When the fan is hit
by Konrad Kiss · 01/15/2009 (2:16 pm) · 16 comments
I've been in the fortunate / unfortunate position to lead a browser based game website with tens of thousands of players after the millennium. Whenever something changed, there was an uproar. There was no way to make a change in a way that pleased everyone.
With time and experience, I learned how to roll new changes out to have the best possible echo from the community. With at least some QA testing of the most important features and only in small bits were the basic rules. Whenever the outlook of the site changed, I didn't touch the logic behind it. When I changed the logic, I made sure that the user interface stayed as familiar as possible for the new feature.
Another secret was planning. I decided to do an update every month, and for smaller updates, there was always a day on the week where changes were applied. I tried to continuously change the system, and meanwhile doing that, I was able to receive feedback in small amounts related to one specific feature each time.
I've been a full time web developer for a little more than 10 years. I started working with a server-client architecture back in 1996. Ever since then, I've worked with almost every major web technology one can meet on the web. I've gathered experience at creating large traffic websites over the years, but more importantly, at creating strong communities through these applications.
A few months ago I contacted GG with a possible security hole on the old site. It was forwarded to the web team. Then I offered GG to help out with the site - fix the search bug, add new features here and there, but never got a reply to that. Michael promised to get back to me in a forum, but never got around to it. I'm not blaming him, he's been working day and night probably, because he's done an incredible job at bringing us new docs. Complaints have not yet ceased about documentation, but things are looking a lot better in that dept.
Anyway, I'm just trying to say that GG is surrounded by people who really want to help. We might not be GG employees, yet we feel that GG is something of a virtual home to us.
Even though some people voice this in a different manner, frustration is what's the root of it all. You need to consider the community when creating a website. Show the new design at least a month before the launch, mention what features will be missing, and what new features you plan. Start some conversation about it all. Launch in parallel to the old site. Let people know in time, not the day before.
I know that we as a community are putting an incredible strain on the web dev team right now - and I feel sorry for them. If you have never been in their place, you won't understand. Whether it was their call to make the launch so or not, I have no idea, but we need to realize, that while these changes are a disaster, they feel it even more!
The responses have been different in nature to what I'm used to around here. What the hell? It's as if people are being made raging zombies by some military supervirus. Complain like a gentleman, and not like a mob. You are people I look up to, and want to follow. So act like it.
I'm still offering GG to help in any way I can to solve this crisis. I've been in their place before, and I don't want to be there again, believe me. As this is happening, I feel their stress over the whole incident, and I know I wouldn't want to be on the web team there right now. People, think for a moment before the lynching proceeds.
If I were them I would not re-roll to the old site either, however deep the sh.t is I'm (we all are) in. You don't retreat - that's the only way to win a battle. Not moving backwards is a strategy that has served me well through my life. However, GG definitely needs to make changes fast and thoroughly while listening to the community with a thousand ears. I know they know that really really well.
Until then, we need to give them the patience they have given us when we first started out here with the newbie questions they have heard a thousand times before. Who do you think is responsible for a good community? No, not the community. The one who starts it all and makes it go the right way. Right now, we took a wrong turn and we're not used to it. Wait a few days and we'll get back on track I'm sure.
Instead of raising hell, try to help out by staying supportive, and collecting bugs that have not yet been mentioned. I do not think that ultimatums or threats will do more than fire up those with a troll inside.
Thanks for reading through. Feel free to disagree.
With time and experience, I learned how to roll new changes out to have the best possible echo from the community. With at least some QA testing of the most important features and only in small bits were the basic rules. Whenever the outlook of the site changed, I didn't touch the logic behind it. When I changed the logic, I made sure that the user interface stayed as familiar as possible for the new feature.
Another secret was planning. I decided to do an update every month, and for smaller updates, there was always a day on the week where changes were applied. I tried to continuously change the system, and meanwhile doing that, I was able to receive feedback in small amounts related to one specific feature each time.
I've been a full time web developer for a little more than 10 years. I started working with a server-client architecture back in 1996. Ever since then, I've worked with almost every major web technology one can meet on the web. I've gathered experience at creating large traffic websites over the years, but more importantly, at creating strong communities through these applications.
A few months ago I contacted GG with a possible security hole on the old site. It was forwarded to the web team. Then I offered GG to help out with the site - fix the search bug, add new features here and there, but never got a reply to that. Michael promised to get back to me in a forum, but never got around to it. I'm not blaming him, he's been working day and night probably, because he's done an incredible job at bringing us new docs. Complaints have not yet ceased about documentation, but things are looking a lot better in that dept.
