Open Suggestion to Microsoft for QnA

General Discussion
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I had my expectations at zero and while I was still ever so slightly disappointed, I would MUCH rather see Ken and James talk about this game and about KI than not have anything at all. I would watch that show every week.

I honestly don’t understand why people get so angry about stuff like this. I don’t know if it’s a lack of self-awareness or immaturity or what, but seeing people rage about getting something like this as opposed to exactly what they want, which they know they’re not going to get anyways, is beyond frustrating.

I get it, people want a nice, juicy KI4 announcement or a new season or whatever. We all do. But when they try to reach out to the community in any way, shape or form, maybe don’t screech at them for having the gall to approach you with anything other than the exact thing you want.

I really like the people on this page, and I think that most of us tend to be relatively level headed. But man, there are some people out there that just have no idea how they make the rest of us look and seemingly don’t care and I’m tired of it.

I’m tired of the FGC being viewed as a bunch of racist, sexist, homophobic jackasses that whine and complain constantly about everything and do their very best to make people feel unwelcome. I know I’m slightly off topic here, but I’m just tired of these types of people being the loud voices that screech and howl above the rest of the buzz in most genre communities.

I know that’s just video games, and comics, and TV and movies and basically anything else involving similar cultures, but it doesn’t have to be that way and it ■■■■■■ shouldn’t. Call me intolerant of intolerance, I don’t care. I’m tired of loud, stupid babies crying their rivers of tears and drowning the rest of us in their sea of negativity.

Yuck, that’s an ugly metaphor. But you get what I mean. I’m definitely NOT saying that everyone has to be happy all the time and praise the devs at all costs. But there’s a difference between constructive criticism, useful feedback, and being a productive member of a gaming community and bringing nothing but toxicity, negativity and the type of hatred and frustration that normally permeates every other aspect of your life to this board, or the facebook group, or the streams, etc.

These people make the experience worse for everyone else, from the people taking the time to put on the show, to the people that actually wanted to tune in and experience it. God, just be sad or angry or disappointed in a way that doesn’t stink up the place for everyone else. Why is that so difficult? When did KI streams become a time and place for people to gather and wallow together in their misery and infect everyone else with it?

Again, I know, that’s kinda what streaming is like these days. Twitch chats, like Youtube comment sections are basically a landfill for some to deposit their trash in to. I just wish it wasn’t like that. There are so few places on gaming sites where it feels like everyone can be mature, constructive, and actually enjoy what they’re talking about. I consider this site to be one of those places. It’d be great if the stuff devs probably see a lot more, stuff like this Q&A stream, were like that as well.

Oh well, maybe they take people’s frustration or anger or whatever as impatience; people wanting more KI. Maybe that tells them something. Who knows.

I just want to be clear on this in case you take any of what I said above as being directed at you. It’s definitely not. There are a lot of good people on this board and I consider you to be one of them. That said, I think the Q&A is still worth discussing, so I’m glad it’s staying open.

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42

Ok. Thank you. I get sick of this kind of thing too and sometimes I realize too late that I may or may not be contributing to it. I want a Q&A as well, and I am fully aware of what happens when they don’t get what they want. At some point though, the developers at Microsoft need to realize that it is a very loud minority complaining and just do it. Because we’re all adults here and should be able to brush it aside and focus on constructive crisisism and positive feedback.

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I’m a big Star Wars fan, so I’m right there with you. I’ve watched a very small part of the fan base work steadily to try and destroy the franchise they claim to “love” for reasons that make no sense to me. I’m convinced that the internet enables this amplification of truly minority opinions (including very marginal parts of a fan base). I first became aware of this when “fans” of the movie “Zombieland” waged a campaign of criticism against a planned tv show based on the same source material and caused that show to be cancelled. It has become clear that “fans” (which has a positive connotation but is derived from the more negative “fanatic”) are the most potentially damaging group of people for any property or franchise (including KI), especially on social media. It’s a weird subversion of democracy because happy people tend to make a single comment and go away while angry people tend to make lots and lots of comments. It turns out most of us are more passionate about things that upset us than things we enjoy… Theres also a whole psychology associated with people seeking external validation of their opinions and ideas and then getting upset when anyone disagrees with them but that’s probably better left for another day.

Anyway it has created a very perilous environment to try and engage. As evidenced by the response to this stream. If you aren’t engaging then people criticize you for it and you need to get out there and take back control of the narrative. But when you engage it just attracts more criticism.

The idea that people would be critical of an afternoon stream of cool people playing KI because it wasn’t a big announcement is so baffling to me. But it only takes a few people to leave a negative impression.

Edit: @CausingThought6 I’m trying not to respond to your comments because I am really not interested in “internet fighting.” But in light of your last comment I have to point out that “shooting the messenger” is not helping you at all. Instead of criticizing me for (correctly) predicting the response of some fans (calling me an ******* in the first instance then doubling down in here on the idea that somehow even mentioning the reality of other people’s negativity is being negative) maybe put that energy to something more positive.

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Ok. That was wrong and I apologize. And I also apologize if i’m Misinterpreting your posts. But you were basically saying that a Q&A shouldn’t happen because of how the loud minority will react. Everyone knows that that’s how the internet works, and the devs should be thick skinned enough to ignore the banshees and focus on the people who just want an honest and simple Q&A.

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I actually don’t have an opinion on whether the Q and A “should” happen. I don’t see any value in it for MS so I’m willing to defend their inaction, but I’m generally in favor of developer fan interactions. But again, the community makes it clear that we won’t collectively behave like rational adults so how could I blame MS for not engaging? I wish I was wrong.

