Treading Dangerous Ground

[Biggs]

Greatings Forum readers and devs! While I am aware that there are more than SEVERAL posts right now that deal with the current World Merger, I would like to start by saying that, while I will site that as an example, the purpose of this post is to discuss the use of these forums as a means to change the game as a whole, and why I believe that to be a mistake.

After posting the direction Yoshi had chosen to do the world merger, the forums lit up with people flaming the way it was to be done. Every individual that plays this game and pays a fee is TOTALLY entitled to their opinion, and no one should be able to say otherwise. That being said, I was very dismayed to see that the very next day, Yoshi made a post that hinted at flip flopping on using option 4 because it "appeared" that most people liked option 2. I am more than willing to acknowledge that a majority really would like option 2, however, using these forums as the SOLE basis to make a decision like that sets a very dangerous precedent. These forums and the people on them represent a VERY small percentage of the actual player base. So essentially, according to the statements made in his post, Yoshi will be using 5% (a fictional number since I actually don't have any numbers to go off of) of the player base to make a decision that effects the OTHER 95% percent of us.

I feel that the fair way to make large decisions that effect the entire community as whole when asking for input is to use the player polls they have used in the past, and only those polls. These polls don't require you to be a member of any particular guild or forum, the only requirement is that you are a paying customer of their product. The polls have you check from a selection of options that COMPLETELY take emotion out of the equation. While I know that the dev team hopes to conduct a merge by march, and that, regardless of anything we say, they may be moving forward with that, I can only hope that in the future, when making decisions that affect the entire community, they use a fair and neutral tool to do so. It was my understanding that the direction the game is heading now is a direct reflection of the polls that have already been taken, and I can only hope that they will continue to shape the game in this method. While I certainly agree that these forums are a great tool to recieve and answer questions and concerns of the community, they should never be used to make large scale decisions that affect a much larger portion of the player base.

I would like to take the time to thank anyone that has read this lengthy post, and once again, I would like to thank the dev team for putting all of their heart and soul into making this the game we all want it to be. (Especially since it seems to be effecting some of their health in a very negative matter. That, more than anything, shows me how hard they must be working to turn this game around.)

Thanks again,
Biggs

Edit- The post I am citing by Yoshi P can be found on page 16 of this thread:
http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...004#post549004

[SirOleas]

I was under the impression that they were considering doing a mix of both 2 and 4 after seeing all of the forum activity over the merge.

Maybe I read wrong or something....

Edit: nope! In your link it says they plan to do a mix of 2 and 4.
"Currently, we're seeing a lot of feedback that favors plan ②, and we're considering revisions that use plan ② as a base while retaining the merits of plan ④."

While I was fine with the original plan it does help to take the feedback (No matter how enraged it might be) and find middle ground for everyone. He saw people were upset, he also saw people were fine. So he's going to try a devise a plan around 2 and 4 for the entire community.

I think that's ok.

[Biggs]

I was under the impression that they were considering doing a mix of both 2 and 4 after seeing all of the forum activity over the merge.

Maybe I read wrong or something....

I am not so much concerned with what happens with the merger as I am with the way in which they decide to do it. I was actually fairly shocked they never took a poll to determine how the entire community would like to move forward with such a large scale, and far reaching change to the game. I actually could care less what they decide to do on this particular issue, rather, frightened by the manner in which they chose to decide how to do it. I have stated many times that it is their game, and they are free to do with it what they will. But to come out and say that they want feedback, and that said feedback will effect their process, then only using such a small and limited portion of the player base to gather such feedback sets a scary precedent. I just don't ever want a smal portion of the community making decisions that will effect a larger portion of the community.

[SirOleas]

I can understand that.
Sometimes the dev. team just has to not budge on certain things.
I think that the amount of activity on this specific subject showed them how important it was to the community though.
However; giving people everything they ask for does not make great games, despite people's best efforts. lol

[Biggs]

I can understand that.
Sometimes the dev. team just has to not budge on certain things.
I think that the amount of activity on this specific subject showed them how important it was to the community though.
However; giving people everything they ask for does not make great games, despite people's best efforts. lol

Could not agree more. Thats why I like the player poll they took in the past. It touched on many key elements of the UI and gameplay, yet still left them to fill in all the other portions of the game that make it a FF title.

With regard to blending the two, he is still making the assumption about what "most" people seemed to like based on a very small percentage of the player base. THATS my concern.

[Jynx]

SE doesn't need a poll to notice that almost all forum groups and players are stiring about the server merges. People who aren't active in the community (Don't check any type of forums or news) are probably fairly rare with our small dedicated player base as it stands.

SE does keep it's eyes peeled on other community groups other than the official forums as well you know.

As for those who play the game and don't check anything at all...I'm sure if they were riled up enough about it they would be here, in the game, or elsewhere complaining about it.

[SirOleas]

Maybe not.
But there is the point that a poll on important things like the merge does remove emotion from the situation.
That can be considered important to some people or not at all I guess.
I would say that a poll would have made this easier, quicker, and less of a strain on the community.
Lots of people, including myself, argued to a point of no return. LOL

[Zetsumei_Tsunarashi]

I agree there should have been a poll on the matter.

When the development team comes to a point where this happens:

There have been comments from Foxclon, but even internally there have been heated debates about the world merge between the development, operations, and QA teams. I will be honest in saying that up until the last minute there was no plan that everyone agreed on. (The reason for this being that every plan had its own set of pros and cons)

that should be a sign that it's time to ask the players what to do. At least then it won't look like a mistake on the developers' part, they just did what the players wanted.

[KumaAkuma]

Only a small amount of people might have participated, but it was still a decent discussion. Options were discussed, opinions & facts were stated, pros and cons were weighed. This wasn't just about what the players would have liked, it was about what would have benefited the players the most too.

[Biggs]

I certainly dont want to detract from those that did post about it. My point is, all of the people that commented and left feedback are only a very small portion of the community. A poll about large scale decisions that affect EVERYONE, not just those that post, would have been a much better way to move forward with a change like this. I don't want a few hundred people effecting 1000's. The first player poll recieved 10's of thousands of hits. Stated here btw: http://lodestone.finalfantasyxiv.com...16083b634f7678

10's of thousands of people may or may not be playing the game right now but it certainly shows that more people respond to polls, while I would be very skepticle if this official forum or even the popular fan sites (combined) get anywhere close to those numbers in player feedback. A poll would also include those that arent playing right now but wish to return, hence that would still be effected by something like this.