wow, amazing community, thanks! [maybe off topic]

[Radltruhe]

It's a long time since I played a game, that gave me so much value in terms of spent money.
Now I've got ~325 hours in game. A lot of other games get boring after 30-40 hours, because it's everytime the same. I often looked back to "the good old days" where I spent houndreds of hours with Anno 1602, Dungeon Keeper, C&C, Siedler 2, Warcraft 2, Industriegigant and many other titles.

This is the first time since then it's the same feeling! It's absoloutely great building new stuff, unlock new buildings, traffic challenges, optimize budget, get more people in the city, make them level up, ...

And the community in this forum is very nice, smart and helpful! This is not the case in many other games!
The workshop is absolutely great and I am hyped because the game get's regular updates and you now there will be more to come.
I am super happy about this game and the amazing community.
Thanks to all who made this happen!

 

[akeela84]

Yeah here it is more cosy then in certain other forums. *Hint* Steam *Hint*

 

[muttonnoir]

Couldn't agree more- of course there is still a vocal minority- the professional complainers- who think they speak for us all. The overwhelming majority are both supportive and encouraging to newbies and old hands alike. I have over 1000 hours on the clock and never grow tired of the game. I do get frustrated from time to time when updates can cause some temporary disruption to those of us who rely on mods but I suppose you've gotta break a few eggs if you want to make an omelette!

 

[co_emmi]

Thank you for the feedback! We think too that it is amazing we still have an active forum with players helping each other and giving constant feedback and ideas how to develop the game further

 

[AndrewT]

Speaking as a long-time Paradox moderator, this forum is a relatively light load compared to some. If you think there are whingers and trolls here, don't step outside our forums .... !

For myself I'm committed to keep our forums here an island of civilised discourse in the barbarity of the internet, because I think that it fosters genuine and useful discussion and debate. It encourages developers and other behind-the-scenes people to participate in constructive conversations with their customers because they know the flamers and trolls will not last long here. IOW words it helps our customers, it helps us, and it helps the games.

Thank you for the thread. We do try, really hard.

 

[Brazilian Joe]

It's always good to see fellow games positively impressed not only with the game, but also the community.

I for one strive to give polite responses at all times even with differing opinions. I see them as being passionate about the same subject - "our" game - and don't belittle opinions just because they are not clones of my own.

Positivity in the forums yay!

 

[Quaade]

For myself I'm committed to keep our forums here an island of civilised discourse in the barbarity of the internet, because I think that it fosters genuine and useful discussion and debate. It encourages developers and other behind-the-scenes people to participate in constructive conversations with their customers because they know the flamers and trolls will not last long here. IOW words it helps our customers, it helps us, and it helps the games.

As long as you keep those around who disagrees ;-) they can have some valid points and actually great ideas to solutions to it also ;-)

 

[RonBurgundy]

I love the Total War series as well. I've played them since 2005 but am just now really getting into Paradox games and I've noticed a huge difference between these forums and those forums. Everyone is civilized and constructive here and the developers will pop in to talk with the players (which is absolutely amazing) but in the TW forums, there are always arguments and flaming and you never hear from the developers unless its to announce something

 

[EthanZak]

I entirely agree - I, probably like most people on here, frequent a lot of different forums for a lot of different games/communities. The forum here is generally very constructive and helpful, in contrast to many games out there. I hope to contribute more in the future.

 

[Quaade]

I love the Total War series as well. I've played them since 2005 but am just now really getting into Paradox games and I've noticed a huge difference between these forums and those forums. Everyone is civilized and constructive here and the developers will pop in to talk with the players (which is absolutely amazing) but in the TW forums, there are always arguments and flaming and you never hear from the developers unless its to announce something

I entirely agree - I, probably like most people on here, frequent a lot of different forums for a lot of different games/communities. The forum here is generally very constructive and helpful, in contrast to many games out there. I hope to contribute more in the future.

Both of you, welcome ;-) It´s not that we don´t have heated discussions, or that sometimes it get´s a bit flamey... But those times boil down to disagrements that still are kinda civilized and more like banter, and those times were people are trolling or simply not willing like to accept the helpful forum... Like stating "game sucks", after several posters trying to help him and he denies everything with no reason whatsoever, forum tends to react to it... But nothing too crazy though ;-) They do actively gives probation and warnings towards it, usually if someone gets too personal or are about to drop the ball... All in all it works well...

The bright side of it all, over in another forum I read and wrote on a post for some newbie who wanted to know how to play the game... That open as a question, and to a game that´s 3 years old, had tons of DLC and added content, so the answer wasn´t as easy... A dozens of posters, myself included tried to give a few tips and ask, what specific he was having trouble with, so that we might be able to give a more specific answer... But that´s not the end of it... 2-3 posters offered to play a multiplayer game with him, so that he could get the help and tips at once and having someone to aid him when it goes sour... On other forums, I usually only see taunts on questions from a newbie

 

[AndrewT]

As long as you keep those around who disagrees ;-) they can have some valid points and actually great ideas to solutions to it also ;-)

Agreed, i for one do not want to live in a bubble of like-minded agreeables. Dissent is vital and necessary, but must be constructive - which is hard. Destructive dissent and criticism is like vandalism - it's so much easier to mindlessly destroy something than to create or build something.