Anyway, I'm just trying to say that GG is surrounded by people who really want to help. We might not be GG employees, yet we feel that GG is something of a virtual home to us.
Even though some people voice this in a different manner, frustration is what's the root of it all. You need to consider the community when creating a website. Show the new design at least a month before the launch, mention what features will be missing, and what new features you plan. Start some conversation about it all. Launch in parallel to the old site. Let people know in time, not the day before.
I know that we as a community are putting an incredible strain on the web dev team right now - and I feel sorry for them. If you have never been in their place, you won't understand. Whether it was their call to make the launch so or not, I have no idea, but we need to realize, that while these changes are a disaster, they feel it even more!
The responses have been different in nature to what I'm used to around here. What the hell? It's as if people are being made raging zombies by some military supervirus. Complain like a gentleman, and not like a mob. You are people I look up to, and want to follow. So act like it.
I'm still offering GG to help in any way I can to solve this crisis. I've been in their place before, and I don't want to be there again, believe me. As this is happening, I feel their stress over the whole incident, and I know I wouldn't want to be on the web team there right now. People, think for a moment before the lynching proceeds.
If I were them I would not re-roll to the old site either, however deep the sh.t is I'm (we all are) in. You don't retreat - that's the only way to win a battle. Not moving backwards is a strategy that has served me well through my life. However, GG definitely needs to make changes fast and thoroughly while listening to the community with a thousand ears. I know they know that really really well.
Until then, we need to give them the patience they have given us when we first started out here with the newbie questions they have heard a thousand times before. Who do you think is responsible for a good community? No, not the community. The one who starts it all and makes it go the right way. Right now, we took a wrong turn and we're not used to it. Wait a few days and we'll get back on track I'm sure.
Instead of raising hell, try to help out by staying supportive, and collecting bugs that have not yet been mentioned. I do not think that ultimatums or threats will do more than fire up those with a troll inside.
Thanks for reading through. Feel free to disagree.
About the author
See www.bitgap.com.
#2
01/15/2009 (2:33 pm)
NIce write up, yesterday was crazy and abrupt but I think what your saying is very true.
#3
Perfect blog and let's hope people read it and take it on board.
01/15/2009 (3:15 pm)
Absolutely agree 100% Konrad. I've been thinking the same since this all started but couldn't think of an eloquent way of putting it.Perfect blog and let's hope people read it and take it on board.
#4
Pearls of wisdom there Konrad, nice blog!
01/15/2009 (3:35 pm)
I think that a lot of people are just hurt and confused because their favorite toy is changing, unfortunately they lash out because of that. There are many passionate developers (hobbyists, dreamers, startups, and professionals) here and we've all got a chance to grow better and tighter as a whole despite how "shaky" it all seems.Quote:Whenever something changed, there was an uproar. There was no way to make a change in a way that pleased everyone.
Not moving backwards is a strategy that has served me well through my life.
Pearls of wisdom there Konrad, nice blog!
#5
01/15/2009 (4:01 pm)
The problem is that GG never really listened the community... One guy is finally making new docs... (after years without them), the truth is that they are still very very incomplete and most of the things that worked simply are gone.... This is just not normal... I have always been patient since I programme for fun and don't take this seriously. But for all the people that do care... GG at this pace will lose all of them... and are that guys that count for the community... 
#6
01/15/2009 (4:04 pm)
Calm and thoughtful blogging. 
#7
The sky is not falling people, have some patience and let the web dev team finish their work. Integrating an commerce system, product delivery system, documentation and an online community with 8+ years of data is no easy feat. Especially given the depth and feature set of the garage games website. Many of the issues are simply oversights and somethings you just don't know about till you actually pull the trigger.
Take a deep breath, it will all be ok...
01/15/2009 (4:36 pm)
I think a lot of people are just over reacting to the change. For all the great things about the garage games community one of the bad things has always been the abundance of people that post emotional outbursts rather than tactful and constructive criticism. Learning to be professional in a community setting is one of the best things you can possibly learn.The sky is not falling people, have some patience and let the web dev team finish their work. Integrating an commerce system, product delivery system, documentation and an online community with 8+ years of data is no easy feat. Especially given the depth and feature set of the garage games website. Many of the issues are simply oversights and somethings you just don't know about till you actually pull the trigger.
Take a deep breath, it will all be ok...
#8
My only issue right now is how willing to listen to the community the management will be on the other things....
