An Open Note to GMS: Part Trois
Hello.
This thread has nothing to do with the either two, and thus warrants its own discussion. This is neither a critique of the GMs nor a suggestion ballot. Rather, this open note is directed more toward how the community can work more closely with the GMs.
Look at any thread where GMs interact with community members; by and large, the tone is strikingly negative. It has been for years. And, while it's easy to point to the GMs lack of communication, in reality there isn't much work being put in on either side.
GMs are paid professionals; they deal with complaints not only from our small subset competitive forum, but from the entire community at large. They have to deal with support tickets, and internal issues, and server issues, and essentially manage the entire game for the thousands of people who play each day. They have frustrating jobs.
And, when they fail to live up to our expectations, our community lacks a direct channel of communication with them. When a GM does open those channels, vitriol and anger spews out. Take for example, my last thread here. Someone attacked the GMs far outside of the scope of my original critique. And that theme is not only common, it is almost guaranteed with any thread where the work of the GMs is discussed.
Part of that, yes, is in the GMs not having open communication with our community. However, that level of vitriol and hatred and disrespect is simply unacceptable on our part to consistently spew out.
In my last thread, I said that laziness and apathy are the only reasons for the lack of communication on the part of the GMs, and I believe that. I believe that the GMs, if they cared, would communicate why there are delays -- or, seeing how upset we are, would communicate that they can't discuss why the delays are happening and apologize.
However, as a community, we have made ourselves a place that the GMs do not want to invest their time and their efforts. Why should they? CFCL went incredibly smoothly at least half the time, and yet the GMs were lambasted. Whether it went perfectly or poorly, there was no difference. The rare compliment was surrounded by half a dozen complaints, and an outreach from an already frustrating job became more of a chore.
GMs, neither are you off the hook. I've posted two of these thus far; I've ranged from aggressive to sycophantic in my tone. This will be the third. You may wonder why the community treats you so negatively. The reason, to put it bluntly?
In general, the only threads or communications which garner any response from you are those highly aggressive in tone.
Unsurprisingly, your tone is negative in response.
However, part of your job is to be a part of the community. Being busy isn't a good excuse, to be honest with you. The average reader reads roughly 200 words per minute; the average typist 40 words per minute. That means you can read two forum threads and post two replies in less than 5 minutes every day. Or, you can spend less than 2 minutes and send all of the mods a memo each day asking them to inform the community what it is you're working on.
You choose to not, and every opportunity that passes you by is another lost chance to improve the relations between your staff and the competitive community.
It is important, in our critique of the GMs and the issues that arise, to recognize the role that we as a community play in our interactions with them. People such as Wizdom and Spank who constantly deride the GMs -- calling them clueless, calling them inept, stupid, and foolish -- should not be the face of our community. When they are, the GMs motivation takes a dive, and the GMs feel as though it's pointless to bother interacting with our community at all. However, people such as AYRIN and Brando -- those who refuse to criticize the GMs in an effort to curry favor -- should not be the face of our community either. When they smile and pass up opportunities for criticism in an effort to further their own careers, they give GMs the incorrect idea that everything is okay.
It's important to strike a balance and to recognize that the GMs are not our employees. While we are the clients of their games, that distinction is important. Additionally, anyone with half a brain knows that people work harder for clients they like, and we have failed as a community in that aspect.
Similarly, GMs, you have failed your obligations to improve community relations.
Things have been in a downward spiral for a long, long time, but it isn't too late to start fixing things.
This thread has nothing to do with the either two, and thus warrants its own discussion. This is neither a critique of the GMs nor a suggestion ballot. Rather, this open note is directed more toward how the community can work more closely with the GMs.
Look at any thread where GMs interact with community members; by and large, the tone is strikingly negative. It has been for years. And, while it's easy to point to the GMs lack of communication, in reality there isn't much work being put in on either side.
GMs are paid professionals; they deal with complaints not only from our small subset competitive forum, but from the entire community at large. They have to deal with support tickets, and internal issues, and server issues, and essentially manage the entire game for the thousands of people who play each day. They have frustrating jobs.
And, when they fail to live up to our expectations, our community lacks a direct channel of communication with them. When a GM does open those channels, vitriol and anger spews out. Take for example, my last thread here. Someone attacked the GMs far outside of the scope of my original critique. And that theme is not only common, it is almost guaranteed with any thread where the work of the GMs is discussed.
Part of that, yes, is in the GMs not having open communication with our community. However, that level of vitriol and hatred and disrespect is simply unacceptable on our part to consistently spew out.
In my last thread, I said that laziness and apathy are the only reasons for the lack of communication on the part of the GMs, and I believe that. I believe that the GMs, if they cared, would communicate why there are delays -- or, seeing how upset we are, would communicate that they can't discuss why the delays are happening and apologize.
However, as a community, we have made ourselves a place that the GMs do not want to invest their time and their efforts. Why should they? CFCL went incredibly smoothly at least half the time, and yet the GMs were lambasted. Whether it went perfectly or poorly, there was no difference. The rare compliment was surrounded by half a dozen complaints, and an outreach from an already frustrating job became more of a chore.
So what about the GMs?
GMs, neither are you off the hook. I've posted two of these thus far; I've ranged from aggressive to sycophantic in my tone. This will be the third. You may wonder why the community treats you so negatively. The reason, to put it bluntly?
In general, the only threads or communications which garner any response from you are those highly aggressive in tone.
Unsurprisingly, your tone is negative in response.
However, part of your job is to be a part of the community. Being busy isn't a good excuse, to be honest with you. The average reader reads roughly 200 words per minute; the average typist 40 words per minute. That means you can read two forum threads and post two replies in less than 5 minutes every day. Or, you can spend less than 2 minutes and send all of the mods a memo each day asking them to inform the community what it is you're working on.
You choose to not, and every opportunity that passes you by is another lost chance to improve the relations between your staff and the competitive community.
Conclusion
It is important, in our critique of the GMs and the issues that arise, to recognize the role that we as a community play in our interactions with them. People such as Wizdom and Spank who constantly deride the GMs -- calling them clueless, calling them inept, stupid, and foolish -- should not be the face of our community. When they are, the GMs motivation takes a dive, and the GMs feel as though it's pointless to bother interacting with our community at all. However, people such as AYRIN and Brando -- those who refuse to criticize the GMs in an effort to curry favor -- should not be the face of our community either. When they smile and pass up opportunities for criticism in an effort to further their own careers, they give GMs the incorrect idea that everything is okay.
It's important to strike a balance and to recognize that the GMs are not our employees. While we are the clients of their games, that distinction is important. Additionally, anyone with half a brain knows that people work harder for clients they like, and we have failed as a community in that aspect.
Similarly, GMs, you have failed your obligations to improve community relations.
Things have been in a downward spiral for a long, long time, but it isn't too late to start fixing things.
Comments
This discussion has been closed.
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