Yoshi-P Statement on Player Feedback

[Zetsumei_Tsunarashi]

Credit to reddit translator Iluna Minori.

This is a translation of the Radio Mog Station interview that was posted in the reddit discord and felt it should be posted here as well. I didn't see it posted already so apologies if I missed it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlDjTtEZu1Y
Timestamp: 4:14:50

Original JP Text

本当、一個だけ、もちろんこうしてほしい、ここがこうじゃないかと言っていただけるのはすごいありがたいのですが、罵詈雑言だけは…（止めていただきたい）。まぁ、僕はそれでも相当日本の中でもメンタルは上位のほうだとは思いますが、みんながそうではないから、やっぱり…その、そこだけはちょっと残念ながら発売延期をして、結構ネタバレ注意って言ってるから…何故かアンチ勢と呼ばれる（プレイを）やっていないのにやたらと攻撃をする人たちが凄くて、その言葉遣いにちょっと引っ張られている感じがあるかなって。よく例えで出るんっすけど、ニューヨークのダウンタウンでボロボロの車を置いておくとよりボロボロになる、要はやっちゃっていいんだと思う心理…

そう、だからちょっと…まぁ、当然新規もたくさん来て他のゲームからやって来て、今回が拡張初めてって人たちもいるからまぁミスも目立つなのかもなと思うんだけど、今まで11年皆さんとやってきた中でちょっと言葉が強すぎるかなと思うところがあります。僕はいい、もう最悪（なんですが）、ただスタッフが凹んでしまってみんなのために作るんだにならなくなっちゃってそこで本当今日僕からお願いがあるとしたらそこだけ、エンターを押す前にその先にいる名も知れぬ開発者の顔を想像してもらえると僕はちょっと嬉しいかな。

（途中省略）

だから一生懸命意見を見ようとした時にどんどん傷ついていくスタッフも出てきてしまうので、それは結果的に皆さんのためにならない、モチベーションのあるスタッフがいってしまうので、だからそこだけをね、最近過激だなと思うことが出てきておりスタッフがここまでやりきったので…。ミスもあるので褒めろとは言いませんが気持ちの伝え方を考えていただければ助かります！

...Really, it's just one thing here. Of course I'm thankful and grateful for players to tell us that "we should do this, or this should be that" and whatnot, but verbal abuses are...(something we wish it can stop). Well, I would like to think myself as having a strong mental level in Japan, but not everyone shares the same mental strength as I do so...

Ever since the unfortunate release delay of the expansion and we did ask players to be mindful of spoilers, but for some reason there seems to be some antis (haters of the game) laying around attacking other players despite not playing the game and it was quite glaring, and I felt as if those strong words used in arguments against people ended up holding people back because of this. There is a frequently used example (or metaphor) here - It's like seeing the condition of a car in New York Downtown gets worse when it's already in bad enough condition. In other words, it's somehow an acceptable mindset to let it happen.

Which is why...well, I mean there are new players who join this game and there are many players who come from other games and of course, this also means they are players who experience Endwalker as their first expansion, so it's a given that there will be mistakes and errors here and there, but after 11 years of journey with players up to this point it does make me feel that the language used ended up a little overboard there. I mean, I can take it, even though it doesn't make it less bad, but staff members will feel really down after getting those words when they gave their absolute best into trying to create something where everyone can enjoy, and this may end up making them no longer create things that are fun from there on. So I have only one request to every players out there - please imagine that you're speaking face to face with a developer whom you may not know his name nor face and imagine how they'd feel before sending your feedback over, and I'll be happy if people can do so politely.

(Halfway omitted)

That's why, it will result in staff members getting gradually hurt and it's especially evident when the staff member worked so hard on it, and this doesn't help anyone, neither the staff members nor the players either. This will completely drain away their motivation and worse, they'll end up quitting because of it, which is why I hope that everyone can understand that. Considering things have been getting really extreme lately, and with staff members putting their all to make it work...I mean, of course I don't mean everything should be given praise. Mistakes are mistakes of course and they should be notified, but I’ll appreciate it if everyone can give careful thought in their thoughts and feedback before sending them over.

[Kaurhz]

This is why it always helps to view people as human beings regardless of them being a developer or not, and why some people get out of tune when people 'present feedback'.

[NegativeS]

[Crossu]

Important to note that he's talking mostly to the japanese playerbase.

We're okay, they don't read the english forums.

[Avatre]

As I've stated in another topic(the "Everyone's so open and friendly" one to be specific)

It's called have a civil discussion, or debate. You don't need a fight or argument to get our point across...if you do, you may want to revisit how you respond to different situations and adjust your attitude accordingly. Getting mad isn't the only option available to people.

While it isn't exactly worded for this one, the gist of it is the same. Be civil, realize they are human too, and think about how you would respond/react/feel if someone showed that much aggression towards you for something you spent many, many, hours working on.

[Sacred-Oblivion]

FFXIV has gotten better with every expansion and that trend continued with EndWalker. Who are these whiners who say otherwise?

[Illmaeran]

This is saddening. The entire CBU3 team put their hearts, souls, and selves into Endwalker. I guarantee they pushed themselves to a level that many would call abusive and be contacting HR if it were in a Western country. The amount of vitriol and excessively aggressive language here during EW's release was staggering. The fact that Yoshi-P felt the need to come out and tell us all how badly the language of "feedback" (I use that term loosely) has hurt the CBU3 team speaks volumes. This isn't something that would normally be done in Japan; they'd quietly take it get on with their work.

To all the people who slung that language in the name of "feedback" and claim they're tough enough to take the same language if/when used at them should be ashamed of themselves. Imagine having thousands, or hundreds of thousands, of people yelling at you that something you've put everything you had into was trash, you are a horrible person, and need to rethink your life day in and day out.

The people of CBU3 are just that, people. They go into work, do their best, and just want to live a happy life. Even if things go poorly or in unexpected ways, they don't deserve to have horrible things said about them.

[hobostew]

I feel this is gonna be taken out of context by certain people and push out any feedback that is deemed negative in an awkward attempt to protect the devs feelings which can lead to problems in the long term.

[TaleraRistain]

I feel this is gonna be taken out of context by certain people and push out any feedback that is deemed negative in an awkward attempt to protect the devs feelings which can lead to problems in the long term.

I'm sure it will, but those people need to understand that criticism can still be negative. It just has to be constructive. We absolutely should give feedback if something lacks or we're dissatisfied. Just do it in a way that they can gain some understanding on why we feel that way and give them something to use to improve in the future.

[Avatre]

I feel this is gonna be taken out of context by certain people and push out any feedback that is deemed negative in an awkward attempt to protect the devs feelings which can lead to problems in the long term.

Feedback is fine, even negative feedback. Hell, negative feedback is probably some of the more important feedback.

BUT! Do it in the right tone and it will actually be received with an open mind that will look at it. Do it in a way such as telling them to "off themselves for their stupid decision" - and let's be honest here, there are people who give "feedback" like that to many different things, not just limited to games. People tend to get heated especially in regards to things they like. Which is understandable, but again, tone of how the feedback is conveyed plays a major role.

It's like any(well, most) work environment, if you go to your boss and say "This is $^&#ing stupid, why are we doing this stupid thing this way?!" and act all confrontational, you likely will get the boot. But if you bring up a potential way to save time on something, you will most likely(if the company/boss is receptive of new ways of doing things) see them at least look into it, if not try and adopt the way to do it.