A Year in Retrospective and a Message to The Players

[Robmo]

A Year in Retrospective and a Message to The Players

It has been a year since I have been your Community Manager and what a year it has been. I have been honored to listen to all your feedback, stories, concerns and hopes for Mortal Online II. I have always taken the feedback directly to the devs in multiple ways as my promise to make your voice heard in a concise way.

This year has been a frantic one. From our launch woes to ban waves, we have tried as a team to tackle issues them as they come and to prepare for the future. As I grew within the company, I began to learn both of things internally and externally. The community of Mortal Online has much in the way of backstory and nuance throughout its history. It has been a pleasure to learn and try to accommodate as many playstyles and ideas as possible. I learn something new almost every day, whether its some history, a story or a design of the game I haven’t thought about. It has been enjoyable.

Earlier in the first year, as StarVault started to get the stability of the server under control, we started to really look at feedback and try to tackle what we can. One of the major things we tackled (and are continue to improve) is the ban policies and the transparency around them. Back in May, I have rewritten the Ban Policy based on a various of factors;

1. Player Feedback
2. Emulating what our modern peers are doing (we consulted with Rockstar’s CMs for example)
3. Internal Developer/GMs Feedback

Overall, it has been a positive change and we will continue to improve it and the transparency around it. As you may know, we have made several updates to these policies as issues arise and are confident we can continue to improve it into the future. As a small team with a game (and an internal structure) which is large, at times can be difficult to get things moving at a proper pace. In my experience within the company, StarVault has been making strives in efficiency, consistency, and positive progress which I have seen firsthand.

Accumulating feedback in a proper way is the one task that began with my journey with StarVault and remains to this day. With any meetings or encounters with the developers and designers that I am involved with, I make sure to represent the player-base as a whole as best as possible. As some information on how you can leave feedback, here are some options;

1. Directly to myself in Discord (#Robmo#1118). Overall, it is something I am proud of that I can be as available as possible directly to the voices of players. I have not seen or engaged with other communities with the availability the devs or its CMs has in MO2 to connect with their players. This is something that is the core of my personal vision for Developer/Player relations.

2. Our forums @ https://mortalonline2.com/forums

3. Our subreddit @ https://www.reddit.com/r/MortalOnline2/

4. Our Steam forums

5. Henrik’s Weekly Streams @

I wanted to give a little insight how I personally give feedback to the team. Over time I receive information and gather it to determine what the player’s really are talking about or desire. There is much diversity in the players’ needs and wants for the game that it is important to give a multitude of opinions. The approach I use is as follows;

1. Give a majority opinion. Describe what the masses are saying then follow up with;

2. An opposing opinion or be the devil’s advocate. It is important that feedback is not one sided.

3. Give alternates, if there are any.

As my personal opinion means little in the way of the players, it is rare that I even express it as feedback to the team, as it isn’t really required. I want to extend even if in conversation my opinion and yours don’t align, I am listening to you. That is what is important above all else. Internally we have a Feedback/Ideas board which we go through and discuss with the team and designers. Some things get approved, some don’t, it is the way of things.

This year has been humbling of the support the players extend to me and I am happy to hear your kind words. I always enjoy watching and joining the adventures of our players in the world of Nave. I hope the company, StarVault, and myself can continue to grow into 2023 and beyond with your player’s support. My DMs are always open, and I hope I can respond to you in a quick matter.

- From Robmo

 

[Tzone]

IDK man you got voted against on the reddit poll even after you pinged the entire discord server.
https://www.reddit.com/r/MortalOnline/comments/xgzgqw
This is the first time Ive seen a CM so hated by the community. A lot of the people that voted yes still said that they disliked you bot didn't want there not to be a line of communication.
When you first joined the Unofficial discord I rooted for you and was supportive of you even against the people that mindlessly hated but then you just turned spitefull and would be rude and condescending to people. At some point you just went down hill and showed your true colors. Now you are here with your opinion of you doing a great job but Im not seeing it.


Even if that one dude who was mindlessly rude and demeaning to your it is not appropriate to be rude or demeaning back to them. You didnt stop at the first dude that would have deserved it but continued further and have been demeaning and rude to many players.

