So people have been asking Why I left, so here is the whole truth.
As gamers we have all visited video game companies’ message boards and seen the moderators of those boards. You know, the guys who are constantly on the board, banning trolls and slapping order into place. Well, believe it or not, at one time I was a moderator for a very successful video game company. I won’t name names, for the sake of privacy. I just wanted to reflect for a moment about my time as a moderator and the reason for my retirement.
Most of the time being a moderator was fun, and it had its advantages from after parties with the company while at PAX or E3, to the occasional free game! It was amazing. It was like I had done something right in my life and got myself noticed by an amazing company filled with amazing people. It made me proud to do what I was: helping out a company and having some input into their community. I remember exactly the day it happened, too.
It was September of 2010, my second PAX. Some of the community decided that we were going to have a meet up. Hang out, eat dinner and socialize in person instead of through the Internet. It was an amazing experience and I will never forget it. The community manager at the time approached me and thanked me for putting together this dinner, and asked me if I wanted to be a mod. Without hesitation, I said “YES!”
This company had been around for just a few years, and they were starting to become prominent. They had only made a few games, but the ones they’d done were just right. The community was starting to blossom. We had an amazing community manager, one who cared a lot about the forums and the people there. The company really started to embrace its fans and we loved every second of it. Hence the aforementioned dinner.
The thing with video game companies though is that they are constantly in flux. Staff changes, new designers, and the sort. Even for a small company, the turnover was no different. In time we got a new community manager. The old one had quit over the mistreatment of an employee, who was one of the best employees the company had ever hired. She was outgoing and always ready to listen to the fans. News of her leaving left us all devastated and heartbroken. With the Community Manager also leaving, we were at a loss.
This marked the end of an era. By the time I had headed to the next PAX, there was a new community manager. He was new and really ambitious. It’s a good sign to be eager to help out fans and get input. He was the one so impressed with my skill of organizing a small event that he gave me mod powers. Now you might think, “Mod? Man, you get to edit people’s comments, delete posts, and be the boss on the Internet!” At least that’s what some people think when you tell them that you’re a moderator on a company’s forum. That’s not as close to the truth as you might think. Mostly, my duties persisted of cleaning out spam bots, settling arguments between forum members, and sometimes banning somebody. It’s more keeping order than being a policeman.
Let’s fast forward a year or two. Things at the company had started to slow down, a few more games were released, and the community manager fell out. He still worked for the company, but he was assigned a new role. With him too busy with his new duties to manage the mod team, we fell into the hands of the customer support lead. Over the next several months, the company became a PR Police State. We were required to put a disclaimer in our signatures that we were moderators, not staff, and our posts didn’t reflect the opinions of the company. It became standard procedure to handle any controversy by remaining silent until it blew over. And all of this during the time when the company was releasing its biggest game to date and stirring up trouble by missing release dates. It was a nightmare.
All of this mess was going on when PAX Prime 2012 came around. I was close friends with one of the other mods, and we decided that this was the year to go to PAX together. Now, if you’ve never been to PAX, if you’ve only heard about it through articles and the sort, it is the most amazing experience ever; fans interacting with developers, seeing all the new games coming out. Of course, this company was there as well, and that’s where my personal feelings for the company left with out a trace. We were told that we were getting a new site, with a new forum. The old site was a mess, and we were excited to think that as mods, we were going to play an important part in the company’s history. Our input would be among the most important. At least, that’s how they made it seem.
A couple of months after PAX, the moderators were invited to a private beta of the site, and it came with a host of problems. The layout didn’t work. Nobody liked the comment system. In truth, it was a mess. We made our opinions known, and they fell on deaf ears. A few months after that, a public beta was launched. Yet again, it received negative feedback. It was built around an architecture that nobody wanted and nobody needed, and everything else was neglected. Yet again, the feedback fell on deaf ears. At this point in time, it had occurred to me that I had fallen out of love with the company. Nothing they did made me happy. There was no feeling of joy, and when I would hear their name it just made me groan.
I had finally come to the decision that I was going to leave my position as a moderator. I made the decision to leave and never look back. Even though I am no longer a moderator I still have friends I made there, some of them very close friends. It was hard to let go of such a place, where at one point I had spent hours upon hours cleaning up the boards and making friends, only to leave it in the dust. The truth was that the thing I had loved and taken care of was long dead. Only a few things remained that reflected what it once was. I had made friends during my tenure as moderator, and gotten email addresses, screen names, and Steam friends from my time there. I would still keep in contact with the people who made the forum what it was.
I never regret my time being a moderator, not one bit. It was a learning experience, and if any readers get the chance to do it, I say go for it! Just keep in mind that things are in a constant flux, and everything will change and we can only hope it changes for the better and not the worse.
Edit: I wrote this on my personal website, that is the main reason why I left the companies name out of this.
Comments
That story sounds awfully familiar, sadly.
It's a shame you've decided to leave, but I have to say it's not entirely unexpected. When something changes into a thing you're not happy with, sometimes the best thing to do is just move on and find something else that suits you better.
I certainly hope you do that - you're a good guy and I wish you all the best for the future.
