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Thread: Letter from the Game Director - My last update

  1. #101
    Quote Originally Posted by Ilaliya View Post
    Don't be too worried about this, it was my decision not to have a direct hand-off in the goodbye letter. What is a "Game Director"? There are really two completely separate jobs. One is the creative lead & stakeholder on the project... so it's basically a Lead Designer with personnel responsibilities. The second job is the community aspect, and being highly visible on the forums and posting a letter every month, and this kind of thing.

    But whether or not the creative leadership ends up doing a lot of forum posting is kind of immaterial to the development of the game. If anyone is wondering, I'll write the letter this month.
    I'll just point out that Tryndamere, the CEO of Riot Games posts on their forums frequently. As does the League of Legends Project Leader, Riot's version of Game Director. I'll also point out that they let their Community Relations Manager and Lead Designer post before the release of every patch and give insight into why changes are being made. They put up with a whole hell of a lot more trolling as well, because they know that people are passionate about their game. Well we, the AO forums community, are pretty damn passionate about this game.

    So yeah, creative leadership communication is very important to a game. It's one of the reasons League of Legends is making money hand over fist. If you don't think so you should just follow Lindelu out the door and get someone in your position that understands that you are selling a product to me and everyone else here, the customers, and start treating us, your cash-flow positive cow, a bit better than we have been the last few years.
    Last edited by Kopecz; Sep 19th, 2012 at 16:47:15.
    Quote Originally Posted by Esssch View Post
    I think you're wrong. I think AO is the most balanced MOBA out there.

  2. #102
    Quote Originally Posted by lindelu View Post
    Noone is going down here! If you're on rk2 add my mains Aiea or Monofilament (:
    Which, by the way, shows that Devs don't necessarily play Omni, contrary to popular belief.

    LOL I gave Cost/CM so many times to your doc in the past.
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  3. #103
    Quote Originally Posted by Chrisax View Post
    Which, by the way, shows that Devs don't necessarily play Omni, contrary to popular belief.

    but it DOES show that devs play advies which is why it's such a lovechild prof

  4. #104
    Quote Originally Posted by Mastablasta View Post
    Can we not have this nonsense please? How would the game be profitable with a team of 13 people + QA if all the money the remaining subscribers spend on it went to somewhere else?
    How is that mutually exclusive? The subscribers pay enough to cover the costs of running the game and the rest of it (the profitability that you mention) gets invested into other games (such as AoC or TSW) rather than back into the game that has the profitability to begin with. It's not that tough of a concept.

  5. #105
    Quote Originally Posted by Ilaliya View Post
    Don't be too worried about this, it was my decision not to have a direct hand-off in the goodbye letter. What is a "Game Director"? There are really two completely separate jobs. One is the creative lead & stakeholder on the project... so it's basically a Lead Designer with personnel responsibilities. The second job is the community aspect, and being highly visible on the forums and posting a letter every month, and this kind of thing. The reason these roles are combined on AO to be perfectly honest is because it was a job tailored to the specific strengths of a former head of the project.

    We still have creative leadership on Anarchy Online, features are still getting designed and implemented. Just today, we're fixing bugs in our Halloween content, working on animations for the new engine, improving the NPE based on internal feedback, getting some database work done for the server merge, etc. We have the same direction. Our priorities are still the engine, server merge, NPE, and systems changes.

    We were planning for a much smoother hand-off, but we all knew this day was coming when Fia would return home. We just have to throw the goodbye party a few months earlier than expected. But whether or not the creative leadership ends up doing a lot of forum posting is kind of immaterial to the development of the game. If anyone is wondering, I'll write the letter this month.
    Have to disagree. Keeping in touch with the customers is important. Luckily we still have GM's like Michizure and Vhab so I don't think it will be a big problem, but keeping in touch with the community is really important for a game. If the players don't get feedback, the game will die
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  6. #106
    Fia,

    Good luck with your future plans ... you will be missed. I had no idea you were planned to be in Montreal for only one year or that you were away from your family all this time.

    Kinnik

    ---> A question ... I looked for the prior thread on this from June timeframe and it was closed ...

