How Not To Complain To A Developer

[HardOCP News]

This guy has a few tips on how not to complain to a developer. Is he onto something or just on something?

They claim that without the fans, we are nothing. I've often said the same thing at developer conventions around the world, but there's a difference between saying that to emphasize our thankfulness for and dependance upon people who love our games and literally implying we are not worth anything beyond the opinion of somebody on the internet who happened to play a game we made.

 

[ElBurroDeMuerte]

How not to complain? Isn't that just called shutting up? There's definitely a lot to be said for being critical of a game or its design in specific manners, you will never be able to get the entire internet to be mature and responsible though, it's simply not possible.

Besides, it's all about me and what I want anyways so this guy just needs to do what I ask.

You need to get your next article up or I'm leaving.

 

[CreepyUncleGoogle]

The whole gaming thing is full of super dork heads. The people who buy games complain. The people who make them complain. The people who publish them complain. The people who sell them complain. The entire thing is a business that doesn't need to even exist anyway. It and everything else fun except for having your pet cat totally own your universe should just go die in a fire or whatever. We can live without the next clone of some other game someone else has already done before.

 

[dgz]

I did read the article for a change.

Some fair points but here's my translation: "We're just a couple of talented guys capable of making a lot more money doing other stuff for a living but we make games because we love it. And while we appreciate criticism, we just wanna do what we want to do, not what you want us to do."

Fair enough but I just checked the games they're talking about. Cheap publicity stunt.

 

[FordFanboy]

The whole gaming thing is full of super dork heads. The people who buy games complain. The people who make them complain. The people who publish them complain. The people who sell them complain. The entire thing is a business that doesn't need to even exist anyway. It and everything else fun except for having your pet cat totally own your universe should just go die in a fire or whatever. We can live without the next clone of some other game someone else has already done before.

You're weird, bro.

 

[Outamyhead]

I did read the article for a change.

Some fair points but here's my translation: "We're just a couple of talented guys capable of making a lot more money doing other stuff for a living but we make games because we love it. And while we appreciate criticism, we just wanna do what we want to do, not what you want us to do."

Fair enough but I just checked the games they're talking about. Cheap publicity stunt.

Just had a look as well, keep doing what you want to do, but constructive criticism should be welcomed, instead of ignored...Just keep ignoring the arse hats that troll.

 

[CreepyUncleGoogle]

You're weird, bro.

Haven't been here long, huh? You'll need one of these:

Anyhow, I used to think it was just the people who bought games that were constantly complaining, sometimes with good reason (Sims 2/3, SimCity, Call of Yet Another One of the Same Old FPS 5, Street Fighter 2 Turbo Hyper Mega Super Edition, Rocky Part 12, etc.) but with developers going all crazy emo and GameStop flipping out like a ninja that kicks its mom right in the face about its customers, it's hard to think very highly of the gaming industry.

Also, I love the name. Ford Lincoln Mercury was my favorite character in the movie and book Postman! You get cool points!

 

[SGA76]

Problem is we're used to being ignored and treated like shit so 99% of the time, its how we react.
I've been customer support and been treated like crap because we're given x amount of time we're allowed on a call with a customer so often enough the customer's problem never got resolved. We may have been paid by the hour but the call center I worked at got paid by the call, so they made more money having the same people call over and over, nope, talk to your router people, nope, talk to Microsoft, nope, talk to Dell. It didnt matter if the problem was on our end or not, if there was a way to get rid of the customer to call back again, do it, it made more money for the company.
I got terminated after I refused to redirect and started fixing people's connection problems because my call times went up from 5 to 7 minutes per customer and was fixing the problems in the first call instead of on the 3rd or 4th.
Cox, burn in hell you assholes.
But yup, customers get treated like shit by big companies.
As a customer, when I'm nice and calm I get dicked around 90% of the time. I'm generally a nice guy and don't want to be a jerk, but I'm now to the point I don't hesitate to rip into a service rep and demand a supervisor.
You want to blame people for how your customers act, do your support in house and let an employee see a problem through instead of contracting out support to companies that get paid by the call.

 

[Thuleman]

Devs are like chefs, you don't complain to either, you just use a different product (different restaurant) when you come across a dev/chef you don't like. Nothing good can come from complaining and you are guaranteed to not receive a better product/service if you complain. Vote with your wallet. Done and done.

 

[Alai]

Devs are like chefs, you don't complain to either, you just use a different product (different restaurant) when you come across a dev/chef you don't like. Nothing good can come from complaining and you are guaranteed to not receive a better product/service if you complain. Vote with your wallet. Done and done.

Best solution to this perceived problem.

 

[SGA76]

You can try and be civil and say I liked X about your game and didn't like Y and they flip out and say there's something wrong with you, you didn't get what they were trying for, ect...
I agree, just vote with your wallet and continue to bitch about EA, because they deserve it!

