Perception

[Creepah]

Bonsoir tout le monde!

Today, I'll be discussing something which might come across as critical or controversial, but I'm simply speaking my mind so bear with me.

It's not an uncommon sight here on the forums to see suggestions from players for new gamemodes, policies and changes. The way this idea is perceived by the community depends on a bunch of factors, some obvious. If the idea is generally bad, it'll be received badly and people won't be afraid to disagree. If the idea is good but impractical and unlikely to work in practice, they'll get a nicer response but not much will happen. But there is two factors which affect the perception of the idea. Who the thread was posted by, and what the administration think of the idea.

Firstly, the person who suggested the idea is a major factor in how it's perceived. If you see a suggestion by a forum user with no profile picture and 5 messages and no likes post a thread with valid and thought-out ideas, but ideas that have been brought up many times, they'll receive a mixed bag of reactions. People who are sick of the same ideas being brought up over and over again, people who agree and then the staff who post really long posts about how the ideas are valid but nothing is going to be done about them because it's not urgent or you're a minority opinion.

However, with the case of someone like TheCreeperFarts, when suggestions are made by him, which many of which have been brought up before and generally left unconsidered, everyone takes them very seriously and many staff get behind and support these ideas. Why? What does the person posting the thread have to do with the validity of the ideas, and why do people get behind a popular figure and not just a normal player with legitimate concerns and valid points?

Another factor of perception is the point of view of the senior staff of the server. UHC is something that has been brought up many times here on the forums with generally mixed opinions, with staff making no overall opinion on the gamemode, leaving moderators and senior mods to leave their own opinions on the matter. Many criticisms on the UHC gamemode being implemented here include; the loss of focus on the flagship gamemode, SG, the already competitive market of UHC servers which we may struggle in, and it being an unoriginal gamemode.

But today, UHC Worlds Beta was announced to a very positive reception. Is this simply the supporting portion of the community responding to the announcement, or have the criticisers changed their mind now the administration has a clear opinion on the idea?

FYI, this is me speaking my mind. I may have read the community wrong, but I thought this was a valid point to bring up. As always please tell me what you think, even if I'm wrong! Thanks for reading.

 

[Scott]

I definitely see what you're saying, but personally I think that just most people wanted this.

 

[Zinc // Akash754]

UHC = Good

A good step in the right direction.

 

[Col_StaR]

Hallo meine Freunde!

....Firstly, the person who suggested the idea is a major factor in how it's perceived. ....

On the one had, I don't think that is entirely true. I think that ideas that are suggested get approved or denied based on a lot more than just who suggested it. A lot of those low-post user suggestions aren't the most elegant, well-written, thought-out, or even realistic to implement, which could be chalked up to lack of writing or forum familiarity. CreeperFart's suggestion thread was one of the best ones I've read thus far, which is why it garnered a response from me. But there's also a lot of circumstances behind suggestions as well, including practicality, free time, resources, and community attitudes; we didn't feel a trash talk filter was necessary until it was clear it was (plans for such a filter were already in the works prior to CreeperFart's thread). And sometimes, it's just a matter of fact-finding, like our zero tolerance for hacking policy change (community opinions and threads didn't change that. A rigorous research study on the matter did).

But on the other, humans are social creatures with some antiquated tendencies, and group-think is one of them. Some people are perceived as more important or more influential than others, whether that is fair or not. But that is something that's ingrained into our species, so there's no getting around it.

Another factor of perception is the point of view of the senior staff of the server....Is this simply the supporting portion of the community responding to the announcement, or have the criticisers changed their mind now the administration has a clear opinion on the idea?

Again, complicated issue with two sides.

People obviously like UHC, and they suggested that we start one. We were mixed feelings about it for a long time, but eventually things changed and the go-ahead was given. It's that feeling of things changing that legitimized the possibility of UHC, and likely paved the way for such positive responses (though I will note that it's not all positive).

But at the same time, there's an undoubtable bit of group-think going on as well. If a popular or influential person says something, people will flock to it on the appeal of the person alone. The hype for UHC alone may be enough to convince detractors to give it a little love. Whether the group-think works in our favor or against it, we just have to live with it.

 

[Ceroria]

I agree that the user posting the thread may already create an almost "biased" opinion for some. I know that when I saw CreeperFarts' thread, I took it more seriously because he is a somewhat elder member of tjr community and an ex-mod, meaning he tends to have a higher amount of respect. Then of course comes his YouTube fans who stick by every one of his words.

Sometimes the person who posted the message unfortunately is more of a swaying opinion than the message itself.

 

[Electrix]

For a truly good debate, we need all ideas to be in the mix. We need players to come together and tackle the idea, giving every opinion and side of the issue. When player OR staff does that, we get a clear, firm answer from many, and it's rarely biased.