    Quote Originally Posted by Ilaliya View Post
    Don't be too worried about this, it was my decision not to have a direct hand-off in the goodbye letter. What is a "Game Director"? There are really two completely separate jobs. One is the creative lead & stakeholder on the project... so it's basically a Lead Designer with personnel responsibilities. The second job is the community aspect, and being highly visible on the forums and posting a letter every month, and this kind of thing. The reason these roles are combined on AO to be perfectly honest is because it was a job tailored to the specific strengths of a former head of the project.

    We still have creative leadership on Anarchy Online, features are still getting designed and implemented. Just today, we're fixing bugs in our Halloween content, working on animations for the new engine, improving the NPE based on internal feedback, getting some database work done for the server merge, etc. We have the same direction. Our priorities are still the engine, server merge, NPE, and systems changes.

    We were planning for a much smoother hand-off, but we all knew this day was coming when Fia would return home. We just have to throw the goodbye party a few months earlier than expected. But whether or not the creative leadership ends up doing a lot of forum posting is kind of immaterial to the development of the game. If anyone is wondering, I'll write the letter this month.
    Will we still see the player city voucher and a set of 'all the buildings you can imagine' given to org leaders in advance of the server migration as Lindelu mentioned in an earlier monthly update? For both outdoor and instanced player cities since all org's must be reformed as part of the migration, not just orgs with an outdoor city?

    Kinnik

  7. #107

    Funcom employee

    Quote Originally Posted by Kinnikinnick View Post
    Will we still see the player city voucher and a set of 'all the buildings you can imagine' given to org leaders in advance of the server migration as Lindelu mentioned in an earlier monthly update? For both outdoor and instanced player cities since all org's must be reformed as part of the migration, not just orgs with an outdoor city?

    Kinnik
    Organizations will be transferred with the server merge.
    Members will basically rejoin the org as their characters get merged to the new server.
    For technical and design reasons, member ranks will be reset. Except for the organization leader, who gets to keep his/her rank.

    The organization leader will be given the voucher to rebuild the city on behalf of the organization.
    My posts are my own and do not reflect the views of my current nor former employers/clients

    Remco "Vhab" van Oosterhout
    Former Anarchy Online Game Programmer


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  8. #108

    Funcom employee

    Quote Originally Posted by Vhab View Post
    Organizations will be transferred with the server merge.
    Members will basically rejoin the org as their characters get merged to the new server.
    For technical and design reasons, member ranks will be reset. Except for the organization leader, who gets to keep his/her rank.

    The organization leader will be given the voucher to rebuild the city on behalf of the organization.
    And also I should add that if you are in an org whose leader is a deleted character, you should get this resolved (vs CS) before the merge and make sure there is an actual leader. I will make a more formal announcement about this, and related things, when we do a more detailed post about the server merge.

  9. #109
    Quote Originally Posted by Gunfytr View Post
    Ok, this is a WTF moment.
    This....

    and sad to see you leave... and Kintaii too...

    Wish you both the best of luck in whatever you'll be doing from now on
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  10. #110
    Quote Originally Posted by Vhab View Post
    Organizations will be transferred with the server merge.
    Members will basically rejoin the org as their characters get merged to the new server.
    For technical and design reasons, member ranks will be reset. Except for the organization leader, who gets to keep his/her rank.

    The organization leader will be given the voucher to rebuild the city on behalf of the organization.
    Quote Originally Posted by Ilaliya View Post
    And also I should add that if you are in an org whose leader is a deleted character, you should get this resolved (vs CS) before the merge and make sure there is an actual leader. I will make a more formal announcement about this, and related things, when we do a more detailed post about the server merge.
    Thank you both for very fast response

    Do organizations with instanced city receive the voucher also? It may be appropriate for them also since I-city sizes seem to be changing ...

    Kinnik

  11. #111
    While I was not as fond as most others of the changes you made, and had planned to make, None the less I am sad to see you go. Thank you for your hard work and patience these last 10 months, I wish you the best and a get-well for your ill loved one.

  12. #112

    Funcom employee

    Quote Originally Posted by Kinnikinnick View Post
    Thank you both for very fast response

    Do organizations with instanced city receive the voucher also? It may be appropriate for them also since I-city sizes seem to be changing ...

    Kinnik
    Yes. Organizations with either an instanced or non-instanced city will get a voucher. The reason instanced city owners get a voucher is because we are greatly improving instanced cities, and we want people to be able to re-make their choices.

