mch123
Guest
If you haven't already, I'd suggest reading my last post here as context for this one.
Ok, so maybe my last post was a little too idealistic and not practical enough to inspire people that change was possible. It was a good starting point for laying out the groundwork of why TW is a good game, why we play and why there is a lot of potential in the community.
In this post I hope to tackle the following issues:
I want to hear an honest and transparent response from the decision maker for all Tribal Wars related issues – which I'm guessing is the product manager, Thomas Raimbault, and someone whom we only see 3 times a year when they are trying to promote a new feature.
I get it - we have community managers to voice our opinions and concerns to the company. They are great when all things are working as they should. However, when that's not the case, they are used to do exactly what the title states – manage. It implies that their job is to diffuse issues between what the community wants and what the company wants.
The problem is we have no way of knowing whether our voices are being carried effectively into company or team meetings. I don't trust that we are being taken seriously or that our concerns are being put forward passionately enough to inspire the change that we are demanding. That's why I want a response from someone else.
Assuming we can get a response from Thomas, or a decision maker within the company, there are naturally going to be some issues regarding trust and transparency. If Innogames is all about profits, he won't be able to say anything that kills hope for change as we would all just give up on the company – hurting their profits.
Furthermore, I can see a scenario where the product manager's job is based purely around hitting profit targets and therefore he won't put his job at risk to address the real issues. Completely understandable of course but, again, it doesn't further our cause of getting change.
He also can't afford to say nothing as this only reaffirms what I have stated above and by extension, kills hope in the community and impacts company profits.
Failure to make changes now is just plain ignorant because you are going to lose out on profits in all scenarios. Failure to address the community shows a lack of awareness, care and competence. Maybe you simply don't know how to solve it and execute all the ideas at once – which is understandable as it's a highly complex problem. You could at least tell us that so that we can work with you, trust you and respect you more for taking it seriously.
The reason I'm stating this and positioning the arguments in this manner is to get to the root problem that undermines the conversation for all other changes. We can't talk about specifics until we figure out the boundaries and limitations of what is possible and we can only do that by having an open and honest conversation with the decision makers.
By defining Innogames potential options and giving them little room for excuses, it clarifies what issues are most important for us to focus on as a community. Do we need to focus on solving the financial issues before game fairness and balance issues? Or do we start to focus on alternative solutions if change is not possible?
Developing communication and trust further
I expect the product manager role is a busy one so I don't expect a lot of community conversation going forward. However something simple as posting once a month would be sufficient.
We need to know what issues you are currently tackling, that you are aware of what's happening in the community and that you are paying attention. You don't need to agree to anything or make promises with us. You just need to be present, genuine and honest enough that we can see, trust and communicate with you.
Community managers can handle the majority of tasks but at least once a month we need to hear from the decision maker directly. Maybe even the programmers.
Like I said about leadership in my previous essay, it's about understanding who you are dealing with, building relations and making sure we are all aligned towards the same common goals and interests.
Fix the problem at this level and everything else will naturally start to fall into place.
Community Culture
If you really wanted to go the extra mile to build relations with the community, I have 2 suggestions that are relative cheap to execute and would serve to inspire the community to fund the game.
First - there are many common themes that run through the community that keep us together and playing the game. Many are pain points in our real lives.
By understanding this, it offers you, as an individual and as a company, an opportunity to fulfill 3 purposes in 1 act of philanthropy:
Second – Player Appreciation.
There are many ways to achieve this but there is one idea I really like - especially if it is combined with some of the alternate income generation methods I mentioned in my last essay.
How about randomly sending merchandise to long serving players, or for birthdays, or for those who go above and beyond in the community. It helps to build brand and word of mouth when members tell their friends of the random surprise they got from Tribal Wars and Innogames.
You don't have to do it for everyone but just the act of allocating small amounts of resources will return 10-fold when people start talking about the company in a positive light. It makes players stick around longer and spend more money because they feel more valued.
