5 ms·

I never realized the level of feelings of entitlement and melodrama from gamers until I ran a passion project to make a private server for a dead game. We don't

I never realized the level of feelings of entitlement and melodrama from gamers until I ran a passion project to make a private server for a dead game. We don't even accept donations and people still treat the dev team like dirt, and will often write nasty manifestos about how we are ruining their lives or we don't know what we are doing and if only we would listen to their every whim, etc... It's one of those things, though, that reveals the human inclination to remember negative events more even among a sea of positive events... Frequently as a game developer you will get loads of positive and helpful feedback but the small minority that want to shit on you for no good reason stick in the front of your mind.

dleslie 9y ago
Out of curiousity, what's the project?
- jjjensen90 9y ago
  London 2038 https://london2038.com/ https://london2038.com/ It's a revival of the MMOARPG Hellgate: London which released in 2007, closed in 2009, was revived as a pay-to-win Korean reincarnation in 2011 and shut down again in 2015. Our version matches the version of the game from 2009.
  - dleslie 9y ago
    Hey, I've heard of this! Good work. :D One thing I notice from your site is that you provide _many_ ways of giving feedback. The Discord widget, the 'Contact Us' menu item, the FAQ is peppered with communication links, there's a Forum, Wiki, et al. Basically, I'm seeing an incredibly low barrier to entry for anyone wanting to express themselves to the developers. Have you considered paring that back? IE, ensuring all communication channels are moderated, and limiting it to only one or two services?
    - jjjensen90 9y ago
      Great feedback, I have actually done a lot to pare it down since we launched open alpha last Halloween. Typically people know now to make forum posts for long-term discussions and to come chat in Discord for quick back and forth. Nobody has actually used the contact form on the site, now that you mention it. My team of community manager volunteers is pretty active with moderation in-game and out-of-game so it's gotten pretty good. But still, I think I need to isolate myself and the other developers from the public, because it can be really demoralizing when you spend 30-40 hours of free time per week on a side project for free and you hear some terrible things.
      - dleslie 9y ago
        Sounds like you've got a sound plan, and I whole-heartily endorse placing a barrier and filter between you and your fellow developers and the community at large. :)
woolvalley 9y ago
I think it comes from a combination of a good set of the potential populace being children, the content being mostly emotional and not needing to be professionally employed to use the game. Those 3 things alone are great filters in getting good users and you are lacking that in games.

dleslie 9y ago

Out of curiousity, what's the project?

jjjensen90 9y ago
London 2038 https://london2038.com/ https://london2038.com/ It's a revival of the MMOARPG Hellgate: London which released in 2007, closed in 2009, was revived as a pay-to-win Korean reincarnation in 2011 and shut down again in 2015. Our version matches the version of the game from 2009.
- dleslie 9y ago
  Hey, I've heard of this! Good work. :D One thing I notice from your site is that you provide _many_ ways of giving feedback. The Discord widget, the 'Contact Us' menu item, the FAQ is peppered with communication links, there's a Forum, Wiki, et al. Basically, I'm seeing an incredibly low barrier to entry for anyone wanting to express themselves to the developers. Have you considered paring that back? IE, ensuring all communication channels are moderated, and limiting it to only one or two services?
  - jjjensen90 9y ago
    Great feedback, I have actually done a lot to pare it down since we launched open alpha last Halloween. Typically people know now to make forum posts for long-term discussions and to come chat in Discord for quick back and forth. Nobody has actually used the contact form on the site, now that you mention it. My team of community manager volunteers is pretty active with moderation in-game and out-of-game so it's gotten pretty good. But still, I think I need to isolate myself and the other developers from the public, because it can be really demoralizing when you spend 30-40 hours of free time per week on a side project for free and you hear some terrible things.
    - dleslie 9y ago
      Sounds like you've got a sound plan, and I whole-heartily endorse placing a barrier and filter between you and your fellow developers and the community at large. :)

woolvalley 9y ago

I think it comes from a combination of a good set of the potential populace being children, the content being mostly emotional and not needing to be professionally employed to use the game. Those 3 things alone are great filters in getting good users and you are lacking that in games.