Originally Posted by
Wabigbear
First and foremost - admit your errors. Pretending that the past couple of years of RCTw drama didn't happen just won't work. Accept that your choices have alienated huge numbers of people, especially the core people of the community that stuck with you through three previous games. And for gosh sakes STOP PASSING THE BUCK! Trying to place the blame on the community for your errors is ridiculous...and you wonder why people were so angry? You may not like it but it WILL require Atari to eat some crow and to at least sound apologetic before many people are even going to bother listening to you again, let alone be willing to give you another chance. Secondly - learn what the word 'communication' actually means. Hint: it doesn't mean posting once in a blue moon and then abandoning the forums for the next few months. It also doesn't mean bushels of excessive hype or PR-speak that sounds like it's coming from an over-eager first year college intern. Thirdly - follow through on promises, even if they were just meant as 'possibilities'. Don't wait until rumors or those possibilities grow into 'certainties' to set the record straight. Once again it's that 'communication' thingy... Fourth - Stop being so overly protective of your work. It's not all that and a matching handbag. You may have promised a AAA title, but that's NOT wwhat RCTw is...not even close. There's a ton of stuff wrong with it with everything from flat rides that would kill you from the excessive rotation speeds to a UGC system that needs serious tweaking to come close to being the feature that was so hyped as setting this game apart. Stop taking it as being personal or act dismissive when people point out what's wrong or what they'd like changed. Doesn't make a hill of beans if you think your game is the greatest thing since sliced bread if your customers don't. On the flip side of this celebrate the things in the game that are done right - of which there are many but they get overshadowed by what's wrong. Fifth - engage your community. Do what's outlined in the first four steps above and then honestly and truly listen to the community. Bringing in someone to tweak gameplay is/was great...IF that person actually understands how the fans WANT TO PLAY, and doesn't decide to go with how he or she THINKS the game should be played, there's a huge difference. RCT isn't a normal game, fans have a great passion for it, tap into that passion. No, you can't give them everything they might suggest, but there's been years worth of want-lists out there that show the same things being requested over and over. And don't answer tech support questions with a canned response to submit a ticket when many people say they get no response to those tickets. Finally - Everyone is aware that Atari doesn't have endless resources to make this game, but that also doesn't mean that you have to settle for assets that just plain look cheap. Case in point - the game's peeps. Before adding another garbage can or partial themed pnp set, spend the money to fix them. Same with the flat rides and coasters already in the game. Fix them before adding more! Fix the games coding as much as possible. Do these things and you'll have a solid base to start over with.
