Community Manager Position

[Torlo50]

As far as I can tell, after following Discord and the forums since the initial shit-storm that was the 1.5 release, it appears to me as if the Development Team needs an official PR Guy/Gal of some kind, a Community Manager, if you will. Honestly, having the Developers getting angry at individuals in the community, especially the trolls (you know who you are), and having that reflect their ability to do their work is an impediment on us all. So, in the effort of cooperation and understanding, I would like to list what a community Manager would need, whether this be particular personality traits, certain authority in certain areas, excreta. Now, this isn't something one man can do... well... it is, but getting feedback from lots of people brainstorming at once, and then formulated into a concrete ideas and list seems to me like a good idea. I have somethings listed below, but it is all subject to change and discussion. Adding things, and taking them away will be based upon feedback gathered from among the many. With no rules and regulations to a job tittle, the title means nothing, and no one knows what to expect. This is to fix this. Really a Community Manager is a shield from harassment, and a filter for feedback. (-MaceMundunusus) Having this in mind, here is a list of thing that a CM needs to either keep in mind, or do:

• Having a direct line to the current Team Leader, to inform and receive any information.
• Needing the time to communicate on a regular basis (at least once a day) on the forums and/or Discord.
• Being able to listen, without argument or controversy, to someone's feedback.
• Ability to gather the feeling of the community from all sides, and searching for the nonvocal opinion, as well as the obvious vocal. -Defiant
• High amounts of organization in all aspects of the job. Keeping detailed notes to pass on to the development team, and back to the community is important.
• Knowing, based on the current feeling of the community, when to release information, and how. Many use Discord over the forums. Most don't check the forums everyday.
• Ability to adjust the F.A.Q. as they see fit, though removing something should be given much thought, and double checked by at least one other person.
• Ability to edit the in-game library and loading screen hints.
• Conflict resolution as an impartial entity.
• Takes in questions and answer them to best ability, or passes on community concerns to developers, just without the attitude some will have when feeling strong and emotional about something. - kcaz759
• Management of a weekly feedback thread, to understand the communities ideas and thinking week-to-week. - Tylenol

This is just some things off the top of my head. Anyone whose ideas get added or change what is up there, will have their name put next to the idea after a hyphen. Credit given where credit is due. -Torlo 50

 

[Tylenol]

Maybe a weekly feedback thread could be made, just for CMs to know whats the main interest of the community

 

[kcaz759]

Kind of like the speaker of the United States house of representatives! Takes in questions or answers them. Also brings problems to the white house.

 

[Torlo50]

@kcaz759 I took your words into account, modified them a little and put them into practice.

 

[Torlo50]

@Tylenol Your feedback is appreciated and on the list.

 

[Defiant]

Having a direct line to the current Team Leader, to inform and receive any information.

We're a small community and everyone has this already. PM me or tag me on discord.

• Needing the time to communicate on a regular basis (at least once a day) on the forums and/or Discord.

• Being able to listen, without argument or controversy, to someone's feedback.

Yes and Yes

Ability to gather the feeling of the community not only on the EU side of things, but on the NA.

Already do this. Geography literally doesn't factor into if anyone is listened to.

Knowing, based on the current feeling of the community, when to release information, and how. Many use Discord over the forums. Most don't check the forums everyday.

Forums will always be the primary place where information is posted. Information on discord gets lost as soon as it is talked about. There should always be a message in the discord announcement channel to inform people there is a post on the forums they may be interested in, additionally, the launcher will show the latest news item as well as the headline of the next two newest.

Ability to adjust the F.A.Q. as they see fit, though removing something should be given much thought, and double checked by at least one other person.

To which FAQ are you referring?

Ability to edit the in-game library and loading screen hints.

Editing the in-game library requires some expertise in modifying Quake 3 menu files. Modifying the loading screen hints requires the ability to write code. A more up to date list could be compiled and updated when resources allow however. Ideally I would like to see both updated more frequently.

Conflict resolution as an impartial entity.

If your on the MB2 team you wont be seen as impartial. That's just a fact, no matter how hard you try and avoid it.