Your current automated methods (such as sending a happy birthday mail or 100pp for each year of playing the game) achieve nothing. If anything they work negatively against you because they are impersonal and cheap tactics to create the illusion of player appreciation. Players see right through it.
Player Retention
Tribal Wars is fundamentally a good game. However there are many feature that are missing or hurt player retention. If you ever want to scale the game to a size that can generate substantial income from alternate income methods, you are going to need to address these issues.
First – I've already mentioned in the previous essay about issues regarding the education of new players. In order for them to stick around, they've got to have some direction to materials that give them hope that they can learn to be competitive. You could potentially incentivise players to contribute and put in place a rating or upvoting system to separate the good from bad content.
Second - They could also use a little push to get socially active and reap the benefits of contributing to the community.
At least promote the aspects of teamwork, friendship, and a sense of belonging/community within the game a little better. This is the most valuable part of your product, from my perspective, and you do nothing to promote it.
Third – Negativity in the community is the next biggest killer. I hope a lot of the changes I mentioned above would naturally bring about a lot of optimism and positivity. You could double down on this with some conscious effort to drive out and disincentivize negativity.
Even simple things like conversation starters in the forum around topics such as "congratulating the enemy in defeat" and likening it to shaking hands at the end of a football match or other sports events.
It's idealistic but it's about building a culture of respect and positivity.
Fourth – make the game as close to a fair playing field as possible.
This is the theme for all my posts. It doesn't need to be completely fair. Game elements such as flags are unfair on new players but at least resemble something akin to hard work, consistency achievement within the game. All attainable by new players.
Even flags could be balanced with a time weighted cooldown penalty based on the tier. More powerful flags that only long serving members have would have longer cooldowns making them less flexible than the lower tier flags available to new players.
You need to go over every aspect of the game like this and find the places where new players are going to feel unfairly disadvantaged. Not to do so risks them leaving the game for good.
Fifth – Cheating.
I know this one is hard to deal with but it's a big cause of frustration for a lot of players. I'd like to see Tribal Wars take an approach used by Dota 2 and tie accounts to a mobile number. It makes it tougher for players to multi-account and generally cheat. It may also make co-playing tougher (with the right implementation) which would close the gap between recreational players and those accounts which are active 24 hours a day.
Join the movement
My last post didn't really get the reaction I was looking for. As I stated at the start of this post, it was maybe too idealistic and too long for most people. However I did get some direct replies supporting my effort and giving some feedback.
For this post, I have tried to keep it far more practical in dealing with issues and with my following call to action:
If change is something you want to see, I ask that, as a minimum, you message me directly with the best method of contacting you (Email, Skype, Discord or in-game username). That way I can put together a mailing list or petition. It can serve as a faster method of getting action than waiting for people to see, read and respond to longer form posts such as this.
As I've said before, if Innogames is unwilling to change, then we still have other options to solving these problems. Either way I'm going to need your support.
Closing thoughts
This post has more of an 'open letter' format to the Tribal Wars product manager. I'm posting like this because I want to show the community that we have the power in this relationship. We can put Innogames on the spot and direct them towards making changes with smart conversation and ideas.
Eventually I want to go directly to Innogames (if they don't come to us). Before I can do that, I need to get the community passionate, inspired and on board with this movement. I also need to flesh out some of my ideas, test them and get feedback.
I also need to hear issues of other players that I may have overlooked. One example that has come up is the lack of faith in moderators and admins – something I would like to address at another time.
In terms of this post, I've presented my concerns and could potentially be completely wrong in regards to what goes on behind the scenes at Innogames. However, by positioning our arguments this way, we don't give the opportunity for the company to disguise their intentions or for the community to doubt them if they try to respond transparently. It builds trust on all levels and then we can start working in the same direction to solve other issues.
In all outcomes from this post, we will have a clearer idea of where to go next in our effort to create a fairer and more enjoyable game experience.
Martyn
Ok, so maybe my last post was a little too idealistic and not practical enough to inspire people that change was possible. It was a good starting point for laying out the groundwork of why TW is a good game, why we play and why there is a lot of potential in the community.
