Pulse of the Community PT1
FOR A FRIEND...
Sister Thread
This thread is made and will be maintained by the players for the players and the Evony Team to try to offer our thoughts on matters, this includes the mods who are players. It is not meant to flame anyone, criticize anything, be spam, or be harmful in any way to the forums. Rather, it is for constructive thoughts to be expressed to the entire Evony community to try to bridge the gap between player and company. No spam will be allowed in this, only constructive thoughts will be allowed, and no insulting will ever be tolerated in this. The rules shall be obeyed here, and this thread is not intended to get any person an infraction.
So I'll start with what my grasp of the communities' thoughts.
Offical Updates
I think alot of the community would like more offical updates as to the situation with the ads, game updates and more or less we would like to be in the loop as to the changes planned or the planning, that way we can offer our thoughts on the matter to try to make it go smoothly.
Communication - I think all here in the Evony Community would enjoy having better communication. This ranges from just our questions being answered, to something as simple as a mod posting in a thread just to let us know our opinions have been viewed. We understand that you all are busy, we would just like to think that the customer is put first on these forums. We also realize that the Reps and mods have no effect on the in game issues, but we would like to be sure that our ideas have possibly been handed to the game developers for them to possibly improve it. This I think means that the mods should read ideas that have been posted, and perhaps suggest to the Reps the best ideas and the most recurring ones as well. Finally, as requested, add some transparency. Let us in on the plans and I'm sure we the players would be willing to help. So much is said by mods, that we players can't see that for all we know, the rules may be getting broken behind our backs. I know there is a moderator forum section here thanks to the fact that post numbers and viewable topics by a moderator don't match up, (can easily be seen on most of the new mods just click view post, and count then.) and since we the players don't know what is said there, We easily get up in arms when a member that was our friend was banned, and we have no clue why. ((although the last portion is still debated, It seems agreed that better communication is needed and some progress has been made))
Mods, and the Team - Here, I would just like to say that the mods are players. Yes, they are in charge of keeping us the players in line, but their function is more to be Representatives of the players. Mods should almost be chosen from the community because they truely should work for the player, and communicate to the Reps for us. Moderator after all does mean that they should handle negociations, and although the rules should be enforced, good judgement on their part is needed about the best way to handle a player that breaks the rules. When something is reported, mods should be the first ones that respond to the issue, and it must be a mod that is familiar with the community. Yes, the hard-line moderators are required as well to ensure the community does not overstep its boundary, but thats why judgement is the most valuable resource of a mod, not their moderator control panels that seem to be running non-stop nowdays.
Now, also constructive criticism should be allowed by the players on the entire mod team, as well as the Reps. I know that you recieve plenty of hate, but yet in order to improve customer service, staff must be criticized. After all, this game was made for the players, so lets stop removing them.
Ads - I think the entire Evony Community would like to see them changed. We understand that they are an effective tool, but they do not work as truely intended. I for one would have never come in played Evony if I saw one of the ads originally. They draw in the wrong crowd, and they are misleading. We just ask that you look to change your advertising scheme. Has been adressed alot, but I will keep on here for now. Swansea promises change, plan on it being toned down 7/15/09 (date of promise made) http://bbs.evony.com/showthread.php?t=32035-Offical Response
Medals
Although the Reps have given a reason that the medal drop rate is so low on many of the servers, (to keep people from getting promotions real fast). Many players still feel it is too low. I will grant the Reps that it needs to be low, but a bit higher percentage is needed as well so that people can rank up in a reasonable amount of time. Raising the medal drop rate a little bit (not too much but enough to keep people interested). This option would also make alot of sense economically as well. With more people not becoming frustrated with the game and quiting, they will perhaps be willing to spend money later on as well. Also, the more cities a person has, the more cents they need in order to either upgrade them, or make them effective attack outpost. Either way, with a slightly higher medal drop rate, the community will be happy, and evony should obtain just as much money.
Events - I think we would like to see more events occur, but yet the player should be taken out of the equation more. The Evony Queen contest completely seems to have completely broken down, so now none of the players know what exactly is going on with that. Perhaps a contest for the best idea could be made, and the Reps and mod team are the judges, just a thought.
Forums in general - Finally, I would like to state that these forums are not only meant to inform the players, it was built for the players. This means that enjoyment should be had on them as long as it stays within reason. We shouldn't flame, insult, or affect another user's experience on these forums in any way, but I do encourage us to criticize one another. We also should get to have post about one player if we want, we just need to be sure to keep it in reason. Fun is what keeps forums alive, not rules.
Filter in game
Unfortunately, it doesn't work as intended. First of all, the filtering of Evony and System has really angered the community since it restricts scouting reports to be shared. Next, many people manage to side-step it by adding a space, or some other trick. So the filter is actually counter productive to the game. Many in the community wish for this to be addressed.
iEvony - Many people now feel this is spam anymore. People in an attempt to get more coins are spamming other websites. This makes many people know that a backlash against the Evony community is likely. We are also sick of all the iEvony post that are occuring on the forums here and wish to see this issue addressed.
originally posted by lowkey, page 7
Quote:
New issue:
I've noticed a lot of threads linking to outside sites that, quite honestly, have clearer, and more accurate information about the game, than the forums do, have 'mysteriously' disappeared.
Again, I'd like to ask that if you do not want third party sites linked on your forums, at least provide us with some form of manual or legitimate FAQ. Most of us can figure out which buttons to press (i do stress "most"). Sometimes though even the people that have gone beyond "how many x to kill x" need to refresh our memory on some things a little more complex than how to abandon cities, and how large a swarm is.
an underlying issue- Thats all we here in the forums want are our questions answered without having to worry about ban hammers all the time. Sure there is some information that can't be divulged to us, but I think if the Reps and mods trusted all of us more, you'd notice a much more unified community.
Anyways, I'm just going to state this, the forums tend to moderate themselves. Thats if you give everyone 1 day to express their opinions here without retribution for the most part, I think everyone would calm down. Blegemeth (or however you spell his name) would eventually calm down and hopefully return to normal posting habits as long as his threads aren't continually closed. The community has regular members watching over it alot, and we try to keep things under control, we just don't want everyones enjoyment of the forums to be sapped out as well. Thats, there is alot of anger going around the forums, and closing threads and giving out infractions is making it worse. My policy has been, and always will be one that if a person makes an outrageous post making slanders about someone, you should ignore it pretty muchh. All they do by doing that is make themselves look like the (insert word or words your choice here), yet when they are silenced, it actually lends substance to their post, and has a negative effect on the community.
So I ask you moderators and Reps, please give players on the forums time to work out the issues before you step in and silence them. We for the most part know how to deal with them ourselves even though we don't have any mod tools to work with. Yes its fine if you edit out names and language to a certain degree, but let us speak, and then silence shall win.
Conclusion
I hope this does not get deleted, or ever need to be locked. I also hope you realize that I don't mean to stir up any trouble, but the pulse of the community needs to be talked about out loud and not swept under a rug.
Thankyou, ABakker