The Devs need a much needed thanks!

[Adamantini]

(...)

despite the beautiful argument, I must warn you not to pay much attention to these "thank the devs, please" posts. It's just people wanting to farm likes.

[Kes13a]

No one is disputing how hard they work. The issue is whether the developers are working hard on the correct feature or investing time wisely to help soothe current pain points or mitigate players' frustration. As a developer they should have a mindset where they can take the feedback on board no matter the tone and understand where the player is coming from and what is causing their frustration. Acknowledge what is causing the frustration and give players a solution with a feasible timescale, i.e. 1-2 patches. Not we plan to continue support, and nothing happens for 3 - 6 yrs. If the players are not complaining, something is wrong, but you must remember that people pay for the product to work as intended.

I hate to point this out.. but "as a developer" they do not have free license to do what they feel or wish. they are told what to implement or design. they could read every thread on this board, but its not their job to decide what to work on. thats higher up the food chain, a developer is told what to code. period. they are told what systems to come up with and then to fit it into the existing framework.

it is not their place, if they want to continue getting a paycheque, to implement things or change things other than what they are told to do. not to mention that they usually lack the bandwidth to implement their own ideas without prior authorization.

that job is higher up the foodchain. you want to see people lounging around the office doing "minimal effort" that would be better directed at the STF.

[Kes13a]

I am not a developer; I wouldn't know what they can and cannot do. However, I appreciate that they could read everything on the forum and that it would still need to be signed off by a higher-up, as with everything in business, for example, a CFO, CTO or CIO.

I imagine the person making these decisions is the director and producer. However, I would say that customers expect specific standards for products they pay for continuously.


How long do the developers want to wait to fix these issues?

the developers wait until they are TOLD TO FIX THEM. its that simple. the developers do not have the time generally to peruse the forums looking for issues, they have a job to do, thats coding, they get told what to do, its that plain and simple. they are going to be told by their team lead what to work on. usually that team lead would get direction from the person above them, who is likely going to be some unit supervisor but I have no clue since I am not privy to how SE sets up its development area.

But given Yoshida's "promotion", is it in his place to decide that sort of stuff? Or is he just the guy in charge of collecting all the ideas he, the devs and we propose and offer it to those above him?

Yoshi would be the person, I assume, that decides the direction of the game. likely someone under him who is supposed to get a list of issues from the non-existent community managers, he passes those along to the development side and they would assign priorities based on amount of time it will take to fix or implement something. developers, the ones coding, that no one here must figure do much, are generally going to be the hardest working people there because they have to make the game work. they are always going to be working to deadlines and if they dont meet those enough without a darn fine reason, I imagine they are not coding at SE any more.

I just work for a software company and not a gaming company.. so I have no idea on all of the moving parts, but overall, I would say Yoshi (as a "product manager") makes a majority of the calls on proposals brought forth to make improvements or changes. I doubt the actual developers have the time to read customer feedback. which based on these forums is likely a good thing from a morale side. if people want to throw shade.. throw it at Yoshi. the devs do deserve some credit for managing to code this monster

[Kes13a]

I never disagreed with you about them needing a sign-off from higher-ups. Everything in business does because you need to fund it.

So I don't know why you are taking this tone. I never said the developers didn't have time. I assume they have community managers who read the forms and Q&A to give feedback, so there is no excuse. We all know they know the issues with the game. Everyone asks how long it will take them to fix, and it is within a reasonable timescale for the people paying for the service.

You have also just admitted you have no idea what you are talking about in this situation, nor can we qualify if you are even telling the truth. You are arguing from authority without being able to prove you are an authority, so it's redundant in this situation. You could easily be a 19 yr old in a university dorm studying game development and arguing with people.

okay so, a bit of history then.

I work as end user support for a software company, because I am customer facing I get the dubious honour of attending Development meetings in case I am aware of issues with the software that require fixing. I said that I have no idea how SE structures their development, I never said I have no idea on how things are likely done. in my case, the product manager, directs the "sprints" in order to achieve release dates with the things that he has decided to implement. in amongst that are bug fixes as well as possible reworking of features that may not be working as customer want. in a LOT of cases.... suggestions end up on a back log because they would either take up too much time to code to work with 9 year old code, or they are considered not worth the time or they are just ridiculous. the devs has very little input aside from how long they GUESS fixing or implementation would take. in 12 years of doing this, I have never heard any dev say "we should implement this...". that usually comes from the product manager or from the sales department, the devs just try and keep up and deliver their part of the code within the schedule in time for releases. do I speak with some authority on the subject in terms of how it likely works, yes, I believe I do. I am not 19 studying game development, couldnt pay me enough to code personally.


do I think the devs deserve some thanks for now having a bug infested game that you can log into daily? I do. they do a job, deal with hundreds of thousands of lines of code that not many would ever want to, or could do

do I think that the aim for those complaining should be higher up the chain, you bet. there is a disconnect between the players and yoshi on what is needed for long standing fixes and whats important to the community. not saying its yoshi, but the devs are essentially just grunts. as is often pointed out.. SE is not an indie company, so somewhere between the devs and the yoshi is where the real issue lays. not the lowest of the low who just take direction

and I am sorry about taking a tone with you, but accusing the devs of waiting is misdirected, and why I felt I had to comment like that. willing to bet the devs never look at the forums, especially the english ones. I am sure they would love to fix all the issues if they could.. and they were told to or allowed to do so. I am sure they take as much pride in their work, and their abilities, as most people.

[Midareyukki]

I hate to point this out.. but "as a developer" they do not have free license to do what they feel or wish. they are told what to implement or design. they could read every thread on this board, but its not their job to decide what to work on. thats higher up the food chain, a developer is told what to code. period. they are told what systems to come up with and then to fit it into the existing framework.

it is not their place, if they want to continue getting a paycheque, to implement things or change things other than what they are told to do. not to mention that they usually lack the bandwidth to implement their own ideas without prior authorization.

that job is higher up the foodchain. you want to see people lounging around the office doing "minimal effort" that would be better directed at the STF.

But given Yoshida's "promotion", is it in his place to decide that sort of stuff? Or is he just the guy in charge of collecting all the ideas he, the devs and we propose and offer it to those above him?