Soy, on 15 April 2015 - 09:23 AM, said:
Then explain to me why I pointed out that the Nova quirks in recent change were bad and that someone should be fired, then Mike PM's me ten mins later. They literally do listen to people who freak the **** out. I wasn't even freaking, I just straight up said "this pidgeonholes the mech, good job on being stupid" and got instant response.
There's proof right there that people who talk loudly, constantly, compellingly, get attention. And the irony is that I don't really care, I just went off-the-cuff for an honest take on the change and then, only then, did I have a 1 on 1 convo with someone dealing with these things, taking into consideration what I had to say in private without dropping insults in it.
Just something to simmer on.
PS - also explain to me why PGI came to DV8 asking us for feedback on gauss charge as an idea before it was in game, even though we were 100% ***holes.
PPS - got unsuspended on this forum account only 4 hours ago, more to think about
To seriously answer your questions, this is what I figure.
I think the relationship between PGI and the players got pretty corrosive. I think it became corrosive because 1) IGP was a bad publisher and held PGI back, and 2)
GIFT. I think the players back then were pretty flippant to PGI but PGI made a decision to deal with the flippant behavior and start working with it after the IGP split. A lot of game companies don't, and I think PGI is pretty brave and awesome for reaching to to more corrosive elements and trying to win them back. Sadly this has the negative effect of affirming that corrosive flippant butthurt works. So players think this is how to communicate with PGI and they continue being snarky d-bags.
Although every time I've seen PGI reach out to d-bags the d-bags suddenly become nice happy kittens when dealing with PGI. More on this in a bit.
None of which says this behavior is OK, or that PGI likes it. More like they put up with it.
I'm of the Wil Wheaton school here: Don't be a d*ck. So I endeavor to not be a d*ck about things. I've critiqued PGI many times on these forums, in bug postings, on twitter and DMs. When I directly contact them, respectfully, politely, professionally, they have always responded quickly, respectfully, and with a reasonable solution/resolution. I've gotten more miles down the road with PGI using honey that I have with salt. There's never been a threat of suspension, never even a hint of such a thing. You really have to screw up around here to get suspended. Its not like the EULA is complicated or unusual here.
What I'm talking about is simple human hacking. Being a d-bag demotivates people and makes things harder for everybody to get what they want. Being polite and respectful motivates other people to do what you want so you get what you want. Its a trick penetration testers use all the time, its Social Engineering 101 and it still works as well today as it did in the 1970s. How do you think John Draper (Captain Crunch) was so successful at phone phreaking? It wasn't just his whistle.
Case in point Comcast. I had some problems with Comcast, they're customer service is legendary in its d*ckish nature. I got on the phone with them, and by not being a d*ck I was able to get 100% of what I wanted (a cheaper bill and better service) with out losing a single thing. The CSR actually thanked me for not being an a**hole.
But the way a lot of people talk around here, I must be on an Island about this. Of course on this island I'm joined by PGI because they've been killing the community with kindness since the IGP split and its working. Again, proving Wil Wheaton right: Don't be a d*ck.
So I'm going to stand by my statement. There's a right way to b*tch and a wrong way to b*tch. Doing it the wrong way might get what you want, but doing it the right way will get more of what you want and take less time and take less energy.