01/15/2009 (4:48 pm)
I agree that many of the items are oversights, and will be taken care of I'm sure. My only issue right now is how willing to listen to the community the management will be on the other things....
#9
01/15/2009 (5:20 pm)
Konrad, thank you for your insight. The fact remains that this is not a fansite populated by whining teenage gamers. Many if not most of us here are professionals and quite a large percentage of us have advanced web development skills. If I were to have implemented a large scale redesign of any of my clients' sites the way this one was done, I'd have lost those accounts. The GG community is unforgiving about this because many of us, like you and I, get paid as web develpers and are all too aware of how irresponsible it was on GG's part to implement this change prematurely. As you mentioned, the resources/functions that have vanished will likely all return, but for the many here who are using GG professionally the loss of time will equate to a loss of money, for which they have every reason to flame GG...
#10
One thing I've always found invaluable was to have a set of Senior Members, even if they weren't tagged as such as site owner/developer you always get to know the active, mature, valuable ones and have always used that peer group to discuss suggestions, canvas opinions, site changes, etc. I'd presumed partly that was part of what the Associates on GG were until the recent comments from a few of them make me wonder whether that's what they are at all, hopefully that's part of what the revamped Associates program will be about.
Everything has to change at some point and you can never please everyone and some loved features always do end up being lost in an upgrade, that's life with any software. You can try and negate some of that with things like:
1. Taking small steps in change - which is not always possible, especially when reengineering the entire architecture which GG have done with the site.
2. Engaging with the community - not necessarily the whole lot but a small subset to have open forum discussions on the changes, chances are they'll come up with a different set of must haves, and requirements than you think of yourselves.
3. Advance notice - the GG site is my access to support (documentation, forums, resources, tdn) which is invaluable for any developer and when planning to take that away it's best to give some good notice as we all have our own deadlines to hit - mine was an alpha release of our game due and promised to our community for today so losing my support network a day before that really has impacted on me. We still hit our deadline but only through a pig of day (hence my frustration vented on the site launch blog!)
4. Acknowledging - I know Deborah mentioned in her responses that the web team decided to jump straight into problem solving than starting to respond to people but I just think taking 5 mins to just quickly write something like "We're aware that there are a number of issues that have been raised and we're here looking at the items you're raising please bear with us and we'll get back to you shortly.. we're collecting a list of issues and please post them here as you find" goes a long way to diffusing peoples frustrations, where silence just make people assume the worst.
There's a few more ideas, just basically good change management procedures and I hope this change is something that can be learned from.
I quite agree on not reverting back to the old site though - the site is functioning so it's not a disaster, it's just lacking some crucial features for it's members which I'm sure are at the top of the fix list.
01/15/2009 (5:50 pm)
Great words Konrad, I've been a web developer too for a lot of years (and worked on sites for some big companies) and you're quite right in there being good approaches to changing things for a community. One thing I've always found invaluable was to have a set of Senior Members, even if they weren't tagged as such as site owner/developer you always get to know the active, mature, valuable ones and have always used that peer group to discuss suggestions, canvas opinions, site changes, etc. I'd presumed partly that was part of what the Associates on GG were until the recent comments from a few of them make me wonder whether that's what they are at all, hopefully that's part of what the revamped Associates program will be about.
Everything has to change at some point and you can never please everyone and some loved features always do end up being lost in an upgrade, that's life with any software. You can try and negate some of that with things like:
1. Taking small steps in change - which is not always possible, especially when reengineering the entire architecture which GG have done with the site.
2. Engaging with the community - not necessarily the whole lot but a small subset to have open forum discussions on the changes, chances are they'll come up with a different set of must haves, and requirements than you think of yourselves.
3. Advance notice - the GG site is my access to support (documentation, forums, resources, tdn) which is invaluable for any developer and when planning to take that away it's best to give some good notice as we all have our own deadlines to hit - mine was an alpha release of our game due and promised to our community for today so losing my support network a day before that really has impacted on me. We still hit our deadline but only through a pig of day (hence my frustration vented on the site launch blog!)
4. Acknowledging - I know Deborah mentioned in her responses that the web team decided to jump straight into problem solving than starting to respond to people but I just think taking 5 mins to just quickly write something like "We're aware that there are a number of issues that have been raised and we're here looking at the items you're raising please bear with us and we'll get back to you shortly.. we're collecting a list of issues and please post them here as you find" goes a long way to diffusing peoples frustrations, where silence just make people assume the worst.
