How to Improve Staff-Player Communication

[Gimfalisette]

We have a current flurry of discussion underway which, in essence, is the result of a code change being made without any notification to players that such a code change was either impending or already in game. Players pretty naturally get ruffled when this happens, and threads are born.

The issue at hand is that poor communication from staff to players, and from players back to staff, is harmful to player trust in the staff. Harm to player trust in staff is a risk to player retention over the long term. We want to retain players, therefore increasing player trust in staff is beneficial.

So the question is: How can we improve staff-player communication? This thread is for ideas and comments about that question. It is not for bashing staff. I'd love to see ideas not only about what staff can do better, but also what players can do better, and even what kinds of technology changes might improve staff-player communication.

For reference, this thread was born from http://www.zalanthas.org/gdb/index.php/topic,32837.0.html and http://www.zalanthas.org/gdb/index.php/topic,32808.0.html

[NoteworthyFellow]

The staff are busy running the game and building a new one.  This I completely understand, and so far, the only problem I've ever had with player-staff communication is the fact that it's not always possible for them to respond quickly.

My only suggestion would be to have two, maybe three new staff members whose only purpose is to act as liaisons between staff and players.  They'll respond on the GDB whenever a staff response is necessary (though staff members like Nyr already do an admirable job of this), relay questions that are emailed to them and relay answers back, manage a blog about game-related developments, that sort of thing.  They wouldn't be assigned to clans or function as Storytellers normally do, but only assist in communication.

[The7DeadlyVenomz]

This code-change was an accident. The change wasn't supposed to go in until it was announced.

The biggest problem I have with staff-player communication is the turn-around when it comes to emails and plot related things. I'm not sure how this could be fixed, though, other than perhaps returning to the old assignments of staffers being issued specific clans.

[FantasyWriter]

My only suggestion would be to have two, maybe three new staff members whose only purpose is to act as liaisons between staff and players.  They'll respond on the GDB whenever a staff response is necessary (though staff members like Nyr already do an admirable job of this), relay questions that are emailed to them and relay answers back, manage a blog about game-related developments, that sort of thing.  They wouldn't be assigned to clans or function as Storytellers normally do, but only assist in communication.

I think this would be an excellent idea.

Also I would like the meetings brought back where staff would suck the players into a room in game to talk about issues in an official chatroom-like forum.
I will find the old logs and post the link when the site comes back up.

[Gimfalisette]

Communication problems I've seen/experienced:

-- ARM Reborn blog is not being maintained.
-- Website main page newsfeed is not being maintained.
-- Inconsistent communication/notification about code changes.
-- On occasion, clans are abandoned by the responsible imm(s), without communication to the players thereof, and without another imm being assigned.
-- Lack of proactivity in communication; players are very infrequently asked for input on issues. (I mean in public, it happens sometimes in clan communications.)
-- Overall, the imms are not very present on these forums, except as thread-lockers / discipline-maintainers. I think this brings an unfortunately negative vibe to the staff presence on the forums.
-- Wide variation in the availability of staff to answer emails and help with plot points, from clan to clan. While this of course will always depend somewhat on the individual staff member, some kind of minimum standard would feel good.

I think the liaison idea is a potential partial solution to some of these things. I'm not sure it's a complete solution, though. I'm pondering.

[Marauder Moe]

I'm satisfied with the staff involvement on the forums.  They commented in the barrier thread quickly enough.


I do think it would be nice if policy was that every email message (or at least every email message containing a '?') received an answer within some time frame.  Even something like "Got it, will get back to you." is much more satisfying than silence.  It's nice to know it was at least read.

However, I don't know how feasible that is.  Also, I know that I personally don't like it when people send me emails with read receipts.   

[NoteworthyFellow]

Communication problems I've seen/experienced:

-- ARM Reborn blog is not being maintained.
-- Website main page newsfeed is not being maintained.
-- Inconsistent communication/notification about code changes.
-- On occasion, clans are abandoned by the responsible imm(s), without communication to the players thereof, and without another imm being assigned.
-- Lack of proactivity in communication; players are very infrequently asked for input on issues. (I mean in public, it happens sometimes in clan communications.)
-- Overall, the imms are not very present on these forums, except as thread-lockers / discipline-maintainers. I think this brings an unfortunately negative vibe to the staff presence on the forums.
-- Wide variation in the availability of staff to answer emails and help with plot points, from clan to clan. While this of course will always depend somewhat on the individual staff member, some kind of minimum standard would feel good.

