“Here in the aftermath, on the verge of extinction, where fear finds purchase, only a few will stand fast, defiant to the end.”
That quote comes from the Defiant Map Pack trailer for Halo: Reach and to me it describes the forums at this moment in time. It should not be this way, but it is. On one side, people who hate 343i unconditionally not matter what. On another, people who love 343i no matter what. And in the middle between these two extremes, people who reside in the center unsure what to think. 343i stands off to the side unsure of what to do with the community they have been given.
The most recent match that started this new wild fire of controversy was, as you all are probably aware of now, the GDC panel with Josh Holmes. I saw the panel, I heard the controversial remarks about multiplayer and I was pissed. Yet now that I have looked back and examined everything that has occurred since the wee hours of last night and spilled over today, I have come to one conclusion: this was a massive -Yoink-.
On the community side, we descended into the frenzy we usually go into. I won’t deny I was part of that frenzy, but I realize it was the worst way to handle this. The one big topic that could’ve been the catalyst for change and maybe an official response from 343i became a pool of ignorance and insults and ended into failure. AS IT SHOULD’VE WITH THE WAY THE COMMUNITY ACTED. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saint on this forums, but even I realize that the mods acted in the right, but by the same token it has sparked a whole new problem. Now we have flames towards the mods for doing their jobs on top of the remnants of flames about the GDC panel.
Because of this, I believe we as a community need to better evaluate how we go about feedback, ONE BOTH SIDES. Yes, the fanbase does have the habit of complaining about things, even trivial things at times. Yet, that is not an excuse to wipe away ALL complaining as just bitter, self-entitlement and ignorance. What Halo needs now more than ever is constructive feedback.
To 343i, well I may not be qualified to suggest anything to you guys, but if there is one thing I know about gaming communities it is that controversy made by developers I never a good thing. Just look at Hammerpoint Interactive and their WarZ game and the massive controversy that created. An unfinished game was released on the market with missing features and instead of woning up to it, for the longest time one of the executive producers and presence on tgeir forums blamed the community by saying they “misread” the Steam page where the games features were listed, they didn’t, and that over 93% of people liked the game, which wasn’t true, and that only trolls and idiots hated the game, which they weren’t. Needless to say they lost a lot of support fairly quickly and eventually apologized for letting their egos get the best of them and then offered refunds.
I will admit, it was refreshing to hear you voice the many complaints I had about the story, but I can see the community backlash against the multiplayer portion. The Halo community is a very sensitive and easily startled one. It has always been this way, even back on Bungie.net. That said, I don’t think you know the community quite that well. Judging by the reactions from Jessica Shea’s sarcastic remarks about the DMR complaints at PAX to Josh Holmes claims of incorporating all the community feedback into Halo 4, I don’t find myself surprised the community erupted. Perhaps it was hyperbolic, but the reason the jokes didn’t sit well, in my opinion, is that you guys haven’t really solidified yourselves as a presence. That isn’t to say you’ve tried though and many appreciate the effort. But when you know the community has issues they want fixed, avoiding them with humor is probably not the best route…at least not yet.
Better community interaction, I think, is the right way to go. BS Angel and rukizzel can only do so much. I know Twitter is a viable option, but a more personal touch here would likely lead to more acceptance of you being a developer who listens to the fanbase. Delivering Forge Island and an X was a good, is perhaps a bit flawed with the latter, step. Now we just want to interact and be an integral part of Halo. It’s like the book Childhood’s End, you are the Overlords and we know you are up there in your ships, but we don’t really KNOW you.
TL;DR: The community needs to improve how they deliver feedback and react to controversy while 343i needs to improve how they gather and interpret said feedback.
Thanks for reading.
