(Taken and edited from a reply that was being made in response to a forum post that has since been closed.)

So, you made some statements somewhere and someone who happens to love this game disagreed with you in a manner of which you disprove, eh? HA! Alright, guilty! I'm sure I’ve gotten a little short with the naysayers around here from time to time, so I’ll take a step towards making amends now:

If you've been offended by anyone who is "pro-ESO" in game or in the forums, I will officially extend my sincere apologies. I do not want you to leave the game, and the person that offended you likely does not want you to leave this game either. Many of us are highly intelligent and reasonable people that enjoy our hobbies immensely, and it’s not our intention to alienate anyone at all. Criticism is a part of life, and sometimes we can easily forget this. We’re sorry.

Be that as it may… If you’re going to be a naysayer, then there are some things that you need to hear:

- Criticism can only be taken well when it is constructive. Take a moment to go and look up the definition of constructive on Google. It won’t take but a minute, I promise. No, I am not being condescending at all. I often use a word that I’ve only ever heard in daily speech, and when I think about it, to my shame, I cannot explain its definition accurately. Just because you believe your suggestion or comment that you quickly typed up is constructive does not make it so. If you got offended because the comments to your post were not what you expected, you need to consider the possibility that your “suggestion” may have been closer to “ranting” or “complaining”. So, although the nicest of us may respond, understand that this behavior does not warrant any positive feedback just because you paid to play the game.

- You should realize that some of your suggestions are highly illogical. It’s perfectly fine if you think that the developers should add a little something extra to the finished product that we’re all playing, as no true work of art is never complete. However, it is not perfectly fine for you to spend a relatively small amount of time thinking up said suggestion while clearly not taking into consideration the resources that would be required to implement such a thing. If you do this, and someone calls you stupid, deal with it.

- You should understand that your preconceived notion of what this ES game would offer you is of no consequence to us. So many people misinterpreted the developer’s statements about “letting you play the way you want” to such a high degree that it makes me want to smash my face against my desk sometimes. It’s awesome that you had all of these ideas of what you were going to do once you got here, yet sometimes that vision will just not fit into a gaming engine. To any that say that this game is not “ES enough” for them, I can understand your opinion and I won’t judge in the least. However, if you’re thinking that since the game wasn’t what you expected, the game developers should get to work putting the universe back into what you are used to… you’re wasting our time with your suggestion, and someone is going to tell you so.

- The bugs and bots are frustrating to all of us. The only entities that are not frustrated by them are the bugs and bots themselves. Feedback on where they are occurring is very much appreciated and encouraged! The thing to be aware of is that many of us, even those with no professional background in software development, knew very well that this could be expected after launch. It’s very well-known among technical folks that fixing one thing with a program can break something else, even something that you thought you originally fixed. It is not at all out of the ordinary. So, if you feel that your comment has been shrugged off, it’s not that we don’t care about the bugs… we’re just not flipping out or abandoning ship about them like you are. The developers are working on what they have the resources to work on, and no amount of belly-aching or evil conspiracy theories will change that.

- You don’t know nearly as much about the game as you may think. Whatever experience with MMO’s or ES games you may have, there are thousands online right now that have five times that experience. There are people that have already, before you even knew this game was coming to us, done extensive research into every little aspect of the game play and design here. Just playing the game is not in itself a credential of being an expert, nor does it automatically qualify your suggestions as what “needs to happen”. If someone is contradicting something you’ve said, you need to consider that you may be flat out wrong sometimes, difficult as that may be. Part of wanting this game to succeed is getting accurate information in the hands of the newer people, whatever it takes. If you haven’t done research into something, don’t make illogical assumptions based on Saturday afternoon theories. Someone will call you out. If you get snippy, they probably will too. And if you’re wrong and getting snippy… may the heavens have mercy upon your soul, because the forums will not.

- You’re on the internet, and everyone is anonymous. Mean people suck, some men just want to watch the world burn, cliché, cliché, cliché… Get over it and let’s play some ESO.


Thanks.