MindArk Communication discussion

[Hardicus]

Originally Posted by Pirx Danford

Well I guess that the official news on the website are meant for that.

So every post that an MA rep makes on this forum is in the News section of the EU website? Cool, didn't know that.

[Pirx Danford]

Originally Posted by Hardicus

Yes, but if I read Centech's post correctly, he was asking MA about why they use EF as an official comms point, and how someone banned from EF is supposed to know about what's going on. So yes, it's an MA issue, if people can be banned from EF, it's MA's responsibility to ensure that these people are able to know what's going on in EU, not Neomavin's responsibililty.

Originally Posted by Pirx Danford

Well I guess that the official news on the website are meant for that.

Originally Posted by Hardicus

So every post that an MA rep makes on this forum is in the News section of the EU website? Cool, didn't know that.

Sorry I was not clear enough.
You actually asked 2 questions:
1) how someone banned from EF is supposed to know about what's going on?
2) if EF is the official comm point, how should a player contact MA?

My answer was in regards to question number 1.

Let me make it totally clear.

Q: how someone banned from EF is supposed to know about what's going on?
A: The official news are found in the client loader and on the website www.entropiauniverse.com

Q: if EF is the official comm point, how should a player contact MA?
A: EF is not the official comm point, you contact MA by the support section on www.entropiauniverse.com

[Nighthawk]

Marco, now would be a good time to post here

[aridash]

Originally Posted by Pirx Danford

Q: if EF is the official comm point, how should a player contact MA?
A: EF is not the official comm point, you contact MA by the support section on www.entropiauniverse.com

but then Support refers to posts on EF, which makes for a rather awkward relationship imo.

[PINKY]

Since I started playing entropia, the player base has doubled with some (reported) 700,000 players.

Personally I think if guides for new players can be justified as a business expense (with plans to increase their numbers in line with China joining), then they should be able to justify an additional full time employee for Marco's department that spends his day trawling the forums. All forums (not just this one)

I would like to see them not just answer questions we pose, or stepping in when the comunity kicks off about something, but actually take part in discussions, just as you or I might.

Their presense would go a long way to creating a better relationship between MA and its customer base. It pretty obvious Marco is getting busier and busier with the IRL events his does, and the bottom line is that he is a company director - there is no need for someone of this level within the company to interact with us on a frequernt basis (I think his current level of activity would be about right IF we had a regualar poster working for him).

Looking at financial reports that show year on year MA making more money, increasing player base and having an increased income - I fail to see how they could not justify such an employee. Obviously they might need to reoprt to Marco before answering some of the bigger issues, but things like bug fix progress and interaction with players could be done daily and this question of communication that keeps popping up once or twice a year would be resolved once and for all.

A good topic for discussion Red Strike

[Leafren]

Originally Posted by Pirx Danford

Q: how someone banned from EF is supposed to know about what's going on?
A: The official news are found in the client loader and on the website www.entropiauniverse.com

The problem here is of course MA communicates things through this participant run forum which they dont communicate through other channels.

So if you want to see/discuss the 'unofficial news', you first of all have to be on this forum, which I'm sure many people are not and Neomaven has to allow you on this forum if you want to discuss it. What it comes down to is do we want MA to stay posting and spreading news through these unofficial channels, with players, like Neomaven and his administration team, who are doing a good job overall at running this forum I must say, controlling who gets to discuss it, or do we want an excellent fan forum like it is now, but with all MA communication going through their own offical company media like blogs etc.

I choose the latter.

I think MA is already heading in that direction since lately a lot less news is spread solely through participant run forums, but still it happens every week (for example Marco announcing there will be a statement on the locking, afaik that news wasn't on EU official website? Not nice for the locked players not visiting this forum) and it is not fair for people who aren't aware of this forum and/or choose not to frequent it.

[Pirx Danford]

Originally Posted by aridash

but then Support refers to posts on EF, which makes for a rather awkward relationship imo.

AFAIK EF is public readable?!
So pointing to something with more information on EF is like pointing to Wikipedia basically?

I don't see where the awkward comes in, in sending someone to someplace where public information going into details of the issue can be found.

If you refer to the case where some guy was banned on EF and MA gave out the email-address of 711, kudos to them to even care and search out an email address.
I would have written:
"Sorry but we cannot assist you with problems with sites operated by third parties."

[Ateush]

Originally Posted by Dion Red Strike

In another thread, a lot of people complained that Mindark doesn't communicate nearly enough. I disagree.

Hehe - lets count MA responses in this topic ..... - oops - no responses...

No communication at all

Topic may be closed

[Dion Red Strike]

Originally Posted by PINKY

A good topic for discussion Red Strike

I knew it would be

My intentions are/were 2-fold with this one....

1) Start a good discussion on what exactly people want

2) Debate those that think MA communicates like a sloth


Even I'm not naive enough to think Mindark is perfect at communications (but to admit that really squashes the debates). The whole 'interview' thing is an attempt to get more information from them to the community. No company is perfect at communication, and I don't expect them to be.

However, I DO think Mindark is good at communication. They have gotten much better at communicating, than in years past. I never really had a huge problem with their communication personally, but apparently people had horrible support case response times, and they've gotten better.

I'm sure someone from Mindark has read this discussion, and probably is keeping it 'subscribed'. It's a good topic of discussion, and obviously has people from both sides of the aisle writing in.

I will comment more on some of the erlier posts later today

~Red

[aridash]

Originally Posted by Pirx Danford

AFAIK EF is public readable?!
So pointing to something with more information on EF is like pointing to Wikipedia basically?

I don't see where the awkward comes in, in sending someone to someplace where public information going into details of the issue can be found.

so you have no problem with a company refering to a 3rd party for inforamtion about themselves which can be changed or removed at any time or even go offline outside of their control? Public access is not the issue, it is the lack of control and accountability.

Originally Posted by Dion Red Strike

... They have gotten much better at communicating, than in years past. I never really had a huge problem with their communication personally, but apparently people had horrible support case response times, and they've gotten better.
...

They've tried to get better and its a mixed bag, as Leafren says it seems to be in fits and bursts. As for support, they have improved massively there but thats a different issue really, its the wider communication that still need to be improved greatly.