In your experience, what factors typically tend to dissuade or discourage game developers and companies from more open communication with players? Is this something playerbases in favour of communication can help to remedy?
There are - by far - three concerns that keep developers from communicating with players.
One is fear of saying something wrong. This could be accidentally leaking something or saying something that comes across as an insult. There ultimately isn't any real fix for this problem except experience. You can ask a coworker to proofread, but if the communication has to go through too many levels of editing and approval, then it's inefficient at really having a discussion with players.
Second is the fear of getting sucked into an endless conversation. This happens on forums and Reddit easily. Players are interested in having debates and asking additional questions, so a developer post that is intended to be quick and dirty ends up going back and forth and suddenly it's 2 AM, but if you try and pull out, you risk sending the message that you lost interest or don't care. This isn't as big an issue as the others.
The third is that it takes very thick skin. Players are mean. Period. You can argue that they have a right to treat devs however they want. But the truth of the matter is that a lot of developers do get chased out of the conversation because they can't stand the negativity and it makes them hate their job. I have been doing this a very long time, so it doesn't affect me, but I know it affects a lot of the people I work with now or in the past. I've had bosses that told me directly "Don't read forums," because they know what a productivity hit it can be to get torn down all the time. (I didn't listen to them, but people do.)
As far as what players can do, it's pretty obvious. Don't be toxic. When someone is there to have a conversation with you, have a conversation. You don't have to be a white knight. But it does help to be professional. If you have a disagreement with someone at work or school or with a friend, you are probably equipped with conflict resolution skills that help you handle those situations without creating a permanent enemy. Use those skills online. Don't view forums etc. as your personal venting space (again, if your desire is to have developers participate in the conversation). Don't take things out of context. Don't mock them. It's fine to be passionate, upset or angry, but you can convey that without name calling.
Again, I'm not telling anyone how to act. I'm offering suggestions for how to act if your desire is to see more game developers (from any company) talking to players in a way that doesn't come across as uber-polished marketing speak.
One is fear of saying something wrong. This could be accidentally leaking something or saying something that comes across as an insult. There ultimately isn't any real fix for this problem except experience. You can ask a coworker to proofread, but if the communication has to go through too many levels of editing and approval, then it's inefficient at really having a discussion with players.
Second is the fear of getting sucked into an endless conversation. This happens on forums and Reddit easily. Players are interested in having debates and asking additional questions, so a developer post that is intended to be quick and dirty ends up going back and forth and suddenly it's 2 AM, but if you try and pull out, you risk sending the message that you lost interest or don't care. This isn't as big an issue as the others.
The third is that it takes very thick skin. Players are mean. Period. You can argue that they have a right to treat devs however they want. But the truth of the matter is that a lot of developers do get chased out of the conversation because they can't stand the negativity and it makes them hate their job. I have been doing this a very long time, so it doesn't affect me, but I know it affects a lot of the people I work with now or in the past. I've had bosses that told me directly "Don't read forums," because they know what a productivity hit it can be to get torn down all the time. (I didn't listen to them, but people do.)
As far as what players can do, it's pretty obvious. Don't be toxic. When someone is there to have a conversation with you, have a conversation. You don't have to be a white knight. But it does help to be professional. If you have a disagreement with someone at work or school or with a friend, you are probably equipped with conflict resolution skills that help you handle those situations without creating a permanent enemy. Use those skills online. Don't view forums etc. as your personal venting space (again, if your desire is to have developers participate in the conversation). Don't take things out of context. Don't mock them. It's fine to be passionate, upset or angry, but you can convey that without name calling.
Again, I'm not telling anyone how to act. I'm offering suggestions for how to act if your desire is to see more game developers (from any company) talking to players in a way that doesn't come across as uber-polished marketing speak.
