Okay I have to say this...

[TotalyMoo]

You guys and gals are awesome, seriously. I need to commend you for your exemplary behavior on these forums.

I've been a community manager / developer for quite some time, and I have never, ever seen a community - freshly formed or veteran - more well behaved than this. The discussion climate on this board is on par with super moderated invite-only forums where all members have to agree about everything prior to even creating an account; except you all come from different games, backgrounds, countries and opinions and can sign up with no "quality control".

It's the textbook situation for a horrible place to be (think MOBA forums) - yet you disagree without fighting, you discuss without insults and - I can't believe I am saying this - even seem to be able to accept when you're wrong about something.

This is beyond great, not only for the sake of constructive discussion but it bodes incredibly well for the future. Many of you will most likely become the veteran core of this game and its community. You will be the first faces new people encounter when they join the forums, and thus take a large part in forming their attitude. If you continue this path we have a good chance of seeing a forum without the normal flaming, trolling, fighting and hating that we see online.

So keep it going! Stay awesome! And if you see behavior that is out of line with what we're now expecting on these forums, help change it! Don't pick a fight, embrace people who haven't caught on and help them assimilate.

I'm looking forward to continuing to work at your side. If you have any suggestions on how to improve even more, please take them past me, I'm here for you and with you - don't forget that

Cheers,
John

 

[Svip]

Are you subtly complaining about us making your job easier?

 

[TotalyMoo]

Are you subtly complaining about us making your job easier?

No, I'm openly celebrating it ^^

 

[jesitim]

Well TotalyMoo, when you (Paradox/Colossal Order) give us awesome games and awesome devs then we only can give you so awesome things back you know.

 

[RedRalphWiggum]

Agreed, the atmosphere here is pretty much perfect.

 

[Gogomaester]

I hope the attitude wont change after the game release, remember Cities in Motion 2? I felt bad for the developers, because they were so helpful and answered on everything, but they only got pointless complains - again not all complains were pointless but still.

 

[Zarine]

------
When is my money coming? You know I only agreed not to start a war here because of the money you promise :angry:
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To tell the truth, I think the main reason is that currently we are mostly "dreamers". Hoping for the best for this game and proposing as much interesting thing as we think of that could make the game better/deeper/more alive...
Whiner always comes when the game is out or when you show things making us stop dreaming.
Keep making us dreaming about a very good city simulator and the forum will keep being nice.

 

[stevebone]

Resistance is futile... You will be assimilated....

 

[Bipin]

I can say with confidence that one of the largest contributors to the exemplary behaviour of forum members is the staff. More specifically, how the staff treat members. I have been part of many forums. The ones which don't live up to the standards we have over here are those with draconian rules, disrespectful staff with a superiority complex (which begins a vicious cycle of contempt between members and staff) and often a community too large for its own good. With the largest communities, it seems a lot of people loose that sense of community and gain a sense of anonymity. This lays the foundation for trolls and instigators to come out of the woodwork, and the aforementioned negative relationship between staff and members only helps fuel the fire.

Nice job everyone in making this such an attractive community to be a part of. The behaviour and the general atmosphere that is present here is wonderful; forums from my prior gaming days pale in comparison to this place.

 

[lemonsquid]

Well id figure most new forums open up nicely in the beginning then can turn sour after gathering more people that will play the game. Also this is a city builder theres really nothing that can make you get upset o

 

[Jokurr]

I hope the attitude wont change after the game release, remember Cities in Motion 2? I felt bad for the developers, because they were so helpful and answered on everything, but they only got pointless complains - again not all complains were pointless but still.

There were complaints but I felt it was still a very civil discussion, at least relative to other forums when games are released. Most complaints offered constructive criticism and ideas on how to fix the issues at hand.

 

[RHKINC]

I know I'm enjoying the conversations so far. Release day will be the worst as it is for every game; but the forums here survive 99% of the time. I think this is also because of the style of games we're playing; and Paradox has listened to us and greatly improved every product since the initial state of HOI3. I think that was the turning point for these forums.

 

[slornie]

Release day will be the worst as it is for every game

The main problem on release day will be everyone forgetting about Valve time and how Steam is based in a completely different timezone to Paradox - cue threads and posts and threads about "WHERE MY GAME?", "WHY IT NO DOWNLOAD YET?"

 

[matlockman]

Right now the city-builder community is needing its next hit. We're waiting, burning inside, for our next dose of sweet sweet city-building, and we have been waiting for over 10 years (Simcity 5 only provided a tiny bit of relief, the cravings for a SC4-killer persist). You guys over at Collosal are basically our dealer...

I play MOBAs too, and visit their forums... not something I would like to moderate. That being said, I nominate TotallyMoo to manage it if Paradox decides to do a MOBA.

 

[DDRJake]

Citybuilders like to build, not destroy. That goes for communities as well as cities.

If the whole world were brought up on Caesar and Stronghold there would be no evil in the world.

 

[HeadClot]

Citybuilders like to build, not destroy. That goes for communities as well as cities.

If the whole world were brought up on Caesar and Stronghold there would be no evil in the world.

Very much agreed.

 

[TotalyMoo]

Right now the city-builder community is needing its next hit. We're waiting, burning inside, for our next dose of sweet sweet city-building, and we have been waiting for over 10 years (Simcity 5 only provided a tiny bit of relief, the cravings for a SC4-killer persist). You guys over at Collosal are basically our dealer...

I play MOBAs too, and visit their forums... not something I would like to moderate. That being said, I nominate TotallyMoo to manage it if Paradox decides to do a MOBA.

Who is dis "TotallyMoo" and why can he spell his nickname correctly?

In all honesty, thanks, I love MOBAs so I'd most likely love it even if it were toxic.

Citybuilders like to build, not destroy. That goes for communities as well as cities.

If the whole world were brought up on Caesar and Stronghold there would be no evil in the world.

Infinite +1's on this. Oh man, now I just want to go home from work and sit down with Stronghold classic peaceful mode and just enjoy building apple farms everywhere.

Now I don't want to talk down on other game projects or developers, but I honestly have no clue how one could be so blind to what was good with a game. Everything post Stronghold Crusader (except the HD remakes) has been horrid in that series. Just look at what they are doing now So sad!

 

[CivandEUIII]

Citybuilders like to build, not destroy. That goes for communities as well as cities.

If the whole world were brought up on Caesar and Stronghold there would be no evil in the world.

And you would be very, very bored with the lack of world conquest.

 

[DDRJake]

And you would be very, very bored with the lack of world conquest.

Only boring people get bored.

 

[Sir Leningrad]

Absolutely agree. Caesar and other citybuilding games are a master in civility and civic-minded attitude.