 

[teh_chem]

People complain to developers? I figured they just whined in forums.

But dude, unless you're independently wealthy, you cannot work on a product and ignore the criticisms of your customer base. It's not about you being able to do something you love and that's it; at some point specifics of a product are released; your love for what you do does not override those expectations.

 

[kbrickley]

That's one of the things I like about the bigger Kickstarter projects ... since the backers are all passionate enough to buy into a project months or years in advance, they are also capable of providing careful well thought out feedback and encouragement for the developers who are making steady progress on their games ... luckily there aren't as many of the wild eyed types in KS since they don't like to put their money where their mouth is

 

[MrGuvernment]

Devs are like chefs, you don't complain to either, you just use a different product (different restaurant) when you come across a dev/chef you don't like. Nothing good can come from complaining and you are guaranteed to not receive a better product/service if you complain. Vote with your wallet. Done and done.

True in some cases (i was a head cook, no quiet a chef but i liked feedback), i was dealing with a developer that went on about how great their company is because they have an open bug tracker and that it is a privilege that their dev team deals with the public, and if it is abused you could loose your access simply by posting a feature request that 2 other people said i should post there.

This is why most companies don't let their Dev teams deal with the public, they don't know how to and come off overly arrogant as if it wasn't for them, there would be no company....

Lucky for me my Dev team is awesome!

 

[GaryJohnson]

People do not pay any attention to the opinions of anonymous strangers on the internet. If you're one of those anonymous strangers then the best way to share your opinion with other people on the internet is not at all. You're not going to change anyone's mind with whatever you're saying anyhow.

This post I just made, for example, was a complete waste of my time because I'm not going to convince anyone of the point I'm making. It was way too long too. People don't like to read the lengthy statements of anonymous strangers on the internet. If the point you're making can't be expressed in a sentence then don't bother making it. No one is going to bother reading it.

 

[teh_chem]

This is why most companies don't let their Dev teams deal with the public, they don't know how to and come off overly arrogant as if it wasn't for them, there would be no company....

I think it's not just that. There are real business reasons why a product is divided into designers, developers, testers, customer-development/marketing, and customer service rep's. Because developers are (hopefully) good at developing (based on requirements). Not necessarily good at customer-relations, not necessarily good at QA testing, etc. Much in the way that a QA tester is not necessarily a good developer (or a developer at all).

As such, you pay attention to your areas of work, and have the maturity to not get your panties up in a bunch if a small (but vocal) population complains about something you worked on. There will always be people who hate something. You can't change that.

If all this guy said was "please have tact and politeness when you are interacting with a developer on a product," that's one thing. But his particular situation is he's not just a developer, but a business-development person (or claims to be). Cross-functional. Doesn't sound like he's able to wear his different hats when appropriate.

 

[Kalabalana]

I've seen more than my fair share of developers who ignore the opinions of their most experienced players.
I mean, you have gamers passionate about what you're doing, playing double digit hours daily, who obviously comprehend the game more than anyone making it.
It's unfortunate when these players are ignored.
Even more unfortunate when suggestions magically make their way into the game without notice, originally being turned down.
Developers are people too, and suffer all the same personality disorders we see common in this shade of society.

Ignorance does not go away the brighter you are, it's a choice, and a warm blanket defense mechanism.

 

[somebrains]

You guys need to work in gaming for a year.
It is very much like dealing with bakers.
No one dies if they don't get a cupcake, the baker just acts like the world stops if they don't bake.
A person cannot exists on cupcakes.
Those that do only eat cupcakes are unusual people.

 

[teh_chem]

You guys need to work in gaming for a year.
It is very much like dealing with bakers.
No one dies if they don't get a cupcake, the baker just acts like the world stops if they don't bake.
A person cannot exists on cupcakes.
Those that do only eat cupcakes are unusual people.

I don't understand your analogy; who are the bakers and who are the eaters?

 

[MrGuvernment]

I think it's not just that. There are real business reasons why a product is divided into designers, developers, testers, customer-development/marketing, and customer service rep's. Because developers are (hopefully) good at developing (based on requirements). Not necessarily good at customer-relations, not necessarily good at QA testing, etc. Much in the way that a QA tester is not necessarily a good developer (or a developer at all).

As such, you pay attention to your areas of work, and have the maturity to not get your panties up in a bunch if a small (but vocal) population complains about something you worked on. There will always be people who hate something. You can't change that.

If all this guy said was "please have tact and politeness when you are interacting with a developer on a product," that's one thing. But his particular situation is he's not just a developer, but a business-development person (or claims to be). Cross-functional. Doesn't sound like he's able to wear his different hats when appropriate.

I completely agree, after i posted i was going to come back and mention that too, why there are different positions and such with in a larger company from dev to product manager as you pointed out.