 

[Grapplehoeker]

Speaking as a long-time Paradox moderator, this forum is a relatively light load compared to some. If you think there are whingers and trolls here, don't step outside our forums .... !
For myself I'm committed to keep our forums here an island of civilised discourse in the barbarity of the internet, because I think that it fosters genuine and useful discussion and debate. It encourages developers and other behind-the-scenes people to participate in constructive conversations with their customers because they know the flamers and trolls will not last long here. IOW words it helps our customers, it helps us, and it helps the games.
Thank you for the thread. We do try, really hard.

Speaking as a long-time contributor and helper in the Steam forum, I agree, this forum is very quiet by comparison. The turnover of posts in the Steam forum is huge and has evolved/devolved into more of a help and support point than an actual discussion forum as it is here. I was curious and was not surprised to find that my post count since the release of the game has reached 4,428! The majority of which has been helping players with their problems and quite a bit of teaching too. Now, I want no praise and there are quite a few contributors like me over there. A little recognition would be nice though, considering how much of the load we take off of what must be an already overburdened Paradox Support, given our turnover.
This would indicate however, that the official Paradox support is woefully inadequate I feel. If a few voluntary contributors can handle that many genuine issues, then what are the salaried Paradox Support personnel actually doing with their time (when they're not busy with 'social' hour)? God help them and the community if we all decided to simply refer everyone who visited Steam with an issue to go instead to Paradox Support. They're already flocking back to Steam when they aren't being dealt with promptly enough.
As for Community involvement, it is still sadly lacking Paradox representation since Totalymoo left. Zeke has made one post a couple of weeks ago, but has yet to follow up on it, but that's ok, since building Stockholm is more important.
Ho hum... keep up the good work of preserving this oasis of tranquility

 

[MotownCountry]

i seriously love you guys...and this forum...and this game...and the llamas sighted at all the parks and stuff...and definitely...i definitely DO love lamp. i do!

 

[AndrewT]

what are the salaried Paradox Support personnel actually doing with their time

I read and post in here almost every day, weekends included.

We do not offer official support in the Steam discussion groups for any game. We run these forums and the Zendesk ticketing system, that's about all we can handle.

 

[Grapplehoeker]

I read and post in here almost every day, weekends included.

We do not offer official support in the Steam discussion groups for any game. We run these forums and the Zendesk ticketing system, that's about all we can handle.

You do and I commend you for your efforts, but it clearly isn't enough, you need more support personnel if that is the case. And I'm not offering myself either lol... after 18 months of solving problems and providing advice over there, I'm getting tired and might just slap a go to the Zendesk link on every post (evil grin).
I would not expect you to attempt to handle issues posted anywhere other than the Zendesk. That is where everyone 'should' be going.
When I speak of lack of community representation from Paradox in the Steam Cities: Skylines discussion forum, I refer to the current Community Manager. Escher couldn't fill John's shoes and it doesn't appear that Zeke can either, although, to be fair, he has only just started.

 

[TinyWiking]

Don't forget you can always ping Zeke directly via a PM, I'm sure he doesn't mind . Zeke has been here for several years and is tremendously knowledgeable though it is true that he has only had the Community role for a few months.

 

[AndrewT]

You do and I commend you for your efforts, but it clearly isn't enough, you need more support personnel if that is the case.

We handle the traffic here and in Zendesk pretty well, it seems to me. Are Paradox going to hire 50 or 100 more people to handle all the traffic in the Steam discussion groups of all the games we publish? I'm going to guess "no". Paradox get to define what channels they offer support in, at the moment that encompasses here and Zendesk.

And I'm not offering myself either

Well I wish you would, you have been excellent. You know how I got this role? Providing, free and gratis, technical support in the EU2 and EU3 forums for a freakin' decade, learning by my own experiences and by reading other user's responses and synthesising them. That, and a skill in diagnostic thinking, is what tech support IS.

I want to give a shout out to two outstanding contributors @MarkJohnson and @KnightHawkTFC , who have been tireless in their support efforts here. In particular for areas outside strict CSL tech support like mod and asset diagnosis. I cannot tell you how much I appreciate your contributions.

@Grapplehoeker I also appreciate your considerable contributions up until now, but if helping fellow players is not its own reward then I understand that you may wish to move on. That will be a loss, I have to say!

 

[Grapplehoeker]

@Grapplehoeker I also appreciate your considerable contributions up until now, but if helping fellow players is not its own reward then I understand that you may wish to move on. That will be a loss, I have to say!

Oh helping others is very rewarding and I love doing it. Repeating the same old answers to the same old issues can get tiresome though.
That's why I wrote what seems to be a very popular tutorial in the Guides section of the Steam Workshop. It has helped 23,000 players so far and that's fine by me.
How to start a city
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=422074590
However, I do have a family to raise and so it is more a question of priorities. What was possible 18 months ago is becoming less so lately and my family comes before gaming or gaming support. So, I'm not going anywhere soon, but I must unfortunately reduce my activity on any forum for that matter
I wish you all the best!

 

[co_emmi]

Oh helping others is very rewarding and I love doing it. Repeating the same old answers to the same old issues can get tiresome though.
That's why I wrote what seems to be a very popular tutorial in the Guides section of the Steam Workshop. It has helped 23,000 players so far and that's fine by me.
How to start a city
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=422074590

Thank you @Grapplehoeker for your work for the community. The tutorial is great and is something we as developers can learn from for the future to think how to advice players better in-game (gameflow, UI, tutorials, tips...) and also outside of the game

 

[KnightHawkTFC]

@AndrewT
Thanks, I try to do what I can, where I can, when I can.

@Grapplehoeker
I hear you on the repetition