Professional MMO Players driving game decisions?

IrishGirlGamer

Okay, let me begin by saying this is pure speculation. It is based upon comments that were shared in guild chat last night. I debated posting this but in the end my curiosity got the better of me.

Last night in guild chat, another player stated that some of the "professional MMO players" were either consulting with Zenimax or were being asked their opinion of what should be fixed/improved in the game. Basically, as I understand it, these players give their opinion of new features and/or development ideas, as well as game leveling and balancing. The author of the statement claimed several "improvements" were brought about upon the recommendation of these professional player(s).

Basically, they are "consultants" that help "improve" the game.

This is not flame-bait. I'm actually curious if anyone can confirm the truth of this or not.

Pman85

the guild summit happens, but by no means do they drive the ESO bus, nor are they "Professional"

Furor

I believe this is something all game developers do.

Shunravi

You see, i always saw it as they listened to the non-professional mmo players and 'mersionists. If they are now actually listening to 'profesional mmo players,' its about time.

coryevans_3b14_ESO

IrishGirlGamer wrote: »

Okay, let me begin by saying this is pure speculation. It is based upon comments that were shared in guild chat last night. I debated posting this but in the end my curiosity got the better of me.

Last night in guild chat, another player stated that some of the "professional MMO players" were either consulting with Zenimax or were being asked their opinion of what should be fixed/improved in the game. Basically, as I understand it, these players give their opinion of new features and/or development ideas, as well as game leveling and balancing. The author of the statement claimed several "improvements" were brought about upon the recommendation of these professional player(s).

Basically, they are "consultants" that help "improve" the game.

This is not flame-bait. I'm actually curious if anyone can confirm the truth of this or not.

Definitely not flame bait. But troll bait maybe

I've heard the same rumor before about specific guilds that ZOS employees actually take info from more seriously than they would from anyone on the forums.

But guess what? I've heard the same thing in all 5 of the last MMORPGs I've played.
This is nothing new. Always a popular conspiracy theory. Don't know if it's true or not. But it's always brought up by someone.

VincentBlanquin

nothing surprise. this game systems favor hugely elitists and grinders. especially second group can nicely destroy whole game

IrishGirlGamer

coryevans_3b14_ESO wrote: »

IrishGirlGamer wrote: »

Okay, let me begin by saying this is pure speculation. It is based upon comments that were shared in guild chat last night. I debated posting this but in the end my curiosity got the better of me.

Last night in guild chat, another player stated that some of the "professional MMO players" were either consulting with Zenimax or were being asked their opinion of what should be fixed/improved in the game. Basically, as I understand it, these players give their opinion of new features and/or development ideas, as well as game leveling and balancing. The author of the statement claimed several "improvements" were brought about upon the recommendation of these professional player(s).

Basically, they are "consultants" that help "improve" the game.

This is not flame-bait. I'm actually curious if anyone can confirm the truth of this or not.

Definitely not flame bait. But troll bait maybe

I've heard the same rumor before about specific guilds that ZOS employees actually take info from more seriously than they would from anyone on the forums.

But guess what? I've heard the same thing in all 5 of the last MMORPGs I've played.
This is nothing new. Always a popular conspiracy theory. Don't know if it's true or not. But it's always brought up by someone.

Not intended as either troll bait OR a conspiracy theory. I am seriously just asking if this has been done by Zeni ...

Since @Attorneyatlawl posted his images of the unused UI, which appears to be an improvement on the current UI (which I hate almost as much brussel sprouts), I've raising the issue in game to my friends. One response was that Zeni was priorizing what these players wanted.

That's it. No drama here.

Lord Xanhorn

This would be a huge departure from MMOs in recent memory. They all cater to casuals and lightcore players.

Professional players and hardcores are not the target market for any current MMO cept maybe Wildstar and well we see how that ended.

coryevans_3b14_ESO

IrishGirlGamer wrote: »

coryevans_3b14_ESO wrote: »

IrishGirlGamer wrote: »

Okay, let me begin by saying this is pure speculation. It is based upon comments that were shared in guild chat last night. I debated posting this but in the end my curiosity got the better of me.

Last night in guild chat, another player stated that some of the "professional MMO players" were either consulting with Zenimax or were being asked their opinion of what should be fixed/improved in the game. Basically, as I understand it, these players give their opinion of new features and/or development ideas, as well as game leveling and balancing. The author of the statement claimed several "improvements" were brought about upon the recommendation of these professional player(s).

Basically, they are "consultants" that help "improve" the game.

This is not flame-bait. I'm actually curious if anyone can confirm the truth of this or not.

Definitely not flame bait. But troll bait maybe

I've heard the same rumor before about specific guilds that ZOS employees actually take info from more seriously than they would from anyone on the forums.

