R.I.P MPQ Forum 10/2013-8/2020

Colognoisseur

In a sudden and drastic turn the forum for the popular mobile game Marvel Puzzle Quest passed away this month. In its adolescence it was a popular resource for players to learn from each other. It also featured a regular presence from the developers behind the game who seemed to enjoy teasing new parts of the game. At its peak there were thousands of players interacting.

In recent years as it has aged signs of decrepitude have begun to accumulate at an alarming rate. When given a memory test the forum couldn't remember the simple five words of, "communicate, customer, fun, information, question". At the time it seemed the end was approaching.

This month the forum just died. No information about upcoming events or characters. In its dying throes it was heard to say something that sounded like Sentinels or maybe Sneak Peek. It was in such a weakened state it was better to allow it to slip away quietly.

The family has asked in lieu of flowers to spare a kind thought for what the forum used to be and not to remember it in its final sad days.

DyingLegend

I'll send a fruit basket to HQ

Theghouse

Their absence is almost as if there's a toxic environment of continuous negativity towards the devs that would make them want to actively avoid on the forums....

Oh wait.

Tinykitty.

Daredevil217

You know... it feels like I’ve gone to too many of these things. 

https://forums.d3go.com/discussion/80378/bonus-heroes-a-celebration-of-life/p1

When will the killing stop?!

Michael1957

The forum has basically become the complaint department over the past few years , it should be called the Nag and Rag, or Opine and Whine . 

Vhailorx

Michael1957 said:

The forum has basically become the complaint department over the past few years , it should be called the Nag and Rag, or Opine and Whine . 

No, it has always been like this.  And would go further and say that forums are basically ALWAYS like this, no matter how often people say "this forum is so negative nowadays!  The forum for X game is so much nicer."

HoundofShadow

Sure, game forums are usually filled with complains. However, the differences lie in the level or degree of negativity. I put here as 80-90% negativity. Over in MPQ Reddit, I put it as 60% to 70%. At least, there are more players over there who have a more realistic view of what's possible and what's not, compared to here.

Dormammu

I have always had such a different opinion about this forum. I've never looked here for game announcements and developer interaction. They announce the major stuff and things that might not be obvious in-game, which is good enough for me. If the developers don't want to interact on this level with the players, so be it. That's par for the course with most games/developers and their forums. I'm told that entries into the Suggestions & Feedback section are looked at and I believe it - suggestions made here have made it into the game. Beyond that, I expect nothing more.

One can argue promises have been made by the development team to communicate here that they have failed to live up to, but I don't really care. Promises are broken every day. I have bigger problems than worrying about what D3 is doing.

No, I think this forum belongs to us. The players. This is where we can come to interact with one another about the game we are so passionate about. We create the discussions, we moderate the discussions, and we dominate the discussions. If this forum is dying, it's because the players are walking away from it. That shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. This is a 7 year-old mobile game, after all. It's not going to last forever and we're likely on the down slope of its lifespan.

TPF Alexis

Vhailorx said:

Michael1957 said:

The forum has basically become the complaint department over the past few years , it should be called the Nag and Rag, or Opine and Whine . 

No, it has always been like this.  And would go further and say that forums are basically ALWAYS like this, no matter how often people say "this forum is so negative nowadays!  The forum for X game is so much nicer."

Honestly, this is one of the nicer forums for games I play. Some of them are almost completely unmoderated, and have devolved into cesspits of swearing and personal attacks. And, like Dormammu said, we, the player base, have done some really great things here, regardless of the support (or lack thereof) from the company.

DAZ0273

My dictionary must be out of date coz I keep seeing this word "toxic" and this forum being put together, not only here but in past threads also and the definitions don't line up for me.

I used to moderate a web site back in the 2000's and on the day I was asked to do so the main forum had several threads that had pornagraphic images in them, posters had called several creators involved many many bad names (and also their spouses very bad names too), there was a thread about what the size of members members were, etc etc. And just for the cherry on top - the owner decided to make a separate forum called "Politics". It didn't go well. Oh and there was this guy who was always posting drunk and ranting about things - he was kind'a funny though - he once mispelled Spider-Man as Sapi-Uderman - I can't to this day not think about it and chuckle when I see Spidey! I actually ended up meeting him in real life and typically of course he was quiet and really polite!

Anyway - I came here for the information when I started playing, lurked because lurking is a thing, joined in for the often fun interaction and if things get a little sassy now and then, well a little bit of sassy never burned down any houses!

Jexy

I was looking at the reviews in the app store & in response to a negative comment about the developers' lack of interest in the game, the "developer response" said "the developers are active on the game's forum" and I lolled

Michael1957

DAZ0273 said:

My dictionary must be out of date coz I keep seeing this word "toxic" and this forum being put together, not only here but in past threads also and the definitions don't line up for me.

