User talk:Regina Buenaobra/Archive Community and Website/Nov 2008

Archives by Topic
Random Chatter Wiki Topics Game Related Topics Community & Website Product Information Misplaced Topics, Etc.

Suggestion organization

As the official Community Manager for ArenaNet, I thought you might be interested in something I've been trying to advocate as a solution to the suggestion/feedback problem on the wiki. It's (tentatively) called the Guild Wars Feedback Community, and I've been trying to see if anyone at ArenaNet thinks it's as good a fit for the job as I do. I'll spare you all the gory details, history, etc. but if you have a moment in the near future to check it out, would you please give me your impressions? Thanks! --Brokunn 02:40, 30 October 2008 (UTC)

That looks pretty ^_^ 000.00.00.00 09:12, 30 October 2008 (UTC)

Brokunn: I'm a huge advocate of Web 2.0 platforms and social networking. I join almost every social network that I think I may find useful in the future, or that interests me in some way, and I'm really interested in technologies that improve information sharing and social activities. I was one of the main advocates for the social networking initiatives that you've seen ArenaNet engaging in over the past few months (Flickr, YouTube, Twitter). To be honest, I personally feel that forums and wikis are very cumbersome and clumsy tools for user feedback and suggestions. They are difficult to search (no tags/categories) and difficult to organize. It's time-consuming to get a broad picture of how people feel about an issue without physically counting the number of positive, negative, and neutral opinions on a forum. Other platforms do this far more efficiently than forums. Wikis are fantastic for documentation, but clumsy for discussion, and again it's also nearly impossible to get a quick, broad picture of how people feel about an issue without going through every single response line by line and aggregating manually.

My opinions on your site are initially very positive. I find it very easy to navigate. It has all the basic tools I expect to find in a Web 2.0 platform, like tagging, RSS, voting, etc. I will be digging into it a little more in the coming weeks. Some initial questions: What is Grupthink's pricing model? Free for end users, but companies must subscribe? Can end users create their own Grupthink sites? --Regina Buenaobra 22:10, 30 October 2008 (UTC)

I couldn't agree with you more! Those are the exact reasons why I've been searching for so long for a better approach to feedback, and I'm honestly convinced that the GWFC is it.

I've been collaborating with the founder of Grupthink (Steven) and he can get you all of the details. Pricing would likely be a small monthly fee but there are lots of options and I can imagine doing a "pilot" period where you can get familiarized. There are lots of features hidden under the hood we'd like to tell you about.

It's definitely free for end users, and what's most exciting is that the site can be configured to use existing log-in information as user accounts. It's even possible to set the site up so only users with Guild Wars accounts could participate (thus preventing a lot of the problems that open communities like the wiki face). I don't believe users can create their own sites, but within the community they can set up "groups", which essentially equate to their own private space to post topics within site. In fact, there are so many excellent features of the site that I could prattle on and on about, I'll just point you here instead - it's a list of some of the benefits of the GWFC I've been working on.

I'm really excited to discuss this with you further. Can you please contact us via email: brokunn at gmail.com and steven at grupthink.com? Of course you can also contact me here on the wiki, on the GWFC site, or in-game if you can catch me  ;) Thank you very much for all of your time! --Brokunn 02:53, 2 November 2008 (UTC)

This is now being discussed privately. --Regina Buenaobra 01:57, 6 November 2008 (UTC)

GW GURU as an "Elite Fan Site"

I think you need to reveue the Guild Wars Guru status as an elit site, the amount of registerd members is totaly wrong, the site misrepresents them self by reporting the total members including people that have been banned, and there is no feature for removing your account from the site. Having studied the site for almost 3 years, there is never more than 1000 active members out of close to 200.000 registerd, thats less than 1/2 %.

Stockholm 03:54, 19 October 2008 (UTC)

I'm pretty sure (someone correct me if I'm wrong) that the Elite status has nothing to do with how many people are registered on the site. They do have rules to follow but it doesn't say anywhere that there has to be certain number of registered users to be an Elite Fan Site. --BabyJ 04:10, 18 October 2008 (UTC)

You're right, BabyJ.

To OP; do you know that many people register to post one thing and never log in again? That's not counting all the accounts that get banned and all the people who have stopped playing guild wars in the past 3 years, and thus have stopped posting on Guru. Sure, there are 200,000 registered users, just like there are "5 million copies" of guild wars sold - neither of those numbers reflect a true amount of user base.

