Worrying concerns regarding the future of Natural Selection 2?
Yojimbo
England Join Date: 2009-03-19 Member: 66806Members, NS2 Playtester, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Supporter, Reinforced - Silver, Reinforced - Shadow
England Join Date: 2009-03-19 Member: 66806Members, NS2 Playtester, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Supporter, Reinforced - Silver, Reinforced - Shadow
Good afternoon,
Before I make this post I think it would be wise to introduce myself and inform others why I am making this post.
Hi, my name is Yojimbo a fellow british player, editor for ns2news. A player that has been around since the initial launch of Natural Selection 1, which I played religiously and administered for one of the last EU servers (WONGA.ns) during the last hey days of NS1, since then I have go on to playing NS2 almost everyday and was even graciously invited to become a member of the playtesting and maptesting team. I communicate with members of CDT on a very daily basis however I shall remain as unbiased as possible in my synopsis of everything that has come to light in particularly regards to the newly formed ns2dev team, its leadership and the current situation with patch 278.
No game has kept me coming back as much as Natural Selection 2, having played this series for over 12 years now it has become an unofficial love child of mine, which is why I am posting this now as I believe the best interests of Natural Selection 2 are no longer the main concern of Unknown Worlds Entertainment.
My concern is one of the leadership that has been decided in the formation of the newly created ns2dev team. It has raised many eyebrows among the community, publicly and privately in regards to WHO is steering the ship that is Natural Selection 2, people are worried about the choice of captain for this role. I won't mention directly who I am referring to as it doesn't take much alluding to the person in subject.
My questions are ;- Are UWE confident enough that this is the "ideal" person they want to best represent the game's future for the community? What was the reason behind this decision? Is there another potentially better qualified person for the role?
The atmosphere at the moment in relation to the release of patch 278 is that no apologies were made and that UWE hands are washed cleanly from the blame with a dissolution of the CDT come monday?
Poor choice of words maybe? Or is there any real weight to these posts.
This is in no way a personal attack on said person it's just my honest opinion that given the way PR is currently being handled and have been handled in the past, the underlying tones of dissolution of CDT is a major worry for me and I know I am not the only person who shares this belief.
So my question I ask to you all, are you confident enough to place your trust in the current leadership and the decisions being made so far?
Before I make this post I think it would be wise to introduce myself and inform others why I am making this post.
Hi, my name is Yojimbo a fellow british player, editor for ns2news. A player that has been around since the initial launch of Natural Selection 1, which I played religiously and administered for one of the last EU servers (WONGA.ns) during the last hey days of NS1, since then I have go on to playing NS2 almost everyday and was even graciously invited to become a member of the playtesting and maptesting team. I communicate with members of CDT on a very daily basis however I shall remain as unbiased as possible in my synopsis of everything that has come to light in particularly regards to the newly formed ns2dev team, its leadership and the current situation with patch 278.
No game has kept me coming back as much as Natural Selection 2, having played this series for over 12 years now it has become an unofficial love child of mine, which is why I am posting this now as I believe the best interests of Natural Selection 2 are no longer the main concern of Unknown Worlds Entertainment.
My concern is one of the leadership that has been decided in the formation of the newly created ns2dev team. It has raised many eyebrows among the community, publicly and privately in regards to WHO is steering the ship that is Natural Selection 2, people are worried about the choice of captain for this role. I won't mention directly who I am referring to as it doesn't take much alluding to the person in subject.
My questions are ;- Are UWE confident enough that this is the "ideal" person they want to best represent the game's future for the community? What was the reason behind this decision? Is there another potentially better qualified person for the role?
The atmosphere at the moment in relation to the release of patch 278 is that no apologies were made and that UWE hands are washed cleanly from the blame with a dissolution of the CDT come monday?
Poor choice of words maybe? Or is there any real weight to these posts.
This is in no way a personal attack on said person it's just my honest opinion that given the way PR is currently being handled and have been handled in the past, the underlying tones of dissolution of CDT is a major worry for me and I know I am not the only person who shares this belief.
So my question I ask to you all, are you confident enough to place your trust in the current leadership and the decisions being made so far?
Comments
If they want to be more open and have a good communication line with the community, I'd advise to start looking into how the last few weeks have been handled and draw their conclusion... There is definitely room for improvement, as a matter of fact. the Drama, part of this here game only shows how passionate people are about the game. That should be taken into consideration.
I understand the new dev team are still planning and working things out. But that doesn't excuse them from being more open and clear about this huge change in development system...
Just sayin'
[edit]
I think all this drama should be an eye opener, it's an opportunity (kinda the last one for NS2) for UWE/@Hugh and @WasabiOne to take this in and learn from this. And Hugh, this is probably very intimidating seeing the huge uprising (pitchforks and torches), but please read it all and process it! Let it sink in man, but you should do something with this, it's a learning process and I'm worried you're going to put up your defenses as usual and shut down completely. We all know this has happened a few times before and it seems this time was simply the last straw, based on community response. The broken patch didn't help either as it all came crashing down, but that's besides the entire point
After about two weeks, we still vaguely know about (interpretation of non informative blog posts):
The blog posts need to be clear and informative, right now we've had a lot of text with little to no informative content
Avoid buzzwords or populist lingo that can be interpreted in multiple ways...
