Dev Harassment is concerning

[Packetdancer]

Basically you can't actually reach developers even if you want unless they are willing to communicate with you (very unlikely).

You would be surprised how many individual developers will read the forums about the games they work on, whether or not they actively post there. It's sometimes useful to get a sense of what players like and don't like.

(Admittedly, you would probably not be surprised by how many individual developers eventually stop reading the forums about the games they work on.)

There is a game-related product which I work on (hardware, since these days I work in embedded systems rather than at a game company directly) where I actively hang out on the forums for it and basically pretend to be just another poster. (Much to the continued amusement of the project lead.) But seeing stuff there does give me an idea for what things might need to be tweaked, and also has let me give folks tech support (under the guise of just being an experienced user of said gaming product). But I've also seen people who have a bug (or want a feature) to post nuclear meltdown threads demanding it and threatening that "the dev team better listen to their users or else", and I promise you that when I encounter those... well, like I said, you probably wouldn't be surprised how many individual developers eventually stop reading the forums.

(I always go back, eventually, but...)

This may be less relevant for FFXIV than some, given the potential language barrier, but I'd still be surprised if the number of folks on the team who read these forums -- even if they just silently lurk -- was zero.

[Insertusernamehere]

You would be surprised how many individual developers will read the forums about the games they work on, whether or not they actively post there. It's sometimes useful to get a sense of what players like and don't like.

(Admittedly, you would probably not be surprised by how many individual developers eventually stop reading the forums about the games they work on.)

There is a game-related product which I work on (hardware, since these days I work in embedded systems rather than at a game company directly) where I actively hang out on the forums for it and basically pretend to be just another poster. (Much to the continued amusement of the project lead.) But seeing stuff there does give me an idea for what things might need to be tweaked, and also has let me give folks tech support (under the guise of just being an experienced user of said gaming product). But I've also seen people who have a bug (or want a feature) to post nuclear meltdown threads demanding it and threatening that "the dev team better listen to their users or else", and I promise you that when I encounter those... well, like I said, you probably wouldn't be surprised how many individual developers eventually stop reading the forums.

(I always go back, eventually, but...)

This may be less relevant for FFXIV than some, given the potential language barrier, but I'd still be surprised if the number of folks on the team who read these forums -- even if they just silently lurk -- was zero.

If it is true I am surprised tbh.. I am developer (not a game developer sadly) my self but I don't read any kind of feed back unless it is coming from lead dev's room. If they are doing it kudos to them for their passionate work.

[Packetdancer]

If it is true I am surprised tbh.. I am developer (not a game developer sadly) my self but I don't read any kind of feed back unless it is coming from lead dev's room. If they are doing it kudos to them for their passionate work.

I mean, it varies from developer to developer; I have friends at places like Adobe who work on things like Photoshop or Illustrator and hang out on the help forums. I think it's more common with game developers, admittedly, because it's a career that folks generally get into -- and stay in -- for passion; they're almost always gamers themselves and so want to make games. (Lord knows most don't stay in the field for the pay, which is generally Not Great compared to other tech fields.) And that can often mean wanting to see what your fellow gamers are saying about the game you work on. (Plus, I mean, if it's a big enough game, even if you aren't reading the official forums for your game -- if applicable -- the only way you can entirely avoid people's opinions about it would be to avoid all gaming news sites, Twitter, gaming subreddits, etc. If you're a gamer yourself, you probably participate in those things anyway, even if only for other games you play...)

But that's sort of tangential to the discussion.

[Insertusernamehere]

I mean, it varies from developer to developer; I have friends at places like Adobe who work on things like Photoshop or Illustrator and hang out on the help forums. I think it's more common with game developers, admittedly, because it's a career that folks generally get into -- and stay in -- for passion; they're almost always gamers themselves and so want to make games. (Lord knows most don't stay in the field for the pay, which is generally Not Great compared to other tech fields.) And that can often mean wanting to see what your fellow gamers are saying about the game you work on. (Plus, I mean, if it's a big enough game, even if you aren't reading the official forums for your game -- if applicable -- the only way you can entirely avoid people's opinions about it would be to avoid all gaming news sites, Twitter, gaming subreddits, etc. If you're a gamer yourself, you probably participate in those things anyway, even if only for other games you play...)

But that's sort of tangential to the discussion.

I am not sure how SE handling this. From my job perspective, it doesn't matter if a user's feed back good or bad.. it is lead developer (and company representative) decides what to do, so I don't see any point reading any feedback.. we do whatever lead tell us to do nothing more, nothing less..

But I imagine it is different in game development, so probably SE doing things differently.