Player Council

I would love to see SOTA implement a player council that can meet in game on a monthly/quarterly basis, to discuss items that the player community would like to see addressed. A representatives could travel to Central Brittany to a new council meeting hall. This is where only approved representatives can enter, discuss issues, hold votes, and give the devs some guidance about what is on the players' minds.

This doesn't have to be binding to the devs, but would work as a way for the devs to understand the gamers' issues. It would also be a great in-game event. All players can descend on the city to sell goods, voice their concerns in the public square, etc. Meanwhile, inside the council hall, representatives are proposing ideas to be voted on.

If we want to make it work within the world's framework, it could be a quarterly visit to the Oracle. The Oracle watches over the council meeting and speaks on behalf of the devs. It can be written as players bringing their issues before the Oracle. The Oracle can become the game's defacto God.

The first meeting would include only dev suggested items to vote on. The devs could take some ideas from the wishlist forum and ask the council to vote on them. Then, the council can request up to five items be added to the next quarterly meeting. The council would have to vote on each item to be added. If the item is voted in, then it will be taken up at the next monthly/quarterly meeting. Then the devs can add five items, which would make a total of 10 items on each agenda. It doesn't even have to be changes to the game. Some of the items could just subscriber or streamer perks, in-game giveaways, upcoming events or contests, etc.

Who would be representatives? Maybe invite the top 10-20 players as based on play time or adventure level. Be sure to get a wide-range of specs such as a Fire Mage, a Ranger, a Heavy Armor Water Mage, etc.

 

As a real-time parliament that would be determined to fail. The devs would not have 24/7 to have someone being permanently present ingame as an Avatar and the players would have problems discussing anything starting already with the problem of different timezones.

The EU is +7 hours ahead of NBT/Texas Time for example.

If one wants to bring something to the attention of the devs there are the bug, the feedback and the wishlist forum.

 

They meet once a month or once a quarter. Agenda is tightly controlled and defined. Forums aren't a great way to engage players and certainly doesn't create publicity. Eve has been using a players' council for years to much success.

SOTA is a sandbox. A sandbox allows you to do anything, but often times lacks the motivation to do anything. Players and devs have to create that structure in-game. What is the point in creating a sandbox if you choose to do everything on the forums? New Britannia needs to feel alive and you make it feel alive by giving it life. A player's council isn't just a fun way to interact with players and make them feel more involved in the game. It is a great way to use the game world to effectuate change. Create the systems and then use them to solve real world problems.

 

That's a neat idea for sure.
The whole "use SotA instead of forums" idea is very nice tbh.
There's a Discord channel where elected players share their vision with devs. Problem is: the representatives are elected by the devs.

It's like the king elects the prime minister who elects the parliment that elects the people.

 

I think a category above hospitallers is required. One that could have stopped poor dev decisions.

We always needed to revisit how we considered elected representatives in game. Current in game royalty were distant at best.

 

I am thinking of the same concept but geared more toward wish list items. I think the meetings could be done outside the presence of the devs, but it only works if the devs take it seriously. What is the point in the community meeting to go over the top five requests or suggestions they have for the devs, if the devs are just going to ignore it?

This isn't a means to air complaints, but a way for the player base to feel connected to the devs. I am not saying that the devs have to agree with the player council. There will be reasons why items can't be accomplished. But at least the players will feel like they have a connection to the game. I wonder how much community involvement would have negated previous issues.

 

Hmm. Perhaps the issue was that in-game 'royalty' never felt they were 'heard' any differently than standard account players? Its been the Hospitallers who have had the devs ear, as we see described here.

 

"In game royalty". I am sure that those picked by whatever method would be excited. Those who are not picked, stiffed in some way? Do we need a dividing construct?

I feel the bug and feed back forums are well attended and gather plenty of Dev feed back. I am sure the Devs are doing the best they can to address both, to the best of their ability. The bug and feed back forums have been improved vastly since days past.

 

Judging from stream content, I can say at least one of the dev's trusted players has the ability of single handedly ask directly and privately for "combat balance for PvP" and it'll be taken very seriously.
As an average player, I couldn't find out whether said balance was done or not, and even worse than that I couldn't find out any hint of which skills/stats/etc would be affected!
One thing I know is pets got a relevant change recently as their DPS went down substantially. I'm not sure it was a balance pass or some kind of bug though, because I don't have access to the same, complete, info as other more important and trusted players do.

If we had a council democratically elected by the player base, this matter for example could have been more openly discussed with a greater sense of fairness. Even if said trusted player took dev's part and argued for their vision, it would have been possible to have a productive discussion.
I know a handful of tamers that are a bit upset with their new status and I don't think they can do the same as the trusted player, i.e. directly and privately ask to rollback the change. If they resort to posting on the wishlist forums, even with fleshed out propositions and fairly balanced common ground type compromises, the regular player type is likely to be ignored.

Why do I say this? The first step to solve a problem is by acknowledging its existance.
Otherwise you're commanding the problems to persist and grow.

 

All this talk about "being heard" could be replaced with "obey me".

So you don't think they listen anymore? I think they listen alot!!! Programing production has slowed to match gaming income, but programming sota isn't like ordering a cup of coffee or a happy meal. Whatever our programmers are inspired to do, that's what they should be doing. They do have a road map, a plan and plans within plans.

Where great player's feet are is where the leaders are, and it's always been this way.

I can count the number of current posts in our forums on a single hand, how would a "council" change that?

Everyone is heard here, but not every idea gains momentum.

~TL~

 

If you're not in the right "group of players" you won't get any feedback on your suggestions, no matter how well thought and relevant they are. It's not about obeying... it's about listening and communicating.

That's why I provided the example.

If devs took their 10 seconds to answer my suggestions with "cool idea but there are flaws and we don't have workforce to make it happen" or just "we have different plans for that feature" I would be fine with it.

If I were in that "trusted player think tank" (existance of which is hard evidence SotA players aren't created equal) I'm pretty sure I would get responses for my suggestions.

Like I said, the representatives of the people (average players) are elected by the gods (devs). So in Novia the voice of the people is barely heard.

And guess what? New players a few hours in are the peasantest of peasants, so they may have perceptions about the game that match more with those outside the think tank, because they don't have as deep and long lasting knowledge and connection to the game as the think tankers.