  13. #113
    Quote Originally Posted by Lazy View Post
    but it DOES show that devs play advies which is why it's such a lovechild prof
    Confirmed: Devs suck at playing their Advys so hard they've had to give it love at every available opportunity!

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  14. #114
    HEY! /me tapes Linde and Kintaii to the Chairs.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lazy View Post
    it's written in the bible.
    Matthew 23:13 "and the trader hath casteth bulk trader at the young age of 14. and it was good. and so he hath an extra 260 comp lit and he hath equippeth better ncu's. and it was good too.
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  15. #115
    Quote Originally Posted by Vhab View Post
    Organizations will be transferred with the server merge.
    Members will basically rejoin the org as their characters get merged to the new server.
    For technical and design reasons, member ranks will be reset. Except for the organization leader, who gets to keep his/her rank.

    The organization leader will be given the voucher to rebuild the city on behalf of the organization.
    This sound great, however I do have a question related to org ranks.

    Will the "/org demote" command ever be upgraded so that an org leader can demote a member who is offline?

    This would be a good thing since sometimes Officers go MIA and there is no way to demote them.
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  16. #116
    Quote Originally Posted by Gimpeline View Post
    Have to disagree. Keeping in touch with the customers is important. Luckily we still have GM's like Michizure and Vhab so I don't think it will be a big problem, but keeping in touch with the community is really important for a game. If the players don't get feedback, the game will die
    I'll just point out that both Michi and Vhab are both devs
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  17. #117
    haha..... advy is a nerfed prof ... especially ranged one that chain ch in duels thaa!!!!

  18. #118
    Quote Originally Posted by Vhab View Post
    Organizations will be transferred with the server merge.
    Members will basically rejoin the org as their characters get merged to the new server.
    For technical and design reasons, member ranks will be reset. Except for the organization leader, who gets to keep his/her rank.

    The organization leader will be given the voucher to rebuild the city on behalf of the organization.
    How about organizations where the leader's accounts are frozen and they either cannot afford to re-subscribe or simply do not wish to do so until further in the future when more changes are made?

    City rent is still maintained, and there are active players, so this would mean players would be both without a city and without a rank. Even if we had a city somehow, without an organization rank the city is still unuseable unless city raids will be changed to allow anyone to drop the cloaks.


    Perhaps some alternative option, such as an e-mail from the current president or a way to temporary transfer leadership away from and then back to the current president? Either way, I think this might turn into a much bigger problem than anticipated.

  19. #119
    Quote Originally Posted by Gimpeline View Post
    ... If the players don't get feedback, the game will die
    My initial response would have probably gotten me banned (like others) so I won't respond to this.

    So instead I will go a different direction. We have 2 known facts. 1. Funcom is in financial trouble. 2. The in-game player base is dwindling daily. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out where things are going. It was stated that development continues. Why?

    I would hope that an answer to "Why?" sheds light on the plan to turn AO around. Certainly nobody is happy with the condition of AO now. So, what are you going to do about it? We are looking for the vision that is going to turn things around. Can we help?

    Or is the Funcom just milking the cow?

  20. #120
    Quote Originally Posted by Windguaerd View Post
    This sound great, however I do have a question related to org ranks.

    Will the "/org demote" command ever be upgraded so that an org leader can demote a member who is offline?

    This would be a good thing since sometimes Officers go MIA and there is no way to demote them.
    If your organization's leader changes the form of government, then everyone is demoted and you can re-promote active members appropriately. Granted this takes time, but it works if you need to free up leadership ranks.

    Quote Originally Posted by Gatester View Post
    How about organizations where the leader's accounts are frozen and they either cannot afford to re-subscribe or simply do not wish to do so until further in the future when more changes are made?

    City rent is still maintained, and there are active players, so this would mean players would be both without a city and without a rank. Even if we had a city somehow, without an organization rank the city is still unuseable unless city raids will be changed to allow anyone to drop the cloaks.


    Perhaps some alternative option, such as an e-mail from the current president or a way to temporary transfer leadership away from and then back to the current president? Either way, I think this might turn into a much bigger problem than anticipated.
    I am not aware of the method as I have never used it, but I was told years ago by a GM that if an organization leader was offline for "long enough" then the active members of the organization could elect a new leader. Perhaps Ilaliya will cover this in the more detailed post about the server merge he mentioned above, or if you petition maybe a GM can tell you the process.

    Kinnik

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