- Mava665
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- Exalted Legendary Member
Poll: Would you like to see a community feedback system in Reach? [closed]
| Yes, but with different ideas/properties.:
0%
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(0 Votes)
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Total Votes: 12
Intro
Bungie is probably one of the most community driven designers. I'd put them slightly behind Valve. However I have had a idea that (while extremely early on in the design, and possibly too good to be true) could change the way Halo is played online. As it stands, if you really, REALLY, want to change something in MatchMaking, you have to make a gigantic thread that gets a TON of replies and yes poll votes, and even then in may not get in. I think it's clear to say that the community would like a larger hand in what maps, gametypes, playlists, and everything in between are in MatchMaking and which get tweaked. There are issues with this idea, which is why I believe it is rough, and possibly impossible. However, venture further in if you have interestes in having a say in what you play.
1-Determine What You Play
I'm pretty sure that every single person that has played a Halo game has complained about something they didn't like, and would change if they could. Wouldn't it be great if you could have a say in what you play? If you don't like AR starts, you could say so. If you don't like BR starts, you could say so. Up until now, causing a change in MM is driven by usually a small group. What if Bungie could evaluate the entire (or at least a great part of) community, decide what they prefer, and then test it/consider it themselves? Who wouldn't want that? It's time to stop thinking you can't have a say. Improved communication has made the world into what it is now, and is possibly the most significant development that separates man from other species.
Usually, communication between a developer and their fans is hard to manage. After all, the players outnumber the developers, and they can't automatically tell what every single player wants, much less combine all those things into a perfect system that is fair for everyone. However, the time is ripe for Bungie to take the next step in Player-Developer communication. While forums are valuable, they are hard to gather strong data from, as Bungie employees has stated themselves. They require going outside the game, which for some players is troublesome, viewed as not worthwhile, or they are simply ignorant to the fact B.net exists. What does this lead to? In game poles and surveys along with improved B.net voting (the current version is a forum I check once a month that has had about one pole in the last year). Sounds good? Here's how it works, roughly.
2-The System
First, the biggy is implementing surveys and voting polls into MatchMaking. It's also the hardest. Plenty of casual players would skip over something that required them to (gasp) think, and would happily head off to Social Slayer until the next Call of Duty came out. There are many ways this could be approached.
1. Reward players for voting. How? There are many different ways. You could be given EXP (assuming it is still included). You could make there be a small achievement worth 5G for voting. The number of votes you have made could be listed in your Service Record (if it is still included), and you could even gain titles for large amounts of voting. The trick is to make the player feel enticed to vote, but not make them want to vote just to get something out of it, which is very tricky.
2. Place limitations. You could have it set up so that only Gamertags linked to B.net could vote (which could cause a influx of new users (which is good and bad)), or have it that Gamertags that were linked would have their votes counted twice instead of just once. A big limitation would be voting limits. You don't want some douche who wants all BR starts to make 1000 accounts and vote for just that. Bungie could limit the number of votes made from one X-Box, or in some other way (that I would be unaware of, as I suck with technology). You could even restrict voting to players that have only played a previous Halo game, and Gamertags that have played a certain amount of Halo 2/3 games online could be given a higher weighting. The trick for limitations is to try to lure in players who aren't going to spam one answer for fun, and try to encourage players who actually care to share their opinions.
The overall voting poll or survey could be pretty much anything. It should be multiple choice preferably. A interesting question is where to place it. It could be one of the options at the main menu, in could be a option at the start screen, and it could even pop up next to the messages Bungie includes while you're looking for a game. The overall point is to make it accessible, appealing, and not confusing.
Bungie.net support
While the main focus would be to get it running in-game, B.net support would be very helpful. I believe in the new update for the site, a voting poll will be added to the front page. While this could work, it would also be possible to have the pole be specifically in the Reach forum. It would be pretty much the same as whichever is chosen to be used in-game, as to not confuse anyone.
Well, that's it for now, even though I plan to upgrade it much more (I would right now if I didn't have homework) with new info, more detailed ideas of what it could look like, and community ideas.
Thanks for reading, please reply if you vote, even if it is just "I like it", I hate bumping threads.
[Edited on 09.16.2009 8:54 AM PDT]