But, as BabyJ pointed out, nobody cares. The content and the moderation of the site is what makes it elite, not the number of unused accounts. -Auron 04:37, 18 October 2008 (UTC)

they suck balls at moderating the site. i would say its the worst run site of all of the fame sites imo. they dont read the threads they close. the ban people because they disagree with someone on there staff. i dont care if it has elite status or not its just poorly run and i think that has been enough for me to move on to other better fan sites such as the wiki.75.165.121.36 08:33, 18 October 2008 (UTC)

If you have some bone to pick with GWguru's admins, Regina's wiki talk page is the wrong place for it. --Xeeron 11:04, 18 October 2008 (UTC)

Well, you can't pick the bone at Guru, since they ban anyone who opposes the so called Mod's. And since when did you get elected to decide what I can write and where I can write it?

Stockholm 03:54, 19 October 2008 (UTC)

Everyone is entitled to their opinion and not everyone will have the same opinion as yours. And as Xeeron mentioned Regina's talk page isn't the place for this. Now if you had a problem with the game, then yes, you are in the right place, but a problem with a fansites moderators Regina is not going to be able to help you. And I doubt that guru will get their elite status stripped just because you were banned from there. And just to let you know, wiki is more of an information database than a fansite. You can check here[1] for other fansites as guru isn't the only elite site.(opsie forgot to sign)--BabyJ 15:33, 18 October 2008 (UTC)

I'm not asking for help, I'm asking The Community Relations Manager to revue the status of an "elite" fan site that supposedly represents a big part of the player base, while in reality it does not.

Stockholm 03:54, 19 October 2008 (UTC)

As its been said above, "Elite" status has nothing what so ever to do with how many registered or active members a site has. You might need to read this[2] "Elite" status is based on content not active users--BabyJ 15:31, 18 October 2008 (UTC)

quote from top of page "This is a space primarily for discussing issues surrounding Guild Wars" and in my opinion this is an issue covered by that,

Stockholm 03:54, 19 October 2008 (UTC)

The fact you don't like GWG doesn't really matter regarding its status of an "Elite" fansite. The number of posters there also doesn't matter (take a look at how many posters GWVault, which is also an elite fansite, has). Complaining against GWG because they banned you is not going to change anything just like it has never changed anything. I also don't like GWG (for other reasons), but you are just wasting your time with those complains here. Erasculio 15:48, 18 October 2008 (UTC)

I am not banned at GWG (I have been banned at times), just feed up with how the site is moderated, it is no longer a Guild Wars fan site it is now a "GWG Mod's Fan" site. Stockholm 03:54, 19 October 2008 (UTC)

The only bad thing I can say about GWG is that it's filled with too much high end farmers and traders, so people visiting only there may think that all GW players are like that. I visit quite some more GW-related sites, and I can say that their opinion in some things (like people hating Insignia and Inscriptions) is not supported by most GW players at all. Once you keep that in mind, there's no problem at all. MithTalk 20:28, 18 October 2008 (UTC)

Sorry you are wrong Mith. You're just mad because they actual see reason for not wanting inscriptions worldwide unlike you do.(people dont like being limited to what they can use,which is what inscriptions do) Its not an all farmer site. It is however dominated by mods that if you dont aggree with them or prove them wrong alot they delete your posts and ban users. GURU is more of the stuck up sniff there own farts club than an elite forum. Manitoba1073 20:37, 18 October 2008 (UTC)

I agree exactly with Mith. That's also why I don't like GWG myself. Erasculio 22:49, 18 October 2008 (UTC)

As a GWGuru administrator, I am rather offended by this entire conversation. The majority of the moderating staff are hard working volunteers trying to make the site as well run as possible. The sheer volume of posts make that very difficult sometimes. The fact that a great majority of the posters do not ever bother to READ the rules of the forums they are posting in tend to make a relatively high level of bans/closed threads, etc. If you feel a moderator on Guru has acted inappropriately, you are welcome to bring it to the attention of the administrators for review. -- Wyn 23:02, 18 October 2008 (UTC)

So, Wynthyst, why was this post removed again?67.237.233.81 02:08, 19 October 2008 (UTC)

Regardless of weather GWG is a good site or not, the list of fan sites should be reviewed. A lot of those sites really are of questionable quality.--129.21.100.156 02:50, 19 October 2008 (UTC)

