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Discord or Discontent?

• MarchieB 1,530 Posts

  Mon, Aug 29 2022 3:36 PM

  HamdenPro, I apologize as maybe I wasn't as clear as I should have been in my response. I realize that you didn't directly say that the Forums were going away and only my first paragraph was meant to be directed at you. I was just showing that you had pointed out pros and cons of Discord and had looked at it objectively coming to the realization that there were advantages to Discord but that there was still a need for the Forum.

  From the second paragraph on, was more meant at everyone else just as a general statement that WGT did not intend for Discord to replace the Forum. This was kinda just in the event that anyone read your first sentence about WGT's making a push to transition to Discord (if anyone assumed that this meant to transition away from the Forum to Discord)

   

• SamSpayed 5,021 Posts

  Mon, Aug 29 2022 4:11 PM

  WGTNico:

  I'm also open to responding to anyone's questions/feedback regarding discord in this thread or in my PMs

  I assume by "discord" you mean the WGT Discord server specifically.

  My question to you would be:  What exactly is the purpose of the WGT Discord server?  

  I ask because, having seen the goings-on there from the very beginning, it's not clear at all to me.  It seems like 75% of what goes on there is just banter and trash talk between a few elite players from a couple different clubs, with you and Champion right there in the middle of it.  Any questions or issues brought up by the community are usually responded to by you and Champion with something dismissive like "ya, we don't like that either" or "thanks for the ball hits" and then they quickly get buried.

  I mean, is that your vision for community engagement?  Is that the purpose of the WGT Discord server? 🙄

• WGTNico 650 Posts

  Mon, Aug 29 2022 4:54 PM

  SamSpayed:

  What exactly is the purpose of the WGT Discord server?  

  Fair question.

  The purpose(s) of the WGT Discord server:

  1. allow WGT players from all over the world to meet and interact with each other
  2. provide a real-time outlet to WGT staff for feedback, suggestions, support, etc.
  3. become more in-line with other video games/studios by bringing us to todays age of interactions (I'm on the side of the fence where every game should have a Discord server)
  4. allow for more organic interactions between WGT and players (harder to accomplish on forums, socials, etc.)

  Those would be the "main" purposes.

  SamSpayed:

  Any questions or issues brought up by the community are usually responded to by you and Champion with something dismissive like "ya, we don't like that either" or "thanks for the ball hits" and then they quickly get buried.

  If mine or champs responses come off as dismissive then I do apologize, but a lack of response, or no response would absolutely be worse. I take notes of every single feedback, suggestions in the Discord and forums (good and bad ones). Changes within a game and even more so and indie game like WGT is, they take quite awhile. Many things that players want, myself and Champ want as well, but we don't just have the team/resources to immediately start working on something. I won't stop responding to things in the Discord because that's not the way in which I do things, I am incredibly transparent in here and the Discord. That transparency often comes with responses like "ya, we don't like that either" because the truth is we really don't like that.

• pmm711 5,708 Posts

  Mon, Aug 29 2022 5:17 PM

  WGTNico:

  become more in-line with other video games/studios by bringing us to todays age of interactions (I'm on the side of the fence where every game should have a Discord server)

  allow for more organic interactions between WGT and players (harder to accomplish on forums, socials, etc.)

  ^^^ This....exactly..ALL apps have a discord and it's dynamic and the best way to communicate.  It's NOT ONLY VOICE.  It's everything...PMs, open forum, intuitive help, yadda yadda yadda

• Cicero733 2,312 Posts

  Mon, Aug 29 2022 5:26 PM

  Steff -

  Cicero - Disagree, sorry. What you say is true as to the general chat room, one of my minuses about that. However, chat is not limited to the WGT server. You are in our club server as well, and we are discord friends. We have had chats, where the ability to communicate is unlimited. Not only are we not restricted to grunts and memes, but we also rarely use them, if at all, when we converse. So, no, discord not all memes, it just seems WGT' server's "General" channel is.

  As for why the threads are still important, I agree on all points.

