Does the forum represent the entire ESO:TU playerbase?

Oldmanlawlor

Anyone who doesn't use the forum, but plays ESO, mark this post as insightful.

This is probably the easiest way to find out if it does or not.

JadeNaria

No

No need to roll eyes just present your poll. You don't want to wake the sleeping monsters on here

In regards to your poll, no not all. It would be ideal for more players to join the forums as they may have a lot to contribute.

yodased

No

Go here http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/badge/comment

-> 116k people have commented on this forum <-

Makkir

No

FACT: Bears, Beets, Battlestar Galacica

PainfulFAFA

Yes

i voted wrong *** me

Xexpo

No

dammit I voted before I realized who posted it ... 'd again

iam_slickone

No

nine9six wrote: »

I bet most haven't even registered for here.

took me 6 months to even look up a forum, then had to figure out how to registor

Zorrashi

No

Not even close. A poll on here is lucky to get 300+ people, and the game has far more players than that.

Volkodav

No

Hymzir wrote: »

Volkodav wrote: »

Personally.I believe that most of the people who come here,myself included,are interested in the interaction in the forums.Not that many people who play games are into that.They could care less.
This is the only forum I have ever been a part of for a game.
Sometimes I think I shouldnt have joined though.XD

Well, to me that just proves my point. The forums attract all sorts. I really don't care much about the interaction on the forums. I come here to see what's going on and to make my voice heard by ZOS whenever something I think is important is discussed. I am somewhat pessimistic about its impact, but ZOS does keep claiming that they do follow the discussion on these forums, and thus I post just in case.

The thing is, that there are still plenty of people on these forums. And I do think that it is large enough a pool to be a meaningful representation of the whole population. Obviously, based on the results of the poll, I am in the minority who thinks so, but based on my experience that's the way I see it.

The reason I posted on this thread at all, is because I see it quite often used as a counter argument to whatever people are talking about on the forums - the notion that only a small fragment of players follow the forums, so whatever we say is not really important. But I find that not to be true. The thing about people, who do take part in public discourse, is that they are passionate. They are the loudest critics, but also the most avid fans of the game. The people who do not participate in the discussion, do not feel about things quite as strongly, but most of them do still share the same general sentiments.

Let's take the lag as a simple example - the forum is flooded with rage about the lag in Cyrodiil. Just about everyone who posts here and is a PVP player is screaming bloody murder because of it. There are also those who do not PVP at all, and say it isn't really an issue, and that the PVP crowd are just constantly QQ:ing bunch of haters.

The reality is, that the lag is a serious issue, and anyone who has PVP:d at all is not happy about it. Some of those who are not all that passionate about the game, will not bother to voice that concern on these forums and just try to enjoy PVP:ing as best as they can. They are still bothered by it and do hope that it would get fixed. Others will just shrug and go play something else, and maybe occasionally log on back to see if things have improved. At the same time, those who do not spend any time PVP:ing at all, and do not feel passionate enough to spend time on the Forums arguing with those who are screaming about it, will just think that it doesn't affect them, but can see how it would annoy those who do PVP, and that doing something about it might be a good move for the longevity of the game. That or ditching PVP form the game altogether.

Thus the bottom line here is, that the lag is a real issue, and it does affect all who PVP, and ZOS really should do something about it. And that is what I see on the forums. And the sentiment expressed here mirrors what players express in game and on other platforms for discussion.

The general wibe I get from the Forums is that people are not happy with the way things are going. The forums themselves do tend to express it in a fairly toxic manner, but that's due to the passionate bit. The thing I take from such threads, is that there is a fair bit of unease in the player population. It hasn't yet reached a point that is critical for the future of the game, but the amount and consistency of the complaints on these forums, do paint a picture that all is not well in the ESOverse. It also provides insight on what particular issues do bug the population as a whole.

lordrichter wrote: »

Forums tend to attract people who are not happy playing. As such, they tend to be heavy with people who have beefs, or want something to change.

