Original Post — Direct link

Gunplay animations/graphics aside, Infinity Ward really let me down with the lack of communication throughout MW's life cycle this yr. Most of the main issues with MW that people complained about all year (Spawns, footsteps/Dead Silence, SBMM, map voting/persistent lobbies, poor visibility at times, minimap, etc.) were never directly addressed by IW to the community at all. In fact, the only time IW (or more specifically, Joe Cecot) ever responded to these complaints at all was at a Youtuber event, behind a safe space (no pun intended) where the VIP's know they can't step out of line so they ask him softball questions, and we still got mostly non-answers. Remember how they said that they were looking into "Vote to Skip" map voting back in November? Complete silence since then. I hope Infinity Ward improves on their communication channels whenever MWII comes out.

I'm not even going to discuss IW's patch notes on here. The fact that XclusiveAce has a series that goes over "stealth" updates every season (starting from Season 1, pre-COVID) just says it all.

Now to Treyarch, I'm personally not asking for much. I'm not asking you to write a thesis to defend every design decision you make that people might not like. All I ask for is some communication, and possibly be open to taking community feedback into account if needed. I don't want radio silence throughout the year. I know there's some stuff that you actually can't talk about (SBMM, MTX etc.), and I know that some community suggestions might not be "actionable", but at least try.

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over 3 years ago - /u/FoxhoundFPS - Direct link

Originally posted by raisensareterrible

I think it's because it gets over whelming at a point. It's hard trying to fix issues when the angry mobs don't know what they want and say "FIX THIS. YOU LAZY SHITHEADS". Fix what? They're more specific with negative words that they're calling Treyarch , than the complaint itself.

MW, she got death threats and probably even sexual abuse threats, I'd stay tf away too. It's a lot to take in, they're human. We need to realize this. They can get doxxed if someone was pissed enough.

Keep in mind, they're only reporting back what Treyarch/IW has told them. There's no guarantee. We're not in their shoes. We simply play the game and post about it on reddit.

Treyarchs communicator even said /r/Blackops4 was just too toxic.

Treyarchs communicator even said r/Blackops4 was just too toxic.

What I said was:

I intend to remain present but will definitely elect to not engage with those who are intentionally uncivil or intellectually dishonest as in r/BlackOps4. We outlined this in our reveal blog.

This means I will not engage with certain types of people just like I didn't in r/BlackOps4. I typically engaged when I could and where I could ( r/BlackOps4, r/CODBlackout, r/CODZombies), but some people ended up creating engagements that simply weren't worth it. Just wanted to clear that up before that misinformation soundbite spreads.

over 3 years ago - /u/FoxhoundFPS - Direct link

Originally posted by KingKull71

I think everyone can understand that, as long as "not worth it" doesn't extend to all the topics that players want to talk about (spawning, connectivity, matchmaking, lobbies, visibility, etc) that the devs would prefer to avoid. The first step to managing outrage is to recognize the issues that are making people unhappy... unfortunately, that hasn't been the common practice in the past.

I outlined what that meant. There may be times where I don't have responses to some topics or the response to give is not what some players want. The decision to not engage with those players in that scenario begins when they decide to become uncivil or intellectually dishonest.

over 3 years ago - /u/FoxhoundFPS - Direct link

Originally posted by RipperGG

I have a question about your approach to communication. Can we expect any type of communication from you when it comes to game design decisions that are unpopular to reddit/twitter but seemingly popular with millions of other more casual players?

Main thing that comes to mind is MW2019 never acknowledging the existence of SBMM (unless I missed it). Obviously the online communities are small potatoes compared to the greater CoD playerbase but I still think at the very least devs should acknowledge the existence of features? On the other hand, "Yes there is SBMM, and no we are not changing it" wouldn't be that important to communicate I suppose.

I have a question about your approach to communication. Can we expect any type of communication from you when it comes to game design decisions that are unpopular to reddit/twitter but seemingly popular with millions of other more casual players?

You can expect me to be as candid as possible about things that I can speak about. I don't make any decisions when it comes to game design, however. I do relay community discussion points to various parties and if I receive a response we land on then I'll share it.

The takeaway I want you to have here is that just because I/we don't say something doesn't mean I/we don't hear/read/see it.

over 3 years ago - /u/FoxhoundFPS - Direct link

Originally posted by RipperGG

Got it, thanks Foxhound.

While I have your eyes, I sent you a DM with a tiny tiny suggestion that I'd love to have communicated with the team.

Thanks again

You may have not hit send OR you're still drafting it.