Forum attitude adjustment and new moderation policies

[Knut]

This forum is NOT fun anymore. Maybe hard a$$ moderating is just what is needed right now.

I hope as well.

But I'm afraid it won't work that way.
When the coppers crash a party, the trouble might get under control. But they're not the ones that bring the fun along. Rather the contrary, normally.
Bringing the fun back is up to us.

[ChrisMK72]

The root cause of our (players) frustration is the problems & issues with the game, the companies reluctance to address them, and the level of communication.

However, the root cause of the really nasty posts is simply peoples inability to control their emotions. EW's decisions are NOT an excuse to get mean with each other.

I think both is right.
There's no smoke without fire. So it has to come from something. That's one side.




The other side is to control what is posted. Is it on topic ? Or does it get mean, or personal ?
Let's just think about it.

And there is no "them", and "us"(groups). For example steam players, and old players.
Only many different persons. Everyone is different. No matter if he came from steam, or was here long ago.

So i would not have a problem with being "moderated", when i did a nasty post. It would remember me just to the point, that there are rules here. That's not bad. And when i would get a timeout for a failure i did, than it's just that way. That would be ok. And when the bad posting would be deleted, maybe it would be even better for me, because 2 days later i would regret what i have written there in a heated up moment.

I think they wouldn't delete postings with critique because of problems, with details and calm description what the problem is.
They would just delete postings where some bad words are spoken, that gives a hostile feeling here. And I'm totally ok with that.
That wouldn't be censorship. It's just moderation. And that's what mods are there for.


But the best would be, if we all try to think twice next time if we post things in heated up discussions, so that there is no need for the mods to moderate.
I would like to see the forum a nicer place again too. And i try to do my part for it.

When the coppers crash a party, the trouble might get under control. But they're not the ones that bring the fun along. Rather the contrary, normally.
Bringing the fun back is up to us.

And that's important too. Good posting Knut. We shouldn't forget the fun. Fun is what we play for. And so it should be here more again too.

[\m/]

i have enough fun here ...with some bugs too. or with hunters that take only have of their equip to a hunt ..and it was a fun hunting session

[ChrisMK72]

or with hunters that take only half of their equip to a hunt ..and it was a fun hunting session

I know who you are pointing to.
lol, yes. That was an insider. But it was. Yes.

Can do another one next days.

Ok, now back to topic.

[Alena Rybik]

Thank you for your response, it have obviously been a pain point of many, judging by the amount of posts I am glad to see that most of us are on the same page here and want to make this community a nicer place to hang around.

I think allot of the animosity stemmed from a lack of solid info and gave way to speculation and people getting there hopes up for stuff that just didn't pan out how they had hoped(me included). Im aware you're all very busy and have bigger fish to fry but is there a possibility to get activity and more responses form people with concrete information?.

I am trying to jump in whenever the official response is needed. However, this forum is not an official channel of communication between the players and developers, but a community around the game where developers can sometimes participate as well. Albeit enabled by EW as a company, it is a place for people to talk about the game and share information and the share of my / devs' participation is very healthy right now for a mature community (1 - 10% of all posts are created by me or another developer) and I am planning to keep it on the same level. When we get involved, conversation gets distorted.

We have only one official communication channel through which you can send your inquiry and where you can always expect a reply from the devs - it is support.

I just wish that criticism and pointing out some problems will not be eliminated purely and simply from the forums,

It won't and I've never said that it would.

superb piece, well written and right to the point! full support from me, it's all I have been saying for months hope to see a really relaxed place by now on. Just an info that could be useful: how do you think to enforce the surveillance? provide a button to signal mocking or disrespectful posts? or maybe the moderators should read every post? just to know what are you thinking, if possible. And another detail, if I may, you probably know we had some (luckily so few) cases of racist nicknames or attempt of virtual harassment which were dealt with the maximum severity (expulsion from the game), I'd like to know if you are (I hope so) planning to mantain the same rules or even enforce stricter ones. thanks

Please use the Report button to draw moderators' attention to the post that you consider a violation (exclamation mark which can be found in every single post). For game nicknames and game names, please take a screenshot and send it over to support.thehunter.com.