Takes in questions and answer them to best ability, or passes on community concerns to developers, just without the attitude some will have when feeling strong and emotional about something. - kcaz759

Yes

Management of a weekly feedback thread, to understand the communities ideas and thinking week-to-week. - Tylenol

Yes, but, development time scales are much slower than week to week. Those that shout loudest also shouldn't find themselves being heard over those that are quietly happy.

 

[Torlo50]

I apologize in advance, I'm not so good at the whole quoting thing . I answered your Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Ninth quote in the order in which I read them. So... top to bottom . There is spaces in between.

@Defiant There is some image, whether factually true or not isn't the point (If people believe in something, in their minds, its true), that some Devs tend to listen to people they talk with a lot Add in the fact remains those same Devs making certain code decisions taking feedback from primarily EU sources by admission. If this isn't suppose to be the case, take care of your team and clean house (figuratively, just talk with people. You want screenshots, I got 'em.)

While the forums are nice and all, discord is used by far, far more people. How often do you have a pole that got as much attention as the gunning projectile speed pole? Lessen went along and @everyone'd a bunch of people in clan discords and constantly mentioned it all day long for 2 days in regular MB2 Discord. What I mean by this point is that more people pay attention to Discord over Forums. a CM that can glide between both area's effectively is something of a must. Maybe a channel for just CM Announcements? Poles and such, or threads in Forum they want to get attention to. Not a @everyone or anything, but only they can type in it or something.

As far as F.A.Q. I always thought there was one on the HomePage of this website. Is there not. Huh. RIP. Well, there should be, somewhere on this website. Sure, there is guides, but why isn't there an F.A.Q. for something that so drastically changes the base game. What if someone took the time to translate the library into this website, or wiki? And updates it, of course.

Modifying Quake 3 Menu is something that can be learned, can it not. I'm just saying they can, not that they should devote all of their time to it. Honestly, does changing the written words, but not necessarily the UI, change so much. I mean, I don't know how to do it in Quake, but in other games changing a language file isn't terribly difficult to edit. Sure, compilation figures in and all, but it would be strange.

As far as knowing... C+ isn't it? You do not need to have to know how to code c+ per say. Finding the written words and changing them to be what you want is simple enough, no changing locations in the code or such-like. No need to write in new objects etc, unless you are changing the whole loading screen, not what I'm suggesting here. You can find a hint you want to change, like the meditate to not use FP with sight, or whatever that one is, and change the code to have, in the same spot as that, something completely different. Just don't touch anything else. Knowing to simply not touch anything should be good enough. Just don't delete anything your not suppose to. I could be wrong, but it worked when editing C++ in Unity's code for other games.

I am thinking of having a new role, not under the development role at all. Maybe with the same permissions or something, but certainly not the same. After all, separating the image is important, and helps separate them in people's minds. It isn't that the person needs to be completely unbiased, they have to learn to not let it affect their critical thinking, which is a thing that we humans are capable of. One of the reason's that a CM would need careful vetting. Not impossible, just difficult. Nothing worthy is ever easy.

The whole week to week thing for feedback threads would yes, hear the vocal. A good CM will know how to sort through it all. That is kind of the point of the job. Searching through the vocal, and the nonvocal to find the real meat of the stuff. Holding poles, and @everyone on discord from a special channel that no one can write in but themselves (once again, to separate the image of them from the Dev Team). Keeping the community active in the feedback is hard, but I think can be done. Making people feel like they are participating can be done. After all, I did it here. Both Kcaz and Tylenol thanked me on Discord (in separate instances, on separate servers) for just putting stuff they put forward in the OP, even though I said I would in the OP. Having a grateful audience is key. Not to say I played them into thanking me or anything... (ah hell, no way out of this one if add it as a point here, sorry guys, don't be too me to me ) Making people feel involved is an Art, that anyone can learn. A science that all politicians, and leaders-in-society everywhere learn. This is not to say don't understand the concern. No changes come week-to-week. None of those threads will have much. Here and there, someone might find a bug, or just vent and be listened to patiently (which is all some people really need). They need to feel listened to, and, whether this actually make huge difference, it would still make some sort of difference. Of course, it would be up to the CM to decide on this sort of thing, just an idea thrown out here.