  
  

  My comments apply strictly to the WGT server as it is the “official company branded” product. Individual club servers have been around much longer, are more established, and are subject to local control. When discussing the use of Discord within my club I often compare your server with WGT’s server using your’s as an example of a more limited and therefore better able to be managed environment whereas WGT’s server is much larger and more of a challenge to manage given the volume and diversity of membership. I do that because when I mention Discord the immediate impression is that it will be much like WGT’s and I am trying to suggest that is not necessarily the case.

• HamdenPro 2,486 Posts

  Mon, Aug 29 2022 6:12 PM

  Cicero733:

  When discussing the use of Discord within my club I often compare your server with WGT’s server using your’s as an example of a more limited and therefore better able to be managed environment

  I understand. Just want to give credit, where credit is due. SamSpayed created and manages, our server. As for me, I reluctantly joined, kicking, and screaming, the whole time as I was one who never had any interest in Discord to begin with.

  I am glad I joined, for all the reasons you have experienced yourself during your visits there.

  TBH, I never distinguished one server (ours) and another (WGT), to me, it was all discord and something I never was interested in.

  There are many, many, other servers, created by WGT members that are not club specific and allow people to create tournaments, meet up with friends and communicate freely, without any censor bots or moderation. There is practically no limit to the number of "servers" you can join.

  For the record, I am glad I joined WGT's server as well. I am not enamored with its general chat, find it difficult to follow along, unless things are quiet and only a few are there. Then is actually nice to chat with other that I would not normally meet.

• garyk49 2,331 Posts

  Mon, Aug 29 2022 6:14 PM

  WGTNico:

  We're working on a new friends UI for in wgt actually. No ETA on release yet

  garyk49:

  Sorta makes me believe we will never see WGT fix the problem of showing red, green, and so forth for online, in game, or offline.(like we had in the flash version)  They want us all to use Discord for that function

  Sorry Nico, no reflection on you.  But I will believe this when it actually happens.  I get excited about things when they actually happen, not about the puff of smoke or bells and whistles of this is going to happen.

  Steph, I originally thought I was just making a comment to some part of your post, but It now becomes more apparent as derailing, Sorry for that, but I could not let Nicos post to my response go unanswered.  And Paul, I am on the fence where games should not have their own Discord Server.  Us old farts don't necessarily go along with all these newfangled changes.

• dhjam1 581 Posts

  Mon, Aug 29 2022 6:22 PM

  Cicero733:

  You can search the forums for that type of information, but you can’t search Discord. You can post a question on Discord and receive answers, but unless you are totally tuned in to what is being said in reply you will probably receive an answer that is less than satisfactory. 

  Discord does have the ability for you to do  searches and  more specific  than the forums

   

  

• pmm711 5,708 Posts

  Mon, Aug 29 2022 6:23 PM

  garyk49:

  And Paul, I am on the fence where games should not have their own Discord Server.  Us old farts don't necessarily go along with all these newfangled changes.

   

  Gary, I get it....but my entire career since 1981 has been focused on best practices and change management.  I was a COBOL programmer for Christ's sake.  This is 2022.  Today is an entirely different world.  Now my daughter just graduated from GA Tech with a degree in Industrial Engineering with a Supply Chain and Analytics focus.  I'm pretty progressive but she's light years ahead of me.  If she went to work for WGT she would've sunset this forum back in June....first task...done....POOF!  She's in tune with today's best practices and understands the pulse of today's app users.  She's a frigg'in brainiac el extraordinaire. It started at age 3 1/2 in Montessori school.  Her spreadsheets are already coveted where she works.  She's teaching people not much younger than us an entirely new way of thinking...and they're buying into it.  Think of the way there was so much moaning about flash going the way side.  Just saying.  

• pmm711 5,708 Posts

  Mon, Aug 29 2022 6:34 PM

  dhjam1:

  Cicero733:

  You can search the forums for that type of information, but you can’t search Discord. You can post a question on Discord and receive answers, but unless you are totally tuned in to what is being said in reply you will probably receive an answer that is less than satisfactory. 

  Discord does have the ability for you to do  searches and  more specific  than the forums

   

  

  ^^^^ Thank you...thank you very much