Council Resignation Letter

[Keptick]

This is my formal letter of resignation from the council of intergalactic representatives.

Let's get straight to the point: I made an error in judgement when applying to the third council term, and didn't gauge my already waning interest in the game properly (I expected it to bounce back like it always had). Truth be told, I have very little energy and motivation to invest in the game at the moment. This is due to multiple factors, including but not limited to being tired from my full time job, and finding more interest in other games. In addition, the complete lack of two-way communication between the council and Schine have been very taxing on my patience and trust in the council. What ate at me the most is the fact that nothing has changed, despite the problem being brought up on multiple occasions. As such, I apologize to other councilors and devs that I may have insulted or aggravated with ranting and/or repetitive suggestions (since I literally have no idea if Schine even read them).

In essence, I simply do not have the energy, time or will to conduct proper council duties anymore, and as such can't adequately represent parts of the community that have voted for me anymore. For that, I sincerely apologize.

I will probably be back some day, and will still be on the forums and in-game occasionally. It was a fun journey, and I wish luck to the current councilors, my replacement, and members of the community that will see this game grow to the best of it's insane potential.

 

[alterintel]

Sorry to see you go.

You always took an interest in whatever I posted or showed off. When ever I thought I did something cool, I would post it on the forums and in Chat. When ever you were on, you were always encouraging. And I'm sure you showed the same interest everyone else's creations as well.

GOOD JOB Perhaps this is why you were always my first choice in councilor. You will be missed.

But maybe a lesson can be learned?
It's always nice when the people you are trying to communicate with show an interest in what you are talking about.

 

[jstenholt]

THEY'RE DROPPING LIKE FLIES. I hereby nominate myself as the guy what threatens councilors' kneecaps.

But thank you for your dedication to Starmade up to this point; I hope to see a completed Charon one day.

 

[Crimson-Artist]

well this is really unexpected. Sorry to see you go, dude.

thank you for everything you've done for the community and your support! May you return triumphantly some day!

 

[Criss]

With the recent resignations we will be discussing the future of the council over the weekend as a team. We have some ideas for how the council can be more effective in the community. We will also be gauging how viable the council is in the current stage of development. It should be noted last term was quite effective at bringing fourth plenty of information to the dev team.

A big factor contributing here is the lack of results. Unfortunately we cannot give attention to feature requests, suggestions and certain bugs or issues because of our priorities. Over the course of time this appears as a lack of actual progress. By now the council has given us hundreds of threads to look at and they are archived for when we can get a chance to properly look at them. I will be working on bringing these threads to the attention of the others when we approach the relevant gameplay development.

 

[alterintel]

A big factor contributing here is the lack of results.

With all due respect, I don't think this is the issue at all. Nobody here is expecting "results". We all know this game is in Alpha, and we all know is working tirelessly to bring us an awesome game.

What we are expecting is some kind of feed back ... IE
"Hey, that's a great idea and we may use it when we get to that point in development."
or
"Yeah, great idea but it's never going to happen and here's why : "

In fact I don't think I've ever gotten any kind of indication that the Dev team (not the council) as ever seen any one of my suggestions...

No offence was intended in this post. Only constructive criticism.

 

[Criss]

With all due respect, I don't think this is the issue at all. Nobody here is expecting "results". We all know this game is in Alpha, and we all know is working tirelessly to bring us an awesome game.

What we are expecting is some kind of feed back ... IE
"Hey, that's a great idea and we may use it when we get to that point in development."
or
"Yeah, great idea but it's never going to happen and here's why : "

In fact I don't think I've ever gotten any kind of indication that the Dev team (not the council) as ever seen any one of my suggestions...

No offence was intended in this post. Only constructive criticism.

I have personally responded to ever suggestion they gave me. While that doesn't mean the entire dev team has seen it, there has been direct feedback from a developer, one that for the most part knows what the final plan for starmade looks like.

 

[BJammin]

I have personally responded to ever suggestion they gave me. While that doesn't mean the entire dev team has seen it, there has been direct feedback from a developer, one that for the most part knows what the final plan for starmade looks like.

