Towards muting the “gaem is ded” echo chamber.
Unfortunately, you’re probably right.
People have been crying the game is dead for as long as the game has existed, actual patches only get them to be quiet for about six earth minutes so just lol if you think a statement is doing anything 
The thing is that I do find depressing current update schedule and I also do think (just as everyone else!) we really could use some official news and stuff. That doesn’t interfere with my wish to believe in future of game. This is my take on optimism and I’m going to keep it for now. But then " there will continue to be threads like this" is most unproductive thing people can do ever. Only thing thread like this can do is change mood of people who read it. That’s all. Complaining how no one talk with you will do nothing. They are hired people (also just people!), they will talk when they’ll have word from higher-ups. And if someone believe that higher-ups read forum… well… uh, it’s your optimistic take, sure, maybe it’s even true…
(in the same time people collectively killed thread about how community can help the game, sure, it was obviously pointless and harmful thread unlike this one and the likes)
1 Like
Your point has been proven. 
3 Likes
Getting some kind of statement from the developers that more content is coming will not shut up the usual doom-sayers and “game is dead” crowd, true.
But the situation right now is that it is not only those people who are losing hope, but even normally positive people are starting to think that there isn’t more content coming - and many of those would stop talking about how the game is dead if there was any sign of life from the developers.
2 Likes
Short term, there probably would be a bit of a lift to those who are close to losing hope but haven’t quite yet.
Long term though?
Like you say, it’s not going to shut up the doom-sayers and GID crowd. The feelings of frustration will continue to build, and then when new content comes out, there will be plenty of people who have built up the idea of “new content” in their minds who feel unfulfilled and declare that it’s not even “real content”.
You’re not wrong. But I don’t see how reassuring players that new content is coming could be in any way negative.
2 Likes
Someone stream the train to Cairo for 13 hours. There’s precedent
Honestly, it shouldn’t be negative, it should be a big positive that would make everyone happy. The problem is that the expected vs actual results doesn’t always match up.
First off, there’s the whole concept of precedent. If they do something once, then there are people who assume/imply that it will happen again. So if they don’t say there’s something in the pipeline, then the GID.
Then there’s the fact that we’ll obsess over anything which is said, which puts even more pressure onto anything they say. Then people get het up about the fact that there’s no news about XYZ, which is clearly a slap in the face from the devs, and the lack of updates show the GID.
It may be that the development schedule is slow because the team are working on other projects. I’d much rather that wasn’t the case, but looking at 2019, there’s not been much happening. Again, remembering the angst during the wait for Tokyo, and how salty people got, that then had a negative impact when it finally came out and wasn’t the expansion that people had wanted it to be. If they said “we’re working on something” and then said we weren’t going to get it till February at least, (for example) or didn’t put a time frame on it at all, then it’d then be turned against them as an example of how slow/lazy the devs are. If the content was then received negatively, then having built up months of hype (even if that was purely community driven) then increases the amount of salt left in the wake (see complaints about SA and picking corn).
I think that they’ve ended up in a damned if they do, damned if they don’t position. From a players perspective, it’d be far better if they’d talk to us, but from a corporate position, then making any kind of announcement is also committing to tying up resources just fielding all the questions, comments, tinfoil hat theories etc.
Ok but I just don’t see why that matters so much. Like, it’d be disappointing if they never made any more new content for the game but why is it so important that you know right now that they’re working on something? If they came out and said “no more updates”, would you stop playing? If so, why?
Because it is literally never enough. If they say “relax, we’re still working on stuff” people will just start screaming about timeframes. If they give us a short timeframe, it’ll slip and people will be out for blood. If they give us a long timeframe, people will be out for blood anyway. It’s a no-win situation unless they have something concrete to show off that they’re very sure will be released soon.
Remember when they released that teaser screenshot of SA, just to show that new content was coming and people went nuts about how bad it looked? 
Personally, probably not immediately, but I’d certainly ramp up my efforts to find an alternative. I’ve been through the story more times than probably most of the player base and most of my friends have already moved on.
You can never please everyone. If that’s the goal, then you’re right, it’s not even worth trying.
Funcom is a gaming company, so I’m curious about what other companies do with regards to their games. Is regular information about updates common in the industry?
2 Likes
Ok but why? Are you playing a game you don’t enjoy because you hope it’ll get better in the future or would you stop playing a game you enjoy just because it’s not getting any more updates? Both of those positions seem weird to me
Also, nobody seems to be considering a fairly obvious possibility: the devs could be busy with something else right now but planning to come back to SWL later. Imagine the riot if they said that, as reasonable as it is.
It’s not about pleasing everyone, it’s about not causing an incident. “This statement from Funcom proves they’re spending all the SWL money on Dune” (or whatever) is a rallying cry for naysayers, “Gamers howl into the void” is just a day ending in y.
There doesn’t really seem to be an industry standard. Smaller titles often try to have more communication with their players, but that often tends towards having frequent streams or AMAs. There’s a lot of non-committal in those, where they talk about what they’d like rather than what’s actually coming.
It seems like the majority of talking is when there’s new content being announced, so trying to generate community interest in stuff which is coming soon. For example, World of Warships is going to start closed testing of submarines.
When there’s new stuff being announced, devs will often be asked in interviews about what is coming, and there’s common generic answers of “yes, we’re working on stuff, but look at this awesome new shiney!”
Funcom doesn’t seem to do a huge amount of signposting far in advance - the AO Rubi-Ka server launch only had about a week’s notice before it went live for example.
1 Like
I am enjoying the game, but I’ve been playing through mostly the same content over and over for seven years. If my remaining friends leave and the game stops getting updates, I see no reason to stay much longer. I’m sorry if that answer “seems weird” to you, but I don’t I owe you any further explanations.
Of course they are working on other projects. That’s why I’d like to see some reassurance that SWL will get some attention in the future.
1 Like
You don’t have to stay though? You could easily put the game down and come back if and when they release new stuff. What’s weird is the idea that you have to play the game in a single, unbroken streak from launch until the devs confirm they’ve dropped support and that they are therefore duty bound to inform you of their plans
I think you missed the part where I said I’m still enjoying the game.
My little RP crew is still active, too, and that’s the kind of content that doesn’t need developers. We even picked up a couple of new participants recently.
Also, if you’re going to ask your customers to commit to your game for 12 months, it would be kind of nice for the company to make a similar commitment.
6 Likes
I think that’s a little bit of a dodgy one. The 12 month Patron thing isn’t linked to any kind of content release schedule - if it was advertised alongside a roadmap that they then discarded you might have a point, but Patron isn’t linked to any content development. The game will still be around in 12 months (look at TSW, still going 2 years + after it stopped getting anything), so the commitment of Funcom is still there.
1 Like