Competition and Something to Learn From?

kasfunatu

Hi

I am sure you are aware that there is a new Disney based game that has had its worldwide launch recently after a year-long beta. (This is said with irony given stories post about ex-staff being involved in the new game with different studio).


There has been a seeming degree of excitement as the game had full launch.
We all know that in the early levels, that there will be a lot more to do than in daily activities after four years in a game; and there will be new excitement of new characters and modes - so it is perhaps not a truly fair comparison to look at solely levels of 'content' as a comparison.


The game has a lot of similarities to SWGOH (as there have been with other competitors in the past); but there are also some additional nice functions: live pvp being one. The variant on GW and Raid/Dungeon are a nice way of giving different battles/team mechanics; the donation/request system is nice; and the TW equivalent of 3 way war seems interesting (but not tried it yet). The biggest item is live pvp being something that has been discussed requested in the past. However, even if you don't think any of the functions/aspects can be, or are worth, considering, there is still one aspect that you could learn a lot from with very little technical effort....



In the game is a direct link to an official Discord channel for the game.
Obviously, many discord channels have formed over years to discuss and communicate as a group on SWGOH; but here is a game with an official link... and team members frequent it and regularly interact.


Over last weekend the first Club Conquest (aka Territory War) was due to start. The team found an issue. The community were upset. (sound familiar?).
But then what happened is that there were both rapid and regular updates in the discord.
It did not go into details; doesn't need to. But when issues were found they were communicated, dealt with quickly and then followed up. They worked and updated over the weekend.
They tried to relaunch on Monday; and then half an hour later turned off again, but continued to follow up with information, even yesterday just following up to say no information yet but will share when have, and today mentioned how compensating.


Then again last night a new event (akin to marquee+legendary) launched; but there was an exploit allowing people to claim rewards they shouldn't (sound familiar?).
Here's where it differs: the door was closed on the error within 20 minutes, and they have since communicated that reviewing and aware of issue.
Based on what has happened in the last week, I am sure there will be another update later today when in working hours.


There has even been a debate regarding pricing of packs, which DSA teammembers engaged in the debate. (as they have on many other topics already).


They are also asking for suggestions, and getting enthused and critical feedback. What a great resource to tap into!



Having this level of communication can help you.
There will be some painful comments; there will be issues.
However, it prevents the distrust/anger/resentment when things go wrong, as can be defused with updates.
It will help gain understanding of what community is feeling, and you can empathise back/explain, instead of just turtling.
There is an official outlet for gripes, which are acknowledged as being heard too.




This level of engagement can clearly be done in a game like this (if you want to do it!).
It would not require a framework rework/dealing with spaghetti code (as has come up in Q&A and podcasts).
It would do a lot to quell frustration...


BUT, I must stress this.... you would have to follow through, and this could not be another communication commitment that fails, or an official news page that goes out of date (last update Oct 2018 as of today April 2020) or a dev tracker that does not get updated for three months (last update Jan 8th as of today April 9th) or not even telling us about things that are posted on starwars.com that should be impacting us. (told on April 2nd that something coming April 9th, but nothing posted on here).



There are a lot of things that frustrate me about this game.
There are a lot of things I think you could be doing better.
There are practices that I don't agree with (and yet still fall for).
But I keep playing.
So what do I know?!
I am sure you can carry on as now and keep making money.
But staying still will eventually mean being left behind.



As a fan of the IP, the community, the investment, the roster, and the game: I hope you read, consider, and look at what you can learn from others and how they are performing well; and consider the benefits that this could bring.