A Year in Retrospective and a Message to The Players

It has been a year since I have been your Community Manager and what a year it has been. I have been honored to listen to all your feedback, stories, concerns and hopes for Mortal Online II. I have always taken the feedback directly to the devs in multiple ways as my promise to make your voice heard in a concise way.

This year has been a frantic one. From our launch woes to ban waves, we have tried as a team to tackle issues them as they come and to prepare for the future. As I grew within the company, I began to learn both of things internally and externally. The community of Mortal Online has much in the way of backstory and nuance throughout its history. It has been a pleasure to learn and try to accommodate as many playstyles and ideas as possible. I learn something new almost every day, whether its some history, a story or a design of the game I haven’t thought about. It has been enjoyable.

Earlier in the first year, as StarVault started to get the stability of the server under control, we started to really look at feedback and try to tackle what we can. One of the major things we tackled (and are continue to improve) is the ban policies and the transparency around them. Back in May, I have rewritten the Ban Policy based on a various of factors;

1. Player Feedback
   
   1. Emulating what our modern peers are doing (we consulted with Rockstar’s CMs for example)
      
   2. Internal Developer/GMs Feedback
      

Overall, it has been a positive change and we will continue to improve it and the transparency around it. As you may know, we have made several updates to these policies as issues arise and are confident we can continue to improve it into the future. As a small team with a game (and an internal structure) which is large, at times can be difficult to get things moving at a proper pace. In my experience within the company, StarVault has been making strives in efficiency, consistency, and positive progress which I have seen firsthand.

Accumulating feedback in a proper way is the one task that began with my journey with StarVault and remains to this day. With any meetings or encounters with the developers and designers that I am involved with, I make sure to represent the player-base as a whole as best as possible. As some information on how you can leave feedback, here are some options;

1. Directly to myself in Discord (#Robmo#1118). Overall, it is something I am proud of that I can be as available as possible directly to the voices of players. I have not seen or engaged with other communities with the availability the devs or its CMs has in MO2 to connect with their players. This is something that is the core of my personal vision for Developer/Player relations.

2. Our forums @ https://mortalonline2.com/forums

3. Our subreddit @ https://www.reddit.com/r/MortalOnline2/

4. Our Steam forums

5. Henrik’s Weekly Streams @ https://www.twitch.tv/mortalonline2

I wanted to give a little insight how I personally give feedback to the team. Over time I receive information and gather it to determine what the player’s really are talking about or desire. There is much diversity in the players’ needs and wants for the game that it is important to give a multitude of opinions. The approach I use is as follows;

1. Give a majority opinion. Describe what the masses are saying then follow up with;

2. An opposing opinion or be the devil’s advocate. It is important that feedback is not one sided.

3. Give alternates, if there are any.

As my personal opinion means little in the way of the players, it is rare that I even express it as feedback to the team, as it isn’t really required. I want to extend even if in conversation my opinion and yours don’t align, I am listening to you. That is what is important above all else. Internally we have a Feedback/Ideas board which we go through and discuss with the team and designers. Some things get approved, some don’t, it is the way of things.

This year has been humbling of the support the players extend to me and I am happy to hear your kind words. I always enjoy watching and joining the adventures of our players in the world of Nave. I hope the company, StarVault, and myself can continue to grow into 2023 and beyond with your player’s support. My DMs are always open, and I hope I can respond to you in a quick matter.

- From Robmo