R
Roo Stercogburn
Guest
No, not a spoof this time, sorry folks.
This is something I've noticed for a very long time now. I commented on it recently but I think very little has changed.
Its been quite some time I think since anyone even bothered to ask where is the Friday News. This may reflect a lack of interest on the part of some jaded players, but I think there's also a few other parts to it.
In times gone by, the Friday News would often appear by lunchtime (not in the Douglas Adams sense, but not far off) and if it didn't appear you'd usually have a thread appearing asking where's the news etc.
Been a very long time now since I've seen anyone actually bothered if the News appears or not.
Why?
Well for a start GOA post it last thing on a Friday now. Most heated debating seems to get done while people are working (!) or during the day when peeps want a bit of web bufoonery for a break here or there.
I think the other reason (and yes, this is a very direct smack at GOA) is because the Friday News has become fairly meaningless to the community.
It says nothing about anything generally. If you check the content of the News for quite some time now, its mostly re-worded snippets from the Camelot Herald, which I think most people go look at anyway directly to find out what is coming.
Having GOA post "Here's something you're not getting for a very long time" is actually a bit silly of them. Though its fair enough to be told of these things, its fairly obvious that its a slap dash approach to showing some interest in the community without actually making any effort to take part in that community.
Its a massively multiplayer game. This is not like other games where people just load it up, blast baddies by themselves for a few hours then go away. Its the type of game that generates a communuty around itself and needs that community to thrive therefore any company that is serious about keeping that community alive has to *actively* make that effort not only to be a part of it but to be *seen* to be part of it.
GOA's track record in feedback to the community is nothing short of appalling, its the only area I really have a problem with them. The GMs seem to do a good enough job in-game from what little I know, but the public face of GOA is one with egg on its chin from the various calamities they've brought on themselves over time.
They would serve themselves much better by making a stronger effort to show a friendlier face to the community.
A copy and paste Friday News is pretty much a symptom of this casual attitude to the people that pay their bills.
Tips good, warnings of scams good, updates on patch progress good (though I have to qualify that one. Its fairly obvious there's no news on this, each Friday News has a variant on "We're working on it" and thats about all).
GOA, improve your Friday News by making a stronger effort to be part of the community and making at least a part of the news regularly things from within the community. If not part of the news, then do it in another way, you aren't short of webspace there.
And please stop simply recycling news from elsewhere, its fairly obvious. Post a link to the source in a single paragraph instead of making filler-news.
This is something I've noticed for a very long time now. I commented on it recently but I think very little has changed.
Its been quite some time I think since anyone even bothered to ask where is the Friday News. This may reflect a lack of interest on the part of some jaded players, but I think there's also a few other parts to it.
In times gone by, the Friday News would often appear by lunchtime (not in the Douglas Adams sense, but not far off) and if it didn't appear you'd usually have a thread appearing asking where's the news etc.
Been a very long time now since I've seen anyone actually bothered if the News appears or not.
Why?
Well for a start GOA post it last thing on a Friday now. Most heated debating seems to get done while people are working (!) or during the day when peeps want a bit of web bufoonery for a break here or there.
I think the other reason (and yes, this is a very direct smack at GOA) is because the Friday News has become fairly meaningless to the community.
It says nothing about anything generally. If you check the content of the News for quite some time now, its mostly re-worded snippets from the Camelot Herald, which I think most people go look at anyway directly to find out what is coming.
Having GOA post "Here's something you're not getting for a very long time" is actually a bit silly of them. Though its fair enough to be told of these things, its fairly obvious that its a slap dash approach to showing some interest in the community without actually making any effort to take part in that community.
Its a massively multiplayer game. This is not like other games where people just load it up, blast baddies by themselves for a few hours then go away. Its the type of game that generates a communuty around itself and needs that community to thrive therefore any company that is serious about keeping that community alive has to *actively* make that effort not only to be a part of it but to be *seen* to be part of it.
GOA's track record in feedback to the community is nothing short of appalling, its the only area I really have a problem with them. The GMs seem to do a good enough job in-game from what little I know, but the public face of GOA is one with egg on its chin from the various calamities they've brought on themselves over time.
They would serve themselves much better by making a stronger effort to show a friendlier face to the community.
A copy and paste Friday News is pretty much a symptom of this casual attitude to the people that pay their bills.
Tips good, warnings of scams good, updates on patch progress good (though I have to qualify that one. Its fairly obvious there's no news on this, each Friday News has a variant on "We're working on it" and thats about all).
GOA, improve your Friday News by making a stronger effort to be part of the community and making at least a part of the news regularly things from within the community. If not part of the news, then do it in another way, you aren't short of webspace there.
And please stop simply recycling news from elsewhere, its fairly obvious. Post a link to the source in a single paragraph instead of making filler-news.