Next problem are the so called "fanboys". Yes, they are there and they like everything here.
Thats okay for me, but please, why in topics that are about things people don't like and wanted to discuss?
If those people would be friendly reminded that they are going offtopic, a LOT of anger and negative words would not have been fallen.

Please report people who derail topics but bear in mind it's not appropriate to call anyone names. "Fanboys", the same as "whiners", is derogatory and posts containing those and similar words will be moderated more strictly from now on. You can express your disagreement with someone's point of view without calling them names.

This kind of seems like plugging your ears or disallowing criticism in all honesty.

Please re-read my post, you seem to have missed my point.

I'd be asking why "EW" is even in the narrative.

Exactly, excellent point! This is a community about the game.

[TundraPuppy]

In fact, knowing that Steam users do tend to be more mainstream and are certainly a different culture than us,

Stereotype much? :o ;)

I've been with Steam 6 years and the vast majority of us are exactly the same "type" you experience here. I have lists of friends across multiple accounts in triple figures built up over the years and the vast majority are clean, clear thinking individuals. Unless of course, you're implying that the vast majority here are NOT clean, clear thinking individuals? :)

Oh, I've been on Steam since June 5, 2004 (I just checked!). I've seen it all :) I do think an argument could be made that these forums are somewhat more mature in general than the Steam community as a whole, simply because this is a niche game which quickly culls impatient players. I would suggest your experience is more because you (like me) tend to be picky about what kind of friends you have. ;)

Granted, we still have some of those players here, but I think the overall ratio is probably a lot lower here.

Really, the point of the post was not saying one community is good, one is bad, it's to emphasize that regardless of what kind of player (immature or mature) who comes here from the Steam community, it's our job to welcome them with patience. We failed at that as a whole, in some parts. The goal is for that to never happen again.

And here's why what Alena is saying NEEDS to be locked down. ZERO tolerance. Already I'm seeing a watering down of what constitutes "inflammatory" by virtue of "nasty" or "brash" when in fact there are some individuals here who are more than polite and more than clever enough to disguise their complaints about the company without raising their voice once. The border has been crossed already SEVERAL time today alone in roughly 10 minutes of reading the forums. It's an insidious poison and it appears only outsiders, the non-aligned, can spot it.

If you see any of these posts, please report them with the exclamation mark icon! We've been working hard at this, but stuff can still slip by.

[Fletchette]

Next problem are the so called "fanboys". Yes, they are there and they like everything here.
Thats okay for me, but please, why in topics that are about things people don't like and wanted to discuss?
If those people would be friendly reminded that they are going offtopic, a LOT of anger and negative words would not have been fallen.

This is a point of view I really don't understand. If there is a discussion about someone not liking something, rabbit hunting for example, then another person comments that they do like rabbit hunting, that is on topic.

If someone posts that they are having a problem or bug or connection issue, and someone else posts that they are not having that problem, that is on topic.

When some says that not being able to harvest an Ibex on a cliff is game-breaking bug, pointing out that it is not bug, but rather a design feature of the game, is on topic.

These are just examples of course, but disagreeing with someone, or the subject of a thread, is not off topic. It is a contrary point of view, and part of a discussion.

You seem to be saying, and you're not alone in this point of view, that only comments that agree with the opinion of the original post should be allowed on a thread. Respectfully, I disagree with that.

[\m/]

I think he is writing about those fanboy-trolls, which (whatever EW has done - good things or kickass things) are fighting for EW until death comes over them. They never see bad things, ever is all superior and fine ...they live in a pink world. Seen a lot of those trolls in the last weeks here in these forum, but i dont care about them ..and i dont discuss with them. Wasted time.

Need a flamer & fanboy thropies section here! ;P

ot: smoking waterpipe mint + lemon, while relaxing with CD: Hail of Bullets - OF FROST AND WAR

..steamacc is from sep 09/2003

[alexmatt]

