How would you view Crytek's communication with the community

Post » Wed Dec 01, 2010 11:16 pm

Okay, as the topic says, how do you view it? The reason I am asking is that on here I see constant streams of people saying 'Crytek don't care about us', or 'Crytek don't bother commenting', or even 'Crytek delete my posts but don't bother commenting'. Now, I would like to make this clear that in no way is this topic being created to flame Crytek, EA, or even Crysis 2 as personally I think Crytek have done an excellent job with the game and I think its brilliant and really shows off how talented the company is. I would like to see how people view the way that Crytek have been communicating with the community about all the problems in a constructive way, in the hope that Crytek will look at the responses and take on board what people feel. Hopefully this will then drastically limit the amount of topics created that are, well, negative or not constructive in anyway. If this topic descends into chaos then I would have no objection to a mod deleting (or locking) it because, as I say, that's not my intention.

Okay, so on that note I would like to say that I feek their communication could be better. Cry-Adam has posted a few times and even said that the suggestion for turning off the nanosuit voice has been passed on, which should please some people. I don't for one minute doubt that Crytek don't read these forums, but in terms of communicating, they could improve.
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sam
 
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Post » Thu Dec 02, 2010 7:46 am

Aside from Cry-Tom and Cry-Adam, what communication?
And even not ignoring them, all I've seen them say is "we're working on it" or as you said "It's been passed on" <--paraphrasing obviously.
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matt
 
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Post » Thu Dec 02, 2010 7:08 am

I wouldnt bother responding to the hunders of "blah blah blade of grass! blah blah textures! blah blah DX11" threads either.

Or well I would reply. But assuming I was a forum mod i'd prolly lose my job very damn fast for the reply.
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Shelby Huffman
 
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Post » Thu Dec 02, 2010 9:20 am

what communication? We just get flushed down the toilet just like crap
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Karl harris
 
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Post » Thu Dec 02, 2010 1:20 am

baddest pr work/customer support i've seen so far in the gaming industry.
FUBAR.
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Victoria Vasileva
 
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Post » Wed Dec 01, 2010 7:08 pm

baddest pr work/customer support i've seen so far in the gaming industry.
FUBAR.

Worse than no communication? C'mon.

Things could be made a bit clearer via stickies and such. As it is now, you kind of have to sift through the crap to read their posts.
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Amy Smith
 
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Post » Wed Dec 01, 2010 6:22 pm

Worse than no communication? C'mon.

Things could be made a bit clearer via stickies and such. As it is now, you kind of have to sift through the crap to read their posts.

Yeah, you do have to search. If they simply said 'We hear your requests, and are working hard to fix what needs to be fixed, more details to follow when we are ready' then that would silence loads of people. Partly because they have just told people they are aware of the issues, but also because they have taken the time to make the community aware they are listening, which some people think they don't do.
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Kelsey Anna Farley
 
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Post » Wed Dec 01, 2010 6:21 pm

Worse than no communication? C'mon.

Things could be made a bit clearer via stickies and such. As it is now, you kind of have to sift through the crap to read their posts.

Yeah, you do have to search. If they simply said 'We hear your requests, and are working hard to fix what needs to be fixed, more details to follow when we are ready' then that would silence loads of people. Partly because they have just told people they are aware of the issues, but also because they have taken the time to make the community aware they are listening, which some people think they don't do.
Even if they did that, people wouldn't stop complaining- they'd just want more details and painfully specific dates that'll probably never be met due to certification on the consoles. The other problem is that the Devs actually don't show up here (but they probably read this stuff), so basically Cry-Adam and Cry-Tom are stuck in the same boat we are, waiting for info to come down from higher up.
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Scared humanity
 
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Post » Wed Dec 01, 2010 10:43 pm

Even if they did that, people wouldn't stop complaining- they'd just want more details and painfully specific dates that'll probably never be met due to certification on the consoles. The other problem is that the Devs actually don't show up here (but they probably read this stuff), so basically Cry-Adam and Cry-Tom are stuck in the same boat we are, waiting for info to come down from higher up.

Yeah, that sounds about right. They could just do what BioWare do though, by saying that they have sent it off to Sony and Microsoft for certification which takes about a week. It might not eliminate the problem of whiners entirely, but would at least reduce the whining even a little.
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kristy dunn
 
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Post » Thu Dec 02, 2010 2:48 am

I wouldnt bother responding to the hunders of "blah blah blade of grass! blah blah textures! blah blah DX11" threads either.

Or well I would reply. But assuming I was a forum mod i'd prolly lose my job very damn fast for the reply.

That's why you aren't a forum mod. Being a mod means that you are required to exhibit a certain amount of professional courtesy to your constituency, or you lose your job. Alternatively, you could just remain silent during the public out-cry, not even attempt to placate the legitimate complaints (nobody is asking them to respond to every single troll thread), and only release the barest minimum of information, neglecting even to comment on any follow-up questions. Overall, the communication on this forum from the mods is pretty damn shoddy, but that seems to be the trend these days. You visit certain indie games' forums, and almost every post has a direct response from a forum mod and sometimes even a developer. I see no reason why larger companies can't do the same.
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Yonah
 
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Post » Thu Dec 02, 2010 10:15 am

Even if they did that, people wouldn't stop complaining- they'd just want more details and painfully specific dates that'll probably never be met due to certification on the consoles. The other problem is that the Devs actually don't show up here (but they probably read this stuff), so basically Cry-Adam and Cry-Tom are stuck in the same boat we are, waiting for info to come down from higher up.

