Below is a copy of an email message I recently sent to Abashi concerning the
establishment of an official player's council. I got Abashi's standard
autoreply message which said that, due to the amount of emails he gets
everyday, he would be more likely to respond to the issue if it was posted
on the Gameplay forum. I am considering posting the message but before I
do, wanted to run it through you guys to get your opinion/ideas. If you
have any recommended changes/new ideas let me know and I will modify the
message before posting it.
Thanks
Galtin of E'ci
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Reece, Tom CPT- 25IDL G4
> Sent: Wednesday, June 28, 2000 5:11 PM
> To: 'gwrinn@...'
> Subject: Official Players Council
>
> Gordon,
>
> First off, thanks for taking the time to read this email. I realize you
> get a lot of emails everyday and don't have the time to respond to all of
> them. I'm hoping you can make an exception for this one.
>
> I have an idea I would like to propose to Verant. Someone may have
> suggested this idea in the past but if so I'm not aware if Verant has
> stated an official position on it. What I propose is that Verant set up
> some type of official player's council. This council could perform
> several functions. First, it could function as a focus group for game
> related issues. Verant could use these players as a sounding board for
> potential changes to the game. The council could also serve as a voice
> for class concerns. I'll use bards as an example. For months bards have
> been claiming that the Lullaby song is broken. There have been numerous
> posts and bumps on the Gameplay forum asking Verant to acknowledge the
> song is broken and fix it. Many bards are frustrated due to the perceived
> lack of action on Verant's part. However, if Verant informed the player's
> council on the status of the fix (if there is one), then the bard
> representatives can inform the bard community that Verant IS working on
> the song and for them to remain patient. This would go a long way in
> reducing player dissatisfaction with certain aspects of the game.
>
> Here is an example of how the council can be set up:
>
> 1) The players get to choose who will represent them. Each class gets
> ten representatives. The class fansite web boards will be used to vote on
> the representatives. For example, bards have The Concert Hall, rogues
> have The Safehouse, etc. The administrators for those sites would be
> responsible for setting up a poll for each class to determine who they
> want to represent them. I think that it would be fairly easy for the
> community of each class to come to a consensus on who they want. My
> primary character is a bard so I'm most familiar with that community.
> There are several well known bards who post on the Concert Hall board and
> the eqbards mailing list. These bards would be prime candidates as
> official representatives for the class. I think it is also safe to assume
> that other classes have equivalent players.
>
> 2) Type of forum. This could be set up as a moderated mailing list or a
> secure message board on the Everquest website. Either way, the only
> people with access to the site are the player representatives and Verant
> employees. There would have to be a rule established that all discussion
> between Verant and the representatives is considered confidential and not
> for public release unless Verant grants permission. Any player who
> violates this rule is removed from the council and a replacement selected.
>
> This just covers the basic framework. The details can get fleshed out
> later if Verant thinks its a good idea.
>
> As you are well aware of, a lot of players are frustrated with Verant for
> a perceived lack of customer service. In my opinion, Verant can improve
> their relationship with their player base by instituting an official
> player's council. This would go a long way in helping to prove that
> Verant cares for the players. Its a win-win situation for both sides that
> can be easily implemented.
>
> Thanks for taking the time to consider this proposal.
>
> Tom Reece
> aka Galtin Randayn
> 39 bard
> E'ci server
>