Regarding locked threads that thematized the globe appearances

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It is depressing because there's been a lot of misinformation on the thread and its children. I had to make a close screenshot of the feminine statues in the Grand Arena to prove that they weren't different from the golden statues in act 3.

Literally one guy near the end said that.

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One guy said that, but there's been an ongoing theme of "GGG is catering to feminists". Bars is also misinforming people about the proportions of players preferring the GG with his poll.

Oh, sorry about that. I'll make sure to change the poll results to make it properly informative because you don't like what it says.

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This thread is so depressing I don't even know where to start with.

It is depressing because the GGG staff are right when they say that the GG (globe girls) thread was harmful to the community, as it gave the image of a very immature community, and this could possibly used against the game and its community in the future.

1) Most computer/console gaming communities are made up of younger players who tend to be less mature in general because of their age. While there are more gamers every year, and gamers who are older, the demographic is still a very young one compared to the general population. For instance, it is highly unlikely that over 13% of U.S. PoE players are over 65 years of age, and even more unlikely that approximately 50% of U.S. PoE players are female.

2)Discussion of aesthetics isn't immature. What is immature is the automatic assumption that anything that has to do with the unclothed human body is immature.

3)The thread was by no means harmful to the community. It would have provoked a lot more people to respond if it was either very good or very bad. The lack of participation by many people was indicative that many players didn't really care about the subject enough to take the time to post in the thread.

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It is depressing because the GGG staff handled this thread in a perfectly reasonable way : letting people bring all their arguments on the topic, then close it when no more arguments are made, yet people still bring it back up regularly without bringing anything new to the discussion.

People tend to talk about things that interest them. Mark Zuckerberg is one of the top ten richest people in the world because he realized that people really like sharing the most insignificant and inane stuff and came up with a convenient way to do it.

Here's a picture of something that got stuck in my teeth today. Here's my comment on so and so's selfie with a silly face - and on an on.

The UI thread was dying a natural death. The Cat/Shaq Shimmy had little to do with the UI, but a few people found the images entertaining enough to warrant a response. That means the players weren't done with that discussion. Whether it is reasonable for the thread to be closed under forum guidelines, depends on whether the feedback in the thread was beginning to be become non-constructive. If GGG deemed it so, than that is their right. If they want to change the guidelines, that is their right. If players don't like it, that is their right.

As a business, there's a fine line between being reasonable and letting problem customers ruin your business. Several companies have spent a lot of money researching whether a business is better off without some customers.

Depending on the business, there is usually a very small percentage of customers who are problematic and whom the company would be far better off without. <--- please not that this comment doesn't help what I've been expressing here at all, and would seem to counter much of it. I mention this because those with less business experience may not be familiar with all the various studies, and I would prefer GGG to make well informed decisions so they will continue to succeed. FWIW - for broad spectrum retail sales, 10% of the customers are problem customers. I do not know what the corresponding number would be for online gaming. The problem customers are defined as those actually causing the company to lose money, not because they are complaining, or any other specific. Researching customers is an inexact science, but the larger your sample base, the better your results will be, and very large companies have been looking at this sort of thing for a long time.

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There was no other reasonable action that would stop this thread from being shamelessly brought back to the front page every few days.

1) and? Is it a problem that a certain thread stays on the front page?
2) How many compelling threads are on the first page, and how many have completely new ideas?
3) 3 of the threads on the first page have been locked for almost 2 days. That means the first page is becoming stagnant.

That isn't because Path of Exile isn't a fun game, it's because the league have wound down and a new league hasn't started yet. As people take part in the one month challenge, there will be a few threads on various aspects of it. Some will be positive, some may not be. Stifling discussion certainly won't help bring more people to participate in the forums, and a lack of new content will lose the audience rather quickly.

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It is depressing because we can see here the typical knee-jerk reaction saying that the figure of authority is being oppressive whenever it does something that a part of the community doesn't like.

I disagree with that assessment of the responses. Unless someone is a mind reader, it is difficult to say whether a particular response has been well thought out, or is a quick emotional reaction. Further, many of those quick emotional reactions have been thought about over and over and over in numerous similar situations.

Even further, people who think their response has been carefully considered, and isn't highly predictable would be shocked to find that a researcher using Positron Emission Tomography can predict what decision/response the person will make long before they make it.

Lastly, using the whole brain gives someone a lot more ability to gauge the best response. If someone only uses the emotional hind brain, or only the analytical side, or lets the language of the situation override and completely ignore what the olfactory areas are screaming, then their chance of making the best decision is far less.

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It is depressing because if half of the accusations made to GGG had been made towards any group of individuals rather than GGG itself, the thread would have been locked ages earlier, and no one would have argued against that locking.

I would disagree with that >9000%

That is one of the things that makes GGG a better company than many competitors. Were this forum part of BigBizzniss for instance, it would be scoured and gutted clean of meaningful negative feedback. Part of running a public company is dealing with the public.

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It is depressing because I cannot see this thread as anything but another attempt to circumvent the moderation made about the GG thread :

I'd disagree. It is more of a thread questioning whether there have been some unannounced changes to forum policy, as what has happened is unlike what we have seen happen before under the same guidelines.

It could be that GGG, like an overtaxed parent, has had it's fill of listening to whining complaining kids, and is just saying ENOUGH!

"Because I said so" is a valid answer in certain situations. GGG has the right to use that option when they feel it is necessary.

