An open letter to all of you who feel entitled to "fill in the blank"...

Galaturc · 2023-01-30T18:51:31+00:00

Dear Community,* Do you feel the monthly developer updates are "too long"? * Do you feel the game developers did not put enough time into preparing for a showcase? * Do you hate the creative director's ability (or, inability) to play and genuinely enjoy as he demos the game he is building brick by brick with his own money?…

Galaturc

Dear Community,

Do you feel the monthly developer updates are "too long"?
Do you feel the game developers did not put enough time into preparing for a showcase?
Do you hate the creative director's ability (or, inability) to play and genuinely enjoy as he demos the game he is building brick by brick with his own money?
Are you sick of waiting for an Alpha 2, demanding that it be announced ASAP?
Are you complaining about a game in the Alpha phase for not offering you every little feature you expect to see in a perfect MMORPG?

If you answered "yes" to any of the above, you may be suffering from the "entitlement mentality" - a narcissistic sense that you deserve more from Intrepid, that they owe you when you are owed little or nothing.

I'm not sure how you became this person, surely, it wasn't because there were or are better examples out there... It's not like we have many self-funded, multi-10-million dollar MMORPGs in development with highly transparent, communicative development processes. Perhaps, it's impatience, greed, or concern that the game won't live up to your super-hyped expectations.

Whatever the reason is, it is time for all of us to take one step back and appreciate what we have in progress here.

Is the gameplay videos too long and cluttered with other detail you don't care about? Well, most of us enjoy longer videos... where a few players (developers or the creative director) genuinely enjoy a game that is still in development and share their experiences of this wonderful world they are building, getting distracted by loot, or the environment. This game plays that well and they are so proud! Do you want a shorter version with short clips, let your favorite content creator brief it for you the very next day.
Neither game developers, nor other staff owes us a highly prepped showcase. If they are doing it, it's because they genuinely feel like sharing it. By all means, share your opinions as to how you'd like the format to be, but don't expect them to go over and beyond their means of planning, preparing for it, editing, or revising it on your demand. They are hired to build this game, not sell it.
Do you feel the creative director should not showcase his own game? The sense of entitlement in that sentiment is beyond my understanding. The amount of bs Steven is receiving for his gaming skills is outrageous to me! If I will ever see a demo of this game being played, it'll be from the point of view of the one individual who spent the most resource developing this game, period! If you don't enjoy all the clutter, and distractions, skip through it. His skills are not to your expectations, don't watch it. It's not like any other game in development is offering you more... Eventually, your favorite streamer will play-test the game and review it for you.
Intrepid Studios already have a higher priority... to build the game we all desire to test or play as soon as possible. One can't be both asking for better quality monthly updates and a sooner Alpha 2 announcement. What we are getting is a sweet spot Intrepid must feel most comfortable sharing. Quite honestly, it's already more than all of us deserve. None of us ever expected to receive so many good updates, one after another one, full of gameplay, Q&As, and studio updates in the past year, and we are all over-hyped because of it.
Please don't let the same reason why we built all this hype also ruin it for us. A perfect MMORPG does not exist. There will be MANY disappointments down the road when Intrepid will not rise to the hype we built as a community, and that's OK. They welcome critique and they built extraordinary communication with their community like no other in the past. We've already witnessed much evidence of how we are heard. In almost every development update, we see these changes and additions based on our feedback. By all means, let us ask and suggest new features, or changes to the existing ones... But again, please shake that feeling of entitlement from "demanding" things! You are just an over-hyped amateur! Just because they are willing to hear your opinions does not mean you're special. Let's all be grateful for "being heard", and enjoy what we are being offered even if they don't fulfill all our requests. After all, they are the professionals, they are the ones who are putting all the time and effort into building this game for us, and I think they know a little better than even the most experienced game developers in our community.

I commend Intrepid for their compassion and patience with this entitled and vocal minority, and their continued treatment of everyone equally so this minority doesn't further feel inadequate or left out. As they should, I hope that Intrepid will be firm about declining unreasonable requests and maintaining appropriate boundaries, and their consistency as they receive unfair pressure as they did in the last few days.

A less vocal MAJORITY of this community supports you, acknowledges how groundbreaking this whole development process has been, and appreciates all you do even when we have constructive criticism.