I feel like I've always tried to be some form of moral support here, I guess. That is why I added the [edit] This is definitely my final outreach to UWE+newdevs, the CDT and the Community. Let's fix this issue together, I want to see mods and this game succeed as they hyped in the blog posts
It's been a long time since I've actually been pissed off and disappointed at the same time how nonchalantly something as important as this was handled. I'm not leaving, but I am resigning from Admin/Mod on these here forums, my motivation and drive has been drained and my Bucket O'Time is empty as well lately
Now that this apparently is coming to an end, I just hope UWE is really serious about funding further development. However the communication about the further plans for NS2 has been so vague it's hard to tell what's in store for the post-CDT era. I need a forth option, "Unsure", because I'm definitely not indifferent about this.
I have nothing personal against hugh, I don't know the guy and have little experience with him, from what little I have seen (WC and casting etc) I think he comes across as a nice guy.
But the way this change over is being dealt with, the wording being used and the lack of respect being shown, not only to the CDT members that were not hired, but also the community in general... sucks, I'm not saying I think hugh should be replaced... but at the very least he needs a good kick up the arse and made to respond more appropriately.
My faith in uwe as a whole is dwindling though. I can accept patches going bad.
I can accept big flaws making it in patches. But uwe does indeed seem to not be fully aware of the situation when they react to something, making them react in one of the worst ways possible.
I havent decided yet if its a yes or a no vote, but its not good by a long shot.
Less is definitely not more in this case
With regards to how people can be rewarded for their work as community members.
With regard to whether the CDT will be disbanded. You "hope not"? Aren't you guys deciding to be the deciding factor again? Isn't it entirely in your power whether or not you disband the organization known as the CDT?
With regards to how they will reward people again.
So far what we know for sure is that UWE has hired a group of community members to take on some part-time positions building stuff for NS2. We also now know that: So apparently this new team is jumping right into things.
All in all, this feels alot like UWE is Leeeroy Jenkinsing into this again (despite the hours and hours of planning and conversations). There's a lot of questions they're "going to solve."
You don't vote in the guy whose plan is "I'll figure this whole government thing when I get into office," you vote for the guy who has the plan figured out, even if it's a crummy plan at start.
There's an old saying. "Don't fix what ain't broke." It sure looks like UWE looked over at NS2's imperfect but more or less functional system, and said, "You know what, I bet we can break that and then figure out whether it's actually broken."
I'm most worried about how this will impact the modding community. (shameless plug)
Just be simple, accurate, positive, and timely in communication and this whole kerfuffle would never have happened.
- Community side : So many loaded guns with explosive bullets. Legit reasons
- UWE : 1 water pistol and a banana
I mean; survive from that "Mexican stand" is quite a challenge. Like : "Damn; apocalypse just got real".I don't even know if Chuck Norris could do this... Well he can, he's Chuck Norris.
But hey I'm not a bastard : "beer for everyone !!!" if UWE PR comes out without a scratch from THIS.
But worst. Even if PR gets better... we don't care. We care about a game improving and not falling into the "oops i goofed" stuff every time we have an update.
tbh I wish the poll read "Who should be PM of NS2"
1. Hugh
or
2. Mendasp
There's been some talk and I'm pretty confident that the issues will be addressed. Give it time
it's been a long 2 weeks in which he could have made some sort of comment ..
But so much communication uwe has send out into the forum lately is just... bad.
Regardless if they mean it like that or not, I also read it as a enormous kick in the face to the CDT when they write nonsense like that.
I believe this is the final opportunity to get NS2 back in action, let's take the positive stuff from these recent blogposts and actually do something with it dammit!
-Open communication lines
-Proper and valid feedback, and accepting that some things will get slapped down
-Stop this dance of "we want to say something, but not directly" bullshit
Hmmkay ladsNlassies
Sorry for hijacking your perfectly valid thread there @Yojimbo, but I feel it could be more productive... I'm not taking any one's side, I just feel there needs to be a chance to solve all this nonsense. Let's see where it goes from here \o/
After the whole viewmodel rotate "enemy list" underhanded shenanigans on NS2+ I don't think Mendasp should be remotely near any power structure in NS2. If he had that much power and access, he'd probably add specific lines of code to the game to burn out the graphics cards of people who criticize him.
Funny you should say that. Because from the comments by Asraniel and others it appears that a post was made "willy nilly" that caused much offense to the shunned portion of the CDT. And all the cooling off clearly is required now because of that very same "willy nilly" post.
Way too much politics over the last week: surely a sign of a game in its death throes?
You've got to be fkn kidding.
So you think his behaviour in that episode was acceptable? Please. Learn some basic decency.
LOL it was just a bit of fun!
Swalk got over it and appreciates that it's just a joke, and Golden ASKED for it. Also there's a difference between adding in a couple of jokes for a mod, and then being serious and professional when in a serious and professional capacity.
Don't be a moron over a joke
Only moron here is you. Fanboism does no good. What's wrong is wrong, even if your coding god did it.
I would like it if this thread didn't devolve into another pointless "my e-penis is bigger than yours NURR" between two keyboard warriors thank you.
Your own original post also contains some pointless phrases: "I won't name who I'm talking about but we all know hurr durr". "This is in no way an attack on said person hurr durr, but should we get rid of his leadership?".
Way too much passive aggression on these forums.
The future can be assured only by dual-licensing the code.