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It is depressing because there's been a lot of misinformation on the thread and its children. I had to make a close screenshot of the feminine statues in the Grand Arena to prove that they weren't different from the golden statues in act 3.

I have no idea if the person suggesting they were different was uninformed or trying to pull a fast one. The fact that they were mistaken and someone took the time to verify what was real is a GOOD thing. If people bothered doing that with real world news and political claims, the world would be far better off in a very short time. Active participation is fantastic.

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And finally, it's depressing because the thread is clearly about the GG, and nothing else. There's no reason to believe that GGG would arbitrarily lock any other threads, and much less any active threads.

I would disagree again. If the new changes to map drops aren't noticeable, that thread could go south very quickly, and the negativity might be harsh. It could get locked and shut down as well.

In the past that wouldn't be the case. What would be normal, would be for GGG to corall all the posts into one thread, and close down additional similar threads.

Ah well, I do think this thread has about run its course. Unless some topical funny gifs are posted, of course.

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Charanjaydemyr wrote:

I think the bigger question is why would the proverbial President of the Wraeclastian States sometimes visit said neutral zone to make announcements or even let something slip? If they're going to 'leak', they could at least use some way of doing so that can't be traced back to the government.

I don't follow the PoE Reddit, so humor me if the answer would be patently obvious if I did, but are the 'leaks' usually things that GGG perceives as positive changes to the game? If they are, then POTWS might just be excited and proud about the improvements and dying to get a taste of how the players will respond to them.

I know that if I was one of the developers of PoE, I'd be proud and excited about just about every change made to the game. Nineteen steps forward and three steps back. GGG learns and adapts and continually tries to improve the game. IMO, they succeed at it, and the disagreements players have usually boil down to personal preferences.

What annoyed me most was when they claimed there "was no compelling reason to change them back" - Apart from the opinions of your customers.
I know they aren't getting any more of my money until I get the girls back.

As for the whole "thematic with the expansion", a lion and some skulls, which would be hung from a Karui belt, which links it to Kaom and Daresso's arena, which is fine and all, apart from no one does those bosses once they hit merc, which is when the game starts as far as much of the player base is concerned. If they wanted to make it thematic with the expansion, they'd have Voll and Deshret's spirit or just a skill point book.

The reason this discussion hit the front page so often, was because people cared about it! We didn't do it to annoying the guys over at GGG, it's because we were passionate about this topic and we wanted change!
And GGG's approach was censorship, not changing it back (which would please a lot of people and only annoy a bunch of extremists who couldn't possibly affect them as a game or a business) or allowing modible UI. At best, it's because they're cowards, fearing the SJW crowds. At worst, it's a giant middle finger to the people who care about the game.

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Charanjaydemyr wrote:

If you're willing to withhold support for this game, for everything GGG have done and continue to offer for free,over a mere aesthetic change that they repeatedly justified and is clearly thematically appropriate...go for it. Your money comes at too heavy a price for what it is.

And let's be realistic: its piss all compared to what I've put in, right?

I do so love it when people try to play financial blackmail. At this point, GGG just make more money out of me proving financial blackmail doesn't work anyway, so...uhm...keep it up. :)

"Repeatedly justified" - Never once justified actually. They are not thematic with the expansion. They are references to two charactars, who simply do not exist in merciless mode, which is when the game begins. Let's face it, even if you acknowledge their existance as "thematic", then those two are some very poor examples. They're bosses you have to kill for a fetch quest. They're the same as that captain you fight to save Clarissa or Fidelitas! The whole expansion was all to do with Malachai and the Gemling Queen, use them instead! If they wanted something thematic, fine, but give players the option. I think what people are objecting to most, is forcing an aesthetic change and it being one of very few things we can't customise when it comes to graphics.

As for "too heavy a price", you really think that they couldn't put in a toggle option, like they did with having energy shield on the health or mana bars? Come on, not only have they proved they're capable of giving players UI options, but they've done something far more complicated than this would take. There really is no excuse not to give the player the option and anything they did that would get me to pay money for this game, whether it's new items, new cosmetics, a new expansion, is going to take more effort than that. If you think about it for more than picosecond, allowing us the option is actually the lowest possible price for my money. So, given that fact, you're basically saying it's not worth them putting out any future updates, of any kind. Well done.

Also, I love how you make the assumption that you've spent more than me. I'd love to hear what you base that on, especially considering all those supporter badges that you do not have. But you know what? How much money either of us has spent, is irrelevant. Simple fact is that them refusing to implement an option, is costing them money. Hope they think it's worth it.

It's not financial blackmail, it's called "voting with your wallet". Now, if you really want to fight against that, feel free. You missed your chance to pre-order a million copies of the new Deus Ex game, because people voting with their wallets shut that anti-consumer BS down, which I know made incredibly angry. Voting with their wallets is the only way the consumer can influence change and when you grow up and start having to use your own money to pay for stuff, then you'll find out that it's pretty damn important.

I look forward to your angry, fanboy reply, trying to make it look like I haven't just crushed every single argument you have.

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Caridor, please keep withholding support for a ridiculous reason.

We will be happy to chip in extra to replace what would be missing.

You're welcome.

Cheers.

:)

So you'd pay money to be anti-consumer?
You could get a job at EA if you worked out exactly what kind of witchcraft made you think that's a good idea.
You are essentially paying money to ensure that they don't give us a customisable UI. Why on earth would want that?

He's not "anti-consumer"... he's pro consumer. He's compensating for the idiocy he sees in people complaining about an insignificant change to the appearance of the game.