Historical Question

[Poker]

I see. And that's true.

As long as points are awarded infrequently, such that they remain meaningful, and silently, such that recipients never become expectant of recognition, then I think they (Epic) could keep costs to near-zero and still have the system work very well. Simple is key.

[JaFO]

Originally Posted by Poker

We have their word for that, as opposed to any appreciable amount of feedback to actually prove it, other than the token "yes we listen" line repeated every few months.
...

And how would you expect any company to provide proof ?
Should they bore you to death with how they discussed 'your solution' and discovered that it was flawed or simply not suited to their idea of how their game should work ?
Should a company really reveal all its internal design so you can feel that they 'listened' whenever they mention something you thought of ?

What if they themselves thought of your idea ?
How would you respond to that ? I'm sure plenty of idiots would accuse Epic of 'stealing their idea' instead of being happy that a company was thinking like they were.

A "token response" is all a company can do.
If you want more then you should also be paying the company more than a few cent ...

Perhaps you should try creating something yourself and see how difficult it really is to manage a community.
Such things are only ever 'easy' if there's a really small number of 'fans' (like 10).
With a few hundred 'fans' it becomes a fulltime job for several people, especially if you're looking at a world-wide fan-base like international companies have to.

Not responding to posts in a forum is the most practical solution.
Besides ... would you rather have them waste hours posting 'thank you'-responses instead of having them use that same time to implement and test working solutions ?

Even god has not enough resources to manage the people on earth ...

[Poker]

Originally Posted by JaFO

And how would you expect any company to provide proof ?
Should they bore you to death with how they discussed 'your solution' and discovered that it was flawed or simply not suited to their idea of how their game should work ?
Should a company really reveal all its internal design so you can feel that they 'listened' whenever they mention something you thought of ?

Come now, no need to slide down the slippery slope. It's silly to expect a full dialog where they match the volume of their responses to that of the public, or anything close. To that end, I've suggested a reputation system both to filter the best and brightest amongst the public, with whom they can afford to engage more freely, and to provide incentive to improve the overall quality of input from the public.

Originally Posted by JaFO

What if they themselves thought of your idea ?
How would you respond to that ? I'm sure plenty of idiots would accuse Epic of 'stealing their idea' instead of being happy that a company was thinking like they were.

First, I think Epic has a history of covering its bases fairly well here. Anyone who freely offers ideas should expect to receive nothing necessarily in return, but if an idea put forth does actually catch the eye of a dev and lead to something published, then at least some acknowledgment would be wise. If it were me, I'd even do a quick scour of the forums to find any ideas that might collide with, or even user content that's reminiscent of any upcoming published work, and simply give a prominent shout out either for inspiration or just an honorable mention for having happened to think of a similar idea.

Again, it doesn't have to be a 100% success rate as far as credding every single cat with an opinion. Just some appreciable effort would prominently demonstrate Epic's desire to stay engaged, and simply that their heart is definitely in the right place. That's all anyone can ask for.

Originally Posted by JaFO

A "token response" is all a company can do.
If you want more then you should also be paying the company more than a few cent ...

Perhaps you should try creating something yourself and see how difficult it really is to manage a community.
Such things are only ever 'easy' if there's a really small number of 'fans' (like 10).
With a few hundred 'fans' it becomes a fulltime job for several people, especially if you're looking at a world-wide fan-base like international companies have to.

Not responding to posts in a forum is the most practical solution.
Besides ... would you rather have them waste hours posting 'thank you'-responses instead of having them use that same time to implement and test working solutions ?

Even god has not enough resources to manage the people on earth ...

Again, a system of reputation points that are freely attainable but stingily managed is a simple, cheap and workable alternative to all of this.