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CCP, Singularity and You: How we can all make better use of the test servers

First post
Author
Mocam
Aliastra
Gallente Federation
#101 - 2012-06-05 13:34:47 UTC
Luis Graca wrote:
CCP Goliath wrote:
Anna Shoul wrote:
Early dev blogs about what's going on with Singularity would be nice, so that people who go there remember to log in and test the problems out of the new stuff -- but I would very much love to see a changelog with every Singularity patch, so that if I do go there, I can mess with everything in detail.

There should be less worry about public opinion about what might happen, and more emphasis on actually setting up an experimental feature -> test server -> bug reports -> final feature cycle, and getting things done properly by the time they hit production. Rough plans are rough plans, everyone should be able to grasp that much. Rough plans remaining rough by the time they actually go live irks far more people.


Patch notes for Sisi is impractical, but I write a list of features that are on Sisi on the forums - do you think that making this list into a devblog would be more appropriate?



i don't think a dev blog would work however you guys could do a sticky/closed threat were you guys could simple write what's being tested and the date of singularity serv, after you guys are done with the tests and start a new one simply update that post.


This way people would know what testes are being conducted and the date of their skills in a single place without have to search 1 by 1

Even better create a EVE sisi folder like "EVE Information Center" "DUST 514 Information Center" about sisi test this way you will gain more input information instead of chat with some players


I agree a resource thread in the test server forum would be the best place to list changes - in that forum . The old keep it simple stupid approach of centralized communications.

The time-stamps on edits should show lesser changes have happened, with a title change with clear/replace when a major change occurs. Such will keep the changes info in the same forum as feedback from the community.

The less places you have "non-team members" hunting around for what should and shouldn't be done, the less screw ups and missed testing you'll run across. I just don't think an actual changes log is needed. Some of the internal junk that gets fixed isn't obvious and some probably shouldn't be published in such a fashion at all (such as anti-bot updates and such).

The focus being on what is desired to have tested.


As to the OP: It kind of sucks going to sisi to "mess around" sometimes. I find myself testing stuff just visiting there at times.

Latest example: Destroyers had that 1.25 ROF fix implemented. Interdictors still have that 1.25 ROF in place. I checked with a Thrasher vs a Sabre - the Sabre fires the same gun 25% slower.

It's a hidden attribute of the Interdictors that was there before but never really published, though I do vaguely recall it being discussed when the destroyer changes were on sisi. As such, a dictor will do less DPS than the T1 version of that hull. I'd thought that had been fixed/removed at some point but it hasn't. A "wait and see" but not a major issue really.

Such "I wonder" stuff crops up and gets tested here or there, even when not directly applicable to a current testing situation.
CCP Guard
C C P
C C P Alliance
#102 - 2012-06-05 13:48:00 UTC
CCP Goliath wrote:
CCP Guard wrote:
One thing I like (apart from being ahead of Punkturis in the likes department) is early dev blogs. It depends on the feature how much value they hold and how difficult they are to squeeze out, sometimes it's really hard. But when we've had early dev blogs for things like ship balancing for example, we've been able to use the feedback to spot things and change course on some details before deployment.

Understandably there's always a certain amount of hesitation when it comes to blogging about concepts or really rough early plans because they are bound to change and may even get dropped or pushed back. But I think you guys are less likely to get all "heyforky" (that's a word right?) about that than the stuff we don't talk about enough, right? :) And an early, ongoing discussion is what we all want. So let's try to get more of those.


I believe the word you are looking for is "pitchforky", or "hayforky" (not a word)


Thanks for QAing my post, bro <3

CCP Guard | EVE Community Developer | @CCP_Guard

Yonis Kador
KADORCORP
#103 - 2012-06-05 14:02:38 UTC
The obvious plus to maintaing an in-progress features dev blog would be exposure. Especially when they are seen on the launcher or the character screen, dev blogs are read by more EVE players than the Sisi forums. Since getting more people interested and generating constructive feedback is beneficial, I think its at least worth trying.

