Praise In Public, Criticize in Private...

To me it says that there is likely a problem with extremists. People that aren't being held accountable spewing out negativity and even attacking positive, constructive posts with intent to derail and demoralize.

I once thought the same thing as the OP, that people should consider PMing a dev instead of asking the community questions they couldn't answer. So I sent a PM to LB on behalf of @Lord_Darkmoon asking when we would have a solid launch date, and he actually replied! Of course, the answer we got was that we would have a solid launch date by the end of last year lol...

So I can understand the desire to post publicly at this point. I just think people need to hold the extremists of their cause accountable rather than smashing the like button on their posts just because they share an axe to grind.

 

I'm really speechless about this post and that doesn't happen very often

 

I think if criticism would have been handled different here in the very past, you would not have as much hate outside of these forums

They basically pushed people to vent outside... and although some of the stuff that gets posted outside makes me cringe as much as some of the stuff from the whitest knights in here... but a lot of the criticism had a point and in here it got just overlooked and labelled as hate. Of late I see a lot of valid concerns getting dev attention. So there's hope!

 

The last thing this game needs is the forums to become some kind of happy-clappy place where everything is rosey and any issues are kept private with the devs.

Most of the criticisms that appear on the forum are to me at least responsibly worded and constructively set out (at least until the threads are derailed for whatever reason). Some of the criticisms I agree with, some I do not but all need to be aired in public and the Port team respond likewise if they so wish.

I think the dev team are doing a fine job in this vital run up to release period but its important that peoples concerns and views ( as well as praise) be freely expressed here as long as its done in the right spirit, as that will be a great benefit to the game and its community in the long run.

 

most negative posts end up having sarcastic posts in them or passively insult a group of people or portalarium or have mopey comments like “noone listens to us, sold my stuff, etc”

And alot of folks who have thier threads locked or removed dont seem to be the cause but other folks disagreeing in one of the above ways is usually the cause.

There is admittedly alot of blatant instigation going on, but at the same time i think the word Troll is used too loosely.

 

One of the few tools us consumers have, is to get noisy online. Battlefront 2 from EA, is proof of this. Censoring that anger, will not get the intended results.

 

I'm all for being civil (quiet @Obsidian Tempest) I'd like to see that on both sides ie. don't cry when avatars go full on Caska when we pay several hundred dollars for something and you give it to everyone for free. No, I'm not going to let it go until you make it right. I'll take you at your word that you will address it after release but your track record is not very good.
I try to keep my ransuer peace bonded but I must confess there are certain things that make it difficult to praise in public or private.

 

I have to agree with the OP, there is a time and place for both. Pooping up the forums with negativity helps NO ONE!

 

Wait! Where have I heard this before...oh yeah :

 

I've been modded a lot but every time it's been for acceptable reasons as I tend to get a bit hot.

It's not @Berek or anyone at Port modding criticisms. It's some people here that are total "yes-men," meaning they do not say anything critical ever and shame those that do and it's pretty weird.

 

Welcome to Ye Olde Stepford Forums.

 

It's simpler for me - I always try to be polite, and use reasoning rather than shouting - but whether it's praise or criticism, I will keep on saying what I think to be true. I view involvement in SotA as being part of a community, not just as developer making something and asking what I might think of it afterwards, and public discussion in a community is vital if it is to have any purpose at all.

If I can persuade Portalarium or anyone else to change or reconsider what I think is incorrect, that's fine and is the entire point of a discussion like the ones we have here, and if I don't, so what? When people get overexcited and start causing real offence, then forum moderation should be handling it, and if it fails to do that job properly and consistently, either the system gets changed or people walk away from the forums. They are Portalarium's forum so they choose what happens - but they must never forget that this forum is only one of many discussion areas on the internet, and if someone's already annoyed about the way things get handled here, odds are good they will become even more 'negative' in what they then go on to put in many other - and frankly, likely more publicly known and read - forums and sites, and if people feel offended in some way the internet is great at letting them go WAY over the top without any repercussions to them....

