but the problem is that that’s not what their silence says. that’s a generous interpretation of their silence, but generally people take silence as being ignored. hence all the bad will that could be avoided by saying “we can’t answer that.”
more accurately, we would learn that we aren’t being ignored which, if we are, would be something to blame the CMs for… so it seems like saying something is better than saying nothing.
so who is to blame for their silence if they could say something but instead say nothing?
yes, of course, but that doesn’t mean you ignore what the CMs can do.
it’s their job not to ignore the community, so if the community feels ignored there’s a problem. maybe that problem is a bunch of people are a-holes. maybe that problem is that the communication we’ve had hasn’t been effective. maybe there hasn’t been enough communication. i’m not claiming to know what exactly the problem is; i’m only claiming that at least two of those things are on the CMs regardless of what they’re allowed to tell us because their job is to manage the community.
hey, at least you PC players get Blue responses…problem with s22 and you have a blue response…consoles had a screwed up early season start and NADA from the CMs…nothing. And this is par for the course for us, over the past near 5 years. I think I’ve seen 2 Blues responses in total over that 5 years…yeah, a total of 2. And we’ve had so many issues it isn’t funny…constant end of season stuff ups, constant issues with bugs affecting game play, constant issues with game design that’s unique to consoles. none of it addressed by Blizzard…
I feel sorry for the lack of communication for my PC brethren, but spare a thought for us poor console players who have it far worse.
If folks know that the cms have nothing to do with Blizzard’s actions, and yet still get mad at them for being silent, then that again means those folks are being small minded.
Actually people would still feel ignored, especially those who offer feedback, suggestions, and/or alternatives, and Blizzard makes choices or changes that completely disregard said feedback. In that situation, it wouldn’t matter how many times the CM say “I can’t say”, players will still feel ignored since their feedback will feel like it amounted to nothing.
I would say that the folks who get mad at the CMs over decisions that the CM’s had nothing to do with, and because they’re silent on the matter (when the folks themselves know that the CM’s are limited on saying things), have nothing to blame but themselves.
Well their job includes more than that. However, if they’re not doing their job, then that once again falls onto Blizzard to correct, as having the community hounding at the CM’s isn’t going to achieve anything.
One of the most frustrating parts of being a CM (at least for Blizzard), is that you are not allowed to say “I can’t tell you that”.
Take for example the whole Diablo Immortal “we hear you thread”. It was a formatted statement approved by Legal and upper management. Nev was not allowed to comment further and certainly could not say “My bosses won’t let me say anything more”.
Sharing what they are not allowed to talk about, is pretty telling at times and can make management look pretty bad. Rightfully so sometimes! However there are often reasons for why they don’t want CMs to share something - that are valid.
Personally? I think the restrictions put on CMs are not in the best interest of Blizzard, transparency, or customer communications.
I will probably get in trouble if I give specific examples of things CMs should be able to answer, but that they had restrictions placed on them for. Really dumb stuff that makes no sense.
I’m not sure if I necessarily want to put blame on any one individual. As said, it’s an issue of being ordered to stay silent. Defy that order and you’re unemployed. My frustration regarding this policy of maintaining silence is on the company as a whole. They have to be able to see that it’s having a negative impact.
Others have said: “Don’t shoot the messenger.” We can’t, because they never sent one.
Correct. It creates a lot of stress for the front line people. They can’t share information the players want. They also can’t share WHY they are not allowed to talk. So they get to sit there and take the arrows from the rightfully upset players - with no ability to explain anything.
Correct and I agree. The CMs KNOW this. They have told management over and over and over. It is not in the best interest for Blizzard or players. Years later and that still has not changed. It is not just one game either, it is all the games for the most part.
Yes and no. At times the CMs are allowed to post Dev statements on topics which is nice. The problem is that it is not consistent. One day we get a decent comment on X mechanic, another day we don’t. It creates further confusion about what CMs are allowed to share.
I can say this - the only stuff they can really just freely talk about is already released game features/mechanics, and personal chat. They can answer questions about the current status of Magic Find, how a Season works, what game features currently exist, etc. They can also chat about what class they like and why, what their own Season plans are, favorite snacks, pets, etc. Things that don’t concern future plans for the game or controversial issues are fine.