In this post I hope to tackle the following issues:
- Developing honest and transparent communication from the decision makers at Innogames in order to build relations and restore trust between the developer and it's community.
- More detailed ideas on branding, player retention and influencing community culture.
- Creating a mailing list/petition of people who want to see or help drive change.
- A few more specific ideas and changes to game elements and features.
I want to hear an honest and transparent response from the decision maker for all Tribal Wars related issues – which I'm guessing is the product manager, Thomas Raimbault, and someone whom we only see 3 times a year when they are trying to promote a new feature.
I get it - we have community managers to voice our opinions and concerns to the company. They are great when all things are working as they should. However, when that's not the case, they are used to do exactly what the title states – manage. It implies that their job is to diffuse issues between what the community wants and what the company wants.
The problem is we have no way of knowing whether our voices are being carried effectively into company or team meetings. I don't trust that we are being taken seriously or that our concerns are being put forward passionately enough to inspire the change that we are demanding. That's why I want a response from someone else.
Assuming we can get a response from Thomas, or a decision maker within the company, there are naturally going to be some issues regarding trust and transparency. If Innogames is all about profits, he won't be able to say anything that kills hope for change as we would all just give up on the company – hurting their profits.
Furthermore, I can see a scenario where the product manager's job is based purely around hitting profit targets and therefore he won't put his job at risk to address the real issues. Completely understandable of course but, again, it doesn't further our cause of getting change.
He also can't afford to say nothing as this only reaffirms what I have stated above and by extension, kills hope in the community and impacts company profits.
Failure to make changes now is just plain ignorant because you are going to lose out on profits in all scenarios. Failure to address the community shows a lack of awareness, care and competence. Maybe you simply don't know how to solve it and execute all the ideas at once – which is understandable as it's a highly complex problem. You could at least tell us that so that we can work with you, trust you and respect you more for taking it seriously.
The reason I'm stating this and positioning the arguments in this manner is to get to the root problem that undermines the conversation for all other changes. We can't talk about specifics until we figure out the boundaries and limitations of what is possible and we can only do that by having an open and honest conversation with the decision makers.
By defining Innogames potential options and giving them little room for excuses, it clarifies what issues are most important for us to focus on as a community. Do we need to focus on solving the financial issues before game fairness and balance issues? Or do we start to focus on alternative solutions if change is not possible?
Developing communication and trust further
I expect the product manager role is a busy one so I don't expect a lot of community conversation going forward. However something simple as posting once a month would be sufficient.
We need to know what issues you are currently tackling, that you are aware of what's happening in the community and that you are paying attention. You don't need to agree to anything or make promises with us. You just need to be present, genuine and honest enough that we can see, trust and communicate with you.
Community managers can handle the majority of tasks but at least once a month we need to hear from the decision maker directly. Maybe even the programmers.
Like I said about leadership in my previous essay, it's about understanding who you are dealing with, building relations and making sure we are all aligned towards the same common goals and interests.
Fix the problem at this level and everything else will naturally start to fall into place.
Community Culture
If you really wanted to go the extra mile to build relations with the community, I have 2 suggestions that are relative cheap to execute and would serve to inspire the community to fund the game.
First - there are many common themes that run through the community that keep us together and playing the game. Many are pain points in our real lives.
By understanding this, it offers you, as an individual and as a company, an opportunity to fulfill 3 purposes in 1 act of philanthropy:
- Show you care about the community by hosting (there's a more appropriate word for this but you get the point) a charitable event in support of issues that are important to your users.
- Build trust and respect by listening and interacting with us in an open and honest manner on sensitive issues.
- Promote the Tribal Wars and Innogames brands by doing something positive for others.
Second – Player Appreciation.
There are many ways to achieve this but there is one idea I really like - especially if it is combined with some of the alternate income generation methods I mentioned in my last essay.
How about randomly sending merchandise to long serving players, or for birthdays, or for those who go above and beyond in the community. It helps to build brand and word of mouth when members tell their friends of the random surprise they got from Tribal Wars and Innogames.