I have no idea why your post was removed, or who removed it and this is not the place to discuss it. For one thing, it appears it happened over a year ago. As to the list of fansites, to be on the list, they simply had to meet the stated requirements. I can guarantee that Guru meets the requirements for Elite fansite status according to Anet's stated fansite program. -- Wyn 02:58, 19 October 2008 (UTC)

Perhaps it is time then that Anet look over the requirments for "elit" status. Stockholm 03:07, 19 October 2008 (UTC)

the funny thing about bring something to the attention of a admin is that the persons i had a problem were Inde and commander riker both of which have no idea how to mod a site. and when i did contact them i got banned for disagreeing with them. over something which they were complitly wrong about. inde was just a one time thing commander riker is just a ass hat who got to much power some how. i agree i think all the sites on that list need to be up for review.75.165.121.36 03:46, 19 October 2008 (UTC)

Does Anet really have the resources to review the status of their fansites? Personally I'd rather see the game improved over fansites since the game itself is the only reason I even visit. When I look through the Riverside section of Guru and read threads like "Guild Wars is declining", the word "Warning" twice on the first page I can't help but thinking there are bigger issues to worry about. Or other threads like "What is your favorite quality of X" because there is nothing to discuss anymore. What good would removing the elite status really do? It's not like there's a huge influx of players rushing to buy a 3 year old game, and then checking the main Guild Wars page for the best fansite to visit. Perhaps if the game was in better shape we wouldn't even be discussing this because the quality of discussion would be far greater. Instead I hear how Izzy doesn't have enough resources available to do his job; balancing skills, the heart of what makes this game what it is. Thankfully after 3 years, despite the massive decline in talented players, Leah Stone finally moves a little faster. It's good to know where the priorities are. It's no wonder people can't find groups (few sections above this one) and it takes upwards of an hour to find a GvG match. If Anet doesn't give a damn about their game, why should the fansites? Racthoh 04:28, 19 October 2008 (UTC)

it takes all of what 3-2 mins to look over a list and see how the sites are? and if there worhly of being a elite site. things like leah stone and other random bug fixes are done because Linsey Is fixing bugs because she is a Game Designer. and improving the game in thous aspects is her job. game balance is Izzys job the sooner you learn that the better off you will be also it seams easy to just go in and neff something but anet is not complete crap and they actually test there nerfs .75.165.121.36 06:34, 19 October 2008 (UTC)

I think they are being more lenient with the fansite requirements. GWO, for example, is now just a forum - it does not have a main site and so it doesn't really fulfill the "Present a substantial amount of original content, not merely a compilation (mirror) of ArenaNet-produced materials" requirement for Elite status. So I doubt they're going to be so strict to the point of removing big sites from the Elite status now, it would alienate too many people (and to the point raised a bit above, one of the other reasons why GWG isn't a good fanforum is thanks to how people complain way too much there). Erasculio 11:40, 19 October 2008 (UTC)

That's the users fault, not the forums. People on this wiki complain too, but that doesn't make it bad. -- Mini Me 14:18, 19 October 2008 (UTC)

IMO, the most defining trait of a forum is the community it has. The different Guild Wars forums have different communities, in many aspects - TGH focuses mostly on PvP players who don't play GW often, for example, while GWG focuses on high end traders and on people who complain a lot, as far as I see it. GWO, the Pre Searing forum and this wiki have all those groups (PvP players who don't play often, high end traders, people who complain, etc), but not with as strong a presence as in those other sites. Erasculio 14:34, 19 October 2008 (UTC)

How about you CRY SOME MOAR. -Faer 09:23, 20 October 2008 (UTC)

I think we can all say that GWG has a fairly significant GW-related community, just like GWO and a handful of other GW fansites. Does the exact status listed on the GW Fansites page really have that much importance? If you dislike the site, no one forces you to use it; if you really think something is worthy of review I believe there is an email address dedicated for fansite correspondence? Why not try filing your complaint there. There's already plenty here for Regina to notice if she does want to review the status of any or all of the current fansite list, and it seems like a lot of this discussion has devolved into side arguments over this and that (or just blatant trolling - Faer, I'm looking at you; stop). (Aiiane - talk - contribs) 10:45, 20 October 2008 (UTC)

Why would he stop. He gets away with it everywhere else too. ;)Manitoba1073 17:34, 20 October 2008 (UTC)

You're not helping, Manitoba. (Aiiane - talk - contribs) 05:07, 21 October 2008 (UTC)