There's a few more ideas, just basically good change management procedures and I hope this change is something that can be learned from.
I quite agree on not reverting back to the old site though - the site is functioning so it's not a disaster, it's just lacking some crucial features for it's members which I'm sure are at the top of the fix list.
#11
These range from easy things like the engine sales page listing features that are not in the engine (was easly fixed). To larger issues like: games missing from the sales page, TDN not operational since you can not log into it, ect.
I have been around GG since 08/23/2001 when the website was nothing more then a page and some forums. While the website has remained the same for the most part over the last few years. It had one thing going for it, It just plain worked and everything was accessable.
Despite what anyone says the community here makes up 75%+ of what makes Garage Games better then the other guys out there. When you take and make a major change like this. You need to make sure it works. While the new look and easier navigation is nice, SOO much was lost in the proccess also. Instead of one step forward like what was wanted, They took about 10 steps backwards.
Now I am sure both the web team and the developers behind GG, none of them wanted this to turn out like it has. But I have to ask the question, Was any of these changes discussed? Was any of the site tested at all? Did anyone ask would TDN work with the new login system? Did anyone check the sales pages to make sure they where accurate?
At the end of the day when new customers come here you are generally going to get only one impression with them. And a broken website and mislabeled information is the last thing you want a potential customer to see.
Just my take on it all. I am sure in time it will all be worked out and fixed up. But in reality it never should have come down to the situation it has though. If something not ready and tested regardless of the circumstances it needs to be put off tell it is ready and tested.
01/15/2009 (6:19 pm)
I don't think its as much the community overreacting as it is to all of the issues now with the website. These are things that could have easly been found and fixed had there been some sort of testing of the new site ahead of time.These range from easy things like the engine sales page listing features that are not in the engine (was easly fixed). To larger issues like: games missing from the sales page, TDN not operational since you can not log into it, ect.
I have been around GG since 08/23/2001 when the website was nothing more then a page and some forums. While the website has remained the same for the most part over the last few years. It had one thing going for it, It just plain worked and everything was accessable.
Despite what anyone says the community here makes up 75%+ of what makes Garage Games better then the other guys out there. When you take and make a major change like this. You need to make sure it works. While the new look and easier navigation is nice, SOO much was lost in the proccess also. Instead of one step forward like what was wanted, They took about 10 steps backwards.
Now I am sure both the web team and the developers behind GG, none of them wanted this to turn out like it has. But I have to ask the question, Was any of these changes discussed? Was any of the site tested at all? Did anyone ask would TDN work with the new login system? Did anyone check the sales pages to make sure they where accurate?
At the end of the day when new customers come here you are generally going to get only one impression with them. And a broken website and mislabeled information is the last thing you want a potential customer to see.
Just my take on it all. I am sure in time it will all be worked out and fixed up. But in reality it never should have come down to the situation it has though. If something not ready and tested regardless of the circumstances it needs to be put off tell it is ready and tested.
#12
Are you complaining about them taking a step in the right direction? You are right, there's still much to do. I've already did my part with the docs, I'm sure Mich could use your help too if you wanted to make the problem go away faster.
No, that's not true. The ones who voice their concerns the most are the ones that take it all to their hearts the most. And they are the ones who are most likely to be here long after the current crew of GG has gone away to start their own indie companies. That's the trend at least. Nothing wrong with it. These are the people to whom GG means more than its own employees. Regardless, they should be acting like adults.
As Matt says, this is not going to be like this from now on for years. Just give them a break and a chance to resolve the bad start. At least they didn't roll out on Friday afternoon.
By choosing a manner to forward our concerns in a more appropriate way, I'm sure GG will listen. Think about it. The more we cry about it all like a mob, the more they feel like throwing up when they must communicate with us. At least that's how I work.
So by lending a helping hand, not only do we act with respect, but we also make it easier for them to work here, and to want to help us. And to respect us more in return by doing things the right way the next time.
I understand that, and I agree with you. It's the way of letting GG know that I don't quite agree with. On top, now that the damage is done, I don't see why we shouldn't lessen that damage. It's hard to control feelings, but it's also hard to see people who have my utmost respect act the way they do.
01/15/2009 (6:26 pm)
Quote:
The Fallen
The problem is that GG never really listened the community... One guy is finally making new docs... (after years without them), the truth is that they are still very very incomplete and most of the things that worked simply are gone....
