Forum update! Feedback and incentive thread.

[LeoLupinos]

Have you ever wondered how this forum system could have more modern functions and Quality of Life similar to other places or even new ones? Are you fine of how some systems are handled here? This thread is being created for the purpose of feedback and incentive for a update for our forum.

Please, post your ideas and why they are valid, and discuss them.


FAQ:
1- Do we really need it?
Yes, why not? If FFXIV wants to bring more players to voice out their feedback in a clean space about the game these platforms need to be as good as possible. We don't need to start big, little by little makes a long term great deal.

[linay]

The only update I'd like for this forum that comes to mind is more moderation.

I don't know why, in several forums I've been to, people don't like the idea of posting in old threads. There was one forum I used to go to where if your thread isn't different enough than an existing thread, the moderator would either merge the two threads or close your thread with a link to the existing thread.

[Theodric]

I just really want to see our community representatives engage with us more directly.

[FirstnameLastname]

And maybe a forum software that does not predate the invention of the wheel, please?

[LeoLupinos]

1 Function to hide threads: Similar to reddit function to hide post and comments. Some threads I have zero interest, and I believe this would ease my life into tracking threads that I care for. Individual user choice

2 Optional function to respond to a specific post with direct message instead of needing to make a new post section with a quote: Again, similar to reddit. Some threads turn into off-topic and just turn off the interest of viewers duo to a huge surge of discussion, and some suggestions get lost amidst the discussion. That way, players can respond to that post without hindering the sight for new posts in the same thread.

3 Revision of the limitation to post in the forum by only active subscriptions : I would like to know what is the reasoning of this limitation. How can FFXIV gather feedback of the ones who have quit the game over X subject? Maybe limit for only reply and not new threads as a first move.

4 Lift characters limitation: Instead of a limitation, create a system to show the text up to 3000 characters then a button "Read more" to read to rest of the post.

5 Add the OPTIONS to enable in your post a negative reaction along with the like button, and a box containing who reacted with what: By expanding reactions players would feel more encouraged to interage. And by removing anonymity some players would choose differently a positive react or negative react. By adding it as a option then nobody can get hurt like reddit does. Some threads had been answered by the devs and their suggestions implemented resulting in a majority of players actually not wanting it, such as GNB sounds, alliance greed only and much more. By having a negative reaction players can actually vote and show a more accurate census to Devs. Please, don't make negative reactions impact negatively the user.

6 Edit mode for mobile: I've already ran out of count for the times I've just posted something with my mobile phone and there is a little typo error in there and I need to either run to a PC or forget about it. Please, such simple feature.

7 More threads per page: I personally forget about threads when they reach second page. I believe this change will help important threads to have longer life. I personally like reddit system of keeping it in the same page while loading proportionally as you scroll down.

8 More presence of FFXIV representatives in our forum section: As some player had pointed it out in this thread. It's hardly a presence nowadays, it feels like a miracle when they engage directly since the rarity. Some feel like JP get's more, even if we are supposed to get the same. Just take a look at the "Dev Tracker" function of this forum to see which language show more presence. Tip: It's not english.

9 More moderation: It's sad to see troll threads burying important threads to the second page, where they die. Also, it's not educative to ban without teaching how to not repeat the error.

10 Better Ban Appeal and penalties reset after sufficient time of good behavior: The current one doesn't help itself.

11 Option to Lock own thread: I usually see some threads that are just a question and are basically done in the first Reply, and people just repeat themselves trying to reinvent the wheel, don't know why, and this just keeps the already answered thread being answered and open to more discussion when it was all done in the first comment. I would like to have the ability to lock my own threads.

12 Better control over profile picture: As it stands now, it's weird and sometimes it stays with a outdated glamour of my char, I would like to have more control over that, ot at least a better informative UI explaining how it works to better avoid that case.

[Esmoire]

I feel like a lot of the individual forums could be taken out. If a new thread is posted there like once every other week, is it worth having it there? On a logical level I can see why they want to be as specific as possible, and have it such that if someone posts something, it will stay visible, and some smaller communities with interests don't want to get buried, and I get that. I am not saying they should all be merged together, but maybe... I don't know, guildleves, hunting log, and a few other forums can be taken out. Like you can have one for all trade-related stuff like crafters, gatherers, and retainers. I've clicked a lot of those buttons to collapse the forum groupings but it's still quite a scroll to get to the ones I want.

Edit - Another good category that I see the community usually has together is combining hunts, FATEs, and maps, which makes a lot of sense.

