The Situation in ShootMania is... bad!
Posted: 29 Jan 2019, 22:14
Hey Hylis and everyone else reading this. We need to talk...
Current situation in ShootMania is bad. It is really bad and it is getting worse!
Not just that the number of players is decreasing, pretty much since I’ve known this game, but also the mood is shifting. The last updates were something like an overkill for the community.
The last two big updates mp4 and mp4.1 added more bugs than anything else. The features we got were not wanted, while the features we liked got destroyed. One bad update can happen, but this is going on and on and on.
Since November, 17 there is a thread on the forum regarding a bug that affects many players so some of their settings reset after every map change, which makes the game close to impossible to play for them. No fix for this to this day. And this is by far not the only thing. There are many more bugs, many of them not even reported on the forum.
Then today I saw another update was published. I hoped so much it would have done something. But, no. Only stuff for TrackMania. It's nice and all that the tm guys get their updates, still no one can say that ShootMania wouldn't need them much more right now. So, I was already kind of mad when I saw that. Until I looked on the SM discord later and the first thing I saw was a new bug in SM. Players have problems joining the game. When they join to play, they always get forced into spectator. And apparently there are many more new bugs...
I'm sorry, but are you kidding me? Not just there are no fixes coming for SM, but instead even more bugs!? This is just not right and this has to be said.
Logically there was (and still is at the point I write this) a discussion going on the SM discord. And a lot of good points came up there. I want to share them here, because they catch the true opinions of the SM community very well.
"seriously though, what's up with recent updates adding nothing but bugs to SM?"
"bugs are generally understandable if they come with new features, but that's not really what's happening here..."
"isn't the purpose of an update to add bugs? since the last 3 updates it's been like that"
"I want to do projects in this game, but stuff like this just makes me afraid that one day, nadeo will release another update that completely screws with obstacle, or the map editor, or servers, or something that just ruins anything I'm trying to do"
"from an outsider perspective it probably looks they're trying to drive the players away"
"it's fine if they want to focus on other projects more, but it'd be nice if they just let us play the game"
"go to the forum and make 100 threads, each for its own bug, that’s the best we can do, well, quit is an option as well"
"imo best thing that could happen is that nadeo sell the game to another company who would be much more interested in listening and working"
"I think part of the issue is that nadeo relies on the community to both keep the game alive AND keep it playable in general
I get that they've built a platform that's very community-centered in general, but I feel like they're taking the community work for granted"
"I bought a game, not a tool. I'm a player, not a modder."
"I think they really need to bring some structure into the game in general, just pumping out new tools and blocks and weapons will just make the game even more confusing for new players"
"there isn't a single official nadeo server, nor any nadeo map or any sign of support for sm"
"i do think they signed sm as a failure in their minds but they cannot publicly admit it"
"I think that SM is just a big social experiment at this point tbh. 'Let's add cars and see how our subjects react'"
"we are not harsh. that’s the reality. For me as a player it feels like that Nadeo doesn’t care... was there any good update the last years? No"
"when they didn't release an update for a year. that was the best year"
"i swear every time there is an update it just f*cks everything up and it’s up to the players to adapt to it"
"You're right that criticizing nadeo's intentions might be unfair, but to be honest, the lack of communication and updates we've had for years doesn't make it seem like they care much, or are passionate about this game anymore"
"yeah the criticism might sometimes be mean or unconstructive, but your job as a developer is try to translate that into feedback that you can use to make your products better"
"maybe they're working on something epic behind the scenes, but all we see as customers and players right now is updates that don't really add much more than bugs, so I'd say the frustration is justified"
"if they don’t hurry the player base will shrink more and more"
"I was really pissed when i read about "official TM² Champions League" from UBI... And so now it’s official: Shootmania is the unloved, dirty, disgusting child, that they hide in a dark dungeon in the very last corner in the basement... Not even worth the glimpse of a blind eye..."
As you can see a very big amount of the players (if not all) are very very unhappy about the communication between nadeo and us. I thought I could make something happen to build a bridge between these two sides, but I failed and with the latest events I also gave up on it.
There are a few more things I have to say: I feel like nadeo thinks they know what’s good for the game and what’s not. But I wonder, how do they know, if literally no one of nadeos employees is actually playing the game? We are the ones that play the game. We are the ones that invested thousands of hours in it. We know what’s the best for the game. But there is no sign what so ever that nadeo is listening to us and this is going on for years.
That’s why the situation is bad. That’s why the remaining sm players are frustrated, unhappy and very angry.
My advice option 1: Get a community manager. Someone that is listening to the community to share their wishes, critique and opinions with nadeo and that talks to the community on the other side, so we can finally feel like nadeo is listening to us. This is what the game needs the most right now imho. (And just to make that clear: I'm not talking about myself. I'm not open to take this position anymore)
Option 2: Fix the most important bugs and then make no more updates to ShootMania and just let us play the game until even the last loyal remaining soul has left. (This is more like a joke, but still better than what is going on right now. If you are serious about SM, you will not take this option seriously. If you are not serious, do this at least.)
I've been way too positive about this whole situation for way too long, but it can't go on like this. And when even I, known as a very positive person, has started to revolt, you might start to ask yourself as well, if there is not a tiny thing going wrong here.