That may be so, but what I think what alterintel is trying to say is that the playerbase wants this kind of feedback on a larger scale. Responding to every suggestion that is given to you is one thing, whereas a greater assurance that anyone who posts an idea can be given some form of developer feedback is another. (Note: I am perfectly aware that this is easier said than done. Nevertheless, it would be nice to have if at all a possibility.)

Indeed, if I recall correctly, this is what the council was originally intended for: gathering and responding to players' suggestions on behalf of the dev team. However, the current state of the council seems more like a collection of figurehead positions, rather than something entirely useful to the players. (Citing the lack of timely reports to players regarding updated development plans, and various councilors' impatience and disappointment with the state of communication with the dev team.) Yes, they go out and assemble lists of ideas for Schine, present their findings (I think? Never been a councilor), and subsequently respond to the creators of said ideas. Yet rarely do we see significant results from these endeavors. All we see are ever-increasing lists of suggestions that everyone prays *might* have a chance of being noticed. Perhaps the various functions of the council (and the extent of their communications with Schine and the players) could use some re-working.

Also, just like what alterintel said in his post, I mean not to offend the dev team, or the council, in any way. I only aim to take advantage of a forum where the sharing of ideas should be, and is, encouraged.

 

[Dr. Whammy]

While I'm sorry to see Keptic leave, I'll admit that I don't quite know the whole story.

On the other hand, the situation he described is exactly what is going on at my current job. Communication is paramount to any strong organization and I can tell you from my professional experiences that; the instant that people think they aren't being listened to, is when they become apathetic to the cause.

One thing I've always tried to instill in my boss at work; "Have the conversation. Do it sooner rather than later". There's a lot about online communication (email/forum postings) that can come off as impersonal and it can easily make people feel as if they are being dismissed/ignored. I'm not saying that this is what happened here since I don't have all the details but it is something to watch out for.

Hopefully this will serve as an example of why communication is so important and thus; cut down on the number of key players as well as council and forum members who pursue other avenues of entertainment.

Special thanks to Keptic for all the support and encouragement he's given us (hope to see you again). Additional thanks to the Schema, Criss and the Schine team for even having this addicting game in the first place.

 

[Megacrafter127]

gathering and responding to players' suggestions on behalf of the dev team.

That is only possible if the responding councillor knows how schine would respond, as it would certainly be bad if the council rejects a suggestion that schine would approve. So this answering is only really possible on duplicate suggestions to which schine has answered once already.

 

[alterintel]

I think the Dev team and the Council are so tight-lipped because of that damned Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA).
The Council should be the voice of the player base right? How can they be a voice for the player base if they're too afraid to talk to the player base? I understand why we have the NDA. But does the council really need to know the "Plan" for them to be able to do their job? Perhaps if the council didn't have a burden of an NDA they would be much more vocal and the player base would feel more encouraged? One possible consequence that may come of this proposal if implemented is that the Dev's would have to be much more careful about what they say to the council.

Proposal:
remove the requirement for Councilors to sign an NDA.

What would this mean:
While the Council may not be privy to knowing the "Plan" it would increase the council's ability to communicate with the player base

I'd also like to note here how awesome it is that we are even able to have this discussion. Most games (or anything really) don't have a forum for this kind of free exchange of ideas and criticism.

Thanks and Good luck

 

[jstenholt]

Proposal:
remove the requirement for Councilors to sign an NDA.

What would this mean:
While the Council may not be privy to knowing the "Plan" it would increase the council's ability to communicate with the player base

Counterproposal: a councilor breaks the NDA, and we all riot because of how good the plan is.

 

[Blobfscrazy]

Why not create something similar to the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Schine of course make the ultimate decision and in my example would be the unelected House of Lords. The House of Commons, the elected members of in this instance The Intergalactic Council of Representitives, would have the ability to give their seperate decision without this being an issue as Schine would of course have the deciding vote. Unlike the UK Parliament, the unelected schine staff would hold the real power but I believe that having a group of elected persons that are free to voice their opinions just like the player they supposedly represent would be the most beneficial.

