Jason's Comments on Today

[Jason_Williams]

Everyone,

 

First, let me state that the comments posted earlier today did not come through me or have my approval. Loft is not the only board member or owner in this company. The english speaking forum is my area of responsibility and I don't appreciate such controversial comments from anyone on the team being posted while I am sleeping with no idea of what is being posted or having a chance to respond.

 

Second, I don't know what Loft had for lunch yesterday, but he clearly was in a bad mood and normally does not speak like that in our meetings. Clearly he was frustrated and I know how that feels cause I have been there many times. What he does is not an easy job, but he is a great producer and the quality of our products speak for themselves. However, he is not the best communicator, at least not in english. Also, there are deep cultural differences between Russians and Westerners. This has affected me at my job many, many times and we have had to find ways to overcome it. Usually we do and our products have been the better for it. Loft's blunt comments should not have left the office. 

 

Our official policy about user reviews is posted here. Nothing has changed since the ROF days. We do feel that due to the "wild west" nature of the internet it is important for us to ask users to post well-reasoned, polite reviews of our products. There are people on the net who do go out of their way to hurt companies for no legitimate reason. We have been the victims of this several times since we began 5 years ago and whenever we see this kind of activity we try to push back a little. As has been seen in the media lately the gaming press can be corrupted aka "gamergate" and their public areas can be manipulated by folks with agendas. We also know how hard it is to get coverage in mainstream publications and websites without large marketing teams. So, I think Loft's frustration probably comes from that perspective. I know I feel frustrated that way too sometimes. I can't totally speak for Loft, but that is my guess. Further comments on the forum about what was said will be deleted. There is nothing more to say about it. Neither Loft's comments nor critiques of it further the health of this hobby.

 

We have tried to be very communicative about this product and we have over 80 blog posts as a testament to that commitment, several live streams and hundreds of posts from the team in the forums answering questions and engaging with users both on the western side and eastern side. However, the last few blog posts have drawn the ire of a size-able chunk of the community and there have been many comments about the design decisions that have been made. We see it and we hear you. There is no need to continue to blast us over and over again. This only leads to fights and personal insults on the forums which we do not like. When that happens we need to moderate and that also drives negativity, but the key is held by our forum users. Keep it polite and civil and everything will be fine. Calling the team names and launching ad hominem attacks only causes threads and comments to be locked or deleted. That won't change unless the mood changes to a more reasoned one.

 

Also, I still do not understand to this day the craziness this genre generates. I have been a simmer for over 20 years and worked in this industry on the hardware, distribution and development sides of things for over a decade. The passion, anger, rawness and sensitivity of the market and the developers is beyond anything I have ever seen. I used to think I had a handle on what users wanted and how they would react to things, but I am at a loss now. I have made many friends in this genre over the years, but I have also lost friends because of this hobby and it's maddening and I'm tired it. We are supposed to be adults in the genre, not angry kids. I'm guilty of not always being my best either, but for everyone's sake the bickering, attacking and constant melodramatic nonsense needs to stop or this genre will definitely die.  

 

Finally, I understand there are those who legitimately want to voice their opinion on things they like and don't like. That is perfectly fine and we have always made changes to our products based on customer feedback. We can't make every change or suggestion someone wants, but we do listen. To help facilitate that I have opened a NEW thread in the Poll section where you can speak on the Campaign system etc. This is where all discussion about the like or dislike of the Campaign will go for now. Comments on this topic in other sections will be moved here, We need one place so we can see everyone's opinion. Please participate in the poll and leave a polite comment if you wish. The same rules will apply as far as forum rules and civility goes, but if you keep it civil your comments will remain. 

 

I know there is a previous poll on this topic, but the poll question was not setup in a way that we can use so I have started a new one. I will lock the old poll thread, but leave it visible.

 

Thank you to all that are participating in our Early Access period and let's try to get past these last couple weeks and find enjoyment in this hobby we all love.

 

Jason