Current situation in ShootMania is bad. It is really bad and it is getting worse!
Not just that the number of players is decreasing, pretty much since I’ve known this game, but also the mood is shifting. The last updates were something like an overkill for the community.
The last two big updates mp4 and mp4.1 added more bugs than anything else. The features we got were not wanted, while the features we liked got destroyed. One bad update can happen, but this is going on and on and on.
Since November, 17 there is a thread on the forum regarding a bug that affects many players so some of their settings reset after every map change, which makes the game close to impossible to play for them. No fix for this to this day. And this is by far not the only thing. There are many more bugs, many of them not even reported on the forum.
Then today I saw another update was published. I hoped so much it would have done something. But, no. Only stuff for TrackMania. It's nice and all that the tm guys get their updates, still no one can say that ShootMania wouldn't need them much more right now. So, I was already kind of mad when I saw that. Until I looked on the SM discord later and the first thing I saw was a new bug in SM. Players have problems joining the game. When they join to play, they always get forced into spectator. And apparently there are many more new bugs...
I'm sorry, but are you kidding me? Not just there are no fixes coming for SM, but instead even more bugs!? This is just not right and this has to be said.
Logically there was (and still is at the point I write this) a discussion going on the SM discord. And a lot of good points came up there. I want to share them here, because they catch the true opinions of the SM community very well.
"seriously though, what's up with recent updates adding nothing but bugs to SM?"
"bugs are generally understandable if they come with new features, but that's not really what's happening here..."
"isn't the purpose of an update to add bugs? since the last 3 updates it's been like that"
"I want to do projects in this game, but stuff like this just makes me afraid that one day, nadeo will release another update that completely screws with obstacle, or the map editor, or servers, or something that just ruins anything I'm trying to do"
"from an outsider perspective it probably looks they're trying to drive the players away"
"it's fine if they want to focus on other projects more, but it'd be nice if they just let us play the game"
"go to the forum and make 100 threads, each for its own bug, that’s the best we can do, well, quit is an option as well"
"imo best thing that could happen is that nadeo sell the game to another company who would be much more interested in listening and working"
"I think part of the issue is that nadeo relies on the community to both keep the game alive AND keep it playable in general
I get that they've built a platform that's very community-centered in general, but I feel like they're taking the community work for granted"
"I bought a game, not a tool. I'm a player, not a modder."
"I think they really need to bring some structure into the game in general, just pumping out new tools and blocks and weapons will just make the game even more confusing for new players"
"there isn't a single official nadeo server, nor any nadeo map or any sign of support for sm"
"i do think they signed sm as a failure in their minds but they cannot publicly admit it"
"I think that SM is just a big social experiment at this point tbh. 'Let's add cars and see how our subjects react'"
"we are not harsh. that’s the reality. For me as a player it feels like that Nadeo doesn’t care... was there any good update the last years? No"
"when they didn't release an update for a year. that was the best year"
"i swear every time there is an update it just f*cks everything up and it’s up to the players to adapt to it"
"You're right that criticizing nadeo's intentions might be unfair, but to be honest, the lack of communication and updates we've had for years doesn't make it seem like they care much, or are passionate about this game anymore"
"yeah the criticism might sometimes be mean or unconstructive, but your job as a developer is try to translate that into feedback that you can use to make your products better"
"maybe they're working on something epic behind the scenes, but all we see as customers and players right now is updates that don't really add much more than bugs, so I'd say the frustration is justified"
"if they don’t hurry the player base will shrink more and more"
"I was really pissed when i read about "official TM² Champions League" from UBI... And so now it’s official: Shootmania is the unloved, dirty, disgusting child, that they hide in a dark dungeon in the very last corner in the basement... Not even worth the glimpse of a blind eye..."
As you can see a very big amount of the players (if not all) are very very unhappy about the communication between nadeo and us. I thought I could make something happen to build a bridge between these two sides, but I failed and with the latest events I also gave up on it.
There are a few more things I have to say: I feel like nadeo thinks they know what’s good for the game and what’s not. But I wonder, how do they know, if literally no one of nadeos employees is actually playing the game? We are the ones that play the game. We are the ones that invested thousands of hours in it. We know what’s the best for the game. But there is no sign what so ever that nadeo is listening to us and this is going on for years.
That’s why the situation is bad. That’s why the remaining sm players are frustrated, unhappy and very angry.
My advice option 1: Get a community manager. Someone that is listening to the community to share their wishes, critique and opinions with nadeo and that talks to the community on the other side, so we can finally feel like nadeo is listening to us. This is what the game needs the most right now imho. (And just to make that clear: I'm not talking about myself. I'm not open to take this position anymore)
Option 2: Fix the most important bugs and then make no more updates to ShootMania and just let us play the game until even the last loyal remaining soul has left. (This is more like a joke, but still better than what is going on right now. If you are serious about SM, you will not take this option seriously. If you are not serious, do this at least.)
I've been way too positive about this whole situation for way too long, but it can't go on like this. And when even I, known as a very positive person, has started to revolt, you might start to ask yourself as well, if there is not a tiny thing going wrong here.