Are you complaining about them taking a step in the right direction? You are right, there's still much to do. I've already did my part with the docs, I'm sure Mich could use your help too if you wanted to make the problem go away faster.
Quote:
The Fallen
But for all the people that do care... GG at this pace will lose all of them... and are that guys that count for the community...
No, that's not true. The ones who voice their concerns the most are the ones that take it all to their hearts the most. And they are the ones who are most likely to be here long after the current crew of GG has gone away to start their own indie companies. That's the trend at least. Nothing wrong with it. These are the people to whom GG means more than its own employees. Regardless, they should be acting like adults.
As Matt says, this is not going to be like this from now on for years. Just give them a break and a chance to resolve the bad start. At least they didn't roll out on Friday afternoon.
Quote:
wiseman2
My only issue right now is how willing to listen to the community the management will be on the other things....
By choosing a manner to forward our concerns in a more appropriate way, I'm sure GG will listen. Think about it. The more we cry about it all like a mob, the more they feel like throwing up when they must communicate with us. At least that's how I work.
So by lending a helping hand, not only do we act with respect, but we also make it easier for them to work here, and to want to help us. And to respect us more in return by doing things the right way the next time.
Quote:
Gibby
The GG community is unforgiving about this because many of us, like you and I, get paid as web develpers and are all too aware of how irresponsible it was on GG's part to implement this change prematurely.
I understand that, and I agree with you. It's the way of letting GG know that I don't quite agree with. On top, now that the damage is done, I don't see why we shouldn't lessen that damage. It's hard to control feelings, but it's also hard to see people who have my utmost respect act the way they do.
#13
Thank you again for your patience and support. I have full confidence that we'll get back to normal soon, and it is community members such as yourselves (ones that have honest, direct feedback that we can vet and address) that reminds us why we do have a community and why we're here.
01/15/2009 (6:36 pm)
Thanks, Konrad, for posting a thoughtful blog, and thanks also to all the direct replies. I know changing a website can be frustrating to get used to, and we're working on things as fast as we can. We know that some members of the community don't necessarily agree with the way we rolled things out. We're sorry if it has caused the community any temporary inconveniences. My fellow employees and I have tried to address the specific problems that people have noted in the comments section of Jacob's blog, and we are working on a fix that will come out ASAP (shooting for tomorrow, but certainly by early next week). We haven't posted specifics yet because we're giving the web team time to go through the unexpected problems first; problems like the URL redirect that was working on our test servers, but for whatever reason don't work in the live version. When I feel confident that we have a solid list of fixes and updates, I will post them promptly on Jacob's blog, but in the meantime, I'm keeping you posted there of what we have prioritized.Thank you again for your patience and support. I have full confidence that we'll get back to normal soon, and it is community members such as yourselves (ones that have honest, direct feedback that we can vet and address) that reminds us why we do have a community and why we're here.
#14
Definitely. We all see the mistakes done while publishing the new site. And we should definitely voice our concerns, so both GG and the community learn from it. I wish that GG would make use of the professionals here willing to help.
These are exactly the questions that tell me this mostly is not intentional. Some things might be, like the games on the products pages disappearing. We should just wait for any explanation before we make judgment.
01/15/2009 (6:46 pm)
Quote:
Andy
There's a few more ideas, just basically good change management procedures and I hope this change is something that can be learned from.
Definitely. We all see the mistakes done while publishing the new site. And we should definitely voice our concerns, so both GG and the community learn from it. I wish that GG would make use of the professionals here willing to help.
Quote:
Thomas
Was any of these changes discussed? Was any of the site tested at all? Did anyone ask would TDN work with the new login system? Did anyone check the sales pages to make sure they where accurate?
These are exactly the questions that tell me this mostly is not intentional. Some things might be, like the games on the products pages disappearing. We should just wait for any explanation before we make judgment.
#15
Statements like that go a long long way to making me feel better over the frustrations felt yesterday.. thanks Deborah :)
p.s. give the web devs a kick to implement the fix tomorrow - publishing their home addresses if they don't get it fixed should work as a good incentive ;)
01/15/2009 (6:48 pm)
Quote:
We're sorry if it has caused the community any temporary inconveniences.
Statements like that go a long long way to making me feel better over the frustrations felt yesterday.. thanks Deborah :)
p.s. give the web devs a kick to implement the fix tomorrow - publishing their home addresses if they don't get it fixed should work as a good incentive ;)
#16
01/15/2009 (6:48 pm)
@Deborah: Thank you for the feedback.
Torque 3D Owner Brian "Cybore" Smith