devtrackers.gg
From around 32:40 into the video:
Did you ever sit down with your friends and you are about to open up a brand new board game; you are sitting around the table and you have this one friend digging through the rule book [...] reading it out loud, every single sentence. Some people respond very positively to that, I call those the developer watchers. Those are people who are able to watch a development in progress, they love talking about it, [...] are very auditory related listeners; they are capable to follow along. However some people at the table are like "Yeah, let's just start playing, we will figure it out when we start playing." And that's okay, we are all different types of learners but to what you descirbed: it's not so much that I feel people can't grasp the systems, it's that I feel people are different in the sense of how they wished to grasp it. So [some] people want to grasp it by playing it, by touching it, by feeling it, right? And other people want to grasp it by talking about it, by reading through it by understanding it in a different way. And the harsh reality is that [...] development journeys are not for everybody, that's just a simple fact, what I gave you as an example is a testament to that truth. But we have to cater the process of showing development in a transparent manner that is capable of transcending certain audiences or at least being mindful of the different audiences that are watching. You guys are an example of an audience that are capable, willing [and] wanting to get into the nitty gritty during the discussion phase, but there is a much larger portion of our audience that just want to see and play. And that is why we have to be careful how we do it.
He further acknowledged that there is for some people an issue of trust in developers of MMORPGs who have hollowed out their games too much to appeal to a broader audience of players or simply implemented systems that were not conducive to the intended game experience that the developer aimed at.
Why bring this up?
I think it is worth pointing to this interview because lots of things in it highlight a very important key point: We are indeed truly deep in the Alpha Stage. While certain design choices like the bidding system on their own might sound like a drain on fun when looked at in isolation, in context of the other systems, they might not be as "dysfunctional" as some have already declared them. But IF they turn out to be dysfunctional in the active Alpha 2 Stage, they will be subject to change, same applies to the corruption system and so on.
Its a good thing that people engage with this project but on occasions maybe the best we can offer is to raise points of concern with certain mechanics, discuss them in context of the other systems that critically influence them and ask for more information on them, while reserving the final judgements for when we had the chance to actually test them.
With that being said one of the best recent examples in my opinion was the Tank Showcase, after which we have seen significant improvement, because we saw the finished product and it didn't fit the intent of informing the watchers.
With that being said, so far I have enjoyed the discussions on the forums and the information given by Intrepid, though not everything was (or could be) perfect. Watch the interview, it was very insightful and enjoy your week!