I think the liaison idea is a potential partial solution to some of these things. I'm not sure it's a complete solution, though. I'm pondering.

I suggested the liaison idea because I know there are enough trustworthy players who would volunteer for such a position.  A couple notes about the suggestion:

-- The liaison does not have a staff account to the game, as that is unnecessary for their purpose.  As such, they are subject to fewer restrictions as far as the characters they can play, as they won't have access to monitoring characters or viewing areas of the world the way Storytellers and other staff members can.
-- The liaison can maintain their normal GDB account, but will have a separate account for when functioning as a liaison.  The liaison account will only be used when posting in an official capacity as such, and the identity of the liaison in regards to their usual GDB account would not be revealed.  This would mark a clear distinction between personal opinion and staff opinion.

Any other suggestions for the specifics of the position?  Unfortunately, it does look like it's shaping up to be a position rather without perks, which I think is the main downside of the suggestion--it would be a lot of work, and you don't even get to do things like run plots as a Storyteller and the like (which I imagine can be very rewarding for all the work that's involved).

[Lizzie]

First, I get a sense of comfort knowing that only a very few staffers "hang out" on the GDB, with their staff account personas. I'm also glad the "big boss" types generally only post when there's something "big bossish" to post about. It makes me feel good that they're doing their big boss things, and not off playing warcraft. If they -are- playing warcraft, I'd rather not know. I like my fantasy of pretending that the staff only exists to provide Armageddon and when I close the game client and web browser, they cease to exist.

Second, my biggest concern is with the shifting of clan assignments. I should emphasize I have no complaint with the current batch in my current clan, although I've only been communicating with one of them, that I know of, and I'd have to actually check to find out who the other(s) is(are). This I feel is really the biggest issue, to me. That a clan might be assigned to 3 imms, but you only see one of them. You only get e-mails from one of them, you have absolutely no idea what the other two do, if anything. So if the one you do communicate with goes on vacation for a week, you're stuck, basically, without any clan imm for that week, because you never see the other 2 stepping in.

That's really my only issue. If a staffer volunteers to cover a clan, they should at least post every couple of weeks on their clan board to let people know they're still there, and paying attention, and handling things during off-peak or whatever it is they do. If they aren't able, for whatever reason (personal stuff comes up, no fault no blame here)...then they should step down and allow someone else to take the spot. I truly feel that no clan should be covered by only one clan IMM, with no active backup or co-imm.

My secondary issue involves the wish command. In some games, the staff can see a list of all staffers logged in. I don't know if that's the case with Arm..

But if I was a staffer, assigned to clan A, and someone from clan B wished up about something clan related, and there was no one from clan B available - I would want to "send" them a simple "sorry, no clan imm for you right now" so the person will feel like at -least- their wish was heard by someone. Even if no one can help. The silence you get when no one is available makes me very sad and lonely.

[Niamh]

One thing to keep in mind is that staff can't be watching you and what you're doing every time you're logged in.  (Especially you folks with high playtimes.)  Keeping staff abreast of who your PC is and what your PC is doing helps out immensely.  Send your clan staff the occasional report with what's going on.

Regarding the switching of staff and clans, don't be shy about sending your new staff an email letting them know everything that they need to know about your PC.  Yes, we do communicate with former staffers about what's going on, but your former staffers may not recall everything that the new staff would need to know.

[Mood]

I think one of the underlying issues with staff-player communication is that, in my personal experience, several players simply don't have trust in the staff, for various reasons (some legitimate, and others not so much).

I can't think of any ways to fix this problem, but a large portion of the players I talk to are at least a little bit jaded. I think it should be looked at.

[flurry]

Regarding staff involvement on the forums, I think we (the playerbase) can be our own worst enemies. If a staff member thought that reading the GDB were often a waste of time, could you really blame them?

I'd love to see more consistent communication/involvement from clan to clan, but I'm not sure that's realistic. I wish there were more updates on the blog.

I think overall communication is good, though, and one of the strong points compared to other games.  That's not to say it can't be improved or we shouldn't try.

