Why is Twitter a good place to poll opinions but not the forum nor Reddit?

[Frogbait]

Just something that kind of irked me about the whole Twitter vote for fabricate being unlocked later in diplo tech poll. I'm glad there was asking for community feedback. Less thrilled by the fact that we have constantly heard in the past how Reddit and the forums don't amount to enough users to justify basing game design decisions off of their popular opinions. Why is Twitter different? I understand this particular poll was post across all three communities, but why would the poll be hosted on Twitter rather than the forums? Logic dictates to me that if someone is following Johan on Twitter or gets the game updates via Reddit, it's probably likely that they also have a paradox plaza account. If not, it's a lot more intuitive to register your account here than it is to make a Twitter or Reddit account for the sake of a single poll.

Not intending to bash or anything and I don't want the take away to be "don't interact with the community". Just kind of boggles my mind on the logic behind this since I'd imagine for EU4 players you probably would get the most accurate results by doing it on these forums, where the overlap between the three is probably the greatest. And for something as radical of a change as was proposed, seems like you'd want a more representative poll. This forum from my experience is where most of your committed fans/players are.

 

[Laexio]

i'm happy to not vote, if it means i have to create a twitter account

 

[Captain Frye]

I think Johan assumed that pretty much everyone has a twitter by this point. And this couldn't be further from the truth. Personally, I got a twitter, but I don't use it. Also, the poll in question is so ridiculous(removing claim fabricating until Tech xyz LOL) that I wouldn't even bother logging in for this, let alone create an account.

 

[Rusky]

I think the devs overestimated their customers need for twitter on a day to day(if any) basis.
I have been avoiding twitter like cancer personally, only reading the things that people or news sites link to.

When will Paradox figure out that their customer base is not full of hipsters like majority of the other companies?

 

[minven]

I think the devs overestimated their customers need for twitter on a day to day(if any) basis.
I have been avoiding twitter like cancer personally, only reading the things that people or news sites link to.

When will Paradox figure out that their customer base is not full of hipsters like majority of the other companies?

Actually I believe in this case hipsters are the ones not using Twitter

 

[Panzerschiffe]

Wouldn't a forum poll be more accessible? Obviously yes. It would also be more representative.

There's a secret agenda for doing it on Twitter apparently.

 

[justin6477]

Agreed. As a rule, I'm not in favor of doing community business outside of the community; it undermines the entire purpose of having your own forums.

 

[pphair]

When will Paradox figure out that their customer base is not full of hipsters like majority of the other companies?

Doesn't hipsters being the majority defeat the whole point of being hipster?

 

[Clownie]

Completely agreed. I tried voting, but whoops, you need a twitter account. I ain't got one, and I'm never going to.

 

[JohnMK]

Trying to imagine Johan's perspective: Not all players post on the forum here, and there's a lot of negativity here. Some posters will monopolize with walls of text that create impenetrable threads, and perhaps he was after a lighter, off-the-cuff conversation, knowing full well that it would spark in-depth discourse here.

Anyway it's an interesting idea but a bad one IMO. Keep Fabricate Claims in from the start, please!

 

[Rusky]

Doesn't hipsters being the majority defeat the whole point of being hipster?

Tell them that.
Its a culture of being the minority underdog "independent" thinker thats fighting for the little guy and going against a perceived dominant culture.
In reality, they are cult like people whom are easily controlled because their way of thinking makes them believe that all the crap they spew comes from their "independent" minds.
In reality, they are herded like sheep with information that is packaged with counter-culture references and is put in-front of them to digest.

Hipster:
"It is broadly associated with indie and alternative music, a varied non-mainstream fashion sensibility (including full beards, tattoos, checked shirts, vintage and thrift store-bought clothes), generally progressive political views, organic and artisanal foods, and alternative lifestyles."

Literally the majority on almost every college campus.

 

[Sir Garnet]

What, you don't want to be a twit? Or split the difference and be a half-twit?

 

[Quaade]

Johan put the numbers out, not many players apparently use this forum... Though he didn´t seem to state how many used twitter... The "forum" they choose will have a significant impact on the outcome, since I only heard about this after polls were closed and doesn´t have a twitter account (I´m still waiting for the fad to die out)

 

[Trin Tragula]

This forum from my experience is where most of your committed fans/players are.

Its also easily the best place to interact with the devs. Atleast half of the dev team read it regularly and posts are made here quite often.
Cant really comment on Twitter as i don't use it much but its hardly like the forums are a forgotten corner devoid of developer presence. I mean atleast 3 of us had accounts here before we were even hired

 

[JohnMK]

(I´m still waiting for the fad to die out)

It won't. It's like publicly broadcast e-mail. A good concept for certain purposes.

 

[Legionario15]

It was both a bad idea and a lack respect for this community.

 

[Strawberryshort]

Oh come off it people. This place has a tiny minority of players, for deeper discussion and already has a 'suggestions' thread to put forward ideas.

On Twitter Johan has 6,000 followers. I'll spare you the marketing degree and just tell you outright that it's a legitimate route and doesn't 'disrespect' anyone.

 

[brifbates]

Its also easily the best place to interact with the devs. Atleast half of the dev team read it regularly and posts are made here quite often.
Cant really comment on Twitter as i don't use it much but its hardly like the forums are a forgotten corner devoid of developer presence. I mean atleast 3 of us had accounts here before we were even hired

Paradox isn't the first game company I've seen move away from interacting on their own forum to Twitter. I didn't like it when Blizzard started doing it with WoW updates and I don't like Paradox doing so. One very big reason is the character limit causes incomplete or poorly structured posts that often cause more confusion rather than clearing anything up. I also have no desire to share my personal information with a third party in order to interact with the devs. It is far better, IMO, to use twitter to put out links to the company forums for relevant information.

 

[Frogbait]

Its also easily the best place to interact with the devs. Atleast half of the dev team read it regularly and posts are made here quite often.
Cant really comment on Twitter as i don't use it much but its hardly like the forums are a forgotten corner devoid of developer presence. I mean atleast 3 of us had accounts here before we were even hired

I wasn't trying to say that the forums are not listened to. Just don't understand why the twitter poll when it could have easily been done here. Was probably a convenience factor on Johan's part that the community just over examines. Still the logic in the past has been "represents a minority" and Twitter is arguably the biggest minority of EU4 users on social media.

 

[hajutze]

I am yet to understand what is the actual purpose of twitter.