Forum Compared To Discord

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  • HoundofShadow
    HoundofShadow Posts: 8,004 Chairperson of the Boards
    I link discord with informal and casual atmosphere, whereas this forum is formal and replies by the devs are scrutinized, as proven by some incidents that happened this year.

    I think/feel, after posting in this forum for a year,  this sub-forum tilts on the scale of negativity. 

     Generally speaking, the impression I get is that the general characteristics found in this sub-forum are:

    1. "Give me what I want immediately" or "the devs are not giving me what I want fast enough", 
    2. Perfectionist: "I can do a better job than the devs" or "I'll never make the kind of mistake(s) the devs made or I'll never make any mistake at all when executing X event.
    3. "Give me all information, future information, thought process of why certain decisions are made. If not, there is a lack of communication."
    4. "Balancing" usually means removing all the negatives associated with an event or characters, and adding only more positive to them. If any "negative" are added along with the "positive, you can bet that the devs will receive backlash.

    I think some need to accept these realities: 

    1) The devs will never be able to satisfy all players whenever they make a decision. Remember that just because you didn't ask for certain things to happen, it doesn't mean no other players asked for it to happen. 

    2) Sarcastic replies don't make any situation better, it only make things worse. Sarcastic replies are not respectful replies.

    3) The devs can't reveal everything or reveal everything in advance due to a. contractual reason(s) with Disney/Marvel or other parties b. unexpected events popping up; thus causing delay to pre-planned events.

    4) In previous changes like Saved Covers,  Gambit re-balances, pack odds, I do see the devs doing a mini faq and pop-in once in a while to answer some of the common questions asked and them explaining their rationale for certain decisions. However, the devs' replies don't seem to satisfy some enough and some demand more replies.

    I would love to have the devs coming here frequently to answer some of the questions posted here, but I also understand that they are facing certain constraints. I believe that if the devs are able to squeeze in some time to post in this forums or to answer some questions, they will do so, as proven in the mid-year FAQs replies and replies scattered around in some topics. 


  • sinnerjfl
    sinnerjfl Posts: 1,275 Chairperson of the Boards
    edited November 2018
    HoundofShadow said:


    2) Sarcastic replies don't make any situation better, it only make things worse. Sarcastic replies are not respectful replies.


    Sometimes I think the devs do not respect us as players so what do you except is gonna happen? Yes, people will be sarcastic because we're not swallowing whatever were being fed as easily anymore.

    Seriously, I can recall several incidents that happened here and there was no other possible answer than sarcasm
    (i.e. the infamous You're supposed to lose! comment)

    If they explained things better, did not use doublespeak to justify decisions and changes, maybe we'd be more willing to tone down the sass. We're not solely to blame for the way things are.


    (and I am not blaming Brigby here, he has been a massive improvement for communication and does an excellent job).
  • Moon Roach
    Moon Roach Posts: 2,863 Chairperson of the Boards
    Sometimes this place reminds me of the Monty Python sketch that starts "Is this the right room for an argument".
    Michael Palin wants a reasoned discourse, and accidentally goes into the room for abuse instead.
  • Dormammu
    Dormammu Posts: 3,531 Chairperson of the Boards
    I think of this place as a player forum. It's ours. It's where we come to share our ideas, thoughts, insights, and strategies for Marvel Puzzle Quest. Because of that view I've never expected developer involvement and I'm often puzzled when people here expect it. Yes, we get announcements on new features and events but even that's done through a proxy. Yes, there are forum moderators but they are players just like you and me. If a developer does happen to show up on the forums it's usually because there's something interesting going on or being said, but they've never had a strong presence among the conversations here and I've never expected them to.

    This is our house.

    I've also never had a problem with the negativity here. While I try to remain positive and helpful (dwelling more in the strategy threads), if there's an aspect of the game that I don't like I'm going to speak my mind on that as well. But that's just to vent and share with my fellow players. If its something I want the developers to hear I put it in the Suggestions and Feedback section where it belongs. And while I don't expect a response when I offer my feedback, there have been times when a response has come from Bigby letting me know the developers are hearing our voices.

    I disagree that these forums are toxic. While there are individuals here who can be a bit caustic and overly sarcastic, overall I find the people here passionate, helpful, and entertaining. There's always going to be one or two people who are jack-**** but that's life on the interwebs - you can't escape it. They're easy for me to ignore. But criticism does not = toxic. Criticism is just criticism and if we want to criticize the game on the forums, so be it. It's our house, we'll say what we want to say (within the boundaries of the forum's rules, of course).

    As for Discord, I don't even know what that is and don't care enough to figure it out.   
  • DAZ0273
    DAZ0273 Posts: 10,283 Chairperson of the Boards
    I like the forums. I don't really expect the Dev's to have a constant presence here but as the actual official place to chat about MPQ then I can understand why some do.

    I feel there are posters here who do tend to be negative, both towards the Dev's and to other players. There are stereotypes propogated about other players and a tendency by some posters to lump other posters together and attribute negative qualities to their activity on this board, sometimes just down to how long they have played.

    However I don't think players really cross the line very often and flame wars if they do happen are pretty mild. This is one of the milder forum experiences I've had. Then again, I was the former moderator at the joequesada.com boards when anarchy reigned and the first job I had when appointed was to explain to the board why it wasn't OK to post explicit pornographic pictures and call each other's mothers bad names.Talk about off topic! Then I had to go to the (why, Joe, WHY?!!?) politics forum...

    Discord is OK, it is quite hard to follow the conversation there and it is punctuated by a lot of insular banter. Nothing wrong with that obviously it is live but it is also clearly a forum where long time members thrive and dominate the tone. Discord being live has positives also - for instance, even though I'm not playing MPQ I know the game was down about an hour ago. Thanks Discord!

    So, uhm, what about that Prowler, eh?
  • Dormammu
    Dormammu Posts: 3,531 Chairperson of the Boards
    edited November 2018
    Spudgutter said:
    Those that say they don't expect communication from the devs obviously weren't here or know that we used to get frequent communications, videos, etc.  The reason some of us vets ask for and are disappointed by the lack thereof, is due to we know it used to be different, and better.  No offense to brigby, and maybe i am a little too old school, but i find it super disrespectful that any development team would spend more time on a fan run chat app with a few hundred people, versus the presumably thousands more that would appreciate the presence on the *official* forums, regardless of the pros and cons of each.  
    I think you make a strong point, @Spudgutter. I'm someone that has been here from the beginning and do remember the developer involvement, even though I also say I don't expect it. It's been a long time (years) since we've seen anything regular from them on the forums. Their interest, for whatever reason, isn't here anymore and I'm cool with that.

    But I certainly understand and even agree with what you posted. Well said.

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