[Rahnevyn]

The problem with staff posting more frequently is that, even when we preface our posts with a disclaimer "This is not the Official Staff Opinion", posting with your staff account on an issue still carries more weight than a player's post would. I read most threads, but I post on very few, because usually all I have are opinions, and I don't feel my opinion carries any more weight than most of yours. When I have something definitive to say, I say it.

What I do do, along with many of the other Storytellers, is transport threads and idea's I'm interested in up to the IDB, where senior staff and coders can read and discuss them.

In regards to Noteworthy's liaison idea, it's something I actually considered as a role for myself when I came on staff. Ultimately, I realized I don't have the time to do player-staff relations and still fulfill my other responsibilities, so I never took it anywhere. I think it's a good idea, but it would seriously be a full time job for any staff member to handle.

[Lakota]

I think one of the underlying issues with staff-player communication is that, in my personal experience, several players simply don't have trust in the staff, for various reasons (some legitimate, and others not so much).

I can't think of any ways to fix this problem, but a large portions of the players I talk to are at least a little bit jaded. I think it should be looked at.

Bingo.

[Lakota]

To expand, I think that one thing that would help player/staff communication is only allowing staff to oversee clans s/he is interested in. This is the single most important reason that has led me to believe that staff rotation is fair and works in theory, but fails to take into account what said staff member actually wants to do. All too often I see immortals get rotated out for different staffers that in turn appear far less on-hands than their previous overseer. This can be contributed to:

a) Them being uncertain how to carry the plots the previous staff member set into motion.

b) Them being more hands-off than the previous staff member.

c) Them not really liking the new clan they've been rotated in to oversee.

It seems that 'c' happens more than it should, and in turn players/clans suffer due to the staff member not devoting as much time to the clan and players as they should.

However, I'm not in the know, so there's a great possibility I'm wrong on all accounts.

[Reiloth]

Player-staff meeting. Let's schedule it for three months down the line, after holidays.

[mattrious]

My biggest two issues with player / staff communication are:

• Responses to e-mails.
• Responses to requests.
• Responses to wishes

I understand the members of the staff are very busy. I also understand that is in a volunteer type position and that they all have lives as well. I would just like to see a quicker turn around on these types of issues? I've had characters come and go that never had their request answer. These are characters with well over a few days played. I've had characters that get little to no response when they wish up. I know that at times there are no staff members on, etc. No response to changing an objective. No response to e-mails. Nothing.

This comes and goes and widely depends on which clan that I'm currently playing in. It is just frustrating for me as a player that is wanting to do the best job they can as a player to enjoy the game and make it enjoyable for ones that I'm playing around. I dont waste their time with questions that have no merit. I'm not meaning this to be a direct slam to any staff member or the staff member as a whole. I feel they do an excellent job with the game. I just wished they would answer my questions or help me with the problems I'm having. 

I sometimes feel like its because I'm not on a short list of players the staff members favor or enjoy having in their clan, etc. I kind of feel like the last kid in middle-school who gets picked for the kick ball game. So, in short: Pick me! Pick me!

- matt.

[Gimfalisette]

I sometimes feel like its because I'm not on a short list of players the staff members favor or enjoy having in their clan, etc. I kind of feel like the last kid in middle-school who gets picked for the kick ball game. So, in short: Pick me! Pick me!

From personal experience, I just want to say that it's possible to have good relations with members of staff and to be generally well-regarded and still not get one's emails / requests / wishes answered, ever. It's tempting to believe that there's favoritism happening, but I'm certain that what's actually happening is:

-- Some staff are more hands-off and some are more hands-on.
-- If there is attention to spare, it nearly always will be given to apped leaders in the clan versus grown leaders or rank-and-file members, regardless of relative activity levels or contribution.
-- Negative attention is far more likely to be given than positive attention. I.e., if you're screwing up you're pretty likely to hear about it, but if you're doing well you're very unlikely to hear about it.

It's best to try not to take attention or lack thereof personally.

[mattrious]

I sometimes feel like its because I'm not on a short list of players the staff members favor or enjoy having in their clan, etc. I kind of feel like the last kid in middle-school who gets picked for the kick ball game. So, in short: Pick me! Pick me!

From personal experience, I just want to say that it's possible to have good relations with members of staff and to be generally well-regarded and still not get one's emails / requests / wishes answered, ever. It's tempting to believe that there's favoritism happening, but I'm certain that what's actually happening is:

-- Some staff are more hands-off and some are more hands-on.
-- If there is attention to spare, it nearly always will be given to apped leaders in the clan versus grown leaders or rank-and-file members, regardless of relative activity levels or contribution.
-- Negative attention is far more likely to be given than positive attention. I.e., if you're screwing up you're pretty likely to hear about it, but if you're doing well you're very unlikely to hear about it.