I'm sorry. I'm new here. All this in regards to leaving a job as a community moderator..
[snip]
Yes. A Community Moderator of Telltale Games' forums who left because the staff have no respect for the community members.
Now, someone at TTG is going to read this and say "we /are/ listening; we're working hard to fix the new forums."
To which I say, you can shine a piece of shit up really nice (you can--Mythbusters did it) but at the end of the day it's still a piece of shit.
No I have respect for the members of what was the forum.
I'm still fairly new here. I haven't seen any hostilely yet. Some of the mods can be a tad sarcastic sometimes when replying to something, then they become serious. In my humble point of view. I've seen sites where people are banned for smallest thing. When you complain above them. It falls on deaf ears.
I'll watch out for that, though we should work to improve our system. How about a feedback. In case you have a situation with a certain mod. You should be able to send feedback. If the situation is ignored. It will certainty impact the amount of money they bring in. Despite popularity with games. People will resent personal emotions towards an individual.
In closing. I've only been here past maybe four or five months. Since the walking dead. I will look out for it.
Its sad to see you go Icedhope, you were a good mod and a good member of the forums.
I feel so sad. I'm gonna miss you, IcedHope!
I meant the staff, not you. I tried to edit my post to say "the staff" instead of "they" bit my edit just became a double post. So I snipped this one (see below)
What on earth does a "sunk" conversation mean?
I wondered about the same thing, but now it appears that new replies in the thread won't actually push the thread up over the other unstickied threads. So it just keeps sinking.
For the record, it was NOT me who did that.
That was asked in the beta, too. A "sunk" conversation is one that does not "float" back to the top when a new comment is posted. It's the way to eventually get rid of a discussion without actually closing it.
I didn't suspect you of doing that.
To me this seems like a pretty rotten strategy to get rid of discussions that put the company in a bad light. Still a lot better than actively deleting content though. And with the current activity here it's probably not sinking nearly as fast as intended.
Can it be undone?
Seriously, if this isn't able to be un-sunk, then I will repost the OP when this thread hits page 2. I'm not kidding.
I know you weren't accusing me. I just wanted it made clear that it wasn't me. I don't think I'd ever sink a thread.
Yes, but I'd rather not do it without the person who DID do it explaining why they did it and why I shouldn't UNdo it.
I'll ask around, see if I get anything.
[snip]
Thanks. You'll let us know of the outcome either way? (also, I still mean what I said (below) about reposting this.)
Suddenly I don't see any of the comments in this thread.
I'm going to be perfectly honest. I wouldn't say this if it weren't true.
The Telltale forum community was amazing and the moderators were/are memorable, intelligent and fun and obviously interested in the subject matter and in fostering good discussions. Everyone knows it.
It was one of the best places to discuss all kinds of adventure games, in addition to anything else.
By the way, I feel guilty now for being snippy in many of my comments.
Anyway, Telltale killed the forum. I find it hard to believe that the people responsible for this new clunky message board nightmare ever participated in the previous forum or even appreciated what had been created.
There is nothing I like better about this new layout. The whole thing was so pointless. Handled very badly. I actually hate coming here now. Such a chore to use on iPhone.
None of the mods admit to doing it. That leaves a rather... unsettling alternative.
Dear Icedhope,
i love u
So does that mean you're not going to un-sink it, if in fact one of the staff is responsible for having done it?
That's not surprising. I thought about it, and couldn't really think of a mod who would do something like that.
Unless... Unless Dan Connors held his family hostage! That's what you were talking about, wasn't it? I initially thought that you meant a TTG employee sunk the thread.
...yes. Yes, that's exactly what happened. Dan held my father at gunpoint and MADE me sink the thread.
And now by telling you this I've probably doomed him. Oh well.
Aw, I feel so sorry for you. And to think if only you hadn't gone to the US this summer, he might never have gotten a hold of your dad. (I'm assuming he's had him locked up in the basement of the TTG offices for months now.)
No, he flew over last week and kidnapped him.
Not that it matters. My Dad's retired, so if he dies, everything reverts to me. Dan really didn't think things through when he abducted him.
I love both of you.
I only joined a year ago but when I came here I saw a great community which over time let me in and created a place I was happy to be
But now with the feeling TTG sees the entire community as replaceable and is happy to make changes that causes both Old and New fans to leave to new forums, threaded discussions preventing any flow of conversations and ranking system to create a judging atmosphere with all the best people in the community leaving to other forums I can't see a reason to stay and this thread being sunk shows TTG's attitude...
I can't see how a community can really be made from this framework and I don't really see how a community can really remain after this.
This is probably my last post over here as well I hope to see a few of you over at Double Fine
The sad thing is that what took years to build up was thrown away just like that.
I forgot to say it, but thanks for posting this, Icedhope. Sad to see you leave on such terms, but I hope to see more of you elsewhere on the internet.
It's a real shame this thread was sunk and it's only marginally better than outright closing it. I noticed that I don't even get notifications about new posts in this particular thread.
Sunk, but not forgotten.
I had almost forgotten about it.