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Comments

novercalis

Galaturc wrote: »

Dolyem wrote: »

You can't call it a loud minority if you can't prove it is a loud minority. Again, you're discrediting your opposition without any data to say you are the majority.

Oh, but I just did! I think you are a little too obsessed with the "majority/minority" concept and how much evidence is needed in the context of how I describe these fractions of communities in my OP. When in doubt, use common sense. If that's not sufficient for you, start a survey to test it. I don't need to prove to you that the majority will agree with the "silly" survey questions I posted above. If you do conduct a survey, however, please share the results here.

ahhh the classic - I dont need to prove anything to anyone, you go look up the proof and prove me wrong, cause I got nothing to prove my assessment.

Galaturc

Voeltz wrote: »

Who's more entitled? 1. you for requesting people's feedback on a feedback post be ignored because you don't like that it isn't filled with butterflies and rainbows or

I don't mind negative responses at all.

2. People voicing their opinions when Intrepid asked for it?

There is offering feedback and voicing opinions on the development of a game... and then there are gems such as the quote from an earlier post below. There is a major difference between the two and needs to be pointed it out to the community.

So why should we settle for an honestly poor showcase when we know for god damn sure that they can do better. Why should we be ok with them literally spending twice as much time on fixing a problem that shouldn't have been a problem in the first place? Why can't they plan their job (and streams are a part of their job. At least Margaret's) correctly and what does it say about the rest of the development, when making a video is waaaaay easier than creating a whole damn game.

This individual thinks he deserves high-quality "professional" showcases from the game developers, he thinks it's in their job description...

One is highly desirable, the other one is highly entitled.

Galaturc

novercalis wrote: »

ahhh the classic - I dont need to prove anything to anyone, you go look up the proof and prove me wrong, cause I got nothing to prove my assessment.

I would not hesitate to post a survey if it really was relevant to my post.

whining about others voicing their opinions.

Again, voicing opinions... vs feeling entitled to better quality, "professional" videos from the game developers, an alpha 2 announcement, and that every feature they desire should be in the game.

I did encourage voicing opinions in my OP. I am highlighting the contrast.

novercalis

and you can also look at entitlement with context.

I dont see anything wrong with that post nor do I sense it as entitlement.

you have someone in the role of "director of communication" and Marketing/PR

Wouldnt / shouldnt you want to showcase your best? to be clear in direction?
I get that aspect. But if you'd read the past 2 months, the Nov video, people have been asking to be a bit more polish. Don't need to go Corporate Thrones and Liberty polish but prepared and to drop the Dora the explorer persona.

Pretty much the question is this: CAN THEY DO BETTER? The answer is YES. Does better mean, go full Blizzard, NCsoft, SquareEnix Presentation? Nope.

Dolyem

Galaturc wrote: »

Again, voicing opinions... vs feeling entitled to better quality, "professional" videos from the game developers, an alpha 2 announcement, and that every feature they desire should be in the game.

I did encourage voicing opinions in my OP. I am highlighting the contrast.

The silent majority wishes for these things.

Voxtrium

wow what a shit show haha

Voeltz

Galaturc wrote: »

Again, voicing opinions... vs feeling entitled to better quality, "professional" videos from the game developers, an alpha 2 announcement, and that every feature they desire should be in the game.

I did encourage voicing opinions in my OP. I am highlighting the contrast.

Really? Because your "letter" reads like a Greta Thunberg lecture. You think you can dictate what kind of feedback should be allowed or rejected according to your own opinions, because you're the self proclaimed speaker of this supposed "silent majority". You're no different than the other guy in my eyes. The yin and yang of entitlement.

Ludullu

Galaturc wrote: »

Why do you have this sense of entitlement that they should give you something to settle? You're not entitled to any of this! Also, this is literally NOT their job.

Don't you get it that these game developers are hired to develop a game? They really have much more productive things to do. They owe you nothing!

In your opinion, what do you think these 2 positions imply? Is it "go program a mob to hit a player" or is it "think of a way to present our game in the best way possible"?

I know that Margaret does an unreasonable amount of work at Intrepid. Her saying "this is a cosmetic I designed" on pretty much every single dev stream is proof of that. But if her job title includes words like "marketing" and "communications", I'd assume that her main goal at the company should be to present Intrepid and Ashes to their potential target audience. And do that in the best way possible.

