We are getting a new feature in "NEAR FUTURE"!

"filipomel;c-16688755" wrote:

"MidnightAura;c-16688445" wrote:

"filipomel;c-16688396" wrote:

"MidnightAura;c-16683047" wrote:
I really wish they wouldn’t do this. They claim they want to be more transparent and open and honest with fans but yet they persist on teasing with vague statements. It’s the online equivalent of putting a few cats among the pigeons and watching the feathers fly. Once the hype train starts rolling full steam ahead, they are then quick to put the breaks on it by saying: “But don’t get hyped!” I mean come on, with that referenced tweet, what do they expect? They certainly don’t want people reading it and going: “meh” It’s a rather bizarre communication strategy. Talk of the game is becoming a focus rather than the game itself.

They can’t have it both ways. Be open and transparent like many other game companies are with future content or say nothing until you can reveal. Because they cannot complain when fans get upset with their current strategy of communication. Practise what you preach.

I'm starting to wonder if the community was happier before without this much communication. You're right, they can't have it both ways, but either way people will find something to complain about. The devs say nothing and people complain, the devs say something and people complain. They gave the community what they wanted in the best way they could deliver it, more communication and transparency, if the community isn't happy with these forms of communication then I don't know what to say really.

Transparency definition:
the quality of being done in an open way without secrets

Vs

We have a feature we're planning to release in the near future. Today and tomorrow we're conducting research on it to see how it works, what we need to tweak, and how to make it the best. Just peeling back the layer a little on how we do some things.
4:49 PM - Aug 16, 2018

We can’t talk about future content.

I don’t agree the above is what people want. I don't even think being open and transparent is a strong point at this stage as referenced above. People will complain a heck of a lot less if communication felt more like a conversation and if they stopped this ridiculous charade. Other game studios manage to go off and work on their projects without feeling the need to make vague, nonsense statements on twitter. (I should know - my Husband works for one) and fans don’t self combust with no information.

This new way isn’t any better than not having a quarterly teaser. It’s worse. They may as well tweet: “Today we are working on new content and tomorrow. In other news Night follows day”

What would make me happy is if they kept their head down and got on with the day job and actually only told us information when they had solid information to share. Not this ‘We have exciting news- don’t get hyped!” Train they are riding. The community still wildly speculates, many are disappointed and the whole thing starts again a few weeks/ months. Why does the game need information constantly being drip fed to fans? Doesn’t that say a lot about the game itself? When the focus is on the hype surrounding the game but not actually the game itself?

I play lots of different type of games and this is the only game that needs this PR being constantly pushed. Most games speak for themselves.

I'm going to be honest, I don't know where you got your definition of the term Transparency, all I can say is it doesn't match up with what I have found, I believe secrets and transparency to be two different things, you can be transparent and still hold back information, or as you I guess would call it 'secrets'. On the note of communication feeling like a conversation, I don't really know what to say besides mention the fact that the developers have been speaking a lot about certain topics regarding the development of the game lately. On the topic of comparing Sims/Maxis/EA to other game studios is like comparing apples to oranges, different games, different companies, different communities, different regulations and so on. When you say "What would make me happy is if they kept their head down and got on with the day job and actually only told us information when they had solid information to share," you have to remember that what makes you happy or unhappy isn't the same for everyone else, but also in regards to your statement, isn't that what it was like before? Waiting to announce something until there was solid information to share? And even then the community wasn't completely pleased, and to my recollection this whole 'We have exciting news- don’t get hyped' situation happened once if not maybe twice. If people wildly speculate and then get disappointing in the end I wouldn't say it's the devs fault, especially if they have openly spoken about what to expect, or where to keep expectations.

I feel like people are quick to forget that this new form of communication they are currently practicing is new to them as well, the devs themselves are learning and transitioning into this new form of communication, give them time to adjust. If the devs actively keep up with threads like this, or listen to feed back similar to what is mentioned in this thread I'm sure they will learn what methods are the best to communicate and deliver certain types of information.

"JoAnne65;c-16688461" wrote:
.

"filipomel;c-16688396" wrote:

"MidnightAura;c-16683047" wrote:
I really wish they wouldn’t do this. They claim they want to be more transparent and open and honest with fans but yet they persist on teasing with vague statements. It’s the online equivalent of putting a few cats among the pigeons and watching the feathers fly. Once the hype train starts rolling full steam ahead, they are then quick to put the breaks on it by saying: “But don’t get hyped!” I mean come on, with that referenced tweet, what do they expect? They certainly don’t want people reading it and going: “meh” It’s a rather bizarre communication strategy. Talk of the game is becoming a focus rather than the game itself.

They can’t have it both ways. Be open and transparent like many other game companies are with future content or say nothing until you can reveal. Because they cannot complain when fans get upset with their current strategy of communication. Practise what you preach.

I'm starting to wonder if the community was happier before without this much communication. You're right, they can't have it both ways, but either way people will find something to complain about. The devs say nothing and people complain, the devs say something and people complain. They gave the community what they wanted in the best way they could deliver it, more communication and transparency, if the community isn't happy with these forms of communication then I don't know what to say really.

No, people don't find 'something to complain about either way'. It's just that not everyone considers any form of using your voice or Twitter 'communicating' ("sharing or exchanging information, news, or ideas") No information or news or ideas have been shared here is the point of the post you're quoting, it's all just food for speculating and hyping again, and it's very thoroughly argumented why the poster thinks that too. It's just rude to dismiss that with an 'either way people will find something to complain about' just because you happen to be satisfied with the way they are communicating.

My apologies if my statement sounded dismissive, I didn't intend for it to sound like that.

When you say "No information or news or ideas have been shared here... it's all just food for speculating and hyping again," I would disagree because Grant himself mentioned in the tweet the purpose of the tweet, "We have a feature we're planning to release in the near future. Today and tomorrow we're conducting research on it to see how it works, what we need to tweak, and how to make it the best. Just peeling back the layer a little on how we do some things", peeling back the layer a bit, giving us insight on how near future content is being handled at the moment. Of course speculation will arise from this, but he clearly stated what the purpose of the tweet was. Take what you will from his statement, to all their own.

Sorry, I had to quote your whole post (I forgot how to just get part of it) but do you think these developers have never done any walk-throughs, interviews, or Twitch shows before? Most of them have been around since TS3 where the information flowed almost daily. I'm pretty sure they are very familar with how to communicate something to the community as they had plenty of practice before TS4. It is only TS4 that comes up with this stuff about not being able to talk about free content before it's released. They can talk about paid content anytime they want, if they choose to do so. Of course it wouldn't be wise I guess unless someting didn't work out, but saying this is a new way for them to learn to communicate is not what I would believe, it may be new (since TS4) to keep their mouths closed, but teasing without an actual tease isn't communicating it's bating. Transparent means just that, you can see all the way through, nothing blocked, hidden or secret.

ETA: I'm just going to add my two cents about the terms 'new' and 'learning' they have been on Youtube and Twitter and FB for four years now, what is there to learn? TS4 is four years old next month, don't you think it's about time we all stop making excuses for anything about this game or how they communicate.