Is there a community management team?

[Sparrowsong]

Something we've become accustomed to is hearing about changes made with player feedback in mind, but we as a community have no real idea how that feedback is being collected and from what sources. Our only understanding of FFXIV's feedback collection process comes from the in-game support desks which directs players here, to the general discussion on the official forums as the main hub for submitting feedback, but there is absolutely no acknowledgement of any feedback at all from any sort of community management staff. We get the occasional introduction post of someone introducing themselves, but then we never hear from them again.

So I'd like to pose a question for any community team members: Are you actually here? And what I mean by "here" is, are you ever reading the threads on this forum? Is this information that is ever being collected? How frequently does information get collected and delivered? What does that process look like? Are we not allowed to know if any specific feedback is being communicated over to Japan? And if not, why not? What can we do to better communicate feedback about the game?

From my perspective, I find the years of radio silence disheartening. I wish FFXIV had a healthy and transparent line of communication between player and developer. Of course, not every instance of feedback needs to be responded to, and not all feedback necessarily should be listened to, but I don't understand why we're left in the dark in 2023 where so many games are doing the exact opposite and establishing open and healthy communication lines between player and developer.

Sorry to bust your bubble buddy but the feedback they work on only comes from Japanese people and forums .your best bet is to learn Japanese language and post in Japanese forums .

[Sparrowsong]

Yeah it should be a lesson to other companies with what happened to blizzard with overwatch 2. They hid the fact they were cutting PvE for a very long time, cut communication, kept facts hidden, etc to avoid pissing off the community. The result was a 10x larger issue with the community when they found out not just the bad news, but that the devs hid the bad news from players for months to a year until it was too late to hide.
Communicating it early is always better to avoid escalating tensions. There's no gain to hiding things from your community or not acknowledging issues.

Lol lmao there is fanfest coming up in 7 Jan and you can't wait for that for news ?

[Sparrowsong]

If there is something they consider a feature that others consider a flaw, then they should be confident enough in their game to express that.

The whole "they won't say anything because they're afraid they might upset people!" is a bad excuse.

Then vote with your wallet .its a japanese company that will always prioritise japanese people .just like blizzard always priortises feedback from their usa fan base in world of warcraft as it is an American company. The European community on wow forums cries the same thing in wow forum .

[Avoidy]

It's weird because community management team members will occasionally, rarely, post an introduction thread and imply that they've always lurked but never posted for some reason (probably job agreements). They'll say "nice to meet you" and then ... never post again! It's bizarre. I don't understand why this pattern occurs so often. If I had to bet, I'd say there IS a team of some kind, but they don't check the forums often, aren't allowed to post freely, and barely have a way to relay our concerns or probably don't want to given how fractured we are on *literally every issue*.

[Atelier-Bagur]

It's weird because community management team members will occasionally, rarely, post an introduction thread and imply that they've always lurked but never posted for some reason (probably job agreements). They'll say "nice to meet you" and then ... never post again! It's bizarre. I don't understand why this pattern occurs so often. If I had to bet, I'd say there IS a team of some kind, but they don't check the forums often, aren't allowed to post freely, and barely have a way to relay our concerns or probably don't want to given how fractured we are on *literally every issue*.

I think its just simply they're just not allowed to freely speak to the public unless they get permission from PR team to do so

[Sindele]

That would be the 'very tight moderation' I mentioned, which does not exist here. We can speculate on why that is, but it doesn't change the reality of the situation.

You do the job you can with the tools you're given, within the parameters of the forums as they exist and the community as it exists. It would be nice if all of those things were better. They're just not.

[MAJRIS]

We can speculate on why that is, but it doesn't change the reality of the situation.

get hired to new job
its some sort of community moderation at some mmo
have an idea
what better to learn about people and community than watching them
go incognito / stealth mode into some of the venues
sneak into someone's fc room
shortly after <someone> and <someone> enter the room
they can't see you because you're gm
start reading what they talk about
uuhhhh...
......
well...
...


maybe they have seen enough to think the playerbase is not worth the interaction at all.

[DrWho2010]

just because the possibility exists that a GM/community team member *could* post/respond on these forums, doesn't mean they should. I wouldn't if I were one. ewwwwwwww

[Jeeqbit]

"With the 10th anniversary of FFXIV's rebirth behind us, we are taking the first determined step towards our next ten years of service. We've been accompanied on this epic journey by Warriors of Light from across the globe, and we intend to maintain that partnership by placing an even greater value on communication as we expand the world of FFXIV."

[Shougun]

"With the 10th anniversary of FFXIV's rebirth behind us, we are taking the first determined step towards our next ten years of service. We've been accompanied on this epic journey by Warriors of Light from across the globe, and we intend to maintain that partnership by placing an even greater value on communication as we expand the world of FFXIV."

I imagine that means more one directional communication, in where they tell us what they are planning (like live letters), and not by means of some sort of bi-directional or confirmation of feedback being read, received, or even recognized. I would be okay being wrong though lol.


Source for those who wanted it: https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodes...de5458637fc944