But when I look at the Sisi forums atm, what I see is a lot of discussion but very little summation. If CCP aknowledges a player concern on page 66 of a 136 page forum topic, players (except for die-hard, speed-reading mutants) might miss that info. I suspect few people would be willing to read a 136 page forum topic when their limited volunteer time would be better spent testing features on Sisi anyway. There are features posts listing what to expect in the next expansion, but no sort of feedback summation post to aknowledge issues collectively raised.

So I think it would beneficial to use a two-fold strategy here. If proposals are included in an in-progress, updated dev blog that is disseminated to the masses and successfully generates interest in Sisi testing and new features, then once players get to the Sisi forums, there should probably be a sticky, running post of known issues with the next expansion (similar to "little things") or at least an aknowledgement of their mention. In fact, if this issue compilation gets posted by the new CCLs, it would make their function largely transparent. Letting people know you're aware of an issue, and as was stated earlier, telling them why or why not a thing can't be done, will proactively defuse a ton of negativity.

The noise issue is problematic in any data mining endeavor and is largely unavoidable. All you can strive for is to be as clear and concise as possible and to make relevant info easily located. Filtering that info on the Sisi forums themselves, not only for the benefit of the devs, but also for the casual reader, would be largely beneficial. Because at the moment, devs respond to so many topics on that forum that nearly every one has a dev tag and tbh they all look the same.

IMO, the definition of good public relations is "effective two-way communication." And I see communication on the Sisi forums, its just the effective, two-way part that needs a little tweaking. Dev responses are buried in the middle of lengthy topics and a summation of that feedback somewhere more readily accessible should be an asset to players and devs alike.


Yonis Kador
Makari Aeron
Imperial Shipment
Amarr Empire
#104 - 2012-06-05 14:20:34 UTC
Yonis Kador wrote:
The obvious plus to maintaing an in-progress features dev blog would be exposure. Especially when they are seen on the launcher or the character screen, dev blogs are read by more EVE players than the Sisi forums. Since getting more people interested and generating constructive feedback is beneficial, I think its at least worth trying.

But when I look at the Sisi forums atm, what I see is a lot of discussion but very little summation. If CCP aknowledges a player concern on page 66 of a 136 page forum topic, players (except for die-hard, speed-reading mutants) might miss that info. I suspect few people would be willing to read a 136 page forum topic when their limited volunteer time would be better spent testing features on Sisi anyway. There are features posts listing what to expect in the next expansion, but no sort of feedback summation post to aknowledge issues collectively raised.

So I think it would beneficial to use a two-fold strategy here. If proposals are included in an in-progress, updated dev blog that is disseminated to the masses and successfully generates interest in Sisi testing and new features, then once players get to the Sisi forums, there should probably be a sticky, running post of known issues with the next expansion (similar to "little things") or at least an aknowledgement of their mention. In fact, if this issue compilation gets posted by the new CCLs, it would make their function largely transparent. Letting people know you're aware of an issue, and as was stated earlier, telling them why or why not a thing can't be done, will proactively defuse a ton of negativity.

The noise issue is problematic in any data mining endeavor and is largely unavoidable. All you can strive for is to be as clear and concise as possible and to make relevant info easily located. Filtering that info on the Sisi forums themselves, not only for the benefit of the devs, but also for the casual reader, would be largely beneficial. Because at the moment, devs respond to so many topics on that forum that nearly every one has a dev tag and tbh they all look the same.

IMO, the definition of good public relations is "effective two-way communication." And I see communication on the Sisi forums, its just the effective, two-way part that needs a little tweaking. Dev responses are buried in the middle of lengthy topics and a summation of that feedback somewhere more readily accessible should be an asset to players and devs alike.


Yonis Kador


Great post (and points) IMO. Though to counter your statement about buried dev posts, I typically refresh the "Dev Posts" forums search every so often to find those hidden nuggets of information and insight into the game's progress.

CCP RedDawn: Ugly people are just playing life on HARD mode. Personally, I'm playing on an INFERNO difficulty.

CCP Goliath: I often believe that the best way to get something done is to shout at the person trying to help you. http://goo.gl/PKGDP

Ban Bindy
Bindy Brothers Pottery Association
True Reign
#105 - 2012-06-05 14:34:31 UTC  |  Edited by: Ban Bindy
This sounds a bit nuts. I don't have any obligation to CCP to help them test anything. OP makes this sound like some kind of religious revelation. CCP needs to develop a track record of actually using the player feedback that it does get from SiSi. The current inventory system is a good example - CCP was warned by lots of posts that the new system was not ready for use, this from players who did go to SiSi and try it out. The responsibility to make this system work is on CCP. If they need a crop of testers, they need to figure out how to recruit them.