But guess what? I've heard the same thing in all 5 of the last MMORPGs I've played.
This is nothing new. Always a popular conspiracy theory. Don't know if it's true or not. But it's always brought up by someone.

Not intended as either troll bait OR a conspiracy theory. I am seriously just asking if this has been done by Zeni ...

Since @Attorneyatlawl posted his images of the unused UI, which appears to be an improvement on the current UI (which I hate almost as much brussel sprouts), I've raising the issue in game to my friends. One response was that Zeni was priorizing what these players wanted.

That's it. No drama here.

Very possible. I really liked the original UI as well. And the map. And a lot of other things they changed. ZOS lost a ton of money from the time these things were in game to launch. It seems they still have not learned their lesson.

We were so very confused about the changes they made prior to launch.
I'm still confused to be honest.

This does make the possibility of what you mentioned more plausible since no one I was playing with in Beta ever thought it was a good idea.

DenMoria

What's a "Professional MMO Player"? There is such a thing? Play video games that suck the fun out of it for anybody that doesn't belong to your exclusive "clique". Sign me up. I like to ruin things for normal folks and newbs and make things exclusive. I also live in an all white, gated community with no jews, blacks, hispanics or asians (except the help, of course) with our own country club. We play a lot of tennis, golf and drinking games.

Sord

Here is the ESO Guild Summit where a group of players (those with a lot of experience and understanding of game mechanics and game play) are brought together to discuss current and developmental game play ideas for ESO. So yes they bring in a core group of players who are not as casual as some people and actually take time to learn the mechanics and do a lot of testing on their own.

Sausage

Let me explain the forums, theres 1% of people who actually help and care about the game, then theres 99% who whine and moan, threats, demands, propaganda from other games etc. Everybody is willing to come to the forum and share ideas and give suggestions, but like I said 99% cant do it. Instead they turn everything into complaints or whining, when they should be constructive. Maturity is the key word here, what players lacks these days.

IrishGirlGamer

Sord wrote: »

Here is the ESO Guild Summit where a group of players (those with a lot of experience and understanding of game mechanics and game play) are brought together to discuss current and developmental game play ideas for ESO. Enjoy

Thanks for that post. I missed that.

And to be clear, I have no opinion on whether this kind of consulting would be a good or bad thing, other than hoping that, if Zeni is doing it, it will lead to improvements in the game.

UrQuan

IrishGirlGamer wrote: »

coryevans_3b14_ESO wrote: »

IrishGirlGamer wrote: »

Okay, let me begin by saying this is pure speculation. It is based upon comments that were shared in guild chat last night. I debated posting this but in the end my curiosity got the better of me.

Last night in guild chat, another player stated that some of the "professional MMO players" were either consulting with Zenimax or were being asked their opinion of what should be fixed/improved in the game. Basically, as I understand it, these players give their opinion of new features and/or development ideas, as well as game leveling and balancing. The author of the statement claimed several "improvements" were brought about upon the recommendation of these professional player(s).

Basically, they are "consultants" that help "improve" the game.

This is not flame-bait. I'm actually curious if anyone can confirm the truth of this or not.

Definitely not flame bait. But troll bait maybe

I've heard the same rumor before about specific guilds that ZOS employees actually take info from more seriously than they would from anyone on the forums.

But guess what? I've heard the same thing in all 5 of the last MMORPGs I've played.
This is nothing new. Always a popular conspiracy theory. Don't know if it's true or not. But it's always brought up by someone.

Not intended as either troll bait OR a conspiracy theory. I am seriously just asking if this has been done by Zeni ...

Since @Attorneyatlawl posted his images of the unused UI, which appears to be an improvement on the current UI (which I hate almost as much brussel sprouts), I've raising the issue in game to my friends. One response was that Zeni was priorizing what these players wanted.

That's it. No drama here.

You've clearly never tried my brussel sprouts. You start off by cooking up some diced bacon in a cast iron skillet, add diced shallots and cook until translucent, add the brussel sprouts (cut into halves) and a serrano pepper (sliced in half and de-seeded) and saute on the stovetop until the brussel sprouts start to soften. Then you transfer the pan to the oven and broil until the sprouts are just starting to brown. Remove from the oven, remove the serrano pepper, squeeze lemon juice over it, sprinkle parmesan cheese, toss it all, and enjoy.

Note: this picture was taken before adding the parmesan.

Nergie4242

Lord Xanhorn wrote: »

This would be a huge departure from MMOs in recent memory. They all cater to casuals and lightcore players.

Professional players and hardcores are not the target market for any current MMO cept maybe Wildstar and well we see how that ended.