I used to moderate a web site back in the 2000's and on the day I was asked to do so the main forum had several threads that had pornagraphic images in them, posters had called several creators involved many many bad names (and also their spouses very bad names too), there was a thread about what the size of members members were, etc etc. And just for the cherry on top - the owner decided to make a separate forum called "Politics". It didn't go well. Oh and there was this guy who was always posting drunk and ranting about things - he was kind'a funny though - he once mispelled Spider-Man as Sapi-Uderman - I can't to this day not think about it and chuckle when I see Spidey! I actually ended up meeting him in real life and typically of course he was quiet and really polite!

Anyway - I came here for the information when I started playing, lurked because lurking is a thing, joined in for the often fun interaction and if things get a little sassy now and then, well a little bit of sassy never burned down any houses!

Well, at least they didn’t mention anyone’s mother , it could have been worse 

DAZ0273

Michael1957 said:

DAZ0273 said:

My dictionary must be out of date coz I keep seeing this word "toxic" and this forum being put together, not only here but in past threads also and the definitions don't line up for me.

I used to moderate a web site back in the 2000's and on the day I was asked to do so the main forum had several threads that had pornagraphic images in them, posters had called several creators involved many many bad names (and also their spouses very bad names too), there was a thread about what the size of members members were, etc etc. And just for the cherry on top - the owner decided to make a separate forum called "Politics". It didn't go well. Oh and there was this guy who was always posting drunk and ranting about things - he was kind'a funny though - he once mispelled Spider-Man as Sapi-Uderman - I can't to this day not think about it and chuckle when I see Spidey! I actually ended up meeting him in real life and typically of course he was quiet and really polite!

Anyway - I came here for the information when I started playing, lurked because lurking is a thing, joined in for the often fun interaction and if things get a little sassy now and then, well a little bit of sassy never burned down any houses!

Well, at least they didn’t mention anyone’s mother , it could have been worse 

Yeah, nobody sank that low...

DeNappa

IMO this sentiment is a direct result of their firing / discontinuing the position of community manager in february.

DAZ0273

DeNappa said:

IMO this sentiment is a direct result of their firing / discontinuing the position of community manager in february.

The loss of Brigby had a big effect. Even if he often couldn't answer a question because it was technical or he had no authority to do so, he at least tried to be helpful. I think the Forum might have been a bit harder on him sometimes than was necessary - although it was done hopefully not in mean spririts it was bit unfair to call him things like the "Town Crier". Part of his job was to spin MPQ possitively so he wasn't going to be 100% player side based.He was also I felt more approachable than David (Hi Fi) Moore but possibly I just had less experience with David.

jp1

Theghouse said:

Their absence is almost as if there's a toxic environment of continuous negativity towards the devs that would make them want to actively avoid on the forums....

Oh wait.

Tinykitty.

Yeah, any time I have to deal with a difficult client at work due to their dissatisfaction with our services I’ll run to the nearest closet and hide until they leave from frustration. 

#professionalservicegoals

Seriously though, I can’t fathom this meeting.

”So, it seems you have completely shirked your responsibilities on the official forum, could you tell me why?”

”Of course, you see, the folks there are too negative for me. I was planning to return as soon as enough veteran whales leave the game and to F2P crowd who loves us is all that’s left.”

”That’s a brilliant plan gent, continue!”

I am 100 percent in the wrong field. Any behavior like this would have immediate ramifications for me, my team, or my peers. Don’t even get me started on the way it stinks of entitlement if that is indeed their reasoning.

Theghouse

jp1 said:

Theghouse said:

Their absence is almost as if there's a toxic environment of continuous negativity towards the devs that would make them want to actively avoid on the forums....

Oh wait.

Tinykitty.

Yeah, any time I have to deal with a difficult client at work due to their dissatisfaction with our services I’ll run to the nearest closet and hide until they leave from frustration. 

#professionalservicegoals

Seriously though, I can’t fathom this meeting.

”So, it seems you have completely shirked your responsibilities on the official forum, could you tell me why?”

”Of course, you see, the folks there are too negative for me. I was planning to return as soon as enough veteran whales leave the game and to F2P crowd who loves us is all that’s left.”

”That’s a brilliant plan gent, continue!”

I am 100 percent in the wrong field. Any behavior like this would have immediate ramifications for me, my team, or my peers. Don’t even get me started on the way it stinks of entitlement if that is indeed their reasoning.

A post like this assumes that there is, in somebody's job description, "official forum responsibilities".  As another poster mentioned the person who had those responsibilities tied to their job description, Brigby, is no longer a part of their team.

The truth is that we have become used to a certain level of dev involvement. We have been spoiled.