You don't have to do it for everyone but just the act of allocating small amounts of resources will return 10-fold when people start talking about the company in a positive light. It makes players stick around longer and spend more money because they feel more valued.
Your current automated methods (such as sending a happy birthday mail or 100pp for each year of playing the game) achieve nothing. If anything they work negatively against you because they are impersonal and cheap tactics to create the illusion of player appreciation. Players see right through it.
Player Retention
Tribal Wars is fundamentally a good game. However there are many feature that are missing or hurt player retention. If you ever want to scale the game to a size that can generate substantial income from alternate income methods, you are going to need to address these issues.
First – I've already mentioned in the previous essay about issues regarding the education of new players. In order for them to stick around, they've got to have some direction to materials that give them hope that they can learn to be competitive. You could potentially incentivise players to contribute and put in place a rating or upvoting system to separate the good from bad content.
Second - They could also use a little push to get socially active and reap the benefits of contributing to the community.
At least promote the aspects of teamwork, friendship, and a sense of belonging/community within the game a little better. This is the most valuable part of your product, from my perspective, and you do nothing to promote it.
Third – Negativity in the community is the next biggest killer. I hope a lot of the changes I mentioned above would naturally bring about a lot of optimism and positivity. You could double down on this with some conscious effort to drive out and disincentivize negativity.
Even simple things like conversation starters in the forum around topics such as "congratulating the enemy in defeat" and likening it to shaking hands at the end of a football match or other sports events.
It's idealistic but it's about building a culture of respect and positivity.
Fourth – make the game as close to a fair playing field as possible.
This is the theme for all my posts. It doesn't need to be completely fair. Game elements such as flags are unfair on new players but at least resemble something akin to hard work, consistency achievement within the game. All attainable by new players.
Even flags could be balanced with a time weighted cooldown penalty based on the tier. More powerful flags that only long serving members have would have longer cooldowns making them less flexible than the lower tier flags available to new players.
You need to go over every aspect of the game like this and find the places where new players are going to feel unfairly disadvantaged. Not to do so risks them leaving the game for good.
Fifth – Cheating.
I know this one is hard to deal with but it's a big cause of frustration for a lot of players. I'd like to see Tribal Wars take an approach used by Dota 2 and tie accounts to a mobile number. It makes it tougher for players to multi-account and generally cheat. It may also make co-playing tougher (with the right implementation) which would close the gap between recreational players and those accounts which are active 24 hours a day.
Join the movement
My last post didn't really get the reaction I was looking for. As I stated at the start of this post, it was maybe too idealistic and too long for most people. However I did get some direct replies supporting my effort and giving some feedback.
For this post, I have tried to keep it far more practical in dealing with issues and with my following call to action:
If change is something you want to see, I ask that, as a minimum, you message me directly with the best method of contacting you (Email, Skype, Discord or in-game username). That way I can put together a mailing list or petition. It can serve as a faster method of getting action than waiting for people to see, read and respond to longer form posts such as this.
As I've said before, if Innogames is unwilling to change, then we still have other options to solving these problems. Either way I'm going to need your support.
Closing thoughts
This post has more of an 'open letter' format to the Tribal Wars product manager. I'm posting like this because I want to show the community that we have the power in this relationship. We can put Innogames on the spot and direct them towards making changes with smart conversation and ideas.
Eventually I want to go directly to Innogames (if they don't come to us). Before I can do that, I need to get the community passionate, inspired and on board with this movement. I also need to flesh out some of my ideas, test them and get feedback.
I also need to hear issues of other players that I may have overlooked. One example that has come up is the lack of faith in moderators and admins – something I would like to address at another time.
In terms of this post, I've presented my concerns and could potentially be completely wrong in regards to what goes on behind the scenes at Innogames. However, by positioning our arguments this way, we don't give the opportunity for the company to disguise their intentions or for the community to doubt them if they try to respond transparently. It builds trust on all levels and then we can start working in the same direction to solve other issues.
In all outcomes from this post, we will have a clearer idea of where to go next in our effort to create a fairer and more enjoyable game experience.
Martyn