*cough* Eve Online *cough*

HobnailedBoots

UrQuan wrote: »

IrishGirlGamer wrote: »

coryevans_3b14_ESO wrote: »

IrishGirlGamer wrote: »

Okay, let me begin by saying this is pure speculation. It is based upon comments that were shared in guild chat last night. I debated posting this but in the end my curiosity got the better of me.

Last night in guild chat, another player stated that some of the "professional MMO players" were either consulting with Zenimax or were being asked their opinion of what should be fixed/improved in the game. Basically, as I understand it, these players give their opinion of new features and/or development ideas, as well as game leveling and balancing. The author of the statement claimed several "improvements" were brought about upon the recommendation of these professional player(s).

Basically, they are "consultants" that help "improve" the game.

This is not flame-bait. I'm actually curious if anyone can confirm the truth of this or not.

Definitely not flame bait. But troll bait maybe

I've heard the same rumor before about specific guilds that ZOS employees actually take info from more seriously than they would from anyone on the forums.

But guess what? I've heard the same thing in all 5 of the last MMORPGs I've played.
This is nothing new. Always a popular conspiracy theory. Don't know if it's true or not. But it's always brought up by someone.

Not intended as either troll bait OR a conspiracy theory. I am seriously just asking if this has been done by Zeni ...

Since @Attorneyatlawl posted his images of the unused UI, which appears to be an improvement on the current UI (which I hate almost as much brussel sprouts), I've raising the issue in game to my friends. One response was that Zeni was priorizing what these players wanted.

That's it. No drama here.

You've clearly never tried my brussel sprouts. You start off by cooking up some diced bacon in a cast iron skillet, add diced shallots and cook until translucent, add the brussel sprouts (cut into halves) and a serrano pepper (sliced in half and de-seeded) and saute on the stovetop until the brussel sprouts start to soften. Then you transfer the pan to the oven and broil until the sprouts are just starting to brown. Remove from the oven, remove the serrano pepper, squeeze lemon juice over it, sprinkle parmesan cheese, toss it all, and enjoy.

Note: this picture was taken before adding the parmesan.

This is the best thing I've read on this board

IrishGirlGamer

UrQuan wrote: »

IrishGirlGamer wrote: »

coryevans_3b14_ESO wrote: »

IrishGirlGamer wrote: »

Okay, let me begin by saying this is pure speculation. It is based upon comments that were shared in guild chat last night. I debated posting this but in the end my curiosity got the better of me.

Last night in guild chat, another player stated that some of the "professional MMO players" were either consulting with Zenimax or were being asked their opinion of what should be fixed/improved in the game. Basically, as I understand it, these players give their opinion of new features and/or development ideas, as well as game leveling and balancing. The author of the statement claimed several "improvements" were brought about upon the recommendation of these professional player(s).

Basically, they are "consultants" that help "improve" the game.

This is not flame-bait. I'm actually curious if anyone can confirm the truth of this or not.

Definitely not flame bait. But troll bait maybe

I've heard the same rumor before about specific guilds that ZOS employees actually take info from more seriously than they would from anyone on the forums.

But guess what? I've heard the same thing in all 5 of the last MMORPGs I've played.
This is nothing new. Always a popular conspiracy theory. Don't know if it's true or not. But it's always brought up by someone.

Not intended as either troll bait OR a conspiracy theory. I am seriously just asking if this has been done by Zeni ...

Since @Attorneyatlawl posted his images of the unused UI, which appears to be an improvement on the current UI (which I hate almost as much brussel sprouts), I've raising the issue in game to my friends. One response was that Zeni was priorizing what these players wanted.

That's it. No drama here.

You've clearly never tried my brussel sprouts. You start off by cooking up some diced bacon in a cast iron skillet, add diced shallots and cook until translucent, add the brussel sprouts (cut into halves) and a serrano pepper (sliced in half and de-seeded) and saute on the stovetop until the brussel sprouts start to soften. Then you transfer the pan to the oven and broil until the sprouts are just starting to brown. Remove from the oven, remove the serrano pepper, squeeze lemon juice over it, sprinkle parmesan cheese, toss it all, and enjoy.

Note: this picture was taken before adding the parmesan.

LOL!! Awesome! That looks wonderful!

My mom used to cook them in butter - and there isn't enough butter in the world to make me like them ...

Furor

I have personally been approached by a game developer and asked questions. I wonder if I'll get in trouble for admitting that.

I won't discuss what we talked about or who it was. Sorry.

Shunravi

DenMoria wrote: »

What's a "Professional MMO Player"? There is such a thing? Play video games that suck the fun out of it for anybody that doesn't belong to your exclusive "clique". Sign me up. I like to ruin things for normal folks and newbs and make things exclusive. I also live in an all white, gated community with no jews, blacks, hispanics or asians (except the help, of course) with our own country club. We play a lot of tennis, golf and drinking games.

