Communication Issues & Opportunities
I made sure to read the forum rules thoroughly before making this post, so I have strived to ensure that I am breaking none of them - because I truly believe this is a discussion we need to have.
I direct this to the players specifically, and I would ask that we try to keep this thread as civil as possible so it stays up.
I believe a point most of us agree on is that communication (in a variety of capacities) has been an issue going back several months. My post specifically goes back to the changes regarding Archangel, and to the AQ compensation that was posted yesterday. In both cases, a moderator made a statement that was taken to heart by the players, only for that statement to be contradicted by the actions taken at a later date.
In one case, days, in another case, months.
Both of these instances had clear communication opportunities. There have been multiple other communication issues, but these both reflect a concern that I have that I am curious to hear other opinions on.
When an employee misspeaks, it's never an easy thing to handle. As a manager, I've had to handle it myself and correct the behavior, and also address the miscommunication to lend clarity to everyone who might have been impacted by it. People are going to misspeak, it's simply going to happen. What concerns me is that the second step - someone addressing the misspeaking and clarifying it to ensure everyone is on the same page, is not happening. That continues to foster upset and anger.
Here is how I believe both of these instances should have been handled -
The archangel change. An employee should have come forward as soon as players raised the concern (pointing out a previous post by a moderator) and it was found to be a valid one. They should have clarified that either the first employee misspoke (which we, then, as the players, have to understand that mistakes will happen sometimes), or that there was a fundamental meta change in the game that required the alteration.
The AQ compensation. When players pointed out the clear disparity in the statements initially made that were ambiguous (play what you want), and then the compensation offered, this should also have been addressed by coming forward with either a clarification that the moderator misspoke, or that a reassessing of compensation will take place to reflect the ambiguity that was given to the player base.
Both of these, though the Archangel one in particular, go back to a fundamental concept of changing anything. People, inherently, have to understand the why to be willing to accept change. They might not like it, or think it is the right change (and in gaming, that is almost a certainty), but a change that is driven by logic will receive understanding from most. However, there is a flip side to that - which is that a 'why' might not be detailed enough, or seen as good enough. In these instances, describing the level of detail wanted becomes invaluable to the people doing the communicating and something that we, as the players, need to be better about articulating.
The question I ask to the community to keep this conversation constructive is this - What is a communication issue you have seen in the past 6 months, and what, in your opinion, could have been done to alleviate the issue with the community?
tl;dr - Communication issues are driven by a lack of players receiving a 'why' behind changes. Less ambiguity, more detail when it's possible, and explaining the reasoning behind it. Also, when a moderator misspeaks, don't sweep it under the rug - own up to it, address it, and, if needed, fix it. Lastly, what's an example of a miscommunication in the past six months you have seen, and what, in your opinion, could have been done to deliver the message more effectively?
