Original Post — Direct link

3 Years ago Riot deleted the Boards, their Version of an official League of Legends Forum, stating that the Platform has become less popular over the Years, providing us with other alternative social Channels to use.

In their Announcement they, more specifically, encourage us to use alternative social Channels, Websites such as YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Discord, Twitter and Reddit to comnect with other Rioters and provide Feedback to the Game.

Here we are today, 3 Years later, providing Feedback and connecting with Rioters on the social Channels they encouraged us to use. But what's happening with the Feedback that's being provided? In Light of the recent Ping Changes, our Feedback is apparently "not representative" of the actual Opinions of the Community, and the "Feedback" of a certain "silent Majority" is considered more valuable than what is found on Reddit or Twitter.

(This is not the first Case of this happening, individual Rioters have told us many Times in the Past that Suggestions, Opinions and Feedback found in Places like Reddit isn't actually representative of how well or badly Changes influence the Game.)

I am here to bring some Attention to this and to also ask: Is our Feedback even valuable or being taken into Consideration? If the Boards, the official League of Legends Forums, no longer exist for us to provide Feedback on, and the Feedback found on Reddit or Twitter is considered "not representative" of the Opinions of the Community (the "silent Majority"), then what's our next Move?

Do we keep provdiing Feedback only for it to be ignored? Do we stop providing Feedback and let Riot do whatever they want? Do we use other social Channels like... YouTube Comments? Do we email Riot ourselves?

It baffles me that Riot considers our Feedback on these Platforms "not representative" of the Playerbase's Opinions, when these are the only Platforms availble for the Playerbase to provide Feedback on.

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over 1 year ago - /u/RiotPraeco - Direct link

I think there's some nuance necessary in this conversation:

Social media posts and reddit feedback ARE an important data point... among a number of data points.

Regarding your statement "It baffles me that Riot considers our Feedback on these Platforms "not representative" of the Playerbase's Opinions, when these are the only Platforms availble for the Playerbase to provide Feedback on." -- we don't ignore your input. But it is part of our job to VALIDATE it.

No, reddit posts aren't representative of our entire player base. But that doesn't mean that they are irrelevant. Reddit is really helpful when it comes to raising awareness, and the discussion can often raise possible solutions that have us go "Oh, that might be a good idea. Let's take a look at this."

I've found that Neil Gaiman's statement regarding creative work is applicable in most complex work situations: "When people tell you something's wrong or doesn't work for them, they are almost always right. When they wanna tell you how to fix it, they are almost always wrong."

What is more important data for us as developers: opinions, or behavior? There's a place for both, depending on what you're trying to address. But both must be considered.

Now... your statement does make another point, which might be the more useful one for us to discuss here: how do we make sure that you feel like you are being heard? I think that's on us to facilitate.

However, this also necessitates that you retain some sort of faith into our intentions and perspective into things. Phreak has absolutely no incentive to f*ck your sh*t up. :P

We would be doing a sh*tty job if we just ran with the opinions of a small, vocal number of players. We HAVE to listen to them, but, again, it is part of our job to make sure that we service our entire audience, and find the best solution for the individual problem.

over 1 year ago - /u/RiotPraeco - Direct link

Originally posted by chrisbro4

Funny how you only bring up data when it fits your narrarive or backs up your decisions. Where is your data to the riot id changes?? If you, yet again, make absolute shit changes that nobody likes all you do is stay silent about it or talk some bs on why it was necessary. Strange that you dont bring up data and players opinion in this cases. f**king joke of a company.

What you are talking about is a system change driven by Riot's expanding eco-system. We are no longer a one-game company, and thus, we need to adjust things to make the backend interactions of different game accounts better.
In what world would data be the driver for this implementation? This isn’t a gameplay change, this has to do with platform engineering.
Look inward to resolve your anger, my friend.

over 1 year ago - /u/RiotPraeco - Direct link

Originally posted by WoonStruck

Do you think a system where you guys track trending topics and address them in Quick Gameplay Thoughts would be a way to acknowledge feedback without necessarily implementing it?

That would at least be a way to address a talking point so players can see why a specific thing is or isn't addressed.

Communication dropped off a cliff for Riot in the past year, despite them saying that they were going to start communicating more, especially through QGTs and videos.

Even when they do come out now, they're typically full of a lot of words that say absolutely nothing and leave you feeling scammed out of your time.

Yeah, some sort of response system and/or cadence would be nice. Everyone's busy with Worlds right now, but there's a conversation to be had. Dunno where it will lead, we'll see.

over 1 year ago - /u/RiotPraeco - Direct link

Originally posted by maknaeline

the people who go out of their way to seek out the avenues given in order to provide feedback should at least receive better communication though, no? i say this not even as someone who's like, "me, me, pay attention to me!" just because i was recently providing feedback on this pbe cycle, but just because of general frustration over the utter lack of communication.

folks have been trying to go out of their way to try to politely express their feelings on what they like and dislike, and even if they are a "loud minority", it does feel like they get utterly ignored unless people start getting extreme. which should never be the case— there's no justification for that— and is part of the reason devs continue to pull away i'm sure. it's just a mess all around.

it just feels like, given the current increased scope of skins compared to how they used to be (across the board), the way things are just isn't entirely working. it feels like things are heavily skewed towards an invisible category of people or metrics we can't even see or interact with; whether that's folks in the CH/KR servers or the 0.01% of whales that have been quoted, and then we don't hear much of a response to our own feedback until years later (if at all, irt skins). where is that feedback even given?

so the repetitions of "we hear you even if you aren't the majority" is just disappointing, you know? like, i totally understand what you're saying. it's just not the first time i've seen this sentiment and it feels like in practice, no, we really don't get heard much at all. the complaints of this feeling aren't invalid (not that anyone is saying this; at least i hope not, lol) and i do hope that you take this into serious consideration. i do appreciate the time you take to try to share your thoughts; i just wanted to give a response that formulated why there's still some frustration about it all. because what are we supposed to do, then?

it just feels like talking to a brick wall. :(

Your "because what are we supposed to do, then?" sums it up pretty well. :) Frankly, I don't know yet how exactly we can make the situation better. It'll take an effort of a bunch of us at Riot to figure something out.

In some cases, I actually don't know what else we can do, besides telling people "we hear you even if you aren't the majority". If we've made a decision that we believe in, and that the folks in question disagree with, then, well... that's kind of all there is to it. :o