I'm no fan of most of the dialogue that takes place on GWG these days - it seems to have devolved into a collection of loud-mouths, doom-and-gloom merchants, and know-it-alls (at least they think they know everything), even including some of the moderators. But that doesn't mean there's any need to "punish" the site by removing elite status. There are bigger fish to fry, and honestly the only reason this is going on is because the people with better things to do are playing other games now rather than whining about the handling of GW. Once GW2 moves along a little more, I'm sure the landscape (or at least the repertoire of active posters) will change. -- Sirius (talk) 10:46, 28 October 2008 (UTC)

Stockholm: Guild Wars Guru meets all the requirements for an Elite Fansite. Regarding re-evaluating the Fansite requirements, that's not something the Community Team is looking at right now, however that's not to say we won't do it in the future, certainly as Guild Wars 2 gets closer to release. I'm sure there are ways we can improve the requirements. If you have any suggestions about that, feel free to let me know. --Regina Buenaobra 18:38, 31 October 2008 (UTC)

If you are uncomfortable with voicing your opinions in public regarding improving the Fan Site Program, please email me: community -at- arena -dot- net. Thank you. --Regina Buenaobra 01:52, 6 November 2008 (UTC)

Wintersday Art Contest

On the same note as the Halloween one, will there be a (European) wintersday art contest this year? 81.246.37.187 11:00, 6 November 2008 (UTC)

Yes, the EU Community Team and I are currently planning one. It should be similar to the one we ran in 2006. --Regina Buenaobra 20:33, 11 November 2008 (UTC)

Do you know about when the information will be posted? (Sorry, I'm impatient :P.)-- Shew 22:18, 27 November 2008 (UTC)

Hello from French Community

Hello Regina, there's someone happens responsible for the French community in Guild Wars in your team ? Since Julien Crevits no longer working in NCsoft and the English is not my cup of tea, I asked this question because I would love to communicate with developers that this wonderful game that Guild Wars. Thank you in advance for your reply. Anvar Le Barbare 16:57, 05 November 2008 (UTC)

Hello Anvar Le Barbare. We will have someone helping out with the French community soon, but it will not be full time. Right now we do not have an exact date for when this will happen. This person will be working part time while we work to get a permanent French Coomunity Coordinator. We apologize that you do not currently have a Community Coordinator taking care of the French players. We hope to get someone in place soon. Thanks. --Regina Buenaobra 00:37, 6 November 2008 (UTC)

Regina, it would be good if ArenaNet or NCsoft make some more effort to check on the quality of French messages posted on the website and ingame: there were some errors about the schedule of the Halloween 2008 finale (as there were during the Dragon Festival 2008) and there is a date error in the current ingame message about the extended Halloween. It's quite common to find some date/hour errors in those messages when translating to French/France time (is the current translator from Quebec or still in Brighton UK?). Plus some people are still posting French translation issues on Julien's page. Thanks. Jaxom 08:43, 6 November 2008 (UTC)

Jaxom: I will notify the EU team about your inquiry and have them double check the times. Thanks. --Regina Buenaobra 23:42, 6 November 2008 (UTC)

Jaxom: That was my fault, I mixed up the times because of the daylight saving changes in Europe and the US. I apologize for any confusion that might have caused.--Martin Kerstein (talk) 09:33, 7 November 2008 (UTC)

Why did Julien leave?--Silverleaf Don't assume, ask! 10:46, 7 November 2008 (UTC)

He left NCsoft Europe early october. Jaxom 11:08, 7 November 2008 (UTC)

His girlfriend found a job in another country, and he followed his heart, bless him :)--Martin Kerstein (talk) 11:53, 7 November 2008 (UTC)

Well for the extended Halloween, it is not that critical (I think everyone figured out that monday is the 10th and not the 9th as it was written). As for the the finale, I am not blaming you on the early start, but A LOT of people were pissed off in FR Lion Arch and Kamadan since someone translated "every 3 hours" into "toutes les 2 heures (every 2 hours)". I myself relied on the US, UK and wiki pages so it was not an issue for me and I was quite lucky to be ingame and to be able to catch the early 1st finale. Jaxom 10:46, 7 November 2008 (UTC)

I will check with the localisation team, thank you for pointing that out Jaxom.--Martin Kerstein (talk) 11:53, 7 November 2008 (UTC)

Thanks, this was first reported here and on the JOL French forum. Jaxom 12:12, 7 November 2008 (UTC)