Why the sneering attitude about the way players choose to use SiSi? I would think that getting players onto SiSi for any reason would be good for CCP, but OP implies that we are all doing it wrong, which is decidedly odd.
Anna Shoul
#106 - 2012-06-05 17:23:48 UTC
CCP Goliath wrote:
Patch notes for Sisi is impractical, but I write a list of features that are on Sisi on the forums - do you think that making this list into a devblog would be more appropriate?

I didn't know that. :) I suspect many people who do know about Singularity at all and use it for their own purposes don't either. Maybe the MOTD (or whatever you call that message on the login screen that says 'last patch applied on so and so' these days on TQ) on Singularity could contain links to those forum posts? That should suffice.

In short, two forms of alert for the general playerbase are needed: "There is something new needing feedback on Singularity", somehow generally visible, through dev blog posts, or TQ MOTD, or otherwise, and "This is what we've been trying to get working specifically" visible when logging in to Singularity itself, so that specific feedback can be requested. It is fairly immaterial what form those alerts take, really, but without them people who come to Singularity to play EFT Warrors with real spaceships might simply not know how can they help.
Anna Shoul
#107 - 2012-06-05 17:35:27 UTC
CCP Goliath wrote:
Surveys only tell you so much and are really easily gamed. How do you ensure that the survey taker even bothered to use the feature? At least on the forums its really easy to identify when someone has just looked at a screenshot or read a thread and gone full blown ragepost without actually getting their hands dirty and finding out their own opinion.


I wonder. Is it feasible to maybe detect when people do things that would involve them bumping into a new feature, (you altered shiptype X, someone is fitting it or activating it, poof, a script fires) and evemail them right inside the Sisi client for feedback with a link for an external survey form? If you want it to be gaming-immune, it can be made single-use and unique.
CCP Goliath
C C P
C C P Alliance
#108 - 2012-06-05 17:39:09 UTC
Anna Shoul wrote:
CCP Goliath wrote:
Surveys only tell you so much and are really easily gamed. How do you ensure that the survey taker even bothered to use the feature? At least on the forums its really easy to identify when someone has just looked at a screenshot or read a thread and gone full blown ragepost without actually getting their hands dirty and finding out their own opinion.


I wonder. Is it feasible to maybe detect when people do things that would involve them bumping into a new feature, (you altered shiptype X, someone is fitting it or activating it, poof, a script fires) and evemail them right inside the Sisi client for feedback with a link for an external survey form? If you want it to be gaming-immune, it can be made single-use and unique.


I guess it theoretically is, but I do not think the development time involved in creating the Big Brother of EVE would be worth the return Big smile

CCP Goliath | QA Director | EVE Illuminati | @CCP_Goliath

RAP ACTION HERO
#109 - 2012-06-05 17:48:51 UTC
Good post but often the mirroring quit a ways behind TQ and I can't test the ships I just trained up for.

vitoc erryday

Anna Shoul
#110 - 2012-06-05 17:49:54 UTC
CCP Goliath wrote:
I guess it theoretically is, but I do not think the development time involved in creating the Big Brother of EVE would be worth the return Big smile

Dunno, back in the day such a Big Brother of a much smaller virtual world gave me 60 pages worth of code as an appendix for my PhD thesis, beside the data I spent a third of it discussing, not to mention some clever invisible gameplay mechanics. :)

But, fair enough. Maybe, allocating a station somewhere specifically for this (and obviously, making sure everyone knows about it) and putting an agent interface in there to collect feedback would work. "Go to system X station Y, take a mission from agent Z, complete it, respond in the agent menu."
Luis Graca
#111 - 2012-06-05 20:15:39 UTC
Ban Bindy wrote:
This sounds a bit nuts. I don't have any obligation to CCP to help them test anything.


No one has any kind of obligation thats why CCP should make it as simple a easy possible for the player to help them otherwise they will just say "fuckit"