Running train have launched a new update. The passengers are fantastic, they get on, off, walk around smartly, don't jump in front of trains, don't endlessly glitch in circles etc etc etc. Running Train also apologise, yes.....APOLOGISE for delays in updates. When was the last time we saw or heard a genuine, no spin and humble apology for the endless issues ongoing here? Genuine question, not being too unkind, but it's a valid point.
Transparency in the development process. Builds trust that the developer isn't hiding anything, that he/they are working to progress the reported bugs and make their game the best it can be...... It's an update from mid September, wasn't released yesterday as per the OP.
Exactly this. If it's good enough for Rockstar to delay the release of their stuff because they're not happy with it then surely somebody like Dovetail can build a bit of community spirit once in a while rather than burying their heads in the sand.
Well.... It's all about the money, money, money.... I know the train is on the wrong side of the tracks.... AI doesn't realise that....
Appalled that you asked this. By this logic I'll release a mod and in the release thread call everyone who uses it a braindead moron because they could've just created the mod themselves instead. But hey, doesn't change the product does it?
No i am just wondering, if a formal apology for whatever really does change anything in the way you experience the game? I don't disagree that things are sometimes really messy when it comes to communication and bug fixes. But an apology doesn't fix any bugs, does it? The best apology would be to deliver?
Yes which the developer of Running Train did with the 0.9.4, an absolutely fantastic patch/upgrade. DTG could learn a thing or two from a sole developer who's balancing everything to do with his game, he hasn't got a Community team that's bigger than most other departments within the DTG umbrella that fail to communicate on what's getting fixed and what isn't getting fixed. They also don't seem to communicate with 3rd party developers and seem shocked when a game breaking bug appears live on a preview stream.... Transparent communication with your customers goes a long way when things go wrong.
That argument would only work if the developer of Running Train didn't fix bugs... But he does, and patches for Running Train are quite frequent, unlike what the genius developers of TSW manage to put out.
It's the other way around. The apology itself does not fix the bugs. But it would def be an accompanying sign of an actual change of approach.
Half the forum would be filled by a 'sorry' if they bothered to do that (glad they dont ^^). And who would believe them anyway.
It’s consumer engagement and adding value to the relationship. People like it, customers/consumers like it. It is absolutely warranted with a situation where you have a very large portion of your consumer base angry and at worst apathetic about the ongoing bugs and sub standard updates that usually end up breaking more than they fix. A significant portion of this community feel their concerns are not listened to and are shrugged under the carpet purely to chase profit. That’s not a sustainable business model and attitudes need to change.
DTG apologise the difference is more DTG apologise and then we never see it rectified most of the time or at least we will let you know when we have an update. Wheras the guy with Running Sim made sure that he had fix that worked and released it with the apology. Which make his apology more sincere and credible.
It's exactly this. You can apologise until you're blue in the face and say you're looking into these things, or putting it on a list and it's a bigger job than you expected, but unless something is done about it it's lip service. "Sorry for the error, here's a fix" is infinitely better. There are lessons multimillion dollar, publicly traded Dovetail/Pullup Games can learn from the one chap who's working on Running Train by himself about how to deal with your player base..