119 replies to this topic

[Apnu]

This is an open letter to Russ Bullock and PGI.

I am a founder, a Phoenix buyer, and random MC purchaser. I have not bought the Clan packs, or clan mechs for c-bills or MC because I'm a stone-cold IS player.

In a word, I am a customer.

I am also a 30 year Battletech veteran. I got into the game when I was living in the Chicago suburbs in the 1980s, I knew low level FASA employees and FASA was just a few miles away from me. I'm a huge BT fan and I'm not even the biggest fan I know. I have a good friend who's deeper into BT than I'll ever be.

Take a look at this thread: "Regarding Reddit" All 62 pages of it. I read through about half of it, I'm also in it quite a bit at the end. Its a lot to slog through I'll admit, and you need fireproof pants to check it out, but its worth that you read through it Russ. Don't question the motivations of the posters, don't even try to understand all of the various points, that's not the point, and its Niko's job to parse the details for you, but do look.

I did, and I had one big take away, which I am going to lay out to you nice and easy.

There's a community of paying players waiting to return to this game.

The passion and the demand has not left this game. Your business motivations for making it remain as solid today as they did when you pitched Microsoft for the IP lease. But there's a fleet of customers withholding purchases just waiting to return.

They want to return, but they are put off by communication breakdowns. It might be confusing to you, but the players feel there's a communication problem. In these situations, perception is reality. Clearly many many many customers perceive a communications issue. Clearing that up will heal many wounds.

Another takeaway I have is nobody is going to forget the past and few will forgive it, but many players, many founders, have signaled in that thread, a willingness to return to the game, and yes, to pay for the game, if communication is improved.

What do I mean by communication?

1) Giving us status updates on the game state and development state.
2) Asking us for feature requests and give us a way to vote those requests up or down for further development attention.
3) Asking us for feedback on the game and features and responding to that feedback.

Its not about 3PV, ECM, 10v12 or Ghost Heat. Its about our relationship -- PGI and the player base. That relationship, and I'm sure you know this already, is the most important thing for us and you're business.

I am not here to beat you up. I am here to give you constructive feed back. You have your reasons for past decisions, what has happened has happened, we can't change the past. You said as much in the Town Hall and I recognized that sentiment many times in the Reddit thread.

You are making changes, I recognize that. And the changes are positive. You said there's more work to do and I believe you are sincere. I'm not going to get into specifics about gameplay and my opinions, but I believe the place that needs the most attention is communication with the player base.

Like it or not, there is an expectation in this community of giving feed back and expecting it to be heard, acknowledged and acted upon. That's the kind of player this game has attracted. This is your customer base.

You mentioned several times in the Town Hall that you wished you could ask players for clarification on what we mean. I'm right here willing to answer any questions you have Russ. PM me, or have one of your staff PM me, and I'll gladly give you my cell number and talk to you any time when I'm not at work. Or to save on a phone bill, we can Skype or Facetime or whatever works best.

Also, you don't have to contact me. I do not expect you will. I'm only making myself available to you, should you want it because I believe in the potential of this game that much. But I am asking you to read through 62 pages of that Reddit thread and recognize the passion for this game is still very strong and start thinking of ways to move that passion to a positive place.

[Dark Jackal]

Apnu, on 11 September 2014 - 12:34 PM, said:

In a word, I am a customer.

Well said and that's the recognition that needs to happen and the language that has to change. The voice of the customer!

There should not be this focus on troll-polemics all day that toss euphemisms for different segments of customers. We're all one way or the other customers whether you spend one dollar or a thousand dollars or have a fancy forum badge or not. We expect a certain amount of things to get done by PGI and there should be no problem expressing that as valued customers especially since PGI wants to branch out and become a free-to-play platform company like SOE Online.

[Stonefalcon]

Well said OP. It is the ongoing support of the customers that keeps a product alive and if you alienate those customers you will have a hard time moving forward.

Customer satisfaction comes to mind here and I think currently that is severely lacking.

