works, things will quiet down. Thats a fine point the Dev's need to hear and respond to. It's what I have been saying to them directly whenever possible, as have many others, that open communication will help us all hang in there and put up with changes. For some reason unknown, they continue to feel secrecy is the best policy. I don't happen to agree. Nor do many others. BUT getting pissed like some do, or letting the bitterness of emotion creep in, would not help me to want to listen. If indeed the "king" is unaware he is naked, we should tell him. But in a way that help him maintain his dignity ( and ours ).

[Bulgrim StoneCleaver]

agreed Aamer - I just wasn't sure of your point there. I try to be constructive as much as I can be.

I just want to say again - thank you Amon and Zideon for posting on the boards lately - that kind of coomunication is what I'm seeking atm - takes about 5 mins of your time - so I'm pretty easy to please I guess. I wish others at Tulga would do the same.

[Amerelium]

...the whole point here is, that the way it's been these past couple of weeks, this forum is the games own worst enemy, just like tazoon was back in june/july, and ign has been all the time. There's a big difference between constructive posts/feedback/complaining, and pointless ones. And lately, I've seen quite a few threads inthe general forum that is utterly useless, except for scaring of potential new players. And it annoys the hell out of me...

[IndyMan]

Why not help?

Do we get a discount for helping them do the job they get paid for ?

[Phillip]

so the whole court took turns whisper to the king that he is naked. he says i'll put some clothes on. in December. now it's March, he hasn't even put on a single sock. (ARoP & Lairs)

so themany in thecourt took turns whisper to the king that he is naked. 3 months later, he puts on a pair of invisible undies. (Blighted Equipment)

some say, "hey! invisible undies are clothes, too!" and they cheer "Hail to the King! Long Live the King!"

someone in the crowd says "but he's still naked, isn't he?"

doh.

[Seranthor]

^^^ What Phillip said... :)