I am genuinely curious what a 'professional mmo player' is myself.

Rosveen

OMG @UrQuan we need a cooking thread RIGHT NOW.

Ahem. What is a professional MMO player anyway?

We know that ZOS was, probably still is in contact with several large guilds. Jessica and others hopped in on TS to talk to people, ZOS even organized a guild summit last year, inviting representatives of the community. I think it's a good way of gathering feedback, it can be more focused and highlight less visible issues (or more delicate, like exploits) than chaotic threads here on the forum. Or Reddit, since that's the official avenue of ZOS communication.

I don't know what these discussions entailed, hopefully a member of one of the guilds involved will be able to explain. But if ZOS's treatment of beta feedback from way back is any indication, I'm not entirely convinced these talks influenced the development direction in a very significant way. Though of course all feedack affects the development to some extent and ZOS wouldn't be talking to guilds directly if they didn't care about their advice.

Xendyn

UrQuan wrote: »

You've clearly never tried my brussel sprouts. You start off by cooking up some diced bacon in a cast iron skillet, add diced shallots and cook until translucent, add the brussel sprouts (cut into halves) and a serrano pepper (sliced in half and de-seeded) and saute on the stovetop until the brussel sprouts start to soften. Then you transfer the pan to the oven and broil until the sprouts are just starting to brown. Remove from the oven, remove the serrano pepper, squeeze lemon juice over it, sprinkle parmesan cheese, toss it all, and enjoy.

Note: this picture was taken before adding the parmesan.

You had me at BACON

Cuyler

@IrishGirlGamer

I can confirm that at least one of the guilds I'm a member of has had the pleasure of an informal meeting with the ZOS staff (by voice chat) regarding fixing and improving known issues as well as player recommendations for new features. Issues and ideas of the entire guild were solicited by the guild master, combined and presented to ZOS employees by the GM as the rest of us listened in.

QuebraRegra

can't happen without the Ents!
http://cdn.lordofthememe.com/2014/2/6/0092a6f3071d2a085d52c41295af8d0b.jpg

jamesharv2005ub17_ESO

I am a pro. They asked me what would make the game better. I suggested that sending me bacon IRL wouldnt hurt anything. They never asked me anything else and I still am waiting on that bacon...

Personofsecrets

I wouldn't trust many guild to give good feedback on the game. At least, for the time being, most of us are for getting new content and changing the advantages that high cp players have.

Acrolas

There's absolutely nothing wrong with getting feedback from a wide variety of individuals both inside, and with some distance to, the gaming industry.

It's when you give any sort of preferred status, implied or direct, to individuals who do nothing but praise your work that problems arise. Supporters don't create better work. Critics and criticism do.

When I send out samples to beta readers, I don't get all giddy and jolly when someone comes back and says that everything's great, it's wonderful, and there's nothing wrong with it. I intentionally put errors in the work I send out to make sure people are doing the job I want them to. If I get nothing but praise on what I send out, those people will never be beta readers for me ever again. I value the criticism far more than the praise.

That's why I never straight-up fanboy on anything. I'd be doing a disservice to be all positive all the time. It's why I don't agree with things like the Community Ambassador Program. It's really nothing more than a volunteer public relations firm of supporters.

Want to run a good business? Learn to love your critics. Because no matter how much money you have or how invincible you feel, popularity doesn't last forever and in the end you'll be left staring at what your product actually is.

cabbagechest

Final step: discard brussels sprouts and just eat the bacon.

jamesharv2005ub17_ESO

What is a beta reader anyways?

JacksonCarter13

They talked to a few guilds in the beginning. They should be talking to top pvp and pver guilds from all alliances but no obviously zos at this point has there own agenda and we are all not included in on the plan mostly because they kept lying about content and other things and they know if they actually hold a guild summit it will be everyone asking what the heck they were thinking over the last 8 months....

UrQuan

Rosveen wrote: »

OMG @UrQuan we need a cooking thread RIGHT NOW.

lol I've joked around with a couple of my friends that we should do an ESO-themed dinner party where I try to make my version of a bunch of the recipes you can find in-game. The Nibenese Garlic Carrots sound particularly promising, but I'm not so sure on how I'd approach some of the other recipes... I understand the theory behind Argonian Saddle-cured Rabbit (I mean, I'm assuming it's saddle-cured the way the Mongols used to saddle-cure meats), but lacking a suitable saddle and horse, I won't really be able to make it.

stojekarcub18_ESO

I thought only LoL was allowed to be called "professional".