Also many players seen that you have spoken out about certain guilds showing a grudge. So you are not even neutral as a CM doing your job. And treat some guilds as piranhas even when they never did wrong, when they were just disliked because of their playstyle.

If you had a real job you would have been let go by now. No real employer could keep you with how you treat people.
I do really hope you improve, that poll I hoped humbled you to how much the players dislike you, many players are just smiling to your face to get answers but its pretty unanimous among non public chats about your character.

 

[Robmo]

IDK man you got voted against on the reddit poll even after you pinged the entire discord server.
https://www.reddit.com/r/MortalOnline/comments/xgzgqw
This is the first time Ive seen a CM so hated by the community. A lot of the people that voted yes still said that they disliked you bot didn't want there not to be a line of communication.
When you first joined the Unofficial discord I rooted for you and was supportive of you even against the people that mindlessly hated but then you just turned spitefull and would be rude and condescending to people. At some point you just went down hill and showed your true colors. Now you are here with your opinion of you doing a great job but Im not seeing it.


Even if that one dude who was mindlessly rude and demeaning to your it is not appropriate to be rude or demeaning back to them. You didnt stop at the first dude that would have deserved it but continued further and have been demeaning and rude to many players.

Also many players seen that you have spoken out about certain guilds showing a grudge. So you are not even neutral as a CM doing your job. And treat some guilds as piranhas even when they never did wrong, when they were just disliked because of their playstyle.

If you had a real job you would have been let go by now. No real employer could keep you with how you treat people.
I do really hope you improve, that poll I hoped humbled you to how much the players dislike you, many players are just smiling to your face to get answers but its pretty unanimous among non public chats about your character.

I am sorry you feel that way.

The poll was an act of good faith but based on bots, it was a poor outcome. The poll suddenly changing overnight in a few hours by 200+ votes when it was being drip fed votes slowly did not give the company the confidence it was accurate. I have also seen numerous change.org posts with only 3-9 votes to have me removed. Overall, I would like to see actual accurate numbers if that was somehow possible. The poll however, was a good insight based on the comments and concerns I read and I have made adjustments based on it since then.

You are a very critical person of the company and have that right. I do see how to talk about the company in derogatory ways in places we do not moderate. Its quite aggressive and it is hard to look at the feedback objectively knowing this. But, I do read it regardless. You tend to be less "frothy" in your concerns then others. I have said this before, even in the most vile rants, there can be feedback taken from there. We simply do not reward the feedback of players harassing our staff.

If you have direct complaints about me with evidence, please feel to message Henrik on Discord. I so admit that I was spicy at times. I enjoy meeting sass with sass, and that gets ripped on from the "haters" or people trying to hardest to tarnish this great game. I have relaxed the sass over time as it just seemed to turn people into Karens.

People want the game to be rude and edgy, but when an employee uses it back, the company gets shamed. Overall, its a shame of the sensitivity and the double standard. Henrik is also someone I've seen people sassy to mixed results, in the end we are human beings. Though, having the comment of "if you had a real job" is not just insulting to myself, but the entire dev team. We all work very hard to try a deliver the best game we can with the resources and time we are given. It is a learning experience that sometimes mistakes or errors are ways. That's why we learn from it.

I hope one day you can be objective and I can remove the chip on your shoulder that you hold towards SV, MO2 and myself. If not, that is alright too, as you can think what you like. I cannot expect to take a community one way when some players are used to the community being another way for the past 12 years.

We have updated and optimized the ban process.
We do not let players abuse eachother.

Overall it has been a success to the majority. Our player counts are growing and higher than ever. (Minus the bad launch of the game/Queue Boss)

Good Luck

 

[NYOCHTAR]

I annoy Robmo weekly with frustrations and list of grievances since I am "removed" from MO2 discord and can't talk to the devs. Robmo has always listened to me even if I have strong opinions.

Robmo, I know you listen to the community, but just to instil some good faith, I recommend putting some structure to henriks livestreams and having a direct Q&A between you and him with questions coming from the community. Henrik tends to cherry pick questions from chat, and since you have a good feel for hot topic questions, you should aggregate those and ask them directly to Henrik. Maybe use reddit as a voting system for high discussion topics to thread out the questions that are important to the community.

I am sorry you feel that way.