That much is obvious. The issue isn’t so much that there may be reasons for certain restrictions. Thing is - especially this time - they did a couple of changes and asked for tests and feedback on them. After doing what they wanted us to, that is testing and stating our impressions and/or concerns, we got exactly nothing in return. Not a single response, not even minor tweaks to the stuff they did. Zero.
I mean if they pretty much do a dedicated patch (at least in larger parts) to one class that obviously has a huge impact and then, afterwards, give that same class a neglect treatment on literally everything players point out during the ptr… now, that’s not exactly motivating, to say the least.
Which has me wondering why we bother with the PTR in the first place. I hate to sound so negative about it, but that’s the reality. This behavior has cultivated an environment of total futility and animosity.
The fault of that lies with Blizzard as a whole rather than the CMs who had nothing to do with said changes. I mean if the developers or those highers hadn’t informed the CMs of the reasoning for the changes, or told them to keep a lid on the matter; then there’s nothing they can do.
In all seriousness… those 2 points are EXACTLY what a team of CMs should be managing most importantly. They’re the 2 things that the community always wants a word on.
And they’re both things Blizzard usually outright ignores for every single game the company has.
Frankly, it’s hard to believe why they have teams of CMs anymore - or at least, call them CMs - when they’re so restricted in what they can say to the community and hardly ever do say anything to the community.
Sure, they’re probably doing a back of background stuff and gathering info from this forum and other media platforms, relaying it, packing it, whatever. But communication is a 2 way street and all we’ve got are dead ends.
strange that this subject is still being debated.
people … wake up! for 7-8 years there are no real updates here. simply compare what the competition has done in the meantime. one can only laugh about it.
also read the latest news about the state of the company and what bloggers (especially ex devs) report about it.
for me, d3 (and the new rubbish for smartphones or the embarrassing d3 reskin), wow, overwatch etc. is absolutely taboo and belongs in the garbage can.
I might remember this wrong but I seem to recall that on the old board I once put up a thread in the PTR asking the very same thing and after this ‘glorious’ dedicated Wizard patch I was wondering if I shouldn’t put one up when the next PTR comes around.
I’d say if they never act on feedback, not even glaring bugs like getting killed by your own clones in essence, why bother? Just let the Devs fend for themselves and make the first 1 or 2 weeks of the new season our PTR.
i sincerely hope you won’t be getting in trouble for telling us this much. apparently, i was wrong about being able to at least say you can’t say, but obviously i agree with your personal opinion that
I don’t work for Blizzard. MVPs are regular players who get green text for helping out others. ALL we get is green though. No compensation, mod powers, nothing. We just hang out and answer what we can. We can, of course, still have our own opinions, but have to follow the Forum Code of Conduct. Some snark is ok, within limits. I am in the Tech/Customer Service MVP program, WoW Community Program, and was in the D3 program until that got mothballed.
No, I did not apply for those. They just sort of pick you and see if you want a giant green target on your back.
So I won’t get in trouble, because they can’t fire me. I also did not get into details that would cause issues. None of what I said is “secret”. I mean, everyone knows you don’t make your boss look bad by going into a meeting and saying “my boss said I can’t tell you that!”. Heh.
yeah, that actually occcured to me after i replied, so i edited it. however, it sounded like you were speaking from experience and i know NDAs cover periods after employment, so i wasn’t sure. considering how ridiculous it is that CMs can’t say “we can’t say,” i see no reason to assume you couldn’t get in trouble for saying they can’t say they can’t say if you were a former employee.
I have never worked for Blizzard. I have never applied there and they have never given an unsolicited offer either. I have many reasons I would prefer not to move to Irvine, CA.
However, Infuencers/streamers/media/MVPs and anyone who gets access to certain information is behind a 5 year NDA that covers Blizzard corporate stuff. So, say you get access to early information to write a press release. You are NDAed. Visit Blizzard for a tour? NDA (at least the private tours). Not sure about the scheduled public ones.
I have been an MVP now since 2013 . You pick things up over time.
It’s something that most (if not nearly all) of us can agree with. It’s why I say that the issue regarding the lack of communication is an issue with Blizzard as a whole.
