Rather bad PR

[FrostDMG 398]

Sorry to say this guys, but I cannot be the only one that thinks there is not enough communication between the devs and us.

Yes there is Twitter, but it gets updated so rarely that you often find out about something after the fact.

For example, yesterday the predicted server outage (forums/website) was for 5 hours, however it lasted over 8 hours. Now I would be perfectly happy if the devs cared to get on Twitter at around the 5 hour mark and just say something along the lines of "listen guys, we've been having more more issues than expected, servers will be down for another couple of hours". I would have been perfectly fine with that instead of the complete silence and the sense of being left in the dark - our group was guessing whether the servers were being DDOS'd or there was another issue altogether. We were also having issues getting on any server yesterday - and especially after the 1.7.2 dropped, with very limited info from devs we were finding it hard to figure out what was going on and I am sure we were not the only ones.

Now let me make it very clear that I am very aware this is ALPHA and shit happens. However I do feel like the devs should make a little bit of an effort to at least keep the community somewhat informed as to the current events.

Thanks for reading this thread, I am aware this is perhaps not the ideal forum section, however I would ask mods not to move this thread since this is the most viewed section of the forum and I would like to get some opinions for the fellow members as to their feeling on this issue.

[ZedsDeadBaby 2287]

Yes. They should hire a communications specialist and a community manager with all that money nobody is paying them.

How about "Thanks for the opportunity to play the Alpha and participate in the discussion of future features."

How about "Thanks for a lead developer and designer who has posted in the forums over 1,200 times explaining the game and his plans for it."

How about that?

You entitled little shitsnack.

[i have been warned for this post - Ubi]

Edited July 11, 2012 by UbiquitousBadGuy

[Ankhenaten 111]

First one to mention alpha and kill the thread... ;)

[The Poacher 31]

Yes. They should hire a communications specialist and a community manager with all that money nobody is paying them.

I agree. And they should also add on a QA Lead with some QA assistants, way too many bugs!!!

[Nyz 42]

Why don't you volunteer your typing skill for free to this free mod?

[LumberBack 43]

Yes. They should hire a communications specialist and a community manager with all that money nobody is paying them.

How about "Thanks for the opportunity to play the Alpha and participate in the discussion of future features."

How about "Thanks for a lead developer and designer who has posted in the forums over 1,200 times explaining the game and his plans for it."

How about that?

You entitled little shitsnack.

you sure are a joyfull character, always with them nice and sweet replies...

[Nadasdy 1]

I love how everyone uses the excuse they are not getting paid, So they arnt working for BI? The company they said moved some of them from Arma3 to Dayz fulltime. They arnt making a regular salary? Yea rocket didnt just move to the same place where BI studios are. Even if they are only making their base salary your nuts if you think they arnt getting any bonus' from all thats going on now.

[Vipeax 318]

Nadasdy, please don't try to convince others what you have absolutely no clue about. Spreading false info isn't going to help. Yesterday was a really special occasion, I wouldn't worry too much about it.

[FrostDMG 398]

I am not sure why everyone's raging at my post.

I did not say at any point that a PR manager should be hired, however the devs could push updates just from their phones.

I know they are running on tight/no budget but I did not deserve the amount of abuse I received seriously

[ZedsDeadBaby 2287]

I wouldn't call it rage.

Just exasperation.

I have never seen a development team so involved in the community. Not in 25 years playing games across every platform and genre known to man.

At most you get some slack-wit office jockey posting in the forums saying "Oh, maybe I'll talk to the guys who actually do work" and nothing ever comes of it.

Meanwhile with DayZ, a free mod, the developers themselves are in here every day answering questions, posting updates, communicating information, explaining their plans for the game, responding to suggestions in the suggestions forum and posting their own. The lead designer more than any of them...

And what they get in return is mostly vitriol. Complaints about updates, complaints about bugs and complaints about the fact that a handful of underpaid, overworked guys can't somehow manage do the job of 250 people.

Edited July 11, 2012 by ZedsDeadBaby

[Electrolyte 4]

I agree with OP in that any game or mod with 100k+ active users needs as much communication as possible to appease the masses. But, I think it's a bit shortsighted to say that the devs aren't communicating with the community on various topics, and incendiary threads like this will only encourage fanboy-ism and flaming. Perhaps suggesting a better way of communicating under certain circumstances would be more helpful to our dedicated DayZ team.

Example:

Forum Devtracker - link to all dev posts sorted by date

Server status webpage which displays any known issues with the database

etc.

I wouldn't designate responding for forum complaints as a fun job any more than fixing the database or other server issues, but the latter has to take priority or the former will serve no purpose.

Edited July 11, 2012 by Electrolyte

[Dingus (DayZ) 429]