Now I'm not trying to blame Margaret for all Intrepid's sins. What I'm trying to say is that Steven, as the main boss of the whole enterprise, should let her do her job. And having a pretty shitty showcase (when they've done much better ones previously) reflects quite poorly on Margaret, because she's the face of communication between the company and its audience.

I'm sure they're all busy. I'm sure they have a ton of stuff to do that is more important than the stream. But I'm also sure that the game would be much better received if what they show came in a pretty package. That stream's showcase did not look pretty. I'm assuming that Margaret saw the immediate reaction to it from literally everyone and told Steven "we gotta redo this before we put it on YT". So ultimately she did her job well. But due to whatever circumstances, she was prevented from doing it well on the first try.

So all I'm asking is that Steven finds a way to let Margaret do her job as well as she can on the first try. If that require them to make the streams bimonthly - fine. If that requires them to make the videos shorter - fine. If it requires them to do whatever they need to do within the company's structure - I'd hope they do it.

Steven's attitude towards these showcases imply that he's trying to appeal to the broader audience outside of their 100k++ customers. And unless they're going down the road of "there's no such thing as bad PR" - their marketing should look better than what we got the first time.

And like I already said, these kinds of mishaps imply a potential bigger problem within Intrepid's management. If they can't find just a few hours out of a whole damn month to make a proper video, how are they supposed to make a super complex and intricate mmo in any reasonable time.

NishUK

Greta Thunberg doesn't include this many words! No more than a children's story book!

I enjoy op's message towards you entitled, obsessed and angry Jahlon mad hatters. I prescribe not only pausing to think more before you guys utter the very finest of trash delicacies as it may end up luckily being digestible but actually having a deep f'ing thought towards a game that's interesting enough to have 64 classes an a real world and you should be way less critical and more thoughtful towards the overall picture of that instead of so much lousy nit-picking.

You guys are meant to be the nerds of the genre yet you're in nappies and crying about VFX when "developer polish" and GAME GRAPHICS OPTIONS exist and how your tank mate is gonna be upset because the mechanics aren't as bland as from before 2010. You guys aren't growing up,
Blizzard should make a 'WoW Vintage" to milk the lot of you! Like bleedin zombies mun!

Dolyem

NishUK wrote: »

Greta Thunberg doesn't include this many words! No more than a children's story book!

I enjoy op's message towards you entitled, obsessed and angry Jahlon mad hatters. I prescribe not only pausing to think more before you guys utter the very finest of trash delicacies as it may end up luckily being digestible but actually having a deep f'ing thought towards a game that's interesting enough to have 64 classes an a real world and you should be way less critical and more thoughtful towards the overall picture of that instead of so much lousy nit-picking.

You guys are meant to be the nerds of the genre yet you're in nappies and crying about VFX when "developer polish" and GAME GRAPHICS OPTIONS exist and how your tank mate is gonna be upset because the mechanics aren't as bland as from before 2010. You guys aren't growing up,
Blizzard should make a 'WoW Vintage" to milk the lot of you! Like bleedin zombies mun!

When has any one of us who has commented here complained about graphics? Or did I miss something? There are plenty of topics that are pointless to gripe about at this stage of development, such as polish and demand of a release date. But expecting quality showcases when promised them is not enitilement nor an unreasonable expectation. When I heard there was going to be a tank showcase, I expected what we got from the 2nd recording. The first was a failed presentation of their tank showcase. Nothing wrong with pointing that out. Nor is requesting someone more skilled and having a better understanding of the abilities in showcasing classes during dev discussions. I love Steven's enthusiasm and joy of being involved, and it has its place. However, the priority should be quality presentation of the dev streams topic. I will say people maliciously berating Steven for his skill at MMORPGs during showcases is unwarranted, though from what I can tell from witnessing in watch parties, most people just wish someone better suited would showcase it, without ill intent towards Steven, though I'm sure there are some who do.

NishUK

@Dolyem I agree with everything you just said, move to the left a little...

( fires post gun toward Jahlon, his fan base and anyone else mighty critical about way too many things including the "scope creep" of active blocking and dodging, my god this game can barely contain itself!... it's gonna be Putin's secret weapon any moment run! )

Garrtok

You're wrong. At the livestream time there is NOTHING more important than what they're presenting and showing. This is literally the most important interaction with the outside world and their one moment a month where they're doing their biggest marketing. There is no "but they have better stuff to do".

