Brad: Please create a poll/survey for players to rate the current state of DG's connectivity.

from Demigod Forums

I just read the following quote from Brad Wardell in his Status Report Dev Journal:

"Based on the logs, multiplayer is working pretty decently for most people"

How many of you think this is accurate? I think there may be a problem with the logs...

In this post http://forums.demigodthegame.com/348096 Brad mentions that:

"Our beta group was overwhelmingly located in North America and they didn’t have problems connecting to each other. That is still the case now.  But people in Europe tend to have problems connecting to people in the United States."

Having been in the beta since December, I know this is incorrect. Can some of the other beta testers back me up here. Anyone can search the forums and find countless posts regarding the connection issues. Here is one thread: http://forums.demigodthegame.com/340528

I am not just posting here to lampoon Brad, but I believe two things: (1) the beta testers were very vocal about the network issues; and (2) MP is NOT currently working decently for most people, in fact I bet less than 1% can even play a 5v5 game. How can Brad not acknowledge these two "facts?"

I don't think Brad is intentionally turning his head from the facts or lying to us, but one of his statements is someone revealing. He mentions "based on the logs, multiplayer is working pretty decently..." Well that is the problem, the LOGS! Stop relying on them for information, those logs are what got DG into this mess.

Brad, please consider setting up a poll in the forums here or sending out a survey to everyone that purchased Demigod. This poll should ask many questions regarding players' ability to connect. I guarantee you, it will give you a more accurate picture of whats going on than your "logs."

If anyone else would like to see SD do this, please speak up.

demigod
4,844 views 13 replies
Reply #1 from Demigod Forums Top

Well, I think he is right. It probably works okay for most people. My guesstimate is that 75% of the people I play with have no problems connecting to each other. So that's 1 in 4 pantheon games that won't start 2v2. Now imagine if you have 10 people, what are the odds of actually getting a 5v5 started? None. Basically, this is the "bad apple" effect where a working setup for most doesn't work for anyone because it doesn't work for some.

I think you're reading too much into it. They are perfectly aware of how connectivity isn't working. Just like we said in beta, by the way. Frogboy earlier described the multiplayer service as "sucks ass". They're not trying to sugarcoat it.

I don't think a poll would accomplish anything.

Reply #2 from Demigod Forums Top

you mean like a survey right?

im all for it, since i cannot connect at all to anyone.

WindowBlinds - Free yourself of the default settings, customize your desktop.
Reply #3 from Demigod Forums Top

If he creates a poll, he will discover the following:

-90% of attempts to join a game fail before even trying to connect to players

-it often takes several minutes to join a game

-at least 50% of the time, the attempt to join fails

-almost every game, 3v3 or more, is a 'stutter' fest

-5v5 games are a myth

Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top

I just read the following quote from Brad Wardell in his Status Report Dev Journal:

"Based on the logs, multiplayer is working pretty decently for most people"

..... etc...
Brad, please consider setting up a poll in the forums here or sending one out to everyone that purchased Demigod. This poll should ask many questions regarding players' ability to connect. I guarantee you, it will give you a more accurate picture of whats going on than your "logs."

If anyone else would like to see SD do this, please speak up.
End of quote

slurples right i didnt get 1 5v5 going in the beta (probably coz im in australia and i didnt play during prime time) but he did iron out lots of issues with 2v2 3v3's etc. but yea as i recall there were still connection problems still being dealt with up to release. but the major ones got ironed out.

and i agree with slurple on listening to the forum community rather than logs. because the forum contains the people that want to get the problems solved, but the devs were on the forums regularly as i recall so... yea.

slurple is half right (i dont want to agree with him hes permantly scarred me. because of that time he managed to troll half of the beta testers good times.).

Reply #5 from Demigod Forums Top

only 1v1 and 2v2 r easy to assemble. 3v3 takes ~ 15-20 minutes to start. 4v4 etc - i avoid them.

EU

 

Reply #6 from Demigod Forums Top

Quoting wulagas-wulagaski, reply 5
only 1v1 and 2v2 r easy to assemble. 3v3 takes ~ 15-20 minutes to start. 4v4 etc - i avoid them.

EU

 
End of wulagas-wulagaski's quote
'

Same for aussie games. Most ive been in is a 3v3 and even then it can be near on impossible sometimes to get that many players all connected together.

Reply #7 from Demigod Forums Top

If he creates a poll, he will discover the following
End of quote

That the results will be severely skewed because the vast majority of players don't even come to the forums.

Reply #8 from Demigod Forums Top

Quoting Annatar11, reply 7

If he creates a poll, he will discover the following
That the results will be severely skewed because the vast majority of players don't even come to the forums.
End of Annatar11's quote

 

true, they just quite gaming and maybe order a refund :x

Reply #9 from Demigod Forums Top

Quoting Annatar11, reply 7

If he creates a poll, he will discover the following
That the results will be severely skewed because the vast majority of players don't even come to the forums.
End of Annatar11's quote

Send a survey to everyone that purchased DG

Reply #10 from Demigod Forums Top

Quoting slurple, reply 9

Quoting Annatar11, reply 7
If he creates a poll, he will discover the following
That the results will be severely skewed because the vast majority of players don't even come to the forums.
Send a survey to everyone that purchased DG
End of slurple's quote


This still doesn't provide accurate results.  Most players that are connecting just fine would throw the survey in the trash and not waste their time with it.  The players that can't connect and are upset about it would be MUCH more likely to take the time to fill out a survey.

You guys really need to be patient.  They know there are issues, they claim they have a way to fix it, and they even gave you an ETA on the fix deployment.  These things take time, and filling up these forums with complaints isn't going to make things go any faster.

Reply #11 from Demigod Forums Top

Surely you can't be this clueless.  As if a survey or poll will give an accurate measure of anything, other than what kinds of people would bother to reply to such threads.

I can give you a good guess, most of the people who would bother to reply are the ones experiencing issues, not the happy ones.

Reply #12 from Demigod Forums Top

Having worked customer service, I can say one thing for sure:

90% of people with a problem will complain. They'll be polite, they'll scream, they'll bawl like a baby.

99.5% of people without a problem will never say a word. Ever.

Since this is of a large number of people, it seems like everybody in the world is having trouble.

 

:fox:

Reply #13 from Demigod Forums Top

Quoting slurple, reply 3
If he creates a poll, he will discover the following:

-90% of attempts to join a game fail before even trying to connect to players

-it often takes several minutes to join a game

-at least 50% of the time, the attempt to join fails

-almost every game, 3v3 or more, is a 'stutter' fest

-5v5 games are a myth
End of slurple's quote

You right this is what he will likely find.  And the reason for this is reply/follow-up bias.  Namely those with the largest problems are most likely to reply.

I personally do 3v3 all the time on pantheon with no issues.  Of the 20+ games this week, only 3 have required me to cancel and start again and those were do to one person who couldn't connect to everyone else.  I have also played 3 4v4 games.  They were smooth and lag free.  I would be less likely to reply because I have no issues I feel that need to be addressed and as such, he would have highly skewed results.


Brad, please consider setting up a poll in the forums here or sending out a survey to everyone that purchased Demigod. This poll should ask many questions regarding players' ability to connect. I guarantee you, it will give you a more accurate picture of whats going on than your "logs."
End of quote

As a researcher who has done this sort of work, I am sure he will not get more accurate results assuming his log system includes attempted, but aborted matches.  See above.