I do not share this sentiment. What forums attract are the most passionate people. Add if the majority of people, who are passionate about whatever the forum deals with, are not happy, then that is a clear sign that maybe there really is something wrong with the way things are. Your experiences may of course vary, but that is what I've seen on the various forums I've frequented in the past.

Also - it is quite natural that people voice their concerns, or post about things that bug them. Very few people need the urge to voice their opinion about stuff that is performing just fine. But if some thing bugs someone strongly enough to prompt them to post about it and propose changes to it, you can bet that there are tons of other people who arr also miffed by it, but not strongly enough that they would bother to do something about it. But should it be changed, they too would be quite happy. That is the nature of public discourse. It tends to begin with someone perceiving a problem with the world. Then people will either rally to support the claim or will do their best to defend the way things are.

Most of the nerf this or change that or this thing is OP threads do also attract people who disagree with the original poster,. So while the thread may have started as a complaint, the comments in it might not be. However, if most of the people who bother to participate in the discussion voice similar opinions, then that is a strong indicator that maybe there is something to the original complaint. Undoubtedly its no as bad as the posters make it sound, and it probably does not need quite as drastic changes as they are proposing. But if most people, who bother to post about something, do not disagree with one another, then ZOS should listen to them and maybe do something about it. - A good example of this is the topic of "No text chat for consoles."

When I say interaction,I mean the give and take of people's ideas and thoughts about ESO.
Not like it's just some social forum.We are usually peretty well on topic,or c.lose with some fun throw in.
And,yes there are all sorts of people here,not just one type.
You say you arent interested in the interaction in the forums,yet you,too are in them. To comment is interaction,which is what the forums are all about.
Our interests about the game,and our interest about those who play it.

bloodenragedb14_ESO

No

the forum, in my experience, represents the most hateful, angry, and jaded people in the fanbase, and yes, i just described myself to an extent. But that is just me on the forum, even then im probably one of the more tame.

when im in game, i help, i laugh, i joke, and i roleplay, i may not like the direction this game goes in many respects, but when it comes to my friends and playing the game, they dont need that negativity, so i leave it behind.

Deceptive_Yoshi

If you live in stonefalls maybe

CJohnson81

No

Anyone absent from the forums, please raise your hands.

Cadbury

No

CJohnson81 wrote: »

Anyone absent from the forums, please raise your hands.

*raises hand*

Bulljoker

No

no, because you need some access code to register here and you have to contact ZOS to get it, most ppl are too lazy to do it,also other ppl don't speak english so they don't even bother getting here

SantieClaws

No

Many of the citizens of Tamriel must not posses the will or the skill to read these forums.

Otherwise Khajiit would never be able to make a dishonest living by cleaning pockets again.

Yours with paws
Santie Claws

NovaMarx

No

In no way, shape, or form. The people on forum only represent the people on forum - many of which often state how they don't play the game anymore (which kind of make their arguments extra invalid, because how can you assess a game if you don't know it's current state). Also, I know TONS of people who play every day, but who never touch the forums.
All in all, the forums are an excellent place to voice concerns, criticism, praise, and ideas. But to say it represents the whole player base would be inaccurate - if not downright wrong.

Now, back to Tamriel!

Tonnopesce

No

We can make a guild per server with the people in here not much more.

yodased wrote: »

Go here http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/badge/comment

-> 116k people have commented on this forum <-

I have a bigger one

http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/badge/comment-1000

Hymzir

Yes

Volkodav wrote: »

When I say interaction,I mean the give and take of people's ideas and thoughts about ESO.
Not like it's just some social forum.We are usually peretty well on topic,or c.lose with some fun throw in.
And,yes there are all sorts of people here,not just one type.
You say you arent interested in the interaction in the forums,yet you,too are in them. To comment is interaction,which is what the forums are all about.
Our interests about the game,and our interest about those who play it.[/quote]

Just because you have to do a thing in order to achieve some other thing you want, does not mean that the thing you did interests you to the same degree as the thing you did it for. I am not interested all that much about "those who play" the game, but I am interested in the "game" itself. And thus I do participate in the public discourse.