Hello Alena as French I write you this language (I think you can translate)
I bounced off your words as a new player (21 January 2015)
I am 44 years old and therefore more a pimply teenager and no brains.
I find your remarks simply unacceptable. Although I agree with you in terms of politeness, I think you have still a moral obligation towards the members of the community and theHunter you need to stay in our listening.
We give our money and we are therefore entitled to expect that our game improvement request is taken into effect, even though I know it is not always obvious.
We must respect your work, but you must also respect those who make you work, because without us (5 million subscribers that drop as much as $ 50 per year minimum for you) you are ben largest thing.
The work you do for years is, indeed, remarkable, but either you are able to offer more and more and more, or you are no longer able, or you no longer had the envi or need, in which case you need to be honest with everyone.
Other companies in the past, have had the same attitude you towards subscribers and today it no longer exists and the other more considerate took their place.
You're not safe as other production companies, before the craze theHunter community, take things in hand and you find yourself alone in the world.
You have obligations to respect us as we respect your work, do not promise things that you would not last just to squeeze us some $ be frank and honest about your motivations and limits to change the game, stay in the listening to the community and say simply and frankly if our demands are possible or impossible and specifying why and how (to be honest still times)
But in any case, you can impose such a dictatorship and censorship of community members.
With the greatest respect for your team.
Alexmatt27
France


Bonjour Alena, en tant que Français je vous écrirez en cette langue (je pense que vous pourrez traduire)
Je rebondit sur vos propos en qualité de nouveau joueur (21 janvier 2015)
J'ai 44 ans et donc plus un adolescent boutonneux et sans cervelle.
Je trouve vos propos tout simplement inacceptable. Même si je suis d'accord avec vous en ce qui concerne la politesse, vous avez à mon sens malgré tout une obligation morale envers les membres de la communauté TheHunter et vous vous devez de rester à notre écoute.
Nous vous donnons notre argent et nous sommes donc en droit d'attendre de vous que nos demande d’amélioration du jeu soit prisent en compte, même si je sais que cela n'est pas toujours évident.
Nous devons respecter votre travail, mais vous devez également respecter ceux qui font que vous avez du travail, car sans nous (les 5 millions d'abonnés qui lâchent pas moins de 50$ par an minimum pour vous) ben vous n'êtes plus grand chose.
Le travail que vous faites depuis plusieurs années est, il est vrai, remarquable, mais soit vous êtes en mesure de proposer plus et toujours mieux, soit vous n'en êtes plus capable,ou vous n'en avait plus l'envi ou le besoin, et au quel cas vous vous devez d'être honnête avec tout le monde.
D'autres sociétés dans le passé, ont eu la même attitude que vous envers leurs abonnés, et aujourd'hui elles n'existe plus et d'autre plus attentionné ont pris leur place.
Vous n'êtes pas à l’abri que d'autres sociétés de productions, devant l’engouement de la communauté TheHunter, prennent les choses en mains et que vous vous retrouviez seul au monde.
Vous avez obligation de nous respecter tout comme nous devons respecter votre travail, ne pas promettre des choses que vous ne tiendrais pas juste pour nous soutirer quelques $, être franc et honnête sur vos motivations et vos limite à faire évoluer le jeu, rester à l'écoute de la communauté et nous dire simplement et franchement si nos demandes sont possibles ou impossible et précisant le pourquoi du comment (être honnête encore un fois)
Mais en aucun cas, vous pouvez imposer une tel dictature et censure des membres de la communauté.
Avec le plus grand respect pour toute votre équipe.
Alexmatt27
France

[Alena Rybik]

Hi Alexmatt,

If you would like to talk to me personally, please send me a PM and we discuss it without derailing the thread and turning it into a personal dialogue.

You seem to have misunderstood what my announcement was about, probably the result of the language barrier.

However, let me quickly address some of the points you raised, since I think other people might benefit from the information as well:

1) Keeping the community a polite and nice place has nothing to do with not listening to our players, which we have always done and will do our best to continue doing. I spend at least 1/3 of my working time and a fair share of free time reading the forums and social media and relaying the information, where applicable, onto the developers.

2) I am not sure whether you've read the posts in this thread, but if you did you'd have seen that a lot of people have been feeling the same about the toxic and poisonous atmosphere in the community. Measures needed to be taken to prevent people from losing interest in participating in the community.

3)

I think you have still a moral obligation towards the members of the community and theHunter you need to stay in our listening.

I agree with you in that respect and that is what I intend to continue doing.

4) Dictatorship is a very strong word and I fail to see how you draw such a conclusion from my post. I am sure that if this community indeed turns into a ”dictatorship”, we'll very quickly see the drop in activity and membership base, because participation here is completely voluntarily.