[MrKusakabe]

I am very fine with the forum software itself. When I browse one of the "new forums" put up by many games (e.g. Blizzard), there is so much garbage and clutter included, such as "estimated reading times" and a bar that keeps scrolling with a timeline. Also, so far ALL "modern" forums are stuck in 2000 - with their 4:3 aspect ratio. I do not wish to have 30% of my PC screen empty with the background of the forums. If you want readability by having shorter lines, you either want to see the doctor, get glasses or simply drag your browser window smaller until the line breaks are fine for you. The problem I have is it is tied to the Lodestone, so when something's slow, it's most likely Square Enix' weak Lodestonesoftware. I talk about checks if you have a subscription running, checks if you have played in the past 2 weeks, checks about people's character for the mugshots etc. etc.

Another good thing, not present in many video game forums, but it comes at some places (e.g. Disqus) are downvote buttons. Eww, why? You can still determine if a post is succesfull by the upvotes, but downvotes take away incentives to actually voice your reasoning. Also, as a nature of discussions, you usually have someone against you, and then the downvotes only matter by a few that were first to downvote and others won't read because of said bad votes of a post, no matter what is actually being said.

What I dislike is the lack of moderation. Look, as Lalafell, you probably know what I am talking about. Some Lalafell post something and immediately, 5 grunting and drooling players gather to create in total 16 spamposts about the "lack of knees", the general body size or that we are toddlers and pedophiles - no matter what the actual thread was about. A group of thread-derailing hooligans that violate several rules at once - and nobody gives a damn. I reported two outright extremist posts which are still on the forums ("Purge [Lalafell] with fire"). That is stuff Hitler and Stalin would be proud of - replace "Lalafell" with "Jews" and "Fire" with "Gas"- but nothing that should be in the forum or the game. It even violates two very well-defined rules, and both I put in the report box. Nothing happened. So I contacted the actual support to ask if the forum is now an unsupervised playground - 5 days later: "Sorry for the inconvenience, I will give that info to my supervisors." I reported again - nothing. This is just one and very crass case, if I would put in all the disruptive bullshit that are "giving players or groups of players a negative impact" then I'd have a much longer list. But all this disgusting Lalafell hate and harrasment that made even this player eventually change her to a Miqo'te is just a prime example of lack of moderation and the idiots running rampage since then. "Since then" is roughly Christmas holiday weeks. Maybe they fire their staff? On the 8th this month ONE thread has been moved into a subforum, so there IS moderation going on. But extremist filth is fine I guess..



I also realized a small change in my behaviour here lately, it's probably the very definition of a "toxic" environment - you slowly get poisened yourself until it's too late.


Sincerely,

[Theodric]

Unfortunately anything related to a 'dislike' button would be abused. I don't bother with Reddit for that very reason - any opinion that is contrary to the 'norm' has a habit of being down-voted even when it's presented in a perfectly civil manner. Even in threads that specifically ask something along the lines of which character people like best. I believe Blizzard implemented a dislike function over on their forums only to later remove it due to abuse.

[SturmChurro]

Unfortunately anything related to a 'dislike' button would be abused. I don't bother with Reddit for that very reason - any opinion that is contrary to the 'norm' has a habit of being down-voted even when it's presented in a perfectly civil manner. Even in threads that specifically ask something along the lines of which character people like best. I believe Blizzard implemented a dislike function over on their forums only to later remove it due to abuse.

Yep. Can't even post on the FFXIV reddit board because of it. Worthless. "Dislike" is useless. I like how the likes work on this forum, they don't mean anything at all (in the grand scheme of things - rather than "Farming karma" or whatever on reddit).

[linay]

3 Revision of the limitation to post in the forum by only active subscriptions : I would like to know what is the reasoning of this limitation. How can FFXIV gather feedback of the ones who have quit the game over X subject? Maybe limit for only reply and not new threads as a first move.

In the WoW forum, there were apparently people who claimed they have quit the game and yet stayed in the forum to post complaints about the game. Some of that might just be due to their subscription still having time, but it can be a legitimate issue.

If you have feedback to give, then you can give it within the time your subscription is active. Even if you only came back for one month, that's plenty of time to leave feedback in the forum after trying out the game again.

As for your other points:

I'm not sure what you mean by similar to Reddit, but I hope they don't change the actual message board format as I like reading a thread through once. Hiding threads/posts should be per user basis.

And that brings me to the negative reaction. I don't like how, in WoW forum, report functions are used to automatically hide posts. Again, hiding posts/threads should be individual user choice. (Of course, the problem in WoW forum is that it currently has no dislike button, so people abused the report function.)

That said, I personally don't think like/dislike buttons should be used at all. If you agree/disagree with someone's post, feel free to post and, hopefully, contribute to the thread by adding your own thoughts rather than just press a button.