Sometimes I do even post in non-game specific threads or participate in whatever "fun" is to be had within the forum community. It's not an absolute thing - but the reason I do follow and post on the forums is because this is an Elder Scrolls game, and those games constitute my primary hobby. The only reason I am playing this game at all is because it's an Elder Scroll game, and I am fairly passionate about these games, and thus wish to voice my opinions and concerns publicly in hopes that ZOS will hear them. And that is ultimately the reason I participate in forum discussion. To confer my take on whatever topic is being discussed for ZOS.

NovaMarx wrote: »

In no way, shape, or form. The people on forum only represent the people on forum - many of which often state how they don't play the game anymore (which kind of make their arguments extra invalid, because how can you assess a game if you don't know it's current state). Also, I know TONS of people who play every day, but who never touch the forums.
All in all, the forums are an excellent place to voice concerns, criticism, praise, and ideas. But to say it represents the whole player base would be inaccurate - if not downright wrong.

We, the forum posters are not special snowflakes. We are no different than other people playing the game. What we are is passionate enough to voice our concerns. Thus for every player who comments that they do not play the game anymore, and just follow what way it is developing, there are tons of people who used to play but do not play anymore. For every rage quitter there are much more people who just went meh, and moved to another game. And the amount of people who do bother to come to the forums to state things like that is in my mind fairly alarming. And all I need to do is check my old guild rosters and friends list and see how many of the people who I played with when the game launched have not logged on in ages.

And that brings me once more to the reason I am posting on this thread - the forums do provide a snapshot of the general population, that offers a fairly good representative sampling of the player base, and thus a resource for statistical analysis. The thing one needs to keep in mind, is that the Forums, by their very nature, do tend to exaggerate the strength of the opinions expressed, but not the causes themselves for the concerns thus claimed.

Obviously there is a margin of error, and the possibility of skewed results, but both can be accounted for by tracking what is trending on the forums over a longer period of time. If certain aspects keep popping up with consistency then there is something at work that is causing people real concern. It might not necessarily be the thing itself that people are talking about, but might instead be created by an underlying element. But that's what ZOS has all their metrics for.

For example - a constant stream of cries for nerfing something. ZOS checks their metrics and sees that the element in question is performing well within it's expected parameters and is not out of line with other similar elements. Yet the people keep complaining? Why - perhaps it is due to the interaction of some other element or the interplay of several elements. But what ever it is, the fact remains that it is causing concerns and maybe they should be addressed in some way. And that is the bit of data that the forums can provide for ZOS - assuming, of course, that they do listen to player feedback.

All I'm saying here is, that while we are the vocal minority, we are still a large enough a group of people that we do provide a meaningful cross cut of the population as a whole. We are just as diverse and varied bunch as those who do not feel the need to participate in the public discourse. And that whatever is being discussed on the forums do indeed reflect the general concerns and thoughts of the group as whole. It might be expressed in an exaggerated manner, but the topics themselves are relevant.

I do admit that I was prompted to join this discussion because it is a pet peeve of mine - statistical analysis and polling is fairly misunderstood thing, and it just gets me all worked up when people disregard stuff being discussed, because we are only a small portion of the people who participate, and obviously those that do not think different.

If 900 people out of a sampling of a 1000 taken from a population of a 100.000 agree on something, the it is fairly likely that 90.000 out of those 100.000 also agree on that thing. The probability that our sampling just happened to pick the 1 percent out of the whole who do think that way is fairly unlikely. Especially if you run the sampling several times.

But yeah - I've said my piece on this thing. If you disagree with me even after mulling outwhat I said, then that's okay. Maybe our personal experiences differ, but for me, most of the forums I have frequented, have been fairly consistent on reflecting the general state of affairs.