Originally Posted by Orpheus
Frankly, this is the attitude that keeps me from posting here anymore. They wouldn't get such a negative reaction on this forum if they took the time to interact properly, as they do on sukhoi.ru.
Language has nothing to do with it - if you sell a product internationally, you are expected to provide support internationally. Restricting your updates to a Russian forum upsets the international community using this forum, many of whom do not use English as their first language either. If they actually interacted properly here (as Luthier has shown he is capable of doing) and did it regularly, not just when they feel like it, they would generate far more good will and would get just as much 'help' as they are getting on the russian forum.
Silence breeds the assumption of contempt; this is where the insults start. Ali makes a valid point: they sold a game in a very poor state, as we all know, and have since been very sparing with the information they provide. We do trust that work is being done, and we see it in the patches, but it's the month or more of silence in between that gets people's backs up.
Communication is important. 4x devs Kerberos just released a game in as bad a state as CloD was at release, but they have communicated constantly on their forums, apologised, offered various DLC incentives alongside a full and open refund system and even given a free copy of their previous game to buyers willing to wait for the new product to be fixed. As a result, they have retained a lot more goodwill (and sales, for that matter).
Would it really be so difficult for the Russian community manager to post to two websites instead of one? The fact that people are clamouring for even a google-translated version (and scouring sukhoi.ru themselves) should tell you something: they don't care if it's poor translated Engrish, they just want to know what's going on.
You can bluster all you like, but it doesn't change the fact that this is a poor way to conduct business, and as long as they continue in this fashion they will generate insults and invective. A little talk goes a long way sometimes, and Luthier's updates are a great start - but I'd wager the reason the fellows at Sukhoi.ru are so helpful is that they actually feel involved, while over here we just wait to be thrown a bone.
The bare minimum isn't enough anymore, and by acting like this, they ignore and isolate over half their (incredibly dedicated) fanbase, when that fanbase could be helping them instead. What a waste, all for the want of a weekly update and some community involvement.
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