Raph Koster discusses the nature of feedback......

I actually agree with this for the most part. The parts I have a concern about are simply the fact that even if the devs take said rants and "re-interpret) as you say "what is the person actually upset about" and how to improve on that. The OPs tend to still complain that said dev did not listen and did not fix immediately. Or acknowledge that there was an issue and also not listening. Additionally some of the complaints are just there to complain and not often suggesting what would "improve" anything or are so outlandish to border on the absurd both in cost, technology, or both. Sometimes an idiot is just an idiot and you say thank you and move along.

I also don't think that there would be anyone here that would not acknowledge that there are bugs and issues with the game. However, minor issues get blown up into game breaking bugs, and some feel the direction of the game is so catastrophic to the game will at any moment shut down. People respond to extremism in kind:

ex. someone posts statement : Game will turn off tomorrow!!!
Someone response "no it won't" game is healthy AND growing.
OP responds with a "prove it" and any proof offered is summarily dismissed and the responder labeled as a "fanboy"

Is this a verbatim post, not, is this a generalization of some of the threads here, I believe it is. When people tend to post emotionally about a subject those that respond with logic, reason, and counter points invariably will end up pointing out the absurdity of the original post in some way or form and thus OPs take it as a personal attack and things degenerate from there. Just by pointing out that an emotional person has no reason to be emotional causes an emotional response.

Not to bring politics into it but it is a part of our culture as are these forums are a portal into that culture. As simple and pointless example. One side wishes to put protections around a subclass (say cats). Those who disagree with giving special considerations to cats (for any various reasons) must immediately be against cats and thus are treated as such. Since the ONLY reason you would ever be against MUST be because you hate cats. Since those in for it (for various reasons) are trying to help cats, the opposition by nature MUST be against cats and thus hate cats.

There are a couple of accepted truths in MMOs, from what I've been told (from half a dozen community managers for major titles as well as several designers). One is, the majority of the playerbase never posts on the forums. The second, and most important in some circles (which might be a corollary to the first), is that the vast majority of people who cycle (or 'churn') through your game, will never tell you why they left. They'll ignore exit surveys and just stop paying and playing. So you're left with listening to a subset of players who do communicate (in a manner of speaking) with you. The loudest of those people are the so-called "haters". Then you have the "fanboys" who love to blow (indo) smoke up yer arse. The smallest group are those who will give you solid, detailed feedback that you can sift through and investigate.

What I'm saying is, you're advocating listening to a group that often comprises less than 1% of a game's playerbase. City of Heroes players might remember Arcanaville, who was perhaps the best example that comes to mind. Detailed feedback with examples that could be demonstrated ingame (in the case of wonky mechanics). If you're only listening to 1% of your player's feedback, you'd be missing out on HUGE opportunities. Even the haters betray their passion for the game, if only in their disappointment. But this is where a strong community team comes in. They sift through the detritus. They stick their hands in the elephant dung to pull out the semiprecious gem. Or, at least, that's what they typically do if they're good. The community team is the filter. So while all feedback can be useful, it'll only be as useful as the people collecting it.

In the modern era of MMOs.. they also have server side telemetry to harvest and analyze a wealth of data of all kinds..including where players spend their time, what they are doing, and even when they are chipping their teeth on content. It's only one piece of course.. but when the vocal minority make lavish claims about things.. the devs have the telemetry to go in and probe and around and test the claims to see if they are actually anywhere near true. They also are free to view in game activity at any time, any where, and can even follow a character around live (or electronic) if they choose to. So claims in the end must be more then hot air before they will act on them.

Yea, feedback from the community is a small part of an overall mechanic used to gauge how players feel about the game.

One thing I will note, however, is that the forum members represent a "slice" of the playerbase, and in that way, much like a poll, they could represent an overall trend in opinion if other metrics fall in line with the mood.

That is a shortsided conclusion. Do you have children? When raising them do you plan to only point out when they did something wrong or do you plan to also praise them when they do something right?

You are twisting something to fit your own agenda. Its clear as day.

I am critical about what i think is bad and i praise what i think was done right. Just doing one of them doesnt exactly look unbiased.

You have a right to consider it a shortsided conclusion. I think most folks would not agree however.

What is clear as day is that you obviously take offense to the post, and therefore felt you would attempt to somehow reduce my reputation by claiming I have an agenda. That alone is rather amusing.

Funny thing is my opinion means next to nothing, so all you accomplished is a good dose of lack of self respect.

Your final comment proves to me you completely missed the point of the blog post. I really didn't think it's point would be lost on anyone.

wow, sounds like someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.

"most folks" is an assumption i don't think you have evidence to support. "what is clear as day" is not that clear. "lack of self respect" is not something that happened for either you or the poster.

anyway, i do like the link you posted. i don't think you should let nemmar's post reduce your self respect.

also, while i understand and agree with andryah's post about metrics, i don't think it's a substitute from talking to a and listening to the players. i would also like to remind those that don't seem to understand, when people say mean things it's often because they're angry. if you understand they're angry, and don't try to flame them or troll bait them, and if you have a little patience as well as a little sense, you might understand what it is that makes them angry. posts with "you are braindead imbeciles" often are the golden feedback posts that are so hard to come by. and sometimes a player sees a problem but doesn't know the solution. the solution doesn't have to be part of good feedback. bioware employs professionals who spend all day figuring that stuff out, they're in a far better position to figure out a solution that most players in some cases.

Data analysis from within the game using the incredible power of modern business intelligence systems is worth much more than the 1% of voices on the forums.

That said, voices on the forum add valuable clues and information to the data that no developer should pass up.

You cant reason with an unreasonable person, so the goal should not be to please someone who cant be pleased. However, an unreasonable person can still provide clues as to how a product can be improved, and improving it benefits all of your customers, even if it doesnt get recognition from that unreasonable person.

Absolutely correct Nagus! ALL feedback should be appreciated...especially because VERY FEW give ANY feedback, they just walk away.