Galaturc

Garrtok wrote: »

You're wrong. At the livestream time there is NOTHING more important than what they're presenting and showing. This is literally the most important interaction with the outside world and their one moment a month where they're doing their biggest marketing. There is no "but they have better stuff to do".

These are developer updates on a game that is preparing for an alpha phase, guy... You're confusing it with an official game demo or a professional showcase. If the game developers and the creative director feel like sharing the gameplay of a new class they are designing, by all means, suggest that these videos can be better with some organization, just don't demand it... Voice your opinion but if they can not adhere to your suggestions, understand that its because there are a thousand more effective ways to use their time than recording the gameplay and then re-recording it... and then now, they are demanded by a few entitled to "plan and prepare" for this recording days before the recording session. These developer updates can be better, indeed... But "better" comes with a cost.

Galaturc

Dolyem wrote: »

When has any one of us who has commented here complained about graphics? Or did I miss something? There are plenty of topics that are pointless to gripe about at this stage of development, such as polish and demand of a release date. But expecting quality showcases when promised them is not enitilement nor an unreasonable expectation. When I heard there was going to be a tank showcase, I expected what we got from the 2nd recording. The first was a failed presentation of their tank showcase. Nothing wrong with pointing that out. Nor is requesting someone more skilled and having a better understanding of the abilities in showcasing classes during dev discussions. I love Steven's enthusiasm and joy of being involved, and it has its place. However, the priority should be quality presentation of the dev streams topic. I will say people maliciously berating Steven for his skill at MMORPGs during showcases is unwarranted, though from what I can tell from witnessing in watch parties, most people just wish someone better suited would showcase it, without ill intent towards Steven, though I'm sure there are some who do.

Nothing is wrong with pointing that out, indeed. Making suggestions, voicing opinion because they are asking for it vs... Demanding that the quality should be better and using rhetoric such as "why should we settle for less", "why should we be ok with them not recording twice", and "Why can't they plan their job ahead of time" sounds a little too entitled! This is the whole point of this post.

Galaturc

NiKr wrote: »

In your opinion, what do you think these 2 positions imply? Is it "go program a mob to hit a player" or is it "think of a way to present our game in the best way possible"?

I know that Margaret does an unreasonable amount of work at Intrepid. Her saying "this is a cosmetic I designed" on pretty much every single dev stream is proof of that. But if her job title includes words like "marketing" and "communications", I'd assume that her main goal at the company should be to present Intrepid and Ashes to their potential target audience. And do that in the best way possible.

Now I'm not trying to blame Margaret for all Intrepid's sins. What I'm trying to say is that Steven, as the main boss of the whole enterprise, should let her do her job. And having a pretty shitty showcase (when they've done much better ones previously) reflects quite poorly on Margaret, because she's the face of communication between the company and its audience.

I feel like you're about to propose Margaret should do the playing of the game as well as recording it and presenting it to us. I know you don't. Someone has to play this game, and I think these game developers and Steven are the best people to showcase what they built. The problem is, they have limited time and more efficient ways to use that time. If you're suggesting they should hire another team to showcase these classes, make it look professional, and present to us... That is a whole new discussion, whether there are funds for it.. Is it too early for that kind of marketing campaign? Is it even necessary at this stage where "developers" are just "updating" their community, voluntarily...

I'm sure they're all busy. I'm sure they have a ton of stuff to do that is more important than the stream. But I'm also sure that the game would be much better received if what they show came in a pretty package. That stream's showcase did not look pretty. I'm assuming that Margaret saw the immediate reaction to it from literally everyone and told Steven "we gotta redo this before we put it on YT". So ultimately she did her job well. But due to whatever circumstances, she was prevented from doing it well on the first try.

So all I'm asking is that Steven finds a way to let Margaret do her job as well as she can on the first try. If that require them to make the streams bimonthly - fine. If that requires them to make the videos shorter - fine. If it requires them to do whatever they need to do within the company's structure - I'd hope they do it.

Steven's attitude towards these showcases imply that he's trying to appeal to the broader audience outside of their 100k++ customers. And unless they're going down the road of "there's no such thing as bad PR" - their marketing should look better than what we got the first time.