It is the community who "stinks of entitlement" in this unfortunate relationship.  Can you imagine someone thinking their own personal issues are so important to the development of this game that they tag game developers in conversations fully expecting a personal response?  And then bad mouthing them if they don't get a response, or sometimes even if they do? There is a place for direct contact with the developers of the game and it is not the forums, it is the support contact.

Many of the threads that the devs are "responsible for" started out as community managed projects, like new character pages.  Many of the other threads are just repeated information that is visible in the game itself.  The sneak peek threads were great information before we would get it in the game.  I did enjoy those threads and am sad to not see them getting updated.  But nobody here is entitled to a direct reply from a developer on their forum posts.  We're not entitled to early information posted here on the forum before it goes live in game, even if we have been lucky enough to get a lot of it in the past.

But as other posters have said, it is us, the community, who is responsible for the environment created here on the forums.  And maybe if we can create an environment that doesn't just constantly bad mouth and call out the devs, maybe they would elect to be more active because they want to be.

Daredevil217

HoundofShadow said:

Sure, game forums are usually filled with complains. However, the differences lie in the level or degree of negativity. I put here as 80-90% negativity. Over in MPQ Reddit, I put it as 60% to 70%. At least, there are more players over there who have a more realistic view of what's possible and what's not, compared to here.

I’m sorry, but that’s the customer service game. Dealing with jaded/negative and even demanding/toxic customers is part of what you sign up for. In my opinion we have mostly the former but not the latter. Sure we have had a few toxic posts/rants but I could also just look at the white knight posts (which we’ve had far more of) and say “clearly this site is 80% supportive of the developers and everything they do. But that’s not reflective of reality. 

The reality here is that the fan base here is passionate, and many of us care about this game probably more than the people who make it. The amount of hours you log into the game? The amount of pages I wrote for my 5* ranking guide (I have a terminal degree and can count a handful of times I wrote that much for one paper)? We are clearly invested in the game. 

Negativity and toxicity are not the same thing. The developers should seek out all feedback both positive and negative. Because if people don’t like something they are less apt to play (look at that... numbers have been dropping) and therefore spend. Taking your ball and going home because of hurt feelings is super unprofessional in my opinion, and defending lack of communication because “the forum is too mean” is just crazy when I think about what customer service entails. Once it becomes, toxic, disrespectful, harmful, etc. then you take action. But that’s what we have mods and flag buttons for. And I’ve rarely seen them needed when it comes to developer interactions. Because while snarky, sarcastic, etc. we’re not out of line. If this place is more negative than it used to be it might be because of changes to the game... you know, the stuff they’re doing? Maybe. 

And before you say “players (TM) don’t like trade offs!... well when we keep getting 60 cents on the dollar and would rather just have the dollar back than to do the trade at all, that seems very reasonable for people to react the way they do. 

Punisher5784

I'm here for the funeral.. We haven't spoken in over a year, but the MPQ Forum will be missed. R.I.P.

jp1

It’s hard to be “entitled” when you are the person dishing money out. Not so much when you are on the receiving end.

I’m not making any assumptions about you, but it seems more often than not it is the F2P folks who are in the threads talking about entitled players and how misunderstood the poor dev team is. Meanwhile, it is us, not the devs, and certainly not the F2P crowd that is responsible for the games continued life. They don’t keep it going as a charity...it’s a business, as a business with paying customers you have certain responsibilities. I’d argue that communication is the bare minimum of those.

Just my 2 cents. No offense to any F2P folks the game would be mighty boring without you as well.

Support doesn’t deal with feedback or communication about changes, they have canned responses and you could be certain that feedback isn’t going past the person you are chatting with.

HoundofShadow

Many passionate ones have trouble accepting rejection or answers that they don't want to hear. For example, when the dev said they felt they were releasing feeders too fast last year, how did people respond? "Feeders are dead. The developers are out of touch." 

Secondly, they expect the dev to do things a certain way, before a certain timing, and in a specific manner. Apart from these, they judge how well the dev are doing their jobs based on their personal preferences and biases as a measuring stick.  When the dev doesn't live up to their expectations, insert <negative words>. Ask yourself, how many people here actually put themselves in the shoes of them, instead of the typical knee-jerk reactions of demeaning them. 

There's a big difference between listening to feedbacks and giving in to demands.

When someone is genuinely giving feedbacks, they hope they will be read and be helpful to the other party. When their feedbacks aren't implemented, they aren't going to kick up a big fuss and start threatening the other party or start demonising them.

What usually happens here is, when "feedbacks" are given, the dev are expected to implement them. If not, they will start demonising or insulting them. 

Tradeoffs are subjective. People need to understand that when major tradeoffs are made for the entire playerbase, or the majority, some will win, and some will lose. It's part and parcel of life. It's impossible that everyone will be satisified.