If things really go off the rails in the way the game itself develops, I am not being forced to play this thing, no matter how much it matters to us as a mix of hope and commitment to the ideas behind it all, it's a game....... but I've failed to do my part of the deal if I simply stand by and watch stuff I disagree with lead to that situation. If you really think something is important enough, then you say it or do it - private or public in the context of game designing is almost never relevant.

 

Can you expound on your view point as to why you feel that way? This is very common advice.

 

Only on these forums can being positive be considered "pretty weird". I see a future lock on this thread incoming.

 

I don't think that Alleine was claiming that being positive was "pretty weird" . Rather she is saying that anyone being less than positive getting (in her words) shamed is "pretty weird"

There is a lot to be positive about in SOTA (and increasingly so with each release especially recently) but both sides of the debate need to be heard equally and fairly.

No reason for a threadlock at all.

 

I've read only the original post and none of the replies. The title and first paragraph gave me cause for concern. I am against posting only praise in public, and I think it would hurt the development of the game.

At the same time, I can agree with some of the sentiment expressed in the PS of the original post.

Constructive criticism is important. It helps to improve the game, and public discussion can lead to even better ideas.

Some people who are very critical of the game don't necessarily want to destroy the game but they do not have a talent for constructive criticism. I believe it is important for them to share their opinions regardless. I would urge users who like the game not to get riled up and go on the defensive simply because of the tone of the posts.

Some people hate the game and really want to harm it. Some of these people have already sold their accounts and don't play any more. For their own sakes, I would recommend that they concentrate on other games and things that they do like and leave the negativity behind. It's not helping anyone, least of all themselves.

 

While I've been in many professional, personal, and society endeavors, I am not an expert on how to give criticism (yet I've done it pretty effectively publicly and privately over my life).

So I like to turn to Google and look for articles to help me ... and to help others. Many of us don't have time to self-teach nor experiment with how to work together well. So I find others who have and do:

• How to Give Constructive Criticism: 6 Helpful Tips
  
• Praise in Public, Criticize in Private
  
  • Exception to the Rule: Great bosses don’t criticize in public, and they discourage employees from criticizing each other in public. However, they encourage employees to criticize them in public. Getting criticized in public gives the boss an opportunity to model appreciation for the criticism, to accept it as a gift.
• How Criticizing in Private Undermines Your Team

There are a lot more articles out there. For those interested, I suggest you spend a few moments searching and reading what the scholars and business people do and think on this topic too. After all, our player community in SotA is a microcosm of business, education, entertainment, and social enterprises. So their principles and methods can apply to us.

 

Let me tell you a story about what recently happened in german media on exactly that issue.

Germany has state financed television. A part of that is also online media. Special attention was received by an online program that was targeted at a young audience.

They spreaded several ideologies like, radical Feminism, soft-Islamism, Anti Hate Speech or other extreme left wing stuff like wage gap BS, body positivity, white privilege etc etc.
Interestingly the show got critiqued not only by the right wing, but by other left wing youtubers for spreading BS and spreading false facts and thus not really helping a liberal cause.
They never faced the criticism and never talked about it. Instead they tried to ridicule or label everyone not sharing their position as haters,
nazis etc etc. which lead to more people getting attention and the channels ridiculing them outgrew them by far.

So my advice here would be to stay with facts you can prove. Pulling arguments out of your head, virtue signalling or personal experience etc don't count in a debate (aka I WAS PKED ONCE) especially when people from the outside take a look at it.

Same goes for story elements and how it is presented. Also cases of community management, events and other stuff Portalarium does to promote the game.

To make a long story short, the YT show still runs on state subsidies and it is great fun to watch them getting ripped apart in tons of satiric youtube videos.
When I was young we opposed all the church stuff etc. that was promoted by that "state television", I guess some things never change
However a whole new debate has started now which puts to question the whole system of that kind of television subsidies, which overall a lot of people I think liked - but again those idiots manage to destroy a good idea with their BS...

 

I think the OP is right. I have cirticized SotA before and now I know that this was wrong, so wrong.
We should just accept praise here on the forums and go against any criticism.
No one should critcize SotA anymore!