My question on the forums (and state of the game)

Now, I've been lurking a lot (or not-so-lurking sometimes) and I've noticed a very, very strong polarisation of these forums. Basically there's only three types of threads right now, and they're coming up over and over.

1) Why hasn't Starbound updated? (varying from mild-mannered to foaming at the mouth)

2) Where is Starbound going? (e.g. "What are ships going to do?")

3) [Insert obscure piece of nightly build lore here]

Now, where I'm going with this, is that there needs to be something done to bring these people together so we stop hiding in our own little corner of this triangle. It'd be nice if the devs, or more specifically their community liasons/PR/whatever could help, but really, it's up to us. As a [forum] community, we need to figure out some way of talking to people in a different corner. I don't have the answer, but I think I've found a right question. How do we do this?

 

Addressing people's concerns about the game might be a good start.

Blaming the consumers probably isn't going to help.

Biased modding towards different groups probably isn't going to help either.

As for the community's side? Arguing points like adults to show differing perspectives instead of instantly resorting to personal attacks/trying to get threads locked by abusing report function.

 

Threads like this actually don't help. It will just make people more defensive. I know you mean well, and I honestly hope I'm proven wrong.

 

Y do birds,
suddenly appear,
every time,
U are near?

Seriously, what up wid dese birds?

 

Blaming the consumers probably isn't going to help ...unless they are just wrong. In which case, it's still not smart to blame the consumers from a dev's PoV, otherwise, it's totally justified if they're completely off their rocker.

Moderating towards people who don't show an understanding of what's going on might seem biased, so you might have to watch out for that and realize that statistically it's going to lean in that direction.

All in all, threads get locked for personal attacks, misinformation, and inflammatory posts. That usually tends to lean towards the people who don't like CF. That's just the way it is. Overusing the report function is bad but has little bearing on the amount of locked thread since the mods review what is reported.

 

well in a way this has already been happening as far as the community goes...
i am one of the devils spawn entitled steamite trolls... no not realy but i was only in the steam forums for a long time and we are now coming together as 1 community some are making valid logical points on either side fan dissapointed fan critic and everythign in between ...
so your thread is sorta a moot point theres sevral threads atm on updates etc being discussed in a civil adult manner ...
as well as your other points ...
now is this thread helpful? i believe it could be either way helpful or not so much decided upon personal opinions ...
is your message pure of intent? absolutely!!
it depends on how people receive it is all ...
communication in a civil manner is the key to all of this even if people disagree with you...
but this is the case with ANY relations as humans crave communication without it things go haywire...
just look at the difference with the steam forums since communication has been re-established... now i knwo soem will disagree "steams evil the people there are so negative" i have seen the same type of negativity here honestly its the same for ALL public forums... private aswell..
i wouldent have been here before things have been improoving and look cross forum unity...
tiy was talkign about mergeing the forums a couple months ago.. not realy a good idea to out in out merge the two however its sorta happening without the.. forced feel of a mergeing...
we are at last seeing that we are ALL one community as theres just one starbound ...
and frankly i like the people over here alot of then avid fans aswell as critics are realy nice ...
we are calming way down from the chaos that was breeding ...


i have been talking with avid fans avid disgruntled .. and everything inbetween...
im a critical fan... not super critical but still critical on some points mostly i was critical about the pr with the forum and cross forum communication...
but i give credit where its due and its due on this point...
now we just need clear communication with whats happening in the future IE not gettign 3 diffrent messaged about whats happening with the next update...
but clearification is something i have gotten used to nto having as the a bit lack luster on that front ...
this is a indie company indie devs and as such they arent as anal retentive and "business like" as some have come to expect out of the gaming industry...
but thats what tiy wanted to not be big so as such im not as critical with conduct as i would be if they were a big company ....
critical fan as i said lol ...
but anyways im digressing but its still on point...
main point is as you can see we as a community ARE working twords civil un biased communication sure some are biased but we arent ripping the flesh from eachothers bones...
we share our opinions if we disagree we disagree but discuss it instead of trying to shuve our opinion down eachothers throats..

 

Look at all the words

Meaning? Contextually?

Just a guy posting.



Haiku.

 

NERF BIRDS IMMEDIATELY

 

What we need to do us... is gather and unify under the guidance of a singular God. Me, of course. I'll be the God... Goddess... uhm... yes. Follow me into enlightenment!~

 

The problem with addressing concerns, is even though it is done from time to time, is that the information can only go so far. There are several individuals here in the forums who refuse to accept any sort of olive branch. Their only concern is seeing the final product and until it happens, they will find fault in every new thing and continuously bring up faults from the past. It's why we (moderation too) see a lot of repeated arguments in the closed threads.

The only biased moderation I've seen so far has been that Moderation is extremely biased against rule-breakers. Unless you can cite specific examples of the contrary, in which case you NEED to report it to Ordona or Molly so that action can be taken.

As for the community side. Yes. Agreed. 100%. I guess everyone's a little stir-crazy, but there's absolutely no reason to devolve into negative territory.

I also wanted to say; that so long as a thread (despite it's subject being negative or positive) is having healthy discussion, it encourages dev commentary and interaction. No thread HAS to be sunshine and rainbows, but if it's overly negative -- you probably won't see a dev respond or interact with that thread.

Patience and general respect for others will improve everything by a ridiculous amount.

Also this:

 

I don't see a problem between groups 2 and 3, the problem is the part of group 1 who are foaming at the mouth.....the civil and reasonable part of group 1 isn't a problem because they understand and then jump to one of the other two groups. I'm more of a group 2 kind of guy but instead of making new threads myself, I read the threads made by group 3 and it's plenty fun.

 

While they're at it, they should nerf guns™. And herders, too.

Seriously, though... I admire your optimism, OP, but I don't really believe that it's a problem that can be solved. I've yet to see a gaming forum free from nerdrage - hell, every one of us has probably been guilty of it at one time or another. The moderators have been handling it pretty well, and have been sticking to their official position of only locking threads that break the (very clearly posted) rules, regardless of the opinions expressed in them. Kudos to them.

As a community, the only thing I can suggest is that we all try to keep our tempers in check and our statements constructive and civil. This can mean shrugging off abuse from people less enlightened than you from time to time, which can certainly be difficult (though nothing is stopping you from reporting someone who has been mudslinging). However, if you don't cast the first stone - that's right, I'm going biblical - there's a better chance of bringing people around to your way of thinking, or at least making them reconsider their own.

 

Human nature cannot be changed that easily.
Tribes. Countries. Religion. We were always divided, and i don't think it will change anytime soon.

 

Ok, poetry is the last thing I expected coming in here

 

It's a quote from the song "Close to You" by The Carpenters (at least the first 4 lines are).