The poll was an act of good faith but based on bots, it was a poor outcome. The poll suddenly changing overnight in a few hours by 200+ votes when it was being drip fed votes slowly did not give the company the confidence it was accurate. I have also seen numerous change.org posts with only 3-9 votes to have me removed. Overall, I would like to see actual accurate numbers if that was somehow possible. The poll however, was a good insight based on the comments and concerns I read and I have made adjustments based on it since then.

You are a very critical person of the company and have that right. I do see how to talk about the company in derogatory ways in places we do not moderate. Its quite aggressive and it is hard to look at the feedback objectively knowing this. But, I do read it regardless. You tend to be less "frothy" in your concerns then others. I have said this before, even in the most vile rants, there can be feedback taken from there. We simply do not reward the feedback of players harassing our staff.

If you have direct complaints about me with evidence, please feel to message Henrik on Discord. I so admit that I was spicy at times. I enjoy meeting sass with sass, and that gets ripped on from the "haters" or people trying to hardest to tarnish this great game. I have relaxed the sass over time as it just seemed to turn people into Karens.

People want the game to be rude and edgy, but when an employee uses it back, the company gets shamed. Overall, its a shame of the sensitivity and the double standard. Henrik is also someone I've seen people sassy to mixed results, in the end we are human beings. Though, having the comment of "if you had a real job" is not just insulting to myself, but the entire dev team. We all work very hard to try a deliver the best game we can with the resources and time we are given. It is a learning experience that sometimes mistakes or errors are ways. That's why we learn from it.

I hope one day you can be objective and I can remove the chip on your shoulder that you hold towards SV, MO2 and myself. If not, that is alright too, as you can think what you like. I cannot expect to take a community one way when some players are used to the community being another way for the past 12 years.

We have updated and optimized the ban process.
We do not let players abuse eachother.

Overall it has been a success to the majority. Our player counts are growing and higher than ever. (Minus the bad launch of the game/Queue Boss)

Good Luck

 

[Robmo]

I annoy Robmo weekly with frustrations and list of grievances since I am "removed" from MO2 discord and can't talk to the devs. Robmo has always listened to me even if I have strong opinions.

Robmo, I know you listen to the community, but just to instil some good faith, I recommend putting some structure to henriks livestreams and having a direct Q&A between you and him with questions coming from the community. Henrik tends to cherry pick questions from chat, and since you have a good feel for hot topic questions, you should aggregate those and ask them directly to Henrik. Maybe use reddit as a voting system for high discussion topics to thread out the questions that are important to the community.

I try to prep Henrik on "what will be asked" but there is another team that kind of sets up the artwork, etc. I am not involved really. However, I can try to get more involved there. I think Henrik enjoys the fast and loose. I still think the streams can go on more than they should, but I find it great he wants to engage like that weekly.
I am usually watching the chat as well and try to answer the things he hasn't convered.

 

[Robmo]

I annoy Robmo weekly with frustrations and list of grievances since I am "removed" from MO2 discord and can't talk to the devs. Robmo has always listened to me even if I have strong opinions.

Robmo, I know you listen to the community, but just to instil some good faith, I recommend putting some structure to henriks livestreams and having a direct Q&A between you and him with questions coming from the community. Henrik tends to cherry pick questions from chat, and since you have a good feel for hot topic questions, you should aggregate those and ask them directly to Henrik. Maybe use reddit as a voting system for high discussion topics to thread out the questions that are important to the community.

I wanted to add that we use reddit to try to get a more weighted feedback system versus nothing. Hence those Bi-monthly topics. We still plan to use it when we have a topic we are curious about, we have used new player experience, worst bugs, and another topic that slips my mind at the moment.
But the voting system has flaws. As Tzone liked to point out I "lost" that poll but there was some shady stuff based on the time line. If you look in the comments, the most top voted comments were supportive of me. Does that mean anything? Maybe, maybe not. I use the comments themselves as feedback to keep in mind, not always the upvotes/downvotes.

 

[MolagAmur]

I am sorry you feel that way.

The poll was an act of good faith but based on bots, it was a poor outcome. The poll suddenly changing overnight in a few hours by 200+ votes when it was being drip fed votes slowly did not give the company the confidence it was accurate. I have also seen numerous change.org posts with only 3-9 votes to have me removed. Overall, I would like to see actual accurate numbers if that was somehow possible.

Lol