Over the last two years there has been a significant downturn in community council (CC) presence. Reduced posts here, as well as a reduction of interaction with Blizzard. Yet, there has been seemingly an increased effort in the (newer) “WoW Ambassador” (WA) program. Some things that make me feel this way:
- CC members are to participate for one year, despite this most of us currently are on our second or third years given multiple delays in a refresh. For well over a year it’s been radio silence in the CC program, and no real communications advertising for new CC members.
- WA’s discord was created, and has been advertised across the launcher & social media to try and network people together into that space & program.
Here are some distinctions between the two programs that I think matter:
Community Council:
The WoW Community council is (was?) essentially a focus group of diverse people across various aspects of the game. From role-play, raiding, addon developers, and more people come and share their perspective on the game in this forum. This is incredibly helpful as a feedback tool to get a microcosm of information & diverse prospective in one place. While Blizzard collects quantitative data across all it’s members, social media, sales, and forums - this focus group provides helpful qualitative feedback that can help explain why the data might be how they are.
WoW Ambassadors:
WA’s are specialized helpful people across the WoW community that aim to help players new and old learn and interact with the game. Primarily operating out of a Discord group, this team works to interact more directly with players and Blizzard to provide more dynamic feedback as updates and player preferences change.
See more here: https://worldofwarcraft.blizzard.com/en-us/news/24244402
One key difference between CC’s and WA’s are that CC’s are usually (not always!) well enmeshed in WoW gameplay, and are typically long-term players. We provide perspectives that are often historical and (for many of us) WoW is a primary game for us. This certainly biases our feedback, but not in a negative way - just a way that’s different than asking someone off the street what their thoughts are. We’ve been around! Yet, with the WA model, players interact and provide feedback in a way that’s often targeted towards newer players and builds community in this way.
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With the focus on new players ramping up I wonder if the goal is to replace CC with the WA program in some way. Beyond this, I’m wondering if the WA program actually provides better feedback. If “better” means a more popular game, gaining players, keeping new players, and providing feedback more publicly (where players comment and interact with one another) - then I think WA is a better model. Does this necessitate the replacement of CC with this model though? I think there could be value in both, or a merging of programs - CC members become their own group within the WA community, consolidating voices and providing a singular location where feedback is generated and discussed.
Qualitative feedback lives and dies by our ability to record and interpret it, so I’m just posting this as a conversation starter on how the system(s) could be more well rounded.
Thanks for everything you do!