We live in a world where developers can instantly connect with players, and it?s easier than ever to be a part of community groups for various games. Twitter, Reddit, hell, even the comments sections of various websites, can be outlets for players to talk about what they love and?sadly?more often what they dislike about a game. As a frequent visitor to the Destiny subreddit, I see salty posts filled with vitriol and a lack of understanding about the intricacies of game development. Demands for things as simple as cosmetic changes to grand additions like ?just porting over all the Destiny 1 content? appear almost daily without a shred of irony.
Recently BioWare?s Community Manager, Jesse Anderson, took to the Anthem subreddit to address some complaints about the game, and while doing so, also addressed how developers had stopped frequenting the subreddit and interacting with the community there. His reasoning was that devs who would respond there would often be met with hostile replies. ?Things used to be a lot friendlier here for dev team members who normally don?t talk on social channels or forums. They could answer questions, give information and know that they aren?t going to have people getting upset at them.?
Instead of allowing a conversation to happen between the devs and the communities, hostile players are driving away that voice, which then leaves it entirely on community managers to communicate with players.When that communication with them is doing a lot of dam...