I imagine we all remember the events leading up to the DLC’s release. Taking that into account, would you say the DLC and the Patch constitute an adequate apology?
For those who were not involved in the events prior to the DLC, allow me to give a summary.
For quite some time the community suffered from a systematic omission in events, competitions and advertising.
This generated great discontent, which, added to the lack of communication and transparency, caused enormous dissatisfaction and several bans, some justified and others not so much.
This ended with the community completely furious and divided; some felt this was partly the community’s responsibility, others blamed the developers, and a few felt the blame lay with one company or another.
The truth is that this ended with the community frustrated, angry, and with a general pessimism.
This question is for everyone, but especially for those most affected by that dark chapter in this forum’s history. Are this DLC and its patch a sufficient apology?
Would you say the DLC and patch are an adequate apology?
(Yes, it is, and I forgive what has happened so far)
(No, I don’t think this is an adequate apology)
(It depends; it’s only an adequate apology if the game is going to receive more content and patches in the future)
0voters
Extra option.
Do you consider the DLC and the patch an apology?
(Yes, it’s an apology.)
(No, and I want a written apology.)
(It depends, on whether there will be future content.)
0voters
Announcement.
Anyone who wants to share their reasons for choosing one option or the other is welcome to do so.
Assuming someone changes their mind after listening to another person, they can change their vote at will.
No, it’s not adequate because it’s not an apology at all. Don’t get me wrong, I’m genuinely happy that we’re getting a new DLC, but this doesn’t excuse how they have treated this community and how they thought they could just let the game die. Apologizing would be an admission of their mistake. They’ll never do it.
I guess I’m not fully happy with the language of the options on the poll, as I don’t believe it quite aligns with my opinion. Imo forgiveness is a choice not a feeling. I forgave them a while ago as in I decided to let go of the anger.
Regarding earning back trust which I referenced in the above post, I think this was a big step in the right direction and I’m pretty happy with the move.
That’s why it’s important that everyone not only votes, but also comments, because polls will never perfectly convey everything, and as you said, forgiving is not trusting, that’s why I tried to make the forgiveness option conditional on only up to now, because I know that earning trust is a job that requires consistency, time and effort.
PS: I also want to point out that the language barrier makes it difficult for me to provide more complex or better-written options, so I apologize to those who are dissatisfied with the choices. T-T
One thing I really appreciated about the developers was their decision to engage more closely with us following the open beta launch; it was great to have a dedicated thread to discuss the new DLC and the content the community wants for AoE III. We know things were quite tense a while back due to everything that happened, but I personally view their return to supporting AoE III—adding new content and reaching out via a suggestions thread—as a gesture of apology. I truly hope they continue supporting the game, and to be honest, I have a feeling they will. I want to thank the developers for picking the Baltic DLC back up and for engaging with us; I’m happy to let bygones be bygones, as I know issues often stem from upper management rather than the developers themselves. I hope this marks the start of a better relationship between the developers and the players. We only ask for one thing: please keep supporting AoE III and drop by the forums now and then to check out player suggestions and ideas. Thanks in advance, and I wish you great success with this new DLC.
Guys, devs are workers and they do whatever their corporate boss says they have to do.
If the corporate boss say they need to engage, listen and be talkative with the community they will do, if they say they have to shut up and go radio silent they will.
The same with the existence or not existence of an apology, it will be a corporate decision.
And I bet that a lot of devs, that comes from the modding scene, were just upset like us.
Actions speak louder than words. This DLC is an awesome thing. It’s a loud apology. Let’s not pretend we would be happier with the word “sorry”.
I’m pretty convinced the cessation of support this game saw was due to lack of interest in the African DLC. I don’t think it’s personal, I just think the devs totally missed the mark and the suits looked at the profit graph and reallocated the staff.
I think this will sell well because it has much broader appeal. If it sells, I strongly suspect we’ll see more future content.
