Yoshi-P Statement on Player Feedback

[Senn]

But then there are posts which arguably do fall within adhering to the TOS whilst still being outright rude and disrespectful.

In my time on the forums, I've noticed a few people who would use thinly veiled insults or made terrible implications about people - just enough so that they weren't violating the ToS, but enough to get the message accross.
I think disagreements and feedback, even negative feedback, is ok. But there's no need to be rude or disrespectful. Just be polite. It's not tone policing, it's common decency.

[Driavna]

I forgo the "Hey X" and just say "Anyone need an explanation or elaboration on that mechanic?". Sometimes the guilty party will speak up, often times it will be someone else who wasn't failing the mechanic so we go into an explanation. That tends to work better, and tends to be a surefire way to ensure that they can't file a report for "harassment" by calling them out for failing mechanics.

I rather not make anyone feeling the center of attention and just give a general explanation to problematic mechanics and be done with it (of late is that anima claw mechanic that follow you around). Still, feels weird that someone could lose their account for being blunt/dry.

[Shibi]

Personally I would be surprised if it’s targeted at the non jp community, also a bit shocked.

Mmm, a lot of people are bilingual or polyglots. Non-community JP Staff - the backend people - will be reading these forums, will be reading Reddit, will be reading other English fora about their work and will be feeling bad.

In addition the JP forums are mostly clean and polite, however, I have seen a number of number of Non Japanese speakers people heading into them recently using DeepL and Google (ja sound popping thread comes to mind), or even in English, to put in some nastiness without any of the nuance that should be in the message. That's not on in my eyes. Unless you can do the nuance, really, consider you won't get the point over politely.

Stop adding to the "great resignation" is my advice.

[Lauront]

Mmm, a lot of people are bilingual or polyglots. Non-community JP Staff - the backend people - will be reading these forums, will be reading Reddit, will be reading other English fora about their work and will be feeling bad.

Yes, well part of the issue here is that he is being a bit vague, IMO. Personally, I have my doubts that it's anything to do with the forum, as such. They set the TOS here, it is their (SE's) responsibility to enforce them and by and large I've seen very little here directly insulting the devs. Criticising some of their work, e.g. healers who are not satisfied with the design of the job? Sure, but I can't think of many occasions where it turns into insults and the like.

[Halivel]

Yes, well part of the issue here is that he is being a bit vague, IMO. Personally, I have my doubts that it's anything to do with the forum, as such. They set the TOS here, it is their (SE's) responsibility to enforce them and by and large I've seen very little here directly insulting the devs. Criticising some of their work, e.g. healers who are not satisfied with the design of the job? Sure, but I can't think of many occasions where it turns into insults and the like.

You don't need to insult developers directly to make them upset.
There were plenty of cases when people absolutely didn't check on their tone while venting about whatever they disliked about the game. It's not any better than cursing at staff directly.

[Lauront]

You don't need to insult developers directly to make them upset.
There were plenty of cases when people absolutely didn't check on their tone while venting about whatever they disliked about the game. It's not any better than cursing at staff directly.

And if the individual is sensitive to any criticism whatsoever? This is a rather subjective sort of thing. I'm curious - if a developer can't handle reading feedback even when it's bereft of insults and simply because it wasn't phrased a particular way (which?), should they be reading feedback in the first place? How is this now not a matter of tone policing? It can be easier to disregard someone who is just venting, for some people, than someone who is actually pointing out flaws in their work.

[Kaurhz]

And if the individual is sensitive to any criticism whatsoever? This is a rather subjective sort of thing. I'm curious - if a developer can't handle reading feedback even when it's bereft of insults and simply because they weren't phrased a particular way (which?), should they be reading feedback in the first place? How is this now not a matter of tone policing? It can be easier to disregard someone who is just venting, for some people, than someone who is actually pointing out flaws in their work.

Don't know about you but I wouldn't appreciate being called lazy by folk that don't understand the field I work in, or the challenges presented during WIP by people that only see an end produce. Nor would I appreciate being accused of not playing my own game simply because the expectations aren't met. Nor would I appreciate my work being called sloppy by people when said work is still arguably in development. Just to name a few examples.

On one side of the coin should people read feedback because they can't handle criticism, but on the other hand should people be issuing criticism if their only criticism is tossing around nonsense like lazy, sloppy, and baseless accusations? Need to understand that their work is already subjected to criticism from early as design, prior to the launch and quality checks

People have a very loose understanding of what criticism or feedback actually is

[Halivel]

And if the individual is sensitive to any criticism whatsoever? This is a rather subjective sort of thing. I'm curious - if a developer can't handle reading feedback even when it's bereft of insults and simply because they weren't phrased a particular way (which?), should they be reading feedback in the first place? How is this now not a matter of tone policing? It can be easier to disregard someone who is just venting, for some people, than someone who is actually pointing out flaws in their work.

What I can't understand is why people here always fall from one extreme to another with no middle ground inbetween.

Yoshida never said that criticism is unwelcome. However, there's a huge distance between a criticism and suggestion written in a polite manner and a tantrum full of poorly hidden aggression, if hidden at all. Even if you aren't particularly happy about given feedback, it's much easier to accept it when those who wrote it treat you like a person with emotions rather than a soulless punching bag.

I doubt any of these people who are rude at Forum write letters to their boss or customers in such a manner. What makes people think that game developers should be okay with it? They're people, not robots. You don't need to sugarcoat your words to insanity, but common, basic level of decency isn't that hard to grasp.

[Katie_Kitty]

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 pretty sure that was the intention. Can't criticize the dev team, guys!! their poor feelings!

[Shibi]

Sure, but I can't think of many occasions where it turns into insults and the like.

Saw one yesterday criticising healers where the person talking said the devs doing it should be fired. Those calls to sack them, I do see a lot.