[Lefty Lucy]

PGI has to do two things to regain their users' support:

1. Follow through on an in-depth CW by Dec. 21st
2. Fire Niko

[Jez]

PGI needs to act damn fast to calm their former customers down. Whether they recognize it or not, but PGI is entering into an internet war with their (former?) fanbase. It is going to taint every form of social media whenever PGI, MWO, or Transverse is brought up for months to come. Its a huge PR disaster that could undermine any future growth to MWO and could possibly kill Transverse in its cradle.

This is very different from the 3PV, gold mech, etc. upheavels. This time around the former fanbase feels like they've been attacked and are now going out of their way to pick a fight with PGI with 2-3 years of frustration and hundreds of dollars spent per person fueling their rage.

PGI needs to make peace with them fast.

[buttmonkey]

In all honesty I think it's too little too late. They are unwilling to communicate. They proved this by closing any and all threads with even a hint of criticism, and then banning people left, right and centre. It's almost like they don't want to retain their customers.

[Johnny Z]

GET REAL

Troll post been trolled. Troll post is as troll post does, etc.

Edited by Johnny Z, 11 September 2014 - 01:45 PM.

[Riverboat Sam]

Lefty Lucy, on 11 September 2014 - 01:16 PM, said:

2. Fire Niko

There it is, right there.

I'm fairly new to MWO, but have been a player of Mechwarrior titles since the mid 90's. I'm also an executive in the software industry (not the gaming segment), and right there above is the whole story in that line.

There is some very strange social thing that happens to people when they post things on the internet behind a pseudonym. They sometimes loose all sense of balance, manners, and humanity. They literally think they can hurl any sort of communication they like with impunity. Now, Lucy, if you were sitting in a meeting with Phil and Niko, would you honestly say that? Honestly? I can tell you from experience it's much more likely you would say your piece in a much more well mannered way, if you said anything at all.

In the end, words do matter and one must be equally as responsible for what they say as well as what they're willing to listen to. Just because a customer may have a disagreement with the PGI staff that does NOT give them carte blanche to hurl personal insults and attacks. It is just always, always, always counter-productive to do so. I applaud your open letter Apnu, but I also say we as customers have to own up to our full 50% of the responsibility for the atrocious examples of communication I've observed on this forum in just the few months I've been around.

[Bishop Steiner]

Lefty Lucy, on 11 September 2014 - 01:16 PM, said:

PGI has to do two things to regain their users' support:

1. Follow through on an in-depth CW by Dec. 21st
2. Fire Niko

lololololol

Niko gets hired, people rejoice, the "peoples Mod" is in the seat.

Actually does his job, people want his head. Priceless.

[Quicksilver Aberration]

Bishop Steiner, on 11 September 2014 - 01:47 PM, said:

lololololol

Niko gets hired, people rejoice, the "peoples Mod" is in the seat.

Actually does his job, people want his head. Priceless.

Meh, things just haven't been the same without Garth. I saw a lot less ire directed at him than any other mod.

[Bishop Steiner]

WM Quicksilver, on 11 September 2014 - 01:52 PM, said:

Meh, things just haven't been the same without Garth. I saw a lot less ire directed at him than any other mod.

And yet the worst most toxic era of the forums was under his stewardship. In part because Garth cared too much about being liked to jettison certain individuals out the frikking airlock years ago.

It's a shame. I like Garth too. But that doesn't mean he was a good ComMan. Whether or not Niko is remains to be seen. But there is a pretty strong contingent of us who appreciate a certain action I cannot discuss due to CoC. And who can't really make a "counter post", though I made one that essentially was just that, that's at 2 2 pages, 400+ response and over 12,000 views with mostly positive responses. (138 unique posters, thx for telling me about that McGral18)

*Shrugs*

Edited by Bishop Steiner, 11 September 2014 - 01:59 PM.

[Tristan Winter]

Jez, on 11 September 2014 - 01:33 PM, said:

PGI needs to act damn fast to calm their former customers down. Whether they recognize it or not, but PGI is entering into an internet war with their (former?) fanbase. It is going to taint every form of social media whenever PGI, MWO, or Transverse is brought up for months to come. Its a huge PR disaster that could undermine any future growth to MWO and could possibly kill Transverse in its cradle.
This is very different from the 3PV, gold mech, etc. upheavels. This time around the former fanbase feels like they've been attacked and are now going out of their way to pick a fight with PGI with 2-3 years of frustration and hundreds of dollars spent per person fueling their rage.
PGI needs to make peace with them fast.