 

[Defiant]

Devs making certain code decisions taking feedback from primarily EU sources

You make a massive assumption here. Why is the way the game is played expected to change based on where someone is sat in the real world? Is this not just a case of finding an excuse as to why their personal view point wasn't the path development took? There are EU players who don't like the last patch after all. Time zones overlap differently for different people, so naturally yes, some devs will be more visible to some players. I fail to see why you think all NA opinions arnt shared at least by one person who lives in europe. It's not like we develop two games.

 

[Torlo50]

After double checking the Discord, and scrolling through history after history (with the lovely search function of course). I shall admit it was never said outright to be in EU's favor. @Defiant It is however said that only "Good" players who have been around a while will be considered in the final process. Since a lot of those were unknown to me, I assumed EU, when I was already angry. For that. I apologize. It was hard not to assume when someone constantly praises EU dueling while laughing at NA duelers, and then says something like only people who are around a long time and good at what they do will be considered in code changes. These were assumptions made by me from several different conversations put together making a picture of the person I was talking to. Namely, @Stassin .Now, looking back, calmly, he never out-right stated as such. So I apologize to him as well. It is still hard too not feel like feedback meant nothing. I was part of the quiet majority (at least the quite part) for a couple of years, until just recently. After I finally gave some feedback on the Open-Beta of last Patch, and it was outright ignored, along with several other people I played with on a regular basis {extreme late night NA} (whether they agreed or not was another matter), was just downright hard for me to take. I was angry at the time, and this colored my views Still, making sure that both areas, Aussies, and Russians are taken care of and listened too is still a thing that should be listed, just changed from my original bias and the way I typed it. Your feedback is noted, and the OP changed.

 

[Liniyka_xddd]

This is kinda pointless. Devs already talk directly to the community, so there is no need for a person to pass info back and forth. Everything you mentioned in your post is already being done by the devs one way or another.

So, why exactly do we need a community manager?

 

[MaceMadunusus]

Editing the in-game library requires some expertise in modifying Quake 3 menu files. Modifying the loading screen hints requires the ability to write code. A more up to date list could be compiled and updated when resources allow however. Ideally I would like to see both updated more frequently.

You can modify a lot of the text/wording of the library and tips via the string files. However you cant add more and stuff without code/modifying menu files like you said. Could allow access to those string files easily.

After I finally gave some feedback on the Open-Beta of last Patch, and it was outright ignored, along with several other people I played with on a regular basis {extreme late night NA} (whether they agreed or not was another matter), was just downright hard for me to take..

I'm not sure which specific thing you are referring to without going back to the threads, but are you sure it was ignored? There were several things in open beta that we delayed till later because we thought they weren't tested enough, wanted to rework, etc. Depending on the thing you might see it later.

 

[a puppy]

This is kinda pointless. Devs already talk directly to the community, so there is no need for a person to pass info back and forth. Everything you mentioned in your post is already being done by the devs one way or another.

So, why exactly do we need a community manager?

Because it would be nice to have someone that doesn't call people who disagree with their choices toxic trolls and get into arguments behaving like someone who is new to the internet. https://community.moviebattles.org/threads/gas-stassin-a-modest-proposal.6101/

 

[Hessu]

 

[KimmyMarin]

View attachment 3178

nope

 

[Hessu]

nope

yep

 

[Pepsi]

We don't need community manager.
As a matter of fact, devs paying way too much attention to what "community" says in my opinion.

 

[KimmyMarin]

We don't need community manager.
As a matter of fact, devs paying way too much attention to what "community" says in my opinion.

well i somewhat agree and at the same time no, but i see your point on paying *way* too much attention to that specific sector of the community.

 

[KimmyMarin]

yep

sorry hessu but no

 

[Hessu]

sorry hessu but no

sorry kimmy but you heard gumba...

 

[Luna]

View attachment 3178

id vote for you