DISCLAIMER: Potterworld or Droobledore LLC is not in any way affiliated with Mojang AB, J.K. Rowling, Warner Brothers or any company, copyright or trademark.
PotterworldMC PotterworldMC PotterworldMC

Suggestions

Ivan_

Professor
Minecraft IGN: _Navyy
Auralock Griffin Phoenix Vampire Werewolf
#1
Hey everyone,
I wanted to discuss how suggestions are handled. As of right now, I think that you can only make suggestions thru forums and then theres this whole process for it. I think someone else talked about this same thing before, but I believe they focused on the forum process.
This thread is more about the other ways of making suggestions, specially in game. I dislike how most of the staff members usually avoid talking about any form of suggestions in game and just direct us to this place. And then we wait to get a generic message that our suggestion is being reviewed, and then after months we get the final decision. There's a huge lack of communication. That's why I believe that a in-game suggestion making would be way more efficient.

So here's my suggestion, add a in game command similar to the /t create (maybe /s create) where we would shortly describe our idea. Then a staff member, preferably the poltergeists (I think they work with suggestions, not sure) would pick it up just like they would do with a ticket. The idea would be discussed and polished, and then it either gets declined right away or the staff member passes it on to the rest of the team so that it can be reviewed.
I truly believe this would speed up the process, it's better overall since there's a live conversation going on and staff get to fully understand our idea, they can ask questions, they can modify the idea with you on the way...
I know that with this, there would be lack of other students giving their opinion- which for some cases isn't always necessary and of course, the forums would still be a thing. If a staff member believes that the idea should be put out like that - there could be a way to make this feature public, in game? We could have a suggestions chat in game where suggestions would pop up as a broadcast message and then people can discuss under it.
And lastly, it would motivate people to give their feedback because sometimes, even when we have great ideas, we just don't have the willingness to put them onto forums.
 

Pankakes

Animorphus
Minecraft IGN: Pankakes_81
Griffin
#2
We could have a suggestions chat in game where suggestions would pop up as a broadcast message and then people can discuss under it.
That would leave out everyone who isn't in-game at that time.

I think it'd be better if the approving process was different rather than adding another communication channel to manage.

As of right now, you post a suggestion, get one or two replies from players who are active on the forums, get the "Thank you for your suggestion, we'll get back to you", then a year passes and it's still "Under review" or marked as "Declined" after 3 months, because there were some arguments behind closed doors and all you get is "Sorry, but please keep making suggestions"
 

Ivan_

Professor
Minecraft IGN: _Navyy
Auralock Griffin Phoenix Vampire Werewolf
#3
That would leave out everyone who isn't in-game at that time.

I think it'd be better if the approving process was different rather than adding another communication channel to manage.

As of right now, you post a suggestion, get one or two replies from players who are active on the forums, get the "Thank you for your suggestion, we'll get back to you", then a year passes and it's still "Under review" or marked as "Declined" after 3 months, because there were some arguments behind closed doors and all you get is "Sorry, but please keep making suggestions"
Yes, it would leave out people, but it would still reach way more people overall than here. Just like you said, on forums you get one or two actual replies from the same people on forums and that's it. The posts that have much replies are either due to two people debating or just a bunch of people who just "support" the idea - and that's because they were invited to do so, not because they actually went on here and found the suggestion.
In game suggestions could change this if *done correctly*. This is really important thing because usually on forums, if the original idea isn't well worded, it gets declined, no matter if the other comments had fixes and stuff. I'm yet to see a suggestions that was first discussed with a staff member and then modified and only then accepted. That's one of the reasons why I suggested this. Just imagine if you and I were discussing this in game, it would be much faster and more efficient. So that already brings better communication, efficiency, speed. About the audience, I still believe that there's more people in game who would participate in this than the active people here on forums. I could name like 5 people who genuinely leave their honest unbiased opinions on forums and that's it. Even the staff members rarely leave their thoughts. Like you said, you just get the same exact messages and then wait for months.
But again, there could be a solution for that as well. Maybe after the suggestion gets picked up, and gets approved for future review, it could stay up in the suggestions chat for everyone else to see and discuss. That way the players would still be the part of the "under review" process. Because on here, once the suggestion is marked as that, the player comments after that are pretty much worthless.
 