I don't agree at all with the flame wars and the people who are out to get revenge. But I do agree that PGI needs to address the problem. Sticking their head in the sand won't make it go away, I think.

[headclot]

I do not see this as unreasonable

[Lefty Lucy]

Bishop Steiner, on 11 September 2014 - 01:47 PM, said:

lololololol

Niko gets hired, people rejoice, the "peoples Mod" is in the seat.

Actually does his job, people want his head. Priceless.

Eh, for better or worse Niko was in charge of the Reddit debacle, which has pretty thoroughly tainted PGI's brand.

[wanderer]

Quote

Niko gets hired, people rejoice, the "peoples Mod" is in the seat.

Actually does his job, people want his head. Priceless.

Reddit's r/Transverse was not doing his job. Getting the entire PGI contingent banned from what they'd been using as a major connection to the playerbase was not doing his job, either.

Blaming Goons for ruining everything was definitely not doing his job.

Holding PGI employees accountable for actions damaging to the MechWarrior franchise is OUR job.

[Bishop Steiner]

Lefty Lucy, on 11 September 2014 - 02:13 PM, said:

Eh, for better or worse Niko was in charge of the Reddit debacle, which has pretty thoroughly tainted PGI's brand.

In charge of, or tasked with?

And while I agree it was...less than well handled, *shrug* big whoop. Can't say I see it as quite a Roger Goodell level pooch screwing.

[Alexandrix]

best of luck.
They don't give a crap what any of you/us think.You/we are not their target audience anymore and we are on an island.

Be sure to grab your clan reinforcement packs tho! only $120! what a steal!

Edited by Alexandrix, 11 September 2014 - 02:47 PM.

[Bront]

Bishop Steiner, on 11 September 2014 - 01:47 PM, said:

lololololol

Niko gets hired, people rejoice, the "peoples Mod" is in the seat.

Actually does his job, people want his head. Priceless.

Folks expect perfection, and want the ultimate punishment for failure of any kind apparently.

Folks used to love Nico. Looks like he screwed up, but that screw up effects Transverse more than MWO from what I can tell. Heaven forbid, I ever screw up in my job.

[IllCaesar]

Phoenix backer here, and I'm not waiting to come back to this game. I'm still here.

However, I am waiting to spend money on this game again. Its not going to be hard, really. I just want two things, really.

1. Community warfare on track to being delivered. I don't need it tomorrow, I just want to be playing it by the end of this year. Even if it needs some more polish, has balance issues, etc, I'll understand that its not perfect, and I'll be happy if its out and if you guys are working towards getting into tip-top shape.

2. Better relationship between PGI and the community. I haven't been personally slighted by Niko, as I've been absent for most of his tenure. I didn't invest in this game in 2012 and be told that CW is coming in the next three months for a period of two years. I don't really feel slighted in particular, but the very slow rate at which the game has developed is frustrating, when all I want to see is the game take off. Let us know more of what really is going on, how things are really progressing, listen to the extremely well written ideas posted all over the forum and let us know what you think, and don't pretend that things are all peachy when they're really not. You worked on a project in secret for nine months while CW was still in need of development, and then you really expected it to be met with applause rather than any sort of anger? I don't want anybody fired or publically caned, I just want to see a healthier relationship, one with a little more respect, both ways, and a lot of that is earned by not censoring dissent, by not being a jerk on Twitter, by dropping in public matches and just enjoying the game with other players.

Really, the Town Hall just made me seriously consider spending money on the game again, first time in a year. I'm not going to invest any more in MWO if I don't think I'll be playing it in three months, in six months. Just give me a product, don't be hostile on the forums towards users, and I'll pay accordingally.

Edited by MarsAtlas, 11 September 2014 - 02:31 PM.

[Khobai]

I think its pretty clear TRANS|VERSE isnt going to pan out.

So can we please have our Aerotech game now? I would seriously pledge money for an Aerotech game, even if its only as rudimentary as MWO, and only ties into MWO at the meta/community warfare level.