I am definitely against an “announcement” that KI is somehow over or finished or whatever your preferred language is. In part because it’s not (see the incoming patch) and in part because I think that’s bad messaging with no upside.

But again, if you think MS is making any decisions based on what I say in the forums, I’m flattered but I can assure you they don’t ask me before they do stuff. I don’t need that kind of responsibility. I’m just on here having conversations with people about KI and related topics that interest me. I am not standing between you and what you want.

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46

Ok I watched the stream…I enjoyed it! It was nice to see @snickerdoodle in person and ofcourse seeing @KRAKENJIMMY vs Ken Lobb was great!
Thansk again to James for all his hard work wtht eh bugs an balance adjustments.

But… did I miss the release date on teh patch? Or is it already live? If so…whats the secret change???

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Aw man I need to hang out on the forums more. I missed Andy’s truth bombs again.

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Yeah, I’m gonna push back hard against this idea:

No developer is obligated or required to subject themselves to abuse, ridicule, or disrespect, and certainly not as a matter of course for interacting with their non-douchey fans for dubious gains. I as a supervisor would never subject my people to some requirement for such, and I’d fight against anything even resembling that incredibly hard if I were an employee. Unless you explicitly have some public facing role, “thick skin” is not a core job competency. James or Adam or Sam have no obligation to take abuse, ever, in the service of making fans feel happier about the state of the game.

I’ve said many times that people “ should play the games they want, the way they want, for the reasons they want.” I think that extends to developers as well: they should make the games they want, the way they want, for the reasons they want. That’s the only thing they owe to the fans, and the role of the fandom is to decide whether that vision is something they also enjoy and want to be a part of. If it is, then great! If it isn’t, then we vote with our wallets or otherwise move on or away from the product. Community interaction is awesome, and I wholeheartedly support and appreciate when a developer puts forth the effort to do it right. But it is never an obligation.

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49

Just so you know, we have read this, not ignoring you all. If it was not apparent, the crazy stuff that broke for no reason for 2 months (for some and not all people and changed daily for the bonus fun) was our sole focus to find and fix. That’s done and we moved onto a backlog of stuff we had shelved to not risk anything else.

This next patch clears that plate, and we will have time finally to start catching up and hopefully grab a bunch of questions and do a Q&A. We hear you all, we do.

AND I did not mention the patch timeline on stream, it’s in test so probably shooting for 2 weeks. We will update officially once we have more info.

PS: On the secret thing, it’s not a gameplay changer or features or colors, or skins, I will tweet out a hint or 2 next week since I was a bit over the top with the trolling. Oh… whoops I did it again :slight_smile:

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As always, thanks for the feedback James - it is much appreciated. :slightly_smiling_face:

Does enhanced Steam/X1/Win10 crossplay count as a “feature”? :thinking:

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James is the best!
On another note, I’m very curious about the secret thing but I’m also scared.

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First off, this is probably the best KI-related post I’ve seen all year. :smiley: Thanks a bunch for keeping us all in the loop, and it’s awesome to know that you’re not only still out there, you’re still listening and doing cool stuff behind the scenes, @KRAKENJIMMY!

It also gives me a good reason to put my Ultratech-branded tinfoil hat, and take a stab at the “secret thing” before we’re blessed with the Q&A, hints, and other textural info! Yay! Now if it’s not a “gameplay changer,” colors, skins, or a new feature(s), could it be…

A new Stage Ultimate?
A Season 3/3.X KI Game Card artwork featuring all of the cast from that season? (We got one of those for the first two seasons- why didn’t we get one for the third?
KI2 music for Practice Mode?
New Shadow Lord mission(s)?

Those are some of my best shots in the dark, am I even in the ballpark? :baseball::sweat_smile:

-Zenek

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Patch is not releasing today, but it is in final test, shooting for this week still. Will update once we have the confirmed release date.

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Hey just curious if you have a free moment or two, and if you don’t, it’s cool, I totally get it. But could you let us know some of the stuff that’s in the backlog that you guys might be looking in to once the newest patch goes out?

I’m sure the answer to this is undoubtedly no, but is there any chance you guys would be willing to put a toggle in for the shadow move colors between purple and the old black ones? Or is that too much work or new assets?

It’s not even anything against the purple ones by any means. I just like the black ones too and it’d be cool to have a choice. :slightly_smiling_face:

Wait what… Over the top… was that a hint?? :open_mouth:

Any more hints on the secret thing?

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Hey sorry to double post, but I was just curious if something like this might still be a possibility as well. I know you and Ken were nice enough to answer a few questions on the Xbox stream not too long ago, but a Q&A around here would also be greatly appreciated, I’m sure. I don’t know what questions you guys would be willing to answer about this or future KI, but anything you could say would be great! :slight_smile:

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Thanks for the questions and reminder. So toggling shadow vfx is not an option, but would be cool.
Regarding the hints, so:

  • Hanging out with friends, surviving shadows and being medium all have something in common.
  • Enjoy your own path to the destination, the easy one is not necessarily better.
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Unlock Gargos stage on medium intstead of Killer?

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Yeah I had a feeling. No problemo. Thanks for responding and answering either way! :slight_smile:

This makes me wonder if we’ll have difficulty levels for Shadow Survival. Maybe the shortest path has the hardest shadows??

If this is what you’re talking about, that’d be AWESOME. If not though, I’m still very curious to see what this is.

Thanks for all the work you do, man!

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If I was to take a guess, “hanging out with friends” might be Lobby improvements, or maybe online Practice?

I’m looking forward to hearing what the patch will give us!

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Maybe a new chat function synced with lobby? Or PC version synced with lobby? Discord? Or something like that?