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Constructive criticism

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  • Registered: 2017-07-24
  • Topics: 29
  • Posts: 2271
On 2017-09-11 13:06:48Show All Posts
3#

Alas, most threads, deleted or not, are not constructive criticism. Here is a rough breakdown of complaints player file. Note the portions are estimations.


~25% are non-bug false-positives. This includes TI limit running out on Friday, arena reward for player who have not been six path etc. Where the game is working perfectly fine (note whether arena reward should be changed is another issue altogether, it's NOT a bug). But because players don't bother to verify and are hasty to complaint, those threads are made almost every week. Is it a wonder that sometimes mods are dismissive?


~15% are related to the user's network/computer. There are variety of things that can go wrong on the client end (note, I don't mean mini-client. Client end refers to the interface and machines used by users). And while sometimes the issue does rest with server, most of the time when there is a connection issue, it is something to do with the user. (Granted, poor packet loss handling etc is a problem, but again, different discussion). No, you are not "fine" just because you ran a random internet speed test. Did you know that most of those don't measure pocket loss? Did you know those test averages more than minimal? Did you know there are hundreds if not thousands of things that can be wrong despite a good test result? If less than 20% of your server population (minimal of 5, i.e. 20% of 25) is having the same issue, it's probably you. (I say probably because, again, it could be the server that have issue)


~20% are real issues, but merely cries of "fix dis" without understanding how things work. For example, masuri matching. I do agree that it is... sub-optimal. But people rarely think about the underlying causes. All they want is for the game to "fix" it, when quite frankly is impossible unless there is MECHANIC fix. The underlying problem is the low participant count in the matching pool at anytime due to the bracketing and length of event. So for the matching to be better, the event must be changed in and of itself. But no, most player don't care, they will just complain that it's bad and demand a fix.


~15% are subjective matters, such as water is OP. Subjectively speaking, I too believe they are. objectively speaking, good luck proving it. Now, you could show this my gathering statistic, such as % of player in space time finals that use a particular team. You may also reasonably omit players with super ptw ninjas, as you can argue that the ninja themselves are semi-justifiably OP due to the price tag. But in any case, if you actually want to make a case, you need to gather data. I have yet to see a single person who does this(on a side note, I have counted the class distribution of top 100 of space time several time. That's the most concrete data I have ever seen anywhere. Far too frequently posts are about a single fight that is out of balance due to upsetting large BP difference. But that's REALLY meaningless for proving a general problem). Personally? It doesn't affect me too much (no, not water main). Because my team handles them decent, they need to be at least within 10k of me. And being where I am, at 80k, most of my problems are in the form of ptw. And frankly, there is just no way that can be solved. But if you care, you should make a solid case with data.


~5% are stuff that player believes are a problem that mods don't. For example, nin/tai pent stat and advanced thread drop rate in SA. It's an uphill battle here when the mod already believe something firmly. For the former, I guess a 5-hour long video log of all sort of tests would be required. For the latter... I'm not sure if we can ever convincing them. But considering, as far as I know, NOBODY have gotten one in an entire month after the update.... Mind you, I don't blame the mods for this. I believe they are being lied to by the devs. And frankly, given that devs make the game, it makes sense for mods to trust devs more th*.


Then we have random pure rage that aren't any of the above. For example, this thread. Those maybe make up 10% of the total. Mind you, some of the previous category could be filled with rage and no substances as well, but at least the pertain to specific issues.


Then we have ~10% constructive criticism. The most frequent of those are on convoy/plunder topic. Where players actually offer up solutions. And that's what makes them constructive--solution proposals. Oh, and by the way, solutions must be reasonable and be backed up by rational. Random demands of "two free SS for everyone" is not a constructive criticism, not until you provide a reasoning for them. And certainly not, from a week or two ago, where someone flat out came out and asked for more free coupons, because why not?


So yeah, that is, unfortunately, where we are as a whole on this forum. Most players don't take sufficient time in constructing their threads and merely sprout them out when they are unsatisfied about some feature. And as a result, mods become antagonized and dismissive. It's not entirely their fault, they are people too. It makes sense that they grow tired and annoyed of people wasting their time and insulting them. This is why there are rarely people who have a career in customer support. The lackluster pay(usually) is one thing, but it's also because customers tend to be *beeps*. It's not just the forum users here either, it's people in general.


And for the record, no, not only 10% of the issues posted are valid issues. It's the matter of approach. For example, the "fix dis" ones. If properly constructed, those could ALL be constructive criticisms. But nope, most people doesn't go beyond the effort of crying "fix dis". As it were, probably up to 40-50% of all threads can be turned into proper constructive criticism if people spend the time and effort to properly back up their arguments and offer solutions without changing the subject matter. But.. well... we have about 10%.





This post was last edited by PraiseLuka on 2017-09-11 13:12:08.
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