To conclude I belive that having a council of representitives that are completly free to give their overal opinion and remain seperate from schine and their ideas and opinions would be the most beneficial

 

[Dr. Whammy]

Guys, we don't have to make them break their agreement or change their structure.

Anyone with any business sense understands that the NDA is there to protect the company's interests so the game doesn't get wrecked from the inside. ...and I know you all don't want to wreck the game; otherwise you wouldn't be posting here about ways to make it even better.

A solution to the problem can be as simple as making more frequent use of the "Read by Schine", "Read by Council", "Recognized by Schine/Council", etc tags we sometimes see on our threads. If you want to beef it up even more, you can send a quick email or post that says something to the effect of "cool idea. we'll think about it..." or "Sounds like bug #xxxx... We're already working on it".

That lets people know that their idea, concern or question was seen by those running the show and that feedback is actually welcomed rather than ignored or dismissed.

At the same time, we forum members must remember to be patient and not spam the devs or council with the same requests over and over. Check the Frequent Suggestions Mega-thread to see if your suggestion has already been made or use the all powerful Google search. On the other hand, if you've done your homework and you find that your issue or suggestion is unique, post the hell out it! It's new material and I'm sure everyone will want to know about it.

I think Schine and the Council already have the tools to make the player to dev team communications work. Maybe it's time to put them to more extensive use and see what happens.

 

[BDLS]

Not sure how many more years of his life schema intends to put into developing this game, but I've always felt The Council was a formality to calm down suggestion posters (and make them feel like they are listened to) while never really accomplishing much as far as things that make it into the game. When it comes down to it, schema has his own plans for the game and they are clearly going to take priority over outsider's suggestions for changes. Just abolish The Council for now until their work is more feasible, maybe in a couple years for now it can come back (if schema is still going to invest time into this game).

 

[StarWars1981]

The Council doesn't seem to have a defined role (for those of us not in it). Yes, they respond, yes, they "talk to Schema", but not knowing what that entails I can't complain.
What I do note is that two have now dropped for the reasons A. time is limited and B. they feel like they're not accomplishing anything.
Seems to me that it's an internal issue between the Council and Schine, possibly due to the fact that both teams are buried by the playerbase (with suggestions). I can't really fix the problem, but sounds like the above posts finger the problem - more communication would fix it.
Alternatively, I have some matches here. If I light enough fires, Schine oughta put out all the features we're promised, and then start on the minor things (and amusing oddities) we hand the Council ... GL to everyone, 'specially you, keptick.
BUILD THE CHARON ALREADY!

 

[Jananton]

Since communication is in essence a two way street, I can understand that meetings become very taxing when it isn't.

Anyway, I hope you don't become a stranger here and keep having fun in the StarMade universe.

Greets,

Jan

 

[JonasWalker]

Not sure how many more years of his life schema intends to put into developing this game, but I've always felt The Council was a formality to calm down suggestion posters (and make them feel like they are listened to) while never really accomplishing much as far as things that make it into the game. When it comes down to it, schema has his own plans for the game and they are clearly going to take priority over outsider's suggestions for changes. Just abolish The Council for now until their work is more feasible, maybe in a couple years for now it can come back (if schema is still going to invest time into this game).

I honestly would prefer to think it started as a way to legitimately filter potentially good suggestions or even parts of them and just went pear shaped for whatever reason. Now I understand that in the end the Devs probably have more experience in their relevant fields than your average player but trust is hard to earn and lost in an instant. More than one creative project has been sunk in the blink of an eye by running afoul of that lesson. In either case we have one side, Dev's have sort of said bits of theirs, but I doubt we'll ever have the full story. Personally I plan on just sitting back and seeing what comes next. Actions speak louder than words and to me the Devs have earned enough faith to give them the benefit of the doubt. But as the saying goes the proof is in the pudding.



....Mmmmm....pudding.....

 

[Master_Artificer]

So does this mean Crimson-Artist and HolyCookie get a crack at things now, and they serve the remainder of the term because they had the 6th and 7th largest pool of votes? I don't think we need a re-election cycle with new voting yet.

 

[alterintel]

I think the council will probably get suspended for the time being while they try something else, they've been cooking up in the kitchen.