Community Feedback Discussion

[Roy38]

You didn't address this to me directly--and I'm not going to speak for cdj, JB, or gschwendt--but as a member of the Game Changers and a Community Event attendee, I feel like I can speak to what you ask here on a personal level.

I know from my experience that some suggestions I made were taken into consideration, and some specific things actually were addressed from what I saw at the events and what ended up in the final game. Did everything I suggest receive full consideration from the team? Probably not, nor would I have expected that to be the case. In total, I spent about nine days in the studio during the development cycle of NCAA Football 12; three days in January, three days in April, and three days in May. I tried to make the most of my time, but that's a very small amount of time to actually be there and be able to provide face-to-face feedback.

As a result of my involvement, I got to be on a direct email basis--as did many of the other attendees--with members of the development team. As things have come up, I've sent emails to the team. Some have spawned email threads of multiple messages in conversation, some haven't. Again, I don't expect every email I send to turn into a full discussion.

I know some people would like to call bullshit on what I'm about to say, but for people in the Game Changers program and Community Event attendees who want to make their voice heard, it takes a considerable amount of time and effort invested. I've spent more days playing the game and collecting feedback from forums and completely ignoring my wife than I would like to admit. If I did not feel like my voice was being heard, I would not be involved in these programs.

I don't think anybody--and again, I can only speak for myself--involved in the Game Changers or Community Events takes any pleasure in seeing what has happened to NCAA Football 12 in the time since its retail release. I hate seeing all of the posts about people having issues in the game, and I don't think anybody wanted this to be the end result. But personally, I don't have the time or inclination to point fingers or speculate about where blame should be cast. All I know is to keep playing the game and watching the forums and sending my feedback where it's supposed to go. I can't write any programming code, so I can't do very much to help directly.

I appreciate you taking the time to answer my questions. Maybe the others would like to chime in as well (if just to rid the sound of crickets I'm hearing) as I'd be interested in their responses as well. For the record, I just noticed that you were a participant as well, so many apologizes for overlooking you.

I'm glad you feel your time spent has been worthwhile. At least there appears to be some sort of listening going on at the EA Sports offices, although I question what specifically they are listening to. I get the sense their field of vision is very narrow, when they should be looking big picture. When they allocate their resources to small details (such as hairstyles, grass, etc.), they don't see the big issues at hand (reoccurring bugs that carry over title to title, dynasty issues, A.I. issues and bugs, etc.). I guess it comes down to the perception that they prefer to slap a new coat of paint and throw a band-aid on something, as opposed to actually fixing and polishing their product.

One more item I'd like to address, which I'm sure won't set well with everyone involved with the Game Changers program and Community Days events, but it would appear EA has "bought" another avenue to market the products as well as displace the dissatisfaction with said products. When I say "bought", I'm referring to your travel, food, hotel commendations, swag (free game, clothing, pens, toilet paper, etc. where applicable), and I would assume some form of pay for missed work time, whether through actual payment, advertising, etc. In essence, you could be viewed as an EA employee. Now before everyone gets their panties in a bunch, think about it for a second. When things turn for the worse, and I think we can all agree that NCAA '12 has, where are people going to complain? Sure, they could call, write, e-mail EA, go to their forums and express their anger, hit up their social media outlets such as Facebook or Twitter, go to certain extremes that don't need to be rehashed, etc., but it appears no one is listening. However, the people involved with Game Changers and Community Days , which have have a direct connection to the developers because, after all, EA is "listening" to your suggestions and recommendations towards the design, focus, implementation, etc. towards the game, are more readily available and a perceived "mouthpiece" for their product. Look at our conversation as an example of this. I feel like these programs are simply marketing ploys by EA Sports to get people to think they are listening to them - and even more so after Title Update #1 and #2. I find it absolutely absurd when Ben closes his blog on the second patch by stating, "I trust you will find that it has been well worth the wait." That implies his product is fixed - even beyond our expectations. When that truth has been revealed to be a blatant lie, they go silent...and this is where damage control (you guys), the neutral voice, comes in to deflect some of the anger from their company. I would look very carefully at your relationship with EA and what exactly that relationship brings to the table.