And like I already said, these kinds of mishaps imply a potential bigger problem within Intrepid's management. If they can't find just a few hours out of a whole damn month to make a proper video, how are they supposed to make a super complex and intricate mmo in any reasonable time.

How did a video offered to you as a voluntary gift from the developers became "there's no such thing as a bad PR"? Why can't you take this as an attempt to show you the game-play of an MMORPG in development? When was the last gameplay (by developers) you've seen for a game that is highly polished and towards your highest professional expectations? You are demanding things that are not owed to you. Steven or the team does not need to do any of this. You can voice your opinion, sure... But if they won't shorten the video, redo every single time one of you are set off by it, or if its towards a larger audience that makes you unhappy, you can not start "demanding things", "won't settle for less", without being called "entitled". Because you are not entitled to any of it. It is a voluntary offer from the valuable times of Steven and the game developers, that is otherwise will be put to... well, game development.

Galaturc

I think most people are missing the point of the OP. It is to highlight that "demanding things" when asked for your opinions is a form of entitlement. By all means, we should voice our opinions, especially when asked for them. I am all for suggesting features and asking for better-quality videos, as well. The contrast is the language we are using when asking or suggesting these things from a team that has graciously offered to hear our voices.

Let us all consider at what stage this game is at, their funding for marketing at this early stage, and that these are updates that are meant to show us the early version of a game. We are not entitled to demanding polished, professional Blizzard-esqe videos or that the developer team (whose job definition does not include showcasing their new features to the gaming community) should be better prepared.

Mag7spy

Galaturc wrote: »

I think most people are missing the point of the OP. It is to highlight that "demanding things" when asked for your opinions is a form of entitlement. By all means, we should voice our opinions, especially when asked for them. I am all for suggesting features and asking for better-quality videos, as well. The contrast is the language we are using when asking or suggesting these things from a team that has graciously offered to hear our voices.

Let us all consider at what stage this game is at, their funding for marketing at this early stage, and that these are updates that are meant to show us the early version of a game. We are not entitled to demanding polished, professional Blizzard-esqe videos or that the developer team (whose job definition does not include showcasing their new features to the gaming community) should be better prepared.

Agreed everyone is purposely missing the point to let out the frustration on you lol. While not saying anything about people saying devs don't respect their time because of a live stream delay.

Galaturc

Voeltz wrote: »

Really? Because your "letter" reads like a Greta Thunberg lecture. You think you can dictate what kind of feedback should be allowed or rejected according to your own opinions, because you're the self proclaimed speaker of this supposed "silent majority".

Surely, you will point out where I "dictate what kind of feedback should be allowed or rejected according to your own opinions" by quoting my OP, otherwise, you are on a hyperbole.

If you have disagreements with my points in OP, rather than poorly attempting to offend me, by all means, point them out so we can continue a civil discussion.

You're no different than the other guy in my eyes. The yin and yang of entitlement.

I am arguing against any entitlement, I am for the "inexistence" of entitlement. There is no negative "entitlement" as in yin to "his yang". I don't see the analogy here.

More like I stand for pointing out the "entitlement mentality" and referencing some behavior that I find to be toxic in our community. Of course, it is a reaction to "the other guy", several other posts that keep demanding an alpha 2 announcement, and other things we are not entitled to.

We are graciously given an opportunity to voice our opinions, we are not entitled to demand things. How we voice these opinions are important. In no way, am I dictating what this entitled fraction of the community can or can not do. I aim to highlight the contrast and point to a blindspot some may have, though.

Dolyem

Demanding what has been promised to the community is entitled? If they say they are going to showcase something or explain a topic, I expect them to do it, and do it well. Not deliver a messy, quickly thrown together video to pass off as content. I haven't seen anybody here asking for over the top cinematography or fancy gimmicks. Most everyone just wants a quality production that is informative, presents the showcase clearly, and provides optimal examples in regards to gameplay as opposed to footage of constant improvisation, although im sure some of that is welcomed in moderation.

Galaturc

Mag7spy wrote: »

Agreed everyone is purposely missing the point to let out the frustration on you lol. While not saying anything about people saying devs don't respect their time because of a live stream delay.

Yes, there are some "purposeful" attempts at distraction and twisting the main points. I don't mind their frustration or attempt at red herrings, either.

Disagreements are understandable, as long as we all are re-evaluating some of our behavior and approaches when suggesting or voicing our opinions, I achieved my goals.

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