Pankakes

Animorphus
Minecraft IGN: Pankakes_81
Griffin
#4
This is really important thing because usually on forums, if the original idea isn't well worded, it gets declined,
I think that even if the original idea is well worded, the Poltergeists still relay that information to the staff team, so the forums are technically a game of Chinese whispers.

That's one of the reasons why I suggested this. Just imagine if you and I were discussing this in game, it would be much faster and more efficient. So that already brings better communication, efficiency, speed.
Wouldn't Discord be better suited for this ? Easier to list through open suggestions, easier to reply to someone and threads would make sure it all stays within one channel.

Because on here, once the suggestion is marked as that, the player comments after that are pretty much worthless.
Yeah, especially when you call them out on their "reasons", might as well talk to a wall.
 

Ivan_

Professor
Minecraft IGN: _Navyy
Auralock Griffin Phoenix Vampire Werewolf
#5
Discord could work very good as well, but it might just turn out to be forums 2.0. I would really stick to starting the suggestion in game, because a lot of useless suggestions would be filtered out right away, and once your suggestion is picked by a staff, you can discuss it live. Maybe even showcase something in game.
 

Jake Cresswell

Notable Magician
Staff
Drooble's Order
Minecraft IGN: jake_ft
Auralock Dark Follower Staff Phoenix Raven Vampire Werewolf Lead Prefect Discord Moderator Jr. Professor SPEW Sr. Architect Store Intern Drooble's Order Lead
#6
I think the discord idea is great, especially with the threads being a feature now. I don't think this would solve the waiting for a response though, as there are many stages of development and discussion that must be gone through for it to be approved and this does take time.
Maybe the suggestions should be sorted into categories on the forums of how big they are, so that small suggestions can be processed more quickly as they are not as game changing and bigger suggestions being processed in the background.
 

Liz Frogg

Magician
Staff
Drooble's Order
Minecraft IGN: cxrzyyy
Auralock Dark Follower Staff Phoenix Raven Vampire Werewolf Class Design Poltergeist Drooble's Order Engineer Intern
#7
Hi @Ivan_ and all others who contributed to this thread!

This has actually already been suggested here and was declined as we feel the forums allow us to gather the whole community's opinion and collaboration on suggestions. Additionally, we want to ensure ideas are properly relayed to the relevant leadership members, generally in the author's own words. We thus prefer the suggestion to be written out in a thread where the author can completely explain it. There are also concerns over communicating longer suggestions in-game due to Minecraft's small chat limit.

Regardless, thank you for making your suggestion. I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day!
 

Ivan_

Professor
Minecraft IGN: _Navyy
Auralock Griffin Phoenix Vampire Werewolf
#8
This is really important thing because usually on forums, if the original idea isn't well worded, it gets declined, no matter if the other comments had fixes and stuff. I'm yet to see a suggestions that was first discussed with a staff member and then modified and only then accepted.
.
Wouldn't Discord be better suited for this ? Easier to list through open suggestions, easier to reply to someone and threads would make sure it all stays within one channel.
.
Discord could work very good as well
.
I think the discord idea is great, especially with the threads being a feature now.
.
we feel the forums allow us to gather the whole community's opinion and collaboration on suggestions
Then why is the discord discussion not being addressed? I've had just two people reply to this thread and they both brought up discord. Considering all the things I quoted here, that must've been addressed.
This happened to me personally way too many times where I gave alternative ideas on original suggestions and I was left out every single time. + Leaving comments after a thread has been accepted/declined is also pointless in most cases.