Yeah, that sounds about right. They could just do what BioWare do though, by saying that they have sent it off to Sony and Microsoft for certification which takes about a week. It might not eliminate the problem of whiners entirely, but would at least reduce the whining even a little.
I've been a member of the Bioware forums since before ME2 came out and they never announce patches going to Microsoft certification (at least not in the Mass Effect forums). But I agree, anything to reduce the whining, even by a little bit, is fine by me.
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Gemma Flanagan
 
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Post » Wed Dec 01, 2010 11:41 pm

"]I've been a member of the Bioware forums since before ME2 came out and they never announce patches going to Microsoft certification (at least not in the Mass Effect forums). But I agree, anything to reduce the whining, even by a little bit, is fine by me.

I've seen Eurogamer post articles quoting BioWare employees saying they have sent it off to Sony and Microsoft for certification. I'm not on the BioWare forums because they seem a bit draconian over there.

But yeah, keep the replies coming guys, Crytek can only address what the community want. And if the community want a bit more communication, hopefully they will take on board what people ask for.
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gary lee
 
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Post » Thu Dec 02, 2010 8:05 am

Good.
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Stat Wrecker
 
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Post » Wed Dec 01, 2010 9:28 pm

I wouldnt bother responding to the hunders of "blah blah blade of grass! blah blah textures! blah blah DX11" threads either.

Or well I would reply. But assuming I was a forum mod i'd prolly lose my job very damn fast for the reply.

The reason why we are focusing on things like textures is because that's what we were promised. The game was advertised as being cutting-edge and pushing the boundaries of technology. DX9 is not cutting edge. Horrible textures is not pushing boundaries. Does this look good to you? http://img340.imageshack.us/f/crysis22011032615273578.png/

It looks God-Awful to me.

On-topic: What communication? They have said next to nothing useful (With the exception of 1 or 2 useful announcements) in the past 8 months.
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Leonie Connor
 
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Post » Thu Dec 02, 2010 4:46 am

I actually think the communication is good, i posted "a question that only Crytek can answer" and Cry-Adam replied to it within half an hour,

The thing is half the topics about Crysis 2's patches and things, Cry-Adam and Cry-Tom know nothing about, (after all, i think they are volunteers from i'm not sure)

I feel for them sometimes becuase they must be under a hell of a lot of pressure, to be able to control many many posts about problems and situations were things arn't syncing properly, gltches, the matchmaking, thats quite hard to deal with quickly with 2 people, plus they may not know anything about the patch date or anything.

I would expect more people as moderators though, thats my only complaint.
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Megan Stabler
 
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Post » Thu Dec 02, 2010 8:39 am

Bungie. nuff said. #1 customer service who listen to the fans.
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Mari martnez Martinez
 
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Post » Wed Dec 01, 2010 8:06 pm

Community Managers know very little. Though, their job is to be the voice between the team, and the community.

This place reminds me of IW forums at current state. Bowling never bothered to reply to half the things, and would use twitter, rather than using the forums. (Not sure how often Twitter is used here)

All they can really say is, "I'll pass it on", with the hope they actually do. Though, who knows?

I'd say average. Since, I dont really expect much anymore from forums. Hence why I don't post a lot.
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Rhi Edwards
 
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Post » Wed Dec 01, 2010 7:46 pm

I think the communication has been poor. The main thing I think urks me is a lack of specific patch notes for each platform. So far, as a 360 Crysis 2 player, I've seen inaccurate patch notes which appear to be for the PS3 and PC, but not the 360.

Even as I type this, a new Update has hit Xbox Live. And there's no mention of this new update and what it does by Crytek officials anywhere in the 360 forum. The initial and seemingly incorrect, yet stickied, patch notes thread hasn't been amended.

When you consider the fact that when a 360 Update is done, it has to go through Microsoft Certification, which can take a number of days and up to 2 weeks, I can't quite get how in that time when the patch was out of CryTek's hands, they couldn't have shot an e-mail to one of the community staff?

I can be patient, if they flat-out come out and say "Going to take 4 months to fix. After PC and DX11 is done." But this up in the air deal is doing my head in. I paid for a game with some significant bugs in it. Patch notes and a really rough time-frame isn't too much to ask I think.

As I said in another thread, the best workaround I can find at the moment is: Portal 2
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Gavin boyce
 
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Post » Wed Dec 01, 2010 6:36 pm

Worse than no communication? C'mon.

Things could be made a bit clearer via stickies and such. As it is now, you kind of have to sift through the crap to read their posts.

Yeah, you do have to search. If they simply said 'We hear your requests, and are working hard to fix what needs to be fixed, more details to follow when we are ready' then that would silence loads of people. Partly because they have just told people they are aware of the issues, but also because they have taken the time to make the community aware they are listening, which some people think they don't do.

i feel the same way. it's like a ghost town on these forums. if they haven't fixed the issues i am never buying another Crytek product again.
i may be being a bit harsh, but i got the Nano Edition of the game which cost me $224.89 which includes $4.90 freight so i feel pretty ripped off. the collector's items are nice but not being able to play MP after 2 months is just ridiculous.

Overall, the communication on this forum from the mods is pretty damn shoddy, but that seems to be the trend these days. You visit certain indie games' forums, and almost every post has a direct response from a forum mod and sometimes even a developer. I see no reason why larger companies can't do the same.

because they just care about the money. they're no longer doing it for the love like back in the 90s and early 2000s. now that most publishers are corporate giants once they have your money they no longer care.
it's a wonder why so many games are pirated. people don't want to shell out $90+ for a game that doesn't work out of the box as advertised.
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Katie Samuel
 
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