It's best to try not to take attention or lack thereof personally.

You make some great points. I really don't take it as a negative when there are no response to e-mails, requests, wishes, etc. I know they're busy and I know they've got bigger frish to fry than my characters little issue. I just kind of wish you would hear the good with the bad, etc. Maybe that is just a personal preference in that regard. I just think it can have a negative type affect on the lines of communication from Player ---> Staff. When I do not get responses or even confirmation that an e-mail has been read. It makes me less likely to send in character status reports, etc.

[Rahnevyn]

Regarding responses to wishes: it is the Official Staff Policy that you must be a Highlord+, or have a approval from one, to directly respond to a wish from a player outside one of your own clans. Sometimes there are capable staff online who simply can't respond to a wish due to policy. (Storytellers can still respond through animations, or through making the world react, we just can't "send" to you without permission.)

I know this works to your detriment in many cases, and I myself see it as too restrictive, but that's the way it is.

Somewhat related to this also is being as specific as possible when you wish up. "Can I talk to someone?" is unlikely to get anyone an answer. "Can someone please animate this NPC?" is also unlikely to get a response. We need to know exactly what you want, so we can first determine if we CAN respond, and then determine the BEST way to respond if we can. (And unfortunately, sometimes no response is the best way.)

[mattrious]

Regarding responses to wishes: it is the Official Staff Policy that you must be a Highlord+, or have a approval from one, to directly respond to a wish from a player outside one of your own clans. Sometimes there are capable staff online who simply can't respond to a wish due to policy. (Storytellers can still respond through animations, or through making the world react, we just can't "send" to you without permission.)

I know this works to your detriment in many cases, and I myself see it as too restrictive, but that's the way it is.

Somewhat related to this also is being as specific as possible when you wish up. "Can I talk to someone?" is unlikely to get anyone an answer. "Can someone please animate this NPC?" is also unlikely to get a response. We need to know exactly what you want, so we can first determine if we CAN respond, and then determine the BEST way to respond if we can. (And unfortunately, sometimes no response is the best way.)

Thank you for the input. I had read that about wishes before I believe, but it did slip my mind. It's nice to have my memory refreshed on this. Normally, I always wish --> My issue and leave it at that. Try to get it all in on one line. Thank you for the clarification though.

- matt.

[Shiroi Tsuki]

I am always in favor of more communication, player input, and response.  It's good to keep in mind that everyone has the good of the game in mind, including both the staff and the people who play it.  I think people get less freaked out when things are announced and even discussed ahead of time, so that they know that their concerns have at least been heard before a major change goes in (this most recent barrier thing doesn't count in my mind towards this, since it wasn't actually supposed to go in yet.)  I wish player opinions were actually solicited more often.  That said, I have usually found the staff to be responsive when the players offer their unsolicited and often alarmed concerns about new things.

So it's good, but there is definitely room for improvement.

[manonfire]

Player-staff meeting. Let's schedule it for three months down the line, after holidays.

Requests for these meetings have been largely ignored. I suspect staff isn't interested in holding one just now.

[mansa]

Player-staff meeting. Let's schedule it for three months down the line, after holidays.

Requests for these meetings have been largely ignored. I suspect staff isn't interested in holding one just now.

Mostly because you'll get questions like...

"When is the new game going live, etc, etc, etc"

[Kronibas]

Second, my biggest concern is with the shifting of clan assignments.

This.

[touringCompl3t3]

How could players do better:
1) show more trust for staff.  despite staff sometimes having bad days, most of the time staff are helpful/cheerful.   
2) avoid abusing staff members.  even when staff members misbehave, it's important not to snap at them.  this could make them even madder and it can easily have a ripple effect onto other players.

How can staff do better:
1) I think staff should be more personable with veteran players.  It's commendable that they're so reserved and formal with new players, but I think as the years go by they could do a little more outreach to veteran players and help integrate them more to the community.  Police do community outreach, why not staff?

How both can work together:
1) I'd like to see a stronger mentorship between older players and newer players.  I'd like the process to be somewhat formalized.